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“Holy shit,” Watkins said. “Where you are now. Where Hinton is.”
“That is correct. We were already at the airport getting ready to head to Austria to talk to the coworkers of the man killed there the other day when we got this intel from my staff, so we turned around and headed right back here to the embassy.”
Chip Nance made the connection that Pace was clearly implying. “If one of these shipments was armed robots sent to Mexico to kill Tudor, then that means someone is probably now sending armed robots after Hinton.”
Pace said, “We think that’s what happened in Mexico—the group orchestrating it had logistics people in country deploy the lethal autonomous weapons, and we think that might be happening here, as well. Havana Harbor isn’t the main container shipping port in Cuba. That’s Mariel, fifty klicks west. The fact that this is going directly into Havana, just a few miles from where Hinton lives and works, gives us concerns it will be used in an attack on him. What’s confusing to us is the timing, however. This shipment had already been on the water for five days when Hinton was attacked the second time.”
“What does that indicate to you?”
“We don’t know, but one possibility is that this equipment was being sent to Cuba to be used in a raid on the Hinton Labs facility here. According to Zack Hightower, there are sixty computer scientists working in the field of artificial intelligence at the lab.”
Lacy put the tip of her pen in her mouth as she thought, but soon she pulled it out. “So the opposition saw an opportunity to kill Hinton when he was out in the city, but the equipment being sent is going to be used in…in like a complete facility wipeout?”
Pace shrugged a little. “That’s all we can conclude with the information we have. Remember, only a very small shipment of unmanned weapons was responsible for a dozen deaths in Mexico.”
“My God,” Watkins muttered. “Twenty-nine tons of the type of weaponry described by Hanley’s source could devastate a building full of scientists.”
Steve Hernandez, the head of the Special Activities Center, said, “Jim, you have Juliet Victor down there with you. They can do a sneak and peek on that vessel before the container off-loads.”
“I agree,” Pace said. “Though I’d rather we had more than six guys doing it, to be honest.” He looked to Watkins for approval now.
To Pace’s relief, Watkins nodded but said, “The fewer the better. Not looking to start a war with Cuba. We’ll have to get the president’s authorization, of course, but go ahead and have them prep for a raid on the ship. When does it dock?”
“It’s due into port tonight around midnight, will dock at the container terminal at eight a.m. tomorrow.”
Hernandez said, “I’ll talk to Travers and the local station. We’ll get them scuba gear, have them do a bottom-up raid as soon as it drops anchor.”
Gopal said, “I assume we’re going to be alerting Hinton’s people to this threat to him.”
To this, Pace was adamant. “No. We’ll keep this close hold. If we don’t get to the material before it’s off-loaded, we’ll alert Hightower. Hinton’s well protected here, he’ll be fine.”
“From that amount of weaponry?”
Pace thought a moment, then said, “I don’t want to alert Hinton that we know about this shipment.”
“Are you suggesting Anton Hinton could be involved in this?”
“I have nothing firm on that, sir. I just would like to play my cards close to my vest.”
Angela Lacy spoke up now. “It’s the right call. Hinton has sixty top people working for him, and that’s a small industry. If we tip our hand in any way before the raid, there is a chance one of those people will talk to the wrong person. Too much opportunity for a compromise.”
“If the raid is unsuccessful,” Pace said, “if we find anything we can’t deal with ourselves, my first call is going to be to Zack so he can get his man below ground.”
Hernandez agreed, and then Watkins assented a moment later.
The DDO then drummed his fingers on the desk for a moment. “Jim…something else you need to keep in mind.”
“Sir?”
“It should go without saying that there are significant political issues at play with Cuba. I don’t want any Agency personnel from Havana station, men and women who might already be known to the Cubans, involved in this raid at all.”
“What about foreign nationals?”
Watkins nodded. “You can use Havana station agents in Cuba. You’ll need them. You will work out of the embassy so we can communicate; we’ll slip you in and out without being seen by the Cubans. There, you can talk to the case officers, find agents who can help you, procure equipment and transpo, whatever you need done in the city. And we’ll get you a safe house for the rest of your team. But when it comes time for the operation at the port, you and Juliet Victor are on your own. Can you do it?”
Pace did not hesitate. “Count on it, sir.”
Watkins stood. “I’ll get to work on that presidential approval, and Steve will get Juliet Victor what they need.”
