Chinese threat or not, this was a new level of danger that Iran posed to the US. Most inside the CIA hadn’t thought much of Iran’s ability to strike within the United States.
While Iran claimed to have “thousands” of Hezbollah clones waiting around America, Chase had seen CIA threat assessments that those figures were greatly exaggerated.
With this latest attack, though… it had him nervous. It wouldn’t be the first time the analysts had been wrong.
Weese looked around the room like he didn’t want anyone to hear him when he spoke. “They’ve been interviewing the Iranian. And they have a few leads.”
“And?”
“He gave up a few details that prove to be very interesting to our task force here. Chinese connections.” He nodded his head as he spoke.
“Really?” Chase looked at his brother David and then back at the FBI agent. “Who knows about this?”
“Susan’s briefing the director right now. You and I are about to go join her. But she asked me to come fill you in first. She said that we’d likely require your expertise.”
“How so?”
“The Iranian received a communication a few days ago. Then they received minivans filled with weapons and the explosive vests. We were able to trace the vehicles, weapons, and explosive residue. The results are preliminary, but… it looks like it will be a dead end.”
“Come on, Weese. Don’t slow-play me. Give me the punch line.”
He smiled. “Alright. It was the initial communication. They left some folder in a van in an alleyway in Maryland. There were no cameras in that area, so we couldn’t see who put the van there. But there was only one building that had a view of it. The Iranian said he had to destroy the envelope. We figured they would want to be able to see that, to make sure it got done right. So we went over footage of the only building that had a vantage point on that alleyway. It’s a big brick apartment complex. Lots of people coming and going every day. But only one of them showed up on our watch list.”
David added, “The Chinese counterespionage watch list.” Chase noticed that David was still a little awkward in his delivery. He was still finding his way in the conversation, getting comfortable in his new line of work.
Peter said, “FBI Counterespionage has been following a particular employee at the State Department for a few years. They are very confident that he’s a Chinese plant. He feeds his handlers anything and everything he gets.”
“How do you know?”
“We’ve had an ongoing blue dye operation. We provided specific details to single individuals. Single-variable testing. This allowed us to see which version popped up on the other end. Like I said, we are very confident he’s working for the Chinese.”
David hadn’t thought about that part of the problem. He leaned forward, incredulous. “Wait, so you’ve known that this guy was working in our government, and you just kept letting him work there?”
The FBI agent looked at Chase and then back at David. “That’s how the game is played, my friend. Sometimes it’s more valuable to know who the spies are and leave them in place. It allows us to control the information flow.”
David shook his head.
Chase didn’t blink, saying, “And this Chinese spook was in the building across the street from the Iranian dead drop? The one that gave them orders to conduct the Beltway attack?”
“Yes, sir.”
Chase shook his head. “Why the hell would the Chinese have the Iranians go through with this? They have to know that eventually we’d get to the bottom of it.”
David said, “You know why. It’s the same reason that the Chinese have eighteen Americans in a prison in the South China Sea. The same reason they’re staging a war between us and Iran. This is just one more piece of evidence for what I’ve been saying this whole time. We’ve got to wake up. The Chinese want us to go to war with Iran. It’s in their best interests to keep us otherwise occupied…”
The FBI agent looked at Chase. “Susan said to join her in the director’s office in ten minutes.”
Chase stood. “Alright, well… let’s go.”
Chase and Special Agent Weese arrived at the director’s office a few moments later. Susan, the CIA staff operations officer in charge of SILVERSMITH, was waiting in the chamber room outside the office. The director’s administrative assistant motioned for Chase and Special Agent Weese to sit next to Susan.
“The director will be with you all momentarily.”
“Thanks,” Chase said.
Despite his confident demeanor, he was still a little uneasy about being brought into such a high-level meeting for the first time.
Susan leaned over to him as he sat down, whispering, “Has Weese briefed you?”
“Yes, just now.”
“Do you have any questions?”
Chase gave her a look that said, Of course I have questions. “A few.”
The secretary rose from his chair and opened the large wooden door leading to the director’s office. “The director will see you now.”
Susan whispered, “Just follow my lead. Try not to say anything provocative.”
The three of them walked into the director’s office. There were two leather couches that faced inward, and a small coffee table in the center. An older man in a suit sat on one of the couches. Chase thought he looked familiar, but couldn’t place the face. The other couch was bare. The director sat in a wooden chair on the far end of the coffee table.
“Come in, folks.”
The director of the CIA was a former congressman. He had been on the House Intelligence Committee for several years before the new president plucked him out of a safely red state. Before he had been a congressman, he had served as an Army JAG for twenty years. While Chase didn’t like lawyers or politicians much, he respected the fact that the man had military service. And from what he heard, the director was one sharp cookie.
“Mr. Manning, I was reading the file you put together on what happened in Dubai a few weeks ago. A most interesting read. Especially the part about Miss Parker. Or should I say Miss Chou.” Their eyes locked.
Chase reddened a bit. He had rightly included everything in his post-mission report, including his own relationship to the woman he now knew to be Lena Chou.
“Yes, sir” was all he could think to respond with.
“Well, I can’t fault you, son. If the counterespionage group didn’t know about her, we couldn’t expect you to. And I’m very impressed with how you handled the situation. I’m sure that your brother is grateful as well.”
“I believe he is, sir.”
“And Susan tells me that his information has been quite a value added to our new China task force — SILVERSMITH.”
“Sir, David is glad that people are taking action on his knowledge. Although he is concerned — and I share this concern — that there are still Americans being held captive by the Chinese on the Red Cell island.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Chase saw Susan grimace.
The man on the couch said, “That has been vigorously denied by our counterparts in China. And some of our most reliable sources are not able to corroborate that information.”
Chase had two voices in his head. One was Susan’s, telling him to hold his tongue. He thought that might be wise, considering he didn’t even know the name of this man on the couch who was challenging him. The other voice was his brother’s.
“Sir, respectfully, if you were an adversarial nation who had just conducted an act of espionage — an act of war — I wouldn’t expect you to be the most honest source of information on the subject.”
Director O’Malley smiled. “Susan, Chase, please… have a seat.” He motioned to the couch and sat back down in his chair. “Chase, this is the president’s national security advisor, Charlie Sheppard.”