Hans strolled into the room they were using as the meeting room and general room for those not stationed here to work from time to time. He was shocked to see the Brit in the room, but not surprised the man in the suit hadn’t made it yet. For a man who did international operations, he was picky about what countries he set foot in.<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t much to this meeting. It was a \u201cHello and thanks for coming\u201d meeting, really just to ensure everyone knew where the new temporary headquarters was, the satellite phone numbers it was using, and who else was on this team.<\/p>\n
Hans looked at the Brit and said, \u201cThe man in the suit not coming?\u201d He knew he was punching a button, but best to punch it in front of the others so they would all be aware of this guy\u2019s temper. It took a lot to set him off, but when you finally did, he went off like a fuel-air bomb, burning long and hot.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d responded the Brit. \u201cThe little bugger is not coming! He is still in Pakistan waiting for Pakistani intelligence to get done picking up all of the body parts they can find at the other communications hub. They are never going to find anything. Satellite photos show a crater roughly fifteen feet wide. Anything inside was scattered half a mile down the hillside if it wasn\u2019t incinerated at time of detonation. He just doesn\u2019t want to bloody come here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the other team members had never met the Brit. The ones who had sat there with smirks on their faces. They knew what he said was true and they knew he was just getting started. This kind of anger would brew in him all day. If you didn\u2019t suddenly become a focal point for it, the spectacle could be entertaining.<\/p>\n
Hans interrupted, \u201cFor those of you who don\u2019t know him, we call this man \u2018the Brit.\u2019 He will be assisting you in processing the email communications. Those who know him know he was instrumental in our previous email hub operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Brit gave a distracted wave to the room.<\/p>\n
Hans began passing out slips of paper to everyone. \u201cThese are the sat phone numbers to this place. We only have two. I don\u2019t expect we will be here that long.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Brit piped up, \u201cInside of three weeks we will know if this is a long haul or a short grab.\u201d Everyone looked at him, so he continued. \u201cIf they send someone new to the trainer, then the thinking is that this is really all they have left for whatever reason. We will take it out and blind them for a while. We won\u2019t have enough on the new hub operator to try and turn them as we did before. We couldn\u2019t get lucky enough for al-Qaeda to choose someone that spineless again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if they do send someone?\u201d asked one of the team members.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we have to grind this one out, taking down every cell they lead us to and searching for some link across communications networks. Other than the first hub we worked in Pakistan, we haven\u2019t found another hub handling cells in America. The cells these two are handling seem to have all come from that first hub in the mad dash to restore communications lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, they either have very few operatives in America, another hub, or home-grown cells that don\u2019t communicate with the leaders here,\u201d Hans continued. \u201cWithin three weeks we should at least have an answer for these two hubs. We may not be able to help the Americans further.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Brit started speaking and Hans just stepped out of the way. \u201cYes, I will be helping you decipher emails and track them back to point of origin. I will be one of several doing that. Our real focus needs to be on the trainer, though. Forget watching where the new hub operator goes and what he does. He is working too close to the trainer and handling far too big of a load to still be under his wing.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the team piped up. \u201cI have just been hired at his company and he will be my boss there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood,\u201d said the Brit and Hans in unison.<\/p>\n
The Brit continued \u201cWithout being obvious, we need to find out if he has any health issues like a bum ticker, etc. We need to rule out a biological reason for him passing the reins.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other team members hadn\u2019t really thought about the big picture. They weren\u2019t normally included in such discussions. The Brit was gaining credibility in their eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if he plays soccer with us during lunch?\u201d \u201cThen we really have to look at him. He is either moving out or moving up,\u201d said the Brit.<\/p>\n
\u201cUp?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been using wet erase boards with little hierarchy trees on them to try and map this organization. That doesn\u2019t work. Once you get beyond bin Laden and his inner circle there is no tree. All of the cells are autonomous. If the inner circle of al-Qaeda chooses not to bless and fund an operation they will simply get the blessing and funding from some cleric,\u201d continued the Brit.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps you guys haven\u2019t been watching the news lately, but coalition forces have blown up a few people who used to be in the inner circle. There is no clear line of succession. Basically someone already in the inner circle must select you to become a part of the inner circle and the others or bin Laden must agree. The replacement members could come from anywhere in the bloody world.\u201d<\/p>\n
This realization floored most of the room. Hans had to admit he hadn\u2019t entertained that idea and he hadn\u2019t heard such an idea from Vladimir. The Brit was on a roll, though, and he kept going. Since the roll was informative, Hans didn\u2019t try to choke it off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that some time ago bin Laden lost his head geek. The man was arrested and interrogated. He\u2019s not a lot of use to anyone now. This method of using email operators was probably a pilot or fledgling idea when he was nabbed. That trainer may have been tapped as a replacement simply because al-Qaeda needs this method of communications and he is the only one left who knows how it worked. If they pull him back and move him up, it will most likely be because they know they need to redevelop this idea and deploy it on a larger scale. Satellite communications tends to attract a lot of missiles, which shortens their life span.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room got a good chuckle out of that one.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK,\u201d started Hans. \u201cThis was a meet and greet today. Just needed you all to know where the place was and how to reach it. If anything goes wrong here, we don\u2019t have friends in government. There are a couple of choppers not far from here, but they won\u2019t be able to stick around for long. Is there anything not in your written status reports that needs to be on the table now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone looked around.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood. Get back to work. Fill in your teammate who is still at work with the new hub operator. Those of you handling email circle around the Brit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans then sat down and dashed an email off to Vladimir with this new possibility. He copied the suit on it out of politeness.<\/p>\n
***********************
You are reading a special promotional version of \u201cInfinite Exposure\u201d containing only the first 18 chapters. This is the first book of the “Earth That Was” trilogy. You can obtain the entire trilogy in EPUB form from here:<\/p>\n