The ultimatum to the American government arrived in a small package enclosed in a plain brown wrapper. It was addressed to J. D. Rothery, Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, L’Enfant Plaza, Washington, D.C. Standard security measures ensured that the package was X-rayed, opened, and the first ten seconds of the enclosed DVD viewed to make sure it was a functioning disk. When the security personnel saw the contents of the disk, the wrapper was immediately placed in a sterile plastic bag and the DVD tested for traces of biological agents. The moment it had a clear bill of health, it was rushed to Rothery’s office.
The DHS chief had been contacted and was aware that the disk would be forwarded when it had cleared security; he had advised his colleagues at the FBI, CIA, and NSA that the disk would be in his DVD player the second it arrived. All three men were present. Also watching as the disk was slipped into the machine were Dr. Edward Henning and Annette Jordan. Rothery dimmed the lights and sat back to watch.
The scene on the television was a small concrete room painted gray. There were no distinguishing marks anywhere on the wall. Centered in the screen was a solitary figure wrapped in a floating robe typical of desert dwellers, with a mask concealing his facial features. His hands were enclosed in gloves and no portion of his skin was visible. When he spoke, it was in fluent English with a trace of an Arabic accent.
“I’m not going to bother spouting rhetoric about how the American government and the American people have interfered in global situations that were not their concern. That is a proven fact. That you have caused the death of many Arabs under the guise of branding all of us terrorists is also a fact. That you befriend the Israeli peoples while their armed forces launch missile raids against civilians in Gaza is merely another fact in a list that is much too long. You have repeatedly stuck your noses where they do not belong. You have caused us to raise our arms against you. You have been the harbinger of your own fate.”
The masked figure shifted slightly, a small piece of paper visible in his left hand.“We are the Islamic Front for Justice, an organization that would prefer peaceful means to our ends, but we are also realists. The United States does not recognize such actions, only ones in which your people are threatened. So we must do what is necessary to gain your attention. We have in our possession a large quantity of a hemorrhagic virus that we are ready to release among your population. To date, we have infected four sites in four different ways, just to show you that we are capable of spreading this virus amongst your population if we wish. To prove it was us who inflicted these casualties, we wrote something inside the case of soda that infected the Boy Scouts in Boston.” He consulted the piece of paper in his hand.
“ ‘A small mouse can cause great damage if let loose in the elephant’s tent.’ ”
He closed his hand on the paper and continued. “This recording will be delivered to you on Friday, September sixteenth. You have one week to comply with our demands. At midnight on Friday, September twenty-third, we will begin an all-out assault on the American people. The extent of the damage will be far beyond what you can imagine. Our method of delivering the virus into your population is unstoppable. Once it is released, countless millions will die.
“The death of innocent American citizens is not our primary goal. We have demands which, if met, will cause us to cease this course of actions. Our demands are not unreasonable. First, you will deliver one billion five hundred million U.S. dollars to a location that I will advise you of later. Second, you will release a political prisoner. Just one. His name is Alisama alZawami. You are holding him in a secret location in Montreal, Canada. The world thinks al-Zawami is dead, but we know differently. You have kept him captive, without trial, for over two years. It is time for you to release him.
“These demands are not negotiable. If you choose not to deal with us in a civilized manner, we will have no alternative but to inflict incredible casualties on your population. We will be in contact with you again soon, Mr. Rothery.”
The screen went black. J. D. Rothery walked across the room and switched on the lights. “How the hell does this guy know about al-Zawami?” he asked the room in general.
No one spoke for a few seconds. Tony Warner asked, “Who is this al-Zawami person?”
Rothery returned to his seat. He glanced at Jim Allenby and Craig Simms, but neither man spoke. “We captured Alisama alZawami about twenty-six months ago when we raided an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. It was simply a stroke of incredibly good luck. It was a joint operation with the FBI and the CIA, so Jim and Craig are in the loop on this one. This guy is one of the silent al-Qaeda leaders-not well known, but very intelligent and focused. He isn’t as militant as many other al-Qaeda leaders and has even suggested mediation to some problems rather than violence. We consider him to be a highly influential moderate in the al-Qaeda organization.”
“Then why would this Islamic Front for Justice want him and only him released?” Warner asked.
“No idea,” Rothery said.
“The guy on this DVD sounded more like a moderate than an extremist,” Jim Allenby said. “His tone was conciliatory, like he wanted to negotiate, not just release the virus.”
“Perhaps,” Rothery said. “I’ll have some experts watch the footage and see if they can figure out who this guy is or where he came from. But the bottom line is we still don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
“But this time you’re in a position where you can negotiate without anyone ever knowing,” Craig Simms said thoughtfully.
“What do you mean?” Rothery asked.
“These guys have asked for one-point-five billion in cash. That can be done on the sly without causing a lot of ripples. And so far as releasing al-Zawami, no one knows we have him. We could do it quietly, and nobody outside a very small circle would ever know we had met their demands.”
“They would know,” Allenby shot back at the CIA chief. “And they would let every terrorist cell out there know they’d been successful. And that would just open the door to more of the same thing. I’m against giving these bastards the time of day, let alone over a billion dollars and one of their key personnel. Just think of what they could do with one-point-five billion. Christ, they could arm thousands of nutcases, buy state-of-the-art guided-missile systems to use against our fighter jets and airliners, and then, don’t forget, they’ve still got the virus. Who’s to say they don’t just play this whole scenario out again in a year or two?”
“Jesus, Jim. They’re threatening to unleash a plague on the country. Try to keep that in mind. The stakes here are extremely high. This isn’t just black and white. It’s very gray.” Craig Simms’s face was red as he glared at his FBI counterpart.
“Keep in mind you’re not the only one with a family, Craig,” Allenby said icily.
“Okay, enough,” Rothery said. “We’ve got a problem, and now we’ve got a deadline. We know when they plan to release the virus and we know what their demands are. So right now, we’re in a better position than we were an hour ago.” He rose and paced about the room. “Straight off the top, this information remains inside this room. There will be no mention of the deadline to the press or to any member of your staff without top-level clearance. Is this clearly understood?” Everyone in the room nodded silently.
“Jim, this is going to fall mostly on yours and my shoulders, as the threat is inside our borders. Craig, we’ll be looking for everything you can give us, despite the fact that the CIA is prohibited from using their powers domestically. Tony, get your rocket scientists at Crypto-City to calculate every conceivable method of releasing this virus on a mass scale. Every time you get another new scenario, forward it to Jim’s office. Jim, you take the information from NSA and run with it. If they say that the virus could be introduced through contaminated cups at Starbucks, get to the factory that makes the cups and check it out. Nothing falls through the cracks.
“Tony, I want you to follow up with the pharmaceutical companies trying to decode this virus. Especially GlasoKlan. They were the ones who had identified the nucleic acid genome. Stay on top of every advance these research groups make. If we can come up with a method to fight this virus, we’ve got bargaining power with these guys.” He stopped pacing for a moment and turned to Edward Henning. “Dr. Henning, what’s your take on all this? How much danger are we in?”
Henning was thoughtful and took a few seconds to choose his words. When he spoke, it was in a clear and concise manner. “We are in very serious trouble, Mr. Under Secretary. If the terrorists are serious about releasing the virus in one week, their method of doing so is probably already in place. It may be too late, even for them, to stop it. And although they appeared quite composed and ready to bargain in good faith, I doubt that is the case. My feeling is that no matter what you do, they’re going to release the virus.”
The room was absolutely silent.
“In my opinion,” Henning said quietly, “you have only one option. Find something to combat this virus.”
“And if we can’t?” Rothery said.
“Then be prepared for the terrorists to unleash the virus. And be prepared for it to be a lethal dose.”