The turnover in John Stoddard's administration had been typical for a 2nd term Presidency, but an adversarial press had made the most of it that they could. They highlighted rumors of the instability of the administration and spread gossip of disagreements with Presidential direction as much as they could. But, truthfully, people were just tired of the day to day and knew that in order for the administration to remain on its "A" game, they needed fresh blood.
There was a new Department of Defense head, 3 star general, Patrick McCord who had served America well in Desert Storm, Desert Shield and Afghanistan. CIA Director Mike Brisken kept Stoddard up to date in terms of foreign intelligence through his boss, Linda Mason, the Director of National Intelligence. Sharon Grier still was head of the FBI for domestic intelligence. Matt Fitzhugh was the Attorney General, heading up the Department of Justice, and was Grier's boss. Susan Fleming headed up the Department of Homeland Security, and Neil Cole, a former Senator from Ohio, was the Vice President.
For months before the President's Independence Day speech, the group had been working their various channels concerning increased, but non-specific, chatter of imminent attacks upon the homeland. They were only receiving bits and pieces, and the information was so widespread that they were having a difficult time narrowing down targets let alone those responsible for the threats.
When the attack happened on their underwater monitoring station outside of Boston Harbor, focus shifted to foreign entities such as Russia or China, but such focus was reigned back in by the attack the next morning on a National Guard facility near St. Louis. Nobody had claimed responsibility for either attack, but the methods were similar enough that they felt sure that they were connected. In both cases, IED technology was used. In the case of the underwater station, it came in the form of an explosives laden fishing vessel that detonated when it ran directly into the station out near Little Brewster Island. In the case of the National Guard facility, it happened when a rocket-propelled device was launched from a barge on the Mississippi. This development shifted the focus to some sort of domestic terrorism. Who, Why, and Where they would strike next was the most urgent concern that the group had at the time.
"What do you have for me, Fleming?" asked President Stoddard, who was seated in his leather chair communicating over a secure system in the Situation Room.
"We have pulled all video surveillance and satellite imagery from the time in question and I'm afraid our information in inconclusive. At 7:30 AM, Satellite footage shows the barge in position right here on the Mississippi. Three individuals in black clothing and masks are shown removing what was probably the rocket launcher from a large wooden crate, which is here. They set it up, and at 8:15 AM launched the device towards the facility. Detonation was at 8:17 AM. Satellite shows the three individuals then dive off of the barge and swim North, disappearing under the tree-line over here. There is where we lose them." She said.
"So, what is this telling me?" asked Stoddard.
"Sir, we think that we are dealing with some sort of domestic terrorist, perhaps an ex-military, anti-war activist, or maybe one of the anarchist groups that are running around these days. We just don't know." Fleming replied.
"Then you'd better find out. Grier, I want for you to focus your field agents in the St. Louis area. Have them sniff around and see if anyone working around the river saw anything. Also, I want to see where the explosives came from so we can run a trace on who might have purchased illegal weapons." Stoddard said.
"Sir, we have already done that. The rocket launcher is Libyan in origin." Said DoD head, General McCord.
"Libyan? Then are we dealing with Islamic Jihadists?" asked Stoddard.
"Anything is possible at this point, but none of the usual suspects has claimed any responsibility, and we feel that if it was connected with Radical Islam, someone would have spoken up by now." Said McCord.
"But, where would they gotten ahold of this?" asked the President.
"Unfortunately, this is the sort of stuff that terrorist orgs traffic in all the time. After the downfall of Qaddafi, even more so. Who's to say where they got ahold of it. I wouldn't entirely rule Islamicists out, but right now our experts are saying it is unlikely that they are ultimately responsible." Said Fleming.
"Alright. Needless to say, it's all hands on deck. So far, there have been very few civilian casualties. I want to keep it that way. All hands on deck until we find out who is responsible for this and shut them down." Said Stoddard.
"Yes sir." Said General McCord as the rest of the team also showed they were in agreement.
At the Boston DOJ headquarters, Adrian Monk was a busy man. With his "assistants" still being "temporarily" reassigned to counter-terrorism, he decided to mosey over to their offices to see what it was they were working on. When he entered their area, he was nearly run down by a lower level employee who was rushing to give Rod Simpson a fax that had just arrived.
As Rod took the fax, Adrian walked into the office that Rod shared with Eric and stood just inside the door.
"Looks like something important." Adrian said. "Surprised they still use fax."
Rod looked up from reading, "Hey Monk . It's a special type of fax – highly secure. And yes, it's important."
Adrian said, "Let me guess. It's about the explosions offshore."
Rod looked up at Monk. "Please, shut the door."
Adrian complied with the request and then turned and looked at Rod.
"Take a seat, please." Rod said.
Adrian sat.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Monk. I can't say what it is about. You do not have sufficient access for the data I received. What I can say is that this office is always busy about pursuing leads related to terrorist threats…" said Rod.
"So, it was a terrorist hit." Adrian interrupted.
"Look, Adrian. I can't tell you what it was about. I'm sure you understand. Now, is there some reason that you came down here, or did you just want to say 'hi'?" Rod replied.
"Oh…why I came down. Yes. Since I no longer have my 'assistants' at my disposal and Natalie's home with the babies, I wanted to do a little research on some stuff I'm working on. But, you know me and computers. Do you know someone who might help me?" Adrian asked.
Rod looked down at his desk and found a post-it and scribbled some information down. As he did, Adrian looked down at Rod's desk and at least was able to see that the fax came in from the very top of the Department of Homeland Security, Susan Fleming. Subject line read: Libyan Arms Sales.
"Yes. Tai Cheng and Brittany Stone over in IT should be able to help you." Said Rod as he handed him the note. "Here are their numbers."
"Thanks, Rod. And, good luck on whatever it is you're working on. If you decide you can fill me in sometime, I would be very interested." Said Adrian.
"Not my decision, Mr. Monk. That comes from much higher up." Rod said.
"I understand. Have a good day." He replied before leaving the room.
Back in his office, Adrian tried Tai first but got no answer. So, he called Brittany.
"Brittany Stone. May I help you?" she said, answering the phone.
"Yes, Miss Stone. My name is Adrian Monk. I got your number from Rod Simpson over in Counter-Terrorism. He told me that you might be able to get my computer hooked up properly so that I can research the case we're working on. Are you available?" asked Adrian.
"Yes, Mr. Monk." She said, looking up Adrian's name in the database. "I am available right now, if you are."
"Absolutely." He answered, providing her with directions on how to get to his office.
Ten minutes later, Brittany arrived in the office and was much younger than he expected.
"Mr. Monk?" she asked.
"Yes. And you must be Brittany?" he responded.
"Yes sir. Glad to meet you. Now, I'm assuming that with everything going on, you're going to want things set up the same way as the other folks that Rod has pulled in have. So, I can get you hooked up to the network, and make sure that your email is set up as well to be on blind copy for the department's briefings. Does that sound good?" she asked.
"Sounds great." Adrian said, amazed at how easy this was going.
Brittany walked over to his desk and said "this will take about 10 minutes."
Sitting in his chair, she looked up and saw photographs of Adrian and Natalie, Natalie alone and then a picture of them holding the twins.
"Are those your wife and kids?" she asked.
"Yeah." He replied.
"She's very pretty." Brittany responded. "She's a bit younger than you."
"Yes. But the age difference doesn't really come into play. She's my best friend." He responded.
"That's sweet. How old are the babies?" she asked.
"Four months." He responded.
"Little boy looks like you." She replied.
"So, I've been told. Poor kid." Adrian responded.
"Don't be silly. You're an attractive man. Your wife is lucky." She replied, making him a little nervous.
"Thank you. She, uh, normally works alongside me . But, with the babies being so young, she's taking a little break. But…she comes into the office all the time." He replied, sort of lying because since the babies had been born, Natalie didn't frequent his office very much.
"That's good for you both. This place has a tendency to swallow up marriages. People get married to their work and it edges out the spouse. I'm glad you two can keep it balanced. Balance is important." Brittany responded.
"Yes it is." Adrian said, while thinking "You have no idea."
"Well, there you go. You can see what Rod can see. Hope you guys are able to solve whatever you need to solve People have been real stressed the past couple of days. " she said.
"It's stressful times we're living in." Adrian said. "Thank you for your time."
"No problem. Any time I can help." She replied, leaving his office.
Adrian sat down at his computer and quickly logged into the system. He wasn't sure what he was looking for at this point, but thought email might be a good place to start. He was right. That morning, a mass communication went out to members of the DOJ staff indicating that 'another suspected terrorist attack' had struck the National Guard in Missouri. It indicated there would be a briefing later that afternoon after leaders had spoken with the President and that schedules should be cleared of any unnecessary meetings for the next week.
"So, it was terrorism. And now, there is a second attack. What on earth is going on?" Adrian said to himself.
He decided he would continue to look for clues. He worked his way through a few more emails and clicked on a link which took him to a folder on the network. Inside the folder, it had several reports talking about Coast Guard activities and observations over the past two months in the area that the explosions occurred in. While there was nothing definitive, fishing vessels were spotted in the area and run off at least three other times before this latest incident.
Shutting down his laptop and disconnecting from the network, he called Natalie and asked her to ask Leland if he and TK would like to join them for an afternoon of 'whale watching' just outside of Boston Harbor. He did not tell her that wanted to visualize the scene of the crime.
