Pandemic

"For starters," Clayton said, "there is no other reason to set up a base in this remote region. No legitimate one, anyway. They used similar trucks and followed similar supply routes from Mogadishu as do the smugglers and traffickers, but we believe this was a deliberate ruse to throw off our satellites. Most convincingly, one of the informants peeked under the tarps in one of the trucks. He saw animal cages and lab-type equipment, which he assumed belonged to a drug lab. Several of the other boxes were postmarked for Algeria. And we know a shipment of scientific supplies went missing from Algeria around the same time."

Clayton clicked his remote and the Somali map gave way to topographical photographs that Haldane recognized as satellite images. "We have reviewed the surveillance photos." Clayton continued to click the remote, and scattered dots over the arid savannah gave way to the distinct images of a dirt road and a building. As he clicked, the lens zoomed in on the building until it filled most of the screen. Two trucks and four Jeeps were parked behind it. Two people stood out front. The photo only captured the tops of their covered heads, but both men wore fatigues and had rifles slung over their shoulders. "This base is protected from the north and west by the Karkar Mountains. It is heavily guarded in the other direction." He flashed through a series of photographs, which showed what looked like fields of barbed wire and sentry posts scattered across the terrain. In other shots, armed soldiers stood at their posts with weapons readied.

Ted Hart coughed. "Alex, how do you know this doesn't house some kind of other illegal operation — drug traffickers, smugglers, and so on?"

Clayton nodded respectfully. "Because, Mr. Secretary, according to our informers, the men they met are all ex-Egyptians. And they are all devout Muslims who roll out prayer mats five times a day." Clayton tapped a button in his hand, and the screen filled with the satellite snapshot of a soldier bowing prostrated over a mat. "Not consistent with typical drug smugglers. As well, their sporadic movement suggests that they do not transport anything of significance." He corrected himself. "Aside from infected terrorists."

Clayton hit a button and the screen went blank. "The pieces all fit." He listed the points with his fingers. "Missing lab supplies from Algeria. Egyptian soldiers in Somalia. And a fortified hospital lab at the foot of a mountain range." He nodded confidently. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is The Brotherhood of One Nation's lair."

"Are you certain all the terrorists are still in there, though?" Secretary Thomason asked with a disarming smile.

Clayton's head dropped slightly. "All of them, ma'am?" He shook his head. "We can't know that."

Andrea Home stood up from her chair. "If we are going to act upon this intelligence, every moment we wait adds to the risk," Home said, putting her half-frame glasses back on, though she had nothing to read. "I would like to turn the floor to General Fischer who will now share the military options."

Up to this point, Haldane noticed that the white-haired, well-decorated army general, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs, had sat perfectly still for the discussion. He rose unhurriedly to his feet, reaching no higher than five feet eight inches when standing. "Well, folks," General Fischer said in his homespun Texan drawl, "we had about an hour to come up with an operational plan, so you'll forgive me if the presentation is not as polished as that of our good friends from the CIA." He turned to one of the other generals at the table. "General Osborne, would you be so kind as to get the clicker for me? Thank you, sir."

Clayton passed the remote down the table until it reached General Osborne. He pressed two buttons and a map showing East Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Ocean between them replaced the satellite imagery.

General Fischer pointed a stubby finger at the screen. "The most expeditious choice would have been a precision air strike on the compound, but as we understand it visual confirmation of the site contents is vital." He chuckled. "Tough to count terrorists and germs after a bunker buster has dropped in on them.

"So the question becomes: how do we get our special ops forces to the site in one lightning strike. General Osborne…" On the map two upside down Vs appeared in the Indian Ocean. "We have two aircraft carriers, the Lincoln and the Eisenhower, in the region now. The Eisenhower, in particular, is in spitting distance of the coast of Somalia."

Though Haldane maintained a healthy suspicion of military people, he warmed to the soft-spoken general who was nothing like the humorless robot he had expected. He found Fischer's presentation strangely reassuring, realizing the nation wasn't quite as impotent as she had earlier seemed.