The terrorist cell was formed two years ago. Never exceeding more than six members, the cell had worked quietly and with efficient determination. During the months prior to going operational, targeting data had been painstakingly acquired, escape routes chosen, traffic patterns analyzed, weather and atmospheric conditions studied. Money needed to fund the operation was carefully laundered so that it became untraceable. Much of it was actually raised under the guise of relief organizations here in the United States. The operation had been rehearsed, refined, and re-rehearsed until it could be executed with split-second alacrity. Logistical hurdles had been surmounted and the deadly weapons needed to accomplish the mission were in place. The target, a mid-sized American city of just over 200,000, had never known terrorism before. Most of its citizens had never heard the exotic sounding names of the biological and chemical agents that would soon kill them.

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