Free Carlie Simmons (Book 4): The Gathering Darkness by JT Sawyer Page B

the reason for attack was
two-fold,” continued Duncan. “One was to eliminate any potential security threat
south of the Grand Coulee Dam and the other was to test our tactical response.
I believe they are planning to make a move on the dam.”
    “If they take that facility, won’t they
have control over the existing power grid in the Pacific Northwest?” said Shane,
who was seated at the far end of the table.
    “We are dependent on the dam for much of
our power needs but we already have a unit of troops manning that place,” said
Lavine. The small towns in that region fell long ago and there’s very little
security threat in the immediate area.”
    “If they are planning an assault on the
dam, it’s going to be a major logistical effort, not to mention the time
factor, to move our troops there and set up defensive measures. In years past,
with unlimited air resources and numerous convoys, we could have pulled this
off like clockwork but we just don’t have the manpower, fuel, and helo capabilities.”
    Carlie studied the spiderweb of roads in
that region. “What if we send in small teams along the highways and secondary
roads to take out the bridges?”
    “That’s a good call but once those bridges
are blown then the routes are shut off permanently which will only hamstring us
in the future,” said Duncan. “Before we commit any resources, we need to get
boots on the ground around the prison and gather real-world intel. Our limited
SAT capabilities can only reveal so much and I need to know what we’re up
against.”
    Lavine walked around the front of the room
and looked up at the screen, enhancing the map around the dam, and then back
down to Walla Walla, a hundred and fifty miles to the southeast. “At present, what
do we know about the group at the prison—their numbers, capabilities, and leadership?”
    “Nothing on precise numbers, other than
what we’ve gleaned from Eliza, Mike, and a few other survivors from those
parts,” said Carlie. “Supposedly it’s a few hundred men that roam in small
parties through the tri-state area pillaging and taking captives. Eliza said
that they use the undead in their initial assaults to divide the forces of
small groups before they sweep in with their thugs, probably like what we just
witnessed.”
    “An army of undead troops, how the hell is
that even possible?” said Shane.
    “I took down a mutant that had some kind
of radio collar attached to the back of its neck,” said Carlie. “Must’ve been a
tracking or controlling device so they must have some means of routing the creatures
into an area.”
    Duncan folded his arms and canted his head
up at the map. “I don’t have any specifics on the prison yet. I’ll get someone
going on that. The last person I debriefed who had escaped from that region
mentioned their leader went by the title ‘Colonel.’” He hunched over a laptop
and began pulling up files.
    “I’ll have a satellite image taken of the
area when we can arrange it. We’ve been having significant issues with our
technical SAT-com links on this end,” said Lavine. “They are sure to have a lot
of supplies there that we could use though. Given how many acquisition flights
we’ve been doing for Pavel’s research, we are running low on fuel, which will
greatly hamper sending teams out to gather more research materials. No fuel, no
cure.”
    “I’ve pulled up a roster of some of the prisoners
and their backgrounds. The facial recognition software narrowed it down to a
handful of former army personnel with that rank. There was only one colonel
there.” Duncan flipped to the next slide, which pulled up the convict’s mugshot.
    Lavine shook his head slightly and moved
closer to the image. “Mitchell—Ryan Mitchell.”
    “Wasn’t he the guy who tortured all those
prisoners in Kabul?” said Shane.
    “The one and only—he headed up a
successful covert operation during the early years following 9/11,” replied
Lavine with a deep