Author's Note: Sorry for the slow update everyone, but this chapter was an absolute bitch to write! So much plot exposition had to be reeled out here at the same time as setting up some of the inter character conflicts a little better. It's been giving me headaches all week.
Incidentally, please no one be offended by the involvement of certain ethnicities in this story. It's not my intention to be racist or enforce stereotypes. I'm just trying to tell a story. Extra advance apologies must go to any Pakistani or Indian people reading this story if I'm absolutely butchering your naming conventions. I've been trying to do research on how it works but if I've made any mistakes, please let me know and I'll do my best to revise the story to get it right.
CHAPTER FIVE: BRIEFING
New York CTU Branch: 4:54pm
The conference room of CTU wasn't exactly the warmest place Kim had ever been, but it was pretty close. Previously the main card index area, the conference room had been built much like the upper offices, cordoned off from its surroundings by thick soundproof glass. The place was like a giant indoor greenhouse, and with the amount of people in it at present the temperature was skyrocketing.
She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead, sweeping the fine beads of perspiration cleanly away. She glanced around the room, briefly catching a dark glare from Cohen where he sat at the other side of the table. He'd made it abundantly clear over the last half hour that he didn't want her at the briefing. His wish had nearly come true when some of the data terminals had begun crashing out of the network. Any attempt to log them back on had so far been met by failure, and the techs working at them were being forced to transfer their data through the floppy drives. Cohen had leapt at the chance to keep Kim out of the briefing and Elizabeth hadn't been far behind. The two of them both had major reservations about bringing an untested agent in on such a crucial operation, but she'd managed to wrangle her way in anyway by setting Greg to work on the network. Truth be told, with Greg on the problem, the techs didn't really need her. Her strengths were geared more toward data collation and analysis, while Greg's skill with the network code was far in advance of her own.
"Okay then people, get ready to listen!" she watched as Elizabeth strode to the head of the table, her unusually broad shoulders set squarely in a pose that radiated authority.
"I'm sure you've all heard the rumours going round the office. No doubt Mr Martineer out there…" she gave a nod through the glass toward where Greg was working, "…has been up to his usual rumour mongering. Well now I've got the cold hard facts for you. You've all seen the articles in the news recently on the START IV treaty being signed tomorrow afternoon by the US, Russia, India and Pakistan. If you haven't, get back under the rock you must've been living under. You're no use to me here." A few furtive glances were cast around the room. They'd all been burned by her dark sense of humour at some point or another and no one ever took the risk of calling her on it anymore.
"What you won't have heard in the press is that we have strong intelligence to suggest a possible assassination attempt against Randeep Singh, the Indian Prime Minister." A low level murmur ran through the room as Kim pressed a key on her computer. The on screen display behind Elizabeth flickered for a moment as the next set of data was loaded.
"We believe the most likely suspect behind the assassination is this man." Said Elizabeth, motioning to the familiar photo of the Asian man as it snapped into view. "Kadeem bin Ibrahim. He is a former Captain within the Pakistan military, apparently trained in special operations by the British army through an officer exchange programme designed to aid diplomatic relations. During the late 90's he lead a supposedly unauthorised mission into Eastern Kashmir. His unit was discovered and came under heavy fire, eventually being forced to retreat. The incident was carefully controlled at a political level. India was appeased by his arrest 99 and subsequent imprisonment in 2000. In 2002 he succeeded in escaping from prison and went underground. Since then we've have at least three solid links between
Kadeem and various terrorist activities throughout the region, all of which have been centred around India and Kashmir."
Kim stared up at the reams of notes, photos and annotated maps plastered across the screen. She could feel Cohen's glare settling on her again. She set her gaze determinedly on the computer screen again. There was no way she was going to let him intimidate her. She was a part of this now and it was something he would just have to learn to live with.
"A recent intelligence gathering mission in New Dehli has uncovered some extra information we believe may prove useful." Elizabeth continued. Kim punched the same key as before and once again a new set of data flicked into view.
"We believe Kadeem is receiving possible financial and arms backing through this man." Elizabeth gestured to a grainy black and white photograph of a man Kim knew to be in his mid sixties. "Kazimir Vasilevich, a former KGB agent who, like so many of his ilk has recently fallen into the ranks of the Russian Mafia. The most recent data available on his activities list him as running a nightclub in New Orleans here in the US. The FBI were investigating him on suspicion of money laundering last year. Unfortunately he got wise to this and slipped underground."
"When this information came through we tried to trace his finances." Said the lead CIA agent. His name was Heller if Kim had caught it correctly. "Unfortunately the trail ran cold at a dummy import company he'd set up. We do believe however that the significant attention from the government over the last twelve months and his inability to move within local crime circles has put a considerable dent in his finances."
"What about their psychology?" Cohen asked, his eyes flicking back and forth as he took in the information projected before him. "I mean Kadeem's reasoning isn't hard to figure out. We all know that in the past there's been no love lost between India and Pakistan. Hard liner's were always going to cause trouble for any attempts they make to firm up diplomatic relations, but what about this Kazimir? What's he standing to gain from this?" Elizabeth cast a glance at the CIA agents.
"We're not sure." Said Heller. "We do know that Kazimir has been regarded in the past as something of a Cold War throwback. This could be an indirect strike by him against the USA. After all, were India and Pakistan to go to war, the repercussions would be significant."
The reasoning at work was sound, but something still didn't sit right with Kim. She'd been pouring over for almost an hour to prepare this briefing, and nowhere had Kazimir's nationalism been raised. From the looks on the faces of both Tony and Heller, they didn't really buy the reasoning either.
"So then," said Elizabeth, clapping her hands together loudly, "Here's the game plan. We'll be co-ordinating with Agent Heller and his men on this one. They already have teams in the field tracing leads on our potential hitters, so Cohen, I want regular status updates every thirty minutes. We don't want to be covering the same ground twice over simple missed communication…"
Kim's attention began to wander as Elizabeth reeled off the list of assignments and operating procedures. Out of the corner of her she caught a glimpse of Tony leaning gently against the glass wall behind Heller. He looked different to when she'd last seen him earlier in the afternoon. His face was drawn now; his eyes narrow and worried. She looked back at the projection screen, trying her best to keep calm. It wasn't working.
She was angry.
With him.
Why hadn't he told her earlier that he was here about this? Why hadn't he given her a heads up? Wasn't she owed that much? She could feel her jaw muscles clenching as she stared a little too intently at the screen in front of her. She let out a long low breath in a vain attempt to vent her growing anger.
"Kim." The sound of her name severed her train of thought with almost surgical exactness. Elizabeth was watching her.
"I want you to get your data teams organised. We're going to be tight for time on this one, and I need accurate and fast analysis. Think you can handle some real stress for a change?" Kim gave her a cold smile.
"Not a problem." She said levelly. Elizabeth gave a curt nod.
"Good." She clapped her hands together again. "Well, let's get our asses in gear, we haven't got all day here."
Liz slumped down into the chair at the head of the conference room table, as she watched the last of her team shuffle out of the door. All except one.
"C'mon then, hit me with whatever I've done wrong this time." Cohen crossed the room to lean against the table next to her, his arms folded across his chest as he continued to stare at the projection screen. Kadeem's face flickered down at them.
"It's a long list." He said flatly. "You sure you want to hear it?"
"The day's turned to shit already. No harm in making it a little worse." She replied. Cohen fixed her with what she thought was supposed to be a penetrating gaze. To her it just looked petulant.
"You didn't keep me in the loop again…" he began.
"I don't answer to you." She interrupted abruptly. "For a military man, you don't seem to have a lot of respect for the chain of command."
"…and you let Kim in on the whole situation with no prior consultation." He continued barely missing a beat. "I am effectively your second in command. The moment you hear something like this, I should be the first to know! ME Liz! Not some mid level desk jockey!" Liz flashed to her feet, her hand pounding furiously on the desk. She'd had enough of Cohen and his endless smug reprimands, his oh so superior attitude thanks to his military training.
"Were you born deaf or did you just develop selective hearing when you came to work for me!" she snapped savagely. "I told you I'm in charge here! I'm your CO Cohen, and you don't question my decisions! The next time you do, I'll make sure you're on the little bus back to your Delta buddies. Do you get me?" Her outburst didn't so much as cause him to flinch. She had to hand it to then man. He had balls of solid steel.
"We just lost at least half an hour." He said simply. He wasn't challenging her anymore, just stating fact. "I could've had our people in the field pulling strings, squeezing contacts…" Liz sank back into her chair and let out an exasperated groan. What bothered her wasn't the fact that she was right and he just couldn't see it. It was the nagging belief that the truth was probably the other way around.
"Anything else?" she said, doing her best to keep her voice steady this time. Despite their personal dislike of one another, she knew Cohen was good at his job and the advice he gave was frequently more useful than she would ever admit to his face.
"The half hour reports will slow us down." He said, seeming almost as glad as she at the opportunity to change the topic. Liz gave a resigned sigh.
"Not much I can do I'm afraid. A stipulation on the part of that prick Heller. He wants his people kept in the loop or else CTU resources will be reassigned. I think this is almost personal for them right now."
"Can't you try and talk him into letting us off the leash a little more? In a situation like this, time is something we can't afford to waste. I'm assuming of course that the assassination attempt will coincide with one of the Prime Minister's public appearances over the next day or so." Liz frowned.
"What makes you say that?" Cohen shrugged.
"I thought it was obvious. Greatest opportunity combined with maximum public impact. Events like the state dinner or the treaty signing would have men like this Kadeem practically licking their lips." Liz nodded.
"I'll see what I can do. Doubt I'll get anywhere though." She fixed Cohen with a warning look.
"Be careful around him." She said, her tone becoming deadly serious. "Don't buy any of that liaison bullshit he's been spinning. He's here to take charge, and I don't expect he'll play nice if we start causing him trouble." Cohen gave a slight chuckle.
"It's okay Liz. I've met his type before. I think I can handle him if we end up locking horns over this."
"Just be careful." Liz said, her earnestness taking Cohen aback. "Today isn't the day to pick a fight with the CIA. There're rumblings coming down from Division. Something's going on here that's got the higher ups worried, and when division gets worried, I think we should all start treading a little lighter."
"You're serious about this." Said Cohen, a worried frown crossing his face. "Jesus, just what the hell is so different about this Kadeem?" Liz looked back up the picture, Kadeem's defiant stare meeting her own. She shivered.
"I don't know." She said simply.
The spiral stairs rattled loudly as Kim hurried up them, her mind racing as she ran through how best to organise the data teams. From the sounds of things the sheer volume of incoming intelligence over the next hour would be incredible. She was halfway across the balcony to her office when she heard a second set of footsteps clanking hurriedly up the steps.
"Kim! Kim wait!" She turned slightly to catch sight of Tony jogging after her.
"What do you want?" she said, her eyes narrowing.
"I need to talk to you. It's important."
"So important you couldn't have told me at my apartment? Or the café?" Tony practically winced.
"I was going to tell you Kim. Really I was. But then I got there and… I just couldn't."
"Why not? Didn't you trust me? I know we were never really close Tony, but I thought you might've had a little more faith in me than that. Or is this about you and dad?"
"It's got nothing to do with Jack!" Tony said, his voice becoming desperate. "I came to you because I knew I could trust you! I remember what you and Jack said and did for me during the inquest and I knew that you wouldn't let me down. Could you please just hear me out?" She turned the rest of the way, her hands resting on her hips.
"Okay." she said guardedly. "But you're going to tell me everything. Do you understand me? Why CTU's been kept out of this for so long, what you're doing here with these spooks, everything." Tony glanced around warily.
"Don't worry, I will, but could we at least do this in your office?" he said. Kim gave him a confused look.
"Yeah I suppose, but why…" before she had time to finish, the staircase began to rattle behind Tony yet again.
"Kim!" it was Greg. "Kim! I need to talk to you!" She rolled her eyes with barely contained exasperation.
"Doesn't everyone." She said. Greg drew to a halt next to Tony, glancing at him uncomfortably.
"Am I interrupting something?" he said with the look of a man caught between a rock and a hard place. Kim took a long breath. Why her? Why was it always happening to her?
"No." she said as she exhaled. "What's the problem?" Greg shot Tony another uneasy glance before clearing his throat.
"It's the Network dropouts. They're getting worse." Kim took another deep breath.
"What do you mean 'getting worse'?" Greg discomfort seemed to increase tenfold.
"They're spreading. And it's not just the LAN anymore. We're losing internet connectivity and the Division hard lines."
"How fast?" Kim said, a queasy unease spreading through the pit of her stomach.
"Fast. I don't know what's causing it, but if it keeps up at this rate, I think CTU's systems will be completely isolated in about an hour's time." She gave a low groan. And to think she'd started out thinking this was going to be a good day.
