Sharpe was about to begin, but instead focused on an admiral standing to the far right of the group. Next to him stood an intense-looking blond woman wearing a dark gray suit.
"Who's the pair on the far right? The admiral and…"
"They just arrived. The woman is Sanderson's liaison to your task force. Callie Stewart. The Navy SEAL is Rear Admiral Mark DeSantos, director of the DIA's Strategic Services Branch. He's accepted full accountability for the integration of Sanderson's people into the task force," Mendoza said.
Sharpe kept his gaze focused on Admiral DeSantos, receiving a quick nod from the SEAL, which he returned.
"Damn it, I'm not comfortable with Sanderson's people on the task force. Especially someone right in the nerve center," Sharpe muttered.
"How do you think O'Reilly feels? She nearly lost an arm thanks to these assholes," Mendoza replied.
"Keep O'Reilly and Ms. Stewart as far apart as humanly possible. You know how O'Reilly can get."
"Better than anyone. I'm not too worried. None of the operatives provided by Sanderson had any involvement with the events two years ago. Agent Demir was seriously impressed with the team assigned to Mobile HQ. Moriarty liked what she saw too."
"I'm less concerned about the field operatives. Let's keep a tight watch on Ms. Stewart. I find it odd that Sanderson would insist on placing a liaison with us. Call me paranoid," Sharpe said.
"I feel the same way. I'll make sure they understand the ground rules when your briefing is finished."
"I want to talk to her myself," he said, turning his stare toward Mendoza.
Mendoza nodded as Sharpe addressed the group. As soon as it was apparent that he would speak, the entire watch floor quieted.
"We have a few new developments. Intelligence provided a few minutes ago by the CIA has identified and confirmed all of the addresses that received canisters of the Zulu virus. Eleven in total. Ten of the addresses are located in the tri-state area. We already knew about seven of these locations. The eleventh address is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. FedEx. Agent Moriarty, I want FBI rapid-response teams at the three remaining tri-state area locations immediately. The data just went live on your feed. I'll coordinate a response for the Harrisburg location."
Kathryn Moriarty, special agent-in-charge of Task Force Scorpion's Mobile HQ, acknowledged Sharpe's order with the word "understood." She didn't waste words or time like so many other agents of her tenure, which was one of the primary reasons that Sharpe had chosen her as Field Lead for the task force. Like Agent Mendoza, she was also one of the most capable and decisive agents he had ever met. He had considered sending Mendoza out into the field to lead the team, but felt his skills would be better served helping him run the show at NCTC. He had worked extensively with Mendoza on Task Force Hydra and had grown comfortable with the agent's unflappable sense of guarded optimism. Mendoza had talked him off the ledge more than once. If the Zulu virus conspiracy was about to take the turn he suspected, he'd need Mendoza more than ever before.
"At this point, we haven't recovered a single canister of the virus. We know that four canisters were shipped to each location around New York and that the rest were likely sent to Pennsylvania. Let's get with our FedEx contacts and confirm this," Sharpe said.
"Already on it, sir," Special Agent O'Reilly replied.
"It appears that forty canisters went to Al Qaeda cells clustered in the tri-state area. Seven of these cells were already under FBI surveillance. A coordinated strike by an unknown force took down six of them. No canisters were recovered. One cell is missing and presumably retained their canister. We'll see what we find at the other three locations. Surveillance records have provided us with a possible avenue to investigate. One of the killers removed his ski mask at the wrong time, and we captured an image of his face. This person has just been identified as Julius Grimes, a member of the fringe political group True America. A connection between True America and the virus is speculative at this point, but I want to dig deeper into this organization. True America is one of several groups that my team has tracked for the past year, and I don't believe this is a coincidence. They've been stockpiling high-end weaponry and recruiting ex-military types. Apparently, Grimes is a Best Buy manager by day and an assassination team leader by night."
"What is his status at the moment?" asked Jason Volk, NCTC watch floor supervisor.
"Missing. He didn't report for work this morning. I have a feeling we won't catch any easy breaks on this one, ladies and gentlemen."
"Will we be putting other possible True America militants under surveillance? How extensive is the list that you've developed?" asked Salvador Guerrero, Homeland Security's primary liaison to the NCTC.
"Yes. That'll be one of our primary tasks. We'll start to break down these assignments immediately. My list of possible militants is a short one. As a legitimate political movement, True America has rapidly expanded over the past three years, with political action offices in every major city and thousands of volunteers. The early extremist views and calls for a government overthrow were quickly moderated as its popularity grew. Lee Harding, one of the group's founders, used to give speeches every week, espousing a violent overthrow of the government. Same with Jackson. As it stands, we rarely ever see True America's original leadership council. They've been replaced by a growing number of governors, legislators and public sector types that have pledged to support the movement to retake America in 2008."
"This is a vast, well-connected organization. We'll need to move cautiously in the direction of True America," added Dan Moreno, counsel for the Department of Justice.
"Mr. Moreno is right. True America is a multi-faceted organization, with over twenty million supporters and thousands of grassroots volunteers. We'll need more than Grimes' involvement to take this outside of the task force. Currently, there is no detectable nexus between the militant arm and the mainstream political movement. We tried to tie the two together, but the sidelining of Greely and Harding severely hampered our efforts. We don't know if their vanishing act was purposely orchestrated to draw attention away from the extremist elements of the organization or if it was a forced 'retirement' imposed by mainstream leadership. Either way, it doesn't matter. The militant arm has been stockpiling sophisticated weaponry through several known arms dealers. They're up to something. Grimes' appearance at an Al Qaeda safe house wasn't a coincidence. More like an extremely bad omen. We'll start with the list my team has cultivated and see where it takes us. Special Agent O'Reilly will take the lead on this and provide tasking," he said, nodding to O'Reilly.
"The majority of this task force will continue to investigate leads related to the confirmed Al Qaeda network in the New York tri-state area. At least three of the cells are connected to Imam Hamid Abdul Mohammed, the radical founder of Masjid Muhammad, his own mosque right in the heart of these neighborhoods. Hamid Mohammed is without a doubt connected to Muslim extremists and has been under surveillance for years. He's been preaching to young Muslims since he arrived in the U.S. from Saudi Arabia six years ago, and he is suspected of recruiting at least one of the men involved in plotting to blow up a police station in Philadelphia. The White House has been looking for a reason to send him to Guantanamo Bay ever since he landed on U.S. soil."