rifle. He fired his rounds into the ground just in front of the crowd, moving them back with each volley. His Seal teams did the same. The noise was incredible. An Apache helicopter appeared overhead and fired its electronic machine gun in front of a local news helicopter as a warning shot scattering everyone backwards. The Seal team methodically moved the crowd back until Morris was satisfied a two hundred yard barrier was established. The Seal team placed wooden barriers on the spot. He took out his bullhorn and spoke to the assembled crowd.
“This barrier is in place for a reason, you have trespassed on a highly secured military installation. Anyone crossing this barrier from this date forward will have entered an authorized kill zone, and you will be shot dead on the spot, no questions asked. General Hanken is in the process of contacting the major news outlets to set up an interview. The interview will be pooled nationally and internationally. All of you news media people are asked to leave this area immediately. If your presence creates a threat to the safety of civilians or the orderly operation of this facility you will be fired upon with deadly force. Now leave this area and clear the road for normal traffic,” Morris put down the bullhorn.
One of the TV satellite trucks pushed forward knocking over one of the barriers, Morris ordered his Seal teams to disable the vehicle, not the driver. They opened up on the truck with a barrage of volleys and literally took off the front of the truck, blew the satellite dish off of the roof, and shot out all the tires. That did the trick; there was a hasty retreat by all concerned in fear for their lives. Within thirty minutes the road was completely clear of all vehicles and all the news helicopters made a quick exit once the Apache helicopters made their presence known. Morris posted six Seals at the barriers with orders to shoot anyone trying to cross into the kill zone. The real fireworks were about to go off the next day when Alex would be introduced to the American people.
Chapter 7
Alex Addresses the Nation
Sandi called the New York office of the ABC network and asked to speak to the editor in charge of network news.
“Ma’am the network managers are not taking any calls at this time,” she said.
“Young lady you tell them that Dr. Sandra Chenowith, the Chief of Staff for General Alex Hanken, is on the line. If they want to get an interview with him tomorrow they better snap to,” Sandi stretched the truth a little.
“Uh, just one moment ma’am.”
“Ma’am I have Carol Downey our evening news anchor on the line, go ahead Ms. Downey.”
“Dr. Chenowith, how can I be assured this is not some prank?”
“Ms. Downey as we speak General Hanken is dispatching Apache helicopters to fend off your local affiliate helicopters that are violating restricted airspace. There appears to be a near mob scene at the front gate. I would suggest you contact your affiliates, warn them he will not condone such activity. Now, Alex has agreed to an interview tomorrow at ten a.m. here at Peterson Air Force Base. He asked me to inform you this will not be an exclusive interview for only your network. Secondly, this will be a pooled broadcast for national and international viewers. You should plan on bringing the necessary equipment to conduct such an interview and the subsequent broadcast. We will be extending the same invitation to CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox News, the interview will last one and a half hours. There are to be no questions about General Hanken personally, or his family. I suggest you wait about a half hour then contact your network colleagues at the stations I just mentioned to coordinate this interview. Call us back at the following number; give us the names of the people from your network who will be attending. Please limit it to technicians and your moderator only. Make sure when they arrive they have adequate credentials to identify themselves. In addition, you should plan to arrive with sufficient time to set up your broadcast equipment and be ready for the ten a.m. time slot. Do you have any questions?”
“No, Dr. Chenowith, I will get on this immediately,” Downey replied.
Cynthia and Liz listened in on Sandi’s call. They went about the task of calling the other networks to be invited. It took about forty-five minutes to accomplish what Alex had requested.
The four networks became a frenetic scene of activity, people shouting at each other; take this, don’t forget that, get the private jet ready, start the satellite trucks rolling out of Denver. Get copy editors together on the questions. We need tape of Desert Storm, the A-10 Thunderbolt he flew. What about testimonials? Find the people he served with, ten thousand dollars for a five minute testimonial, yelled a network executive. What about the music montage, graphics, get graphics on this now? It was pure bedlam in New York, people were called out of their beds, contacted at restaurants, text messages flew around wireless networks at astonishing speeds, the entire news network of America was on full alert and in motion for what might turn out to be the interview of the century. Make-up artists and hair stylists were jetted to Colorado Springs; camera, lighting, recording, and audio techs, and their massive equipment loads, were put on leased cargo planes and headed to Colorado Springs as well.
Private jets were streaking their way west with network interviewers on board, rewriting their questions again and again, as they flew toward this much anticipated interviewt. The networks appointed the following to conduct the interview: NBC was sending George Neff, CBS, Tom Azner; ABC, Carol Downey; CNN, Lester Keller; and Fox News, John Vanity.
A list of over four hundred names was provided to Sandi who would somehow be involved in the production. Sandi informed Alex they would probably start showing up around five a.m. the next morning. Alex asked Sandi to contact the mess hall and have them prepare a huge spread of breakfast items and juices for the expected crowd. Alex instructed Commander Morris, agents Somers and Evans, to head up security, establish a checkpoint at the gate to verify the names on Sandi’s list. No one else would be allowed in. All incoming guests were to be afforded the best of courtesy, but they would be restricted to the base media center and not allowed to wander off to any other part of the base.
All equipment trucks were to be screened for explosive devices two hundred yards from the front gate; all personnel would be patted down for hidden weapons. All vehicles, except for the equipment trucks, were to be parked at the front gate and the passengers transported to the media center by base busses. Each bus would have two Navy Seals on board and escort each busload of people into the media center. Alex asked Curt to coordinate the transportation issues. He instructed Ted Jeffers, Elena, and Andrade to stay at the residence; he didn’t want them recognized by anyone on the opposing side. Sandi, Cynthia, and Liz were to be the problem solvers. Medics should be close by in case somebody gets sick, know where the latrines were and direct them to that location quickly. Have the mess hall assign three of their staff to the refreshment stand to serve coffee and juices and restock the food table if necessary. All base personnel were to avoid the media center area until three p.m. that afternoon. Morris, Somers, and Evans were to account for all personnel in and out; Alex didn’t want any stragglers left behind.
It was midnight by the time everyone got to bed and five a.m. came early the next morning. Everyone had finished their breakfast by four thirty and reported to their assigned duty locations. As Sandi suggested, the big tractor-trailer trucks began rolling up about five a.m. and Morris, Somers, and Evans sprang into action, scouring the trucks for explosives and patting down the drivers as well. About an hour later the car and SUV caravans appeared with the network people, identifications were checked against the approved list of attendees, and base busses transported the people to the media center.
Staging personnel marked off the media center floor with black tape, lighting techs raised a scaffold of lights and began adjusting the angles based on the seating arrangements. Audio techs dropped mini microphones from the lighting scaffolds to check sound levels at different locations on the set. Camera crews set up their pods from six
