Stone - 25 - Collateral Damage

to be unconstitutional and we will urge the Congress not to alter the Agency’s charter and open up that can of worms. We have the intelligence resources and the staffing to uncover and counter any terroristic threat to this country.”
    “I’m sorry, Agent, but if that were true you would have known that al Qaeda teams were operating in five major American cities,” Holly said.
    “Exactly right,” the commissioner interjected. “Why do you think we have such a large antiterrorist unit in our city?”
    “Gentlemen, I don’t want this to devolve into internecine warfare. What we have to do is too important to have interagency rivalries damage our efforts. I suggest that it is the obligation of all of us to follow the president’s executive order until such time as the courts might overrule it.”
    “Are you going to be flooding this city with CIA agents on the ground?” the AIC asked.
    “I expect we will have a few people brought in, but I regard our primary purpose as one of intelligence. We simply don’t have the manpower to do what the commissioner can do, with his thousands of officers, and we have no wish to interfere with any investigation the FBI is currently running.”
    “Well,” the AIC said, “I guess that’s the best we can hope for.”
    The commissioner spoke up. “Exactly what would you like my department to do?”
    “Our intelligence tells us that the New York cell is quartered in an apartment or house somewhere on the West Side of Manhattan. We would like you to act on that intelligence by putting as many people as you can into the West Side, distributing the only photograph we have of Jasmine to every shop, restaurant, and bar. This is now a manhunt, and the NYPD is the best agency to lead it.”
    “I can do that,” the commissioner said.
    “And what would you like the Bureau to do?” the AIC asked archly.
    “We’d like you to contact every source of intelligence that you possess, every agent, every snitch, and enlist them in the hunt for Jasmine.”
    Stone spoke up. “May I make a suggestion?” he asked.
    “Certainly,” Holly replied.
    “Since these people will know that we’re looking for them, they will hole up and hunker down, and they’re going to have to eat. Since they are of Middle Eastern origin, I suggest you contact every Middle Eastern or Indian restaurant on the West Side that delivers meals, and find out if any of their deliverymen has seen Jasmine.”
    “I’m sorry,” the AIC said, “but I don’t know who you are, Mr… . ah, Harrington?”
    “Barrington.”
    “I believe I can answer that,” the commissioner said. “Stone is a retired NYPD detective first grade who is now a prominent New York City attorney, with the firm of Woodman & Weld.”
    “And,” Holly added, “Mr. Barrington has for some years been a consultant to the Agency, and we have found his advice to be very useful on several occasions. You should also know that, in London, a very important arrest was made a couple of days ago because a milkman recognized Jasmine from a photograph circulated to his company, so do not discount restaurant deliverymen.”
    “She’s right,” the commissioner said, “and Stone knows a lot more about this city than you do, Agent. I think his suggestion is an excellent one, exhibiting just the kind of thinking that will help us find these people.”
    “Let’s continue,” Holly said.

After the meeting had adjourned Holly took Stone back to her new office. “What do you think?” she asked, waving an arm.
    “Beautiful,” he said.
    “I didn’t even know it existed until this morning. Since we’ve never had a station chief here, nobody used it.” Her phone rang. “Holly Barker.”
    “It’s Lance,” her former boss said. “Bring me up to date.”
    Holly told him the details of what had occurred during the past twenty-four hours.
    “What can I do to help?”
    “You can contact every station chief who runs informants and find out what you can about the cells in the five American cities. Have them pump the local intelligence services for information. What we know now we got from MI-6. There may be some knowledge drifting in the wind.”
    “I’ll start on that immediately. It’s the kind of thing I’d have ordered you to do a few weeks ago.”
    “Isn’t your new deputy working out?”
    “He’ll do, but he’s not you.”
    “That’s the highest praise I’ve ever had from you, Lance.”
    “And well deserved. By the way,