“I think Wazir Ibrahim is the template. He’s a long-term sleeper. You wouldn’t have wanted him to be here on an overstayed visa. They would have brought him in another way—as a political refugee or something like that. That’s how tens of thousands of Somalis have gained access to the country. The United States has one of the largest collections of Somali expatriates in the world.
“So the Chinese could have had a recruiter in Somalia who groomed sleepers and helped move them into the U.S. immigration pipeline. I would use Wazir Ibrahim as the nexus. Look at where he was from in Somalia and who immigrated around the same time he did and we might find the other men in that CCTV footage from Boise.”
It was a good point and Roe wrote it down. “So whoever recruited him may not have known about his proclivities?”
Harvath nodded. “I know the Bureau is contacting all of its Somali informants, but I’d reach out to Detective Hoffman back in Nashville, too. See if he can uncover anyone in that Somali trafficking ring who recognizes any of the faces in the bus station footage. Have him check with Wazir Ibrahim’s widow as well. She may know something about his trip to Boise that could prove helpful.
“Speaking of which, have your teams in Boise had any luck with that additional item I suggested that they look for?”
Roe nodded. “I don’t think a warrant like that has ever been issued before. We got one, though, and I think your idea of roping in the police chief and the mayor was smart, especially for dealing with the smaller businesses. Everyone has cooperated so far.”
“Do we have an ETA?”
“Everything is getting piped to the NSA. They’re running the algorithms as they get the data.”
“What about Tommy Wong?” Harvath then asked.
“Still nothing.”
“What about the other members of the 14K triad back in Southern Cal? Maybe they know something.”
“If they do, none of them are talking,” Roe replied. “We’ve put their phones into heavy rotation and we’re monitoring their email accounts, but the FBI only has so much manpower. We can’t sit on them 24/7.”
“I understand,” said Harvath, who looked at the Old Man. “Has Anne Levy had any success running down any contacts of the students back in the UAE?”
Carlton shook his head. “Zip.”
Harvath glanced at his watch. Even though they had located only three of what was believed would be five storage units, the President had given the go-ahead to move on them. They were located in Las Vegas, Dallas, and Des Moines.
The NSA had nixed the idea of launching an attack against the Great Firewall of China, and for good reason. Just because the PLA’s hacking unit in Shanghai appeared to be watching the CCTV feeds of the storage facilities didn’t mean that no one else was. In fact, as the NSA began to build on what Nicholas had uncovered, they believed there was another source dipping into the feed. And that source wasn’t in China.
It was decided that a widespread Internet disruption originating within the United States was the only way to deal with the issue. The risks were discussed with President Porter, and after addressing a handful of national security as well as private sector issues, he gave his approval.
Plainclothes FBI agents in Las Vegas, Dallas, and Des Moines helped covertly evacuate customers at the facilities as three separate ruses were enacted to evacuate any nearby homes or businesses in each city. No one had any idea what was in the storage units, or if they were booby-trapped.
As soon as the customers had been removed from the facilities, the NSA began compiling the footage they would use for their loops. Two of the facilities, though, had cameras that picked up part of the road traffic near their entrances.
Because of the public safety concerns, traffic was being diverted away from all of the facilities in question. The NSA decided to roll the dice and pulled the entrance camera footage from two previous nights off those facilities’ DVRs. After making sure no one was seen entering during any of the lengths they intended to use, they tested everything multiple times and then let everyone know they were ready to roll.
Once the strike teams were in place, the go code would be given and the simultaneous, three-city operation would launch.
DNI Johnson and the FBI Director had gone to the White House to be with the President in the Situation Room, along with