"Where the bloody hell is Adala?" Jenny Shepard was still angry, two weeks after the failed capture of Adala.
"We don't know," Derrick Young admitted, the Head of Operations.
"Tim, what was wrong with your intelligence?" Jenny demanded.
"Adala left the camp approximately one hour after the extraction team had left the Ronald Reagan." Tim was still feeling the repercussions from this failure, mainly the CIA, NSA and the FBI. "According to assets, this was not unusual for him. Like many terrorists, he moves around frequently and sporadically, no one seems to know where he will be next."
"Well, we need to. Anything on his background?"
"Not enough. Fluent in Arabic, Pashto, Farsi, French and English. According to one report, his french and english are perfect, including the accents. We believe he may have been Western educated, but even thats a guess." More like a wild theory, Tim thought. "He could have attended an International school. We know nothing of his life before six months ago, all we know he is approximately six foot in height, but no other physical descriptions. He keeps himself shrouded, and when in public, speaks through an intermediary. His style of dress may be intentional, we have images of a group of men,all of similar height, wearing the same outfit. They move quickly and you could easily lose track of who is who. We think thats what happened in Yemen."
"What about known associates?"
"This is where we found something out. Adala and his men aren't really a part of Al-Qaeda, they are their own group who have allied themselves with them." This had taken some digging by his staff.
"Are they a rogue group?" Terrorists were bad enough, but a splinter cell from one of them tended to be even worse.
"No, they seem to attach themselves to larger organizations to hide. They call themselves Atfaal Min Itar, translated, the Children of Vengeance. And the name is no surprise." Tim was very worried about this group when he heard the name. "Nearly every confirmed member of the group has had relatives die, either for the Jihad, or by ourselves or our allies."
"Are they in this for the Jihad, or retribution?" Young knew terrorists were always driven by something. When they were driven by revenge, coupled with religious zealousness, they became the most dangerous of all.
"A combination of both," Tim said, giving voice to the real fears of all in the room. "Thats why I asked Flick to join us today. He's been going over the intel and has a psych profile for us. I warn you, its not good."
Gregory Flickman had delivered many behavioural profiles since his posting to HQ over the last eightteen months, but this was the most troubling.
"This profile is different to most you will have ever read. There is not enough known about each individual member of the group, so I profiled them as a whole. Tim's right, its not good."
"On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being 9/11, how bad is it?" Jen asked, needing a focus point.
"At least an 11." Jen felt herself pale, wondering how bad this report was. "Atfaal Min Itar have nothing left to lose. Most of them have no parents, and not many more have relatives of any kind. They are made up of people from all across the Middle East and Asia. Due to drone strikes and extractions, none have homes to go to, their lives there are gone."
"Are they suicide bombers then?" Young interrupted.
"Yes, but not in the way you think. They will die for the Jihad, but they will take as many as of us with them as they can. They have had opportunities to take out American, British and French troops, and haven't done so. They show restraint, and when needed, subservience to a greater force." Flick was about to deliver the most damning aspect of his report. "They will die for the Jihad, and they will do so in the most epic way possible. They will stage an attack more devastating than 9/11, in both size and impact. They will do so when we least expect it, and we will not be able to stop them."
"Greg, surely you exaggerate, these people are in the middle of nowhere." Derrick Young always erred on the side of caution, but not to this extreme.
"I wish he was, but he's right. Out of the nine confirmed members of AMI, all have lost parents, and only two have family members closer than a second cousin. These nine never go home, not even to the countries they are from, almost as if being there hurts too much." Tim wondered if something like that happened to him, if he would leave the US and never come back. "They have no children, no wives, no other life than this. They will hurt us, soon and painfully. We need to be ready. We need to take them out, soon. We are preparing a report for Derrick, in the hopes of a wide scale operation, taking out as many of them as we can in one fell swoop, cutting off as much of the head as possible."
"Thats fine, Tim, but what about Adala? He's the leader." Jen knew he was a big problem on his own.
"Leaders need followers, Director, without any, his power weakens. Al-Qaeda didn't weaken when Bin Laden went into hiding or was killed, the same will happen with the AMI. Take out the followers first, then Adala. Without his Inner Circle, he would have to move about, speak to people directly, change his plans. This might not stop the attack altogether, but it could slow them down enough."
"Or it could anger them more and they attack indiscriminately." Young did not like taking chances, especially with terrorists who had nothing to lose.
"With less people they need to do more work. More work means more time, they need more time to plan, we have more time to prepare." This was not Tims first disagreement with Young, and it wouldn't be the last. Tim knew Young was very good at his job, his reticence was his way of not risking lives.
"Or they turn into a cornered animal, and they lash out at the nearest thing to them." Yong countered. Shepard listened to the two sides of the argument, weighing up the pros and cons of each argument. In this case, both men were correct.
"Gentlemen, I hate to say it, but you are both right. This is what we are going to do, Tim, we need more intel, more focused and as current as you can get. Assign someone to cover the Yemen/Somalia/Djibouti desk, we need it covered 24/7. Derrick, start planning the op, we take as many as we can in one night, keep it contained, use as many local assets as possible. I want them in custody soon, you both have ten days from now. Thank you." Jen watched as the three men gathered their briefing books and notes, heading for the door, watching as Tim and Flick tried to include Derrick in the conversation. Jen knew the Head of Operations hadn't got used to not dealing with Gloria Tainer. Jen smiled, remembering the meeting between herself, Gloria and Tim.
Flashback
"Gloria, meet your replacement, Tim, meet the shoes you have to fill." Jen was looking forward to this meeting, she had pencilled it in as the highlight of her week.
"Size 8.5, somehow, they might be a bit small for your cruise liners, Timothy." Gloria Tainer had a devastating wit, one that most people couldn't match.
"Size 14, but then again, we know what they say about men with big shoes," Tim grinned at the living legend. He had gotten some pointers from his dad about this meeting.
"Large socks," Gloria rejoined, enjoying the young mans response. "Well, so far so good, Director. Lets see what else he's got."
"Lets sit for this, shall we?" Jen was glad the two were getting along, knowing these transitions were often painful, only made easier when the outgoing made the incoming welcome.
"Timothy, what will you change about Intelligence when you take over?" Gloria got straight to the point, refusing to dance around the issues.
"Seating arrangements, for one thing. Everyone looks at the back of someones head, right now. If they can see other people, they will feel they are part of a team more, and will be willing to work together to solve any problems that come up." Tim was not backing down on this point.
"Good reasoning, I can accept that change. What about the Section Heads?"
"I'm not firing any of them. They are all good at their jobs, and their dedicated. I'm not about to waste good people." Tim had reviewed the Section Heads, along with senior analysts.
"Any personnel you think you might have a problem with?" This was the Director, knowing the problems he had with Amanda Ryan, Christopher Best and Anthony DiNozzo.
"Not from the outset, no. I know some people might have problems with me but that's their issue, not mine. As long as it doesn't stop them doing the task at hand, their jobs are safe." Tim had only fired one person since leaving the MCRT, and he didn't want to keep adding to that tally.
"So far, Jen, I'm liking this guy. OK, Tim, I'll do the official handover next week, but here's some unofficial advice. Lay down your authority at the first opportunity, both inside and outside the building." This advice would come in handy. "As the Head of Intelligence, you have walk in privileges for the White House and the Situation Room. Use it, do not always rely on the NCIS liaison to the White House to get your point across. Let them present the report to the President, but when it come to the Presidents decision, make sure you are in the room, to either accept the Presidents nod to get the job done, or sit their graciously and accept the praise given to the CIA or the FBI." Gloria had done this many times.
"I have to meet the President?" Tim asked, his worry shining through.
"That a problem, Tim? Never took you as a Republican." Gloria wondered what the problem with Anna Elliott was.
"Tim, it will be fine." Jen reassured him.
"Easy for you to say, Ma'am. You didn't square off with her."
"You went head to head with Anna Elliott?" Gloria asked, her respect growing for her successor.
"Yeah." Tim said meekly.
"Did you win?" Watching his nod, Gloria smiled. "Good for you, there are not that many people that can say that about their disagreements with the President, that's including her time before the White House."
"Maybe, but I was a junior agent who turned to the then Under-Secretary of State and said "stick it"." Gloria laughed, she couldn't help it.
"Excellent, keep that in mind when you get into a four way fight with the CIA, FBI and NSA. General Dance favours them both, and Lohman and McCord went to Yale together. They have their own little circle, I suggest you find yours with others from the Security Council."
"Gloria, as I can see you and Tim are getting on, can I ask that I have my office back. I thought I might be needed to mediate, instead, I'm a spectator. Show him your office, let the staff see him."
"Of course, Jen. Come on, Tim, we'll have a brandy to celebrate your new job." For a woman three months away from her seventy first birthday, she showed all the energy and movement of a woman Jens age. She was halfway across the room before Tim had finished standing.
"Thank you, Director," Tim said before moving.
"At least one of them has manners," Jen said to the empty room, "For now."