Black Flagged Redux

Chapter 24





1:27 PM

CIA Headquarters

Langley, Virginia





Berg's pager beeped for the second time in the last five minutes, and he waited for the satellite call request window to appear on his computer. He was amazed that the NSA's system could alert him to a satellite call leaving the Kazakhstan search area before the call itself was connected. Dusty had relayed the preliminary information gathered by the team, which confirmed Berg's worst fears. Reznikov and his extremist buddies had likely used the site to create some type of bioweapon. He had no hard proof, but the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming. Regardless of what they created, the presence of a large, recently used crematorium meant that they had conducted extensive human experimentation at the site and didn't want to leave any evidence behind.

Overall, the site had been thoroughly sanitized of any useful evidence, but the team got lucky. Farrington had found small pieces of frozen brain matter jammed under a long wooden bench in a tiny makeshift prison cell. The victim had been shot while lying on the bench, evidenced by the ammonia washed stain still visible at the head of the bench. The cell had been extensively cleaned, based on the overwhelming chemical smell present in the room, but the perpetrators hadn't cleaned the bottom of the bench.

Getting this sample safely into U.S. hands was critical, and he contemplated launching the Predator based on this information alone. He was willing to gamble with the hand he held at this point, but he decided to hold off. Bauer had put her ass on the line arranging the Predator drone, and he didn't want to send the Predator on a one-way trip unless the team was in immediate danger.

The pager beeped again, but no call came through on his computer. Dusty had made the first call en route to examine the dead bodies discovered in the satellite photos. He hadn't expected to hear from Dusty again this quickly, but the kid was jumpy, and he understood why. They had uncovered a major biological weapons conspiracy and strongly suspected that they were under direct surveillance. This was the other disturbing discovery made by the team.

The entire complex had been rigged with high-end listening devices, which meant the Russians had found the site and still hadn't alerted their "allies" in the War on Terror. Muslim extremists had likely been in possession of a bioweapon for over two weeks, and the Kremlin was quiet. Now Reznikov's hometown could not be approached by road from any direction. None of this boded well, especially if the Russians were more interested in covering up their connection to Reznikov than keeping weaponized viruses off the world market.

Once Moscow was awake, he'd place a call to an old friend. Rare coincidence had put the two of them back in touch after many years, and if his former adversary remained the same man he had grown to admire during the Cold War, there still might be some hope of preventing a disaster.

Berg checked his connection to Dusty's phone and saw that all diagnostics indicated an open channel. As soon as he minimized the window, an alert appeared on his other screen. A satellite transmission had been detected in the vicinity of the laboratory site. He opened the alert warning and saw that the signal carried a Russian Federation encryption protocol. Shit. Now he had a real problem. If the Russians had gone so far as to place land mines to keep this a secret, then he had little doubt they would try to intercept the team. If he put the Predator up now, they would have coverage for some of their trip back to the main highway. The Predator could escort them far enough north toward Astana to make it unlikely for the Russians to attack them in the open. From that point on, the team could handle itself.

He put on his headset and adjusted the microphone. He clicked on the priority channel to U.S Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), and the computer dialed AFSOC's operations center. The time on his computer read 2:02 PM. Some unlucky crew in Kyrgyzstan was about to receive an early wake up call. With the bird in the air by 1:30 AM, it could be circling over Sanderson's team by 5:00 AM at the latest. An Air Force Major answered Berg's call, and he explained the situation, ready to pass the appropriate encrypted confirmation codes supplied to him by Audra Bauer. These codes would activate a set of protocols that would put an armed U.S. Predator drone over the Republic of Kazakhstan, without that country's knowledge.

Karl didn't envy Bauer's position in this one, but if their suspicions could be confirmed, Bauer wouldn't have to worry about answering to anyone. She would likely earn the right to eventually succeed Thomas Manning as the National Clandestine Service's director…or find herself assigned to an embassy in some remote shithole, if she didn't serve time in federal prison. No guts, no glory is what he used to tell the agents under his charge. Not that he'd ever say this to Audra. She had more guts than this entire floor combined.