and the Department of Justice. Garrity had run out of offices to house each separate entity and had modified a few of the smaller conference rooms to suit their purposes.
Keeping this task force focused would prove difficult at best, but Director Shelby had made it clear to him that the president wanted "all hands communicating" for this one. "No secrets." Sharpe had been kept in the dark about the attempted raid on Sanderson's compound; however, he now understood how close the raid had come to possibly derailing the CIA's efforts to track down the Zulu virus in Europe. As much as he despised Sanderson and didn't trust the CIA, their work had uncovered and stopped the first phase of Al Qaeda's twisted plan. But had it been Al Qaeda's plan from the beginning? Information passed to him minutes ago by Phillip Duncan, the task force's CIA liaison, suggested otherwise.
"Do we have everyone? Mobile HQ?" he said to Special Agent Mendoza.
Mendoza nodded and pointed to an immense projection screen to their right, as they faced the group assembled in the middle of the watch floor.
"Mobile HQ is up. Everyone is present."
The screen showed a grainy, live image of the Task Force Scorpion's mobile HQ leadership team. The screen was one of several mounted to the second-floor decking. The largest screen, twice the size of the others, loomed directly above and behind their heads. It contained a map of the east coast, featuring the New York tri-state area to the far right. All of the known Al Qaeda cell locations within the tri-state area were mapped in red, along with several yellow markers indicating locations of interest. He'd explain these to the group. A lone red marker suddenly appeared on the far left edge of the screen, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Sharpe was about to begin, but instead focused on an admiral standing to the far right of the group. Next to him stood an intense-looking blond woman wearing a dark gray suit.
"Who's the pair on the far right? The admiral and…"
"They just arrived. The woman is Sanderson's liaison to your task force. Callie Stewart. The Navy SEAL is Rear Admiral Mark DeSantos, director of the DIA's Strategic Services Branch. He's accepted full accountability for the integration of Sanderson's people into the task force," Mendoza said.
Sharpe kept his gaze focused on Admiral DeSantos, receiving a quick nod from the SEAL, which he returned.
"Damn it, I'm not comfortable with Sanderson's people on the task force. Especially someone right in the nerve center," Sharpe muttered.
"How do you think O'Reilly feels? She nearly lost an arm thanks to these assholes," Mendoza replied.
"Keep O'Reilly and Ms. Stewart as far apart as humanly possible. You know how O'Reilly can get."
"Better than anyone. I'm not too worried. None of the operatives provided by Sanderson had any involvement with the events two years ago. Agent Demir was seriously impressed with the team assigned to Mobile HQ. Moriarty liked what she saw too."
"I'm less concerned about the field operatives. Let's keep a tight watch on Ms. Stewart. I find it odd that Sanderson would insist on placing a liaison with us. Call me paranoid," Sharpe said.
"I feel the same way. I'll make sure they understand the ground rules when your briefing is finished."
"I want to talk to her myself," he said, turning his stare toward Mendoza.
Mendoza nodded as Sharpe addressed the group. As soon as it was apparent that he would speak, the entire watch floor quieted.
"We have a few new developments. Intelligence provided a few minutes ago by the CIA has identified and confirmed all of the addresses that received canisters of the Zulu virus. Eleven in total. Ten of the addresses are located in the tri-state area. We already knew about seven of these locations. The eleventh address is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. FedEx. Agent Moriarty, I want FBI rapid-response teams at the three remaining tri-state area locations immediately. The data just went live on your feed.
Keeping this task force focused would prove difficult at best, but Director Shelby had made it clear to him that the president wanted "all hands communicating" for this one. "No secrets." Sharpe had been kept in the dark about the attempted raid on Sanderson's compound; however, he now understood how close the raid had come to possibly derailing the CIA's efforts to track down the Zulu virus in Europe. As much as he despised Sanderson and didn't trust the CIA, their work had uncovered and stopped the first phase of Al Qaeda's twisted plan. But had it been Al Qaeda's plan from the beginning? Information passed to him minutes ago by Phillip Duncan, the task force's CIA liaison, suggested otherwise.
"Do we have everyone? Mobile HQ?" he said to Special Agent Mendoza.
Mendoza nodded and pointed to an immense projection screen to their right, as they faced the group assembled in the middle of the watch floor.
"Mobile HQ is up. Everyone is present."
The screen showed a grainy, live image of the Task Force Scorpion's mobile HQ leadership team. The screen was one of several mounted to the second-floor decking. The largest screen, twice the size of the others, loomed directly above and behind their heads. It contained a map of the east coast, featuring the New York tri-state area to the far right. All of the known Al Qaeda cell locations within the tri-state area were mapped in red, along with several yellow markers indicating locations of interest. He'd explain these to the group. A lone red marker suddenly appeared on the far left edge of the screen, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Sharpe was about to begin, but instead focused on an admiral standing to the far right of the group. Next to him stood an intense-looking blond woman wearing a dark gray suit.
"Who's the pair on the far right? The admiral and…"
"They just arrived. The woman is Sanderson's liaison to your task force. Callie Stewart. The Navy SEAL is Rear Admiral Mark DeSantos, director of the DIA's Strategic Services Branch. He's accepted full accountability for the integration of Sanderson's people into the task force," Mendoza said.
Sharpe kept his gaze focused on Admiral DeSantos, receiving a quick nod from the SEAL, which he returned.
"Damn it, I'm not comfortable with Sanderson's people on the task force. Especially someone right in the nerve center," Sharpe muttered.
"How do you think O'Reilly feels? She nearly lost an arm thanks to these assholes," Mendoza replied.
"Keep O'Reilly and Ms. Stewart as far apart as humanly possible. You know how O'Reilly can get."
"Better than anyone. I'm not too worried. None of the operatives provided by Sanderson had any involvement with the events two years ago. Agent Demir was seriously impressed with the team assigned to Mobile HQ. Moriarty liked what she saw too."
"I'm less concerned about the field operatives. Let's keep a tight watch on Ms. Stewart. I find it odd that Sanderson would insist on placing a liaison with us. Call me paranoid," Sharpe said.
"I feel the same way. I'll make sure they understand the ground rules when your briefing is finished."
"I want to talk to her myself," he said, turning his stare toward Mendoza.
Mendoza nodded as Sharpe addressed the group. As soon as it was apparent that he would speak, the entire watch floor quieted.
"We have a few new developments. Intelligence provided a few minutes ago by the CIA has identified and confirmed all of the addresses that received canisters of the Zulu virus. Eleven in total. Ten of the addresses are located in the tri-state area. We already knew about seven of these locations. The eleventh address is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. FedEx. Agent Moriarty, I want FBI rapid-response teams at the three remaining tri-state area locations immediately. The data just went live on your feed.
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