"He escaped to Iran?" Agent Bree asked. She looked like she hadn't slept for days. In truth, she'd only got 5 hours of sleep over the past 3 days.
"Yes. Absolutely positive." Agent Donaldson responded.
There was a long sigh in the room. There were three other CIA agents in the room. They all knew to wait for Bree to arrange her thoughts.
It felt like minutes, but was really 10 seconds, Bree continued, "What about the files, do we have a plan for that?"
"We were able to recover every file, there appears to be a lot of evidence against what Jack did. But we've hit a lot of snags." Agent Donaldson answered.
"And what would that be?" Bree asked.
Agent Donaldson indicated that Agent Fritz and the floor. "Ma'am, we have no way of getting them to headquarters. Comm is down hard. Headquarters demanded that we shut down all secure computers to eliminate any risk of exposing Jack's back doors, if he installed any."
"So Jacks sitting comfortably in Iran, getting international attention for exposing half of our CIA agents, and we're sitting here in remote Syria with no chance of showing the world who he really is? Tell me we have something." Bree said exhaustively.
Fritz continued, "we did go through our old contingency files, paper files that is. At least we know these files have never been seen by anyone in this office for years, well before Jack."
"And we know this for sure?" Bree inquired.
"Yes ma'am, there was still dust on them with no fingerprints. In a locked drawer whose lock battery died years ago. We had to drill for it."
"Good enough for me. Go on." Bree said.
"Well, these files were written when all we had was secure phones and fax machines. Their protocol calls for hiding the files in a textile product and transporting it by hand. Specifically floor tiles. We even encountered a machine in the basement, supplies in hand. to fabricate them." Fritz explained.
"Floor tiles? How are any of our agents suppose to walk through the airport with a single floor tile in their stow?" asked Bree.
"Actually, it's a really good plan. According to the data, floor tiles are a very big import here in Syria. Given the rich class's obsession for material possessions here in Syria, people have been transporting floor tiles in stow in the single digits for several decades. Thousands come through every year. Granted, this report ends in 1997, but my guess is that it still holds true." Fritz finished.
Bree thought for a moment. She went through the outdated plans and thought about the troubles they could encounter and what it would take to get the floor tiles out of the country.
Bree had a good plan and started to explain, "I don't like it, but we don't have any other options. First, get 2 or 3 floor tile samples. Make the main colors blue, silver and white with glitter specks. It appears that the "recipe" they call for requires us to use metal in the tile to cover up the memory cards. This way when they're scanned in airport security, they won't be found. Lets hope their scanners haven't been upgraded to bypass this. These colors are the only metal designs that are still in style. Second, the one executing the mission will be Julie. She's of Arab descent. Her cover will to be to pose as a rich wife who wants to get the floor tiles matched for her home's new bathroom order. Make sure she acts passionate. She needs to get to the Turkish embassy and they'll upload the files from there. I'll draft up a plan in the next few hours and we'll go over it before dinner. Then, I'll brief Julie. Any questions?" Bree's eyes roamed the room.
Everyone in the room was impressed. They all nodded and went their ways.
And that was the day Agent Julie was given the mission to transport floor tiles that contain top secret information through airport security to expose an American defector.
Or as Julie's cover story would say, this is how some rich Syrian house wife decided to up her husband's credit cards by going to Turkey, getting them to mach her neighbor's bathroom floor tile designs so that "Amira" can be the next woman on the street with a redesigned bathroom.