Project Apollo

Chapter 30

"What the hell? My computer froze again!" Porter heard a random voice announce.

"Mine did too!" Over the increased commotion shouted one strong voice.

Porter lifted his eyes to Lukas Zucker's office, overlooking the bullpen. His silhouette looked down on the office, obviously alerted to the program interruption.

"What the hell is going on?!" Rachel Norton walked through the bullpen toward the control room. Porter's eyes followed Rachel as she approached the window and saw a frenzy of clamorous activity behind the glass. The producer on duty shrugged his shoulders and ran a stressed hand through his hair, while the staff behind him inspected every switch and button at the control panel.

Porter continued to spin in his chair and saw that at every angle the studio was in hysteria.

What is going on around here?

And then his eyes fell to something stuck in his CPU. Jutting out of the USB port was the flash drive, given to him by an unknown man, one who carried an eerie feeling with him. Porter's mouth dropped as he began to understand what was happening.

We've just been hacked...It's a hostile take-over.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The PEOC continued its pandemonium as more possible leads surfaced, no matter how desperate they were. Fernandez reviewed the latest reports from regional medical centers.

"There doesn't appear to be any cases yet at any local hospitals..." she reported over the crowd.

"Good!" the President called back. "Check on those reports every half an hour."

Nervous eyes darted across the room, as the individuals in the PEOC wondered if the bacteria had gotten in and if so who was its host. They eyed each other with an uneasy suspicion.

"Marty!" the President called.

"Yes, Mr. President?"

"Get my wife on the phone please," the President directed.

"Yes sir!" The President watched as calls were placed from end to end of the Conference Table. His eyes continued to roam the bunker, reminding himself of the many marching orders given.

NSA is text mining all recent phone calls in the city for any mention of sickness or terrorism, FBI is preparing their emergency Hazmat teams, Military is on stand-by and Sparta is running point in the field...

His thoughts were interrupted by the extended hand of Jacobs, holding a phone for him. As soon as he brought it to his ear, his wife started talking.

"Another stupid lockdown... Don't they know people work around here?" The President smiled at the sound of his wife's voice. She always played coy, cutting the never-ending tension that came with his office.

"We are government employees – no one thinks we work around here..." His wife offered a warm laughter that brought rejuvenation to his spirit. "How are you holding up, Jeanne?"

"I'm doing fine. How are you? Is this a big deal?" she asked, knowing full well that her husband was in the bunker and that the lockdown was coded black.

"No, everyone is fine..."

"Yeah, I know what that means..." the First Lady responded with an accusatory cadence in her voice. The President did not play back with his wife. Rather, he pivoted, as well as any good politician could.

"What are you doing? Your Sudoku puzzles?" he asked.

"No! I left my book in the residence and they won't let me go get it. So, I've been catching up with your Vice President. He's been moved to the Chief of Staff's office, so now it's just me and the staffers watching television. If it was my choice, we'd be watching Days of our Lives, but they insist on watching BNA news... why do we always have to watch the news here?"