The two decoy helos and the overwatch birds, with no VIP passengers to worry about, merely cut the air intakes as they flew through the smoke wall, then reopened them in clear air.
Aboard Marine Two, the only bird to have remained at Camp David the whole time, the tampered oxygen generator flooded the cabin with colorless hydrogen cyanide gas. Major Jones was among the twenty percent of the population unable to detect its bitter almond odor.
Once absorbed by the body, HCN halted the helicopter occupants’ cellular respiration by blocking their mitochondria’s ability to create a key enzyme.
Twenty-eight seconds after Captain Vance Brown initiated the oxygen generator, Major Tamatha Jones’ cells were already dying by the billions.
She managed to pull out the pilot’s emergency oxygen mask.
