The Board was a windowless underground meeting room beneath the west-wing. It was called the board because it resembled a company’s board of directors’ meeting room except that the decisions made in this room weren’t about net profit or investment returns, indeed, the decisions made here had grave consequences often involving life and death. The Board was built underground to make it bomb proof and surveillance proof and was also packed with Electronic Signal Jammer Devices. There was a big world map and digital clocks indicating the different times in different cities on one of the featureless walls. There was a satellite phone and several SAT-II secure phones on the elongated table in the middle of the room. Access to this room was limited to the top brass of relevant government agencies.

DSI Sim placed his right hand on the glossy black sphere to allow the scanner to scan his handprint. The heavy door hummed opened and DSI Sim walked into the Board. The Minister of Defence, the CDF and Maj-Gen Foo were already there.

"Good morning, sir," DSI Sim greeted the Minister. "I’ve done a check myself on the computer records and the only person who downloaded the database recently is my deputy, Jason, he did it earlier this morning. I’d also ask my men at the ELINT Branch to check for signs of hacking in the system and they found no sign of intrusion. Therefore, I conclude that the prime suspect as of now is Jason Tan. He’d apply for leave to Langkawi and checks with the customs indicated that he’d leave the country."

"Where is he now?" Gen Foo asked.

"He could be anywhere in JB now, since he’ll be there for the transaction tonight," DSI Sim replied. "Can we find out where the transaction will take place?"

"CARDINAL mentioned that it’ll be in thick woods, so I don’t think it’s gonna be in any rubber plantation," Gen Foo replied as he flipped on the projector and showed a satellite map of JB. "Satellite reconnaissance has indicated that the most probable woods would be this forest here near Kampung Maru or this one here near Bukit Anak. The rest are pretty inaccessible."

"Any feasible contingency plan?" the Minister asked.

"The contingency plan calls for capture of the subject, if necessary, by force or neutralise the threat. Operation SPIDER calls for the activation of SOF for the task," Gen Foo answered. "The mission objective is simple, go in and get him out, otherwise neutralise him."

"Isn’t it murder?" the Minister asked.

"Sir, the lives of 345 of our agents are in his hand. Either we get him or the 345 lives will be at risk," the CDF replied. "Anyway, we’ll try to capture him alive."

[Wake up]