“All right, kids! Let’s go see if the truck’ll start up!” Dianne walked around the side of the house and shouted at her children on the back porch. They ran after her as she headed down toward the lake, near where one of their barns was located. The tractor was kept in the barn closest to the house while their old truck was kept in the far barn, along with various tools, old clothes, toys and other odds and ends that had been sitting around in the house.
Dianne glanced at the animals as she went along, noting that Mark had taken care of them just as requested. Their pair of horses had been fed and their trough that they shared with the goats had been filled. The chickens, contained in their fenced-in area, were busy pecking at corn that he had thrown out on the ground for them while the trio of cows munched steadily on a freshly tossed bale of hay.
“Nice work, kiddo.” Dianne wrapped her arm around her son and gave him a smile. “Now let’s see if this old truck still works.”
Dianne had the children stand back from the barn entrance just in case what had happened to their newer car had also affected the truck. Fortunately, though, that was not the case. The bright blue 1972 Ford was a thing of beauty. With ample room in the back plus a crew cab, the truck had more than enough room for their entire family. A gift from Dianne’s parents when they first got married, the truck had seen a great deal of use and abuse on the farm before being mostly retired a year back. Rick had the truck detailed and repainted before putting it up in the barn and driving it once a week into work to keep everything running smoothly.
Relieved beyond belief to see the truck in working condition, she grabbed the keys hanging on the wall just inside the barn and threw them to Mark. “You can ride shotgun; Jacob and Josie, I want you two in the back, please. There aren’t booster seats so we’re going to make sure you’re buckled up tight before we get going, okay?”
There was a chorus of grumbled agreements as the three children piled into the truck. Dianne finished sliding open the barn door before walking around the truck, visually inspecting the tires and making sure there was nothing in the back. “All right, you old thing.” Dianne whispered to herself as she climbed in and put the key in the ignition. “Let’s get going.”
The truck roared to life at the turn of the key and Dianne smiled and sighed with relief. “Everybody ready?”
Without waiting for an answer, Dianne glanced at the rearview mirror to make sure Jacob and Josie had their seatbelts on, then threw the truck into gear. She was used to driving an automatic transmission, but had learned how to drive stick years prior, just in case she was ever in a situation where she needed to know how.
The drive up the slope toward the house was bumpy, and Dianne could hear the truck creaking and groaning in protest. After she drove around the house and gave the burned-out hulk in the driveway a wide berth, the ride settled down as she got onto the dirt driveway.
The drive wound through the woods until coming to a metal gate that was erected a hundred feet from the edge of the property. Dianne rolled down the window as she pulled up to the gate, then glanced over at Mark. “Grab the gate, would you?”
Mark hopped out and swung open the gate, pushing it out away from the truck as Dianne rolled through slowly and parked on the other side. As he closed the gate, Dianne leaned out the window and called out to him. “Go ahead and lock it up for me. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”
“Sure thing, mom.” Mark wrapped a length of chain around the gate and a fencepost before securing it with a large padlock hanging from the fence. It was rare that they locked the gate since they were at home most of the time, but Dianne wasn’t sure who might come wandering by while they were out.
After Mark was back in the truck, Dianne pulled forward again until she reached the end of their driveway. The gravel road beyond was a winding one, with the direction to the right leading into town while the other made its way through the country before dead-ending at a state park. Dianne turned right, heading for Ellisville and—hopefully—some answers about what was going on with the car and the phones.
Chapter 4
US Government Facility
One week before the event
“General Davies?”
“What is it, son?”
A young man wearing a hoodie, blue jeans and sneakers runs down the hall after a tall, white-haired man in a military uniform. The hall is well-lit and sparsely decorated, with no view of the outside world. Offices branch off from the main hall, though the walls for all the rooms are transparent, with no curtains or barriers to keep people from seeing in. People work at computers in the offices, some wearing headphones, some working in small groups, others eating while they type with one hand and some pacing the floor only to rush back and type out a few lines of code. The atmosphere is relaxed, though supervisors and managers stalk the hall, keeping close track of the progress of projects.
General Davies stops in the hall and turns. The young man in front of him wears thick-rimmed glasses, he’s slightly overweight and his face is dotted with acne. He takes a couple of deep breaths before talking nervously. He fidgets with his hands and his glasses as he speaks, stuttering and stumbling over his words.
“Sir, you asked me to let you know if there were any intrusions into Damocles.”
General Davies raises an eyebrow. “Were there?”
The young man hesitates. “W-well, sir, there… there may have been.”
The general frowns. “Follow me.”
The pair walk swiftly down the hall until they arrive at one of the lone offices with an opaque door and walls. The general opens the door and walks around to the other side of the desk. “Close the door and sit.” He motions at the young man, who dutifully obeys. “Now,” says the general, “what about Damocles?”
The young man pulls a few pieces of folded paper from his pocket and unfolds them. He clears his throat as he skims their contents before looking back at the general. “This morning at four we picked up an increase in attacks against our Washington facility. It wasn’t directed at the Damocles system, but it was in the same area, so I tagged it for further watch. Just before noon, though, the system started getting flooded by a denial of service attack.”
General Davies raised an eyebrow and stroked his chin. “Who was it from, and what attack were they trying to hide under the denial of service?
“I’m afraid I don’t know who yet, sir. But it was definitely a cover-up. The Damocles security systems triggered ten minutes after the denial of service started, going on high alert and activating the air gap safety systems.”
“So Damocles was brought offline?”
The young man shifts uncomfortably in his chair and shuffles the pages in his hand. “Damocles was brought offline, yes sir.”