32
SSI’s braintrust was summoned to an emergency meeting less than an hour before closing. When Joe Wolf shut the door on the secure room, Derringer got straight to the point.
“Nobody in this room is going home this evening. We have to find two more human bombs.”
Sandy Carmichael was the first to react. “You mean, our team didn’t get all the Marburg plotters after all?”
Derringer raised his hands, palms up. “Oh, we think we got all the big fish, or at least we know who they are. It’s the last two little fish. Evidently Frank’s guys missed them by a few hours.”
Wolf did not bother to sit down. “I’ve already talked to the applicable agencies.” He ticked them off with his fingertips: “DHS, FBI, NIS, HHS, DoT and FAA, a lot of the federal alphabet. Evidently some word leaked out of Pakistan because Defense and Health and Human Services already had an idea that something was headed our way. Now it’s a matter of coordinating all the players.”
Derringer shook his head. “Never happen, Joe. Not on so short a notice.”
Wolf slid into a chair. “Yeah, I know, Mike. I know.” He rubbed his graying temples.
Carmichael was mentally cataloging the growing list of tasks before her, including a call to a neighbor to check on the girls. “Admiral, just what do we know right now? And what do we have to assume?”
“Good questions, Sandy.” Derringer raised himself from his seat and paced to the whiteboard beside the conference table. He flipped back a cloth covering his briefing points and went down the list. “Frank and Omar are convinced that their Pakistani liaison officer and General Hardesty are being forthright. Once the field interrogations revealed that two infected men had left the farm we raided, our embassy was immediately notified. The Pakistanis ‘interviewed’ the prisoners at Quetta and found similar enough stories to believe them. Hardesty has confirmed the basics: two men in their twenties, one who may have a fatal disease. We do not know their names but according to the interrogators, they’re known as Maqsad and Badlah. I’m told those are Urdu words for ‘purpose’ and ‘revenge.’”
Sandy looked at her boss. “That’s it?”
“Pretty much. As you asked, the rest we have to assume.” He tapped the whiteboard again. “We assume they’re Pakistanis, but we don’t know if they’re traveling on Pakistani passports. That seems unlikely, considering they must know we’d be suspicious. We assume they have something between hours and days before they develop full-blown Marburg. We must assume they’re headed here, but it could be any place from Philadelphia to LA. It’s unlikely they’re traveling together.”
Wolf sat up straight. “Mike, what are the chances of getting Islamabad to cancel all flights out of the country? Maybe just for a couple of days. They could say, truthfully, that there’s concern of communicable diseases.”
“Hardesty and the embassy people are supposed to be working that angle. Same with bus and rail, but I doubt anything will come of it. The kamikazes have a head start, and they may be driving to another country before flying here. The best we can hope for is that all ports of entry will screen all Muslim males under thirty or so.”
“Damn!” Wolf’s mild expletive was uncharacteristic. “The minute INS or anybody else tries to do that, the civil libertarians will shut down the whole scheme with a discrimination suit. All it takes is one huggy-feely judge.”
Derringer smiled for the first time — a small, ephemeral smile, but a smile nonetheless. “That’s right, Joe. No profiling allowed — no doubt about it. But I, ah, wouldn’t be surprised if the government has written appeals ready to file within minutes. Depending on specifics, all that’s required is the necessary signatures.”
“Whose signatures?” Carmichael asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of my college friends.”
“You mean Secretary Burridge?”
Derringer leaned forward, hands on the table. “It’s already gone from President Quincannon to Justice
Wolf’s grin was in fact wolfish. “The ACLU will go spastic.”
“I suspect you are correct. But even if the appeals are denied, at least there’ll be time to look for the suiciders while the lawyers haggle it out.”
As usual, Carmichael was thinking ahead of the game. “Admiral, if the government is dealing with all this, what’s our role?”
Derringer sat down again, drumming his long fingers on the tabletop.
Carmichael was scribbling notes to herself. “Admiral, with our primary teams in Pakistan and secondary crews in Iraq and Afghanistan and Central America, we’re going to be hard pressed to field many more operatives.”
Wolf interjected. “Sandy’s right. We can’t get Frank’s people back here in less than two days, and this is likely to be over by then.”
Derringer made a point of loosening his Annapolis tie. “Actually, Omar is coming back tonight — he’ll be badly jetlagged by the time he hits Dulles tomorrow, but he can be the most use, especially with his language skills. As for the rest of us, well, it’s like I said. Nobody’s going home this evening.”
During a coffee break Sandy Carmichael and Sallie Kline got together for a bit of female bonding. Sallie confided, “You know, I don’t tell many people, but some of the Patriot Act makes me nervous.”
“What parts?”
“Basically, the whole attitude that American citizens are just as suspect as foreigners from hostile nations.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sandy replied. “I’ve had this discussion with David. He agrees with you, and he’s active duty. But what’s the alternative?”
“How about common sense? I mean, grandmothers taken aside for searches! My best friend had her wedding gown spread out on a table in Phoenix. I’ve even seen mothers with babies made to unload their bags with diapers and things. That’s done because the government’s terrified of being accused of profiling.” She shook her head. “Damn it, Sandy, the threat is Muslim males — not people like you and me.”
“Girlfriend, I spent over twenty years in the army. Don’t hold your breath waiting for common sense.”
Sallie Ann’s empathic powers tickled her emotional sensors.
“Since the attack? Just once, and a couple of phone calls.”
After an awkward silence, Sallie risked another question. “How’s he doing? I mean, he seems like a really nice man, but he must have some issues, coming that close to being killed.”
Sandy bit her lip and lowered her gaze. When she raised her eyes again, they were misting over. “He’s a wonderful man, Sallie. My god, he loves me enough to risk his life for me. But he also loves his wife.” She shook her head. “Nothing’s simple, is it?”
“Sandy, I think that love is simple. It’s the purest thing there is. But romance can be a real bitch.”
Wolf convened the meeting. “Okay, people. What do we know? I mean, what do we
Omar Mohammed gulped more coffee to stay awake. He looked almost as bad as he felt — he had never been able to sleep on airplanes. “Here’s my interrogation notes from the Pakistanis. Major Khan was present and he thinks the information is accurate.”
