PROJECT SPARTA

CHAPTER 37

Tobias's Laboratory

Northern DC

2016

"Terrorists don't hate our government as much as they hate our culture. It's a target that makes sense - hit us on a national holiday, spread panic and chaos on the National Mall and destroy priceless artifacts of our history all with one device." Xander connected the dots aloud.

"How big do you think the bomb will be?" Ashton asked.

"I have reviewed the other attacks and their M.O. seems to be suicide vests. This is good news because there is only so much one can physically carry on their person. Harder to detect, though. I don't think it will level a building but it'll certainly do quite a lot of damage," Seamus reported.

"How many devices do they have?"

"Only one was used in each of the last two bombings, but there's no telling what the bastard is plannin'," Seamus answered. Mac spoke up.

"The phone call referenced to a 'device' singular, not 'devices' plural," Mac recalled.

"Well let's take their word for it then... Now I just have one question, if I was a terrorist which Smithsonian museum would I want to bomb?" Xander threw out for the team's conjecture. They crowded over a map on the table, pointing to each possible target.

"I would imagine the Castle, all kinds of exhibits are there and it's essentially a national monument at this point. It also is at the center of the Mall and close enough to cause some damage to spectators of the fireworks show," Ashton offered.

"I th...th...think it's the American Hiss...His...History Museum, there are just too many pah...pah...priceless artifacts and all of them are American." Tobias opined.

"The Natural History Museum has the Hope Diamond, maybe they're planning a heist and then blowing up all the evidence," Jooles speculated.

"Of course there's the Air and Space Museum, but I think there are higher profile targets next door. But if their intent is to go undetected and cause a panic, the Air and Space museum is probably the easiest on the Mall to infiltrate," Mac said.

"Of course there is the National Gallery of Art - enough treasures there..." Seamus offered.

"So... we have no idea which one it could be..." Xander knew that each museum had its own appeal to a terrorist. "I think it's safe to say the target will be one of the museums on the mall, because of the crowd there for the fireworks each Fourth of July." Everyone nodded in agreement. After a long moment of thought, he knew they would have to do it the hard way.

"We are going to have to split up and each take a museum tomorrow night..." This put them at an incredible disadvantage and he knew it.

"What's the progress on finding Duke?" Seamus asked. The Spartans fell silent, agreeing with the posited question.

"He is nowhere to be found online. Not one of his aliases have surfaced for anything as small as a Netflix subscription.... I have been looking for him for the last forty-eight hours and have found no trace. He could have died in the field or maybe he went dark because he is deep undercover where contact cannot be made," Mac explained leaning up from his computer.

Xander realized their chances of finding Duke were bleak. He knew he had to focus his team on the Smithsonian.

"Forget Duke. We need to stop this attack. I don't have to remind you that we have twenty-four short hours until the biggest terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. Get to work, we have a long night ahead of us!"

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