Authors: Nathan Goodman
“Yes, we’re going in,” said Jana, “and we’re going to steal whatever in the hell we need to solve this. And we need you. We need you to get us in there. We’ve got to try to get in undetected. If the Company finds out, the game is up. We’ll never find out who all the members of the terror cell are.”
“The company? You mean Thoughtstorm, right?”
“No, when we say Company, we mean CIA,” said Jana. “We’ll be after several things. We need the entire list of e-mail addresses that are a part of that campaign. We need that damn encryption code; without it, we can’t crack it, which means we are blind to what the cell members are being told. And we need to see when that e-mail list is going to be sent another e-mail.”
“Not that I’m arguing, but why tonight?” said Cade.
“There’ll be another bombing tomorrow morning.” Jana’s face told Cade she was as serious as a heart attack. “Yes, tomorrow morning. Like Kyle said earlier, these assholes are following a pre-timed countdown to each attack. That’s why we have to go tonight. We have less than ten hours until the next bomb goes off. We’ve got to try to at least find the location of the next attack so we can stop it. The tricky part is, even if we could stop it, we’ll have to do it in such a way as to not let the terror cell know we’ve broken their code.”
Cade thought about that for a moment. “So why can’t you go in and arrest that William Macy jackass? And Rupert Johnston for that matter, he’s got to be in on it too. And what about that Jamaican you talked about?”
“Even if we did, we don’t have enough evidence to charge them. Yeah, we’ve got our hands on some seriously incriminating-sounding conversations, but the director already talked to the US Attorney who made it clear that we don’t have jack-shit—we’d never get a conviction. Not to mention the fact that we’d still be no closer to locating the other members of the cell. We’re afraid that if we tipped our hand too early, that the cell would continue its mission.”
Kyle interrupted Jana as his call finished. “We’ve learned from experience,” said Kyle, “some of these terror cells have a final set of instructions that they are to carry out in the event it looks like the cell is compromised. No, we’ve got to be able to nail all of them at once.”
Cade could feel the pressure mounting. There would be no turning back.
Kyle continued, “And in this case, we’ve got a terror cell that’s on a countdown. Not just a countdown to tomorrow’s attack, but to a final countdown. Each attack is coming earlier and earlier than the last. They’re counting down to something. I’d hate to think that they have something bigger up their sleeve. If they get wind we’re onto them, they might just execute whatever that bigger something is.”
Jana said, “Okay, Cade, what’s the move? How do we get in there and get what we need?”
Cade looked at her, shaking his head back and forth. “I knew you were going to ask me that. Damn. All right. The only way we’re going to get the data we need is to get into Rupert Johnston’s computer. And no, there’s no way to hack into it from the outside. Computer systems on the seventeenth floor are totally closed loop. They’re isolated from any outside access. We’re going to have to get his laptop in our hands, somehow.”
“It will be in his office? Will it be a password to log in?” said Jana.
“No, his uses a biometric log-in; he finger-swipes across a sensor. Basically, I’m saying we need him to log in to the laptop for us.” Cade laughed, but no one else did.
Then Kyle said, “We can do it. Really, we can do it.” He looked over at Jana. “We’ve got Johnston’s fingerprints too. We can have a gel copy of his print made and have it delivered over to us within the hour. You’ll apply it to your right index finger and swipe the laptop.”
Cade said, “Wait a minute, why are you looking at her? You don’t mean to say she’s going to log on to Johnston’s laptop do you? She can’t be on the seventeenth floor—only I can go. No one is allowed up there.”
But Kyle was confident. “Cade, security is lax during the late night.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
Kyle smirked. “We’ve got more surveillance on that place than we do on the Syrian embassy. We’ve been tracking each Thoughtstorm security employee. We know when each one comes and goes. The nighttime hours are a little more lax. And let’s not forget one other important thing. It’s only the seventeenth floor that’s crawling with Virginia farm boys . . . sorry, CIA boys. The rest of the employees are not CIA. The seventeenth floor has its own security contingent. Late at night, there will be fewer Company men on duty up there. The other security personnel you’ll see work for Thoughtstorm, not the CIA.”
Cade said, “But how am I going to get anyone in there besides myself?”
“The two of you will go into the office together,” said Kyle. “If anyone is watching, you’ll play it like you just wanted to show your girlfriend how cool the place where you work is.”
“My girlfriend?” Cade looked at Jana, unsure if he should laugh because of how out of his league she was, or cry, because of how much time he’d like to spend staring into her eyes.
Jana’s smile was demure. “Yes, Cade, your girlfriend.”
“Now listen,” said Kyle. “There’s a decent chance that you will be spotted.”
“And?”
“And you better look convincing as a couple.”
Jana’s grin betrayed her hidden schoolgirl. The truth was, she never really had been in a long-term relationship. It’s not that she wasn’t interested; instead it was that she’d been so engaged with academics, athletics, or her career. Nowadays, most men she met were either intimidated by her striking looks or by the fact that she could throw them to the ground and slap handcuffs on them faster than they could ask her on a second date.
“What he means is that you and I are going to have to practice looking natural together,” said Jana. “Practice getting to know one another. You know, physical touch?” She laughed at Cade whose face was flushed. “We have to look like we’re romantically involved, like on a second or third date. I mean, think about it, if you and I were on our third date, and having a great time together, wouldn’t you want to show me how cool your job is?”
“Even if it would put a girl to sleep?” replied Cade. “No, no. Look, I get it. I know, yeah, we have to look convincing. And we’re going in later tonight, right? So . . . what, we’re supposed to start practicing right now?”
Kyle slapped Cade on the back. “Get in there, big man. Show her what you’re worth. I mean, who is she anyway, right? She’s just another girl, right? Just like back in the frat.”
“Cool Mac,” said Cade, “back in the frat, if you recall, I didn’t exactly have a girl under each arm, remember? That was you, you nimrod.”
Kyle laughed. “Yeah, yeah. But that was then. Now, you’re a rock star. And remember, all of this is in service to your country, okay? So get in there and give-us-a-kiss.” His voice decried a mix of English accent mottled in southern drawl. “Oh, but don’t get too handsy. She might snap your wrist off or something.”
Jana landed a playful smack on Kyle’s shoulder.
“Ow!” he said, only half kidding.
The three had needed the release of tension.
Jana’s smile, however, vacated her face. She looked directly at Cade, placed both hands flat on his chest, and telegraphed her next move with a sultry grin. She kissed Cade. It was an acting job to be sure, but not one she minded. It had been a long time since she’d kissed a man.
Cade wasn’t backing down in front of Cool Mac who had been a fraternity legend with women. The two showed no signs of breaking off their embrace.
Kyle, feeling completely awkward, laid into the two of them. “Oh my. Oh my goodness. Why I’ve never . . . oh, oh, I’m starting to blush. Gee, Cade, let her breathe, man. You know, I think the Brits call that snogging . . .”
Jana pulled away, placing a single finger on Cade’s lips as if to say
I’m not done with you
. She pinched Kyle’s ear in a firm grip, pulled until his head arced downwards, and walked him straight out the front door.
Closing it behind her, she said, “Aaahhh, that’s better. Now, where were we?”
34
“He’s really nervous,” said Jana, standing out on the balcony.
“I know. I think he’ll be fine,” replied Kyle.
“That’s easier said than done,” said Jana. “He’s got to come off looking completely at home when we go in there. I mean, if we are stopped by a guard, he’s going to have to up his game.”
“Listen, he hasn’t really had a girlfriend before. So you just keep locking lips with him. I think his confidence will be fine,” Kyle said with a playful grin on his face.
Jana laughed and smacked him across the shoulder. “Oh stop it. He’s cute, and he’s so innocent. What worries me though is the possibility of us running into a Virginia farm boy or two up on seventeen.”
“Listen, we’ve got HRT deployed 360 degrees around the facility. They’ve got every manner of listening device trained on that building. And, they are ready to rock.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning they’re in full body armor. Remember something, these guys don’t do pinpricks. If they detect danger, they’re going in, and going in hard. Flash bangs, stun grenades, pack-charges to breach doors, the whole thing.”
“Jesus. They anticipate that much trouble?” said Jana.
“No, they don’t. It will be fine. We do have a blind spot though.”
“Oh great, what’s the problem?”
“We can’t send you in there wearing a wire,” said Kyle. “They might sweep you for a transmitter. If you get seen, it’s got to come off like you and Cade are on a date. We can’t let them know the bureau is on to them. It’s a Friday night. Nightlife in Buckhead is in full swing. It should look fine. But . . .”
Jana interrupted. “But what?”
“But,” Kyle’s pure Savannah accent stretched the word into two syllables, “we can’t laser mic seventeen. We have agents stationed on all sides with laser mics so we can hear what’s going on everywhere else inside the building. But seventeen is an issue. It’s the only place we’ll be deaf to what’s going on inside.”
“Dammit! That’s the only floor we really need ears in place. What if they grab us? Why can’t we laser mic seventeen?”
“Virginia farm boys don’t play games,” said Kyle. “They’ve skinned the building’s outer windows on seventeen. The skin is a copper shielding designed to block surveillance and trap any sounds, especially from laser mics. We can’t even see in there, much less hear. Just stay focused. Don’t lose sight of the prize. You know as well as I do, at around 8:45 a.m. Eastern tomorrow, another attack is going down. We have to get our hands on that data. Without it, we’re blind. Everything is riding on this. Everything.”
Jana responded, “Oh, is that all? Well, at least there’s no pressure.”
“You can do this.” Kyle looked out at the skyline, deep in thought. “Latent called earlier,” he said. He turned to look Jana in the eye. “After you’ve gotten the data and you’re on the outside, you two will be picked up by a van, a minivan.”
“What are you talking about? Who’ll be inside the minivan? Bob Marley?”
“Not exactly,” said Kyle. “This guy is a little more hardcore than Bob Marley. This is the guy Latent mentioned to us earlier, Uncle Bill.”
“Ah, so let me get this straight,” replied Jana, “Director Latent wants me to do like this high-level espionage stuff. Go into a secure building that’s run by the most sophisticated spy agency in the world, steal some of their secret data, then come outside and hand the data to some guy in a minivan named Uncle Bill?”
Kyle laughed. “Yup, pretty much. But seriously, Latent said this guy was his roommate at Georgetown. He’s NSA, and he’s the best there is. If anyone can decrypt that data, it’s him. And something else, no one else knows Uncle Bill is here in Atlanta right now. Not even the NSA. Latent is growing paranoid. He doesn’t know who to trust anymore.”
Jana thought about that a long moment. “Let me ask you this. I thought the NSA couldn’t operate within the borders of the United States. Doesn’t this sort of violate that wee little principle?”
“Latent says he’s going to do whatever it takes to stop these attacks. He says the gloves come off,” said Kyle.
“What do you think he means by that?” said Jana.
“It means he doesn’t care what we have to do, even if we have to break the law. He will stop this terror cell, no matter what. His job be damned.”
Jana looked rattled. “He said that? Exactly? Breaking the law?”
“He can’t say what he knows he can’t say. No, he didn’t say that directly. But that’s exactly what he means. ‘The gloves come off’ means break, steal, kill. Anything and everything. He knows there will be a heavy price to pay in the end, but he’s willing to pay it. I’m willing to pay it too. I can’t look into the eyes of another mother whose child’s blood is smeared across the soles of my shoes and explain to her why I failed. I can’t—I can’t.”
Cade walked out the sliding glass door and onto the back patio to find Kyle and Jana looking at one another in an abrupt silence. Kyle cleared his throat.
Cade said, “Did I interrupt something? Cool Mac, how much time do we have?”
“No worries, Romeo,” teased Kyle. “No, seriously, we’re going to be fine. We’ve got about thirty minutes before we leave. Then, it’s go-time. Oh, and both of you listen up. HRT is giving you twenty-five minutes to get in and out of there.”
“What?” said Cade. “Why the timeline?”
Kyle replied, “Remember, once you’re inside we won’t have any communication with you. You can’t carry anything electronic since it appears they track and monitor all of that. If you had any type of device on you, it might trigger an alarm somewhere. That means we can’t put a wire on you. It’s just too risky. The same is true for your cell phones. Go ahead and hand them to me and I’ll put them in my pack until you’re out of there. We won’t have comm with you. Other than listening in to what we can hear on the other floors, there’s no way we’ll know what’s going on once you enter the building. You’ve got to get in, grab that data, and get out without Virginia farm boys being any the wiser.”
“Oh, you’re full of good news,” said Cade. “Shit. Twenty-five minutes should be plenty, but damn. Look, I’ve been thinking. The thing is, we can’t just sneak in there and download data off of Rupert Johnston’s laptop. It will be too obvious. The breach will be detected in the morning. They’d see what data was breached, and they’d put two and two together. They’d know the FBI or someone was onto them.”
A vein in Kyle’s forehead throbbed. “But if they find out we’re onto them, the terror cell might not get further instructions from all those e-mails going out. The break in communication could signal them to carry out their final, pre-planned objective, whatever that is.” He looked at Jana with immediate concern. “So what the hell do we do? Goddammit, why didn’t I think of that? We’ve got to get this data without being caught.”
Cade put his hand on Kyle’s shoulder and joked, “You didn’t think of it because you never studied. And because you were so busy with women chasing you, you never had time to . . . well, never had time to think.”
“All right, genius, what do we do?”
For the first time in the investigation, Cade looked confident, almost as if he was now in his element.
“We’re going to plant a virus on Johnston’s computer,” said Cade.
Kyle and Jana’s eyes squinted, but Cade continued.
“We’ll download the data first, plant a computer virus on his laptop, then get the hell out of there—simple. Why are you looking at me like that? Don’t you get it?”
“No,” said Kyle.
Cade laughed then glanced at Jana. “He never studied. Look, by planting the virus, it will screw the entire computer up. They won’t even be able to tell anything was downloaded. Just in case, we’ll download his entire hard drive. That way, even if they are suspicious, they won’t be able to know someone accessed his system with a specific agenda to download specific data. The assholes won’t know what we were after since we’ll download everything.”
Jana put her hand on Cade’s chest, which sent goose bumps down his spine. “That’s brilliant, Cade, brilliant.”
Cade turned three shades of red and averted his eyes, obviously proud of himself.
“I’ll get it ready.” He started to walk away, but turned back. “Hey, shouldn’t Jana and I be seen in Buckhead first? You know, seen on a security camera or something, like we’re on a date? They might think to check that kind of thing out . . . assuming we get caught, that is. I mean, if we get caught, couldn’t the CIA access whatever security cameras they wanted? Wouldn’t they want to check out our story?”
Cool Mac and Jana looked at each other. Each knew Cade had unearthed another critical point that they had missed.
“Son of a bitch,” said Jana.