Critical Intelligence

“Fortunately for the United States, Korea has not undertaken any of these activities.”

“Why is that ‘fortunate’ for us?” Brognola interjected.

“Because,” the voice continued, “if such an error in perception was to occur, the United States might be tempted to do something rash in response.”

“I trust you’ve read the dossier I sent you earlier,” the envoy prompted.

At his desk the President made a steeple of his long, slender fingers and leaned slightly forward in his chair. He was due to a staff meeting to discuss implementation of public health care options in twelve minutes. Brognola could see the President growing more annoyed with the futile game they were now playing with the North Koreans.

“I have seen the dossier,” the ambassador admitted. “I saw nothing compelling in those documents. The idea that a member of our security services would be working as a trainer and liaison for a FARC cell in Colombia is obviously impossible. That leaves only two explanations for your report that I can see.”

The envoy let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. “And those explanations would be…?”

“Either your much vaunted intelligence services are mistaken or, second and more likely, you are attempt to fabricate this evidence to justify a preemptive strike on our homeland.” The ambassador paused, then began speaking in a much louder, much shriller voice. “This is inexcusable! We will not be the victim of your imperialist plots! We will defend our home by any means necessary from your Western aggression!”

The President looked over at Brognola. He silently mouthed the word imperialist to the big federal agent. Brognola shrugged, then murmured under his breath, “They’re a little like Cuba,” he explained. “Forty or fifty years behind. They probably just got a copy of Dr. Strangelove in Pyongyang last month.”

The President made a sour face as the ambassador continued to bark his outrage over the conference link. He made a chopping motion with one hand toward the phone, then nodded at the envoy.

“Mr. Ambassador,” the envoy interrupted, “your protests have been noted. We will not be speaking of this matter again. Good day.” He cut the connection.

“Okay,” the President said. “I gave it one last try. We don’t know what kind of brinksmanship they’re trying to pull off this time, but they can go to hell.” He spun around in his chair and looked out at the Rose Garden. “Your boys in position to execute our contingency plan?”

“It seems our contingency just upgraded to primary,” Brognola said. “And yes, my crews are in place and ready to roll.”

“Then proceed,” the President said.

Once they left the office Brognola and the special envoy went in separate directions, each man pulling out a NSA-encrypted cell phone. The director of the Justice Department’s Sensitive Operations Group hit the number 1 on his speed dial option. Two rings later Barbara Price answered.

“I just got out of my meeting with the Man,” he informed her. “We are ready to execute.”

Stony Man Farm

BARBARA PRICE STOOD in the hallway in front of the door leading to the Communications Room. She said goodbye to Brognola and cut the connection on her phone before opening the door.

Price entered the room like a gust of wind. The attractive mission controller wore a headset communications link and carried a matte-black cell phone PDA with NSA security upgrades.

She walked across the room, nodding to where Akira Tokaido and Carmen Delahunt sat at workstations. A giant flat screen was fixed to the wall above their heads. The monitor was silent and still, for the moment showing only the screen saver: an image of the movie poster for The Magnificent Seven with the quote from the script, “We deal in lead, friend.”

“Time?” Price asked.

“M-Minute minus twenty seconds,” Kurtzman replied.

From the other side of the room he used a blunt, square-tipped finger to toggle his wheelchair away from his workstation. The electric engine of the power chair ramped up as the leader of the Stony Man cybernetics team pulled even with Stony Man’s mission controller.

“Okay,” Price said. “Bring central synchronistic communications online.”

At her station, Carmen Delahunt typed a command on her keyboard. Inside Price’s headset earjack, the receiver popped and the ex-NSA operational manager nodded once to Delahunt.

“Stony Base to Stony Eagle,” she said. “Radio check, over.”

Instantly the voice of Stony Man pilot Jack Grimaldi answered, coming over the digital link with crystal clarity. “Base, this is Bird,” he replied. “I have good copy.”

Price gave a curt nod to herself and turned toward the communal HD screen and pointed a finger.

Kurtzman tapped a command on an interface board built into his power chair and the screen switched to a satellite image of the Earth. The observation platform was a Keyhole satellite in near-Earth geosynchronous orbit completely dedicated to the needs of Stony Man operational taskings.

“Stony Base to Stony Hawk,” she continued.

“Stony Hawk, good copy,” Able Team leader Carl Lyons answered in clipped syllables.

On the screen the sat image rotated until the HD monitor showed the Western Hemisphere. Kurtzman tapped out a few clicks on his keypad, centering the screen over Central America, and then began to tighten its resolution as it slid down toward the southern continent. Kurtzman hit another command key and a political map was overlaid on the topographical features.

“Do you have eyes on target?” Price asked.

“Affirmative,” Lyons responded.

“Eagle, give us your position,” Price told Grimaldi.

“I’m in a holding pattern behind Hill 372, about three klicks out,” Grimaldi said.

On the overhead monitor the political map showed Colombia. The spy camera tightened its resolution even further and suddenly the POV began descending at a rapid rate.

To the onlookers it seemed as if they were in the nose of a plane as it dive-bombed through wispy patches of clouds toward the earth below.

“Hawk and Eagle, we are green light go,” Price said. “I repeat, we are green light go.”

“Copy,” Grimaldi answered.

“Copy,” Lyons said.

Price looked to the wall. On one side of the image, scrolling vertically were GPS coordinates blinking rapidly next to numerical sets of longitude and latitude readings.

Patches of green and brown, at first unidentifiable, formed into a jungle canopy over a series of rolling hills. On the southeast side of the screen a broad, fast-moving river cut through the trees. Up the sheer plateau from the water, a brown dirt road cut out of the rugged geography.

From his position at his workstation Akira Tokaido manipulated the sat image. The camera view settled on a flat area of the map. At first the location appeared to be nothing more than dense brush where the road ended.

“Toggling to IR,” Tokaido informed the room.

His thumb struck the appropriate key and instantly the crystal-clear picture on the screen changed to a swirling mesh of colors based on radiant heat that made the monitor appear like a watercolor canvas.

On the screen the figures beneath camouflage netting showed up immediately. Roughly two dozen individuals moved around, spread over an area the size of a soccer field.

Several bright spots indicated where industrial furnaces were active and in one section of the field several large vehicles sat clustered in parallel rows. Cool rectangular blobs revealed Quonset huts and long, narrow buildings of concrete and wood.

The tension in the room grew as they waited for the field teams to strike. Barbara Price leaned forward and grabbed the backrest on an office chair. She squeezed it hard until her knuckles shone white from her grip.

Then, on the screen, all hell broke loose.