Special Agent Dempsey locked his office door. He turned on his computer. In one hour, he could type up a summation and present it to JCoS and SIC, but he had fifteen minutes and he was not tapped to present. AD Mosher would brief the Director and the Director would present it in an hour.

He realized a fifteen minute summation needed to cut the fat off and leave only fact and a hard, rational core of theory on why. He knew the facts. All of the attacks had been carried out on soft targets, mostly Muslim owned businesses and religious centers. Some didn't fit, but a pattern formed regardless. The attacks occured in the span of two hours and ended abruptly. He put the detail 'coordinated attacks' under a column of facts.

Given the freedom to preculate, he added a short statement about a single, anti-muslim entity. He held his finger over the backspace button. He moved on, adding that the facts ad stated did not add up to any known radical groups in the United States. He wrote a one sentence final assesment:

"However impossible it may seem, these attacks contain the imprint of a large, well funded military organization."

He felt no need to specify which organizations he had in mind. As with most jobs, the credit for being right would be snatched up by the boss anyways. The blame for being wrong would be his alone. He hit send.

The document printed automatically from his computer, and three other computers in the Washington D.C. area.

He cursed. He realized his blind spot. The document printed. Special Agent Dempsey made very few mistakes. He ommited mention of the blind spot, and used the phone to correct it.



**********************************



"This is a local piece?" he asked.

"Utah," the Producer said, "Salt Lake City. I want to air it as a breaking."

"What is he?" he asked.

"Don't know yet," the Producer said. They watched and listened as the bearded man spoke to the Reporter. "It ran last night. Wally caught it. Haven't heard anything about it except this piece."

"Who's the skirt?" he asked.

"Mauly Peppers," the Producer said. "She knocked one out on a CNN relay from New York. Channel 7."

"She's good," he added.

"Seems likely she is," the Producer said.

"Go ahead," he said. "Run it. Now." He sipped his tea. "Shut this off, put on The Network. And grab me a coffee from the fridge before you go."

"Sure thing," the Producer said.

In five minutes, he watch the uncut interview as it aired. He shuffled through The Network to see who piggy-backed their feed. A smile came and widened.

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