not. You told me the CID unit was broken, Major.” Richter nodded. “Why the bogus story? We could’ve been killed out there. The CID unit could’ve detected all those killers long before they attacked us. Two innocent people were needlessly killed. Your own engineer was beaten and could have been killed too.”
“I took a chance, sir,” Jason replied. He turned to Ariadna. “I’m sorry, Ari, but I had to do it.”
“A chance? What are you talking about?”
“A chance to give out some false information so we’d draw out the bad guys,” Jason said. “Everybody but myself and Ari thought that the CID unit was down. That means…”
“That means that someone we told about our plan to go to Abaete to hunt for Ruiz without the CID unit ratted us out to Zakharov,” Jefferson said. “I only told the National Security Adviser, and it was on a secure circuit.” He turned to Kristen. “Who did you talk to?” he demanded.
“Our executive producer…the chief of the news division…the president of SATCOM One…”
“Jesus…!”
“Even I can’t just go traipsing all over South America without getting permission,” Kristen retorted. “The news was sent all the way up to the president’s office before we knew it. What did you expect…we were just going to whip out our credit cards and pay for this trip ourselves?”
“And how many persons could they have told?”
“They don’t blab about our movements, Sergeant Major…”
“Who? How many could have known?”
Kristen glowered at Jefferson and shook her head, but lowered her eyes and shrugged a few moments later. “Any number of people,” she said finally. “At least three associate producers and one or two editors just in the television news division; they could have sent funding requests to Finance; they would have gotten in contact with officials in Washington; fact-checkers, researchers, legal guys…who the heck knows, Sergeant Major? It’s a big organization…”
“And over an unsecured telephone,” Jefferson added. “Half of New York and Washington could have been listening in. I’m surprised there wasn’t a news crew out there in Abaete covering the battle live.” He swore silently, then impaled Jason with an angry glare. “Dammit, Richter, you never should have gotten a reporter involved in this. Task Force TALON has been blown wide open. The whole damned world will know what we’ve done by the time we get back to Cannon.”
“I don’t think it was Kristen or SATCOM One that leaked our whereabouts,” Jason said. “I think it was someone in Washington—maybe even someone in the White House.”
“How do you figure that, Major?”
“Sir, I didn’t trust this whole setup right from the beginning—something smelled from day one,” Jason said. “This whole thing was doomed to fail right from the start. I’m positive of it now.”
“This task force was formed by the National Security Adviser himself,” Jefferson said. “Chamberlain has been our strongest and probably our only supporter.”
“Then someone in his office, sir…or someone right here in this plane, has sold us out,” Jason said. “Someone involved with the project right from the start…”
“The only other ones involved early on have been…Special Agents DeLaine and Bolton,” Jefferson said.
“And you, Sergeant Major,” Kristen pointed out. Jefferson glared at her but said nothing.
“DeLaine and Bolton were working on the GAMMA angle when we first had the demonstration at Andrews Air Force Base,” Jason said. “Ari and I intercepted Kelsey’s cell phone conversations with her office, before and after the demo, and they talked about Brazilian terror groups then. She never liked me from day one, and she and Bolton have done everything possible to exclude us from their activities. I threw a monkey wrench into her entire GAMMA investigation, something she and her office had been working on for months.”
“Chamberlain certainly would’ve informed Kelsey of what we were up to in Brazil,” Jefferson said. “There could be a leak in her office…”
“If she hurriedly tried to pick up the pieces of her investigation into GAMMA and gotten operationally sloppy, she could have tipped off sources in the Brazilian government or PME…accidentally, I mean,” Kristen said. “How well do you know this person? Could she be a snitch or on Zakharov’s payroll?”
“No way,” Jefferson said. “She’s a well-known and respected FBI agent. She’s the deputy special agent in charge of counterterrorism in Washington, for Christ’s sake…!”
“Doesn’t mean she can’t be dirty, Sergeant Major,” Ariadna said.
“I don’t think it’s Kelsey,” Jason said. “It has to be someone higher up…”
“All right, that’s enough,” Jefferson said. “We’re not getting anywhere arguing about this. Once we get back to the States, I’ll have a full investigation launched. We’ll find the leak and shut it down, I guarantee it.” He picked up the satellite telephone. “I’m going to notify Chamberlain’s office of our arrival and what happened…”
Jason shook his head. “Sir, what if…?”
“Major, I heard what you said, but I don’t have the authority to launch an investigation of this magnitude,” Jefferson said. “We need the FBI, CIA, Defense Intelligence, Homeland Security, andU.S. Northern Command in on this—Chamberlain will have every investigating agency possible working on this. They’re going to work separately, independently, to get answers. No one office or individual can influence every one of them.” No one had enough energy to argue.
Several hours later, shortly after dawn, the SATCOM One jet landed at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, closely monitored by Patriot antiaircraft missile batteries and Avenger short-range air defense units surrounding the entire base. The Amarals were taken away in separate vehicles by the FBI, while the others were piled into Air Force blue Suburbans. Heavily armed Security Force Humvees escorted the passengers to the task force training area. They were met by each and every member of the task force…and by National Security Adviser Robert Chamberlain himself.
There was only one way to describe the mood of the place: funereal. Jason never expected a celebration on his return, but he didn’t expect so many glum faces either. Chamberlain was obviously here to deliver really bad news.
Chamberlain stepped up to the door of the Suburban as it came to a stop. Sergeant Major Jefferson was the first out of the vehicle; Chamberlain extended a hand and shook his warmly. “You’ve had one hell of a time in South America, haven’t you, Sergeant Major?” he remarked, smiling at his own joke. Jefferson said nothing. Chamberlain shook hands with Richter, Vega, Kristen Skyy, and her crew. “I’m sure you guys are tired, but we need to get the debriefing sessions out of the way as soon as we can. We have teams from my office inside waiting to speak to you.”
“I need to get in contact with my network, Mr. Chamberlain,” Kristen said. “Jefferson wouldn’t let us use the phones on the jet—he said it was per your order—and…”
“The chief of the debriefing team will let you know when you can make calls, miss,” Chamberlain said. “You won’t be unduly inconvenienced, but they have an investigation to run. Your network has been advised that you’re safe and that you’re in the direct care of my office. Have a little patience while we get all this sorted out, and everything will be fine in a very short time. You will eventually be allowed…”
“Excuse me, Mr. Chamberlain, but that’s not acceptable,” Kristen said. “We’re not allowed to make any statements to any law-enforcement or government agencies without a SATCOM One News attorney present if the incident involves our work. I understand you’re in charge of a very important investigation and that it concerns national security, sir, but the network takes our First Amendment rights very…”
“Miss Skyy.” Chamberlain now had turned his whole body toward the SATCOM One crew. Kristen was no shrinking violet, but she was clearly starting to wither under the slow but definite change in Chamberlain’s mood. “We’ve unfortunately gotten off on the wrong foot here. I’ve apparently failed to make myself clear, and for that I apologize. Let me start all over again, and I’ll try to elucidate my thoughts better:
“You are all material witnesses in an investigation into the terrorist attacks on Kingman City,” he said sternly—all traces of friendliness and relief that the team members were home alive were completely gone. “You will be questioned by various government authorities. You will be held as material witnesses for as long as necessary, and obviously if you refuse to answer, to protect your First Amendment rights or any other damn fool reason, that will just extend the time you’ll be held by us…”
“You don’t have to do it this way, Mr. Chamberlain,” Kristen said. “We can sit down with our execs and attorneys and work together to get you the information you need while preserving freedom of the press. We’re all Americans too: we want to see the ones who planned the attacks brought to justice. We can do this without
