At the sa ti.
Thousands of miles away in Langley, Virginia, USA, inside the CIA Headquarters.
The atmosphere in Director Vincent's office had plumted to freezing point.
A piece of classified intelligence that had just been delivered lay sprawled on his desk, its contents causing veins to throb on his forehead.
Bam!
Vincent slamd a fist into the expensive mahogany desk, causing the coffee cup to jump up.
"Abu You! That damned turncoat! And that haunting Song Heping! He actually dared! He really dared to receive the entire ard faction from Abu You!"
He paced back and forth in the office like a caged beast, his face ashen, his breathing heavy.
Simon and several Intelligence Chiefs stood aside with varied expressions, so fearful, so expressionless.
The depths of Simon's eyes concealed a trace of an almost imperceptible schadenfreude.
"Four thousand! A whole four thousand experienced veterans! With all their equipnt, defected to soone we have listed as a global fugitive KB mber! This is an utter disgrace! CIA's biggest failure this year!"
Vincent roared, his voice hoarse with anger.
"Where is our intelligence network? Where are our action plans? Why was there not the slightest warning beforehand? Why did things escalate to this point?!"
He suddenly turned to Simon: "Simon! Didn't you say you had control of the intel channels in Northern Illiguo? This is the result of your control?!"
Simon chuckled inwardly but displayed a heavy and helpless expression: "Director, we've done our best. But Song Heping is extrely cunning, acting unpredictably. Moreover, the direct trigger for this incident was that puzzlingly online intelligence pointing to Abu You secretly eting with him… I suspect this itself is a trap."
"A trap?" Vincent squinted.
"Yes."
Simon cautiously continued, "The timing was too coincidental, appearing just as we tried to pressure the KPG Committee to deal with Abu You. Moreover, it spread rapidly, with highly provocative content, directly leading the hardliners inside KPG to take extre asures, rendering Abu You desperate, pushing him to Song Heping. I suspect… there's sothing wrong with the source of this intelligence, perhaps soone deliberately leaked it to 1515's Buckdadi to achieve the purpose of killing with a borrowed knife."
Vincent wasn't foolish; he too had thought of this possibility and even suspected whether soone internally was undermining him.
But at this mont, the massive sense of failure and pressure from all sides prevented him from calmly contemplating, needing an outlet and a scapegoat.
"What's the use of saying this now?!"
Vincent irritably waved his hand, "The result is Abu You defected, strengthening Song Heping, our influence in Northern Illiguo has plumted, and the situation is a complete ss! The military guys will surely exploit this! The White House and Congress… damn it!"
"Director, I think the most important thing now is to resolve the internal conflicts within the Kurd Ard. If the KPG Ard Alliance falls apart, our years of efforts and investnts there will be for nothing..."
Simon feigned consolation, "As long as this issue is resolved, I believe the Abu You incident is just a small interlude and won't shake the foundation of global counterterrorism actions."
"Hmm… makes sense, Simon, you personally arrange this task, go to Northern Illiguo, stabilize the situation in Elbil, tell those ard faction leaders, if anyone dares to leave the KPG Alliance, they are the enemy of the United States!"
Vincent's earlier anger seed sowhat quelled, finally taking redial actions and orders.
But soon, dark clouds drifted over his mind again.
"I'm worried about the White House now..."
His gaze shifted to the window, releasing a long sigh.
The saying goes, misfortune cos alone.
Vincent's premonition quickly beca reality.
Three days later in the morning, Washington D.C., White House.
In a tense eting room, Vincent sat on one side of a long table, opposite the President's National Security Advisor and several senior aides.
These politicians who might usually exercise so civility now wore expressions akin to a chilling frost.
"Director Vincent."
National Security Advisor Gordon—an intense-eyed, stern-faced middle-aged man—spoke first, his voice calm yet assertively pressuring.
"Please explain why our efforts in Illiguo, especially in the northwest region against the 1515 Ard, have been so slow, even regressing? The military report indicates a severe lack of tily, accurate ground intelligence support, directly resulting in ineffective airstrike operations and even civilian casualties."
Another aide added, "More crucially, our long relied upon ground ally, Kurd Ard, is now engulfed in severe internal strife and division. The most powerful Abu You faction fully defected, aligning with… aligned with that KB mber Song Heping who we've deed? This is a diplomatic and strategic disaster! It greatly weakens our ability to curb 1515 and Iran's influence locally!"
Vincent took a deep breath, striving to stay composed, beginning his long-prepared defense.
"Gentlen, the situation in Illiguo is very complex. 1515 Ard is extrely crafty, constantly altering strategies, leading our airstrike effectiveness to diminish… And that Song Heping, this dangerous man, he is the root of all this chaos…"
User Comments
0 comments from readers