New Dawn Underground: Chapter 2
Elora pulled into the parking lot of the CIA headquarters
outside Langley, Virginia. Nick followed behind her in his car; the two were
coming from Brendan’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. Nick had urged
Elora to go home after the funeral but she flat-out refused.
“If I go home right now and sit alone in my house, I’ll go
fucking crazy,” she’d told him. “I want to work—I need to work. I can’t
rest until I know the assholes responsible for Brendan’s death are in prison or
dead, preferably the latter. The NDU Task Force still has a job to finish. You
and I both know Malik Khalid wasn’t killed in the raid. We don’t know for sure if
he was even there that night. We still have work to do, and I will not stop
until that son of a bitch is brought down.”
Nick didn’t have the heart to tell Elora there had already been
talk of dissolving the CIA’s NDU Task Force, of which he was the team leader,
and Elora, along with three other analysts, were members. “Okay, let’s go to
work,” he’d simply said with a smile and followed her on the twenty-minute
drive from Arlington out to Langley.
Nick and Elora walked into the NDU Task Force suite on the fifth
floor of the CIA headquarters building and were greeted by fellow team members
Derek, Jason, and Lori, who were all surprised to see Elora, but not shocked.
“Hey Elora, how are you holding up?” Derek asked.
“I’ve been better,” Elora replied with a fake grin.
Everyone on the team knew the drama Ashley had caused
regarding the funeral, so none of them dared to ask how the funeral had gone.
Elora was eager to dive back into the mission anyway and decided to waste no
time.
“Did we get a copy of Major Jacobs’ autopsy report yet?” she
asked. She kept her references to Brendan professional, to both safeguard
herself emotionally and prove to the team she could compartmentalize her work
and personal feelings. Elora knew it was a real possibility the agency would
remove her from the NDU Task Force because of her personal connection to
Brendan. She wanted to avoid that if possible.
Derek briefly looked past Elora to Nick, who subtly shook
his head. “No, we haven’t received it yet,” Derek lied, shifting his focus back
to Elora. “But we have received a preliminary report on the post-raid
investigation. Iraqi authorities accompanied by an FBI forensics team have been
on site sifting through the rubble since yesterday morning.”
“Okay, it’s four o’clock now,” Nick said, glancing at his
watch. “Let’s all meet in the conference room in ten minutes to go over the FBI
report and regroup.”
Elora sat at her desk and shoved her purse underneath as
Nick approached and squatted beside her chair.
“If at any point you need to leave, get up and go,” he told
her. “You don’t have to say a word. Just go home. Or if you want to talk to
someone, go see the counselors downstairs. They are in every day from six a.m.
to six p.m. Whatever you need, just do it.”
“Thanks, Nick, but honestly I’m okay.”
The rest of the team fanned out to their desks to gather
their laptops and files before heading into the conference room.
The
CIA had formed the NDU Task Force after New Dawn won a noteworthy number of
seats in Iraq’s 2010 Parliamentary elections. NDU and its leader, Malik Khalid,
had originally popped up on the CIA’s radar in 2007 when the organization began
making waves as a minor militant group bombing government targets and picking
fights with Iranian backed militias in Baghdad and northwestern Iraq. In the
beginning, the U.S. intelligence community dubbed NDU a minor grassroots
uprising. Considering they had no foreign government backing, it was predicted
they’d soon fizzle out from lack of resources and funding. However, Malik
Khalid proved himself a gifted businessman and built a small fortune
trafficking weapons, narcotics, bootlegged alcohol, and other illegal
commodities across the Middle East.
Though
Malik Khalid was rapidly expanding his organization, he himself remained a
relatively mysterious figure, making him all the more dangerous. There was
still no detailed intel on his background, what he looked like, or if “Malik
Khalid” was even his real name. The CIA knew he was a Sunni Muslim, well
educated, and from Baghdad. There was also rumor that his parents and siblings
had died in a U.S. airstrike near the beginning of the Iraq War, fueling his
intense hatred of the U.S. and opening the door for his radicalization by
pro-Saddam resistance fighters.
Currently,
Malik Khalid’s arch nemesis was Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Ali Ansari
who commanded a Tehran-backed paramilitary force in Iraq. Ansari and Malik
Khalid had been engaging in a game of cat and mouse for the last eighteen
months. NDU had made at least two attempts to assassinate the Iranian general
but both failed – one being the explosion that killed U.S. Ambassador Casey.
The
CIA’s NDU Task Force had spent the last two years investigating NDU’s
international drug and weapons trafficking operations and monitoring the
expansion of their political power in Iraq. They also tracked the movements of
the NDU militia, trying to predict major attacks and operations. Everyone on
the team took it as a personal failure when NDU successfully launched the
massive coordinated bombing attack that killed the ambassador and several other
Americans. When they had enough intel to convince JSOC to conduct a raid on the
NDU compound, everyone on the Task Force was desperate for a win. Elora had
even more riding on it—her fiancé. When the raid went sideways and resulted in
the death of Major Jacobs, the team plunged even further into depression.
In the conference room, the NDU Task Force members took
their seats as Derek walked around, plopping a copy of the FBI’s preliminary
report on the post-raid investigation in front of each member. Derek, who’d had
a chance to flip through the report, gave the team the highlights.
“As you all are aware, the NDU compound was leveled. JSOC
had called in a drone airstrike to light the place up, but before the drone
launched, the entire compound imploded,” Derek explained. “The prevailing
theory is that the militants donned explosive vests, slipped into an
underground bunker, and then detonated themselves—perhaps even unintentionally.
According to the report in front of you, this theory seems to hold water. Investigators
did locate a subterranean tunnel running beneath a kitchen in the main building,
and the FBI forensics team discovered human remains in the collapsed portion of
the tunnel.” Everyone at the table perked up when they heard Derek mention the dead
bodies in the tunnel.
“Have they identified any of the remains yet? Is one of
them Malik?” Jason asked excitedly as he scanned the report.
“Did they say how many bodies they found?” Lori added on
the heels of Jason’s question.
“The FBI is running DNA analysis on the remains now but, so
far, no conclusive IDs have been established,” Derek announced. “At this point
they’ve determined there are at least five bodies, but excavation efforts are
still underway.”
“So, it’s possible we got him after all,” Lori said.
Elora remained silent, staring at her report.
“If they are able to identify Malik, do you think the president
will do a press conference...” Jason began but Elora cut him off.
“He wasn’t there,” she said, without looking up from her
report. “We all know he’s still alive.” She finally lifted her eyes to meet her
colleagues’ stares. “Everyone here knows how smart this asshole is. He wouldn’t
get caught like a rat in a trap, and he sure as hell wouldn’t blow himself up.
He’d surrender first and bet on being able to talk his way out of it, because
that’s the type of cocky son of a bitch he is. Even knowing as little as we do
about him, we all know none of those bodies in that tunnel are Malik
Khalid, nor do they belong to any of his top leadership.” She shook her head
and tossed the report back to the center of the table. “Malik made it out. Or
he was never there to begin with. We still have a job to do. And before any of
you makes a comment about Brendan, this has nothing to do with what happened to
him. If it had been one of the other guys who died or even if everyone had made
it home safely, I’d be sitting here saying the same damn thing. We failed and
we still have a mission to finish, and you all know it.”
“I hear you Elora and I agree with you,” Nick said,
breaking his silence in the meeting for the first time, “but, as you well know,
what we think, or what we even know, doesn’t count for shit. I’ve received word
that the National Security Council is considering the raid a success. They too
have reviewed this preliminary summary and, pending the final report, they’re
ready to declare Malik Khalid dead and NDU neutralized.”
Elora shook her head and fought back tears of frustration. “You
know that’s a huge mistake. The suits in Washington just want to wrap this up
with a big fake bow so they can stick it in their win column for the next
election.”
“I have a meeting with the Task Force Oversight Committee
tomorrow,” Nick added, dodging Elora’s comments. “I wanted to tell you all
while I have you here, I have a strong feeling they’re going to disband our
Task Force and reassign us. It’s been my incredible privilege and honor to lead
this team. You are all amazing analysts.” He paused and looked at Elora, “I
know how much you have sacrificed for this mission. They’ll likely keep us up
and running for a few weeks to finalize our mission reports and conduct
debriefings, but unless new developments arise between now and then, we all
need to prepare ourselves, personally and professionally, to put the NDU mission
to bed.”
“So, we’re just going to let him go?” Elora asked. “Where’s
the justice? The justice we owe Ambassador Casey, and the justice Brendan
deserves?”
“It’s over Elora,” Nick said, hardening his tone a bit. “I’m
sorry—it’s time to move on.” He was referring to the mission, but Elora knew he
also meant move on from Brendan. “Let’s go ahead and call it a day,” Nick
continued. “I want drafts of everyone’s End of Mission reports on my desk by
next Friday. Again, thank you all for your service and dedication to this
mission.”
As everyone was gathering their things to leave, Elora
again asked Derek to let her know as soon as Brendan’s autopsy report came in from
the medical examiner. Derek gave her an awkward nod and scurried out of the
room.
“Hang back for a minute please, Elora,” Nick asked. The
rest of the team hurried out, and Elora made a preemptive attempt to defend
herself.
“Look, Nick, I’m not trying to be difficult, I just
think....”
“We have Brendan’s autopsy report,” Nick interjected,
cutting her off.
Elora shot him a confused look. “Okay. So, Derek lied to me?”
“He did what I asked him to do,” Nick replied with a hint
of sternness.
“Well, can I have a copy?” Elora asked, wondering why Nick
was being so cryptic.
“Elora… it’s not something you need to see. It has no
bearing on your mission, and it will only upset you.”
“Are you fucking serious?”
“Elora, you’re a lot more fragile right now then you’re
letting on—than you’re even admitting to yourself. I’m trying to protect you.”
“Nick, I’m not a broken little girl. Give me the fucking
autopsy.”
Shaking his head in resignation, Nick pulled a manila file
folder from beneath the stack of papers in front of him and flung it across the
table. The folder smacked down and slid a few inches across the tabletop in
front of Elora.
“Thank you,” she declared with indignation.
Nick did not reply and left the room.
Elora returned to her cubicle near the middle of the office
and sat with the folder on the desk in front of her. With her hands folded in
front of her mouth, she stared at the closed file for a few moments. Taking a
deep breath, she finally opened the folder.
Her fellow NDU Task Force members sat in silence at their
respective cubicles as Elora flipped through the report. It was well after five
o’clock. They were free to go home, but everyone remained at their desks
fiddling and pretending to wrap up their day. They all knew what was in the
folder.
Elora skimmed through the report:
• POINT
BLANK GUNSHOT WOUND—LOWER LEFT ABDOMEN: NON-FATAL ABRASION LEFT SIDE OF CHIN
• BRUISING
& SOFT TISSUE HEMORRHAGES: ANTERIOR REGION OF NECK
• LEFT
RIB 9 FRACTURED LATERALLY
• SUPERFICIAL
ABRASIONS
• CONTUSION
OF LEFT ANKLE
• FRACTURE
OF MANDIBLE
• LACERATION
VERTEBRAL ARTERY, JUGULAR VEIN AND SUBCLAVIAN ARTERY—RIGHT
• GUNSHOT
WOUND TO NECK & CHIN, LOWER CERVICAL, UPPER THORACIC, SPINAL COLUMN: FATAL
CAUSE OF DEATH WAS THE RESULT OF A GUNSHOT WOUND AT APPROXIMATELY 24-36 INCH DISTANCE TO THE NECK WITH A TOTAL TRANSECTION OF THE LOWER CERVICAL AND UPPER THORACIC SPINAL CORD AND OTHER STRUCTURES OF THE NECK. DIRECTION OF THE WOUND WAS FRONT TO BACK. BULLET TRAVELED THROUGH J.V. AND V.A. TO SPINAL CORD. SEVERING OF THE SPINAL CORD AT THIS LEVEL AND TO THIS EXTENT WOULD HAVE PROVED FATAL SHORTLY AFTER OCCURRENCE.
Realizing she had stopped
breathing somewhere in the middle of reading the report, Elora inhaled sharply
and the crushing weight of grief and anger immediately landed on her chest. She
visualized every injury Brendan suffered with stunning clarity in her mind. Struck
with nausea, she slapped her hand over her mouth as she began to heave. In a split
second, Lori and Jason were at her side. Lori shoved a trashcan beneath Elora’s
chin, and Jason placed a steadying hand on her back as she violently vomited
into the waste bin. Derek arrived on the scene with a box of tissues, and Elora
pulled out a couple, pressing them to her mouth.
“I’ll bring you some water,” Lori said as she removed the
soiled plastic liner from the trash can.
“Thanks guys,” Elora said, wiping her mouth with a tissue. “I’m
okay now.”
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