Authors: Mark G Brewer
"It's got to be, what else is it?"
Officer Rebecca Wong looked back down at the sound of another car arriving, with
another close behind that, the conversation forgotten for the moment. It was
cold outside and seeing through the windows of cars that now arrived in a
stream became problematical. The two officers were soon engrossed in their
task.
High up, on the sixth floor on the eastern
alley side could be seen the familiar shape of an upside down curved air vent.
It only looked out of place in that it was larger than usual and the flat side
facing down did not appear to have a grill. The black color didn't exactly
match the traditional building either. However, both remembered seeing it
before,
didn't they?
But they weren't sure what it was for. No matter.
*
In the Rayburn sixth floor office allocated
to them, Steve Ryman coached Mary and encouraged her as they shared a coffee.
She looked nervous, worn out and a night without sleep hadn't helped. His main
concern was how she would hold up under the badgering he knew would erupt once
the hearing got underway. These things became as much an opportunity to posture
as a quest for the truth.
She looks vulnerable,
he thought.
"Mary, enjoy your coffee, I'm just
going to check when they want us and I'll be back. Don't go anywhere!" He
smiled disarmingly. She nodded and returned to her latté. Steve checked with
the guard outside the door and it shut behind him.
Mary closed her eyes and with her elbows on
the desk massaged her temples with her fingers, the thumbs working her cheek
bones as she felt a massive headache building. A small sound made her look up .
. . and gasp.
"Regan . . . how . . . what are you
doing here?"
Regan walked around the desk and embraced
her friend. "I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to get here, this is my entire
fault. Are you ok?"
Mary collapsed back into the chair. "I'm
fine, really, how's Kev?"
"Kevin?" Regan sounded surprised.
"He's fine, worried about you. I think he feels he sent the troops in to
do something he should have done himself."
"It's not his fault Regan, I got
greedy; I shouldn't have come to the States at all under the circumstances."
Regan interrupted. "Mary, we don't
have much time, I'm going to do the Congressional hearing. Stand up my friend
and come over here, oh, and hold this."
"What is it? What's happe . ."
. . ning?" And she was in the Pod.
Standing in front of her was the tallest . . . Man?...she had ever seen.
"Hi, I'm Marin." he said, and
extended his hand.
Regan could hear chatting outside the door.
It opened and a well dressed man in his thirties entered with a coffee. "I've
brought you another . . ." His voice tailed away and he quickly shut the
door behind him, "another coffee."
"Mr. Ryman I presume?" Regan didn't
stand. "Thank you for looking after Mary, Marcus speaks very highly of
you. Oh, I'd love that coffee, filter I'd guess." and as she reached out
her hand expectantly, he hesitated.
"I'm not going to shoot you Steve."
"Sorry, yes of course." He was
rapidly regaining his composure,
very impressive.
"No lattés here I'm
afraid. . . at a guess, Regan Stein, right?"
"It's nice to meet you Steve."
"How did you get in here, and where is
Mary?" He looked around the room.
"Mary's left for the day Steve, I'll
be appearing instead." She was very matter of fact.
He looked alarmed. "I said to Marcus,
it . . . it's not that easy. She's been summonsed, to not appear is contempt."
"Oh I don't think they'll complain, I
suggest you go out there now and let them know I'm willing to step in for Mary
provided they release her immediately. They will agree and we'll never need to
reveal she's not here, simple."
He stood and just looked at her for a few
long seconds, then turned and walked to the door. As he rested his hand on the
handle he looked back as if he was going to ask a question, then thought better
of it, shook his head and left.
[How's it going Ham?]
[Even better than we hoped.]
*
Marcus sat at his desk going through the
extensive notes and decided he liked the plan - it was good. The home system
chirped and immediately he heard Ham on the line.
"Ok, are we ready? The call goes
through in five."
"Ready as I'm ever going to be. Ham, how
do you organize all this from orbit?"
"Satellite communications Marcus, I'm
as linked in as you can get."
"Don't you get tired of being locked
up in that ship? You've got to come down here."
"What . . . and stop pedaling? The
whole ship would run out of power."
Marcus laughed and it broke the ice, "Ok,
so how do I do this?"
"You just talk as you normally would,
say exactly what you want to say, and the ship relays the translation
instantly, they won't know the difference."
"And I'll hear them in English the
same way?"
"That's the plan, pretty good huh?"
"Better than anything we've got, that's
for sure."
"Not really, this is just faster. Ok,
I'm calling now; I'll do the secretary stuff, and then put you through."
Marcus cleared his throat and sipped at a
glass of water, he decided to stand as he talked so he picked up his notes and
paced the room.
Ham was soon back, "Mr. Jackson, I
have Mr. Huang on the line."
"Thank you. Mr. Huang, are you there?"
"Yes Mr. Jackson, I am here."
"Mr. Huang, thank you for agreeing to
talk with me, I understand you are the Chief Executive Officer of Huang
International, is that correct?"
"Yes Mr. Jackson and you too are known
to us; TakeThat Corporation, very interesting, and only recently listed."
He spoke slowly, "I understand you are interested in trading some shares?"
"Yes Mr. Huang, it seems we have a
common interest in USDynamics."
"You have our offer Mr. Jackson, are
you asking us to increase it?"
"Oh, I'm sure you would Mr. Huang but
no, in fact I have a quite different proposal. Please do record this call in
case you need to refer to it in detail. First you may already know that a
representative of STEIN International is appearing before a Congressional Hearing
in Washington this morning, it will be broadcast live on all the major US news
networks. You have about thirty minutes to tune in and I strongly suggest that
you do so."
"Following the appearance of the STEIN
Representative I'm happy to say you will find yourself in an impossible,
untenable position. Sir, we understand you see this whole exercise as just
business, perhaps with a little political support mixed in, but we don't agree.
It's not the STEIN way but if pressured we can handle it. By any measure this
USDynamics business has been very dirty, even criminal as I think you are
aware. We want you to know we have rock solid proof of your company's
involvement in share market manipulation of a criminal nature and this is
involvement that will no doubt be extremely embarrassing to your Government.
Now, of course your Government had nothing to do with this plot and when all
the details come out, as they will unless you cooperate, I'm sure your
Government will stand by you, won't they?" Marcus paused. "Now, don't
just accept what I'm saying, it's important that you listen in to the hearing.
After the hearing you will have one hour to contact a broker whose name and
details I will transmit to you after this call. If you don't make the call, all
the background information will be made public regardless of the political
fallout. This is what I expect you to do and there will be no negotiation . . ."
Fifteen minutes later they disconnected and
Marcus let out a long breath. He then turned to Kevin, stretched out on the
couch.
"Well, what do you think?"
"You did well my friend, you couldn't
have done any more, now I guess it's up to Regan."
"FBC" Marcus called out, and the
wall screen burst to life.
*
Steve Ryman led Regan out past the startled
guard who immediately entered the office to check the room. They left him in
their wake as they walked quickly toward the Congressional Hearing room.
Although Steve had prepared her for the courtroom setting, as they entered the room
the she noticed the House of Representative Committee were all sitting raised
above her level.
Intimidate by design, just power games,
she thought.
Steve had also explained this should be a closed private session.
Yeah right
. . .
that's so
not
going to be the case.
[Are we ready Ham?]
[All set Regan, you're not the first
witness, and they've been going for a while already, nothing new or interesting
so far. I'll let you know when we go live on air, just focus where you want to
look and try not to move your head too much, we'd like people to retain their
breakfast.]
This was a new experience, literally being
the eyes of the camera and Regan wondered again at Ham's ability to capture
this feed directly from her brain.
Amazing!
Steve guided her to the front table and
before sitting she looked up and made eye contact with Vice President James
Walker; he seemed to be grinning.
Walker spoke first.
"Ms Stein, we are pleased to see you
have volunteered to attend this important hearing today. You understand this
hearing is to consider what changes, if any, are needed in legislation to
prevent the occurrence of cyber attacks of the nature your company perpetrated
on a friendly power. This is not a courtroom although you are expected to take
the oath and speak the truth. Any legal repercussions from your company's
actions are quite separate to the proceedings here today, however what you do
say may be used in a court of law at a later date." He paused to engage
her with a glare, "Do you understand?"
Regan stood. "Well, it certainly
sounds like a court of law, but yes, I understand, and I swear to tell the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help…"
He interrupted. "You swear on the Bible
Ms Stein."
An assistant stepped forward.
[Going live.] Ham's subbed cue reminded her
to smooth out her head movement.
Regan placed her hand on the Bible and
paused, considering if this was entirely appropriate given her beliefs.
What
the hell, I'm committed to telling the truth
, she followed the clerk and repeated
the oath.
"Now Ms Stein, in your own words,
perhaps we could begin with you telling us what your company was thinking when
it perpetrated this cyber crime."
"Mr. Vice President . . ."
"You may refer to me as Mr. Walker, Ms
Stein."
"Sir, I have great respect for the
office, not necessarily for the person who currently holds it."
In bars and offices all over the United
States television channels were showing the hearing live, the picture and sound
on every channel. At her reference to the VP laughter could be heard around the
country, mostly Republican of course.
Regan continued. "A crime has been committed
but not by my company STEIN or by USDynamics. I stand accused here today on the
basis of fabricated evidence, criminal fraud, and political interference at the
highest levels. Here today . . ." and she held up her hand gesturing
causing everyone to duck for cover.
She looked around amused, "Please! It's
just a data card . . . I have here today a data card detailing the data trail
from the beginning of this affair right through to today. On examining this
information your people will confirm three things; First: there definitely was
a cyber attack on USDynamics from a Chinese company. Second: our product Arteis
performed entirely to specification and hit the attacker hard, exactly as it
was designed to do. Third: in a conspiracy between the Chinese corporation
concerned and contacts at high levels in this Government, steps were taken to
destroy all evidence of the Chinese attack and blight the names of STEIN and
USDynamics. I believe the intention was to drive down the USDynamics share
price and facilitate a takeover by the Chinese, thereby handing to them the aerospace
technology they wanted. All the proof is here." Regan flourished the card
again.
"Really Ms Stein, all this has been
forensically examined and we know your company initiated the virus attack."
Walker looked around at the senators present, as if seeking their support.
"Mr. Vice President, your forensics
are flawed and the absolute proof is here. We have here the facts on every
attack from overseas, every response, every data entry, every change by
corrupted employees, their names, how much they were paid, into what accounts .
. . every call they received, the recordings of the calls."
She spoke slowly as she fixed her gaze on
the Vice President who was turning pale. "In fact Mr. Vice President, a
key organizer working with the Chinese used a contact phone just this morning.
They left it on, and it is right here in this room."