Jack's words left the other leaders looking at each other in bewilderment. Even Rossi was quite surprised.
He hadn't expected that in a meeting of this magnitude, he would dare to stand up for himself at a crucial moment, and speak so eloquently in front of so many leaders. Rossi felt quite relieved, and felt that his decision to take on this disciple had paid off.
Perhaps worried that his disciple might speak too much, he quickly continued what he had been saying.
"What Jack meant was that rather than saying that the death of General Hammer's wife was the trigger, it would be more accurate to describe it as a countdown. The ignition button had actually been pressed long ago.
Mrs. Hammer's death meant that Hammer had lost his last concern in this world, which meant that the countdown had returned to zero.
Therefore, Jack and I agree that no matter how we respond, we only have one chance. If we fail, General Hammer will most likely throw away the chips in his hand to prove his determination.
And I believe that as a soldier, his way of proving his determination is definitely not as simple as shooting a few hostages."
General Hammer only had two chips in his hand: 81 hostages and 15 VX gas missiles. Since Rossi denied the possibility of shooting the hostages, it seemed that the only possibility left was to fire two missiles to show his determination.
Admiral Al Kleiman lowered his eyelids, and his voice seemed to be talking to himself.
"If I remember correctly, Frank (Hammer) has repeatedly requested hearings of the Special Armed Services Committee to discuss new standards for determining deaths in action and the proper honoring of soldiers killed in covert operations.
The last hearing was less than a year ago, and Senator Vevey rejected his request, citing budget constraints and provisions of the secrecy law.
So, we could have avoided all this."
This man was probably the only one present who could say such a thing. Jack noticed the look of astonishment on the face of Director Sinclair, the presidential assistant.
Fortunately, Admiral Al Kleiman had only expressed a minor dissatisfaction and hadn't intentionally sent FBI agents to their deaths, so he quickly moved on to the next topic.
"Okay, then, can anyone tell me the lethality of a VX gas missile and its range?"
The answer came from a two-star major general sitting near the corner of the table. "Based on the population density of downtown San Francisco, we estimate the casualties to be around sixty to seventy, but the E-21 missile has a range sufficient to cover the entire San Francisco Bay Area."
"Sixty to seventy? Doesn't sound that bad?" A certain politician had embarrassed himself again.
"The unit is thousands. A single E21 missile loaded with VX warheads could cause casualties equal to 70 thousand personnel!" the Major General emphasized loudly. "And General Hammer possesses a full 15 of these weapons of mass destruction.
By the way, Director Sinclair, may I remind you that the population of San Francisco's metropolitan area exceeds 800,000, and the entire San Francisco Bay Area has a population of over 7.8 million, second only to New York City in population density."
Director Sinclair swallowed hard and stopped interrupting. This time, he seemed truly determined not to embarrass himself any further.
"Doesn't the military have any countermeasures against this nerve agent? I remember Jack mentioning in his operational report in Korea that the military provided a first aid medication called a phosphate-dissolving needle."
Jim Womack seemed to have truly read Jack's report carefully, which flattered someone so much that they couldn't help but whisper a little explanation to their superior.
"Sir, you can think of VX as a persistent poison. Antiphosphating injections, including first aid medications like atropine and belladonna, are only effective for short-term, low-dose poisoning symptoms. Therefore,
the best way to deal with the weapon is to prevent it from launching. Otherwise, even if it's destroyed at the launch pad, it will cause deadly contamination in the waters surrounding Alcatraz, including the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman's Wharf, less than two miles from the island.
Large-scale incendiary bombings might be effective, but this requires evaluation by military experts."
The director nodded slightly, extremely satisfied with his agent's performance today.
The major general nodded slightly at Jack, then helpfully added, "Napalm bombs alone only create temperatures around 1,000 degrees Celsius, making them ineffective against VX.
We need to locate the missiles and deploy thermite incendiary bombs in targeted locations. We'll then assess the damage and determine how many waves of napalm bombs are needed until all the VX is consumed."
Jack's expression faltered slightly at this. Normally, if you're not a huge fan, you'll only watch a movie once, and if it's particularly good, you might revisit it after a while.
But that's usually years later. For example, he'd seen "Independence Day" and "Predator" at least three times in his previous life, but with at least three, four, or five years between them.
"The Rock" was one of "Explosive Bay's" earlier works, released in the 1990s. Although he'd rewatched it once before his time travel, he couldn't remember many of the details.
Despite this, he vaguely remembered that the military's backup plan included the use of thermite incendiary bombs, and that an F/A-18 fighter jet, caught off guard, did indeed fire one in the final moments.
But if the major general were to follow his words, the situation wasn't just about deploying a few F/A-18s.
Sure enough, General Al Kleiman pounded on the table and asked, "Is it possible to have the F/A-18s ready with thermite incendiary bombs and the B-52Hs equipped with a sufficient amount of napalm within 36 hours?"
"Of course, but I strongly recommend this as a backup plan," the major general replied.
"So what we need now is a preferred option, right?" The admiral said, looking at Jack, "Agent Tavolar, forget it, I'll just call you Jack.
Since you once successfully prevented a similar terrorist attack in Seoul, I wonder if you have the confidence to cooperate with the military's special forces to perform the same mission again."
These two tasks are completely incomparable, okay, Jack secretly rolled his eyes, but considering that this big guy almost suggested sending Rossi to Devil's Island as a negotiation expert before, he felt that it would be more reliable for him to do it himself.
After all, in the original drama, a certain biological and chemical weapons expert who had been sitting in the office all year round could complete the task with a nearly 70-year-old man, so it should be smoother for him to do it. Probably.
Thinking of a certain biological and chemical weapons expert, Jack turned to look at his boss, "Sir, I think I need a partner."
(End of this chapter)