now,” Price added. “They’ll be even more careful.”
“Right,” McCarter said. “Which is going to make it bloody hard to pick up their trail.”
“Can’t your Panamanian contact with the government assist with that?”
“Who? Nativida?” McCarter asked. He directed a pointed look in Manning’s direction.
Manning didn’t take his eyes from McCarter’s as he replied, “Well, there might be a bit of a problem with that. I’m afraid he’s feeling a bit uncooperative with us at the moment, as is probably Herndon.”
“Who?” Brognola asked.
“Kelly Herndon,” McCarter said. “Our CIA contact.”
A moment of silence followed, and Phoenix Force knew that Brognola and Price had gone to side conference.
“I’ve asked Barb to look into him for us,” Brognola said. “Offhand, though, his name doesn’t ring any bells with me.”
“I don’t think he’s had much of a notable career,” Encizo replied.
“What happened?”
“Let’s just say that I don’t think they’ll be getting in Gary’s face again anytime soon,” McCarter stated.
“All right,” Brognola replied, his voice saying he wasn’t totally satisfied with the answer but neither did he feel like pushing it. “Let’s just not shake up these people too much. They’re a valuable source of information, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to alienate them.”
“What about their orders to cooperate fully with us?” Hawkins asked.
“Nativida’s and Herndon’s interference might have cost the rest of us our lives, Hal,” McCarter added. “I’m not bloody well keen on someone risking my teammates on what amounts to little more than territorial politics. That’s to say nothing of the fact that delay might have contributed to our losing the only decent lead we had to al Qaeda’s plans.”
“I understand,” Brognola replied, “and I’m not saying you didn’t do right on this. Just asking you to keep the more sensitive issues in mind for the future.”
“Got it.”
“I just finished talking to Aaron,” Price’s voice cut in, “and he’ll be sending down Herndon’s info as soon as possible.”
“Thanks,” Manning replied.
Price continued. “We also have an update for you on Able Team. They found the bodies of the two Mexican nationals who were shot to death in New Mexico. They think al Qaeda definitely has something going in the immediate area, and Gadgets is working on modifying the End Zone system to track them down. We’ve also confirmed that a few months ago a man named Bari entered the country. He’s a top-level strategist for bin Laden and his presence in the country only confirms what we’ve been suspecting for some time.
“Bari sits on the ten-most-wanted lists of at least a dozen free nations. He’s as dangerous as they come, and I’m sure he’s probably the mastermind of this entire operation. Able Team has already provided us with some pretty damning evidence of his potential involvement.”
“And with Bari at the helm,” Brognola added, “you can bet things are only going to get worse.”
“Okay, thanks for the intel,” McCarter said. “I’m going to talk this over with the team and we’ll let you know what our next move is as soon as we’ve settled on it.”
“Acknowledged,” Brognola replied.
“Good luck,” Price said. “And be careful.”
They disconnected the call.
“T HOUGHTS ?” M C C ARTER ASKED his teammates.
“Let’s look at what we know,” James said immediately. “We have an al Qaeda brainchild in the U.S., obviously sent by bin Laden to plan and coordinate some type of major attack.”
“And to do that, he needs bodies,” Manning concluded.
Encizo nodded. “There’s no question the guy they killed in that jail cell had information critical to their operations, otherwise they wouldn’t have risked a half dozen personnel to kill him when they already have a potential shortage.”
“Right,” McCarter said. “This means they must have something up their sleeve they’re going to have to act on real soon.”
“Maybe they’re planning to move the personnel,” Hawkins offered.
“What do you mean?”
The Southerner waved his arm for emphasis. “They have an operation they have to get off the ground soon. Something big and bold, maybe something nobody would even think about. We’ve all agreed they obviously need a certain capacity of bodies to complete this mission, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble to start with. Keep in mind they’ve probably been funneling personnel into the U.S. for months. But if they’re smuggling them in through Panama, they have to get them from one point to the next.”
“He’s right,” James said, picking up Hawkins’s train of thought. “And the only way to do that is to utilize a network already established.”
“Of course,” Encizo said. “It all makes sense now. We know they used the immigration problem to get their people into the United States, so why not funnel personnel through the Central American drug corridor.” He looked at McCarter and added, “Drug dealers are more than happy to enter into any transactions that help fund their operations, and they aren’t too particular about who they work with as long as the other side’s paying cash.”
“So you think they’re running this human pipeline up through Central America via the powder trail,” McCarter said.
All of the men nodded their agreement and the Phoenix Force leader had to admit they were onto something. Their theory didn’t explain everything, but it did happen to fill a lot of the holes. Maybe their prisoner had this information, maybe he just knew the route. Whatever the case, it was their first and best place to start.
“Okay,” McCarter said. “If there are no other suggestions, we go with this and see where it leads us.”
“Great,” Hawkins chimed in. “But where do we start?”
A rap came at their apartment door and Encizo opened it to admit Robert Nativida. The interior secretary greeted each of them with a somber expression. Obviously he’d been in touch with his superiors, and they weren’t happy with the incident that had occurred earlier in the day.
Nativida cleared his throat and walked straight to Manning. As he extended his hand, he said, “I am obliged to apologize for my…indiscretion, sir. I hope you will excuse the behavior.”
Manning looked at the others in surprise and then shook Nativida’s hand. “No hard feelings.”
Nativida nodded, then turned to McCarter. “My government wishes to extend its thanks for your assistance
