Storm Tide Rising: Blackout Volume 2 Read Free Page B

the time. Right now, though, there are a few more pressing matters. There were questions I didn't have the answers to when I wrote the paperwork you're now holding, and some of those answers I have found since."
    Terry turned to the screen as the last stages of the boot process finished. He tapped a few commands on the remote and opened the briefing presentation file. The first slide was a looping video that showed a NORAD tracking map. Four radar tracks rose above an outline of the continental US. At nearly the same instant, they detonated.
    "Almost five days ago," Terry said, "four nuclear-equipped missiles were fired from container ships just off our coast. The missiles climbed, attained an altitude of 250km, and detonated. Judging from satellite telemetry, none of these four warheads was more than a few dozen kilotons, and they were high enough up that there was no physical damage from their detonation. They did put out a large amount of gamma rays for devices of that size and were likely some form of super pulse weapon. The Electromagnetic Pulses created, however, radiated down through the atmosphere and caused an induced current overload that burned out the nation's power production and distribution grid."
    Terry paused and looked at the grave faces staring back at him. "Let me repeat that," he said. "The nation's power grid has taken a direct hit and has been brought down. Roughly two hours after the initial attack, the Russian President, during a live press conference, announced—North Korea as the aggressor."  Terry clicked a button, and the screen changed to a view of Putin's press announcement. "During that live press event, the Russian President declared that Russia would lead the charge to avenge the United States. He then proceeded to launch missiles from mobile road platforms that targeted and destroyed nearly our entire satellite network."
    Terry clicked again, and the screen showed a satellite video image tracking a plume of white smoke that rose and then moved out of the frame of reference. A few seconds later, the image cut off in static. He left the stack playing behind him as he addressed the silent room.
    "Gentlemen, we are under attack," Terry said plainly. "And at the moment, we are losing."
    There was an uncomfortable murmur from the assembled men. They were all highly trained former special operations soldiers and sailors, and they were not accustomed to losing.
    “When this all happened,” Terry continued, “I expected to see Russian Tu-95’s coming over the pole at us. But that never happened. Yesterday morning, my staff succeeded in tapping into the European sat-net and we found out why.”
    Terry clicked his remote control and the screen split into two images. On the right side of the screen was an image of Eastern Europe with Scandinavia on the upper edge of the shot; the left side of the screen showed Western Europe from Portugal to Germany.  Thick columns of cloud covered a good portion of the continent and obscured much of the ground from the satellite’s cameras. There were tiny dots of gray in the Mediterranean and North Seas that looked like ships. Terry used the laser pointer built into the hand remote to highlight two areas in the deep blue waters.
    “These are Russian fleets,” Terry said, “complete with aircraft carriers, heavy missile cruisers, and at least six submarines. The cloud cover you see is actually smoke rising from thirty seven cities across mainland Europe. Shortly after taking out our satellites, the Russians began an aggressive bombardment. Two large EMP’s were detonated above the continent, crippling their infrastructure in much the same way ours was brought down. With the lines of command and communication cut, the Russians seem to have met little resistance.”
    The screen shifted again to show a broad view of China and southeast Asia with Japan on the right edge of the picture. More columns of smoke rose from the areas of South Korea, Vietnam, and along