Black Flagged Redux

Chapter 57





7:15 AM

CIA Headquarters

Langley, Virginia





Karl Berg rested at one of the computer stations with his head down. He just needed about fifteen minutes to reboot his brain. He'd been racing in overdrive for the better part of forty-eight hours and it had finally caught up with him. Reznikov's capture had kicked off a series of events that kept them trapped in the Operations Center. Twelve European addresses were found on the scraps of paper collected by Petrovich. Ramblings in Reznikov's notebook had implied that these were locations mentioned by the Al Qaeda operatives at the Kurchatov laboratory. Apparently, Reznikov could understand Arabic.

They had spent the last five hours coordinating with the intelligence services of eight different European countries to direct the simultaneous raid of the addresses gathered. Less than forty minutes ago, law enforcement agents in France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the U.K. had kicked down doors to find the locations abandoned. The apartments had been left spotless, with the exception of the Copenhagen and Stockholm flats, which had been trashed. Berg now agreed with Petrovich's assessment of Reznikov's suicidal mental state.

The crazed Russian had probably gone to each of the Scandinavian locations with the intention of stealing some of the virus back from Al Qaeda. Copenhagen was an easy seven-hour drive from Stockholm. Now it was obvious that Al Qaeda had changed their game plan, which pushed the investigation into the next desperate phase. They would have to rely on Black Flag's interrogation to uncover another link. The most promising lead appeared to be Reznikov's reference to a German medical supply company.

The Edgewood scientists agreed that this represented a serious threat. If the terrorists had someone on the inside at this company, the weaponized encephalitis samples could be packaged as harmless diagnostic specimens. The illicitly disguised cargo could then be sent overnight using FEDEX, and if the company used to send the samples had a reputation for violation free shipping, there was very little chance that the packages would be inspected. Reznikov's virus might already be in the United States, which changed everything.

Half of the Edgewood scientists had departed a few hours earlier, presumably to meet with administration officials to advise them on a national response to secure the U.S. water distribution system. The CIA's source at Reuters said the news organization was a few hours from breaking the Monchegorsk story, which would include speculation that the city's water supply had been attacked. This was their own speculation, since Petrovich had ensured that the insurgent army major's transmission to Reuters didn't include any reference to a biological attack. The transmission only exposed the Russian government's brutal extermination of the Monchegorsk population. Still, combined with reports of widespread illness, it didn't take an investigative superstar to reach this conclusion.

Once the Reuters story hit the wires, U.S. and European governments would have a short period of time to react and demonstrate that appropriate measures were being taken to protect their water supplies. He wouldn't be surprised if the U.S. deployed the National Guard to achieve this task.

All of this was on top of the potentially explosive political pushback against Russia. Every nation in the West faced a possible biological attack by Al Qaeda, and it would become crystal clear that Russia had known about the possible threat for weeks. Not only had they known about it, but they had tried to cover up their connection to the information. His mind wandered back to what the Edgewood scientist had said about the unlikeliness that the initial virus had been created in a makeshift lab within Kazakhstan and his minded swirled uselessly. He really needed about fifteen minutes to shut his eyes.

"The director of the CIA is on his way to the Operations Center," the seemingly tireless watch officer announced.

He lifted his head and sighed. He'd have to get some rest later, if he still had a job. He wondered if Sanderson's immunity agreement extended to Audra and him. He stood up and put on his suit jacket, brushing it with his hands. Thomas Manning checked out of the Fish Bowl to meet General Copely.

"This should be fun," Berg said.

The watch officer raised his eyebrows, which was the extent of the emotion Berg had seen displayed by the man. At least it was something. Audra looked infinitely more confident than he felt.

"We'll be fine," she said.

"Maybe I'll get another promotion."

"I wouldn't go that far."

A few minutes later, the director of the CIA walked through the Fish Bowl doorway. General Robert Copley looked pleasant enough given the circumstances. He wore a dark blue U.S. Air Force service dress uniform, adorned with four stars on each shoulder epaulet and a thick board of multi-colored ribbons on his chest. He was the sixth active duty officer in CIA history appointed to the position. The director pushed his wire rim glasses up by the bridge of his nose and stopped to regard the Operations Center. The room had fallen quiet upon his entry.

"Congratulations on a job well done. All of you. It's been a long night and I'm afraid the day has only begun. The president and I count on your continued diligence and success. Mr. Harcourt, you can direct your people to make noise again. I think they work more effectively that way."

"I agree, sir," the watch officer said and started whispering commands into his headset, which brought the din of the room back to a normal level.

"Thomas, may I speak with you and your deputy director in private?"

Berg started to slide back into the room.

"And as Ms. Bauer's assistant deputy director, you're no longer working in the shadows, Mr. Berg. Please join us."

Shit. This couldn't be good, in his opinion. All four of them left the Fish Bowl for a small conference room on the other side of the Operations Center.

"Take a seat," Copley said. When everyone was seated, Copley began. "The president was not pleased to have his back put against the wall by Sanderson today. Sanderson's play was a complicated and brilliantly orchestrated event that the White House brought down upon itself. Still, the president did not deserve to be blindsided by the fact that Sanderson's agents had been critical to the recovery of Reznikov…and had been shooting their way across Europe. It put him in the untenable position of having to admit that the U.S. had operated terrorists on foreign soil. Not to mention the fact that his own Central Intelligence Agency had kept Sanderson's location a secret from the FBI and Interpol. Director Shelby was sitting right next to him when Sanderson exposed this dirty little secret, and he has a long memory. We'll all have to watch our backs for quite some time.

"This was an important operation, and I can't commend all of you enough for the results, but if you decide to use questionable assets in the future, I need to know about it, so I can whisper in the president's ear."

"The use of Sanderson's people was my doing. I was contacted by Sanderson immediately after the HYDRA investigation fiasco two years ago. He told me to keep his new organization in mind for any operations too sensitive for the direct use of American assets. This one fit the bill. I should have involved Thomas and Audra from the start. This is really my fault," Berg said.

"Don't be so quick to fall on your sword, Karl. I can't fault you for outsourcing the operation. I just need to be kept in the loop. Understood? Let me determine whether the CIA informs the president. That's what I get paid for."

"Sanderson's team is preparing to interrogate Reznikov. We expect this to happen within the next few hours. We'll keep you posted through Thomas," Audra said.

"That won't be necessary. I'll monitor the progress of the operation through a direct link with the Operations Center. Sanderson's operatives are now part of an officially sanctioned covert task force. The president was thoroughly impressed with the efficiency of this joint collaboration and wants Sanderson's assets to prosecute any leads generated by the interrogation, in direct cooperation with the CIA. You'll also reach out to Major General Bob Kearny at the DIA. He runs the Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center and should prove to be an invaluable source of information. He might even be able to provide hard support in the form of operatives from their Strategic Support Branch."

"We'll make sure Mr. Harcourt immediately establishes a link for you to monitor," Manning said.

"Excellent. I won't hold you up any longer," Copley said.

"Has Sanderson been informed of his participation in the new task force?"

"No. That's your job. And you need to stress that this is a non-negotiable, temporary arrangement. I don't think he'll have a problem with this. The president sensed that this was more important to him than the immunity agreement."

The director shook their hands and turned to depart. He stopped and turned his head. "You still haven't heard from your Russian contact?"

"No, sir," Berg said.

"That was a brave thing for him to do."

"He's a brave man. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Let me know if you hear anything," Copley said and walked toward the exit station.

Berg turned to Manning and Bauer, hoping to cut off any further speeches.

"I suppose I should break the good news to Sanderson," Berg said.

"When you're done, I'd like to hear the whole story about how you and Sanderson first formed this alliance," Manning said.

"Unless the president's immunity agreement extends to me as well, that's a story better left untold," Berg said and opened the door to leave.