Blunt chose to stay dry for a few more hours as his two agents were due to return at any moment with a more in-depth report about what happened in Cape Verde. The shortened version he’d already received painted a bleak picture, one where the First Lady knew the obvious but nothing beyond that. But the intelligence community needed more to act on if the government planned to be proactive to the events occurring both in the open and in the shadows. A half-hour passed, and he decided that he couldn’t wait any longer. He dumped a healthy portion of bourbon into his thermos and lumbered to the conference room. While waiting for Hawk and Alex, Blunt took a seat at the table directly across from the television and propped his feet up on the desk. He took a long pull before smacking his lips and screwing the top back onto the bottle.
After turning on the television, he surfed through several channels before coming to rest—against his better judgment—on a cable news program where a panel of various Washington insiders were discussing the news of the day. Blunt hated shows like this one, but the question on the screen caught his eye.
“This is what we’re talking about today,” announced Herb Kingman as he gestured toward the bank of screens behind him. “A Rasmussen poll released this morning showed that seventy percent of Americans don’t feel safe. Seventy percent. That’s an astounding number for this country, especially considering that the highest level since the 9/11 attacks was right around forty percent.”
“That’s right, Herb,” chimed in Samantha Hunt. “This is the first poll that’s been conducted since the White House was struck with a bomb, which makes some of the details even more eye-opening. Since terrorists first assaulted us on our own soil, fears about future attacks have been largely weighted along partisan lines. When a Democrat was in office, Republicans were more fearful and vice-versa. But under Noah Young, political affiliation made no discernible difference in how people felt.”
“This just goes to show you that people feel very unsettled right now,” Herb said. “And we still haven’t even received confirmation about who was behind this. Up until this point, Al Fatihin has been the terrorist organization that Americans have feared the most, but since they remained oddly silent about this latest event other than to celebrate it, we’re left to wonder if there’s another terrorist cell on the rise that we should be concerned with.”
“Yes, and we want to dive further into that topic with former Homeland Security Deputy Gene Pinkston,” Samantha said as she turned toward the longtime bureaucrat.
What a disaster! Pinkston couldn’t stop a four year old with a water pistol.
When Pinkston’s face appeared on the screen, Blunt had enough and turned off the television. He and Pinkston had gone round and round on policy, which Blunt felt was often detrimental to the country’s safety. Nevertheless, the two remained friends. But Blunt wasn’t about to waste his time listening to Pinkston’s fear mongering.
Blunt returned to the reports in front of him while waiting for Hawk and Alex to arrive. After fifteen minutes, Blunt’s phone rang with a call from CIA Deputy Director Randy Wood.
“Have you put together an op to track down Madeline Young?” Wood asked after the two exchanged pleasantries.
“I’ve got two agents about to walk into headquarters here any moment now and give me a full report,” Blunt said.
“And the abbreviated version?”
“Nothing that we didn’t already know,” Blunt said.
“That’s just as well because we’ve got something else that needs more immediate attention.”
Blunt chuckled. “The tyranny of the urgent. Isn’t that how it always is?”
“It’s no joke this time,” Wood said. “I know we get this a lot, but I was just in on a scathing call from the president, who’s up in arms about this new poll about how unsafe Americans feel. Have you seen that yet?”
“I just saw it. The merchants of fear are doing a great job of stirring up the people this time.”
“I agree,” Wood said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that the people who really do the grunt work to keep Americans safe from outside threats are going to be summarily fired if the president carries through with some of his threats.”
Blunt stood and paced around the room. “I just spoke with him a couple of days ago and told him that I’d try to track down Evana Bahar, but she seems to have gone underground. I know Young is concerned with the optics of that attack on the White House and doesn’t want his poll numbers to take a nose dive as the next election cycle is getting ready to gear up, but there’s only so much we can do. The last report I read about her said that Al Fatihin was struggling to raise capital for more weapons. If she can’t fight, she’s not going to come out of hiding.”
“Agreed. But I’m afraid that’s not going to quell the president’s concerns. He said he wants to be able to address the American people to allay their fears and soon. And he wants to do it with the capture of someone prominent.”
“In that case, I need Orlovsky,” Blunt said.
“Define the word need,” Wood said.
“We need him physically in our possession to lure Bahar into the open.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“Won’t or can’t?” Blunt asked.
“The president has been clear that Orlovsky is to remain in custody, utilized as an asset for information only.”
“What is the purpose of that?”
“From what I understand, he doesn’t want to risk losing him, much less anyone else finding out that he’s been apprehended. It works to our advantage that nobody knows he’s been compromised.”
Blunt sighed. “I get that, but if Young won’t let us utilize the best chance we have at drawing out Bahar,
