THE DRUID STONE

“Two of the agents from this morning are still with them.” Corbet shifted in her chair. “Kane is writing his report about Jane Ames guerrilla press conference for the New York Times.”

“Guerrilla press conference–good choice of words Tara.” Holmes sat back, took a deep breath and addressed the other four members. “In light of everything that has just happened and what is contained in these reports about Morgan Kane and Martha Sorel, we have no choice but to act on Kane’s advice.”

Crag Quincy waved his hand. “But Mr. President, Kane is just a newspaper man. And Martha Sorel is just a librarian, and a low-level one at that. How can you make a major decision to mobilize the country’s resources, and those here in DC, based on the deaths of three supposed unverified terrorists?”

The CIA director stood up. “It’s come to my attention that Jane Ames has communication links suggesting a connection to Islamic extremism, including clandestine conversations discussing jihad leadership traced back to Tehran.”

“How is that possible when I mandated 24-hour sweeps for alien surveillance throughout our entire immediate environment?” Holmes stared at Crag Quincy. “And that included the office and communication devices of everyone in this room.”

“Unfortunately, the policing of personal cell phones cannot be done with the intensity and felicity called for by your directive Mr. president.” The CIA director looked at the FBI Chief who nodded agreement.

“Mr. President, let me just review everything that happened to Morgan Kane and Martha Sorel since they arrived here in Washington, DC several weeks ago.” Corbet began with the intentional misquotes by the press. She talked of Colin Smith’s assassination and the attempted ambushes with lethal intention against Kane and Sorel. “Martha Sorel was literally blown out of her DC apartment. Explosive devices were of Middle East origin.” Corbet stood up with clenched fists. “Dammit all, we can't ignore this. And if Kane is correct and there is a direct link to these events with Tehran’s launch of a missile armed with an unknown warhead and destination, then we have to assume the worst.”