Page 28 of Eruption
He motioned for Jepson and MacGregor to step outside. In the hall, Briggs said, “Major, I want that nurse and everyone else who’s had anything to do with General Bennett confined to the hospital grounds for the next two weeks. Call it a quarantine, call it whatever the hell you want, but keep ’em here. Clear?”
“Yes, sir, but—”
“They get no cell phones, no laptops, no email, no nothing. If they need to notify their families, you do it for them.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Military security will close the hospital tomorrow to all visitors at oh eight hundred hours and will shut down communications at that time. And let me remind you that everything you have seen and heard in that room is strictly confidential. Is that clear?”
Major Jepson blinked. “Sir, what exactlyhaveI seen?”
“Nothing at all,” Briggs said. He turned back to Mac. “Dr. MacGregor, please come with me.” He left. Mac followed, noting that Jepson looked slightly bewildered.
When they were down the hall Briggs said to Mac, “You’ve obviously heard the termmilitary secrets.”
“Everybody has.”
“Well, Dr. MacGregor, if you’re in the military, keepingthose secrets is a way of life. Revealing those secrets can result in the loss of life. In that way, they’re more than secrets. They’re part of our code.”
Mac waited.
“You’re in the military now,” Briggs said. “You didn’t enlist—you were drafted. Nonetheless, from now on, that code of silence is your code too. Understood?”
“Yes,” Mac said.
“Have you had any sleep tonight?” Briggs asked after he’d led Mac back down the hall.
“Not yet,” Mac said.
“I’ll arrange for a bed here. You can get a few hours before it’s time to leave.”
“Leave for where?” McGregor said.
CHAPTER 18
Agent Black
U.S. Military Reserve, Hawai‘i
Friday, April 25, 2025
Time to eruption: 100 hours
The Black Hawk helicopter descended through thick clouds at nine thousand feet, and suddenly the landscape opened beneath them, a vast expanse of black lava in the dawn light. To the right, the broad northern flank of Mauna Loa with the silver buildings of the NOAA observatory far above them; to the left, the dark peak of Hualalai volcano. Directly ahead was the broad, flat saddle, the uninhabited region in the center of the Big Island; the military training area was located at the base of Mauna Kea.
Colonel Briggs pointed out the window. “So you expect the lava to flow in this area?”
“Yes,” Mac said. “But Mauna Loa eruptions originate higher up, at the summit and rift zones.”
“What time frame?”
“Four days plus or minus one.”
“Jesus,” Briggs said, shaking his head. “And it’ll be a large eruption?”
“Very large,” MacGregor said. “A volcano swells before it erupts, and we measure that. Inflation over the past few months is greater than the inflation that occurred before the 1950 eruption. That one produced three hundred seventy-six million cubic meters of lava.”
“And that much lava will flow a long distance?”