Full Black - Brad Thor [107]
It was a high-tech command post outfitted with computers and video monitors used for guiding tactical teams during an operation. Right now, all of the monitors were tuned to different news channels. Each screen showcased the carnage from the bombings across the country.
“The death toll is already over three thousand,” said Carlton as Harvath entered the TOC. Shaking his head, he motioned for Harvath to follow.
They left the TOC and joined Nicholas in his SCIF. The dogs barely stirred as the two men entered. There’d probably been a lot of activity over the last couple of hours and they were growing used to people coming and going.
“We should have been able to stop this,” said Nicholas. “We weren’t fast enough.”
“Even if we had known about this specific attack, there’s no guarantee we could have stopped it in time,” said Carlton.
Harvath reached into Nicholas’s fridge and pulled out an energy drink. “How does this stack up against your map of dots?”
Nicholas made a couple of clicks with his mouse and brought up a map of the United States. “These are the cities and towns where theater attacks have been confirmed,” he said, as the locations popped up from coast to coast. He next overlaid the terrorist map with different-colored dots all around the country.
He then deactivated all of the dots except for one color and said, “We now know what kind of attack silver represents.”
“Silver screens,” replied Harvath. “How many years have we been worrying about an attack like this?”
“Too many,” said the Old Man.
“Wait a second,” interjected Nicholas. “You knew an attack like this was coming?”
Harvath shook his head. “Al Qaeda in particular likes symbolic targets. The film industry has always been a deep concern for the United States.”
“So why didn’t the government do anything?”
“Like what? Ring every theater with tanks?”
“Why not search people as they go in?”
“If we did that, where would it end?” said Harvath. “Grocery stores? Buses? Libraries?”
“It would be better than nothing.”
“The government didn’t just sit by,” Carlton explained. “They’ve been working closely with the movie industry for years. The last thing Hollywood wanted to do was suggest that theaters were unsafe.”
“But they were unsafe.”
“Up till now, they were completely safe.”
“Now, they’ll be completely out of business,” said Harvath. “The quintessential American experience of sitting with strangers in the dark watching a story unfold on the big screen is over. Nobody will go back to a theater after this.”
“People went back to flying after 9/11.”
“Largely because they had to,” said Carlton. “I agree with Scot. This will be different.”
“If you own any stock in Netflix,” replied Harvath, “it just went through the roof.”
They all studied the map up on the monitor in silence for a moment.
“What do we know about the identities of the bombers?” Harvath asked. “Anything?”
“The FBI has already pulled the security footage from all of the theaters that had cameras,” said Carlton. “It appears to have been a mix of Middle Eastern men, eighteen to thirty-five, and Africans of the same age range from Somalia or possibly Sudan. All of them carried backpacks into the theaters.”
“Any names? Anything we can cross-reference?”
“One. Ayman Hasan Shafik. Police in Albuquerque were reviewing CCTV footage with the FBI from their theater that got bombed and they recognized him immediately. Apparently, he had been involved in several domestic-abuse calls. Each time, though, his wife refused to press charges.”
Harvath shook his head.
“Shafik was a naturalized U.S. citizen. Originally from Egypt,” said Carlton. “I’ll let Nicholas fill you in on the rest.”
The little man turned halfway around in his chair to look at Harvath. “Ever heard of TIP?”
Harvath shook his head.
“TIP,” continued Nicholas, “is short for Total Intelligence Paradigm. It’s something a Finnish company has built and it’s absolutely amazing. Not only can it search any database, but it looks for patterns, and as it does, it actually learns and thinks, using artificial intelligence. It searches