Lake returned to New York after Christmas.
Why?
Lake had already refused Ross's request for him to stay. However, it was difficult for him to refuse Karen's request, and the New York household had once again lost its lady of the house, so he spent Christmas in Washington this year.
Langley had been thoroughly purged from top to bottom.
Without the slightest mercy.
After George Tenet, the furious director of Langley, was chewed out by Mr. President, he immediately signed documents granting the temporarily appointed Special Prosecutor Karen Ross unrestricted access to any files in Langley.
Over the course of those twenty-odd days, Karen had investigated Langley from top to bottom. Together with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's drug enforcement division, she uncovered three drug lords and agents with murky ties to Langley. She had even located three hidden operational bases Langley maintained on American soil.
This time, Langley had not merely been crippled. Its limbs had been completely beaten to a pulp. If Langley had not still been useful to the White House, then it would not have gotten away with merely three hundred arrests.
And then there was the FBI.
The Attorney General, who also served as the Federal Prosecutor General, was furious that his deputy had colluded with Langley. He immediately summoned the director of the New York FBI and ordered him to lead Internal Affairs in conducting a thorough investigation from top to bottom.
After all...
When had our great FBI started cooperating with those petty people from the CIA?
But.
Despite the massive movements by the FBI and Langley, the Washington media chose to remain silent, completely breaking from their usual behavior. The trivial matters they published every day were all gossip about politicians.
It was a successful deal.
In exchange for allowing Karen Logan