DEADLY DILEMMA by Dan Stratman (story read aloud .txt) 📗

hung her head. “I would never hurt you. Can you ever forgive me?”

Lance gently wiped away her tears. “I know that. I don’t blame you. You’re responsible for the missile. You were just following procedures.” He gently lifted her chin. “Next time, maybe just give me a sternly worded reprimand rather than firing a warning shot so close to my head.” That irresistible smile he’d used to his advantage many times in the past flashed across his face.

Cyndi fought the urge to be swayed by his beguiling smile. She did chuckle at his poorly timed attempt at humor, though. “Fair enough. I’ll warn you next time before I shoot you.” She lifted a cover on the console and pressed the button under it. The button lit up. “The missile is in safe mode.”

Lance’s smile transformed into a look of apprehension. “The missile is safe, but what about our careers? When they find out what we did, there won’t be a next time for us.”

“You mean me. I’m in command. The buck stops with me.”

“You did the right thing. We did the right thing. We’re a crew. We’re in this together.” Lance put his hands on the headrest of his chair and looked down at the console. “The missile can’t launch. China is safe from attack. We can deal with Global Strike Command later. We need to figure out a way to contact command post. Once they know the facts, they’ll understand why we didn’t launch.”

“Don’t bet on it,” Cyndi said. “Remember the motto: No Errors, No Mistakes, No Exceptions. We’ll be lucky to be thrown out of the Air Force with just a dishonorable discharge and not a court-martial.” She shook her head. “Thank goodness my dad isn’t alive to see this.”

“We probably just prevented World War III. You don’t think he’d understand why you disobeyed orders?”

“You don’t get it. With my dad, good enough, never was. When I washed out of pilot training, I know I let him down. He never said that, but I could see it on his face.”

“Trust me, I do understand. When I told my dad I didn’t want to be a doctor, he got so bent out of shape I thought he’d need a heart surgeon. He didn’t speak to me for weeks.”

Cyndi slumped down in her chair. “Now what do I do? I wrote the book for the new combined site. I got perfect scores on every test. I was Instructor of the Year, for Christ’s sake. Lot of good that did me.” She buried her head in her hands.

Lance came over and put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It can’t be easy being the commander. Especially for a woman. Act feminine, and they say you’re not tough enough. Act like a guy, and they still don’t let you into the bro club.”

She looked up and removed his hand. “Thanks for the pep talk, but my gender has nothing to do with it. I don’t play the gender card. Ever.”

“Hey, just trying to help.” Lance took his seat and stowed his thick binder back on the shelf. “Well, what do we do now? There’s no checklist for almost nuking China.”

“I’ll try the commercial line.” Cyndi went over to the phone on the wall and dialed the base operator. When she picked up, Cyndi said, “This is site Alpha One, I need to talk to command post.”

Suddenly, the speaker on the console came alive. The creepy female voice announced, “Launch time parameters exceeded. Override protocol activated.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Cyndi slammed the phone down. “What happened? Did you touch something?”

Lance held up his hands like a Vegas poker dealer proving he hadn’t pocketed a chip. “I didn’t touch a thing.” He studied the console. “The computer seems to be…”

One by one, the launch progress lights on the panel lit up.

“Launch checklist initiated,” the voice said.

Under specific circumstances the system was designed to automatically launch missiles if it determined that the entire command structure had been wiped out by an attack. The thinking was that at least some of the missiles would be able to retaliate in a worst-case scenario.

“What the hell is going on?” Lance said in a panic. “The computer is trying to launch our missile.”

“This can’t be happening. I put the missile back in safe mode to stop this very contingency. The system can’t override it.” Cyndi looked at the safe mode button. The light was out. She stabbed at it repeatedly. The light wouldn’t come back on.

The computer voice rattled off each step to launch a thermonuclear missile as cavalierly as it would have announced each floor in a department store elevator.

“Pull the launch key out!”

Cyndi grabbed the key and pulled. “It won’t come out!” She wiggled the key then pulled with all her might. The head of the key snapped off. Its shaft remained inserted in the slot.

Cyndi frantically flipped through the pages in her binder looking for a procedure to avert Armageddon.

“Commencing countdown.”

“Enter the stand down command!” she yelled.

“Ten.”

Lance quickly typed in the command.

“Nine.”

“It’s not accepting it!”

“Eight.”

“Then retarget the missile for Kwajalein Atoll,” Cyndi commanded.

“Seven.”

Lance typed like his life depended on it.

“Six.”

“The data cable has already detached from the side of the missile! I can’t change the target!”

“Five.”

“We can’t let it launch!” Cyndi screamed.

“Four.”

“Screw this. Stand back!” Lance jumped up and snatched his gun off the worktable.

“Three.”

BAM! BAM! BAM!

He gripped his Beretta with both hands and fired wildly into the REACT console.

Cyndi dove out of her chair to avoid being hit by shrapnel.

“Two.”

Sparks flew. Monitor screens exploded. Smoke gushed out of the console.

“One.”

Lance fired every bullet left in the clip then threw his gun at the console in a final act of desperation.

“Zero.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Zero.”

“Zero.”

“Zero.”

The disembodied voice kept repeating the number.

Cyndi and Lance stood frozen in place. They listened for the thundering roar of the missile leaving its silo.

But the only sound they heard was the popping and crackling sound of fried circuit boards shorting out.

“Zero.”

“Zero.”

And that damn nagging voice of the computer repeating the