“I admire your idealism,” Merry smirked. “But we need to face one fact: spying is a business. Here, let me lube your brain so the concept slides in…”
“What is going on in that dark mind of yours today?”
Merry went back to hacking. “Think of it like this…”
“James Bond never had to put up with this shit,” Jayne muttered.
“What are you talking about? All that guy did was schmooze.”
As Merry finished making her point, the office door opened. A man in a well-tailored suit wandered in. He looked around the makeshift space before settling his bemused gaze onto Jayne and Merry. He checked the address on his handset and looked at the girls again. He blinked. “I’m looking for the Interstellar Spy Agency?”
Jayne noted he was good looking— erudite, but a little vanilla for her taste. “Yes, that’s us,” she said, sitting a little straighter. “What can we do for you?”
“I’m sorry,” his tone was polite but confused. “I expected you to be older. Though I must be in the right place. The… ISA?”
Merry offered the man a handshake. “Welcome to the Interstellar Spy-for-Hire Agency. No case too big, no problem too small—” She caught Jayne’s eye. “But we don’t do cheating husbands or pre-nup violations. We also don’t handle civil disturbance cases.”
The man raised an eyebrow.
Jayne cleared her throat. “Won’t you come in? I’m Jayne, this is Merry. So,” she pointed the one other chair in her office, “please have a seat.”
The man examined the chair briefly before sitting, squeezing the length of the arm rests and the framework of the back. Once he finally sat, he shifted his focus to all of the corners and windowpanes in the office.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Something wrong?”
His eyes snapped back to her. He began typing on his handset. “No, no. Merely admiring the molding.” He held the handset out for her to read. Are we alone?
“Oh yeah,” Jayne nodded, “just you and me.”
Merry whistled a note for recognition.
“And Merry.”
The man cleared his throat. “I meant ‘not monitored.’”
“This spot is 100% bug free.” Merry gave him a thumbs-up. “That’s why they call me the exterminator.”
“How do I know that?”
Jayne was frustrated with this guy’s roundabout approach to everything. “You can check, if you want.”
The man smiled gratefully. He nodded and proceeded to search over every windowpane and under the chair, the settee, the desk, and Merry’s purse. Jayne thought he was going to whip a microscope out of his pocket and start testing the dust on the floor.
“I feel kind of violated,” Merry muttered to Jayne as he worked.
Eventually the man sat back down, his intensity somewhat settled now. “Sorry Miss, but I have to be sure. You know how it is. Can’t be too careful.”
Something in her gut fluttered. She did. Although, it was strange that an average Joe would say something like that. Jayne crinkled her brow. “What brings you here?”
“I’ll cut to the chase,” the man said, straightening his narrow tie. “I work for the government and I’m on the team that’s trying to push through the Tarem Treaty. And I am currently being blackmailed.”
Jayne felt the blood leave her face. Merry inhaled sharply. Armaros and the Tarem Ring had this simmering hate and mistrust for each other that had been resting just below the boiling point for decades.
Jayne forced her mind back into her body. “I’m not from around here, so my understanding is all I can remember from Planet History Week in Armaros 101. So tell me specifically: what is the Tarem Treaty trying to do?”
The man opened his mouth to speak, but Merry excitedly cut him off. “Armaros and Tarem don’t like each other too much, right? In class, everyone learned about the Tetchivans and how their exodus planted the seeds for the current tensions between Armaros and Tarem.”
The man nodded as Merry spoke. He tried to get a word in. “That’s correct,” was all he managed.
“So, the planet and Tarem hate each other,” Jayne pulled one knee to her chest, leaving the other foot on the floor. “And Armaros resents Tarem’s population. They call them parasites, yeah?”
The man nodded. “Yes. And Tarem resents Armaros’ control over most of the available resources.”
Jayne rested her chin on her knee. “Fair enough.”
Merry piped up again. “So the Treaty is the wild card here?”
The man furrowed his brow. “The wild card?” He rubbed his thumb against the inside of his wrist, something that Jayne knew was an old trick for getting rid of a headache. “The Treaty is a major hot button right now, a real minefield. Even Armaros’ government is divided on this one, which is rather telling considering Armaros would benefit from this thing no matter what.”
Jayne started connecting the dots. “Those for the Treaty say it would build on the fragile truce between us and them because we’d be sharing resources, but we all know how that tends to turn out…”
Merry was feeling a groove, her inner conspiracy nut coming to the surface. “So, when we talk about those who hate the Treaty. They think it will make Tarem folk into Armaros’ slaves, or at least really dependent on Amaros for… Well, everything.”
“I can’t comment on that. It’s not my job.”
Jayne glared at Merry, a silent order to stop talking. “Understood. It sounds like the real conundrum here is that the Tetchivan Trade Agreement is supposed to be put to a vote, not pushed through by secret Government puppetry.”
The man shifted awkwardly in his chair. “I’m not sure that’s in my scope either. Rather, my official position does not give me liberty to talk about these things. I know only of my one job I must do.”
“Okay,” Jayne said. “Do you know who’s doing the blackmailing then?”
“I’m assuming, based on the messages, that it’s someone who thinks this treaty would make the planet slaves to the Tarem Ring.”
Jayne sat up in her chair. “Go on.”
“I don’t know if it will make us slaves or not, but I do know my job is to get that treaty to go through at all costs.” The man paused again. “Even a personal one.”
Jayne perked up. “What does he have on you?”
“My niece—she’s 15, and terminally ill. He’s using her to get to me. I have to get the Treaty through at all costs. Both civilizations are depending on it, millions of lives. But I’m in a precarious position now… because of her.”
Jayne felt a brief pang in her chest. “How come?”
“Her treatments haven’t been approved,” he explained. “They’re still in the testing phase, but they’re working. I can see it. The problem is, I had to pull a couple of strings to get her help.”
“Oh,” Jayne nodded. “And who, or what, was attached to the end of those strings?”
“A scientist I met on the job.”
Jayne held his eye contact. “Go on,” she urged.
The man inhaled as if trying to release the tension from his body. “He… he had the connection to get her into the trials,” he explained. “I was so desperate that I…”
“You did what you had to do for your family,” Jayne finished. “I respect that. But I need to know, what exactly is the evidence he has that your niece shouldn’t be on this program?”
The man gazed down at his shoes. Jayne could feel a certain nervous energy in him, buzzing frantically before a final crash. “He has the messages. Between me and the scientist.”
Merry stood up, eager to start working. “Would you be willing to let me take them off your device?” she asked.
He looked at her for a moment, then at Jayne, as if deciding whether he could trust them. Then, slowly, he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out his compact tablet. “Okay.”
Merry took the tablet from him slowly, as though she were dealing with a skittish animal. “You’re in good hands,” she reassu
red him with a surprisingly comforting tone. “I swear. What was your name again?”
“Wilson. Gerald Wilson.”
Merry nodded before collecting her laptop and getting comfortable on the settee again. The energy around her was a mix of intense focus and Zen flow.
Jayne turned back to Gerald. “Can you think of anyone who might have it in for you?”
“Not personally, but I’m assuming this position with the committee has made me a target.”
“It seems so. Any inkling who specifically?”
“Anyone who has a vested interest in blocking this treaty,” he explained, his face now showing the tension that he’d been hiding. “The situation between us and the Federation is dicey, to say the least. The Tetchivan Trade Agreement—named after the Tetchivans, who built this structure a century before they left—is supposed to be sending survival materials…”
“Like what?”
“Metals, steel, carbon fibers, nitrates for agriculture… The building blocks. This treaty would commit the planet to sending a certain amount.”
“In exchange for what?”
“For not being invaded by the Tarem Ring. The planet’s population is shrinking, while Tarem’s is growing.”
“And you think this treaty will keep the civil unrest to a minimum?”
He sighed. “It doesn’t matter what I think. My job is to get this through because it is our best chance to stop an invasion from happening.”
Jayne was pensive for several moments.
Merry continued to tap away on her laptop, engrossed in getting the messages off their new client’s device.
Gerald broke the silence. “Do you think you can help me?” he pressed.
Jayne stood up. “I know I can.” She offered Gerald a handshake. He smiled and accepted.
Jayne exhaled. “The fee is 15,000 credits. Half now. Half on completion. That’s my flat rate. I charge an additional 10% if we complete the assignment within the week.”
“The blackmailer gave me a deadline of five days.”
“What happens in five days?”
“The Treaty will be signed into law.”
“Well then, I guess we get that bonus if we solve it in time, don’t we?”
Merry handed the compact tablet back to Gerald. “I got the files and I’m running a search. We’ll take it from here.”
Jayne couldn’t tell if Gerald was relieved or drained behind his smart suit and composed government employee exterior.
“Okay. We better get started,” Jayne continued, guiding him towards the door. “We’ll be in touch soon.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Theron Techcropolis Gateway Building, L45, Theron Techcropolis, Armaros
Jayne waited for Gerald’s footsteps to fade into the distance. “Okay, lay it on me, Winterbourne. What’s your theory?”
“Undecided,” Merry frowned. “That guy left me with a ton of questions. Questions he didn’t seem willing to answer.”
“Same here. What did you find?”
Merry looked up briefly from her tablet. “I don’t know yet, but I started to notice the excessive encryption keys from nowhere. Something is odd here.”
“Agreed,” Jayne walked to her desk for her kava. “He’s obviously in deep with the Treaty stuff, but that’s real desperation for someone who looks as squeaky clean as Gerald to roll the dice with this girl’s life. Clinical trials happen all the time. You sign some informed consent forms, waive a couple rights to sue, and — poof! You’re a lab rat.”
Merry shrugged. “I guess it depends on how you define ‘experimental’,” Merry mused.
Jayne held her kava cup close to her mouth, about to drink. “Well we know this isn’t some double-blind thing with sugar pills.”
“Ooh, that sounds kinky when you say it. Say it again, Mistress!”
Jayne smirked and blushed a little.
Merry’s eyes were back on her screen as she typed away. “Any thoughts on how we stop the blackmailer?”
“Hmmm,” Jayne pursed her lips. “Good question. I suppose my first question would be what else do we know for sure?”
“Indeed.”
“We know the blackmailer’s motives. We know this girl being in the trial isn’t legal for whatever reason, and we know Gerald probably doesn’t go around breaking rules because I have the feeling he sucks at it. I think we need to nail down who this blackmailer is first.”
Merry thought for a moment. “Well, it’s someone who knows what’s going on with the treaty. And someone who knows who can influence the outcome and has something to hide.”
“That little factoid narrows it down a bit,” Jayne agreed. “So who would know that Gerald has something to hide? Who could find that kind of thing out?”
Merry inhaled deeply and rattled off her list in her exhale. “Subversive hackers, coworkers, ex-coworkers who think the Treaty is bullshit, high school kids who get bored in Computer Home Room, politicians’ wives, maybe? Evil geniuses, activists gone rogue, spies…”
Jayne arched an eyebrow. “Correct on all counts.”
Merry frowned. “Good luck narrowing that down. It could be the Governor’s wife, for all we know.”
“Also true.” Jayne stretched out on the couch and covered her eyes with her hands.
Merry went back to reading Gerald’s downloaded messages. “The question is, who on this list would actually care to target Gerald through his niece, Celia?”
Jayne glanced over. “The blackmailer names her in the messages?”
Merry nodded.
“Hmm. Maybe they were hired to care, like we’re hired to care.”
“So it’s back to the spies, then?”
“Just reaching for what’s familiar, I guess.” Jayne sat up. “How would we identify the blackmailer as an espionage type?”
“Secret handshake? It’s not like you people wear flashing arrows. I don’t know. What did the Academy teach you about how to smell your own?”
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” Jayne shrugged. “There wasn’t a set of instructions, but we tend to take certain avenues others don’t notice.”
“You mean you think this guy knew exactly how to go for the jugular?”
Jayne nodded. “He was probably studying Gerald for weeks, maybe months, before all this went down. That would certainly explain the fear of bugs. Gerald probably got a sense that he was being watched.”
Merry stopped typing for a moment. “I think it’s too soon to assume it was anyone just yet. It could be the mad scientist Gerald propositioned for all we know. The real proof is going to be in the meta-data of these messages.”
Jayne felt a little discouraged, but Merry was right. They knew just as much about the blackmailer as they did about Gerald’s fringe scientist.
Jayne’s tone changed to idle curiosity. “You think Gerald is being honest with us?”
Merry shook her head. “The guy is a walking question mark. Also – Psycho exes? Maybe?”
“Wouldn’t he have mentioned something like that?”
“Depends on how ashamed he might be,” Merry shrugged. “I mean, what if he’s into dressing like a teddy bear or som---”
“Okay, okay,” Jayne shook her head and raised her hand to keep the image from her brain.
Ah, crap. Too late.
“You get my point, but I think you also see that he is still hiding something. That interview wasn’t full disclosure.”
Jayne nodded slowly. “I think we need to investigate Mr. Wilson and learn more about him. This will give us insight into who has access to him, and hence who the blackmailer is. A lot of people hate the government but wouldn’t think to target him. We also need to find out how publicly known his relationship is to the Treaty.” She paused. “What’s your first impression of those messages?”
Merry’s eyes scanned back and forth as she flicked them open again on her screen. “Both parties seem scared to give up the juicy bits in the messages. They’re a little too
banal, but I saw a couple of recurring themes and seemingly significant dates.”
“Hmmm,” Jayne pondered. “We need to find that scientist and check out his treatment notes. I’ll bet they correspond to those dates.”
“Good thought.”
“What else?”
Merry beckoned for Jayne to follow her to her laptop. “I don’t trust anyone who would work for the government, so I’ve been working on tracing where these messages originated from. I hacked into both Gerald’s home and professional networks.”
“Anything yet?”
Merry furrowed her brow. “I think I’m close. The recorded browser history and temp file directory looked innocuous enough, but Gerald seemed a little too paranoid to leave traces in the usual scorned wife locations.”
Jayne watched Merry access Gerald’s modem and antivirus logs remotely. Jayne felt like she was watching archives of a Kung Fu master raking a rock garden. She felt a small platonic flutter in her heart for this sardonic nerd girl.
“Woah, mama,” Merry catcalled.
“What is it?” Jayne knelt next to Merry to look over her shoulder.
“Look at these protocols. What do you see?”
“Looks like he did it all anonymously. So what?”
“You don’t find it suspicious that he would be looking for healthcare for his niece completely anonymously? He said this was a scientist he met at work.”
Jayne shrugged and squinted reading the history.
“Look closer,” Merry urged. “What do you notice about the protocols?”
Jayne tried to put herself into Merry’s utterly conspiratorial headspace and looked again. She was able to spot asymmetric key-encryption programs, but that wasn’t so odd. Jayne searched Merry’s countenance for a clue, but she was still looking at Jayne expectantly and gesticulated at the screen.
“It’s basic PKI,” Jayne shrugged. “I don’t see what’s got your panties in a wad.”
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