Jihad

CHAPTER 128

Between fatigue and his concerns about the operation set to grab Marid Dabir, Rubens found his patience in short supply from the very start of the evening conference call updating possible al-Qaeda targets. He tried to explain how circumstantial the evidence his people had found that the Galveston-Houston area might be a target was, but the others clearly didn’t hear the nuances. As soon as he mentioned that one of the terrorists had possibly met a boat or ship off Mexico — information that the Art Room had given him only a few minutes before — they put two and two together and came up with forty-four.

“Sink a ship in the Houston Ship Channel and it would be even more devastating than blowing up the chemical plant,” said Cynthia Marshall, second-in-command at Homeland Security. “We’ll need National Guard troops. I’ll move the Coast Guard over and blockade the port. The Navy will have to help as well.”

“There’s no evidence the channel is being targeted,” said Rubens. “And from what I understand about the threat coming from the sea, there’s no evidence there either.”

“We have one source saying al-Qaeda may be interested in ships,” said Collins from the CIA. “That’s the extent of the intelligence.”

“Can we really take a chance?” asked FBI Director Griffin Bolso, who until now had been a voice of reason and an ally. “Blow up something there, and it’ll be worse than 9/11.”

“We have to be prudent in using our resources,” said Rubens.

He might just as well have read the horoscope, for all the good it did. Bing ended the meeting by saying that the Houston and Galveston area would be put under a virtual lock-down, with the navy and coast guard tasked to search every ship in the vicinity. Searching the ships would take weeks, not days, but the general representing the Department of Defense on the conference call was from the air force and clearly didn’t understand the logistics involved.

A few minutes after Rubens hung up, Collins from the CIA called him back. He’d promised to update her on the Dabir operation.

“They’re overreacting on Houston,” she said without prompting. “But you can’t blame them. We’ve given them bits and pieces of possible conspiracies, and they put them together in the worst way.”

“Concentrating on the wrong target may be worse than concentrating on none,” said Rubens.

Collins didn’t answer. Rubens told her about Dabir; when he was done, she asked if she could send a CIA interrogation team there as well.

Even though he’d expected the question, he wasn’t sure how exactly to answer it. The Justice Department had been adamant that the CIA people not take part; truth be told, they would have greatly preferred it if Desk Three wasn’t even involved in the operation, since the intelligence agencies would inevitably complicate any prosecution. But Collins was a potential ally against Bing, and Rubens knew that telling her no wasn’t going to go over well.

What else could he do, though? Base his decision on politics?

“Justice wants to handle the interrogation itself,” said Rubens, hoping that would end the conversation.

It didn’t.

“Justice wants a lot of things. The FBI has a terrible track record on interrogations. We don’t.”

“I can’t argue with you, Debra, but it’s not my call.”

“If you said the team was from Desk Three, no one would question it.”

“Well, I can’t lie,” blurted Rubens.

A moment of awkward silence followed.

“Bill, sometimes it would be helpful to remember the old adage, ‘one hand washes the other’,” said Collins before she hung up.