Flags of The Forgoten

by Stallcup, Heath

  Bobby held the uniform at arm’s length. “I’m no cake eater.”

  “If it gets us through the road blocks, you can pretend to be the Sultan of Siam.” Jay pushed passed him and grabbed the box. “Hustle up. Time’s wasting.”

  Gregg slipped his computer into its bag and jogged over to the others. “The info bomb is ready to go. Once we are in the air and connected to wifi, the whole world will know what we know.”

  Bobby reached out and took him by the shoulder. “Should we send it this soon? I don’t want to tip our hand with Langley.”

  Gregg shot him a toothy grin. “The plan you fellas came up with? There’s no way they could expect that coming.”

  Jay finished buttoning his BDU blouse and walked over to Bobby. “You certain you can hit a target that small?”

  Bobby nodded as he tugged the pants over his trousers. “Unless there’s an unexpected gust of wind, yeah.”

  “It’s not like we have the best of luck, buddy.”

  Bobby pulled the BDU blouse on and tugged it over his polo, stretching the material to button it. “I don’t see as we have much choice. The exit strategy is spot on. Getting to the upper levels? This is the only way I see it happening.”

  Gregg hopped up and down, shoving his leg into the pants. “I can only give you ten or fifteen seconds to clear the roof. After that the sensors will be online again and…” He shrugged.

  “It will work.” Bobby pulled the cap low on his head and reached for the MOLLE vest. “It’s our only option.”

  Jeff stood by, listening, and finally stepped forward. “May I ask what the hell you have planned?”

  Jay glanced to the others then smiled. “What about plausible deniability?”

  “Like they’ll ask me.” Jeff nudged him. “What do you boys have planned?”

  Bobby stood and squared his shoulders. “We’re busting into Langley.”

  Jeff’s mouth fell open and he stared between the men’s faces, ensuring that his ears didn’t deceive him. “And how the hell do you plan to do that?”

  Jay sighed and pointed to Bobby. “He’s gonna fly to the roof and those two idiots are walking in through the front door.”

  Jeff gave him a confused stare. “Oh really?”

  Gregg smiled. “I’ve been pinging their security systems. I can shut down the roof sensors and the stairwell sensors but the system automatically reboots them.” He pointed to Jim and Steve. “Since I’ve started the havoc, there’s been a work order for these two technicians to arrive first thing tomorrow evening and replace the faulty sensors.”

  “And Bobby is ‘flying’ to the roof?”

  Gregg shrugged. “The techs will be in the basement. There’s no way to get them to the upper levels and that’s where the computers are. So, young Mr. Bridger there will have to parachute in and work his way down.”

  Jeff shook his head. “The roof has infrared sensors. As soon as he lands, they’ll know he’s there.”

  Gregg nodded. “That’s why he has to land on the roof access itself. Then I can shut down the sensors and give him a ten to fifteen-second window to hop down, enter the roof access, and work his way below.”

  Jeff’s mouth hung open. “The airspace is monitored. There’s no way he could—”

  “HALO jump,” Bobby interrupted.

  Jeff leaned against the side of the car, his eyes widening. “You’re going to make a HALO jump, land on a roof access that is…what? Ten by fifteen?”

  Gregg nodded. “Pretty much.”

  “To what end? What good will it do you to get access to the upper floors?”

  Bobby sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose. “The files that Roger got us…they’re encrypted. The only computer that can decrypt it is there.”

  “And they’re air gapped,” Gregg groaned. “So, it’s this or nothing.”

  Jeff shook his head and closed the rear hatch of the Rover. “You boys have lost your ever loving minds.”

  Jay patted his shoulder. “Thanks for the help, Jeff. Look us up when you get stateside.”

  “I hope it’s not in a prison cell!” Jeff called to the retreating men. He watched them mount their vehicles and pull out onto to the streets. For a brief moment he envisioned them as any other military patrol.

  He climbed back into his SUV and turned the opposite direction. “Godspeed, boys.”

  Somewhere in VA

  * * *

  ROGER ADJUSTED THE heater in the rental car and glanced at the outside temperature readout on the dash. He wouldn’t have thought that 72 degrees would feel cold, but after returning from Pakistan, he figured his internal thermostat would take a few days to readjust.

  He slowed the rental and pulled to the side of the road. With a penlight in his mouth, he scanned the map. Bridger said that Gregg would have somebody contact him at specific coordinates, but he was having trouble with the location. He glanced at his phone then up at the nearly empty stretch of road.

  “This is the right place.” He glanced at his watch and verified the time. “Right time.” He sighed and slumped in his seat. He had just pulled the penlight from his mouth when a loud bang on the passenger window made him jump.

  “Jeezus! Don’t do that!” Roger leaned forward and retrieved the penlight from the floor. With his other hand he clicked the unlock button and watched as the passenger door opened.

  A thin brunette slipped into the passenger seat and pointed down the road. “Drive.”

  “Yeah, nice to meet you too,” Roger grumbled as he put the rental into gear. “Where are we going?”

  “I’ll show you.” She sat quietly in the other seat and although she seemed relatively small and diminutive, Roger felt that she could probably kill him three different ways with just her thumb.

  “I’m Roger, by the way.”

  “I know.”

  He blew his breath out hard and continued driving. He glanced at the small woman and noted her staring out the windows and into the night sky. After a few more miles, he finally opted to break the silence. “You are?”

  “None of your damned business.” She pointed to the left. “Take that road.”

  “It would help if I knew where we were—”

  “I’m sure it would.” She glared at him. “Do you always talk so much?”

  “Only when I’m nervous. And yes, you make me nervous.”

  “Good.”

  Roger clenched his jaw and continued driving while she silently pointed out the roads for him to take. After what seemed like the second time driving around in the same circle, Roger slowed the car. “We’ve passed that building twice that I’m sure of. What they hell are you doing?”

  “Making certain we aren’t being tailed.”

  Roger groaned. “Paranoid much?”

  She pulled her head back into the car and glared at him. “Are you really that naïve?”

  “Nobody knows we’re here. I don’t have a fucking clue what we’re doing here. I don’t even know who you are.”

  He could see her jaw tick. Her eyes narrowed. “I’m Jay’s wife. Now drive.”

  Roger did a double take. “I didn’t know that he was—”

  “And does it matter?” she nearly yelled. “Does it change what needs to be done one little bit?”

  Roger shrugged. “Maybe if I knew what we were doing I could answer that.”

  She huffed. “You’ll find out when we do it.”

  “Oh, great.” He slumped in his seat and said in a mocking tone, “Hey Rog, go back to the states and do us a couple of favors. No biggie. Just meet this really scary, mean lady and let her boss you around some.”

  The woman twisted in her seat and continued to stare at him. “I thought you were a trained field agent for the FBI?”

  Roger snorted. “I used to be. Now, I’m pretty sure I’m a fugitive and all I did was my fucking job.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter then slammed on the brakes, sliding the rental in the gravel of the dirt road. “So tell ya what. You tell me what t
he hell we’re about to do or one of us is walking back.”

  She continued to glare at him and he did his best to glare back. When she didn’t flinch he gave her a soft smile. “Fine.” He turned off the ignition and pulled the key. “Have a fun walk back to wherever the hell you came from. I’ll report the car stolen in the morning.”

  He opened the door and felt her thin fingers wrap around the back of his neck like a vice and pull him back into the car. “Start the car and let’s get moving again.”

  “Not until you tell me what—”

  His words were cut short when he saw the 1911 45 caliber pistol pointed at him. “Just drive.” Her features softened for just a moment then she lowered the gun. “We’re almost there. Then I’ll tell you what we have to do.”

  Roger stared at her and waited until the pistol disappeared. He slowly slipped the key back into the ignition and started the car. “The gun wasn’t necessary.”

  She nodded softly. “It might be before we’re done.”

  He put the car into drive and pulled back onto the road. He glanced at her as he drove; he saw her shoulders finally relax back into the passenger seat.

  “I’m Lisa.”

  Roger grunted. “See. That didn’t hurt, did it?”

  She turned to him again. “The less we know about each other, the better.”

  “How’s that?”

  “If this goes sideways, we can’t tell them what we don’t know.” She tapped the side of her head with her finger. “They can’t know that the boys are coming. Believe me, it’s better this way.”

  Roger swallowed hard and nodded. After a moment he turned to her. “So, you’re married to Jay?”

  “Just drive.”

  Langley, VA

  * * *

  “YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that our encryption isn’t crackable?” Darren Chesterfield could feel his hands shake as he spoke on the phone.

  “Hey man, nothing is uncrackable. If you have enough cash, everything is fair game.”

  He fought to keep his voice from breaking as he spoke. “And how would one go about doing that?”

  “Well…” The voice seemed preoccupied. Or stoned. Perhaps sleep deprived. “If you had access to a supercomputer…and our current database of decryption algorithms…and a couple of years, then maybe you could get into it.”

  “A couple of years? So…there’s no way to crack them faster?”

  “Dude, you trying to get into something you shouldn’t be?”

  “Just answer my questions, you…” He sighed and forced his blood pressure to lower. “Please, just tell me. If somebody had gotten copies of encrypted files…what would it take?”

  The voice on the phone blew its breath out hard and paused, thinking. “The only REAL way I can think of, and by far the easiest, would be to get them to somebody who worked for us. Either blackmail them or pay them to decrypt the files for you. But even then, they’d have to print them. Just because the computer opens the files, doesn’t mean they stay that way. You can’t just open them and then take your hard drive to another computer and read them.”

  “So, they stay encrypted?”

  “Duh. Otherwise, what’s the point.”

  “And the computers are all air gapped, right?”

  “Again, duh. Otherwise, you’re defeating the purpose.”

  Chesterfield breathed a sigh of relief. “Excellent.” He leaned back in his chair and felt the weight of the world fall from his shoulders. “I think I’m good to go then.”

  “Hey man, if you need any more technical advice, just—”

  Darren hung up the phone and pinched his eyes shut. He glanced at the clock and wondered why he hadn’t received some word back on Bridger and his cohorts. “Would they go to ground?”

  He suddenly bolted forward and brought his computer to life. “Safe houses in the area?” He began collecting all of the known safe houses from every agency. He couldn’t know if Bridger and his crew had government contacts, but if they were stupid enough to use one and try to ride out the storm…he’d find them.

  Karachi, Pakistan

  * * *

  MAMOON HELD HIS phone high in the air. “They are spotted!”

  Balil stomped on his cigarette and pushed past Sameer. “Where are they?”

  “My people spotted them going to different properties that we know are owned by Muhammed.” He shook his head. “It appears as though his own people are searching for him.”

  Sameer groaned. “They are simply after the reward.”

  “Argh!” Balil clenched his fists and shook them at the sky. “I want to find him first.” He spun and glared at the two other men. “For Tariq.”

  “I know.” Mamoon tried to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder but Balil pulled away. “I will not be treated as a child.” He stepped back and squared his shoulders. “He has been your friend for many years, Mamoon. Tell us where he would go.”

  Mamoon held his hands up, trying to placate his employee and friend. “I do not know, Balil. I swear to you. Otherwise I would tell—”

  “It’s them!” a voice screamed.

  Mamoon, Balil and Sameer all turned at the same time to see what the excitement was about. “They are the ones! See? They still have the paint on their hands!”

  A crowd began to form and Mamoon stepped between the crowd and his friends. “What is going on here?”

  “You are Mamoon-ur-Rasheed, yes?”

  Mamoon nodded, taking a half step back. “I am.”

  “It is on the television. You created the flags for the demonstration! Your flags killed people!” The man in front of the crowd urged them on. “Get them!”

  Sameer pulled the pistol from his pocket and stepped beside Mamoon, firing into the air. “Stop this!” He fired again then leveled the weapon on the crowd. “Now!”

  “He is responsible! He killed my brother!” Another man yelled, pushing his through the crowd. “He shall pay!”

  Sameer leveled the pistol on the man and stepped forward. “He did no such thing.” He pulled the hammer back and glared at the crowd, daring the men to advance. “He got the order from Muhammed al-Abadi. He ordered the flags.” Sameer shook his head slowly. “Whatever happened to them after we created them…we cannot say. But I can tell you that Mamoon would not do such a thing.”

  Balil pushed past Sameer and pointed his finger at the men. “Muhammed al-Abadi is responsible. He killed Tariq…” His voice cracked as the sobs formed in his throat. “He was just a child.”

  “We saw it on the television. People near your flags were dying in the streets before the smoke from the chemical plant got there.” Spittle flew from the man’s mouth as he screamed. “They say that the only thing in common to the people who fell in the streets were your flags! As each burned, people died!”

  Mamoon held his hands in the air and yelled to the crowd. “Calm yourselves! We did not do this thing you say!” He stepped forward and gently pushed Sameer’s arm down, pointing the gun to the ground. “We can show you. There are no chemicals in our business other than paint. All you have to do is see it yourself.”

  The lead man turned to the crowd and shook his fist in the air. “They cannot shoot us all! Get them!”

  Sameer brought the pistol up and fired the first round into the leader of the pack as Mamoon and Balil turned and fled for the car.

  22

  Near Langley, VA

  * * *

  LISA PULLED THE rolling door to the side and Roger drove the car slowly into the old garage. “I can’t believe you had us drive all over the country just to come back here.”

  “I had to be certain we weren’t tailed.” She walked past him and pulled a tarp off of a pile of metal parts.

  “What is that?” Roger stepped forward and couldn’t even make out the shapes from the clumps of grass hanging off of the assorted pieces.

  “Metal ramps. With ghillie suit scraps covering most of it.”

  Roger stared at her as though she had lost her
everloving mind. “What…why?”

  She raised a brow at him. “Want to ask ‘when’ and ‘where’ just to cover all of your bases?”

  “Just…what the hell?”

  Lisa sighed and planted her hands on her hips. “I don’t know all of the details, and to be honest, I don’t want to. All I know is we are supposed to sneak these onto the edge of the property. The other side of the fence.”

  Roger held his hands up and took a step back. “Break onto the grounds…at Langley?”

  She nodded and pointed to the ramps. “I can’t load them or set them up by myself.”

  “But…why? What purpose do they serve?”

  She gave him that look. “The less we know, remember?”

  Roger groaned and shook his head. “Fine. What do we do with them?”

  “We load them up and deliver them to Langley under the cover of darkness.”

  Roger glanced at his watch. “That’s less than three hours.” He shook his head. “There’s no way we can breach their—”

  “Gregg sent me the directions. He knows where all of their surveillance systems are set up. He said that where we are going, they don’t watch.”

  “They watch EVERYTHING. This is the fucking Agency we’re talking about here.”

  Lisa glared at him, her hands shaking. “Are you going to help me or are you gonna bitch out, Mr. G-man?”

  Roger stretched his neck then turned and looked at his rental car. “There’s no way they’re going to fit in that.”

  She pointed to edge of the garage and an old shuttle bus. “We use that.”

  “A shuttle?”

  “Just open the back and help me load these, will ya?”

  Roger sighed and walked to the rear of the bus. He pulled at the handle and the doors opened, making a ripping sound as the dried weatherstrip peeled loose from the doors. He looked inside and did a double take. Layers of dirt and dust covered everything in sight. “Are you sure this thing will even start?”