Seven Grams of Lead

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“Mr. President, Flight 89 wasn’t struck down by lightning.”

“Don’t tell me it was intentional.”

“No, sir. It was an accident.”

“The airline’s fault?”

“Actually, scientists based in Wisconsin, Leonid and Bella Sokolov. Have you been briefed on them?”

“Maybe I ought to be.”

“They won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1985. We lured them from Russia two years ago, set them up in a hardened underground complex as part of the HPMD project.”

“High Power Mass Destruction?”

“For all intents and purposes. Technically it’s High Power Microwave Device.”

“The E-bomb?”

“Yes, sir. The Sokolovs’ part in the initiative has been to effectively weaponize a flux compression generator.”

“Flux compression generator?”

“It generates an electromagnetic pulse on the order of terawatts — or about ten thousand times as powerful as a lightning bolt — and fries semiconductive material, meaning all electrical and electronic systems within its range cease to function. The problem with E-bombs has always been limited range, half a city block max. In theory, the Sokolov model is capable of reducing an entire city to the Stone Age. All computers, telecommunications, radar, power plants, power lines, lights, refrigerators, pacemakers — you name it — would be relegated to scrap. Machines would come to a stop. Planes would fall out of the sky …”

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