Operation Wind Storm: Manifest destiny meets the green revolution

PROLOGUE

The blindfold was tight. A spot on her cheek where the black silk bands wound twice around her head was really starting to hurt.

It was pissing her off.

"Really guys? Can you take this off now? It's been what, two hours of this rough, potholed goat path or whatever the hell we're traveling on. There's no way I'm going to know where we are. Just take the damn blindfold off, will ya? My kidneys are flopping around from the road ruts." Zilla Gillette's patience was gone.

The paranoid duo escorting her to the hidden bunker of the GDC followed orders to an exasperating level. Zilla had agreed to be blindfolded on the plane ride then led, clumsily, to a waiting off-road vehicle of some kind. And now a long, rough-ass ride had left her over the experience and wishing she hadn't allowed this.

Besides, she had to pee.

The squeaks and groans of the SUV as it labored over rocks, ruts and roots was the only answer she got. Over it, she reached up and pulled off the black band covering her face. There was a gasp in the cab.

"Ok. Look. Nature calls. Can we stop for a minute and let me out?" Zilla still had her eyes squeezed shut, now against the bright sunlight trying to stab through her eyelids more than a sense of duty to keep from seeing where they were. She rubbed her cheeks where deep red lines crisscrossed.

"What the hell, lady? You said you'd keep that blindfold on. Cook and Ally are going to blow a gasket if we roll up and you're looking around." The young dude's voice was in front of Zilla; she knew he was in the passenger seat. The driver hadn't uttered a word during the entire trip.

"Yeah, well, I gotta pee, buddy, and my face hurts from how damn tight that blindfold was – and look, I still got my eyes closed, ok?"

The Rover slowed to a stop, the labored whine of the transmission replaced by the ticking sounds of a hot engine and drive train. They'd been climbing nearly the entire trip. For the first time, the driver spoke. His voice was deep, much older than the bro tones of the guy in front of her.

"It's ok. We're only about 10 minutes out now. Go ahead, open your eyes and get out for a break. Five minutes and we're leaving again."

Zilla did so slowly, squinting at the bright sunshine streaming into the dusty interior. She rubbed her eyes, massaged her cheeks and looked out the side window, forgetting for a minute her need to step out and get behind a tree for some relief.

They were on the side of a mountain in an enormous and breathtaking valley. Wilderness stretched out as far as she could see. She grabbed the door handle and slid out onto the ground, hearing no other sound than the faint rushing of water from a river far below them. There was no way to tell if she was still in Alaska. They could be in Canada or the Colorado Rockies. She didn't think they'd flown long enough to be in the Lower 48, but being blindfolded had messed with her sense of time and she couldn't be sure.

The Green Defiance Coalition's compound was well hidden and a hell of a long way from any other civilization.

                         Chapter One

It bloomed on the screen like a big splash of ketchup.

Or blood.

4:40 a.m. - Duty officer Rita Tiegs bolted forward in her chair, shocked by an earthquake of such massive scale. Lukewarm coffee in a tooth-nibbled Styrofoam cup tipped over, narrowly missing her keyboard as it dribbled to the floor.

"Christ!" Tiegs ignored the dripping mess and stared wide-eyed at the system that registered earthquakes through a series of seismographs threaded across Alaska.