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

memory before starting from Houston. A high-pressure system was sitting over most of western and central Texas, and the forecast called for a bright, sunny day with no chance of precipitation or any sort of cloud cover during the morning hours. Visibility would be unlimited, and at 5,000 feet the average Boy Scout could find San Antonio with little more than a folding road map from a convenience store.

Qassam had spoken of covering a path with the agent some twenty-three kilometers long and a hundred meters wide, or by the more familiar English measurement about fifteen miles in length by a hundred and ten-yard width. From an estimated 5,000-foot altitude while traveling around 200 miles an hour, Ezekiel calculated that covering the targeted area was completely doable and likely Qassam’s estimate was conservative. There were four Wright Cyclone 1,200 horsepower radial engines powering The Uvalde Raider, and each one of them turned a large three blade Hamilton Standard propeller. That made for a lot of air turbulence.

His own calculations were also dependent upon the on board equipment used to distribute the chemical for maximum effect, but Ezekiel was forced to give the devil his due in that, too. Yahla al-Qassam would not stump his toe in the choosing of that equipment, considering the other meticulous research and planning that had been done.

The terrorists would probably pump the agent at high pressure out both sides of the Boeing, angling the sprayer tips down and to the rear from the aircraft itself. To further enhance the improvised system, it would be simple enough to affix some style of aerator on the nozzles. This would churn the nerve agent into a finer mist as the ghastly mixture spewed from the aircraft.

Any sort of crosswind would carry the deadly substance over a still wider area as it drifted down to the ground. From those same weather forecasts Ezekiel had noted a projected breeze from the east at some five to ten miles an hour. If Qassam and his team arrived over the city at any time past ten in the morning, that wind would be present.

His best guess was that Qassam would make his run roughly north to south over the targeted area. This would be partly for the forecasted breeze, as well as several other tactical reasons. Coming in from the northwest, a north to south course would call for little more than gentle pressure on the controls to line up for the attack. There were plenty of easily discernable landmarks on the northern side of the city to facilitate such an approach.

Flying in from that direction would make for a downhill run due to the higher terrain located north of San Antonio. This in turn would allow them to drop some of their altitude in a smooth, natural manner, making it easier to pick out a prominent point to aim the aircraft towards. The slightly lower approach would also allow for a more effective dispersal pattern. Finally, that particular course would have them headed to their closest likely escape route, the Rio Grande and Mexico.

Ezekiel had already judged the Hezbollah leader as not being kin to the suicidal type. Like many of his kind he was quite capable of ordering others to their deaths, yet considered his own mortal existence far more precious. His escape would be just as carefully planned and attended to as the mission itself.

It was obvious the terrorists had entered Texas from Mexico, and returning there would be far more logical than an attempt to remain in the United States. It was just as obvious this group possessed a fully functioning and capable support network there. Once south of the river their available options would widen dramatically, as would their chances of successfully evading any pursuit.

All in all the entire scope of the operation was as gifted in design as it was utterly damnable in nature. More important in practical terms was its execution, and everything appeared to be working in Qassam’s favor so far. It was one of those plaintively tragic instances that made one marvel at human determination and ingenuity, while at the same time being horrified by the homicidal baseness and innate cruelty.

But if there was one weak point to the plan, one element that could bring near instantaneous disaster to all involved, it was the VX itself. The effectiveness of a weapon is sometimes mirrored by the inherent danger to the user, and this nerve agent the terrorists possessed was the best example that Ezekiel could think of. The formulation of the deadly chemical along with its storage, transportation and handling was fraught with catastrophe if the smallest mistake was made at any juncture in the process.

One could look upon those involved in these stages as being some sort of snake charmers, interacting with a supremely venomous serpent that was never completely controlled, and searching for a way incessantly to kill them as well as any other living thing in the general vicinity. There was no room for error when dealing with VX, no safe zone in which one could take a respite and relax. Laxity in any form sorely tempted fate and in the most grievous manner imaginable.

Ezekiel recalled how this particular serpent had already struck inside the United States, and not that long ago. An airborne military test drop in Utah involving VX had gone ever so slightly awry, and the substance killed thousands of head of livestock in the appropriately named location of Skull Valley. Though the Army at first vehemently denied responsibility in the face of accusations made by furious area ranchers, it was that one single incident that led President Nixon to ban all open air chemical weapons testing in 1969.

Yet somehow Qassam, in that same dreadful example of human determination and ingenuity for the worst of all possible goals, had managed to charm this monstrously poisonous snake, and he and his team were still alive