This 44-part series began running in WCT Nov. 8. Readers can read all the installments to date at www.windycitymediagroup.com .
From the journal of John 'Jack' Quincy Adams, Chief Secret Service Special Agent in Charge, The White House. Code Name: One.
Part 19. Al Qaeda in L.A.
Jack Adams, the Secret Service agent charged with assassinating President George W. Bush and being held for psychiatric evaluation, is telling the psychiatrist about the day Al Qaeda struck again in the U.S., this time in Los Angeles. ( Note: Diadem= the Oval Office. )
I was on my way out of the Mess when suddenly every television monitor in sight was showing a reporter standing on a hilltop in a fierce wind, the city of Los Angeles in the distance. Someone shouted, 'Turn up the volume.' The reporter's voice shouted against the wind '…terrorists, at least that is the first guess, since they all went off within seconds of each other. This one or ones—they haven't determined just how many there were—detonated here on the Grapevine at approximately 10:25 a.m., just when the Santa Anas hit their morning peak.
'Like the others, Bob, the device was in a vehicle of some kind. The first report from motorists climbing the grade here behind me, say it was a flatbed truck covered with a canvas tarp. When it went off, the contents hit the winds at full velocity.'
'Thanks, Sandy,' said the news anchor, then, 'We have joining us now from the San Diego National Weather Forecasters headquarters Doug Allan. Mr. Allan, can you tell our viewers something about this phenomenon?'
'Glad to, Bob. The Santa Anas are warm, dry, gusty offshore winds that blow from the east or northeast out of the Great Basin—that's the high plateau that's west of the Rockies and east of the Sierras. They move through the pass then down through the Los Angeles Basin. Technically, the winds must blow at speeds greater than 25 knots to be called Santa Anas, which they were certainly doing this morning.'
'Doug, I have to interrupt you. We have a crew live at Disneyland where another explosion occurred. Ira, are you there?'
'Right here, Bob.'
The TV screens jumped to another reporter standing in front of what used to be the gate to Disneyland in Anaheim and the famous castle behind it, except now most everything on screen was a tangle of metal. Covered bodies lay on the ground behind 'Ira', some of them covered with Mickey Mouse blankets.
'We're not being allowed any further into the park, but you can see bodies scattered everywhere. This device went off at approximately 10:25 this morning, just when crowds are at their thickest coming into the park for the day. We have with us Sister Mary Genevieve from St. Dominic's school. She was here with a group from her grammar school in Oxnard. Sister, can you tell us….'
I moved out of the Mess and back up to Diadem as fast as I could. By the time I got there the room was buzzing. It seemed no one
knew exactly what had happened and once again, the White House was getting its information from cable news.
The rest of this Event was a series of bombs that went off in downtown Los Angeles. They were filled with ricin and other chemicals they were having trouble identifying because they had been genetically altered for greater effect.
Immediately North Korea and Iran were suspected of helping whoever did this. We assumed it was Al Qaeda, Trailblazer saying only 'bin Laden', whenever he talked about it in public. Four other bombs went off simultaneously: one in front of the old Pantages Theater, one where Santa Monica Boulevard crosses Los Feliz near Interstate 5, a third at the intersection of Interstates 10 and 405, and a final one right in front of the West Hollywood police station.
The deadliest bombs were the two trucks on the Grapevine. The terrorists had waited patiently for October, when the Santa Anas would start blowing, which assured widespread dissemination of the toxins. The terrorists had their plans laid for a long time and were waiting for something like Katrina to come along to assure they struck when we were at our most depleted. The timing couldn't have been worse for Trailblazer.
I couldn't help but remember something that happened way back during Hurricane Katrina. His inner circle of advisers thought nothing worse could happen, and said so in Diadem one day after Trailblazer's eighth trip to the devastated areas along the Gulf Coast. Late one evening in Diadem I heard Rover say, 'Well, we can at least console ourselves with one thing: this is as bad as it can get.' My superstitious Italian side kicked in and I could hear my Nonna say, 'Stronz! Now things are gonna get much worse.' And, sure enough, they did.
