The admiral spoke to the attentive faces staring up at him in a clear contralto, “The brief given earlier highlighted that the satellites we have just overcome were only one part of the team that was sent to subdue us. Well, while they were by far the most lethal part from a destructive point of view, they were, in fact, only the minders of the real team. We had one of that ‘team’ among us here in the United States.” The room reacted predictably, glancing instinctively at their neighbors, but the admiral held up his hands in a calming gesture, “No, no, not in this room, though if she had have been left unattended she would almost certainly have ended up here in good time. The Agent assigned to America was named Lana Wilson, and up until an hour ago, she was a lieutenant in the United States Navy.”

He seemed to catch his breath a moment and then went on, “I myself actually had the displeasure of meeting her, and I can tell you that she would have had no trouble fooling each and every one of us if the good Colonel Milton, Neal Danielson, and their team had not warned us.” Some folks glanced at Barrett and Neal, but for their part Neal and Barrett’s eyes remained fixed on the admiral.

“With the destruction of the satellites, I took it upon myself to attempt to apprehend this Agent, assuming that she would go into hiding once the satellites were destroyed and we may never get as good a chance to take her.

“At this point, I would like to stress that neither Neal nor Colonel Milton had any knowledge of the operation. Only myself and the head of the navy Seal team I dispatched to apprehend her were aware of it.”

The room was silent. The president looked concerned, and in any other room the chief of staff or one of the joint chiefs might have silenced the admiral so he could be debriefed in a controlled environment. But this was the Situation Room. The only person who could silence the admiral was his only superior—the commander in chief himself—and the president had no intention of cutting the report short.