pretense of checking out camisoles to cover the seriousness of the conversation.
"I came to CI because I couldn't change Black River, but I felt I could make a difference here. The president gave me a mandate to change an organization that was in disarray, that long ago had lost its way."
They went out the back, across the street, hurrying now, down the block, turning left for a block, then right for two blocks, left again. They went into a large restaurant boiling with people. Perfect. The high level of ambient noise, the multiple crosscurrents of conversations would make their own conversation undetectable.
At Hart's request they were seated at a table near the rear where they had excellent sight lines of the interior as well as the front door. Everyone who came in would be visually vetted by them.
"Well executed," Hart said when they were seated. "I see you've done this before."
"There were times-especially when I was working with Jason Bourne -when I was obliged to lose a CI tail or two."
Hart scanned the large menu. "Do you think that was a CI van?"
"No."
Hart looked at Soraya over the menu. "Neither do I."
They ordered brook trout, Caesar salads to start, mineral water to drink. They took turns checking out the people who came into the restaurant.
Halfway through the salads Soraya said, "We've intercepted some unconventional chatter in the last couple of days. I don't think alarming would be a too strong a word."
Hart put down her fork. "How so?"
"It seems possible that a new attack on American soil is in its final stages."
Hart's demeanor changed instantly. She was clearly shaken. "What the hell are we doing here?" she said angrily. "Why aren't we in the office where I can mobilize the forces?"
"Wait until you hear the whole story." Soraya said. "Remember that the lines and frequencies Typhon monitors are almost all overseas, so unlike the chatter other intelligence agencies scan, ours is more concentrated, but from what I've seen it's also far more accurate. As you know, there's always an enormous amount of disinformation in the regular chatter. Not so with the terrorists we keep an ear on. Of course, we're checking and rechecking the accuracy of this intel, but until proven otherwise we're going on the assumption that it's real. We have two problems, however, which is why mobilizing CI now isn't the wisest course."
Three women came in, chatting animatedly. The manager greeted them like old friends, showed them to a round table near the window, where they settled in.
"First, we have an immediate time frame, that is to say within a week, ten days at the outside. However, we have almost nothing on the target, except from the intercepts we know it's large and complex, so we're thinking a building. Again, because of our Muslim expertise we believe it will be a structure of both economic and symbolic importance."
"But no specific location?"
"East Coast, most probably New York."
"Nothing's crossed my desk, which means none of our sister agencies has a clue about this intel."
"That's what I'm telling you," Soraya said. "This is ours alone. Typhon's. This is why we were created."
"You haven't yet told me why I shouldn't inform Homeland Security and mobilize CI."
"Because the source of this intel is entirely new. Do you seriously think HS or NSA would take our intel at its face value? They'd need corroboration-and A, they wouldn't get it from their own sources, and, B, their mucking about in the bush would jeopardize the inroads we've made."
"You're right about that," Hart said. "They're about as subtle as an elephant in Manhattan."
Soraya hunched forward. "The point is the group planning the attack is unknown to us. That means we don't know their motivation, their mind-set, their methodology."
Two men came in, one after the other. They were dressed as civilians, but their military bearing gave them away. They were seated at separate tables on opposite sides of the restaurant.
"NSA," Hart said.
Soraya frowned. "Why would NSA be shadowing us?"
"I'll tell you in a minute. Let's continue with what's most immediately pressing. You mean we're dealing with a complete unknown, an unaffiliated terrorist organization that is capable of planning a large-scale attack? That sounds far-fetched."
"Imagine how it'll sound to your directorate heads. Plus, our operatives have determined that keeping our information secret is the only way to get more intel. The moment this group catches wind of our mobilizing they'll postpone the operation for another time."
"Assuming the current time frame is correct, could they abort or postpone at