Chapter 56 Chapter fifty-six

"John Puller?" The men suddenly appeared next to Plebe's car in the underground parking lot.Puller saw two identical black SUVs parked nearby.Neither car was turned off. "What do people from DHS want from me?" he asked. At the head of the group was a short, well-groomed man with curly black hair.He frowned and asked, "How do you know we belong to the Ministry of State Security?" Puller pointed to the waist of one of them and said, "He's wearing a SIG 9mm pistol." He pointed to another, "He's wearing a SIG . , plus you have a DHS badge pinned to your collar. As a final clue, one of your vehicles has a DHS parking pass."

The man looked at his companion, smiled and said, "Good eyesight. Do you still need to see our documents?" "Yes, I will. I'll show you my papers too. I'm with Army CID." "Yeah, I know." "I know you already know." "We need you to come with us." "Where? Why?" "Others will explain why. As for where to go, it's close." "Do I have a choice?" "No, there is no other choice." Puller shrugged. "Let's go, then." The car drove for ten minutes.They entered another underground parking lot, turned to the second basement level, left the car there, and took the elevator to the fifth floor.Puller was led down a long corridor.Every door on either side of the corridor was locked, with combination padlocks in addition to the door locks.There is no sign indicating that this is a federal government building.Puller understands that this is not uncommon, especially with the Department of Homeland Security, which operates in such unassuming locations across the country.To the uninitiated, however, the building is clamoring to assert itself as a federal agency.The carpet here is the kind of beige commonly used by government agencies, the walls are also beige, and the doors of the offices are all made of metal.The federal government spends a lot of money every year, Puller knows, but it doesn't make their offices more elegant.

Puller was led into a room and sat at a small table.The others backed out and closed the door, locking it again from the outside.He mentally calculated that five minutes had passed.Puller was wondering if those people had forgotten that he was still here when the door opened. A man in his fifties came in, his brows and demeanor revealed the solemnity and rigor of an agent who has been performing tasks on the front line for many years.A guy who sits behind a desk all day fiddling with papers and staples doesn't have such an aura.He holds a document in his hand.After sitting down, the man flipped through the files for a while, finally looked up, and acknowledged Puller's existence.

"Would you like something to drink?" the man asked. "We have coffee, which doesn't taste very good. We also have water, just tap water. We were given high-end Deer Park mineral water, but it was canceled last year, saying yes Damn budget cuts. Next time they'll have to take our pistols back." "I'm fine, no more," Pooler said, looking at the file. "Is it about me?" "No, it's not." The man patted the file. "By the way, I'm Joe Mason." He reached across the table and shook Puller's hand. "I'm John Pooler."

"I know." Mason said, flicking the hard skin on the edge of his fingernails, "What's going on in West Virginia?" "I suppose it's the matter. Actually, it didn't go well. I suppose you already have a right to know?" "You can give your boss a call if you want. Don White's a nice fellow." "I'm going to make a phone call." Mason took out his cell phone. "Let's hurry up and finish the routine procedures so that we can discuss some substantive matters. Call him." Puller called.Don White confirmed that Joe Mason was from the Department of Homeland Security and asked Puller to cooperate well with Mason.

Puller pushed the phone to Mason, looked at the document and asked, "So do I have the right to know about your situation?" "I'm thinking the same thing, Puller." "Have you made up your mind now?" "Everything I know about you tells me you're a capable guy. Your patriotism runs through your bones. You've got the tenacity of a bulldog. You're gonna catch a guy , whoever he is, you will catch him." Puller said nothing, just looked at each other.He wanted Mason to go on and listen carefully to what was going on. Mason went on to say: "We had a situation there. It sounds a bit cliché, right? We had a situation. But the problem is, we don't know what it is." Start with, "Can you help with this?"

"Is the Secretary of War so interested in the case because of this so-called circumstance? Why was I the only one sent to the scene in the first place?" “The Secretary of the Army cares about this case because we care about it. You’re the only one on the scene right now, but we have other forces there, and they’re not just DHS.” "I know the Defense Intelligence Agency is not interested." "I cannot agree with you." "Is the FBI involved?" "Whether we like it or not, the FBI is always involved in everything. We don't want to have guys from every department coming to you and pointing fingers at you and wasting your time. So we tapped me, Focus on contacting you."

"Well, there's something there, but you don't know what it is. I thought DHS had bigger things to do than that." "I would agree with you if it hadn't been for an incident." "What's up?" "The NSA tapped a short call two days ago. Do you want to guess where the call took place?" "Drake County, West Virginia." "you are right." "I think the NSA should only be tapping calls abroad, they can't tap phone calls and check emails, text messages, etc. in the United States." "So far, that's generally been the case."

"What's the content of the call?" "Well, they used a language that people didn't expect to see in rural West Virginia." Since he didn't specify which language it was, Puller teased, a little exasperatedly: "They speak the language of New Jersey? Or the language of the Bronx, New York City?" "Continue to guess, continue to guess east." "Arabic?" "Dari. You know, it's one of the official languages ​​of Afghanistan." "Yes, I know. Afghanistan, so. Has the call been translated?" "Yes, it means 'this time is coming soon' and asks everyone to prepare and say that justice is theirs."

"You take it to mean that an attack on the United States is about to begin, don't you?" "I'm paid to think that, Puller, and to stop it." "Why is this conversation so special? People talk about stupid things all the time on the phone and it doesn't make any sense, even in Dari." "Their calls are not above board, they are encrypted calls. And the encryption method is not generated by fashionable computer algorithms. They use a traditional cipher. My men told me that this cipher was used by the original KGB during the Cold War. It was very popular for a while before it ended. This time we actually found out that the Taliban started putting this code into the phone calls. I think it is handed down from the days when the Soviet Red Army tanks were rampaging there."

"The Taliban in West Virginia communicate with each other in Dari using the KGB code. You've got something new. Did they break it?" "Obviously, or I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. We've done such a good job of breaking computer-generated ciphers that it's ironic that we're bringing back such an old cipher, Puller. In a word, this matter has aroused our vigilance and attention.” "I don't see a single hooded guy in Drake. It's populated by proud American citizens, mostly mine workers. How can you be sure the Afghans must be in What about Drake's attack plan? These terrorists may just be hiding there, and the target of the attack may be in another place." "Something else in their conversations suggested that the target of the operation was at least in the immediate vicinity of Drake." Pooler leaned back in his chair and thought, "Oh, there's a dome-shaped concrete building over there that was a government-secret facility in the 1960s. That's probably what we should start investigating. Actually, in the The only thing that stood out in that place was the building, and of course the pile of corpses." "If only it were that simple." Mason took out a stack of papers from the folder and pushed them on the table to Puller. "We checked what it was for. It didn't help us much." Puller scanned the papers.It was a document from the 1970s, classified as classified as he could read it.He said, "Where are they making bomb parts?" "Some important parts, but not the core part where it exploded. The concrete building was built because some of the materials they used were radioactive. The Department of Defense had money to burn in those days, and there was no EPA oversight. So the military was not Put more effort into clean production, but cover it with a cement shell and forget about it.” "Is there any danger?" "You mean ecology? Who knows? Maybe. But that's not what we're concerned with. It's clearly stated in the document that all materials and equipment were later removed from there. And you don't think about Chisel through a meter-thick concrete wall to see if your Geiger-Müller counter blows." ① Geiger-Muller counter (Geiger-Muller counter): A counting instrument for detecting the intensity of ionizing radiation in nuclear physics and particle physics. "Suppose someone blows it up, will it release radiation? If there is still some radioactive material in there." "Yeah, Puller, then you have to prepare a mountain of explosives, a lot of manpower and equipment on the scene, and you don't know if there is any radioactive material in it, and it is worth it. Even if they asked Dre Who cares if some radiation is released into the air of grams?" Mason leaned back in his chair, "No, the answer should be found elsewhere." Puller pushed the file back to him. "Okay, what else?" "We know you spoke with General Carson." "She's still very cooperative." "Reynolds knew something, and that's what got him killed. He knew what was going to happen there." "I've just learned about these things. Since you've known for some time, it would be helpful to tell me as much as you can." "I didn't even know there was a place like Drake in the world until I deciphered their call. This was only two days ago. You probably know more than we do." "That's because you didn't go there. You left it to me and the local police. You said they spoke two days ago, which happened not long after the murder. There must be something between them." A connection. You were supposed to send a team to the scene, but why didn't you?" "Tough questions, and even tougher answers." "I'm used to both." Mason laughed. "I guess you are. A soldier's life is more complicated than it seems." "Compared to the other messy things we face, purely performing the duties of being a soldier is relatively easy. You just have to train well and your gun can be accurate. But there is no training in the world that can teach you to deal with Those shady tricks behind the scenes." He paused, then asked, "Have you ever been a soldier? You look like a soldier." "Marine Corps. But I left before the end of my service and went to college. After graduation, I chose to take up arms and serve Uncle Sam. It's just that I wear a suit now, not a military uniform." "The Marines have provided reinforcements to me many times." "I'm sure you did the same thing for them. But let's get back to the point you raised. The consensus here is to let things go as they are. If we openly send a large A team of that size will startle those guys." "It's probably not a bad thing to startle them, especially if they're preparing for a second 9/11. But why would they choose a place like Drake after they hit the Big Apple? That's my question." I don’t understand. The difference in potential damage between the two is too great.” ① Big Apple (Big Apple): another name for New York City. "That's what we're worried about. If we mobilize a large number of troops in Drake and suppress the border, it is estimated that these guys will die down, break up into pieces, and then regroup to launch an attack in another unexpected place, and they will not repeat the use of Mistake in the Dari dialect. The location they chose is something to ponder, Puller. It's not a traditional target, it has no value that has to be rebuilt. If you're targeting an airport, shopping mall, or train station, by launching When an attack cripples it, it has a national impact." "But you won't achieve such an effect if you attack a remote, nameless town." "That means they know something we don't. We've never played it out in the tactical sandbox, there's no such chapter in the script we've rehearsed. To be honest, they're scaring us now. .” "Your strategy now may be to risk the lives of all the lives that inhabit Drake." "Yes, that may be so." "But since there's such a small population there, and most of them are poor, I guess it doesn't matter much, does it?" "Don't speak so badly of me. They're still American citizens, rich or poor." "But what if we're talking about the Big Apple, or Houston, or Atlanta, or even Washington, D.C.?" "Each hypothesis has its own differences, Puller." "The more different things are, the more common they are." "I'm impressed that you're a military philosopher. Seriously, I don't want any innocent citizen to die in vain. But it's tricky. Of course, if it's New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, Washington Even more so, we're going to field a strong team, there's no question about that." "And Drake is the testing ground for your strategy?" "Drake is an opportunity for us." "Okay. Reynolds is a soldier, and maybe the fact that he's in uniform is reason enough to make him a target. But what about Molly Pittner and Eric Triwell?" "They just happen to live across the street." "Could one of them be the guy Reynolds stumbled across? 'Crash in' is what Carson said." "Why do you think that?" Mason asked. "I'm pretty sure the Reynolds family doesn't go anywhere in West Virginia except for nursing homes and hospitals. And those aren't even in Drake. Logically, the only people they're in contact with are people on the street. Neighbors. Obviously my focus is on the neighbors who were killed at the same time." "I see what you're thinking, and I think it's a good angle. We don't have anything substantial about either Trivel or Petrina, but it could still be a valuable lead .” "So, what do you want from me?" "Keep doing what you're doing now. Keep digging. The only change is that you'll be reporting directly to me, not Don White. You'll be our eyes on the scene, Puller." Mason stood up, "I I know you plan to rush back." "I'm going through Fairfax on my way back. Reynolds' house is there. I want to go in and check it out." "We've done a thorough search of his place and found nothing. Your chief Don White can attest to that. If you still want to see it, go ahead. No problem." Puller didn't hesitate. "I want to go and see for myself." "I expected you to think so. You have the right to come and go from that place freely, and go straight there when you leave here." "thanks." "That's all I'm going to say. Tell me what's going on with the investigation, please." Puller provided Mason with a condensed version of the investigation.Mason loses his composure when he mentions that the killer may have videotaped the Reynolds family. "Sounds horrible," he said. "Yes, indeed," Pooler replied. When Puller mentioned the soil test report, Mason interrupted him. "I want to see the report." "Yes, sir." "Why are soil samples tested?" "There must be something important about it." "And we don't know where the samples were taken?" "have no idea." "You're going back to Drake after you've been to the Reynolds house. I could fly you on a DHS plane, but I'm worried about getting someone else's attention. I can't trust many people at this time." "No problem, I can go back as I came here." As they walked down the corridor, Mason asked, "Samantha Cole? Helping or messing around?" "Very helpful." "That's good." "What does your intuition tell you about this?" Mason kept looking forward. "If it happened, a lot of people would think 'September 11' was nothing." Mason turned into another hallway on the left. Puller walked on.At the moment, this is the only direction he can choose.