by J. B. Tilton
"Like I said, it's all kind of confusing. It's taken me some time to sort it all out in my mind. I wasn't sure of a lot of it. There's still a lot I'm not sure of. But I am sure of what I've all ready told you. Chang and Moser are planning to build a bomb with that plutonium."
"That explains a lot of things," said Porter, looking at Napolitano. "Now that we know she and Moser are in the D.C. area we can start a search for them. We might get lucky."
"Tell your men to be careful," said Scarborough. "She paralyzed my hand and rendered Dr. Sloan and Mr. Doherty unconscious merely by touching us. And she's very proficient in martial arts."
"I'll pass that along, Assistant Director," said Porter.
Napolitano picked up her phone and buzzed the secretary.
"Call the White House and tell the President I'd like to see him at his earliest convenience. And also inform the directors of the F.B.I. and C.I.A., the head of the National Security Agency that I'd like them there as well."
She turned back to Jeremy.
"Doctor, thank you for your assistance," she said. "I need to speak with the President but once I do we'll need to meet again. I'll need to clear some things with the President first but once that's done I will need to brief you on a situation we've been monitoring. It looks like you may have your first assignment, doctor."
"I'll clear my schedule and inform the team we may need them very soon," said Jeremy.
"Good," said Napolitano. "In the mean time not a word of this leaves this room. Mr. Miles, if you remember anything else you learned from Ms. Chang please inform Dr. Sloan immediately so he can pass it on to me."
"Yes, Madam Secretary," said Conrad. "I'll do that."
"Thank you, gentlemen, you've been very helpful. I'll arrange the meeting with Assistant Director Scarborough and he'll inform you when to come back in."
"Thank you, Madam Secretary," said Jeremy. "I'll wait to hear from you."
"Dr. Sloan would you remain for a moment please?" Porter asked.
"Certainly, general."
The others filed out of the room and Porter waited until the door was closed before he spoke.
"You said Miles had a form of telepathy. That he could draw information out of a person's mind."
"That's correct," said Jeremy. "As you can see he's still getting the hang of it. But he's come a long way since I first met him."
"My concern, doctor," said Porter, "is that you've brought someone in here that can learn all of our secrets and we wouldn't even know he knew them. That's a security risk I cannot permit. If terrorists should find out about him and convert him to their cause he could undermine everything we've done to fight terrorism."
"I can assure you, general, that's not going to happen. Conrad might be a bit young but he does understand the seriousness of what we're doing. He'd never join the terrorists."
"Maybe not willingly," said Porter. "But he could be . . . brainwashed into helping them. And he might not even know he's doing it."
"I suppose that's a possibility," said Jeremy. "The same thing could be said of you, sir."
"Point taken, doctor. But I don't have his ability. For security reasons I must ask that you do not bring him here again. I do appreciate the information he's provided us with and I also appreciate that he might not willingly betray his country. But the risk is just too great. If he has any more information, please, have him relay it through you or Assistant Director Scarborough. I'd feel a whole lot better knowing he won't be able to learn vital and sensitive information from us."
"I can appreciate your concern, general," said Jeremy. "I won't bring him here anymore."
"Thank you, doctor. That's all I needed."
Jeremy left the office and met the others outside.
"What did Porter want?" Scarborough asked as they headed to the parking garage.
"Oh, he just wanted to confirm my suspicion that he's actually very paranoid," said Jeremy. "I guess in his position he has to be. Let's get going. I'll tell you about it later."
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Scarborough had been able to get his hands on the background check on Shannon Chang. She was a Chinese-American who had been born in Los Angeles to a Chinese father and an American mother. When she was 7 her parents had divorced and her father – after kidnapping her – had taken her back to China with him. Little was known of her life in China but it was known that he had died of a cerebral hemorrhage when she was 20. Shortly after that she had returned to the United States.
Since that time she had been married 3 times, each time to somewhat wealthy older men. Each of the men had mysteriously died several months after their marriage to Chang and she had inherited their fortunes. While suspicious, all of the deaths had been ruled "natural causes" and no sign of foul play could be found.
The death of Benjamin Stoddard, the technician at the D.C. police impound lot, was also ruled "natural causes". The coroner had ruled that he had suffered an arterial embolism which had lodged in one of the valves of his heart causing a massive heart attack. Although not conclusive, the coroner found it odd that his condition had not been diagnosed earlier. However, with no signs of any external causes, he had no choice in his ruling.
"According to Stoddard's file, he had a complete physical every year," Scarborough had told Jeremy. "His last one, about 4 months ago, showed no abnormalities or serious conditions of any kind."
"Well, I agree with the coroner," said Jeremy. "There should have been some indication of the condition. It's not unheard of to have an embolism that's missed during routine physicals. But the coroner's report didn't indicate anything that might have caused it. I'm not so sure Stoddard's death was 'accidental' or 'natural causes'."
"Well, unless you have something concrete to go on, there's not a lot we can do," said Scarborough. "Without some proof that it wasn't natural we have no grounds to investigate."
"I know. When – and if – we run into Ms. Chang again, we'll have to be very careful. I didn't have a chance to see if she were using a special talent but I'm sure she must be. By the way, what do you know about this Moser that Frank mentioned?"
"Virtually nothing. I tried to run a check on him and got blocked. That's strange. As an assistant director for Homeland Security I should have access to almost anything. But the check was classified and I was directed to see Secretary Napolitano. I also have no doubt she was informed I ran a check. So far, I haven't heard from her though."
"Why would they block a routine background check?" Jeremy asked.
"There's something in it they don't want getting out. I'm not sure what that would be but it's something important enough that they feel it needs to be classified. Classified above my security clearance."
"I thought you had the highest clearance?"
"Nearly. There are a couple of clearances that are higher than mine. There's also a need to know. Just because you have a high enough clearance doesn't mean you have access to any information for that level. You also have to have a need to know that information. Apparently they don't think I need to know it."
"Maybe we'll find out at the next meeting with Napolitano. Something's brewing, Richard. Something big. I can feel it."
"I know what you mean. But for right now all we can do is sit back and wait. That's a big part of the job. Just waiting around for something to happen."
Jeremy just nodded. He couldn't help but feel that the formation of the team, the missing plutonium, and Moser were all connected. And the implications were frightening.
Several days later Jeremy and Scarborough were back in Secretary Napolitano's office for their meeting. Jeremy was very curious about the meeting. He knew that their visit to check out the burned van was more than they had originally been told. The Secretary knew – or at least suspected – something that she had been unable or unwilling to share with him.
"Well, doctor, I'm sure you have some questions," said Napolitano.
"A couple," said Jeremy.
"I figured as much. When I was told that Assistant Dir
ector Scarborough had tried to run a background check on Richard Moser I figured you were trying to put some pieces together. I've had a meeting with the President and he has authorized me to tell you everything we know. As you'll soon see, the reasons for the secrecy are quite valid."
"I never had any doubt," said Scarborough. "I should have been able to access a routine background check. The security classification on it has to mean that this Moser is considered a major threat against the United States. Possibly as high as Osama bin Laden."
"Or higher," commented Porter.
"Higher than the most wanted man in the world?" Scarborough asked.
"Gentlemen, there's a lot of information we need to give you," said Napolitano. "But before we start, I have to warn you. This information has the highest security classification possible. Not even the Vice President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, nor most of Congress are aware of this information. In fact, other than myself and the National Security Advisor, even most of the President's cabinet does not have access to it. For reasons which, I hope, will become self-evident very soon."
"You can rely on our discretion, Madam Secretary," said Jeremy.
"Good," said Napolitano. "Before we get to Richard Moser, I think there is some other information you need to be made aware of. General Porter."
"I assume you are both familiar with the Chernobyl disaster," began Porter without preamble.
"As much as anyone, I supposed," said Scarborough. "The nuclear reactor in the Ukraine had a meltdown producing one of the worst nuclear disasters in history."
"It was the worst nuclear disaster up to that time," said Porter. "The official cause was a sudden surge of power. When the reactor personnel attempted an emergency shutdown there was an even more extreme spike in power output. This led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions. The graphite moderator was exposed to the air, causing it to ignite. A plume of highly radioactive smoke covered an extensive geographical area, including Pripyat, the city near the Chernobyl reactor. To this day it is still uninhabitable."
"I remember reading about it in the papers," said Jeremy. "The resulting cleanup nearly bankrupted the Russian economy."
"Quite true," said Porter. "However, the public story of the accident, while accurate, is not the whole story. Sometime during the night of April 25, 1986, dissidents broke into the Chernobyl plant. Their plan was simple. Cause a diversion to keep the staff of the reactor busy while they stole some plutonium that was used to power the plant.
"Unfortunately things went wrong. Their plan was to begin a meltdown and sneak away with the plutonium while the staff stopped the meltdown. Unfortunately they had damaged some of the equipment. It became impossible to stop the meltdown and the accident was the result. Several days later the FSB, the Russian Federal Security Service, cornered and killed all of the dissidents involved in the break in."
"But they didn't recover the plutonium," interjected Jeremy.
"Very astute, doctor," said Napolitano. "No, they didn't. The FSB theorized that the dissidents had either spirited the plutonium out of the country or had hidden somewhere where it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find."
"They never did find it," continued Porter. "A few months ago the Russian army was on some routine maneuvers. They came across a defunct work camp from the former U.S.S.R located in Siberia. Most of the camps were shut down in the early 60s and some have lain unused since then.
"The Russian army found very high traces of radioactive material in one of the buildings of the camp. The Russian government theorized that the material stolen from the Chernobyl reactor had been hidden there. However, the material was no longer there. Someone had discovered its location and moved it."
"So you think that terrorists somehow found the plutonium stolen from the Chernobyl reactor and took it for their own use?" questioned Scarborough.
"Precisely," said Napolitano. "How they found out about it is anyone's guess. But somehow they did and were able to get it out of Russian without anyone knowing about it."
"How much plutonium are we talking about?" Jeremy asked.
"According to official estimates, nearly 25 kilograms, which is approximately 55 pounds," said Porter.
"To put it into perspective, gentlemen," said Napolitano, "the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 used only 6.2 kilograms. That's just under 14 pounds."
"So whoever has the material has enough to build a bomb 4 times the destructive power of Hiroshima," said Scarborough.
"Or 4 of the same destructive power," said Porter. "Hiroshima was some 349 square miles in size. The bomb directly killed an estimated 80,000 people. By the end of 1945 it is estimated that the total casualties were between 90,000 and 120,000 caused by injury and radiation. Nearly 70% of the city was completely destroyed and almost 10% was severely damaged."
"Imagine that destructiveness set off in 4 American cities simultaneously," said Napolitano. "Or even set off separately. The bombs could be put into place and then just wait to set them off. One large bomb could do massive damage to any metropolitan area in the United States. But 4 bombs set off at different predetermined times could cripple us. Panic would set in as every major city in the country believed they might be next."
"That's why you had us check out that van," said Scarborough. "You think the plutonium was brought across the Canadian border and is heading for the D.C. area."
"Yes," said Napolitano. "Our intelligence reports tell us that it is very likely that all the necessary components for a nuclear device are being brought to the Washington to be assembled into a bomb. The scenario of multiple bombs in multiple cities is a worst case scenario. But it is our belief that only one bomb is being assembled. The necessary components to make a bomb might not raise any red flags by themselves. But once they're together, and the bomb has been assembled, we would be in a very difficult situation to prevent its detonation."
"Why Washington, D.C.?" questioned Jeremy. "Why not assemble the bomb somewhere else and then bring it into the city? It seems to me that it would be easier to assemble a bomb somewhere else. There wouldn't be as much scrutiny in a town that didn't present a target for terrorists. And it should be relatively easy to move the bomb into the city once it's assembled."
"Besides the destruction, death, and terror it would cause, we believe the terrorists have a specific purpose for assembling the bomb here," said Napolitano. "To demonstrate they can do it right under our very noses. If they can assemble the components needed and assemble the bomb in Washington, D.C. itself, they can demonstrate they can do it anywhere. The fear and paranoia would be rampant. No city in the world would be safe."
"And they'd be right," said Jeremy. "Security in the nation's capital has to be among the most stringent in the world. D.C. would be considered a prime target for terrorists. If they can do it here, they'd be able to do it in any city in the world."
"And you think Richard Moser is behind this?" Richard asked.
"That's our belief," said Porter. "But to be honest, we don't know for sure. We have no direct evidence linking Moser to any terrorist activities. He's been implicated as associating with some known terrorists. But we have no direct evidence that he's participated or even been involved with any of their activities."
"Okay, hold on a second," said Jeremy. "You implied that this Moser was a greater threat to the United States than bin Laden was. You not only had direct evidence linking bin Laden with numerous terrorist attacks, he even admitted to planning and implementing the attack on 9-11. As well as other attacks on American installations and people. How can you consider Moser a greater threat than bin Laden when you're not even sure he's involved?"
"Richard Moser is a very clever man," said Porter. "Our reports on him are that he travels a great deal and usually in areas where known terrorists are known to operate. We even have reports of him meeting with known terrorists, such as Osama bin Laden, as well as others. But nothing in the reports indicates he had any involvement with any terrorist acti
vities."
"Wouldn't his meeting with them show he's involved?" Jeremy asked. "Why would he meet with them if he wasn't involved somehow?"
"When I said they were known terrorists, I meant they are known now," said Porter. "Most of his meetings occurred before they were active. So the meetings could be construed as incidental. Like someone having a dinner with Ted Bundy or John Wayne Casey before they became serial killers. That doesn't prove that the person they met with had anything to do with the killings. Just as it doesn't prove that Moser had anything to do with terrorist activities."
"But each time after meeting with Moser these terrorist leaders began their Jihads against the United States," said Napolitano. "There's no indication that Moser had anything to do with the planning or implementation of the activities perpetrated by these terrorist leaders. But as I said, they only began their activities in earnest after meeting with Moser."