Cobra Clearance Read Online Free Page B

father had been a locksmith and Hack learned the trade, hence the nickname. He spoke in the relaxed rhythms of the Virginia Tidewater region, cadences that belied his master’s in English lit and his fluency in Farsi, and only one member of Dragon Team could outshoot him—Levi Hart.
    Levi waited while Tucker put down his briefcase and sat at the head of the table, then sat next to him as the others took their places, leaving the chair at the far end empty. He watched Tucker unlock his briefcase and retrieve a royal blue folder with a gold-embossed Vanguard International logo. Tucker dropped it to the table just as a door behind Levi opened. When Levi smelled vestiges of vanilla pipe tobacco, he knew without turning that Heath Baker had entered the room.
    Baker handed Tucker a folder and pointed to the red and white document cover: TOP SECRET—THIS IS A COVER SHEET FOR CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. Then he went to the empty chair, and after settling into it said in a deep voice, “Thank you for making it here on such short notice. Your anonymity is paramount and the NSA has been kind enough to provide this facility.” He flicked his eyes at Dragon Team’s TL.
    Tucker checked off an item in his blue folder. “We’ll conduct some house-keeping procedures first.” He pressed a recessed button on the desk. The lights dimmed. A forty-eight inch flat screen on the wall behind him flickered to life. The image of a nameless official seated behind a steel desk began to speak, delivering the mandatory security lecture. It was clear and concise and designed to reinforce the gravity of the situation: violating the terms of a Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance posed a possibledeath sentence. Tucker pressed the button again and the image vanished.
    He cleared his throat. “Okay. We’re going top secret. Maintain OPSEC from here on.” He waited until everyone verbally acknowledged his call for operational security. “Everyone here holds a Cobra. Each of you has a need-to-know. Now listen up. I’m going to ‘read you into’ our assignment.” He opened the red folder, skipped past the abstracts to the analysis and began reading aloud:
    â€œThe assassination of President Melchior has precipitated a manpower crisis. Military and law enforcement capabilities throughout the United States were already stretched to maximum sustainable limits prior to this attack, as they addressed a need for increased police presence at major bridges, subways, trains, and other vital elements of our infrastructure. This was instituted last year based upon quality intelligence from a variety of domestic and foreign sources, that an attack by al Qaeda was imminent.”
    He turned a page. “Other resources have also been overwhelmed. The 2009 recession did not end as anticipated, and worsened in 2013 with the collapse of Greece’s economy. That signaled the vanguard of further economic uncertainty, and as expected, it created a domino effect as one European country after another entered a technical state of depression.
    â€œRenewed fighting in Afghanistan, coupled with a threat of nuclear blackmail by Iran against the U.S. and its allies, has sapped both our military and our economy. In addition, an explosive rise in violent hate crimes has strained law enforcement agencies throughout the nation, and simultaneous demands upon Federal agencies to provide protection for two upcoming National Special Security Events…”
    â€œNot to mention the most recent NSE—the president’s funeral.” Baker coughed and said to Tucker, “Sorry.”
    Tucker nodded. “…two upcoming National Security Events and threats posed by growing numbers of domestic terror groupshave pushed Federal agents to exhaustion. The NSA’s assets are besieged by war, continual surveillance of al Qaeda, and countermeasures aimed at the latest spate of web attacks against Wall