“Go back to sleep, Hon,” He told her, his joints creaking as he reached forward and keyed open the connection. “What is it”
“Ryan, we have a problem.”
“Gwen” Emmerson blinked, wiping his eyes clear. “What’s going on We have another renegade flyer”
“No, this is worse.” Gwendolen told him grimly, “This is about Agent Gunnar.”
Ryan shivered and forced himself awake, “Hang on a moment. I’ll move to my den.”
He slipped the console on hold and grabbed a shirt from the foot of his bed, throwing it on as he moved over to the next room. His wife was already back asleep when he closed the door between them. Ryan sat down at his desk, flipping on the console there, and nodded to Gwen when her face showed up on the screen. “Alright, what’s going on Where are you”
“I’m at the station,” She assured him, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about us, all of us.”
“What’s going on”
Gwen looked grim, something that Ryan had never seen in her before.
“It’s the terrorist, Abdallah Amir. You remember what I said about him”
Ryan nodded slowly, his face tightening. “I remember.”
“He’s got a plan, Ryan. And it’s a bad one.” Gwendolen told him, “He’s got a biological weapon.”
“What” Ryan looked alarmed, “Are you sure”
“I’m sure. We’re sure,” She said, “Look, we have a list of other people, other terrorists, here in Tower City. Almost thirty of them. We’ve got to call up the deputies, Ryan, and get everyone on alert.”
“Thirty! We don’t even have the holding space for thirty people!”
“I know, but what can we do about it” Gwen shrugged helplessly.
Ryan swallowed, nodding. “Alright.Look, hold tight. I’ll start rallying the troops.”
Gwen nodded, “Thanks, Ryan.”
“Just hang on, Gwen. We’ll get through this.”
Natalie Cyr saw the stricken look on the Interpol Agent’s face, understanding exactly what was flowing through the man’s thoughts because the same thing had just gone through her own a few tens of minutes earlier.
“It’s not as bad as all that,” She told him a moment later, sighing.
“That will be a bloody good trick,” He told her, “Why don’t you tell me how it’s not as bad as all that”
“Well, the very thing that makes the Tower so dangerous as a biological deployment facility, also gives us time,” She told him grimly, “He needs to take, and hold, the tower for several days to achieve maximum effect. A week would be optimum, for his purposes, but basically the longer he can hold the tower, the better.”
Anselm nodded grimly, “Alright.So, since nobody’s sick around here.we probably have time.”
“Exactly.” She told him grimly, “I’m scrambling a team as we speak, several operatives and we’re looking into adding Navy Seals or Masters at Arms to the contingent even now. What I need from you is those names you told me you scanned.I need to know what they’re going to face when they arrive.”
Anselm looked down for a moment, “How long until they get here”
“Two, maybe three days. We’re looking to cut that down, though.”
He nodded, his face dark. “There is an Interpol START Unit on their way already, We’ll coordinate with your group.”
Natalie nodded in response, “very well. The names”
Anselm sighed, “I got back the results of my database search.out of the two hundred people working within the power facility, there were twenty eight names on our terrorist watch list. I’ll send them now.”
Natalie winced. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, she supposed, and chances were that an Interpol Special Tactical Response Team could handle those numbers. They certainly could with the help of the team she was dispatching.
However, if there were nearly thirty people on the power team alone, then what about.
Anselm Gunnar must have seen the tightening in her face, as his next words put voice to her worst fears.
“What I’m worried about,” He said, “is whether they’ve infiltrated into other positions as well.”
Natalie Cyr nodded grimly, “Can you find out”
He smiled ironically, “Yeah. The Director won’t be pleased about the computer time it’s going to take though.”
“I’ll bet,” Natalie said dryly, mind whirring.
The CPU cycles needed to identify one person against the massive police database of known criminals and terrorists wasn’t an insignificant chunk of time, as far as those things went. The cycles required to search and identify almost eighty thousand people That would grind every other computer request in an organization to a halt, and even then it might not be enough.
“I’ll authorize the use of our systems as well,” She said, making the decision on the fly. “You’re going to need every picosecond of computer time we can get you.”
He nodded grimly, “I know.”
“I’ll contact you soon,” She told him.
“I’ll be here,” He replied tiredly, just before she closed the connection.
She stared at the black screen for a long moment before moving, her mind racing as she thought about it. Eighty thousand potential terrorists, eighty thousand potential victims, eighty thousand potential hostages. It was turning into a tactical and public relations nightmare.
Alright, She thought grimly, first thing is first. Identify the opposition.
“Howard!”
Anselm found himself staring at the black screen for a moment after the American Deputy Director of Intelligence signed off, lost in thought as he tried to get his head in gear. It took a moment, but he finally snapped out of it and keyed open his Portable and tapped in the direct contact address for the Director of Interpol.
“I contacted the Captain,” Gwen started as she came in, falling silent in mid word as he held up his hand.
“Madam Director”
“Agent Gunnar” The Director shifted, wiping her hand across her face. “What is it What’s happened”
“A lot.” He told her grimly, “We’ve got a handle on what Abdallah is planning, and it’s worse than we feared. It’s not nuclear, it’s biological, and it has global implications.”
There was a silence, then she spoke sharply. “Talk to me, Anselm.”
“I’ll explain it in a moment, first I need some things.”
“Name it, Agent.”
“First, computer time. Lots of it. And blanket E-Warrants for electronic investigations on everyone in Tower City.”
The Director managed to keep from screaming, he had to give her that, but her eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped. “Are you insane The International Digital Privacy Act specifically limits our powers in digital investigation, Agent.”
“I’m aware of the implications, Madam Director,” He told her, “But we’re in deep here. The CIA is involved now, and they’re sharing Intel and are willing to give us computer time for this. It’s that big, Ma’am.”
The Director of the International Police Organization let out a long, deep breath and slowly shook her head. “Do you have any idea how much computer time this will take, even if we can get the warrant”
“Director, I’m sending you the data on what Abdallah is doing now,” He told her, “Read it over and get back to me before you complain about computer time, Ma’am.”
She stared at him for a long moment, eyes flicking to where her home system was announcing the receipt of his file. Finally she nodded, “I’ll contact you shortly.”
When she signed off, Anselm turned back to Gwen.
“Alright, we’re in deep and getting deeper,” He told her, “You call your Captain”
She nodded, “He’s calling in our people now.”