Silence.
Chase now knew that any arguments he made would be falling on deaf ears with the NSA. This guy was a politician, and a certifiable idiot. He was reading the papers and reacting to the press and the fury of the people. What he needed to do was make smart, rational decisions based on intelligence information, even if they were hard and unpopular decisions.
But as Chase thought about the men, women, and children he had seen killed on the pavement of I-495, he realized that he couldn’t blame anyone for reacting emotionally. Chase wanted to hit someone. To strike back, and take revenge. It was human nature.
However, if China and/or Jinshan had orchestrated these Iranian attacks on the United States, that would be the exact response they wanted us to take.
Susan said, “Gentlemen, we also now have a significant amount of evidence built around Lena Chou and Cheng Jinshan’s involvement in the Dubai Bitcoin Exchange conspiracy — as well as Lena’s espionage while within the CIA.”
“I’ve read your reports tying Lisa Parker to the Chinese,” the NSA said. “And I saw the footage of her in Bandar Abbas. The Chinese deny that she was ever in their country. They say she wasn’t a Chinese citizen. We don’t have much ground to stand on there either.”
Susan was visibly annoyed. “Sir, we are very confident that she was a Chinese agent. And we know it was her in Bandar Abbas. She was the one who assassinated the Iranian politician, Ahmad Gorji.”
“That may be true. But the president isn’t convinced that Parker’s actions in Bandar Abbas absolve Iran of any culpability in the Persian Gulf attacks. They actually killed Americans. They shot missiles at our Navy ships. That is real. That matters. Cold, hard facts. And I’ll say another thing.” He pointed his finger at the group. “You guys might not like hearing this, but the fact that you had a Chinese agent working in the CIA for years actually hurts your credibility. Not helps.”
No one spoke for a few moments.
The director took a deep breath and said, “Susan, let’s talk about next steps on the Chinese connection to the Beltway attacks.”
Susan, red-faced and flustered, tried to regain her composure. “As I was briefing you earlier, we have a very high degree of confidence that there is a US State Department employee who is a member of Cheng Jinshan’s espionage ring. He’s the one who was spotted at the building across the street from the Iranian dead drop. We believe”—she looked at the NSA—“that there is at least a possibility that he activated the Beltway attacks.”
The director said, “What would you like to do?”
“We’ve been going back and forth on this with the FBI.” She looked at Special Agent Weese, who hadn’t said a word this whole time. “We’d like them to take this Chinese operative in for questioning, and would ask that the FBI allow us to listen in on the interview and share information. We feel that there is a high enough threat to our nation that it is warranted.”
The NSA shook his head. “Do you realize what a headache that would be if you’re wrong? The president will never sign off on that. Like I said, your evidence is based on conflicting and circumstantial reports.”
Special Agent Weese said, “Sir, we at the FBI feel that we would have support from the courts. We’ve gotten a FISA warrant on this particular person already. The evidence gathered there supports taking him in for questioning.”
“I don’t care about the courts, I care about what State and the president will say — do they already know about this? What are you going to say when they go on the news and say that the CIA just grabbed a US citizen on American soil because of China? Not Iran, who everyone knows just killed innocent Americans, but China?”
Chase glared at the man. “I would say that the Chinese are holding eighteen of our own citizens as part of an espionage operation. And that this State Department employee is a known spy, who may have contributed to one of the most heinous terrorist attacks ever to have been committed on US soil. And that we should go after the source of the attacks — the root cause — not just whoever pulled the trigger.”
“Watch your tone, young man. I’ll remind you that I am the national security advisor. I outrank you by just a little bit.”
Chase caught sight of the director placing his palm upward, signaling to Chase to tone it down. The director looked at Susan. “What do you hope to get from this guy — the Chinese operative that works in the US State Department? If he really did this…”
Susan said, “Our ultimate objective is to get hard evidence on China’s connection to these attacks, and to find out why our human intel reports out of China aren’t matching up with David Manning’s information.”
The NSA looked at his watch and stood. “I’m sorry, folks. But I haven’t seen enough to sign off on that. And I know the president will feel the same way. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a meeting in the Oval Office in about forty minutes, and I can’t be late.”
The group stood, and the NSA left the room. Director Buckingham walked him out, saying something that Chase couldn’t hear.
When the door was closed, the director sat back down, this time on the couch across from Chase and Susan. He looked at each of them.
“What do you guys think?”
Susan said, “Sir, from my understanding, we have a matter of days before the US begins its shock and awe campaign on Iran. At that point, there’ll be no turning back. If this is China’s doing, they’ll have achieved their goal. Maybe they already have, since we have such a high concentration of military forces redeployed to the Middle East.”
Director Buckingham said, “You don’t have to sell me anymore, Susan.”
He looked at all three of them, a deadly serious expression on his face. “This Chinese spy in the US State Department — take him. Soon. Find out what he knows. And use our best interrogation team. The contractor.”
Susan said, “But what about the—”
“I’ll handle the national security advisor.”
The next night, Chase and Susan arrived at Joint Base Andrews as part of a convoy of two CIA-owned SUVs and an ambulance. The area had been cleared of nonessential personnel. They used the same security procedures for moving the president during times of national emergency. No one wanted a wayward set of eyes to witness who they had on the stretcher.
The vehicles drove right up to the Gulfstream G-V, and people began moving. The ambulance doors opened, and three men transferred the man on the gurney, and his IV, up the stairs of the aircraft and into the specially designed back compartment of the cabin.
A group of five other government personnel sat in the forward part of the aircraft cabin. They were the customers. The note-takers. The ones who would have the interrogator adjust his line of questioning in the same manner that a marketing executive would ask the interviewer to change their questions with a focus group.
Only now the subject was a Chinese spy.
“Manning, right?” One of the five counterespionage agents shook Chase’s hand.
“That’s right.”
“Thanks for joining us. I read about Dubai. Sounds like you were right in the middle of the action.”
“I guess so.” Chase nodded to the back of the plane. “You helped with the grab and bag?”
“Yeah. We picked him up about twelve hours ago. The IV’s in, so he’s getting in the right state of mind now. The Doctor’s giving him a little bit of time to let the drugs do their work, and then we’ll get started. The Doctor is something else. Interesting ideas, that’s for sure. We had to conduct a simultaneous operation in Chengdu.”
“What for?”