BUILDING 24-442, SUBURBAN VIRGINIA
Thomas found it at the bottom of a small slip of blue paper that held a summary of a translated message dating back nearly a year.
Manila.
One of Bin Saqr’s companies had rented a hangar at Manila airport. They had also bought fuel there.
He secured his room and hurried down to tell Corrigan what he had discovered. His adrenaline was flowing and he felt light-headed as he waited to be cleared through the security and in to see Corrigan. But as he walked down the hall Debra intercepted him.
“I got it, I got it, I got it,” he told her, waving the small blue paper madly.
“Calm down, Thomas. Calm down,” she told him. “He’s really busy right now. The operation is under way.”
“I have to tell him,” said Thomas, and he pushed her aside, overcome by his conviction that he was right. He marched into the situation room.
As soon as he saw the analyst, Corrigan threw his hands up, trying to flag him to stop and be quiet. He was in the middle of a four-way conversation with Colonel Van Buren,
Corrine Alston, and Conners. The Team had been discovered at the Chechen base.
“Manila,” Thomas hissed. “They’re going to Manila, and then LA.”
Corrine must have heard him, for she asked what was going on.
“We’re working up new intelligence,” said Corrigan, trying to sort everything out. His brain felt like it had taken some of the rounds exploding near Conners.
“We’ll be at the target inside forty minutes,” said Van Buren. “We’ll get them out.”
“Good,” said Corrine.
Thomas stood on the balls of his feet, bobbing slightly. Debra stood behind him, shaking her head.
“All right. What do we have?” Corrigan asked.
Thomas smoothed out the paper and explained. Corrigan’s brain was suffering from the effects of far too much coffee and far too little sleep; he couldn’t quite follow the logic.
“You were supposed to look for an airplane,” said Corrigan.
“Yes, but here—they have a hangar in Manila. They’ve purchased jet fuel,” said Thomas.
“What do they need fuel for if they don’t have an airplane?” said Corrigan.
“That’s my point!”
Corrigan put up his hand. “Okay,” he told Thomas. “See if you can flesh this out with more information. And Thomas, you can use the phone, right? You can call me, rather than running down here.”
“Is there one in my office?” asked Thomas, honestly not remembering seeing it.