Metafire

"I think the Metafire people are too intelligent for you. There is almost no possibility that you can out smart them. We know these people personally. You don't stand a chance."

The NSC Director asked, "If you helped, if you and Charles here helped, would we be able to gain an advantage?"

"No. I would doubt it. We'd only reach a standoff. But that seems to be where Metafire wants us. They seem happy with a standoff. We really don't have good ideas here."

Charles stepped in, "Let's say they are the terrorists. It doesn't matter. They are already criminals. They just maintain the status quo. Knowing George Davis he'll just maintain the standoff or die. They have said they just want to be left alone. We suspect they are telling the truth. Anything we do will risk the hostages. We think you must either let the situation alone or decide the hostages are expendable. We doubt you have a middle ground here."

Then Ferguson realized that this was not necessarily true. He said, "If we had a person on the inside, that would get us somewhere. Right?"

But Franklin knew the people, "That's a very small and close group of people. Something extraordinary would have to happen before one of the people in the group would break away and betray the group."