CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia
“Tom,” Nancy said, sticking her head around the corner of his cubicle. “You have got to see this.”
Tom scooted his chair back and rolled over to her desk, “You rang?”
She turned her flat-screen monitor toward him. “You know the messages that Ms. Churchill put top priority to track?”
“Yeah, which one?”
“The one agent Jess Contreras received in Lebanon.”
“Okay.”
“I think I found it.”
“You sure?” Tom said, scooting closer.
“Yeah, I’ve been working nonstop on it,” she said, touching the screen with her French-manicured fingernail.
“If you did, you’re a genius.”
Her finger slid down slightly on the screen, “Look, here is the estimated date and time the message came in.”
Tom watched the screen. “Right before she shot everyone.”
“Yes, according to agent Al Robek, she received a message and first shot the pilot, then Alex Pike, Ed Collins, a Vatican representative, and then him.” She moved her finger down again.
Tom leaned into the screen, “How did you do it so fast?”
“Using every cell phone tower near the airport in Lebanon, I was able to hypothetically triangulate dozens of messages being received and sent in the closest proximity to the reported position of the shooting. But, this particular one stood out.” She removed her finger from the screen.
Tom’s eyes followed the coded messages down the screen. “London?”
“Yes,” she answered. “It looks like the message originated in London and was sent out to several locations at once.”
“Like a massive drunk text,” Tom joked.
“You would know, but look here,” she continued. “If this is the actual message we are looking for, it was sent to Jerusalem, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Darjeeling India, Iraq, the Gobi Desert, and several cities here in the States.”
“Wow,” Tom said. “You are a genius. Can you confirm the source of the message?”
“That is the trick, isn’t it?” Nancy said. “What approximate time did the London underground base get attacked?”
Tom scooted back to his desk and tapped his keyboard. “About
7:35 p.m.”
“That’s a close match.”
“Just a minute off,” Tom added. “What about Jerusalem?”
“Ah, I see where you’re heading.” Tom hammered away on his key board. “Wow, the Israeli prime minister was assassinated in Jerusalem at the same freaking time.” He scooted his chair back. “Did I fail to mention that you are a genius?”
“Yeah, but keep saying it,” Nancy said, glaring at her screen. “What about India?”
After a brief pause, Tom answered, “Nothing newsworthy reported from there, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened. Could be a simple low- key event or something.”
“Or something,” Nancy responded suspiciously. “Before I report to Ms. Churchill I want a little more evidence that this message may be the one.”
“We could scour all the news from each U.S. city the message went to,” Tom said.
“You’re nuts. That would take weeks.”
“Well,” Tom said, leaning back in his chair, “we don’t even know what to look for. We could just...”
“Don’t even go there,” said Nancy, dropping her chin into her hand. “We can’t issue this to Ms. Churchill until we are more certain that this is the message she wants.”
“No,” Tom said, “I found something too.”
She looked up, “What?”
“Get over here.”
She scooted her chair over.
“Look at this,” he said, tapping his screen.
“Director Churchill also instructed us to scour the Earth for unusual Knights Templar events since the church massacres started, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, as strange as it may sound, there was one in Wyoming.”
“One what?”
“Just that,” Tom answered pridefully. “Armored knights were spotted in the woods near the Teton Mountain Range.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope, I checked; it’s legit. The knights were spotted by a small group of hunters in the woods and they called it in to the local police department. Then, according to the message traffic, the police brushed it off as a joke and ignored it. Then read this.” Tom pointed to a sentence on his screen.
Nancy moved closer. “‘They shot at the hunters.’ No way!”
Tom laughed, “That I would normally think is pretty stupid because the hunters shot back—a lot.”
Nancy continued reading, “Oh, I see. They called the police again screaming that their bullets were bouncing off the knights.”
“Yep,” Tom answered with a prolonged drawl. “I started monitoring this story about thirty minutes ago, and this shooting report happened within the last five minutes.”
Nancy scooted her chair back. “So we are talking actual knights in armor; in the woods?”
Tom nodded, “Yes, and they reported red crosses on their chests.”
“Okay, as strange as that sounds it’s hot, you sold me.”
“Yes,” Tom admitted, “go ahead and call me a genius.”
“Not a chance,” she said, “but it could also lead our people on a wild goose chase wasting valuable time if it’s a joke.”
“Send it to Director Churchill,” Tom said forcefully.
Nancy crossed her arms, “I’ll send my discovery if you send yours.”
Tom scooted his chair back, “Since your story is stranger, send it first.”
“Okay, here goes,” she said, reaching over and hitting the intercom button on her phone. A male voice answered and she said, “Connect me to Director Churchill. Tell her it’s urgent.”