“Yeah,” Brendan nodded. “So obviously there were at least three of those bombs. We just can’t see where the other ones hit. They would have to have hit New York with three in order to get it all. In fact, there may have been a fourth and we didn’t hear or maybe even more.” He shrugged. “Center, North, South and East.”
Harry blinked a few times taking in what he had said. “Okay. You’re just rattling off. What the heck is that? It sounds familiar.”
“Thermobaric,” Brendan said. “Small versions were used in the Iraqi war. Larger versions for cities such as New York were designed during the Cold war. Their purpose was to wipe out people and do minimal damage to structures and plant life. Not sure about the scientific angle, but they were designed to explode in the air, make some kind of pressure wave and somehow burn all the oxygen out of the air.”
Ben released an “Ah’ and nodded. “ I heard about those. Bunker bombs.”
“Yeah,” Brendan said. “Small ones are called that. Anyhow, theoretically anyone near the blast is incinerated. But for those who are at a distance, the air heats up so much it expands, creates a vacuum, the lungs rupture and living things like people suffocate. That’s why everyone’s eyes and ears were bleeding. That’s why their mouths were open and they all look like they were panicking.”
Lana’s head dropped. “They suffered.”
“Probably they suffered horrendously. The human rights people tried to have them banned,” Brendan added. “They say it doesn’t affect the brain so the victim is aware the whole time that they are dying. They called it inhumane. As if any other explosive isn’t. They all are inhumane.”
Harry gave Brendan a quirky look. “How the heck do you know all this? Are you in the army?”
Brendan shook his head. ‘No, they had a whole series about the weapons of the Cold War on the History Channel.”
“I’ll be damned,” Harry said. “I always skipped those programs.”
“This has to be bigger than New York,” Ben said. “If it were just New York, we’d hear helicopters looking for people. Someone hit the US and hit it big.”
“We can’t know what happened. There’s no electricity so there’s no television.” Lana said.
Harry snapped his fingers. “Radios. Car radios. One of them has to be working.”
With a flurry of excited voices, everyone raced outside.
“Found one!” Foster called out. He was sitting in a cab. “The battery is not dead.” He fiddled with the radio as everyone gathered around. Finally he hit music. It was the end of a 1970’s song.
“Where’s the news?” Harry asked.
“Good morning, New York and that was the Rascals,” the disc jockey said. “
Foster raised an eyebrow. “Something isn’t right.”
“Try another station,” Ben suggested.
Foster turned the tuner and every station was playing the same song at the same time. “Oh, this is screwed up.”
Foster shut it off.
“The frequencies been hijacked,” Harry said. “This isn’t good. We need to head out of the city.”
“What about those left in the tunnel?” Lana asked. “We said we’d send help.”
“I can go back,” Foster said.
“No,” Brendan interjected. “I’ll go. I mean we’ll go.” He pointed to two other men. “We already talked about this.”
“Are you sure?” Ben asked.
“Yeah.” Brendan nodded. “We’ll head down there now. We’ll get them out of the city. You guys get to the outskirts and see if any survivors are there and if you can get out.”
Another man added. “It’ll be easier going to get them and bringing them out because we know what we’re facing.”
Ben extended his hand to Brendan. “Good luck to you.”
“You, too.” Brendan shook his hand, and then turned to Harry. “Good luck.”
“This is a good thing you’re doing, son. And thank you for the info on those bombs.”
“Not a problem.” Brendan nodded. He turned to the men who would go with him, instructed that they should get some supplies from inside Madison Square Garden, and then the group of men headed on their way.
“I feel bad that they’re doing this,” Lana said.
“We all can’t go,” Harry told her. “It’s easier this way.”
“So now what?” Abby asked.
“We start walking and try to get out of the city,” Harry said. “We aren’t getting a car out of here. Maybe we’ll find one the farther we get. But can’t say I’m familiar with this part of downtown.”
Ben raised his hand. “I am. I’ve been to the Gardens a ton of times. Let’s go this way.” Placing his hand on Lana’s arm, it was Ben’s turn to take the reins and lead the group on the next leg of the journey.
