Decency (41 page)

“We’ll reconvene in fifteen minutes. And,” he waited until every eye was on his own, “no one leaves this room until this is successfully resolved.”

Horton pulled the Attorney General and the FBI representative, Kimberly Burke, back from the table to speak to them alone.

“John and Kim, FBI will have on-scene command. Pick your three best on-scene commanders and have the closest one get to the farm, now. Have the other two spaced one in the west, say about Salt Lake, and one in the east, about Nashville, so they can get anywhere we need them.”

The Attorney General looked to Kimberly.

She said, “The best is Santos Sandoval. He’s the SAC in Chicago. Next are Langston Pruett and Parker Townsley. I’ll get them moving.”

She hit the button for the FBI switchboard and asked for the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office. Fifteen seconds later he was on the line.

“Santos, this is Kimberly. No matter what you are doing, stop. The President wants you to be on-scene commander in eastern Nebraska as fast as you can get there. I’ll work the helicopter to pick you up and the jet will be ready when you get to the airport. Call me from the plane through the headquarters switchboard and I’ll brief you. Now go.”

She knew it was physically impossible for the Chicago SAC to drop everything all at once. She gave him the time to get to the airport to hand off the balls he was juggling. She looked at her watch. It was 3:19. He would be lucky to be there by 6:30.

Fitzgerald strolled the kiosks in the terminal at O’Hare. He was dressed as a tourist, camera and all. He lollygagged and gawked at everything as though nothing in the world concerned him. Inside he was boiling.

“…towering Chinese stupidity… …ignored me… …could have had all of the devices back…now, they will get none…their investment will be paid to me from whoever buys them…”

He was also angry with himself for not keeping one of the four instead of installing two at NSA, one at Hawkins’ office, and one at the farm. Now, the only sure way to retrieve one was to go all the way to godforsaken Nebraska, again, before getting up to Toronto for the overseas flight.

…going to be especially delicious to watch the bidding, starting at a hundred million dollars…ah well, 3:45, time to get on the plane
.

Fitzgerald did not see the Lear 55 with Santos Sandoval on board about to take off from the same runway he would. Santos picked up the phone and was automatically connected to the FBI switchboard.

“FBI.”

“Sandoval for Burke.”

Kimberly picked up in the Situation Room. “Santos, get your coffee poured first, we’re going to be on for awhile.”

The President was running through a schedule of five minute blocks, designed to handle meetings, phone calls, briefings on pending issues, and the normal flow of events as well as to catch him up on the items that piled up while he was out of town. Still, a part of his mind was working on the Chinese mole. How to define the scope of the problem? How to monitor events for clues as to where the re-engineered devices were going? What criteria to use to see whether risks are widening or narrowing?

He fought off a fleeting temptation to check on the Situation Room. The image of Samantha Pierce created in his mind by the motion filed this morning kept recycling through his conscious.

…a parent’s gift from God…a teacher’s dream…an employer’s right hand… dutiful, dedicated, perseverant, clever, betrayed and, now…gone…if she hadn’t done what she did, would we have ever discovered the mole…? if we had, how much more damage would have happened in the interim…?

The President kept on meeting, phoning and talking, and, all the while, sorting and re-sorting the problem and hoping to do justice for the woman who found it.

Colonel Zhin Guo, or as he was known in Long Beach, Mr. Michael Cheng, sat in the rented Cherokee with his partner, Captain Ming Zhuan, Mr. John Yang. It was two hours ago that they took up this position, at the top of a rise, just off the road on a turn-in for field equipment, three quarters of a mile west of the Pierce farm house. They faced their Jeep east, toward the house, so they could comfortably look out the windshield. This afforded an excellent field of view and the sun, now behind them, did not beat upon them through the windshield. They could drink good green tea from the thermos, smoke the excellent Marlboros, and watch. And the Colonel counted his frustrations.

…a fool’s errand…but not my concern…the incompetents in Beijing lost control of the devices I am to attempt to recover…idiots do not even know where the devices are…

…they can only hope I can match some American with the photograph…if, and when, he ever comes to get the devices himself…

…I am to allow him to do so, and then deprive him of them…insufferable dolts in Beijing did not even consider it warranted to supply me a picture of the devices…

…apparently the clods intend for me to know by heavenly inspiration that the unscheduled arriving American has in fact obtained the devices…

…donkeys in Beijing apparently assume that any briefcase, grocery bag, athletic equipment, or cigarette case carried by this one, unique, undisguised American will contain the devices, should he ever happen to arrive and to later depart…

…such a masterpiece of planning and coordination could not have been worse crafted by a monkey…

So they watched.

Horton reconvened the action team by tapping his pen on the metal water pitcher.

“Let’s review. Treasury.”

The word “Treasury” was not an inquiry, “What can you do?” It was a command, “Report what you have done.”

“Alerted international bank monitoring team to watch for fund transfers possibly related to Fitzgerald, purchase of the devices, or travel of Fitzgerald and Chinese operatives.”

“Defense.”

“Joint Stars aircraft scheduled for take-off from Offutt in thirteen minutes. ETA to station sixteen minutes. NSA already started sweeping for the devices, we may get lucky and find one. Alerted and standing by: E-3A Command and Control aircraft, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma; U-2S Reconnaissance and Surveillance aircraft, Beale Air Force Base, California; Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, Special Operations Detachment Delta, Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Special Forces Combat Control Team, Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina; Mobile Medical Facility and Medevac aircraft, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois; Defense Communications Agency, Washington D.C., and Mobile Communications Team, Fort Ord, California.”

“Homeland Security.”

“Report through Border Patrol and Coast Guard.”

“Border Patrol.”

“Working the databases of in-country Chinese for possible identification of their recovery team members. Customs alerted for movements of Fitzgerald and Chinese.”

“Justice.”

“Office of Justice Programs is on line with Nebraska authorities and checking availability of SWAT team equipment and potential replacements.”

“Commerce.”

“Defer to NOAA.”

“Transportation.”

“FAA created temporary restricted airspace over five mile radius of Pierce farm, surface to 50,000 feet and coordinating with Offutt, Lincoln, and Omaha air traffic controls on flights related to this operation; rerouting commercial traffic in all midwestern corridors to minimize interference.”

“Joint Chiefs.”

“No action; defer to Special Operations Command.”

“FBI.”

“On-scene commander en route, ETA Offutt 6:13 Eastern, and holding on open phone line to complete planning of on-scene operations; two Chinese from Long Beach tracked to Denver; attempting to re-establish tracking; Hostage Rescue Team, Quantico, en route, ETA 6:12 Eastern; search of Fitzgerald residence on-going; Fitzgerald on Most Wanted List.”

“Coast Guard.”

“All Coast Guard Operations alerted for movement of Fitzgerald and Chinese.”

“NOAA.”

“Weather Service coordinating with FBI, Air Force, and FAA for products as necessary; local weather at Weeping Water, temperature 54, clear, calm; forecast, wind increasing to possibly 20 knots by 6:00 p.m. local, and continuing clear, no overcast.”

“NRO.”

“Retasking thirty millimeter resolution satellite for on-scene coverage, ETA two minutes. Tasking video and radar capable Global Hawk UAV, ETA in…two two minutes.”

“Special Operations Command.”