“Good place. Okay. I’ll share what I know, which, of course, is just a fraction of what NSWC has gathered from the intelligence community. Last fall—my guess is early October—intel was spiking with warnings that a chemical weapons attack on the US mainland was in the works. The attack would look like the work of terrorists from the Middle East, but it would really be a Russian operation.

“The threats were credible, and the timeline for the attack indicated it would happen in the first or second week of February. The magnitude of it is huge and requires months to set up. It would be an attack on a major city. Possibly subway, stadium, or large office building. Expected death toll anywhere from five hundred to over thirty thousand people.”

“What kind of chemical can do that kind of damage?” Audrey asked. “Are they planning to attack the Super Bowl?”

He shook his head. “Unlikely, but nothing can be ruled out.” He rose to his feet and began to pace, as he’d done so many times in the last months as his mind played over the variables he’d been handed when he was tasked with shaping this op.

“From what I’ve been told, the chemical compound is unlike anything we’ve dealt with before, hence the expected high death toll. I don’t know the science behind it. I don’t even know if the US has managed to obtain a sample or if it’s all theoretical. Rumor has it the gas is odorless. Invisible. Like propane or natural gas, you wouldn’t smell it without the additives. But it’s a thousand times more toxic, rendering a person unconscious with a few breaths. Brain damage occurs if the person inhales it for just a few minutes. Death follows soon after.”

“Damn,” someone muttered.

He nodded. “It’s believed that the gas explosion at the elementary school in Lithuania was a cover-up for the first field test of the compound.”

Audrey’s face blanched. “Last September? The one that killed nearly a hundred and fifty children?”

He nodded. “No way to prove it, of course, but the accidental explosion was a little too thorough in destroying the building.” He’d stared at photos of the bombed school for hours, remembered every gruesome detail. He cleared his throat and continued. “As you may have figured, the chemical compound is the brainchild of a Russian scientist.”

“So why are we in Washington and not in Russia, taking out their chemical weapons lab?” a SEAL asked.

“Because sometime after the school explosion in Lithuania, a team was sent to extract the chemist. She’d signaled through intelligence lines she would help the US if we got her and her son out of the country safely. She could even stop further attacks by uploading corrupted data. But as long as her son was a hostage, she couldn’t make a move without her child facing retaliation.