“Morning Sandra, I would not call it a good morning. The reaction was incredulous. They think we have flipped. We talked to the National Security Advisor, who then brought in the Director of Homeland Security. The Secretary of State was also tied in via a conference line. They all want ironclad facts. We are not allowed to take significant action until we come up with something to back it up that will hold up in a political spotlight.”
“Yes sir, we will do our best, but that will take some time. I have taken the liberty to bring in as many Bureau SWAT assets as I can, but that is moving slowly. Any luck in just shutting down the port?”
“No, the most logical move to us is not the most logical move politically. Oakland handles a huge volume of commerce. The Patriot Act is under attack in Washington. There has been one or two too many major false alarms. We have to have facts. The Secretary of State told us to not create an international incident without a very good reason. She said that she should try diplomacy first. Can you believe that, diplomacy first? Do you have any better idea of if and when this will happen or what specific dock it would happen at?”
“Sir, if we move too quickly, I am afraid that we will precipitate the very event that we are trying to stop. We do think that it is a dock used by the Fairchild Group to receive imports from China. We have that dock under surveillance right now. We do not know how close each side is to getting their assets into place. From what we know they already have us severely outgunned and outnumbered. Do you want another Miami to happen?” Sandra referred to the 1986 incident in Miami where the FBI had confronted bank robbers who had them outgunned resulting in the deaths of two FBI agents.
“I understand. However, our not having detected these operations earlier is looking pretty bad for us. The Senate is still looking for a reason to get me booted out as Director. You say that these guys have rocket propelled grenades and surface to air missiles?”
“That is what our intelligence is telling us. Maybe Washington could mobilize some military assets?”
“That would have to be through the Department of Homeland Security. Like you said earlier, we do not know how far up they are compromised. Maybe we should wait to ask them until when we get our SWAT teams deployed. When are they expected?”
Sandra, as tired as she was, could barely mask her frustration. “The earliest we will see most of them is mid day on Saturday, although we do have a critical incident response team coming in late this morning. You have to understand that they are all trying to mobilize some heavier weapons than they are used to. If all we have is a handful of lightly armed SWAT teams caught in the crossfire, they will get cut to pieces.”
“Hang in their Sandra, I will do my best to help your situation. I expect reports on an hourly basis from here on out.”
“Yes sir.” And the call ended.
Robert and Juan walked into the warehouse as the marine layer of clouds started burning off in the first sunlight of the day. An armed security guard sat in a chair by the door. Robert met a heavyset guy with long stringy graying black hair. “We need to inspect the merchandise.”
“By whose authorization?” Continued ...