“Nah,” he said, “we know she’s only guilty of being stupid and slutty – no offense. But we’re going to put her through the wringer over the next few days to find out everything we can about Ameer, his methods, his network and anything else we can think of. I don’t think the New Year is going to start off very pleasantly for her.”
Satisfied, I turned and walked over to Esther. The medic was looking at the shrapnel wound in her arm. “This is going to be sore for a while,” he said, “but I don’t see any signs of infection and I don’t think it’ll give you any problems once it’s fully healed.” Then he gave her a wink that I wasn’t supposed to see and added, “But if I were you I’d file a malpractice suit against whoever stitched you up. Those are the worst sutures I’ve ever seen!”
She turned, touched my hand and gave me a little smile. “I’ll definitely take that under consideration,” she said.
Then her demeanor changed and she stood up and went to look for the agent-in-charge. When she found him she asked him for an escort to Fort Meade. “Now that we don’t have to worry about Ameer anymore, we need to tackle Al Andalus as quickly as possible, and we’re going to need all the help we can get.”
Apparently, the agent-in-charge had called ahead and explained what had happened because when we got to NSA headquarters in Fort Meade we were greeted like dignitaries. An armed guard took us to a high-security elevator that whisked us straight to the top floor. From there we were led to the NSA Director’s office, a place I’d never been and never expected to see. In addition to the Director, we were introduced to high-ranking representatives of the FBI and the CIA. “I am so far above my pay grade I can’t even see my level from here,” I thought to myself.
Esther and I were asked to recount the events leading up to the present moment. Once we finished, the others added further details and new intelligence about the situation. The bottom line was that all three agencies were now convinced that a major terrorist attack, code named Al Andalus, was going to occur in the near future. Their best guess was New Year’s Eve, and the most likely target was somewhere in Israel, although there were other possible targets as well. Moreover, everyone agreed that the computer virus we’d been investigating played a critical role. But after that, there was no agreement on anything and the group began to argue.
At one point, the CIA representative beckoned to Esther and the two of them left the director’s office. When they returned, Esther had a strange look on her face. She leaned over and whispered, “I’ve just had an interesting phone call. We got the head of Mossad out of bed! I’ve been ordered to stay with you and assist you in way I can.”
Before I could respond, the NSA Director turned to me. “Mr. Selfridge, I’m told that you are very good at solving puzzles like this. I’m also told that you’ve already been working on the Al Andalus virus for some time. Finally, we know that the Islamic State was so concerned about what you might uncover that they assigned two of their top agents to stop you. For all those reasons, I’m going to ask you to put together a team to break this code and thwart its purpose. Whatever resources from the NSA you need are yours for the asking.”
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