Collateral Damage - Marc Cerasini [23]
On her way down the hall, Layla accidentally bumped into one of Jack's cronies. She froze when she saw the explosive in his hand.
"Oh my god," she whispered.
"No worry, luv," Morris O'Brian said with a smile. "It's inactive. I could crack it against the wall and absolutely nothing will happen."
Layla shook her head. "Well, do me a favor. And don't, okay?"
Morris grinned and punched the bricks of C-4 with his fist. "See? Perfectly harmless."
Giving Morris a wide berth, Layla headed back to her desk. "My god," she murmured. "These L.A. guys are all loose cannons..."
* * *
11:34:55 A.M. EDT
CTU Headquarters, NYC
Morris opened the door to Brice Holman's office without knocking, bounced the bomb onto the desk in front of Jack.
"What have you learned?" Jack asked.
"At first, nothing," Morris said with a shrug. "Only that the C-4 was manufactured in Hungary, and that it didn't take a rocket scientist to build this thing. The bomb is right out of the anarchist playbook. Except for one little thing."
"Okay." Jack swung around in his seat. "Explain."
Morris sat down across from Jack. "Simple timer, two bricks of military-grade C-4, right?"
Jack nodded.
"Wrong," Morris declared. "Watch this."
Morris took one of the pasty, gray-white bricks of plastic explosives in his hand and broke it in half. He opened the two sections like a pomegranate, and displayed the insides to Jack.
"Is that a rock?" Jack asked.
"A pebble, actually," Morris replied. "From a New Jersey beach no doubt. The other brick has one tucked inside of it, too."
Jack rubbed his chin. "That doesn't make any sense. Stones make lousy shrapnel. Nails are better. And with half the C-4 gone from each brick..."
"More than half," Morris replied. "The explosive potential of this device is fairly weak. In fact, this thing couldn't do much more than bring down the microwave tower where you found it. That would put CTU New York out of action for a day or two, no longer."
"That makes no sense," Jack replied. "Why take all that trouble to sabotage the communications array? With a bigger bomb, the same two men could have destroyed this entire complex."
"It's obvious they didn't want to do that. They wanted CTU operational. It's the communications and satellite system they wanted disabled..."
The intercom buzzed, interrupting them.
Jack answered. "Yes?"
"It's Tony. We just received a security alert from Langley. We're to increase the threat level at headquarters to Code Red immediately. Specifically, we're to pay particular attention to our communications infrastructure."
Jack and Morris exchanged glances.
"Anything else?" Jack asked.
"Well, I put in a back-channel call to Jamey Farrell in L.A. She told me there've been three attacks on CTU satellite facilities — in Boston, New Haven, and Pittsburgh. These attacks were successful. The comm systems are down at all three units..."
Morris cursed.
"That's not all," Tony continued. "I just checked the City of New York's emergency response system and found out that the Fire Department was summoned to FBI Headquarters fifteen minutes ago. Apparently there's been a 'fire' on their roof."
Morris met Jack's gaze. "What do you want to bet someone took out the Agency's satellite capabilities?"
Why satellites? Jack wondered. What is it the enemy doesn't want us to see? Are we even looking for the thing they're so eager to hide?
A sharp knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," Jack called.
Layla Abernathy entered. "You were right, Special Agent Bauer. I spoke with Mr. McConnell personally and he blew me off."
"What did he say, precisely?" Jack demanded.
She glanced at her notepad. "I'll quote him: 'The Federal Bureau of Investigation cannot comment on an ongoing investigation.' End quote. Then Director McConnell added a personal aside."
"Go on."
"The Director said that Frank Hensley was a personal friend of his, and that he would rather burn in hell before he shared information