by Lewis, Rykar
“Stay there,” Kano ordered Parks.
He was debating whether to disobey that order. His brief sense of humor in her “correction” was replaced with a greater sense of contempt for this short, bossy Director. After all, she really had no authority over him.
“I think I’ll take my seat,” he told her as he returned to the table with his team. “I don’t want to miss anything.”
To his surprise, Kano didn’t protest at his refusal. Instead she was staring at the screen that was broadcasting what she described as the “Brier Patch.” The Patch was the location where the terrorists had been hiding from the Border Patrol. But when the BORTAC team had gone in to try and flush them out, they came up empty.
“There are a hundred million places they could have escaped from,” she declared dejectedly. “But there is only one place that they will go.”
“Nancy, will you get on with it?” Cummins demanded. “We haven’t got all day.”
The Intel Director half-nodded and continued. “I would say that these guys are heading into El Paso.”
Cummins scrutinized his subordinate’s assessment and asked, “You have any gold to back up that dollar?”
“Plenty. First, these terrorists must have a sleeper agent that is holding their explosives because obviously they don’t have them. Second, El Paso is the best place to hide a sleeper agent. You know that. This agent could easily smuggle in weapons or explosives over the Mexican border and keep them at a certain place where the terrorists could access them easily. It makes sense that the terrorists would cross the border near Sunland Park. It is less guarded than the borders nearer El Paso yet it’s close enough to their sleeper where they wouldn’t have to go too far to access him.”
“It’s a little shaky, wouldn’t you say?” Cummins pointed out. “I mean, you don’t really know that they don’t have the explosives on them, or if they’ll even use any type of explosive. Besides, if they need a sleeper, why wouldn’t they have him in Mexico?”
“Take it or leave it,” she responded as she walked back to her desk and waved her hand in dismissal.
“Mr. Director, may I?” Norse asked.
“Feel free,” Cummins allowed.
“Thank you. I believe there are two reasons that the terrorists wouldn’t hide the sleeper in Mexico. First, if he’s in the U.S., he can establish contacts without the hassle of border crossing issues. The second reason is that the FBI is very restricted when it comes to looking at a U.S. Citizen, while looking at foreign entities is more permissible.”
Cummins thought about how to respond. It definitely was a wild guess but it made some sense. “I’ll keep it in mind,” he assured Norse. “GG, we need to find these terrorists as quickly as we can. Any suggestions on how we might do so?”
Gork loosened his constricting tie and replied in a solemn tone. “The only way to find the terrorists would be to put agents on the ground to look for them. I know that’s what BORTAC is doing but our CIA agents would have the advantage of being undercover. I think they could find them. But other than that...” He shrugged his shoulders.
“Okay, Nancy, get our agents near El Paso working overtime to find these guys,” the D/CIA decided. “Have them scan the entire area, and do whatever else you think will work. Until you get some positive results, we’ll conclude this meeting.” The Director of the CIA rose. “Excuse me,” he said quickly. Then he left the room.
* * *
“They have been quiet, have they not?” Hazeroth asked the prime minister. “It has been two days since we mobilized our forces and nothing has happened. Perhaps our show of force has really been useful.”
Aziza shook his head in disagreement. “They are planning. For what, I don’t know, but rest assured, they are planning.”
“Let them plan. Their plans have no impact on us. It’s when they take action that it will concern us.”
“I suppose you’re right, Judah. But make no mistake about this. If one man in Lebanon so much as blows his nose toward us, I will decimate the Lebanese. All of them.”
* * *
“What idiot would have picked Kano for a Director of Intelligence?” Parks whispered to Solomon as they walked down the hall toward the Visitor Control Center. Solomon was supposed to show Parks around until he got the call to come back into the conference room and then the intelligence briefing would resume. Solomon had already escorted his boss to half a dozen different places inside Langley.
“She’s mean, huh?” Solomon agreed.
“Yeah, that’s what you said. But I thought you said she was human.”
Solomon chuckled out loud. “Well, to answer your question, she is hard to deal with and all, but if you ever played chess with her, you’d know why she’s the Director of Intelligence.”
“That good?”
“Better than that good. She’s a real thinker, and she has an excellent way of knowing what her opponent is thinking.”
“So that’s why Mr. Cummins has her as the Director? Because she’s a good chess player?”
Solomon shook his head. “Her chess playing ability is merely an offshoot of her intelligence gathering abilities for the CIA. She’s real good.”
“Yeah, so I see,” Parks mumbled under his breath. “Let’s see how fast her guys can find the terrorists.”
“Oh they’ll find ’em. I’m not really sure anyone could escape the grasp of the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Parks jammed his hand in his pocket and fished out his Germ-X. “Want some?” he offered to Solomon.
“Nope, nope. I don’t use that stuff. It feels slimy.”
“Yeah well it’s clean, and that’s all that matters. To me anyway.”
Solomon didn’t bother to smother his wide smile. “What happens when you’re ordered to search the dead body of a terrorist?”
Parks was taken aback by the question. What would he do? “I suppose I’d be forced to say ‘Aye, aye, sir’ and then do it. But afterwards, I’d rip the skin off my hands I’d scrub them with soap so hard.”
Solomon laughed.
“I hope they resume the briefing soon,” Parks told Solomon. When he saw his deputy’s long face he asked, “What, you don’t feel the same?”
“No. I’m afraid that this time Kano will whack my hand with her ruler.”
“Cut it out,” Parks said good-naturedly as he pushed Solomon’s shoulder. To be honest with himself, he was nervous about going back to the conference room where anything good, bad, or the worst concerning the terrorists would be discussed. Parks hoped with all his might that when the time came, it would be good news – if that was even possible.
* * *
Soaked to the skin and thoroughly exhausted, Siraj and his terrorist team finally sought the shelter of a nearby dry ditch, which was covered in tall weeds. Who would have thought that skipping the border and escaping from the Border Patrol would be so tiring and take so long? Siraj would have never guessed. But now the first part of their escape was over, and the hardest part was yet to come. It would be tricky to try and make it to the sleeper’s house as it was, yet broad daylight – if one could call the overcast day that – was not the preferred lighting with which to make a run like this. The Border Patrol was hunting for them in every corner, and the cover of darkness would have helped immensely in the jaunt to their weapons cache. Also, Siraj wasn’t really good with directions and in a strange place like this, with no one to guide, things would be even worse. Though he had been given the precise location of the house and directions to get there, those directions’ starting point had been the Sunland Park Port. Siraj had no clue where they were now, and backtracking to Sunland Park was not an option. So what would he do?
Then he remembered his map. In his rush to escape, he hadn’t even consulted it. He wiggled his backpack off, unzipped it, and dug for the map. He found it, folded and soggy. He peeled it open and then yanked off his goggles and slammed them into the pack. It was dark out but not dark enough for night-vision goggles.
Siraj traced with his finger from the Sunland Park Port, to Santa Teresita, across the Rio Grande, and to where he figured they were now. From there, he searched for the location of the sleeper’s house. Vun Buvka had showed him the location on the map, but had told him not to make a mark of any kind near it just in case Siraj was captured.
At last, the terrorist found the right place and traced again back to where he assumed they were presently. He calculated about ten miles between them and their destination. That was too far for the wounded one to limp, and there was too much open country for nine guys with backpacks not to be seen. A thought suddenly hit Siraj right between the eyes. The Border Patrol and now probably the El Paso Police were looking for nine men near the border. Any two men seen together that were even on an evening’s stroll within five miles of the border would be subject to their suspicion. So why not split off? That would draw less attention and they could all merge at the sleeper’s house from different directions.
Siraj called his team together and quickly explained his plan. Then he opened the map and showed them all the way to the house and made them memorize street names, mileage and the sleeper’s house address.
“What about him?” someone asked concerning the wounded man. “He can’t walk on his own. Even if he could, a man shot in the leg would draw a lot of attention.”
Siraj answered the best way he could. “He’ll have to try. He has to go alone though.”
“I cannot,” the wounded man refused. “I am losing blood fast. I am about to die from blood loss; walking any more would only speed the end. You must help me.”
Several seconds passed before Siraj spoke again. “Maybe you could persuade someone to drive you close by the house. You have money still, do you not?”
The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of sopping-wet dollars.
“Good,” Siraj said. “Buy your way there. But do not be dropped off directly at the house or even in the same neighborhood. We don’t want to give anyone any clue as to where we are.”
“And like the driver won’t ask about my leg?” the man threw out sarcastically.
Siraj reached over and grabbed the man’s pistol from his belt and jerked off his light backpack. Then he handed both to a man who was without a pack.
“That is your problem,” Siraj replied to the wounded man’s question. “But should something go wrong, I don’t want anything even remotely suspicious on you.”
Siraj looked at the man’s wound, then stated, “All that leg has to last is about a day longer anyhow.” Really he had no intention of letting this man go along with the operation. He would just be a handicap and slow them down. He knew that this man would never make it to the sleeper’s house, so Siraj had nothing to worry about. It would probably be wise to kill him on the spot and bury his body, but Siraj could not bring himself to murder a wounded, unarmed man. And the gunshot would draw attention.
Two minutes later, everyone split off and headed for the sleeper’s house, unaware of the five CIA agents that had just found them.
* * *
Everyone was present in the CIA conference room. Kano opened a folder marked “TOP SECRET” and shuffled through a few pages before she began her second briefing. This time, she cast an image of a river on the screen that she identified as the Rio Grande.
“It looks like a normal river, does it not?” Kano started. “But look closer.” She walked over to the image, yardstick in hand, and pointed to an irrigation canal on the New Mexico side of the river. “This irrigation ditch tunnels under the river,” she explained. “It goes over to here.” She pointed to another irrigation ditch on the Texas side. “Now, my CIA agents have found the terrorists on the run on the Texas side of the river and they believe that the terrorists crossed through the tunnel.”
Samuels whistled. “A tunnel under the Rio Grande? Who would have ever thought that existed, much less that the terrorists would have escaped through it?”
“My agents obviously did,” Kano bragged. “Just to remind you, Mr. FBI Samuels, here at Langley we expect what we don’t expect.”
“Come on, Kano, get on with it,” the CIA Director moaned.
“We aren’t sure where they’re heading, and it’s worth noting that all nine of them split up. However, I had the five CIA agents break into two teams and follow two of the terrorists – one of which appeared to be the leader – so chances aren’t favoring us losing them.”
“Is that all, Nancy?” Cummins asked.
“All?” she questioned, reiterating her success. “I have just found in record time what the entire Border Patrol couldn’t find.”
“Okay, okay, that’s good enough,” Cummins praised. “You did well.”
Kano smiled and basked in her praise.
After a while of silence the D/CIA finally ordered, “Keep me informed on what happens. Meeting adjourned.”
Parks and his team stayed in the room with the D/CIA as the rest of the people cleared out. When everyone left, Cummins leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “Are you ready for what I have to tell you, Keith?”
“Yes sir, I am,” Parks confirmed.
The Director cracked the knuckles on his left hand. “We’re going to have to send you in. In where, you say? That’s just it. We have to plan on flying you into Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso but it’s no guarantee that’s where you’ll end up. What I mean by that is this. We put you and your team on BIG BIRD, the pilot flies for Biggs. But, if we find out that the terrorists are changing their course, we’ll change your destination to wherever we think the terrorists are headed, just like that.” Cummins snapped his fingers when he said “just like that” for extra emphasis. “Any questions, or reasons why not to convene a video conference with the President, VP and the Directors?”
Everyone shook their heads.
“Good. Let’s get at it then.”
* * *
Only Parks, Solomon, and Cummins were allowed to be in on this video conference, and as Parks sat in front of several video screens, he suddenly wished he was not there. He’d never done this before. He didn’t really know what to do. The Director had given him and Solomon a short explanation on what to do, but still Parks wasn’t sure he felt comfortable with all of these fancy, technical things.
The video screens in front of him flickered to life and he could see the faces of the President, Vice President, National Security Advisor, FBI Director, National Intelligence Director, and the Secret Service Director.
Parks adjusted the small microphone pinned onto his khaki uniform tie and made sure it was on.
“Everyone ready?” Cummins whispered.
Solomon gave the thumbs-up and the D/CIA turned on the sound.
“Mr. President, this is Mike. Can you hear me?”
“Perfectly. Can you hear me?”
“Clear as a bell, sir. Major Parks and Solomon are here with me. Are you ready?”
Winnfield looked around the room and nodded his approval.
“Good,” Cummins said. “BORTAC has lost the terrorists.”
“Oh no.”
“Well, there is more to the story, Mr. President.”
Parks looked over at the screen that held the face of Vice President Anders and watched him shake his head, obviously anticipating the worst.
“We have found the terrorists on the Texas side of the Rio, and five of my agents in El Paso are following them as we speak.”
“You found them? How? How did they get on the Texas side?” Anders wondered aloud.
“There’s a tunnel that goes under the river from the Santa Teresa side to the El Paso side. The terrorists found that and used it to escape. My agents found them on the run, presumably heading for El Paso. Believe me, there’s almost no chance that we’re going to lose them now.”
“That’s a relief,” Smith put in.
“We believe we also know why these guys are heading into El Paso,” Cummins began reluctantly.
“Why?” the Presiden
t asked.
“My Intel Director swears these guys are heading to El Paso to meet up with a sleeper agent. She says the sleeper could easily have smuggled guns, explosives, whatever, across the Mexican border into El Paso. From the reports of the Border Patrol and everything else we’ve seen, I don’t think the terrorists already have explosives on them. It’s a shot in the dark, but if you really look at it, they do need to pick up explosives somewhere if they’re going to make any significant attack. Also, El Paso would be an easy place to bury a sleeper until he was needed.”
“What do you think, Frank?” the President questioned.
The Director of the FBI began shaking his head slowly. “It’s a guess. A wild one, but it might be right. I’d say the big questions are how to stop them from getting there, how to eliminate the sleeper agent, and what to do if this guess is wrong.”
The questions remained unanswered until Solomon spoke up. “Mr. President, this is Solomon. If I may, I’d like to answer Mr. Watkins’ questions.”
“Fire away,” Winnfield instantly allowed.
“I think we could kill two birds with one stone if we allowed the terrorists to lead us to their sleeper instead of trying to stop them. Then we could take them all out together. I’d be willing to guarantee that they’ll be in such a hurry to get to him, we could use the team of CIA agents to follow them and they’ll lead the agents right to the sleeper. Otherwise the chances of taking the sleeper out will be slim at best because his location will be unknown.”
“Makes sense,” Smith declared. “Any comments on what to do if the guess that there is a sleeper in El Paso is wrong and the terrorists head elsewhere?”
Solomon looked to Parks.
“CIA Director Cummins told me this plan, sir, and I for one think it’s good,” Parks said. “As long as the CIA or FBI has agents following these terrorists, now that we know where they are, we aren’t going to lose them, sir. Which means that even if they don’t stay in El Paso, we know where they are, and my team can adjust our flight landing point to wherever necessary.”
