An Ecology of MInd (2 page)

WENDY WAS VERY WORRIED. Today at work had been a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. She wasn't able to concentrate on anything useful. She just kept
worrying about her brother. She didn't know what she was going to do.

The waiter brought over the two iced waters. He placed one at the table setting across from her and gave her the one without citrus fruit or a straw. Wendy
always liked her water just plain and didn't understand why some restaurants put a slice of lemon or lime in it, and she never used a straw to drink ice
water. She usually forgot to request it the way she liked when she asked for it, and it was a wonder she remembered today. She knew she could take them
out, but she didn't like having a soggy piece of fruit and straw sitting on her side plate or on the tablecloth. Strange how such a mundane trivial thing
could bother her, or that she would even think about it today.

She glanced at her watch. It was five minutes to seven, so she felt pretty confident that Kim would be there before the ice in her water melted. With what
was going on she would never have arranged to meet her friend for a dinner out but the instructions they gave her were to act normally and she and Kim had
arranged a couple of weeks ago to meet when Kim got into town, so she had been afraid to cancel. She also decided to confide her problem to Kim. Kim was
always so in control. Nothing ever seemed to fluster her and while Wendy was damn good with computers, she had never met anyone who even came close to
Kim's genius for them. She hoped Kim might be able to shed some light on at least a part of her problem.

She looked around the room and made a conscious effort to try to let some of the tension leave her body. Morrell's was one of her favorite restaurants in
town, and it was within walking distance of where she worked at the National Security Agency as a computer analyst. It was a good choice of places to meet
Kim on a Tuesday night after work.

The restaurant was only about three-quarters full right now, so it was not too noisy for conversation. Looking around the room, she caught a number of men
checking her out. She knew she was considered attractive but she seldom dated and preferred to focus more on her work.

Kim would be a great person to get input from on the problem she was working on at the office. Unfortunately, it, like almost everything she worked on was
highly classified. Maybe she could clear it with her boss somehow or just reveal enough to Kim to get some clue from her on how to proceed. Kim was by far
the most amazing computer programmer she ever met and was a friend of hers from her student days at MIT. She was trying to think of a way she could get Kim
involved without breaking security. She also hoped Kim would have some suggestions for what to do with the other part of her problem. Oh, she hoped her
brother was going to be okay.

There was a subtle shifting in the men in the room and knowing what that meant, Wendy turned to greet her friend.

Kim Lee was of Chinese descent, and she was beautiful. Not drop-dead gorgeous but men still seemed to notice her right away, and often women hated her on
sight. When they were in college, Wendy had even noticed a gay male friend watching Kim when she walked across the room. She asked him about it. He had
paused to think about it and then told her it wasn't really sexual. It was that Kim moved with an attitude of complete and total confidence like a top
predator. She obviously wasn't but you couldn't help watching her because you still had that impression somehow.

Kim's outfit was a blue material that while not cut to be overly revealing, molded loosely to her body in a way that was sexy as hell. It was probably very
expensive. Kim was rich too.

She hadn't been when Wendy met her at school, but since then her work as a freelance computer consultant had made her a very wealthy woman. She worked on
solving huge scale problems for corporations and governments, and charged astronomical fees to do it. Kim came across the room towards her.

Wendy gave a half-smile and thought, well; that's the last any guys will be checking me out tonight, other than a possible way to get to her. She rose and
gave Kim a quick hug. "Hi girl, it's great to see you."

Kim's voice matched her dress. It was a sexy mix of tones that reminded Wendy of some late-night blues DJs. "Hey, I couldn't be in Washington and not hook
up with my best friend. I'm actually going to be around for a few weeks so hopefully we can get together some more as well." She stepped back and looked at
her friend closely. "You're looking good. A bit overtired though, you have to look after yourself girlfriend."

"Yeah, I've got a lot going on right now, and I didn't sleep well the last couple of nights."

"Well you need to relax more girlfriend. I will make it my mission while I am here to take your mind off of work a bit and get you to relax more. I'm just
going to the ladies' room quickly, can you order me a martini if the waiter comes by, thanks." Kim headed off to the ladies' room with most men in the room
turning their heads to watch her move across the room.

Wendy sighed and sat back down. She loved seeing her friend again, but her worry for her brother made it difficult to enjoy it as much as she normally did.
All the male attention got to be a pain sometimes too. Not that Kim ever seemed to encourage it. She never ignored Wendy and focused on men when they were
together. It was just that her being her drew men like a magnet. She started to think about the project at work that was bugging her and was the cause of
all her current problems. It was what seemed in some ways, to be some sort of computer code or program but neither, she nor anyone else at the office
seemed to be able to make any headway on discovering what it was. From what she had heard through the grapevine an agent had died getting the code, and it
seemed from the background context to be very important. It was just that nobody knew why.

There was a nudge at her right elbow and a hand pushed on her upper arm, so she could not turn easily. "Don't turn around." A folder was dropped on the
table in front of her. "This will give you some incentive to work quickly." The hand suddenly was gone.

She tried to turn around, but the chair did not turn easily on the carpet underneath. By the time she got the chair moved back so she could turn further
all she saw was a man disappearing out the door into the street. Oh Jesus, what now? She thought.

She turned back to the table and looked at the folder sitting there. It was a plain vanilla folder cover. She reached over and apprehensively opened the
folder. She inhaled sharply in shock. It was a picture of her brother Don, gagged and tied to a chair. There were bruises and scrapes on his face and
someone standing out of view of the photo was holding a gun to his head. Oh my god! Her mind raced. What the hell is going on? How did I get into something
like this? Yes, she worked for the NSA, but it was in an office position as a computer analyst. This spy novel stuff was not something she was equipped to
handle. How was she going to save her brother? What was she going to do?

"Hey, did the waiter come yet?" Kim was back from the ladies' room. She got a look at her friends face. "What's wrong Wendy?" All lightness was suddenly
out of Kim's voice.

Wendy sat there stunned by what had happened and based on the photo was still happening. She didn't answer for a couple seconds then slid the folder
towards Kim. Kim turned the folder around, opened it and looked at the photo inside. She looked up at Wendy. "Start talking girl, what's going on?"

Wendy tried to pull her racing thoughts together and decided to confide everything to Kim. She didn't know what else to do. "A man just came up behind me,
I never saw his face. He dropped that on the table and told me it was some incentive to work faster. I've been assigned at work to figure out what seems to
be some type of computer code. So far, I can't even understand what it is. I'm wondering if it might be encrypted in some strange way."

"Two days ago, on Sunday afternoon, when I got home from a walk, there was a plain brown envelope taped to my apartment door. When I opened it, there was a
note and a watch. The watch was one that I gave to my brother Don two Christmases' ago, and I've never seen him take it off, ever. The note was printed
from a computer and said, "We have your brother." It went on to say that if I wanted to see him alive again I was to obtain a copy of the code I was
working on at work and to erase all other copies at the NSA, or they would kill him. If I went to the police, they would kill him. If I told people at the
NSA, they would kill him."

"I was scared shitless but hoped it was a hoax. I tried to reach Don in Boston but could not get hold of him. I left messages for him to call but have
heard nothing yet. I tried to be careful with what I said on the messages and how I sounded because he is a cop up there, and I did not want to make it
seem as if I was going to the police. I've been worried sick, and I don't know what to do. Now, whoever they are just dropped this envelope on me and said
it was an incentive. Jesus! What the hell am I going to do?"

"Do you have a protocol at work for this sort of thing?" asked Kim.

"I don't know. I've never been involved in this sort of thing. I don't even know what the code they want is. I've been working on it but haven't been able
to make heads or tails out of it so far."

"Ok, stop right there Wendy. I want you to focus very carefully on what I'm saying. Are you with me?"

The waiter came up to their table. "May I take your drink orders?"

Kim turned to him and answered "Yes, could we please have two martinis but could you leave us alone for about ten minutes before you bring them over. We
are in the middle of a conversation we want to finish first."

"Certainly miss, I'll be back with your drinks in about ten minutes."

Kim turned back to Wendy. "Okay, are you focused?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Good, the fact that whoever it is, knew you were working on this means they have at least one source at your work. The fact that they did not use the
source to get the computer code you are referring to, suggests they are aware of some of what goes on in your office but can't get the access they need for
this item themselves. They obviously know quite a bit about you as they took your brother. They are also keeping you under some sort of observation because
they knew you were here tonight. They are serious people because your brother is a cop. You can assume they have you under observation both inside and
outside of work to at least some extent. When we are done here we are going to drink our martinis when they come, and then I am putting you in a cab to go
home. I don't think you are up to dinner right now. Don't tell anyone from your work what is going on because you don't know who you can trust. Look around
and figure out where copies of the computer code are located and pretend you are working on doing what they asked but don't actually do it. Don't do
anything at work that can get you arrested or fired if you can avoid it. Once they get what they want it is easier for them to kill your brother and you
than to release him or leave you around to talk. While you are doing that I will be working on getting your brother out and trying to solve the problem of
further threats to you and him. Trust me on this Wendy. You know I'm beyond good on computers, but I'm good at a lot of stuff, and I'm your ally and best
hope of getting Don and you out of this."

"Maybe I should go to the police."

"I would recommend against it, trust me. I am your best bet, whether you believe me or not."

Wendy hesitated, and then said, "Okay, I trust you on this. I should tell you what I know about what I'm working on."

"No, don't. If you break security, it may cost you your job or get you jail time. I can access whatever it is myself and figure out what I need to."

"It's at work Kim. There is no way you can access it. It's in NSA headquarters. I couldn't even access it from offsite, and it's my computer."

"Yeah, not a problem. I will be able to access it if it is on a computer. Don't rat me out but I've been inside NSA systems a number of times. I'll see
what the fuss is about as soon as I get to my computer."

Wendy just looked at her for a moment. "Alright, I'll do what you said. I have your cell number, and I'll call you with any new developments. But Kim..."

"Yes?"

"He's my brother."

"I know, Wendy, I know."

Kim caught the waiter's eye and signaled him to bring over the martinis. The two of them drained the martinis quickly. Kim put a $50 bill on the table from
somewhere; she never carried a purse, and the two left the restaurant. Outside they flagged a cab, and Kim put Wendy in it.

She leaned down to Wendy sitting in the back of the cab. "Stay strong girl, I'm on it. I'll keep you posted. If we use a phone be careful what you say,
they may be monitoring it. We don't know the full extent of their capabilities yet."

"Okay, thanks Kim." Her eyes started to tear up.

"Don't need to thank me girlfriend, again try not to worry too much and get some sleep, I'm on it." She closed the cab door and stepped back to the curb.