Tangled Web

Our story opens with a mid-air collision involving a Department of Defense aircraft; the impact area soon stumbled across by six mountain climbers. The U.S. military inexplicably mobilizes to seal the mountain and surrounding national forest in northwest America. Upon learning six local climbers are on the mountain, the military sees them as compounding the current threat, as is anyone contemplating their rescue. Attempting to learn the fate of the local climbers, TOBY MATTHEWS and CINDY PETERSEN are intercepted and ordered to descend. They redouble their efforts and surreptitiously circumvent the military presence; intimate knowledge of the terrain allows them to succeed where the military continues to fail in attempts to reach their objective – attempts that have resulted in deaths due to the technical expertise necessary under harsh winter conditions. Though weather and terrain remain unforgiving, it becomes an invaluable asset for Toby and Cindy. The military objective is a plane crash near the summit, cloud cover and weather defeating their efforts to access the site. Upon learning the six climbers have stumbled onto the plane-down, the military pulls out all stops; anyone crossing the 10,000-foot level in either direction will be killed. Time is of the essence; the timetable dependent upon rising temperatures generated by a storm to the south. Despite national attention, the military continues to claim their presence is for training purposes only, no mention of the plane crash, as they remain unrelenting in their quest. We learn the plane is carrying a genetically altered viral agent for which there is no known antidote; freezing temperatures at the crash site will keep it contained, but warming temperatures or anyone descending from the site could jeopardize millions of lives. With the advancing warm front and failing to reach the plane, the military prepares to cauterize the site with a tactical nuclear device. Toby and Cindy reach the crash site and descend with one climber and one surviving member of the plane crash - a three-year-old girl. The military carpet bombs the mountain with smart weapons to halt their descent and contain the virus. Toby, Cindy, one climber and sole survivor of the plane crash, stumble off the mountain and onto a highway, bloodied and ill; if the virus has come with them – the genie is out of the bottle. The climber and surviving member of the plane crash are diagnosed with influenza -- the viral agent has died on the mountain.