The Sand (Ohm Symbol) Project: Book One of the Citfis Series

By E.L.I. Whitney

For over a hundred years, the world has been at war with terrorism. During the early part of the 21st century, a select group of radical Muslim countries from the Middle East has formed an Alliance. This Alliance has but a single goal in mind: to eliminate the Infidels of the world by any means-every last man, woman and child.
But the world has been brought to its knee's after the detonation of three large nuclear devices by terrorists from the Alliance: three capitals-three governments: wiped off the face of the planet.
A secret organization known to but a few as "The Order" has vowed to fight the final battle to eradicate the terrorist issue by the Alliance once and for all. These countries leaders have forged a new pact and are preparing to fight back with the most deadly virus mankind has ever seen, a special virus, one that has been groomed to kill the enemy!
While on mission, operative Commander DC Rhodes comes across physical evidence that leads to the re-cultured and enhanced WWII virus that has just been used on a major Asian city by the Alliance. After recovery of the remaining Nazi canisters from a remote mountaintop lake in the Swiss Alps, DC and his team are ordered by the American President and Chairmember of "The Order" to provide security of the canisters while enroute to the highly modernized top secret labs at South Pole Station and Russias Vostok Station on the Antarctic peninsula while he and his team are absorbed under The Orders wing.
As the Alliance unfolds its final plans to once and for all remove its enemies from the world; DC and his team are thrust into action to counter the world-wide threats as the virus they are escorting could be the worlds undoing as the use of this mutated virus could put the human race on the brink of a world-wide extinction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 2, 2009
• ISBN: 9781467056434

E.L.I. Whitney

The Author grew up on science fiction, treasure hunting and a mind for story telling. David now a disabled navy veteran and former law enforcement officer, he has had numerous articles published by Western & Eastern Treasures Magazine; and has currently written 7 novels, four of which have been self-published: Fiction: -The Crater ISBN 1-4208-2831-2 (Published by AuthorHouse Feb 2005) and critiqued by one of my favorite authors Douglas Preston: (Douglas Preston wrote: “Fascinating, heart-pounding…I loved it” –-Douglas Preston, author of Tyrannosaur Canyon and The Codex, Co-Author of Brimstone and Relic with Lincoln Child.), -DemeTdron ISBN 1-4241-1436-5 (PublishAmerica January 2006) -Underground ISBN 1-4241-2614-2 (PublishAmerica Feb 2007) -Mosasaur, the Return ISBN 1-4389-2597-4 (AuthorHouse February 09) -The Sand ? Project as E.L.I. Whitney, ISBN 1-4389-4165-3 (AuthorHouse August 09) -Wheeler 'Wakina - Cetan' - Thunder Hawk Non-Fiction: -Homesteads, A Relic Hunters Quest) self published 2001, Holt Publications. Short Stories: -Widow’s Mite -I have a Dream -Legend of the Bardin Booger -The Grey Rider -The War Continues -Brandy Station, a Civil War Ghost Story -The Hollow -The Vault -The Ghost Ship of Dunn’s Creek -W the Wizard Series, Volume 1, Volume 2 David is now currently working novel provisionally titled “Ring of Fire” . David lives near Welaka Florida, where he spends his time writing his books and short stories. David is available for book signings, interviews or lectures and you may reach him by writing or by email. Be sure to visit his website www.daviddholt.com for more information and to keep up with news of the Author. David D. Holt [e-mail]

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The Sand Project

SKU-000256761_Text.pdf

E.L.I. Whitney

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used ficticiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

© 2008 E.L.I. Whitney. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 8/20/2009

ISBN: 978-1-4389-4165-3 (sc)

ISBN: 9781467056434 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

Cover Illustration by:

Amanda Maskell

Contents

1   

2   

3   

4   

5   

6   

7   

8   

9   

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

Epilogue

About the Author

Books by David D. Holt

The Mosasaur Series

Mosasaur, the Return

The Crater, Seven Days of Terror in Putnam County

Other Works of Fiction

Underground

DemeTdron

Non-Fiction

Homesteads, a Relic Hunters Quest

Books as E.L.I. Whitney

The CitFis SKU-000256761_Text.pdf Series

The Sand SKU-000256761_Text.pdf Project

The Tenochtitlan Affair (coming 2011)

Short Stories by the Author

Widow’s Mite

I have a Dream

Legend of the Bardin Booger (formerly titled The Curse of the Bardin Booger)

The Grey Rider

The War Continues

Brandy Station, a Civil War Ghost Story

The Hollow

The Vault

The Ghost Ship of Dunn’s Creek

Goliath

The Robber

W – The Wizard Series, Volume 1

Six Roads, Volume 1

In the A.M. When it’s Dark: It’s Dark…A Collection of Short Stories

(Coming Winter/Spring 2010)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

To those people who have helped me with the technical areas of this book and to those for the ideas and moral support.

My Wife, Terry

My Sons, LJ & Josh

My Daughter, Beka

My Dad, Lonnie

Mr. Dan Siecker (retired FAA)

And of course-The Internet

I would like to extend applause for the artwork of Ms. Amanda Maskell whose artwork for this novel is totally awesome!

A very special Tribute goes out to my editor who passed away shortly after completing the editing of this manuscript:

Mr. Joseph Jordan

And last, my readers, I thank you for your commitment to reading and for your support in my continued endeavors; as my writing grows, I hope you will stick with me as I have so much fun writing the stories I like to tell.

Again, thank you.

For more information on the author’s work, please visit his website:

www.daviddholt.com

This Page In Memory of

Robert Joseph Jordan

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April 30, 1935 - October 24, 2008

Editor Emeritus, the Mirror Magazine

Former Vice President, Publications

The National Association of State Farm Agents

Editing this book was Joe’s last contribution to literature. He was a well published writer himself and had been editor of The Mirror Magazine for a few years following his retirement from a successful insurance career.

When David put the word out he was in need of an editor, Joe jumped into action. His body may have been failing but his mind was not only intact but still racing 90 MPH.

The last few months of his life he was bed-bound and would put David’s work on his table and pour over it with red pencil in hand. He enjoyed David’s imagination but Joe was a real stickler for language, grammar and spelling. I imagine David dreaded to see some of the well marked pages returned to him.

But as I read the edited work I realized Joe and David were a good combination.

Joe died of ALS a few weeks following sending David his last edited pages. I am in hopes this will be a well- read novel and much appreciated not only for its imaginative words but for its careful editing.

Sincerely,

Shirley Jordan, Joseph Jordan’s wife for nearly 57 years

A word from the Author

I would like to take a moment to explain that even though most of the violent events portrayed within the pages of this book are purely a result of my imagination, a lot of time, effort and research have gone into the creation of this book to make it as realistic as possible. I was overwhelmed during my research efforts on Islamic terrorism, and its affects truly shook me at an emotional level. There are quick references to acts of documented terrorism within the pages of this book, but only to the extent they help to build the plot and help reveal the lasting effects of terrorism upon our world.

I had to overcome my own feelings of fear and despair to complete this book and I know, with a growing trepidation, the events portrayed could possibly happen in the future as the technology of our world advances and becomes available to everyone. It is my hope that, with this book, the peoples of this world will read its hidden message and continue to take the utmost care not to allow weapons of mass destruction to fall into the hands of terrorists or countries known to have aided terrorists; including those men and women who hide behind the persona of political office while secretly sharing their bed with terrorism.

But first, I must take you back to the final days of the Second World War where Hitler’s inner circle, his closet Generals and aids, Himmler, Goering and Goebbels would mark out their own domains of arbitrary power as they followed Hitler’s last orders prior to his last cowardly act of suicide as to where they had been over the war years, secretly developing weapons of biological terror to counter the Jewish Question and the Allied advance and to the misguided hopes to save Germany.

Terrorism today had thus been born unknowingly…many years before.

Glossary

Definition of a terrorist today in the year 2006:

One that engages in acts or an act of terrorism. adj : characteristic of someone who employs terrorism (especially as a political weapon); terrorist activity; terrorist state n : a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities.

Definition of a terrorist of the future in the year 2050:

A man, woman or child using their religious or other beliefs, who engages in acts or an act of terrorism and who come from known terrorist countries around the world. Terrorism is a characteristic of one who employs terrorism through any means that results in death in mass numbers or the breakdown of social services worldwide. The systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population through death or destruction, or the threat of death or destruction, of the population or environment by states, groups, or individuals in order to intimidate or to coerce governments or civilians.

The Alliance:

A group of radical Arabic Muslim extremist Middle Eastern countries who have over a period of years eliminated all non-Arabic Muslims within the borders of the twelve countries that form the core of the Alliance during the first quarter of the 21st century.

The Alliance’s Mission Preamble 2050:

Allah has commanded, in order to enter heaven, you are to purge the world of all Infidels, to believe in the fact that paradise awaits you, the women of our enemy await you as your servants & slaves as you complete your holy mission for the Alliance; know that the gardens of paradise are waiting for you in all their beauty. There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is His messenger; remember your Islamic history, death to the Infidels!

Model of an Alliance Terrorist:

An Alliance terrorist is a man, woman or child who has been brought up under the strict teachings of Islam, those teachings having begun during early childhood. Children who were taught to hate all Infidels (Infidels are considered to be all humans who are of a non-Arabic Muslim origin) and to kill all Infidels using weapons and explosives, taught to use computers, taught to infiltrate the enemy, to give themselves to Allah and to carry on in their training until they are called upon to execute a mission whose parameters will include an act of predetermined terror.

Islamic Jihad: A Muslim holy war or spiritual struggle against infidels of the world. An Islamic terror campaign against nonbelievers of Islam. A campaign waged by Arabic Muslims who are carrying out the words of Allah in defense of the Islamic faith against individuals, organizations, or countries regarded as hostile to Islam by any means. During the mid-1900s any of several Muslim extremist organizations in the Middle East and the war they wage against perceived threats to the Islamic religion.

Muslim 

1615 (n.), 1777 (adj.), from Arabic muslim one who submits (to the faith), from root of alsama he resigned. Related to Islam (q.v.).

jihad [(ji-hahd, ji-had)]

In Islam, a holy war; a war ordained by God. The Koran teaches that soldiers who die in jihad go to heaven immediately.

Islam

A religion, founded by Muhammad, whose members worship the one God of Jews and Christians (God is called Allah in Arabic) and follow the teachings of the Koran. Islam means submission to the will of God; adherents of Islam are called Muslims. The fundamental belief of Islam is There is only one God, and Muhammad is his prophet.

Muslims are obliged to pray five times a day, to fast in the daytime during the holy month of Ramadan, to abstain from pork and alcohol, and to make gifts to the poor. All of them are expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, Muhammad’s birthplace, at least once in their lives.

Unbelievers/Infidels: somebody who has no belief in the religion of the Islamic speaker or writer of Islam.

Koran/Quran: the bible of Islam. The sacred text of Islam, divided into 114 chapters, or suras: revered as the word of God, dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel, and accepted as the foundation of Islamic law, religion, culture, and politics. The sacred text of Islam, considered by Muslims to contain the revelations of God to Muhammad. Also called Alcoran.

In the Koran/Quran, Jesus Christ is portrayed as a prophet, a mortal man-not a God or the Son of God.

Consider the following quotes taken directly from The Koran:

p. 2 of introduction (Islamic view of Jews & Christians) The Koran accuses the Jews of corrupting the Scriptures and the Christians of worshipping Jesus as the Son of God, although He had expressly commanded them to worship none but Him.

Sura 5:51 (No friendship with Jews or Christians) Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. They are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship shall become one of their number. God does not guide the wrongdoers.

Sura 9:73 (Make war on unbelievers) Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate.

Sura 9:5 (Slay the idolators/unbelievers) When the sacred months are over slay the idolators wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them.

Sura 5:33-34 (Enemies should be slain or crucified) Those that make war against God (Allah) and His apostle (Muhammad) and spread disorder in the land shall be slain or crucified or have their hands and feet cut off on alternate sides, or be banished from the land.

Sura 47:3-6 (Behead the enemy) This, because the unbelievers follow falsehood, while the faithful follow the truth from their Lord. Thus God lays down for mankind their rules of conduct. When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly. Then grant them their freedom or take a ransom from them, until War shall lay down her burdens. Thus shall you do. Had God willed, He could Himself have punished them; [but He has ordained it thus] that He may test you, the one by the other.

Sura 4:99 (Special reward for aggressive martyrs) He that leaves his home in the cause of God shall find many a refuge in the land and great abundance. He that leaves his dwelling to fight for God and His apostle and is then overtaken by death shall be recompensed by God. Surely God is forgiving and merciful.

Sura 22:57 (Eternal punishment for unbelievers) Those that have embraced the true Faith and done good works shall enter the gardens of delight; but the unbelievers who have denied Our revelations shall receive an ignominious punishment.

Having said this, we must nevertheless be aware of the fact that Islam has historically been a bloody religion. This is partly due to the strong influence of violent secret societies in Islamic culture and the wide acceptance of peripheral religious writings that promise a better place in paradise – including a harem of 72 virgins – for those men who die while taking the lives of unbelievers. It is also due to Islam’s holiest book, The Koran, which is militant in its views toward Christians and Jews.

Many Muslims in the United States have probably never read all of The Koran or, at least, do not take all of its decrees literally. The problem is, if they keep their innermost beliefs to themselves, how do we distinguish those Muslims who accept all of The Koran’s teachings from those who do not. If only one in a thousand were willing to kill for their faith we could be in serious trouble. For that, we should not be surprised if there are hundreds, if not thousands, of potential Islamic terrorists in this country at this very moment…not a pleasant thought!

Our elected leaders and our law enforcement community will need great wisdom and discernment to deal with this delicate situation. How does one protect peace-loving Muslims while punishing those who approve of terrorism, if one cannot tell the difference?

Prologue

May 1, 1945

Most of the Jewish scientists that remained under German control had been executed by Hitler’s Schutzstaffel (SS), orders from Hitler that Himmler himself, to those who believed, had carried out in person. As the Allies advanced on the outer fringes of Berlin, the Nazi regime was nearing collapse. Just two weeks ago, while the Allies were advancing on Berlin, Hitler gave orders to his remaining loyal staff to destroy all records, to hide and seal all German technology and to plan a counter offensive guerilla war from Kehlsteinhaus (The Kehlsteinhaus was one of Adolf Hitler’s homes in the German Alps near the town of Berchtesgaden).

As German SS officers destroyed remaining records and technology throughout the realm of the Nazi Empire, Himmler visited only one of many top secret underground laboratories’s where massive strides in biological warfare had taken place.

The lab was deep inside the Kehlstein Mountain underneath one of Hitler’s palaces known to the world as the Eagles Nest. This lab had been carved out of solid rock over a ten year period just after Hitler came to power early in the 1930s. By the war’s end, this secret lab was host to the most deadly bio toxins mankind had thus far developed.

On this day, General Heinrich Himmler, serving as Hitler’s Reichsfuhrer, the Commanding General of the SS, head of both the Gestapo and the Waffen-SS and Minister of the Interior, arrived at the lab deep underneath within Kehlstein where he quickly took control of the mountain and his detachment of SS stationed there.

Upon exiting the lead vehicle, Himmler walked up and entered the tunnel that would lead him to the plush gold-plated elevator would take him up to Hitler’s mountain-top retreat. But before he entered the tunnel, he turned and noticed that the sky was full of dark clouds, the leading edge of the last of the winter snow would soon hit the area. The wind was already picking up making the mercury drop to below freezing, sending dust from the road into the air in advance of the incoming storm.

He nodded to SS Standartenfuhrer (Colonel) Heiden as he entered the short tunnel leading to the elevator and the top. The colonel followed behind as General Himmler and his aides approached the elevators control panel.

Taking a key from his pocket, Himmler inserted it into the panel and turned it counterclockwise, activating the mechanism within.

They stood and watched as the elevator rose fifteen feet in the air, revealing a large two foot thick steel door embedded into the surrounding rock behind where the elevator had been.

Another key pad materialized on the far wall where the elevator had previously blocked it. Taking the same key and inserting it, Himmler turned it clockwise.

Next to be heard was the steel bolts withdrawing from the heavy steel door, then a loud hiss as escaping air could be heard as the vacuum from behind the closed door was breached.

The heavy steel door swung open slowly due to its extreme weight and the massive pulley and gear system that operated the door.

A lighted hallway could be seen to materialize on the other side of the door. Stationed about where several SS with Mpi-40 Machine-Pistols who sprang to attention at the sight of Commanding SS General Himmler as he came through the door.

Inside, the massive door began closing, locking Himmler within as he strolled down the corridor followed by Colonel Heiden and his staff as the group proceeded to a small conference room on the first floor of this hidden complex.

Another door was being held ajar as Himmler and his entourage approached and quickly entered. Seats were quickly filled and the meeting began.

Colonel Heiden, has everything been prepared in accordance with my orders?

Yes Reichsfuhrer, all lab equipment, samples, stockpiles and papers have been destroyed per your orders with exception to VFX-486 and all civilian scientists are contained within their residences under guard, Colonel Heiden said, informing his superior who stared at him from across the small conference table.

Good, good. Their sacrifice to the testing of VFX-486 will aid the Fuhrer and the Third Reich. Lock it down…evacuate your men and disperse a single canister of the 486. No one is to escape. Understood Colonel?

Yes sir, Colonel Heiden replied, thinking to himself how fortunate he was to be a German. Otherwise he could be facing the most horrible death he knew was coming to the fourteen scientists. He remembered the effects of the 486 nerve gas that was tested on live human subjects just last week…ten Jewish prisoners that were headed to the nearby concentration camps in Poland when they were rerouted to the lab.

It sent shivers down his spine. He had never seen a death so grotesque and painful as what he had witnessed. The bloating live body with a rancid smell of liquid feces, the puffy veins that leaked blood, the screaming, the skin turning black, the eye’s melting along with the internal organs that began to liquefy. And they had been exposed to only a pin-head drop of the deadly virus just six hours prior, the Colonel thought.

Have your men transfer the remaining VFX-486 and all related documents to my vehicle for transport to another facility where the 486 will be assembled into aerial bombs. Then close this facility down, leave no evidence that this lab was here and report to headquarters for another assignment, replied Himmler as he got up to leave.

Yes sir, right away, came the stammered reply from Colonel Heiden as he couldn’t believe what was happening: first the scientists and then the facility? Colonel Heiden was in a way glad that all during the war he had been stationed here; he had not had a hand in the extermination of Jews. He had not wanted to use live human subjects for the tests, but he was following orders then just as he was now.

As Himmler exited the door, he had thought of taking one last tour of the facility but changed his mind; the sooner this nightmare was covered up the better, for he knew the war was possibly lost, especially since his most beloved Fuhrer had committed suicide the day before. The Allies were closing in, and he knew it was a matter of time before the main army surrendered and the war would be over.

Then the trials would come, his only chance was to exact a major blow to the allies and if this worked, then he wouldn’t have to make a run for it. His answer was the highly dangerous biological nerve agent VFX-486. If he could get it assembled into several aerial bombs and drop them into the midst of the Allied advance and as far as Germany goes, he might be able to turn the tide of the war with himself as Fuhrer.

A small detachment of SS soldiers followed Himmler, carrying four crates, each crate contained twelve of the deadly canisters of VFX-486, and another two crates containing the 486 records, to the waiting truck while Colonel Heiden had his men rigged explosives inside the lab’s entry way and the tunnel leading to the elevator. Explosives were also set up high in the elevator shaft, effectively sealing off access to the lab from underneath the mountain top retreat.

While Colonel Heiden was working on delivering the single canister of VFX-486 to kill the remaining scientists per orders, three scientists, who had been kidnapped and brought to this underground facility four years ago, had secretly dug a small tunnel through a fissure in the rock wall behind a storage cabinet in their room, through which they were now escaping.

Vladimir knew something was up when latest reports of allied advance brought the prospect of nazi defeat closer and closer. But when the colonel had suddenly ordered all specimens to be destroyed except for the VFX-486 and all records burned yesterday, he knew something was up, and with the attitude of the SS toward them, he knew that their lives were in peril.

It had taken nearly two years for him and his two roommates to widen the fissure in the rock wall enough to escape. Having completed the escape route only three weeks ago, they were waiting, waiting for the appropriate time to escape with as many of the civilian scientists as possible. But that was impossible now.

Since yesterday, Vladimir and his room mates noticed the increased foot traffic outside their locked door, they could tell the SS division was up to something as they heard boisterous laughter among the SS; they occasionally heard conversation relating to them and what was to become of them.

From what they could discern, the SS was packing up and getting ready to vacate. They overheard the Sergeants telling one of the privates that by tomorrow the facility would be eradicated.

Vladimir knew that the end was coming and that they were all marked for death. Convincing his two comrades they should leave now, they made their escape just as Colonel Heiden set the small canister for dispersal by a timer within the forced air vent.

Vladimir knew someone had to live to tell the Allies what had happened here, what had gone on, what kind of work they were forced to do.

Crawling ahead of the other two, Vladimir reached the end of the widened fissure where an opening was revealed on the side of the cliff, facing the north. Using the bed sheets that had been ripped and twisted into thin knotted rope, he dropped it over the side and let it fall. Seconds later, Alexander reached him as he swung his legs over the side and descended down the cliff’s face to the sloping ground thirty feet below.

Alexander followed Vladimir next, the twisted bed sheets began rubbing against the raw rock facing as he climbed down.

Pritraj was last, quickly climbing down, he was near the bottom when the makeshift rope was severed from the back and forth action against the sharp rock, but luckily for him, he fell only ten feet down.

They took off at a slow run through the trees, heading north under cloud cover and an approaching storm; they ran, away from their captors who had held them for so long and forced them to work for the German Third Reich.

Vladimir had to reach the Allied Advance, to warn the British and the Americans of what he had done. Vladimir needed desperately to atone for the work he had been forced to do in order to survive. On and on he ran, away from the devil’s grasp.

• • •

The armed convoy left, carrying its deadly cargo for the hidden airfield just twelve miles away, perched between two mountains. There, Himmler had detained a small bomber task force on standby for nearly two months. The German Junkers Ju 52 bombers, with a wingspan of 95 feet and a maximum cruising speed of 165 mph, are crewed with two pilots and one radioman and one navigator. Each Junker comes complete with two 7.92 mm MG 15 machine guns, one 13 mm MG 131 machine gun in a dorsal position and can carry either 1000 pounds of bombs, including aerial bombs, or 18 troops. The engines contained 3× BMW 132T radial engines, 533 kW (715 hp) each, both of which sat poised for a mission that was now coming toward them, the pilots and ground crew had prepared the two planes, keeping up the maintenance and ensuring everything worked smoothly.

The pilots were in the dark as to what the specifics of their upcoming mission entailed, including the cargo they were carrying. General Himmler had ensured complete and total secrecy regarding the 486 and its final destination.

The convoy, having had no contact with enemy forces on the drive over, approached the closed hangers after being waved through the small airport’s security detachment of SS heading to where the hangers sheltered the bombers as they awaited their deadly payloads.

Himmler got out of the lead vehicle as it stopped, noticing the cloud cover overhead and the dropping temperatures, a sign that a major last winter snow storm was headed their way. He quickly shouted out orders for the four crates to be unloaded and taken inside where a special detachment of ordnance crew awaited the deadly cargo.

The approaching storm was dumping a record sixteen inches of snow as it came out of the north, the mercury dropping below 40 Celsius.

In four hours, the twenty-four one liter aluminum canisters of VFX-486 were loaded into aerial dispersal bombs, twelve for each plane, the remaining canisters secured in wooden crates and divided evenly between the two bombers, with the extra canisters being held in reserve for another mission.

It was at this point that Himmler briefed the pilots on their mission and what they were carrying, their last strike would save Germany and end the war in their favor.

As each plane was loaded with twelve aerial dispersal bombs filled with the 486 and two wooden crates containing canisters of the deadly VFX-486 nerve agent to be dispersed in the air manually, other crews where clearing the long seven hundred foot runway of snow in the approaching hours of midnight. Each plane was fully fueled, manned and ready, sitting on the tarmac waiting for the orders to liftoff. Each pilot and navigator peered over their routes, which were marked in red indicating the drop zones where the Allied Advance was now bivouacked just twenty-five miles from their position due to the incoming storm.

As Himmler gave the order to proceed, the approaching storm intensified. The snow fell, making visibility nearly zero, but with the future of Germany at stake, the pilots and crew carried on.

Both the bombers increased their engine’s rpms to allow their heavily loaded plane the ability to liftoff.

Himmler and his staff stood there unable to watch as the two planes lifted off. Visibility was barely fifty feet due to the runway lighting. Eventually as the seconds passed, they relied on their hearing as the two planes lifted off on their separate missions.

Unfortunately, shortly after takeoff one of the planes had developed a small fuel leak in the engine due to a rotted fuel line and caught fire. The pilots, panicky as they were, were in a extremely dangerous situation as they were flying in the thickest snow storm they’d ever encountered. Had it not been for the desperation of this mission, it would have waited until after the storm had passed to proceed.

As the pilot was considering shutting down the engine and thinking of how far he could proceed with the mission with just two engines and a heavy bomb load, that thought was accompanied by the importance of the mission. Just as he was pushing the toggle switch to shut off the engine, an explosion was heard as well as felt, and looking over where the engine should be, the pilots face was wrought with fear at the loss of more than half of his right wing.

Looking at the altimeter, the pilot cursed as the heavy laden bomber plummeted toward the ground that was rising with sickening speed. He did not know he was already off course when the explosion took place, taking the plane further from its intended target on the outskirts of Berlin.

Knowing they did not have the altitude to release their payload, he silently prayed in the precious few seconds he had left, as the plane dived to the ground. The expression he witnessed on his co-pilot’s face betrayed his own fear of dying.

The resulting explosion as the plane crashed into the buildings below escalated into a fiery hell as the munitions factory exploded with such a force it could be felt by ground tremors as the shock waves spread over the frozen landscape for nearly fifty miles in every direction.

The snow was so thick that visibility to the fire was zero, a roaring concussion of explosions rocked the area as the fires escalated from one building to the next. The pilots were killed instantly as well as hundreds of Germans and Jews who were working in the munitions plant.

The resulting fires from the impact and the explosions consumed the deadly viral payload. Fires around the planes impact site roasted with temperatures near ten thousand degrees as they were fueled with munitions, fuel, and various chemicals. Investigations by the Allied advance in the months to come would study what had happened, leading to further development of weapons that would be seen in wars to come. Fortunately this night, the world would never know how close to extinction it had come had the virus been disposed in the manner set by Himmler.

With radio silence in effect, Himmler and the other plane had not known their counterpart’s fate as they flew onward into the snowy night.

Fortunately for mankind and the Allied Advance, the second plane was having grave difficulty as they tried to fly in the worst blizzard to ever hit the area.

It was as if God was on the side of the Allied Advance, and the potential victims of the world, for the second plane also was off course due to faulty instrumentation in the cockpit.

Their radio had shorted