Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable

The Country Responds

The President was sitting in his overstuffed leather rocking chair drinking a cup of tea, trying to relax for a short while and take his mind off of the war and all the responsibilities of running the country. He was watching a movie on his tablet, trying to rest and decompress for a couple of hours. The twenty hour days and the pressures of the war were starting to take a toll on his body; he felt every bit his 55 years of age, and then some. The last time his wife saw him, she had a concerned tone in her voice as she cautiously commented, “Honey, you look like you’ve aged ten years in the past three weeks.”

The President’s head slowly drifted down to rest on his left shoulder, and he slipped into a dreamless sleep. Twenty minutes had gone by when Michael Montgomery, the President’s Chief of Staff, and a few other key advisors burst into the office, startling the President. He quickly glared at the intruders.

“Monty — what the…? I had finally fallen asleep. What in the world is so important that you couldn’t even let me get one hour of sleep?” demanded the President, clearly agitated.

“Mr. President, I apologize, but you need to see this immediately,” Monty replied as he quickly turned on the TV and adjusted the volume. As the President wiped his eyes to bring himself back to reality, the images of the damage from the nuclear bomb were being shown by a news drone from a news channel in Newark, NJ. The camera panned from where the Statue of Liberty had been to the astonishing mushroom cloud in the center of the Hudson River. The President gasped, too shocked to comment immediately. The drone continued to pan around, showing the thousands of fires spreading across Upper New York City, Brooklyn and Jersey City. All of lower Manhattan was completely gone, not a single structure was left standing and the damage continued for several kilometers to varying degrees in all directions.

The next camera images were from a news drone that had flown in to the blast zone. The images were horrific. Bodies were strewn across the streets, crumpled against the sides of buildings and generally thrown around like rag dolls. Nearly every building was on fire. Streams of injured people were rushing out of the burning buildings. One injured woman in a business suit was carrying her severed arm with her, probably too delirious to realize that there was no way to reattach her appendage. A mother was seen cradling her young son in her arms, tears streaming down her face… he was obviously dead.

As the President sat there watching the images, he slowly sat forward in his chair in shock… thoughts raced through his mind.

“How could they have gotten a nuclear bomb into New York? What am I to do now?” he wondered.

“Mr. President, if they were able to sneak a nuclear weapon into New York Harbor, they could have smuggled in other bombs the same way,” National Security Advisor Mike Williams said with genuine fear and concern in his voice.

Mike felt like he had completely failed his President and the country. Despite his best efforts to try and protect the country, he had been unsuccessful; a nuclear bomb had destroyed the most iconic American city. Millions of people were either dead or would be dying. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, a fire was lit from the inside. He was determined to not let this happen again. Whatever it took to win this war, he would make it happen.

The President, still reeling from the images being shown on the TV, turned to the Director for Homeland Security and said, “Director Perez, I want every ship and shipping container in our ports searched immediately for a nuke. I do not care how many resources you need, or what needs to happen, get this done yesterday. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mr. President. I will see to it immediately. I’ve already been in contact with the director of FEMA and the Red Cross; both organizations are mobilizing their people to New York as we speak,” responded Director Perez. He was also in shock; as the images of New York continued to play, the sum total of the human tragedy before him was completely overwhelming.

The President’s Chief of Staff turned to Henry and said, “Mr. President, the Secretary of Defense, Secretary Wise, and General Branson are in the Situation Room along with the Joint Chiefs; they are insisting that you join them immediately.”

“Tell them we are on our way,” the President said as he stood up and began to follow Monty into the hall.

As the President walked down the hallway to the Situation Room, his mind was racing with thoughts of what to do next. The President wanted to keep this war conventional; however, he had also warned the Islamic Republic that any further use of nuclear weapons against Israel or the United States would result in an immediate and severe reprisal.

“This war is quickly spiraling out of control,” he thought.

As the President entered the Situation Room, the group lost no time in getting down to business.

“Mr. President, we are still assessing the blast site to determine if it originated from the Islamic Republic,” Eric Clarke said as the President took his seat at the head of the table.

“If this traces back to the Islamic Republic, then I am going to ask for permission to use nuclear weapons,” General Branson asserted, slamming his fist on the table.

“Everyone, calm down,” urged the President. “We are all in a state of shock right now. The last thing we need to do is overreact. I assure you, General, if this traces back to the Islamic Republic, we are going to hit them hard. In the meantime, we need to identify with certainty where this bomb originated from, ensure there are no other immediate nuclear threats, and begin to assist the people of New York and New Jersey.”

The group seemed to take a collective deep breath. The President continued, “In the meantime, General Branson, I want our strategic bombers armed with nukes and ready to get airborne immediately if so ordered. I also want our ballistic missile submarines to move to their global launch sites immediately. We need to be prepared in case this is a coordinated attack.”

“I will send the order out immediately, Sir. We should have some information about the origins of the New York bomb within the hour,” responded General Branson.

Jorge Perez informed the group, “The FEMA Director said they are initiating their contingency plans, establishing dozens of emergency aid camps outside of New York City for people to flee to. However, it will be hours (if not a full day), before their full resources are in place.” The Director of Homeland Security was starting to feel completely overwhelmed in his position. It had been four days since he had slept in his own bed or even seen his wife and kids. Lately, he had been catching cat naps on the couch in his office, running from one disaster to another. Now a nuclear bomb had gone off in New York City… he was at his breaking point. Of course, he could not let his staff or anyone else see that; he needed to be the image of stoic strength. Inside, he just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. He took a deep breath and steadied himself to face the next challenge and ensure his country survived the trials being thrown at it.

Elsewhere throughout the country, the American people had been celebrating the first major victory of the war in Israel when they were suddenly rocked to the core by the images of a mushroom cloud over New York Harbor. People gathered in coffee shops and each other’s homes, silently watching the news and allowing themselves to be overwhelmed by the sheer destruction of New York and Jersey City. Virtually nothing was left standing in lower Manhattan. This was the second time that the World Trade Center had been destroyed. Dozens of skyscrapers and buildings all across the city were on fire, and others had sustained massive damage.

The indomitable spirit of the American people was bruised, but it could not be crushed. Heroes rose up to help those in need. In 2039, the DHS, DoD and FEMA had all planned for several mass casualty scenarios; now those strategies were being put to action. An army of volunteers donned HAZMAT suits and headed towards the blast site. The doctors, nurses and EMTs that arrived triaged the injured and the dead into different levels of required care; the casualties and the wounded were transferred to nearby airports or airfields, and then flown to predetermined hospitals or mortuaries for further care.

The goal was to recover the injured and have them moved to their final triage points within 24 hours, before the HAZMAT suits would need to be cycled out for new ones. This would quickly disperse the wounded away from the epicenter to less overloaded facilities. If this could be accomplished, there was a higher likelihood more individuals could be saved. As aircraft landed in the predetermined cities, hundreds of police, EMTs and firefighters (who had pre-volunteered to assist in a national emergency) would board the aircraft for the return flight where they would be needed most providing an immediate influx of emergency personnel. In the days following the disaster, civilians who had been displaced by the attack would also start to be dispersed to pre-determined refugee centers where they could be housed and taken care of until they could return or leave to stay with family.