by Barry Becker
was the Ministry of the Interior’s IT director. Ericksen thought these men were likely the heads of security for their respective depart- ments. Everyone shook hands with Ericksen and Kruger before they took their seats.
“Sorry about the weather, Herr Ericksen,” Hartmann said in English.
Ericksen and Kruger smiled at the remark. “Director Hartmann, Ericksen is used to the rain where he comes from,” Kruger said. As EyeD4 System’s distributor in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Kruger’s company, Zugspitze Systems, had installed over one hundred EyeD4 Access Systems at several important facilities a year ago on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior’s pilot program.
On the table next to each person was a bottle of mineral water, a notepad, and a pen. Director Hartmann looked around and placed his hands on the table. The woman gave him several contracts written in English and took a seat next to him.
The German Ministry’s IT director pointed to Hartmann, glanced at everyone around the table and interjected, “Based on the input we received at the conclusion of our pilot program trials, the perfor- mance, accuracy, and reliability of your systems exceeded our expec- tations. The EyeD4 Access System has proven to be the most reliable biometrics system we have ever tested.”
Ericksen and Kruger looked at the IT director and nodded in agreement. He pointed his finger toward Ericksen. “We tried many times to defeat your system and were unsuccessful. We have accepted your bid and are awarding your company the contracts.” The woman handed the contracts to Ericksen, who immediately looked at Kruger, nodded, and then looked approvingly at the director. “Thank you, sir.”
“Let’s focus on the key points so that we can hopefully agree,” Director Hartmann said.
Over the next twenty minutes, they went over the contracts, which indicated that the installations were to be delivered in phases. The contracts focused on the quantity of the EyeD4 Access Systems, their readers, intelligent controllers, software, and firmware, which were written in German, and strict instructions stipulating the ship-
ments would be picked up by the German government’s contracted trucking carrier at EyeD4 System’s facility in Wilsonville, Oregon.
Each department had budgetary control over their requirements, thus, the need for several contracts. “As you can see in the contracts, we’ll have four ship dates,” said Hartmann.
Ericksen turned to Hartmann, who was sitting to his right, “Based on the numbers I’m confident we’ll be able to comply with the dates and have ample time to get things approved by the Department of Commerce as well as State.”
He narrowed his eyes, “I must warn you, Herr Ericksen, there are penalties if your company doesn’t make the ship dates on time.”
He thought for a moment. “I understand, sir.”
Kruger made a note of the dates for each order, knowing that his company would be responsible for the training, installation, and technical support.
Ten minutes later, Ericksen signed all of the contracts and gave them back to the director for all of the key principals to sign.
“I’ll FedEx the contracts overnight to your office. As soon as your CEO signs and returns the contracts, they’ll be valid.”
Kruger cut in and asked, “What are your plans for the EyeD4- Comm’s palm subcutaneous vein security system?”
Hartmann placed the contracts in a neat pile and took a gulp of water. “We were impressed with the demo at the German Chan- cellery recently. Since it is still in a beta-test mode, we’ll wait and see. However, once your government officially endorses the system, we’ll contact you and send a delegation to your office.”
Ericksen sighed.
After the meeting, Ericksen and Kruger left the ministry at 7:00 pm for their dinner appointment. The windshield wipers were engaged at full speed as the rain grew in intensity, generating a rhythmic beat on the car’s windshield. His thoughts centered on the orders his company should be receiving next week: Three years of busting my ass are starting to pay off.
The car pulled up to the five-star Adlon Hotel Kempinski, where a valet approached. The valet handed Kruger a ticket with a number and took the car keys. At that moment, an armored Mercedes SUV
pulled up, and a tall gentleman in his early forties, with close- cropped blond hair and dressed in an elegant, brown herringbone suit, greeted Herr Kruger. Ericksen spotted the man’s handgun partially hidden under his suit. Two bodyguards got out of the car and followed Ulrich Genscher, the BND Director (German Foreign Intelligence Service).
“Heinrich,” yelled Genscher. Kruger turned around and saw Genscher. The men greeted each other and entered the lobby of the hotel. Kruger turned to both men and motioned for them to follow him up the hotel lobby stairway to the second-floor restaurant. The Lorenz Adlon Esszimmer had a two-star Michelin rating. The restau- rant epitomized culinary excellence in Europe. One of the body- guards followed and found a seat outside of the restaurant entrance. The maitre d’ met them, handed them menus, and escorted them to a table by the fireplace. The entire restaurant was crafted in beautiful wood paneling. The other bodyguard sat at a small table where he could watch Genscher. Over the next ten minutes, the men enjoyed their mugs of premium Berlin beer.
“Herr Ericksen, you’re fortunate to have appointed Herr Kruger. He happened to be one of the finest German foreign intelligence directors we ever had, and my mentor,” Genscher said with vigor. Kruger sighed and lightly slapped Genscher’s back.
“That’s why I hired him,” Ericksen said. He had realized some time earlier that if EyeD4 Systems was to be a major global provider to foreign governments and their ministries, he needed to appoint the best distributors, those who had access to the key decision- makers and enjoyed excellent reputations.
“My friends at Langley shared with me how well the EyeD4 Comm has performed during the pilot program, and frankly, we need all the tools to fight global terrorism and cyber warfare, especially technology that is virtually impossible for terrorists and hackers to penetrate.”
He nodded in agreement. He knew that EyeD4 Systems made the best dual-biometrics access control and computer communications systems, and were virtually impossible to compromise. Having spent the past three years targeting, pioneering, and capturing the US
government and defense business; he recognized even though the orders were small in the beginning, he was building a solid founda- tion for the company to grow and be profitable.
The waiter walked up to the table and spoke in German, “Have you gentlemen decided?” The men all glanced at the menus. Ericksen smelled the roast lamb dish that was served to a man at the next table. “I’ll order the tartare of smoked eel and the sea bass,” Genscher said.
Then the waiter glanced at him. He looked up and said in English, “I’ll go with the smoked eel and the roast lamb.” Kruger ordered the smoked eel and the St. Patrick salmon. The waiter gave Kruger the wine menu, who pondered it for a few moments. “We’ll have the Australian 1998 Tower Estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon.”
“When I was the director, I only wish we would have received information from the CIA on the two Al-Qaeda members who attended the Malaysian meeting and moved to San Diego. During that time Mohamed Atta had been under direct surveillance by the German Federal Police. In fact, all three pilots of the hijacked Amer- ican planes on that ill-fated day of 9/11, Mohamed Atta, Marwan Al- Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah, were part of the Hamburg cell,” Kruger said. Genscher interrupted, “In hindsight, I’m convinced if all of the intelligence services had been aggressive in sharing actionable intel during that critical time, we could have arrested the entire Al-Qaeda
cell in Hamburg.” Ericksen and Kruger nodded in agreement.
“The most unfortunate thing about the 9/11 tragedy had to be the lack of action on the part of senior FBI officials at headquarters who refused to respond to the warnings from their field agents in Phoenix and Minneapolis. This wouldn’t happen in Germany,” said Kruger.
Genscher shook his head. “That
’s for sure.”
He felt uncomfortable with the men’s critical condemnation regarding the failure of the American intelligence community. But he knew they made some good points.
“Hopefully under the Office of the Directorate of National Intelli- gence, this tragedy won’t happen again,” Ericksen said.
The waiter approached with the bottle of wine, uncorked it, and gently poured a little into Kruger’s wine glass. Kruger brought the
glass to his mouth, swirled it around, and, smelling its bouquet, took a taste. He nodded to the waiter and smiled approvingly. The waiter poured the wine into the three gentlemen’s wine glasses.
Kruger studied Genscher, and in a serious tone asked, “How can we persuade the Ministry of Defense to give us a meeting?”
“Please understand they’re still heavily influenced by Handels- dorf Systems,” he said, as he took a sip of his wine. “Even though their biometrics technology doesn’t compare to yours, the company has been in bed with the MoD for over thirty years.”
Ericksen asked, “When can we expect some EyeD4 Access Systems business from your department?”
Genscher sighed, and placed his hand on the table. “If you can deliver all of the Interior Ministry’s orders on time and those systems perform well, I’m confident I can persuade the BND procurement director to place a purchase order.”
Ericksen nodded and smiled, evoking a sense of confidence. He looked at Genscher and Kruger. “I would like to make a toast to you, Herr Genscher, for joining us, and hopefully doing business with the BND someday.” Everyone held their glasses up as they all toasted. “Prost.”
20
ricksen cleared customs at London’s Heathrow Airport on Thursday, April 23, and entered the receiving hall at 7:45 pm. He spotted the man holding a sign with the name Mr.
Tisdale. The driver took his bags and placed them in the trunk of the car and drove to the hotel.
After he had checked into the hotel in Knightsbridge, he took off his coat and suit jacket and placed his laptop computer on the desk in the room. Responding to a discreet knock, he opened the door, and the bellman entered the room with his luggage and the latest edition of the International Herald Tribune. He reached into his pocket and gave the bellman a two-pound sterling coin tip.
“Thank you, sir.”
Ericksen pulled up a chair and glanced at the front page of the newspaper which read, “The Taliban ambushed and killed six Amer- ican soldiers last night on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad.” He tensed up, clenched his fists and teeth. At that moment he thought of his last words to his dying SEAL friend Vinnie Goldman. “Extraction is minutes away bro. You’re going to make it.” He took four deep breaths, repeating his mantra “Mt. Olympus,” and spent the next few minutes meditating.
He finally stood up, walked to the mini-bar, and opened it up with one of the hotel keys. He reached for a bottle of beer, took a swig, and regained his composure. Ericksen never forgot the memory of the Daring Eagles Operation where Bravo Team had lost six of its brothers in a Taliban and Al-Qaeda ambush. When you added Sadozai to that terrible day, the total reached seven brothers.
He felt his smartphone vibrate in his pocket. “Hello.”
“Fico here. I have an update on the Pulaski murder investigation.” “Did they find the killer?”
“No. The only lead that turned up is a water bottle found in the trunk of his car with the name of Banque Matthias Reiter SA, Genève, on it.”
“What does that mean?” asked Ericksen.
“His most recent credit card statement indicated he spent three days in Geneva two weeks before his death.”
“Are you thinking the same thing I am? If Pulaski, Huntington, and Dawkins were involved in a kickback scheme with the warlord, they probably used private numbered accounts,” said Ericksen.
“Precisely. I’ll check my sources and find out what I can about this bank and their procedures for opening up an account.”
“Good. Please keep me updated,” he said. “Roger that.”
The next day’s weather felt a bit chilly, but the skies were clear. He was running in his jogging outfit and a pair of Nike sneakers at a six minute mile pace along the trails of Hyde Park. He passed Kens- ington Gardens and ran several times by Round Pound before heading up Broad Walk north to Bayswater Road. From there he ran to Park Lane to Rotten Row and over the bridge. Once he passed the bridge, he dropped down to Serpentine Road heading east. He was one hundred yards from the deli by Lake Serpentine, running in the zone like an Olympic runner focused on the finishing line when he felt a breeze a few feet in front of him and heard the sound of a bullet ricocheting off a tree to his left nearby. Holy shit! Shots! What the fuck! Ericksen immediately ran to the next tree and hid behind it. Then another shot hit the center of the tree. His heartbeat sped faster, and sweat poured down his face. Where did the shots come from?
He speculated the shots were fired from two hundred yards across the lake, near the Lido Café. He waited a few minutes until he instinctively felt the time was right to emerge. Running at a good pace until he came to Knightsbridge, he caught a glimpse of a lean, tall man about three or four hundred feet away, wearing a jogger’s jacket with a hood, and carrying a large backpack. The man jumped into a black BMW with tinted windows and sped away. Ericksen crossed the street and walked three hundred feet back to his hotel.
After entering the hotel, he handed the bellman a receipt. Twenty seconds later, the bellman gave him his laptop computer from the security room. He opened the door to his room and saw an envelope on the bed. He closed the door and double-locked it. With raised eyebrows, he silently read the note: “Hyde Park was a warning! If you treasure your life – stop this bloody journey.”
Ericksen stood outside the hotel entrance holding his laptop case, glancing at his watch. It read 0800 hours. Suddenly, as if on cue, a black Jaguar with the license plate GB49 DSR pulled up outside the Devonshire. The driver opened the rear door, and he got in. The drive from Knightsbridge to the SIS Building at Vauxhall Cross took about fifteen minutes. The Jaguar pulled up alongside the entrance to the headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service, otherwise known as MI6. The impressive building had a strange and exotic looking structure, consisting of glass and aluminum. Many people claimed it looked like a giant Legoland. The headquarters overlooked the River Thames.
He got out of the car and walked up to the entrance. Once in the massive lobby, he spotted a well-dressed man in a navy blue three- piece suit. Kevin Howden, a man in his early fifties, with thinning grayish-red hair and beard, greeted Ericksen with a hearty hand- shake. Howden had retired in 2005 as head of British Special Forces (SAS) with the rank of brigadier general and had operated out of the Ministry of Defence’s Whitehall location. He then joined a top-notch private security contractor providing access control systems and communications security systems to the MoD and intelligence agen- cies. As COO of Global Dynamics, Howden represented EyeD4
Systems in the United Kingdom as their distributor and systems integrator.
He registered Ericksen at the security desk, and they placed lanyard name tags around their necks. After going through security, they were met by an MI6 official who escorted them to the elevator. When they got off the third-floor, they spotted an EyeD4 System for access control on the wall and next to a thick door. The MI6 official did the log-on, received confirmation, and entered a conference room equipped with large, hi-def flat-screen monitors, technology equip- ment, and a small kitchen at the other end.
Graham Moore, a handsome, rugged-looking man in his early forties, with brown hair, piercing light-blue eyes, and dressed like a member of the Royal Family, approached them. “Good day, Mr. Erick- sen, General Howden told me all about your company.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Moore,” he said. As MI6’s coun- terterrorism director, Moore had a lot of responsibility on his shoul- ders. With a Cambridge degree, six years as an SAS officer, and twelve years with MI6, he had the pe
rfect background to run counterterror- ism. His bright blue eyes were always on alert. He introduced Ericksen to several men and women from MI6, MI5, Defense Intelli- gence Service, and Government Communications-GCHQ, the NSA of Great Britain. They were a mixture of operational security chiefs, scientists, mathematicians, and procurement directors.
Over the next thirty minutes, he answered most of their questions on both the EyeD4 Access Systems and the EyeD4 Comm Systems. His professional sales presentation centered on why it was imperative for their national security interests to acquire his company’s systems. He delivered a flawless cost-benefit analysis performance, high- lighted EyeD4 Systems’ performance, reliability, and its solutions- oriented capabilities in addressing the challenges Great Britain faced today.
He continued to focus on his company’s featured capabilities in the main battlefield today: cyber warfare, counterterrorism, sabotage, financial intelligence, and asymmetrical warfare.
After his presentation and a Q and A, several of the men and women stood up, shook his hand, and left the conference room.
A silver-headed gentleman in his sixties entered the room with two staffers. Moore looked straight ahead. “Good morning, Sir. This is Mr. Ericksen.”
“I heard a lot about you and your company. Director Sullivan told me the intelligence community is quite impressed with the perfor- mance and reliability of your systems,” Sir Derek Worthington said. He had received his appointment in 2008 as the new Director General of the British Secret Intelligence Service.