Chapter 23 #2
Clint ripped open the envelope and unfolded the sheet of paper. Ashlin turned her back, grabbed her bags, and headed to the door, leaving the co-leaders alone in the hangar.
It’d been years since he’d held an envelope-stamped top-secret, not since he had held a command in Delta unit.
He ripped open the envelope and unfolded the sheet.
He had been ordered to report to the base general immediately.
He stepped over to Kayla, and they compared letters. Hers was exactly the same.
“I guess we’ll go see the general.” Kayla picked up her bags, and Clint grabbed his, and they headed for the door.
When they stepped out into the still dark chilly Montana morning, two airmen grabbed their bags, and the Colonel who had handed them the envelope pointed toward a standard blue Air Force car.
The airmen look their bags over to the still-loading minibus.
Clint saw Ashlin next to the window and blew her a kiss like he used to at the end of every video call.
She kissed her fingers and pressed them against the window.
“Sir, this way.” The Colonel held the door to the back seat open.
He crawled in and found Kayla next to him.
The first time in his life, he wished he knew American Sign Language.
His sister had once told him that all the women who go through JAFSOS are required to learn it, and they use it fluently in the field.
It was a short drive to the largest building on base.
From the shotgun seat, the Colonel said, “Follow me directly to the general’s office. ”
Clint thought it was unusual that he did not name the general, nor the general’s rank.
The Air Force, like the Army and the Marine Corps, had brigadier general, major general, and lieutenant general before they hit general.
He doubted the base commander had four stars.
He thought all those were at the Pentagon.
As soon as they entered the huge office with a massive desk, the gray-haired man in a plain navy-blue jacket covering his uniform stood and commanded, “Follow me.”
No hello. No self-identification, which Clint thought was the most strange.
Every general he’d ever met boldly announced his name and full rank.
The general led the way through a door marked private and down the hall to a thick steel door.
He punched the code into the keypad, then stepped up to the retinal scanner.
When the door opened, the base general motioned for them to enter. As soon as they did, the door closed.
Kayla spun around as fast as Clint did, both of them reaching for the door that had closed and instantly locked. They glanced at each other, then around the room. In the middle sat a black walnut conference table ornately inlaid with the Malmstrom Air Force Base crest.
“Lady Lion, Mr. Riggs, please sit,” the voice from the huge flatscreen at the head of the table said as the Section 7 Homeland Security logo appeared.
A second later, the image of Katlin Callahan Wolf appeared on the screen.
“Sorry for all the cloak and dagger shit, but I needed to talk to you two privately in a completely secure environment.” The camera panned back a little, and Clint could see that she was sitting with her back to dozens of computer screens and technicians at an open theater.
Farthest away, it looked as though the entire wall was filled with screens.
“I’m going to call you by your given names since we are secure. We are reasonably sure that someone on your team warned the terrorist.”
“Not my—” Kayla jumped in, but was quickly cut off.
Clint hadn’t said anything because he wasn’t one hundred percent sure about Boomer.
“Hear me out. Your report indicated that it looked like they left quickly. I trust your assessment. As soon as the second satellite overpass indicated the camp was empty, I had an intelligence team pull all communications in that area: calls, text, email, even those that claim to be encrypted end-to-end. There was a significant boost in communication, not just to the Middle East, where we believe Adeel bin Laden is pulling the strings. The one that surprised us the most was a short, encrypted phone call to one of our flagged numbers from a burner phone located in the Texas neighborhood where you were staying. The team is still working on trying to pin down the exact location. I don’t believe in coincidences.
I believe your team has a mole. Clint, we did a deep dive and found nothing of interest in Shawn Beck’s background, but we haven’t completely eliminated him yet. ”
“Understood.” Dell probably did the standard dive, but Clint was sure Section 7 could go places that his computer geek couldn’t. He wondered whether they would share the information with him.
“I’ve also started an Earth’s core investigation on everyone else on your team.
I am focusing on them because the Ladies of Black Swan have been, and are constantly, investigated.
By the way, you have already been eliminated as a suspect.
” Their current boss smiled. “You and Ashlin were enjoying the Alamo at the time of the call.”
“Thank you, ma’am. We both had a wonderful evening celebrating her birthday.” Clint hesitated for several seconds before he offered, “Katlin, if your team is willing to share, I have an excellent computer geek. He could help narrow the search.”
Katlin’s smile was sly. “We know all about Dell. You’re right. He’s good. Fact is, he’s damn good. We’ve tried to poach him several times, but as a government agency, we can’t afford to pay as well as you do. As soon as we finish this call, I’ll have them send him what they can.”
She picked up her refillable water and took a long drink. “Are there any questions about the vetting?”
“No, ma’am. I need to know if there is a traitor among us.” It wouldn’t be the first time that someone was killed by friendly fire during a mission.
“Very well then, moving on. A cleanup team is headed in there now. They should arrive by dawn. We don’t believe Adeel has ever been there, but they will scrape for DNA.”
“Katlin, what have you found out about the passports we recovered?” Kayla asked.
Katlin shook her head slowly. “I’m so glad we have such a great relationship with the Department of State.
So far, every one of them had been pick-pocketed in major European airports.
Notably, every one of those already checked have an Egyptian travel stamp with a tourism application tied to it.
Egypt is cooperating with us, surprisingly, and they have tracked almost all of them to the pyramids and the Nile.
The part that pissed off State was that every single passport has Global Entry, which means they can practically walk right through US immigration anywhere.
Although they haven’t been admitted yet, that also means that someone has access to the inside of their passport computer because they have changed the pictures on the passport as well as inside their system.
They were fucking idiots to leave that box.
We now have photographs of every one of them. ”
“I think that’s an indication of how fast they left. The box was rather hidden under a table buried under a lot of junk,” Clint explained. “Although I believe we did an excellent job of searching, maybe your team will find even more.”
“Moving on, I normally hate for you to deceive your teammates, but I’m going to ask you to do just that.
” Katlin leaned forward in her chair. “I want you to tell everyone that you are heading back to D.C., except you’re going to fly to Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico tonight.
The only other person to know exactly where you’re going are your pilot and copilot.
Kayla, I suggest that you and Ashlin fly since she is married to Clint.
That way, you can tell her, Clint. Trust me, truth in a marriage goes a long way.
I’m giving you permission to tell her what we’ve discussed here so she’ll understand the importance of going to New Mexico. ”
“Thank you, ma’am. I hate it when I have to keep something from Ashlin,” Clint admitted. She was going to want to know where he’d been and why he had been summoned for the top-secret envelope. The fact that he could now tell her was a huge relief.
“Tomorrow afternoon, you can plan your insertion. I suggest you keep your initial plan and adjust it for this location. Everything you need will be uploaded before noon tomorrow. I want you to go back to your rooms and get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day. Everything you say and do will be monitored.” Katlin stood up, ending the meeting.
“I want Black Swan and your helicopter in the air as soon as you can after dark tonight. Have them both on the ground and secured two hours before daylight.”
Katlin started to walk away when Kayla raised her voice, “Ma’am, how do we get out of this room?”
“I have no idea,” their boss admitted and walked away.
“Give me two minutes,” a young male voice said. The screen changed to the Section 7 logo once again.
“Well, isn’t this fun?” Kayla said sarcastically as she leaned against the heavy conference table.
True to his prediction, the young man’s voice came over the speakers in just under two minutes. “I’m unlocking the door in the back of the room…now.” Clint and Kayla stepped quickly and opened the door. The colonel who had brought them there was sitting behind his desk. He immediately stood.
“Give me a minute to make arrangements, and I’ll get you back to your dorm.” It took him several minutes and it was already after dawn before they were dropped off in front of their building.
Ashlin was already asleep when he crawled in behind her and assumed their favorite position. They’d have plenty of time to talk after they woke up.