As Alex and Owen continued to comb through the aftermath of the explosion, a thought sparked in Alex's mind. If Amanda had trained the terrorists to strike like Division, and had given them weapons to help accomplish their goal, then wouldn't they have everything the black ops agents would have- wouldn't the terrorists be exactly like them. So what would Division do to take down themselves. Radioing Ops, Alex had a few ideas, "Birkhoff, Ari said Amanda gave the terrorists equipment. Maybe she gave them ghost phones too. Don't they use the same encryption as the video?"
"Yeah. So? How's that help us? We can't trace them. That's the point," Birkhoff replied with a huff. His encryption was the best around. It had helped Division- and the rogues- through so much. He never thought that it'd be used against him. Maybe he could beat it. If anyone could, it'd be the creator. But he had designed the encryption to be impossible to beat. It'd take him almost as long as it took him to code it to tear it apart. Maybe even longer. Division didn't have that time. The terrorists would remain untraceable.
"Just go with me. Can we find any evidence of the encryption on the cell towers around here?" Alex tried to get Birkhoff on her train of thought. She knew decryption was impossible, but that wasn't the only way they could track the terrorists. If Division could spot the encryption, then maybe they could track that. They could get ahead of where the terrorists would strike next by locating where they were using the encryption. It'd take a lot of work, yet it wouldn't be a long shot. Birkhoff could definitely pull it off.
Sighing, Birkhoff checked the surrounding cell towers for the ghost phones' encryption. He could somewhat follow along with what Alex was suggesting. Since the terrorists were using their style and techniques, Division could follow their footsteps. Yet it wouldn't be easy. They were trained to be invisible and leave no trace. Amanda would've ensured the terrorists were no different, "Okay. The call logging in the towers at the time of the attack does show evidence of the encryption, but again, we can't trace it."
"If they were to use the phones and talk before the next attack, we might trace where they'll hit next," Alex continued to explain her idea. Obviously, Division couldn't accurately track the terrorists' calls. But, they could track the evidence of the encryption on cell towers. Birkhoff had to have some sort of program that'd scan for his code. Sure, it'd be a long process. But it was better than nothing.
"If we jacked into every cellular network nationwide," Birkhoff liked Alex's idea. He did. Yet it seemed almost as time consuming as trying to break the encryption. The entire country was huge, and the terrorists were likely scattered everywhere- maybe more so than Division agents. Even if they could guess where the next attack would be, how could they stop it in time. There'd be a lot of information to mine through, and a thousand things to prepare for. Besides, stopping the attack would only be getting rid of the symptom. The disease would still be strong. Following the ghost phones wasn't enough to save the world completely.
"Are you telling me that Shadowbot is not up to the task?" Although Birkhoff's concerns were valid, Alex still baited him into following through with her idea. Until Nikita got Ari to tell them about Amanda, they'd do whatever it took to stop the terrorists and save innocent lives. If that was all they could do for a while, then so be it. At least people would be alive and well.
"Bite your tongue, Princess," Chuckling, Birkhoff rose to the bait. If tracking the encryption of the ghost phones was all Division could do at the moment, then they were going to do it with all their might. Alex and Owen finished their sweep of the crime scene, then raced back to Division. Owen had the idea to call in agents and send them to different places around the country. Then, whenever and wherever the terrorists would strike next, Division would be nearby to stop it. They needed to start applying that plan sooner rather than later. Who knew how much time they had before more devastation struck.
Nikita was doing all she could to make Ari talk. He was a negotiator. He had named his price of fifty million, and she could negotiate the price down- preferably to free. Ari couldn't have been cruel enough to stay silent when a terrorist was on the loose. He wasn't in the world destruction and domination game. What he did was for himself. Or for intelligence. So he had to say something- anything- eventually. He wouldn't want Amanda to win, "We do agree on one thing. You are a spy, not a terrorist."
Although Ari replied that he did prefer to strike without firing a gun, he didn't say anything about Amanda. He continued to stubbornly want that fifty million dollars. Nikita was so frustrated she just felt tired. Yet she wouldn't give up. If talking sense into Ari wouldn't work, then maybe she could draw him in another way. She had more cards to play, "I had a chance to kill you once. At a basketball game. But you brought your son. I lied to Division. I told them that my rifle jammed. You owe me. I spared your life."
"You simply behaved exactly the way Amanda thought you would," Ari snarked. Whereas Nikita stared back in confusion, he smirked. He had known for a long time that she had spared his life. It had all been according to Amanda's plan. Nikita had never paid him any favor; he didn't owe her anything, "She called me. She told me to bring my son to the game. She knew you'd figure out a way to not murder me in front of him. Killer with a conscience."
"She told you to use your son as a prop. Was there no place she would draw the line?" Nikita's anger rapidly replaced her frustration. If her child had ever been used as a prop, she would've been far more pissed than Ari appeared to be. Especially if a supposed loved one was behind it. Children shouldn't be involved in their games. That was going too far.
"We both used the relationship to our mutual benefit," Ari tried to justify the situation. It was probably what he said to himself over and over after Amanda did something he didn't like- such as using his son as a prop. But the statement didn't hold as much power as it potentially used to. Nikita could see the cracks beginning to form. What was once a beneficial relationship had turned into one person taking without giving. Ari consistently received the short end of the stick. There was no use in protecting Amanda anymore. It didn't protect him at all.
"She's been playing you from the jump, Ari. Every one of your plans has been derailed by her obsession with hurting me," Pressing against the cracks, Nikita tried one more time to get Ari to talk. He didn't need fifty million dollars to be satisfied. The best he could have would be knowing Amanda was dead. That was the best all of them could have, "So what are you waiting for? She ruined you. Let's bury her. All you have to do is give me the name and we can end this now. Amanda is all the reason you need."
"Oh, I can think of fifty million more," Ari's smirk returned. Nikita might have gotten to him while talking about his son. But turning on Amanda still wasn't enough for him to give up a fifty million dollar payout. That much money was too precious to him to simply negotiate away. There was no amount of hatred, pain, or atrocities that could dissuade him.
Storming out of the interrogation room, Nikita had to remove herself before she did something she'd regret. Though, honestly, she doubted there was anything she could do to Ari that'd make her regret then. If he wasn't going to talk, she might as well beat it out of him. He had been trained to resist torture, yet she had been trained to break anyone. She was willing to see who would win. Except, she should hold herself back. It was possible that the others had ideas. Ari wasn't their only source of information. Helpful intel could've arrived from somewhere else, "He's not budging. How did Alex and Owen make out?"
"Nothing concrete. Just a plan to isolate the terrorists' phones, which is a long shot. Our other option is to pay the son of a bitch," Glaring at Ari through the one-way mirror, Michael grumbled. Although he believed isolating the terrorists' phones would help them save people, it wasn't the solution to their problem. They needed to attack the source of all that pain and destruction in order to stop it for good. They needed to kill Amanda.
"The account Ari mentioned is on a secure VPN. You put money in, it gets walled off, only accessible through a dedicated satellite uplink. We could drop in the money and track it, and find out what Ari plans to use it for. Birkhoff could find it through satellite. But we don't have the funding," Ryan negated any possible plan to simply pay Ari the money. Although it'd help Division immensely, it wasn't possible. They didn't have fifty million to pay him. They probably couldn't even spare half of that.
"What are you talking about?" Michael and Nikita responded in confusion. How could Division not have the money to pay Ari. They were funded by the government. The federal government loved to spend money on things; the price didn't matter. Ari's payout should've been thought of the same. There was no problem in paying him if it meant saving the country.
"Oversight used to tear off little black budget earmarks for Division. Feed the dog under the table. Not anymore. President doesn't want taxpayer money flowing into this place. We received some seed money, which I grew into a sizable pile of cash with Birkhoff's help. Nothing illegal. The point is, our operating budget is currently fifty-three point six million. We pay Ari, we're running on fumes," Ryan explained why they absolutely could not pay Ari. Caving to his demands wouldn't just be giving up, they'd be destroying Division.
"So unless we wanna start taking mercenary jobs for profit, paying up means shutting down," Michael shook his head in defeat. Division couldn't shut down- not prematurely anyway. If they were forced to disband before they brought in the remaining Dirty Thirty or Amanda, then they'd never receive their pardons or freedom. The promise they had made to three hundred agents would mean nothing. Division couldn't shut down before completing its mission or fulfilling its promise. Otherwise, it would've all been for nothing. And that was the last thing the team of former rogues wanted.
Before Ryan, Michael, and Nikita could think of any other way to stop the terrorists, they were called back into Ops. Once again, the news was playing on every single monitor. There had been another senseless, random, violent, attack. That time, in the middle of nowhere, "If you're just joining us, the Crimson Resistance has struck. Five dead. Gunned down at a roadside stand. And I've just been informed we're getting another message."
Birkhoff immediately searched for cell towers that his encryption could be pinging off of. It probably wasn't possible to find the encryption of the video on a tower. Yet maybe one of the terrorists was making a call as their leader spoke. He had to try just in case. What he was hearing couldn't become a reality, "From your biggest cities to your smallest farms, no one is safe. Many of you will now want to stay at home with your families. Behind closed doors. It won't make a difference. The next attack will be in a normal suburb, in a normal house. Maybe yours."
"My God, they're all random targets," Ryan could stop from gasping in horror. He had had some hope that there'd be a pattern to the attacks that Division could find and track down. Tragically, there was none. The terrorist's message wasn't that those in power were to pay for their crimes, but the citizens. That was what happened during bombings, after all. There was some truth to the lead terrorist's words and actions; he was making a very clear and understandable truth. But the way he was going about it couldn't continue. Bloodshed couldn't be paid back with more bloodshed. That wasn't true justice.
"How many more of these are coming?" Michael helplessly wondered. Was it possible that the terrorists would stop after a certain number of attacks, or would the terror continue until Division managed to stop them. Michael had the horrific feeling that it was the latter. The Crimson Resistance- and Amanda- wanted to inflict as much pain as possible. The country would be in ruin before they would stop.
"This is the last one," More full of rage than determination, Nikita left Ops. She couldn't simply stand around and watch the destruction and devastation set in. She needed to be an active participant in stopping the violence. Paying Ari to get him to talk wasn't an option. Neither was negotiating with him. The ghost phone idea wasn't bearing any intel yet. So the only thing left to do was mercilessly torture the truth out of Ari.
"Like the innocents who have died in your wars, the acceptable losses, you won't be able to predict it. And soon, very soon I hope, your fear will turn to anger, and that anger will awaken you to the truth. The only way to stop the violence is for you to end it first," The terrorist's words played over the speakers in Division; everyone would be updated on what was occurring. Yet Nikita had stopped listening. Her blind rage was completely set on Ari. Nothing else mattered but forcing him to tell her who was behind the attacks and how they could stop Amanda. Not even his smirk when she barged into the interrogation room could stop her.
She simply knocked him out of his chair with a harsh punch to his jaw, grabbed him fiercely by the shirt, and screamed, "Tell me the terrorist's name!"