The Project 01 - White Jade

not sure where to start. "
    " C ommunications, " Carter said. " Our mole had to contact Wu. R un a trace on the phone numbers of people in your unit, cross reference Wu ' s numbers from our intercepts, see if there ' s a connection. NSA does this all the time. "
    " I wouldn ' t call Wu or his contact from my own phone if I were the mole. "
    " People get over-confident. They make mistakes. It ' s worth a try. "
    Jordan nodded. " Okay. "
    " Financial records. " It was Ronnie. " We run checks on everyone in the Asian Criminal Enterprise Unit and see if someone ' s getting richer than they ' re supposed to be. "
    " I can get authority for that, " said Jordan . " All right, I ' ll do it. But I want to keep this internal. If one of ours is bad, then we have to be the ones to take him down. Agreed? "
    Harker nodded. " Agreed. "
    Carter felt sorry for him. Who needs to hear someone you ' re working with might be a traitor?
    " Is there anything else, Director? I ' m due back at headquarters. "
    " No. I know this isn ' t easy. "
    " No, it ' s not. I think you ' re wrong, but you ' re right about one thing, we have to know one way or the other. " Jordan got up, annoyed .
    Stephanie escorted him out. When she returned, the Director went on with the meeting.
    " We will no longer involve the FBI in what we ' re doing, until we know who tipped off Wu. I didn ' t want Jordan to hear the next part of our discussion. Stephanie, what do the scenarios indicate? "
    " As we thought. High probability of a conspiracy to take over control of China . The computer factored in the defector interviews, all the rest of the intelligence we ' ve been getting from China in the last few months, the FBI ' s concern about the Triads , Wu ' s actions, everything.
    "Selena was curious about a reference to burning rocks. The computer confirms it refers to high grade uranium ore, over ninety- seven percent probability. The process described in the book is the same as what we use today to produce yellowcake. That gets refined into uranium oxides . You put that through centrifuges to get the enriched uranium you need for bombs. You can get yellowcake from low grade ore but it ' s tedious. High quality ore yields a lot more for the same effort. "
    " That would explain the passage in the text about changing from silver to yellow or gold, " Selena said .
    The Director set her pen to the side. " What about the immortality elixir? What does the computer say about that? "
    Stephanie adjusted the gold bracelets on her wrist. " The computer doesn ' t have the bias we do about the existence of an elixir of immortality . It projects the elixir may be discovered. "
    " What ' s the probability of success? "
    " For finding the complete formula and the place where it was manufactured, eighty-six per cent. The same for finding the location of the uranium. Regarding the coup, that ' s more hopeful. At best, there ' s about a f ifty- fifty chance Yang can pull it off. "
    " What happens if he doesn ' t find the elixir? "
    " Still fifty- fifty . They ' re not related. "
    Carter said, " Does the computer back up our ideas about the Triads ? "
    Stephanie nodded. " Provide a distraction while Yang brings up the tanks. I was careful not to program in our conclusions. The computer was analyzing the same intel we have and its conclusions are similar. The scenario indicates high probability for West Coast targets in the Bay Area, but we could be looking at attacks on a national level. The emphasis is on disruption of basic infrastructure, including the Golden Gate and Bay bridges, the transportation system, water supply and especially power sources. "
    " What do you think will happen, if we ' re right? " Carter tugged at his ear.
    Harker picked up her pen. " It could lead to war. "
    " Let me see if I ' ve got this right, Steph, " said Ronnie. " If there was a big terrorist attack here there ' d be plenty of speculation and talk, right? World attention? "
    " Yes. "
    " And that would keep the Chinese government and everyone else preoccupied? "
    " Yes. "
    " So while the world is looking the other way, Yang makes his move and takes over. "
    Stephanie nodded agreement. " That ' s about it. "
    Harker tapped her upper lip with her pen . " The big question is when? It must be soon, or why move on Connor and grab his accounts? Nick, if you were doing this, when would you do it? "
    " I ' d pick a time when our guard was down, when people were thinking about something else. Like a holiday. "
    "