The Uvalde Raider by Ben English (great books for teens TXT) 📕

those client states had been Sadaam Hussein’s Iraq. At about the same time as the United Nations established Cuban culpability in Angola, rumors began to swirl about the use of VX by Hussein in the ongoing Iran-Iraq war. Furthermore, it was highly suspicioned the ruthless dictator had gone so far as to employ it against his own Kurdish civilian population in the city of Halabja. The results were described by witnesses as being stunningly horrific.

Yahla al-Qassam claimed to have five hundred gallons of this diabolical mixture. From what Ezekiel had seen and heard earlier, the terrorists were installing portable pumps on The Uvalde Raider as a technique of dispersal. If that was the case, it would turn the old bomber into some sort of improvised aerial spreader, much like a crop duster but on a far larger comparative scale. However, the objective would not be some farmer’s field for the betterment of his crops. This effort would be a devastating terrorist attack on a major city in the United States.

The ensuing environmental damage and casualty rates would be unimaginable to most, even Ezekiel with his specialized knowledge had difficulty in calculating just how bad it could be. He knew the inherent qualities of the agent were made to order for the kind of application that Qassam envisioned. Following the aerial release of the deadly substance, the population of San Antonio would be exposed to it through skin contact, absorption through the eye, or by breathing in the settling mist.

Unlike many other weaponized chemicals, it was heavier than air and would tend to settle in areas of lower elevation. It was also odorless and tasteless, and its consistency was said to be much like a light motor oil. VX was astonishingly lethal, any droplet large enough to be seen with the human eye was enough to kill the average human being.

Furthermore, the agent’s likeness to a thin motor oil meant it evaporated slowly, and in a cooler climate could remain for days or even weeks. Experts in the field of chemical warfare had a clinical term for such useful abilities, they referred to it as an agent with ‘high persistence.’

Ezekiel wondered if that characteristic was why Qassam had chosen this particular season to carry out his plot. The weather would be cool compared to the blazingly hot days of summer, but not so much as to keep people indoors during the morning hours. As a general rule, October was considered to be the nicest time of the year for the San Antonio area. There would be more people outside, thus a greater number of highly vulnerable targets.

As far as any indirectly attributing lethal effects, Ezekiel recalled reading that VX could also mix with water, although not as easily as other nerve agents. The San Antonio River bisected the city running roughly north to south, and then joined with other rivers before exiting into the Gulf of Mexico some 250 miles away. Any runoff would be yet another means to introduce the substance to populations downstream, and yet another opportunity for the substance to wreak death and devastation upon all who came into contact with it.

The retired colonel turned his thoughts to the logistics involved, to further gauge objectively those same chances of success. He calculated the total weight of the nerve agent and its attending ancillary equipment to be in the neighborhood of three tons, a weight The Uvalde Raider was easily capable of accommodating.

Any chance of mechanical difficulties on the part of the Boeing ran from extremely small to none, Ezekiel knew that better than anyone else. His professed doubts to Qassam concerning the airplane’s current state of repair and capabilities had only been a ruse, a red herring to dissuade as well as learn more. He had personally seen to every small detail of the Flying Fort’s restoration; it was presently a better aircraft than any B-17 that flew during World War Two.

The next link in this potentially catastrophic chain was the identity of whoever Qassam had chosen to fly the Boeing. Piloting a Flying Fortress was no mean feat, and there were not many pilots still alive who had any real seat time in that type of multi-engine aircraft.

Yet Qassam seemed to be supremely confident in his choice for the task. The terrorist leader was not the sort to run a bluff, and putting a bullet hole in Ezekiel’s upper left leg signaled that he had no need for the colonel’s flying abilities. Evidently all that was required of Ezekiel was to witness what was to come, as well as being a hostage who might prove himself useful in the future. But who had Qassam picked to fly The Uvalde Raider? The identity of this mystery pilot gnawed at him.

With no defining answer to that essential question, the elder Templar rechanneled his thinking into other aspects of Qassam’s scheme. There was plenty of avgas in the Boeing’s tanks, enough to get it to San Antonio as well as a good ways beyond. Ezekiel had always believed in the experienced pilot’s rule of keeping plenty of fuel aboard, one never knew if there might be a diversion due to need or circumstance. The present range for the heavy bomber would not be an issue as far as available fuel.

The flying time in getting to San Antonio was not much more than about an hour, once the aircraft reached a correct heading and cruising altitude. Ezekiel figured that would be no more than around 5,000 feet, which also dovetailed nicely into what the Hezbollah leader had in mind. To power the portable pumps needed for the agent dispersal, Qassam would most likely use small gasoline engines like the type found on large lawn mowers. Such two stroke powerplants worked best at lower altitudes, where there was sufficiently dense air to run reliably.

From long habit, the elder Templar recalled the prevailing regional weather conditions that he committed to