Free Fulcrum: V Plague Book 12 by Dirk Patton Page A

have
anti-sat capabilities, correct?”
    “Excuse me sir, but that won’t help,” Jessica interrupted
before West could respond.  “They aren’t connected in or anything. 
They broke in, planted a worm in the software that controls all of our comms,
then got out.  That’s the problem.  The damage is done.  Taking
the satellites out won’t have any impact.”
    “It will keep them from doing it again, once you fix
this.  Right?”
    “Yes, sir.  If I can fix it.”
    Packard looked at her a moment before turning to Captain
West.
    “Issue the orders.  Identify and destroy all of the
legacy FLTSAT birds.”
    “Sorry, sir.  Our remaining ships with anti-satellite
capabilities are too far away to communicate with.  There’s no way to
contact them.”
    The Admiral took a deep breath and turned back to Jessica.
    “Seaman.  How long will it take you to fix this?”
    “I literally just identified the issue, sir.  I don’t
know how deep the worm has gotten.  Our first step is going to be to dump
the entire operating system and restore from the last known good backup.”
    “Will that restore our comms?”
    “Maybe.  Theoretically, yes.  But I’ve seen some
pretty inventive stuff come out of the Russians in the past couple of
years.  However, it’s our first logical step.”
    “Well, by all means, don’t let me delay you further,”
Packard said.  “Captain, I want an hourly status update.  Again,
whatever resources the Seaman needs, she gets.”
    “Yes, sir.  I’m staying by her side,” Captain West
answered.

13
     
    “Road’s blocked!  Stay on my ass!”
    I shouted into the radio as soon as I saw the truck parked
across the pavement.  Cranking the wheel to the right, we went airborne
for a moment when the Humvee blasted over the low berm that bordered the
road.  Dog bounced around the back seat like a ping-pong ball as we came
down and began roaring across the desert.  There were multiple, loud
impacts from bullets striking the vehicle’s armored hide, and I hoped they
didn’t get a lucky shot on a tire.
    “They’re with us!”
    Rachel was twisted around, looking through the rear window
to make sure Long and Sam weren’t being left behind.  That was good, as I
couldn’t take my attention off the terrain.  Thankfully, I was wearing
night vision goggles that let me see as if it were the middle of the day. 
Holes, ravines, large rocks and occasional stunted trees would have caused us a
serious problem if I hadn’t been able to spot them in time.
    The ride was rough, but this was what Hummers were made
for.  I steered at a ninety-degree angle to the highway, heading away from
our ambushers.  Keeping my foot on the floor, the engine roared as I cut
through the sand at 50 miles an hour.  I had no idea who was attacking us,
or why.  Right now, we needed to open some distance.
    “Are they following?”
    I had to shout to be heard over the bellowing engine and
roar of the sand that was being thrown against the undercarriage by the tires.
    “Yes,” Rachel said after a moment.  “But they’re losing
ground.  They can’t keep up.”
    I breathed a small sigh of relief.  There are a handful
of civilian vehicles that can stay with a Hummer across desert terrain, but
there aren’t many.  And they’re pretty damn expensive.  Not that
these guys probably didn’t have their pick of vehicles that had been left
abandoned, but I wasn’t going to complain that we had an edge.  But it
sure would have been nice to have the grenade machine gun I’d used at Offutt
Air Force Base.
    My attention was focused on the ground directly in front of
the vehicle, and on battling the wheel as we jolted across the uneven
desert.  When I looked up, I slammed the brakes on and cut the wheel hard
to the side.  Rachel and Dog were both thrown forward, several
un-lady-like curses, and a couple of yelps, loud in my ear.
    The Hummer came to a stop, dust boiling around us and
obscuring our view.  There