Disaster Strikes Home: Book One of the Outline Part Series

By D. W. J. Burke

Following an earthquake that destroys the White House and kills the entire executive branch of government, a news reporter claims, America is under attack. David Leone is a brilliant chemist in Washington, DC. He is the worlds youngest Nobel Prize winner, an honor he won for his work with molecular bonds; he lives a quiet life with his experiments until this so-called attack. Now, he is forced to leave his home as DC tries to recover.

Martial law is declared. General Hugh Freeman of the United States Joint Council is appointed national leader. David is prepared to wait out the Washington evacuations, but he is soon approached by men who need his help. Apparently, the earthquake was no natural disaster. Creatures from the center of the earth have come to claim what they believe is theirs.

Because of Davids knowledge, the government needs him to stop this unforeseen threat. Once a scientist, David is given a gun and expected to become a hero. But the creatures from below are clever. The military cant stop them, so it is up to David to find a way to save mankind, the Earth, and his own faith in the power of science.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781475976267

D. W. J. Burke

D. W. J. Burke is a full-time student at Memorial University in Canada. When not writing novels, he takes part in online storytelling and writes short stories and blogs. He lives with his family in his hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

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Copyright © 2011, 2013 by D. W. J. Burke.

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-7625-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-7627-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-7626-7 (ebk)

iUniverse rev. date: 02/12/2013

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

PROLOGUE

It was 9:00 in the morning when the president of the United States of America received word of a high radioactivity reading in Death Valley, California after a military plane was flying training surveillance in the area and reported system malfunctions. Following this report, the readings were taken and immediately sent to the top levels of government.

Mr. President, I need you to take a look at this immediately. The chief of Staff said to him bringing in a yellow folder with pictures and graphs poking out of the side of it.

The president took the folder and opened it up to view the contents. On top of the neatly stacked papers there was a short, typed report on a small earthquake recorded in the Death Valley region by the United States Geological Survey.

What’s so important about this? I’m fully aware there was a small quake in the desert, I don’t need a brief, and especially considering no one was nearby or received injuries. The president said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

No sir, just keep looking, there’s much more. The Chief of Staff said, trying to sell the president into continuing to read.

He followed instructions and moved the report—which was only 2 pages in length—off to the side. Beneath it were a few black and white photos. One showed a picture of a cliff rock with a split in it starting about halfway up and continuing down and through the ground for a hundred feet or more, it wasn’t clear in the image.

Watching the president’s page choice, the Chief of Staff said, "What you’re looking at now is a rip in the terrain caused from the earthquake; there were a few of these throughout the area. Now that is why I’m here.

The entirety of this report was the result of a military surveillance plane flying a training mission overhead, when the sensor arrays started reporting completely different numbers than expected. Worried about the condition of the systems, the pilots checked the plane’s panels, and noted that over half of the systems on board were reporting impossible numbers. They made an emergency landing at a civilian airstrip and although there was no permanent damage done, teams were sent to investigate this oddity.

As you may know sir, all military planes, since the Cold War, have been protected against electromagnetic field interference as well as most other radioactive elements." Finishing his sentence, the Chief of staff hands the President yet another document detailing the area of the split in the cliff face.

The president looks at the papers and then glances back up. If this is something so urgent, let’s just cut to the chase, shall we?

The radioactive readings were from around this split. It turns out that this is right on top of a huge uranium deposit, so large, and so potent it was more powerful than anything we’ve ever seen before. The U.S.G.S. thinks there could be trillions of dollars’ worth of uranium, or possibly even more precious metals in there.

The Chief of Staff and the president knew that this could mean a re-election. If they could put a trillion dollars, or more, in the bank account of the US, nothing could stop them. The president put down the folder and the papers without looking down; he didn’t break eye contact with the Chief of Staff. His wrinkled face lightened up with a big, white, picture perfect smile.

Are we sure that this is a real deposit and not just some false reading, because that would not help me with an election just around the corner. The president says as the smile disappears from his face. But before an answer is given, a presidential aide walks up to the door of the oval office and informs the president there is a phone call from the geologist Frank Demiterry, of the USGS in California, claiming it is extremely urgent.

Yes, this is the president.

"Good morning sir, I’m sure you have received information that we believe there is a lot of uranium underneath Death Valley. Enough to take this country almost entirely out of debt! Well I just had a positive core sample come back of almost 95% pure uranium, and we believe the deposit is well over a 10 mile radius.

We still don’t know how we managed to miss it and not pick up on some kind of reading, that we are trying to figure out still, however there is some sort of bedrock over it. That could have been what was stopping it from being picked up on before. Look, I’ll cut to the chase, there is so much that needs to be discussed about this and I would like to request a meeting with you in person sometime very soon."

The aide and chief of staff have been listening to the entire call on the speakerphone and they both glance at each other before silently signaling to the president to meet as soon as possible.

If we arrange for a plane to fly you over in 2 hours, can you be on that so we can meet today?

Of course Mr. President, I’ll be there and I look forward to meeting with you.

As do I Frank, This is something that could save America, and bring us to the top, again.

With that the phone call ends and he stands up. The past 2 years have been a living hell for the president, as well as his family and administration. Since he’s come in, the economy has been falling, wars have been raging, extended family members have been dying, and the country is having less and less faith each week in their government.

This could be his ticket to a turnaround for his luck, and it could clear him of all his current worries with finances and possibly return some faith to his government.

It’s hard to believe until it’s your only option, but money can solve everything, at least for me, the president thinks.

Worries about wars, healthcare and all the other problems he’s faced since taking office seem to disappear almost instantly when he hears the news. He can barely contain his excitement and maintain professionalism. Just like every politician though, he knows needs to remain critical to keep a good image and keep the voters happy.

Though one thing that always makes the voters happy is a large surplus of money. If he can pull this off, his approval rating will go through the roof. With the lack of people living in the area, and it being almost desolate, it shouldn’t be a problem to move in and take in no time. There are only birds and cacti out there, the president thinks.

Nothing that we’ll suffer from a little less of.

Thinking politically, he starts creating a plan of attack. If I just make it look friendly, since nothing could happen if they keep safe on the mining site, these deadly rocks will become billions and trillions for our economy. Not one more thing could happen as far as they are concerned.

CHAPTER 1

February 2

My name is David Leone, and this is my story. I live in Washington, DC and it was exactly one year ago today when I discovered a method to transform the molecular bonds, in a way that we have never been able to control, creating things previously impossible. Most people found this hard to believe, but I managed to get one organization to believe in my method, Fornsworth Inc., a small research firm in Virginia.

Four years ago I lost my mother and my father in a deadly car crash, only 2 miles from my house in Baltimore, Maryland, leaving me and my sister alone when I was only 19. I was appointed her legal guardian until she was 18.

I had just begun my chemistry honors thesis, on molecular bonding when my parents were killed. A few months later Fornsworth Inc. came along, after hearing about a theory I was developing. Their owner and funder, a billionaire living in the heart of Virginia gave me a small cash grant of 1.5 million dollars, plus an extra half million a year, to construct my own lab, pending I could turn this theory real. All I had to do was keep researching. With this money, I quit my 3 jobs, dropped out of university, and began working for Fornsworth, and about a year later, I was fully funded, to purchase my own area to call home. So I bought an old building, in DC, built my lab in the basement and rented out the 6 apartments on the floors above. After completing the initial research, there was very little for me to do in the way of working with my theory, and aside from a few new applications I would create with it every few weeks, it led dormant.

Before Fornsworth funded my project, I was working on campus, working at my parents’ old store, and doing tutoring on the side, just to try and break even. With the money they gave, I closed my parents’ store and moved it with us to DC, as part of their memory, and I still do what I can to keep it open whenever I can, but that usually consists of 9-5 Monday to Friday, and sometimes Saturdays.

Just six months ago, I was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the work I had done, and in addition to the initial work I was doing to keep my funding flowing, I was now expected to go even further, and cure every disease on this planet.

Now my sister, Janie, and I live happily here. When not tending the store, I am working hard away at my pet project. I had to reduce the hours to about 40 a week so that I could attend my projects as well.

You are reading this because I have decided to make a journal following my endeavors, as my investors are coming in 2 weeks and I want to record every moment of what I believe will be humanity’s biggest change. I was told that although my ideas are great, they are useless if I don’t produce. Lucky for me however, I recently made a major breakthrough allowing me complete control of anything I wanted. Before, I only could change the bonding properties, but now, I can almost play god. I would need another million dollars to make this idea from just a prototype blueprint to a working design, but for now, I at least have something to show them.

David, come on, I’ve got to be to school in an hour, hurry up! The text on my phone from Janie reads.

I pick up my cup of coffee, lay down the blue prints and walk upstairs to our apartment, seeing Janie almost ready to go, cell phone in hand.

Yeah, yeah, hold on a minute, I’m on the way to another breakthrough. Although the world may view my work as miracles, to Janie, it’s just another thing her big brother does, and it doesn’t amaze her anymore.

Whatever, just hurry up, I’m meeting Ja—, I mean… She stops herself.

Oh, okay, so Jake is the unlucky guy! I say, with only a hint of sarcasm in my voice. She has had a friend Jake for a while and recently, she has been spending much more time with him, so I put two and two together. Well lets BOTH go meet him! I say with no actual desire to meet her new boyfriend, but I enjoy teasing her.

Although technically, I do play the parental role in our relationship, I don’t want to be a dad, and instead, I’d just rather be her brother. She’s a smart girl, she’s sensible, and despite her raging hormones, I do still trust her.

When I make the comment about her new boyfriend, she immediately gets flustered. This look is even more exaggerated on her, as it stands out against her platinum blonde hair, and her steel blue eyes.