02 Thunder of Heaven: A Joshua Jordan Novel Read Online Free PDF

Chicago area. Same with Los Angeles. We have solid leads. We’ll find them. We have positive IDs on several of them already. As for the Long Island group, we believe they were all killed in the attempt.”
    “How’d they get their hands on heat-seeking missiles?”
    There was an awkward pause. Admiral Patch filled in the blanks. “There’s evidence that Arab sympathizers within the military transferred Stinger missiles to enemy hands.”
    Helen Brokested, the director of Homeland Security, a tall, bland-looking woman with close-cropped hair, was shaking her head vehemently. “Mr. President, the facts are very much in dispute on that. We have to be careful not to make hasty accusations based on racial profiling.”
    Vice President Tulrude, sitting at the president’s right, nodded, her pageboy hairdo waving. She held her finger out, like a place marker for her turn to talk.
    “Yes, I agree with Helen,” she said. “Mr. President, let’s get this train back on track. The real question is where we go from here.”
    Admiral Patch pulled out the note in his file from Tulrude. He said, “Madam Vice President, it appears that your suggestion is that we tell the American people very little about the incident.”
    “Just what they need to know, Admiral.”
    “So,” Patch continued, “you really think that we should tell them only one missile was fired — the one that downed the Chicago flight — and nothing about the JFK and LAX near misses?”
    “Admiral, that’s what my note said,” Tulrude snapped, pointing toher memo, which was now on the conference table. “Mr. President, we could deep-six the entire airlines industry if this gets out of control. I’ve already given all of you my advice, that we lift the lockdown on commercial flights we imposed when this happened. This nation is tottering on financial catastrophe. Before the missile strikes all but one of the airlines had already gone into bankruptcy, failed to reorganize, and are now under federal control. Our foreign credit is precarious. What we say publicly about these incidents is going to be crucial. And even more importantly, there’s our international partnerships, our new global coalition. There are worldwide values at stake here. The new global society we are trying to build. Peace, gentlemen. Peace.”
    “You know, they used to call this the National Security Council,” Patch growled. “Now it’s sounding like the United Nations glee club.”
    “That’s all, Admiral,” the president responded. “I understand your devotion to national security. Everyone does. But we have to work as a team here.”
    The CIA liaison from the Office of Collection Strategies and Analysis raised his hand. “Mr. President, we have some data.”
    “Let’s hear it.”
    “About the FBI report, the wording, I mean. You heard it in the briefing just now. The statement was that there was an ‘attempt’ to launch a missile at Flight 433. That report implies that the suspects were blown up when the missile, which they tried to launch, somehow detonated in the warehouse before being fired. But we have a visual from the NSA. It picked up what looks like a missile heading toward the 797 jet, but then it does a U-turn in the last third of the flight pattern and heads back to the warehouse where it exploded. Also, in the first interview with the folks in the cockpit, the pilots said that the alarms and the deck screen indicated they were under attack — ”
    “Wait just minute.” Tulrude was waving her hands.
    But the CIA guy plowed ahead. “So it looks as if the RTS, the Return-to-Sender system on Flight 433, successfully turned around the incoming — ”
    “Now you just wait right there,” Tulrude sputtered. “The finalreport, the very last one, says just the opposite. That the cockpit crew renounced their previous statement about the missile alert warnings going off and about some incoming missile. They admit they were mistaken.”
    “Looks like that