New Year's Eve | Minutes to Midnight

[Odinson]

Private

NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Broadway and Warren St.
December 31, 1997
127 Minutes to Midnight

​

A man in a grey suit sprinted from the end of Warren Street and crossed Broadway as his suit jacket flapped in the wind. A taxicab driver slammed on his breaks and narrowly missed running him over as he laid his fist into the taxi's overused horn. The man, who was out of breath, stumbled onto the sidewalk and looked up at New York's City Hall which had more grandeur than some state capitol buildings. The man looked left and then right. He saw the subway station which had NYPD and a few men in suits standing around the entrance. He jogged towards it and checked his watch - it was 10:07 P.M. Eastern - they still had time to stop this. One of the police officers turned towards him and pointed, "Hey you, stop! This area is restricted right now, cross the street."

The man kept walking towards the station and reached towards his hip, which made the officer put his hand on his gun.
"United States Lighthouse Service, Special Agent Samuel Mason" he said as he moved the bottom-left portion of his jacket aside and revealed a bronze badge that was attached to his belt. "Where is Special Agent Browning?" he asked as he walked past the cop.
One of the men in black suits turned around and yelled over the sound of a bus going by, "Agent Mason! Over here!"
The man started walking with Mason towards the steps of the subway station as the other agents followed closely behind.

"Can you tell me why the hell the Lighthouse Service needed this arranged two hours before midnight? There wasn't time for anyone at HQ to give me a briefing - I was on my way to Times Square with my family," he said. Mason could almost taste Agent Browning's bitterness.

"Because the Bureau dropped the ball. My partner and I have been chasing leads all night," he said as they made their way down the steps into the opulent and unused City Hall Station. It had been closed and abandoned since 1945. Now, subway trains would only use it to turn around since it was an end of the line. That being said, it could still be made operational. New York's Mayors were known for, on occasion, making use of the platform. Waiting for them on the tracks was a subway train that was empty except for a conductor and a couple more FBI agents.

"What do you mean? We've been preparing for today for months. The city has never had a more safe New Year’s than today," he said in opposition as the doors for lead subway car opened. The conductor, who was a portly man in his late fifties, was sitting in front of the controls, flung open the little metal door between him and the rest of the car so that he could speak with his VIPs. He seemed rather excited considering that this was the most inconsistent thing he had to do at work in about ten years.

"How quick can you get us to Times Square?" Mason said as he briefly ignored Browning and looked at the conductor.
"I heard over the radio that the 'Men in Black' closed everything from here to Central Park. I'll get you there in less than ten minutes, buddy" the conductor said. The doors to the car closed and they jolted forward as the conductor pressed on the accelerator. Mason and Browning both grabbed ahold of the chrome railing above their heads so that they didn't fall over.

"The Bureau got a credible threat a week ago and ignored it. The Lighthouse Service picked it up after one of our agents was killed on Roosevelt Island," Mason said.
"What happened?" Browning inquired as he checked his left wrist to take note of the time and began to take the situation more seriously.

"He was shot at Lighthouse Park. A note was found in one of his pockets. It contained the same information that had been passed onto the Bureau... He knew that the Bureau wasn't taking him seriously and he wanted someone to pay attention," Mason said. He reached into his inner-suit pocket and handed a copy of the note to Agent Browning. The top half of the page contained the first note. It read as follows:


I know 1 thing for sure.
It'll be fun to see you try and stop me.
New Year's will forever be a black day.
I've been to the top of the World and looked out the Windows.
Don't fall.

​

"What does that mean?" Browning asked as the subway made a hard turn and then began heading north.

"My partner couldn't keep up with me. We were at the World Trade Center. The 'W' in 'World' and 'Windows' was capitalized. Our best bet was that he left something for us in Windows on the World," Mason said, referencing the restaurant that was on the 107th floor of One World Trade Center.
"We got there at 5 P.M. and started to tear the place apart. It wasn't until 7 that a Port Authority Officer who was helping us noticed a small yellow envelope taped taped on the outside of one of the windows. We were going to try to break the window, but we were afraid the letter might fall away with the glass. The Port Authority called in one of the window washers for the Trade Center - honestly, I never really thought they had any. The window washer took my partner to the contraption they use, and he retrieved the next note. The only person that owed me a favor worked in Transit. This," he said as he raised his hands and looked around the subway car, "was the best he could get me on such short notice."

"Go ahead, read the second note," Mason said as he handed the actual copy of the second note over.
Browning sat down and took out his notepad as he started to read the second note.


Hope you didn't fall.
You're not going fast enough if you found this after seven.
But that's okay, I want you 2 fail.
The Times moved on, by I haven't.
The ball drops at midnight, and so will thousands of people.
Do some math when you get there.


"He's capitalizing important words? That's it, that's his trick?" Browning asked. He circled 'Times' and 'Old'. "Is there... an old Times Square?" Browning asked.
"No, the New York Times use to own One Times Square - the building with the news ticker and the advertisements,” Mason replied. "In his original message that he sent to the Bureau, he mentioned that tonight would be an 'Explosive' night... A friend of mine in the Department of Energy told me that a special weapon is missing... I think it's inside One Times Square, or in the ball itself," Mason said.

Browning got up and closed the door to the cab so that the conductor couldn't listen to them anymore. "You're telling me that DoE lost a WMD and didn't tell the Bureau?" Browning asked in a tone that implied he just couldn't believe it.

The wheels of the subway screeched as the train sped through the underground tunnels to their final destination. Mason bit his lip and considered not speaking his mind, but he figured if there was any time in his life to be honest, it was now.

"DoE's official policy is that, as of 1995, all nuclear weapons have been dismantled and destroyed... The note that was on my agent at Lighthouse Park had uranium isotopes on it," he said as the reality of the situation started to sink in for Agent Browning.

"DoE wouldn't acknowledge if we still had the bomb...," Browning said. "They probably wouldn't even tell the President," Mason continued.

The sound of the 1990s New York subway slowing down was like nails on a chalkboard. "We're here, fellas. But it's going to be crowded up there, you might-" the conductor wasn't able to finish his sentence. Mason shoved open the mechanical doors for the car before the train had even come to a complete stop and jumped out onto the platform to the surprise of a few civilian bystanders. Browning jumped out right after him, while the rest of the FBI agents waited until the doors opened.

Mason and Browning sprinted up the platform so that they were now at ground level. They could see One Times Square, which had several bright advertising screens on it as well as the renowned news ticker, and the large lit New Year's ball that was on top. Mason stopped and looked at the already packed crowds. It wasn't even 11 P.M. yet and the place was already full. He stopped dead in his tracks as he tried making a path, but rugged New Yorkers and anxious tourists who had been waiting for hours refused to budge from exactly where they were standing. Browning could see that Mason probably wasn't from New York.

"HEY! GET OUT THE WAY! MAKE A PATH, FEDERAL AGENTS!" Browning shouted at the top of his lungs in a Queens accent. He pushed past Mason and shoved a man, and then another. He kept repeating that he was a federal agent - though it was probably his booming voice alone that made people give way to him, Mason, and the small cluster of FBI agents that were now following behind.

It took nearly as long for them to get from the subway station to the Times Building as their train ride did. NYPD officers were stationed around the building as well as at the entrance, and looked at the well-dressed men skeptically.
"FBI, open the door," Browning said as he flashed his badge and identification to the officers standing at the front entrance. The supervisor unlocked the chained doors while the junior officer called in to their higher-ups that the FBI was going into the building for some reason.

"This place smells like a tomb," Browning said as they walked into inky darkness. The agents, who were each carrying mini-flashlights, took them out and clicked them on.
"This building hasn't been in regular use for half a century. The advertising space on the outside is about thirty more times valuable than the office space," Mason said.

The agents walked into the lobby and made their way towards the core of the building where they found the elevators. Thankfully, because the building was still used for the New Year's celebration, the elevators were needed to service the top floors. All seven of the agents squeezed into the elevator, with Mason and Browning in the front with their guns drawn as they sped to the top floor. The doors to the elevator opened which reveled a mostly empty hollowed-out floor with some electrical and telecommunications equipment, along with a few operators.

"Federal agents, show your hands!" Browning shouted as the operators stood up and obeyed. The agents swarmed throughout the floor, and a few more went to the roof to detain whomever was in control of dropping the ball. Everyone was a suspect for now. The agents checked every barrel, cabinet, closet, and door that they could. Mason had a Geiger counter which he used, but he wasn't able to detect any significant amounts of radiation. He and Browning assumed that this only meant the weapon had been well-maintained and sealed. After twenty minutes of searching, Mason and Browning went to the roof where they forced the operators to turn the lights on the ball off and lower it down for it to be inspected. Against their wishes, Browning crudely pulled off one of the back panels for the ball so that he could look inside. There was nothing.

It was Browning who, this time, broke the puzzle. He looked over what he had written about the two previous notes, and then looked at Mason again.
"Do some math when you get there?" he asked himself as Mason double-checked the ball for any kind of device.
"Agent Mason," Browning said, not even bothering to take his eyes off of the paper. Mason rushed over to Browning and put his hand on his shoulder as he looked down at his colleague's notepad.
"He wrote the numerical number '1' in the first note, and the numerical number '2' in the second note. But he wrote out the word 'seven' instead of using a number... One plus two equals three," he said.

Mason paused and then shook his head, "The note at the Trade Center wasn't the final one... there's a third note," he said as he holstered his gun and started running towards the stairs to get back down to the top floor.
"You check up here, I got the top floor! We'll move down from here if we don't find it," he shouted back to Browning he quickly began looking.

One of Browning's agents on the top floor, after being told about the previous envelope, found one tucked in an old electrical box for the building that was located in a storage closet on that same floor. Mason and some of the other agents gathered to read it, while Browning called off the backup he had called for Times Square.


This is your final clue.
I wont tell you where in this Kingdom I've kept what you desire.
But, it's a Magical place that we all know, even if we haven't been there.
Maybe a princess could tell you where it is.


"A kingdom of magic, with a fucking princess? Is this even real?" he shouted as he slammed his flashlight down onto the ground. What Mason was missing became obvious to some of the agents in the room who had families, including Agent Browning.

"Mason... It's not a 'kingdom of magic', it's 'The Magic Kingdom'. In the middle of it is a princess's castle, Cinderella's castle. It's Disney World... in Florida," Browning said.
Mason felt his stomach churn as he processed the information. His heart dropped when he looked at his watch.

STATE OF FLORIDA
Twenty Miles Southwest of Lake Apopka
39 Minutes to Midnight

​

Major Robert "Rob" Lee and his Delta Force Team were minutes from their drop point over Florida. They had originally flown out of Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle and were going to practice night-time High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jumping in a clear area of Ocala National Forest. However, somewhere along the way to their destination, a refueling tanker met up with them just as they received orders for a real-world deployment in the State of Florida. Major Lee questioned the legality of their deployment for the unknown operation on American soil, but it was revealed to him that the order came directly from the Chief of Staff of the Army. What was going on, and their mission, was simple. A weapon of mass destruction, believed to be a small nuclear device, was in play at Walt Disney World in Florida. The best intel they had was that the bomb was likely somewhere inside the Cinderella Castle in the center of the Magic Kingdom. Their orders were to either secure the bomb for a Department of Energy bomb squad that was en route to the theme park, or fly it out into the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve where it could detonate with minimal casualties. This was all assuming that it was on a timer, though, and that it wasn't going to be remotely triggered. Major Lee and his team, who had rescued then-Vice President Gore almost a year ago from his family farm in Tennessee, were now on what may be an even more important mission.

The special forces team huddled into the appropriate section of the C-130 they were flying in. The retractable back door opened and, after about ten seconds, a red light turned green. Major Lee sprinted and jumped out first, with his hands and arms out to catch as much air as possible. On their way over, they had been able to review night-time maps of the area, but this was all last minute. It took a few valuable seconds for Lee to spot their landing-target, but he did. Thankfully for them, it was an extremely clear night. Lee had a small, neon green tactical flare that was attached to his right combat boot. It would burn long enough so that his men could aim themselves in the air and follow him as they fell at terminal velocity. At 3500 feet in the air, they deployed their parachutes.

Lee could see the theme park, and its various sections, below him. They rapidly descended towards the center of the Magic Kingdom. To Lee's horror, he could see that thousands, if not tens-of-thousands, of people were gathered around Cinderella's Castle. The Department of Energy had been able to provide them with an estimation of what the device, if nuclear, would do to the area if it detonated. The small size of the bomb meant that the majority of the people in the park would survive the explosion, only to be killed by the radioactive fallout or from severe burns - most of these people being families with young children. Such a terrorist attack was one of the government's most feared scenarios - it would produce graphic media of hundreds of murdered and dying children in a place all Americans know and have a connection to. The event would be so overwhelming to the American people, that the government would have no choice but to respond massively, and mercilessly. A past Director of the CIA put it simply like this: "It would rape modern American society of its innocence."

It was clear to Lee that they weren't going to get through this without being seen, but he hoped that their quick decent meant that no one would be able to discern exactly what they were doing or who they were. Lee and his team were able to expertly maneuver their parachutes so that they landed on different places on top of the castle. They quickly disconnected their parachutes and made their way to one of the flat sections of the roof where they were hidden from the thousands of people outside, many of whom hadn't even seen them thanks to their black uniforms and equipment. Lee made sure his rifle was loaded and carefully opened the door that would take them from the roof to the upper-interior of the building.

"Shadow-King this is Shadow-Actual. We have landed - now going inside," he said. They had been given strict instructions to first search the Cinderella Castle Suite, which was an actual bedchamber, living quarters, and bathroom in the castle for VIPs and a very limited number of special guests. It was less than half a minute before Lee and his point man ran into a Disney cast member whose face turned white when he saw seven heavily armed soldiers with the barrels of their rifles pointing at him. He didn't say a word.

"U.S. ARMY - WHERE IS THE BEDROOM? THE CASTLE SUITE?" he shouted as the young man cowered. This only drew the attention of more people, some of which also cowered while others ran and a few screamed. Lee picked up the man by his shirt collar and shouted into his face, "WE'RE WITH THE ARMY, YOU NEED TO TAKE ME TO THE CASTLE SUITE NOW!"

"It- It's this way," said a young woman who bleach-blonde hair who appeared to be dressed as Cinderella. The team took no time in following her to the chamber door, which was locked.
"I don't have a key, I'm just a Cast Memb-" she managed to say, before one of the soldiers came up with a breach shotgun and shot off the hinges to the door. The point man shoved what remained of the door aside and the team poured into the opulent bedroom. Everything was neat and looked undisturbed. As they began to search they could hear the hum of helicopters outside - that was either reinforcements or the team from the Department of Energy.

"Major! We found it!" shouted one of the soldiers. Lee practically sprinted into the bathroom to find his men gathered around a large bathtub. One of the men had a Geiger Counter that was buzzing angrily from the radiation that was being immitted by what looked to be a miniature barrel with a harness.

"Shadow-King this is Shadow-Actual. We have secured precious cargo, I repeat we have secured precious cargo. It appears to have some kind of timer on it, it's ," he said as the people on the other side of his comms-link told him to stand by. The time was counting down, there was less than thirty minutes left on it - it lined up perfectly to when it would be midnight. Suddenly, everyone heard a gunshot.

"CONTACT!" shouted one of Lee's men from the bedroom. One of the soldiers was shot in the arm, and there was a dead man in some kind of tactical gear on the ground in the doorway. Lee's team had wasted him, but they could hear more rumbling outside. Lee unpacked a map of the Magic Kingdom and looked it over.

"Shadow-King we are compromised - we have taken fire. Get me one of those helicopters outside and I'll take care of the rest," he said.
"We're going out, Marshal and Stevens on me, I'm carrying the bomb. Fix bayonets, let's go!" he said. The two soldiers helped him pick up the bomb and carry it. He strapped it to his back, but still needed some help carrying the device. In the halls of the castle they shot two more people - one of them was another person in unmarked tactical gear, and the third appeared to just be a civilian except for the fact that he had a rifle.

They made it outside to the north side of the castle, which was luckily devoid of tourists and people who were planning on watching the fireworks. A Blackhawk touched down while Lee and his men struggled to run towards it with the bomb in-tow.

"TIME TO MIDNIGHT?" he shouted as he loaded the device into the helicopter.
"20 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT, SIR!" shouted Lieutenant Marshal as he started to climb onto the helicopter before Lee kicked him, forcing the soldier to fall directly onto his back.
"I GOT THIS ONE, EVACUATE THE PARK!" he said before he closed the sliding door and went up to the pilots.
"LET'S GO LET'S GO," he said as he pulled out the map and pointed to a small island that was about 5000 feet from their current location.

The helicopter roared into the sky as the blades sliced through the air like butter. Lee called in his plan and activated his GPS.

WASHINGTON D.C.
The White House
20 Minutes to Midnight

​

Most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, some of the President's National Security Team, the secretaries of the Navy and Army, the secretaries of Defense and Energy, and the directors of the FBI and CIA were convened in the Situation Room of the White House. President Gore had been at Camp David with his family for New Year's when he was informed that there was a possible WMD in New York. He had been outside with his family to watch the fireworks when he was taken back to the Camp and debriefed on the situation. After the situation developed further, he decided to head back to the White House. Marine One picked him up and flew him directly there along with some of his senior staff and Secret Service agents. Before taking off, the President ordered American armed forces to DEFCON 4. While he was flying to Washington, he first tried calling the Mayor of New York and then the Governor of Florida, but he was unable to reach either in a timely manner.

It was 20 minutes to midnight. The Chief of Naval Operations - the professional head of the Navy - had just received a direct order. He picked up the phone and was patched directly in to U.S. Fleet Forces Command at the Pentagon. He ordered the USS Ohio that was currently underwater off the coast of Florida to surface.

"We don't have time to wait," the Secretary of Defense said. He picked up the secure line in the Situation Room and punched in a number. President Gore, who was still aboard Marine One, could see the White House.

"Hello?" Gore answered on his secure line.
"Mister President, this is John Glass," said the Secretary of Defense. He continued, "Army Special Forces have found the bomb. It's located at Disney World in Florida - it's either nuclear or a dirty bomb. Mister President, it is fourteen minutes to midnight. The bomb is on a timer and will detonate at midnight. If we blow it up before with enough firepower, it will not be able to make a nuclear explosion and the radiation will be contained to a much smaller area. We have the USS Ohio on standby. I need your authorization to fire a cruise missile at the bomb."
"Where is the bomb? Is it still in Disney World? Do we have a bomb squad there?" Gore asked.
"The bomb has been brought to an undeveloped area within Disney World. It's the best they could manage on short notice. The DoE bomb squad is still en route to Florida. They wont make it in time. Mister President, this decision needs to be made now," Secretary Glass said as he eagerly checked his watch again.
"John, we're flying over the White House now. I can be down there in-" the President was cut off by his Secretary of Defense.
"Mister President, if you do not order this strike right now, 10,000 people will die," Glass said.

There was silence on the Presidents end of the line for a few seconds, and then he spoke up, "Order the strike on the bomb immediately," President Gore ordered. As he said this, Marine One was about 100 feet from touching down on the South Lawn of the White House Grounds where the Secret Service was waiting for him.

OFF THE COAST OF FLORIDA
USS Ohio
20 Minutes to Midnight

Captain Anderson of the USS Ohio guided-missile submarine reread what his XO had just informed him of. He didn't even blink before he grabbed ahold of the public address system. "This is the captain, prepare for emergency surface. Brace!" he said, before handing it back to his communications officer and looking at his second in command.
"XO, emergency blow, get us to the surface," he ordered.

The XO quickly repeated the order, "Up bubble, initiate emergency main ballast tank blow," he said to the sailors around him. The officers and enlisted on the ship carried out their orders as the submarine rapidly began to rise to the surface and then broke out of the pristine, calm waters of the late-night Atlantic Ocean. The submarine performed a perfect emergency surface. Inside, any of the sailors that were still sleeping were awoken by the public address system going off again.
"General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands man your battle stations!"

Captain Anderson was this time taken aback by the new orders that had just come in from COMSUBLANT (Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic). The coordinates they were given was not only on the U.S. mainland, but was in a densely populated area of Florida.

"Get me COMSUBLANT, I'm not about to bomb Florida without some clarification," he said. His communications officer made contact with Navy command much quicker than he thought. Before he could even ask the question, an answer was given.

"Captain Anderson, this is Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Noah Irving. You have just been issued a legitimate launch order from the President. Carry it out now, or you will be relieved of duty," he said, and waited for a response.
"..Aye aye, Admiral," Captain Anderson said.

"XO, fire the missile."

STATE OF FLORIDA
Discovery Island
4 Minutes to Midnight

​

Major Lee was dropped off on a semi-clear part of the island. The Blackhawk had taken some machinegun fire as they were flying over the lake, which indicated to Lee that they were still not alone. Against orders, he had jumped onto the island and taken the bomb to the center. He knew that he couldn't risk letting whomever was fighting them get to the bomb before they could destroy it, or before it went off. He was going to fight for every minute that was possible. He continued to give updates on his position until it was a bit less than fourteen minutes to midnight. His GPS tracker had him targeted the entire time, but now he was in the middle of the island. As Lee had made it deeper onto the island, he heard a motorboat come ashore. Two men ran into the dense semi-jungle of the Florida island in pursuit of him. While what happened isn't exactly known, it's presumed that he shot both of them.

His final transmission was this: "Shadow-Actual is in position. Two enemies neutralized, I am in stationary position... Shadow-Actual over and out."

In his final moments, less than three minutes before midnight, he clutched onto his Saint Christopher necklace that his mother had given him when he turned 18 and prayed to God for forgiveness, and to watch over his family.

The Tomahawk made a direct impact at a speed of about 800 miles per hour. Major Lee was killed instantly, and the bomb was destroyed before it could cause a nuclear chain reaction that would make a nuclear explosion. Instead, the cruise missile caused a conventional explosion. The radiation from the uranium was contained to the island. Disney World was evacuated due to a reported "Heist gone wrong" that resulted in an "explosion of a gas storage tank" next to their getaway vehicle that was supposedly on Discovery Island. The Department of Energy, under the guise of being from the EPA, arrived to Discovery Island the following morning and began the process of decontaminating the site, which included the removal of radioactive soil. Everything that happened, including the incredible sacrifice of Major Lee, was kept classified. However, under orders from the President, a few exceptions that will later be explained were made. The bomb was never confirmed to have been nuclear or even a dirty bomb. The Department of Energy kept that information under such a tight lid that even the Director of the CIA did not have access to that information.

That night, America celebrated the New Year. They were only able to safely do so thanks to the incredible sacrifice of Major Lee along with the diligence and professionalism of agents from the FBI, United States Lighthouse Service, and servicemen from the Navy and Army. It was the silent sacrifice and dutiful actions of those individuals who saved their country from a national tragedy.

​