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Soft and pleasing laughter from this intelligence analyst at Fort Meade. He doesn’t know her real name or what she looks like, but she’s smart and he loves talking to her.
He says, “Always a delight to hear from you, Tina.”
Her voice suddenly gets serious. “You might not keep thinking that when I sign off.”
“Oh?” he asks, grabbing a pen and pad of paper. “What’s the situation?”
Tina says, “We’re seeing increased communications and ordersbeing issued for the PLA Navy bases in Haikou, Guangzhou, Shantou, and the Yulin Naval Base in Hainan. It looks like they’re prepping for something. I’d advise you to immediately start focusing your assets on those locations.”
Cornelius says, “Are they prepping for a training exercise?”
“Doubtful,” Tina says. “It takes months to prepare for a naval exercise. This seems much more serious. And to make things even more interesting, we’re getting a similar chatter increase from their cyber-warfare facilities. There’s a bunch of lights burning late tonight here and at the Pentagon, and I wanted you in on the fun.”
Cornelius says, “Thanks for the heads-up, Tina.”
Her laughter returns. “That’s what I get paid for.”
“Tell me,” he says, “what does your gut tell you?”
“Not my job.”
“I know that, but between you and me, what’s going on?”
She laughs. “Somebetween you and me,considering these calls are recorded.”
“Humor me,” Cornelius says, feeling out of sorts.
A bit of silence, then Tina says, “Hold on tight. The Chinese are pissed at us for something, they’re preparing a strike, and they’re coming at us heavy.”
CHAPTER 78
CIA DIRECTOR HANNAH Abrams has brought her two operators upstairs and after a number of minutes, they are dining on eggs Benedict, hash browns, toast, and more coffee and juice, prepared by one of her security officers, Bruce, who is a graduate of the other CIA—the Culinary Institute of America—before joining the Agency.
The dining room is well furnished, with a smooth polished table, wooden chairs, and bookshelves and cabinets holding antique plates and bowls.
Liam looks around and says, “This is one hell of a safe house we’ve got here, Director Abrams.”
She smiles. “It’s not a safe house.”
Noa asks, “Then where are we?”
Hannah says, “It’s my house. I wasn’t too sure how many of Barrett’s allies are still in the Agency and reporting to him, so I did the safe thing and brought you here, after the snatch team picked you up at the Walmart parking lot. Sorry about your Jeep, Liam.”
He says, “Not a problem, Director. But you’ve got an … interesting setup in your basement.”
“Just temporary, that’s all,” she says. “Amazing what you can get done quickly if you ask the right people.”
Hannah forces herself to eat. She’s not hungry but she knows the hours and days ahead are going to be brutal, requiring her to be sharp and have energy. She thinks of what she just told these two, that Barrett still has allies in the Agency—which they already had figured out—and wonders just how deep the rot goes.
“Liam, your targets have been a Russian bot farm, a Hezbollah outpost in Venezuela, and three ISIS fighters in Paris. But nothing involving the Chinese.”
“No, ma’am,” he says.
“Noa, your targets have been a mix, but you have rolled up Chinese assets operating here.”
“Correct, ma’am.”
She says, “For the past two months, you and your teams have been going after a number of targets, and so far, so good. The Russians have stayed quiet. The Iranians and Hezbollah are secretly wondering why it took us so long. But the Chinese … This is the first time that we’ve gone after their people without offering a trade or any other accommodation. The Chinese won’t like that. And it seems like Barrett has upped the stakes.”