Bhagavad Gita: Bureau Involvement
Jul. 1st, 2008 04:06 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
x-dominion.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsFred Duncan calls Garrison with an unusual request.
The FBI field office in New York was deathly quiet. Most of the agents were either on assignment, or glued to their computers, watching the new data and information from India as it slowly came in. Garrison Kane was at his desk, flipping through the FBI’s list of targeted websites, watching the various cranks, lunatics, bigots, racists, and home grown terrorist portals react to the possibility of a mutant being responsible for the explosion.
He almost jumped when Fred Duncan rapped on the corner of his desk. “Agent Kane, follow me please.”
Kane just nodded and followed him into one of the private conference rooms. Duncan shut the door and locked it before sitting down. The FBI DAD was looking wan, and in severe contrast to his normal demeanor. Garrison sat back in one of the chairs, waiting for the other man to speak.
“I know you’ve been watching the situation in India. We’ve got some of our people going over that footage CNN got on the explosion. Turns out it was a CNN crew on a satellite uplink getting footage of the festivities.” Fred let out a deep sigh. “Within a day or two, there’s going to be no doubt that the footage is authentic. The conclusion is going to be that a mutant did this.”
“Shit…” Kane said slowly. The potential repercussions were huge if this was an act of mutant terrorism. For all of Magneto’s power, even he’d failed to cause severe body counts. Three hundred thousand plus dead, and maybe double that from injuries and consequences of the infrastructure being shattered in the region; no access to fresh water, medical treatment, even the Indian military will take a couple of days to get more than a trickle of supplies to the site.
“The Director was up with President McKenna this morning. All of the CIA and SHIELD’s contacts inside Pakistan don’t even have a sniff about this having anything to do with official channels. Their military hadn’t even started to mobilize, secretly or not. State was completely blindsided. None of their diplomatic contacts had even the slightest clue this was coming, and their government right now is best described as being complete panic.” Duncan pulled up a couple of files and passed them over. “They’re already in transition from Musharraf stepping down. One push and we’ll have a nuclear power in anarchy.”
“Terrorists then?”
“Only thing that makes sense, considering the situation. The Security Council is going to meet this afternoon, and they’re going to push for weapons inspectors to be sent into the region. The Bureau has supported them before in other international situations, and the President wants us involved. If this is a mutant, we don’t have the experts for this.” Duncan sighed and sat back heavily. “If this is a mutant… Kane, I’m going to say this once, in strict confidence. You say no, that’s fine. But I need a group of people who can investigate the area and be sure, I mean absolutely very sure, whether or not this was a mutant responsible, whether it was weaponized, and get hard evidence to support it. The Bureau doesn’t have that right now, but the Xavier Institute might. If you can put together a team, I’ll cover them under FBI credentials.”
“That’s illegal, Fred.”
“And if the cover is blown, I’ll be looking for work in Canada or spending the next twenty years in prison. Both of which are better than a war between India and Pakistan.”
Garrison was silent for a long moment. He got up from the table and smoothed down his jacket. “I’ll ask them. When?”
“There’s an emergency session tonight. If it goes through, tomorrow morning.”
Kane nodded and walked out the door.
The FBI field office in New York was deathly quiet. Most of the agents were either on assignment, or glued to their computers, watching the new data and information from India as it slowly came in. Garrison Kane was at his desk, flipping through the FBI’s list of targeted websites, watching the various cranks, lunatics, bigots, racists, and home grown terrorist portals react to the possibility of a mutant being responsible for the explosion.
He almost jumped when Fred Duncan rapped on the corner of his desk. “Agent Kane, follow me please.”
Kane just nodded and followed him into one of the private conference rooms. Duncan shut the door and locked it before sitting down. The FBI DAD was looking wan, and in severe contrast to his normal demeanor. Garrison sat back in one of the chairs, waiting for the other man to speak.
“I know you’ve been watching the situation in India. We’ve got some of our people going over that footage CNN got on the explosion. Turns out it was a CNN crew on a satellite uplink getting footage of the festivities.” Fred let out a deep sigh. “Within a day or two, there’s going to be no doubt that the footage is authentic. The conclusion is going to be that a mutant did this.”
“Shit…” Kane said slowly. The potential repercussions were huge if this was an act of mutant terrorism. For all of Magneto’s power, even he’d failed to cause severe body counts. Three hundred thousand plus dead, and maybe double that from injuries and consequences of the infrastructure being shattered in the region; no access to fresh water, medical treatment, even the Indian military will take a couple of days to get more than a trickle of supplies to the site.
“The Director was up with President McKenna this morning. All of the CIA and SHIELD’s contacts inside Pakistan don’t even have a sniff about this having anything to do with official channels. Their military hadn’t even started to mobilize, secretly or not. State was completely blindsided. None of their diplomatic contacts had even the slightest clue this was coming, and their government right now is best described as being complete panic.” Duncan pulled up a couple of files and passed them over. “They’re already in transition from Musharraf stepping down. One push and we’ll have a nuclear power in anarchy.”
“Terrorists then?”
“Only thing that makes sense, considering the situation. The Security Council is going to meet this afternoon, and they’re going to push for weapons inspectors to be sent into the region. The Bureau has supported them before in other international situations, and the President wants us involved. If this is a mutant, we don’t have the experts for this.” Duncan sighed and sat back heavily. “If this is a mutant… Kane, I’m going to say this once, in strict confidence. You say no, that’s fine. But I need a group of people who can investigate the area and be sure, I mean absolutely very sure, whether or not this was a mutant responsible, whether it was weaponized, and get hard evidence to support it. The Bureau doesn’t have that right now, but the Xavier Institute might. If you can put together a team, I’ll cover them under FBI credentials.”
“That’s illegal, Fred.”
“And if the cover is blown, I’ll be looking for work in Canada or spending the next twenty years in prison. Both of which are better than a war between India and Pakistan.”
Garrison was silent for a long moment. He got up from the table and smoothed down his jacket. “I’ll ask them. When?”
“There’s an emergency session tonight. If it goes through, tomorrow morning.”
Kane nodded and walked out the door.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}