Crisis- 2038

by Gerald Huff

  His PNA buzzed. “Okay, everyone, I’m Matt Chandler, Special Agent in Charge for this investigation. I need everyone to clear the apartment.”

  “What’s going on?” asked one of the agents as she left.

  “We’ve got an advanced tech team coming to image the room.”

  Matt and the woman stood aside as two young men in blue coveralls lugged some big suitcases into the apartment and shut the door.

  “Who’s running this show at LAHQ?” he asked.

  “Guy named Parker. Kris Parker.”

  Matt called him. “Agent Parker? This is Special Agent Matt Chandler from North Carolina. I just flew in and I’m on scene at the apartment. What’s the status of the suspect?”

  “Hello, Matt. We’ve been interviewing Melissa King overnight and this morning. She’s been very cooperative.”

  “Interesting. I’m on my way.”

  When he arrived at the imposing concrete building, Matt launched his smart contact lens nav program to guide him to the interrogation room. A large blond man built like a football player met him at the door. “You Chandler?” he asked.

  “Yes. Are you Agent Parker?”

  “That’s me. We waited for you.”

  “Well, that’s kind of you. Can you summarize what you’ve gotten so far?”

  “Piece of cake. She confessed to planning and executing the attack. Gave us plenty of details not known to the public. Seems really sorry about the guy that died. Says the boyfriend didn’t know anything about it; she worked alone. Her biometrics say otherwise. We’ve got surveillance of him at his old company attacking some robot. Today we’re focused on her handler at LKC.”

  “Anything there?”

  “Just the name Geneva and their communication system. Looks like a crypto-steganography scheme. Uses one-time keys to decode instructions from commonly available photographs. We’ve got the techs looking at their gear now. Early reports are that it’s pretty sophisticated. Near impossible to break without having access to a physical device.”

  “There must have been some initial contact,” Matt said. “Any info on that?”

  “She said they were picked up in a self-driving car that played a recording and had a nano-SD for ongoing communication. We’re looking for surveillance to try to ID the vehicle.” Parker’s PNA buzzed lightly. “Okay, we’re ready. Your earpiece has been registered. Let me take the first round, then feel free.”

  “Sure, after you.”

  They entered the room and took two seats opposite Melissa. A half empty cup of tea and a small pile of tissues sat on the table in front of her. The small room seemed otherwise empty, but dozens of remote sensors were continuously monitoring her micro expressions, brain activity, and galvanic skin response.

  “Good morning, Melissa,” said Parker. “This is my colleague, Agent Chandler.”

  The young woman looked up at him and half nodded. Her eyes were red and slightly unfocused.

  “We’d like to ask you a few more questions about Geneva,” began Parker. “How did she originally contact you?”

  Melissa’s fingers tore absently at a tissue on the table. “I told you already. It was an encrypted message setting up the self-drive message.”

  “And the only time you heard her voice was that initial self-drive car recording?”

  “I don’t know, it was a disguised voice. But yes. After that it was just through the encrypted photos.”

  “Can you walk us through how you sent messages to Geneva?”

  Melissa seemed to hesitate. “I just typed them into the program she provided.”

  “But how did you identify the photo to use? How did you know which one to decrypt from?”

  “I, I really don’t remember.”

  A tone in Matt’s earpiece from the room’s sensors told him that she was probably lying.

  “Melissa,” Parker said, “you know it’s not really worth trying to protect Jacob. We know he was involved. Did he handle the communications?”

  “Jacob had nothing to do with this.” The tone in Matt’s earpiece deepened. Higher probability of lying.

  “Do you know where Jacob is now?” Matt asked.

  “No, I have no idea.” The tone disappeared.

  “Okay, Melissa,” Parker said. “We can get back to Jacob later. Tell us about your relationship with Geneva. How much of the plan came from her? What about the materials?”

  “Geneva gave me the target and the equipment. I just had to figure out how to launch the drone.”

  “And did you send her progress reports?” Parker said.

  “No, I was operating all on my own.”

  “And what if you needed to reach her in an emergency?”

  “We had no plan for that.”

  “What about coordinating with other cells?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know, other activists working in Los Angeles.”

  “I didn’t know there were any others,” said Melissa.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “I was working alone!”

  “Okay. Do you know where Jacob is now?”

  “No.” The agents’ earpieces were silent.

  Parker gave a nod to Chandler.

  “Melissa,” Matt began, “Why was San Gabriel the target?”

  “I don’t know, it’s what Geneva identified. But it was an automated factory that makes robots that are stealing jobs from people, and the fuel tank was in a position to cripple production. It seemed like a good choice to me.”

  “What about the worker who was killed?” Matt asked.

  “There wasn’t supposed to be anyone there!” Melissa choked back tears and reached for another tissue. “I did surveillance for a week before the operation and there was never anyone there at that time! I didn’t mean to hurt anyone!”

  The tone in Matt’s ear was steady and high pitched. Strong emotion, but honest.

  “Do you know the next attack location, Melissa?” asked Matt.

  “No.” The tone warbled slightly. Hard to decipher. “I’m so tired. I can’t do this anymore. This isn’t right. I want a lawyer.”

  “I’m sure Agent Parker told you that you’re being held under a special presidential executive order under the terrorism statute. We can detain you without a lawyer as long as we believe there is an imminent threat.”

  “I don’t care about all that! I’ve told you everything I know and I’m not saying anything else until I see a lawyer!”

  “That’s not a wise course of action, Melissa. If you cooperate now we can make things easier for you and Jacob. You might even be able to serve together someplace.” She folded her arms onto the table, lowered her head, closed her eyes and sobbed. Matt sighed and signaled Parker to join him outside.

  “Send me all the sensor traces and transcript from the start of interrogation. I’m transferring the prisoner to Maclean Virginia. Can you prepare the paperwork?”

  “Maclean Virginia? I thought you were from North Carolina.”

  “It’s an advanced detention facility.”

  “Huh, I hadn’t heard about that. Is it—“

  “Just get it done, Agent. ASAP.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO - DECEMBER 21

  NEW YORK

  “Good morning, everyone. I’m Megyn Robbins and welcome to Morning Fresh. With me, as always, are my co-hosts Steve Brattle and Victor Langston.”

  “Good morning, Megyn,” said her co-hosts somberly.

  “Of course, the awful news today is that America is once again under siege. Terrorism is rearing its terrifying head, except this time it’s domestic terrorism happening right here in our own country.”

  “It’s frightening, all right, Megyn,” agreed Victor. “This LKC group has blown up a half dozen transport trucks and knocked out power to millions of people. Now they use a laser drone to blow up a fuel tank, killing poor Junior Hernandez. Where
will they strike next? Could it be at a grocery store? Your neighborhood church? Your child’s school?”

  “It could be anywhere, Victor,” said Steve, shaking his head. “You never know where they’ll attack next. Because look at the face of terrorism in America!” They displayed a shot of Melissa King looking calm and happy, a big smile on her face next to a picture of Jacob Komarov. “How can we spot the terrorists if they look just like us? These aren’t radical Islamic terrorists or MS-13 gang members. What has happened to the values of our country? How can a nice-looking, normal young people like this feel so much hate against America?”

  “Well, I think we all know how our values have gotten degraded, Steve.” Megyn started ticking off a litany of causes. “Permissive parenting, sexual liberation, special treatment for all kinds of people living immoral lives, VR porn, the war on Christianity—I could go on and on. It’s just personally devastating to me how far this country has fallen.”

  “I couldn’t agree more, Megyn,” said Victor. “But my biggest fear right now is that the Democrat Senate is going to block the actions we need to protect ourselves. We’ve got patriotic Republican Senators calling for increased surveillance, outlawing those damned privacy cloaks, and requiring biometric registration for every citizen. The Democrats want to roll back those programs and allow people to use any kind of encryption they want, even if it’s unbreakable by law enforcement! Evidently they hope to get us all killed. And where is the National Guard? Where is the Army? Why isn’t President Teasley doing anything to protect us?”

  Megyn nodded her head. “I’m just so afraid right now. Without a strong response, these terrorists will just get bolder. More ordinary people like Melissa and Jacob might get brainwashed over to their cause. We need to hunt them down, every last one of them. But do you hear the mainstream media saying that? No, of course not. They say ‘Maybe LKC has a point. We need to look at it from their perspective, technology is impacting jobs and human relations.’ A load of weak-kneed nonsense.”

  “Loyal viewers,” said Steve, “stick with us—the only channel that gives you the truth and nothing but the truth, with twenty-four seven coverage of the attack on America. We’ll be right back.”

  SAN FRANCISCO

  “And you are back with Calista Quinn-Jones here on the early shift. Yesterday there was another attack on RezMat, the company making all those robots, and unfortunately a worker was killed. That’s absolutely deplorable. I can’t condone any harm coming to someone. Even though I think sending a message to these out-of-control companies is absolutely the right thing to do, I still can’t accept it when people resort to violence and someone gets hurt. Felicia, you’re online, what are your thoughts?”

  “Hi, Calista. I’m with you on this one. I mean I’m no friend of RezMat and its ilk, but I draw the line when people get hurt. LKC claims to be trying to help people and raise consciousness and start a revolution, but taking a life is just so wrong. I admire them for taking action, but not like this.”

  “My point exactly, Felicia. Robert, you’re next. What’s on your mind?”

  “I think you and Felicia are cowards. Has there ever been a revolution against the prevailing power structure where blood wasn’t spilled? What kind of progressives are you people? Elites never give up their power easily. They’re willing to deploy the police with their illegal weapons and use deadly force against peaceful protesters. You have to fight fire with fire. I’m proud of what LKC is doing. Maybe this will finally wake people up to what’s going on out there. We’re at war, Calista. And in war there are always casualties.”

  “Whoa, there, Robert. I’m not down with this language of war. Yes, of course this is a conflict, but war is such a masculine and aggressive term, signifying that people are the enemy and legitimate targets for violence. I think we need to make as much progress as possible with peaceful, non-violent means.”

  “Where have you been the last twenty years?” asked the caller. “The left has been trying to have a national conversation about these issues and conducting peaceful sit-ins and protests forever, and nothing has changed. In fact, it’s gotten worse. I’m tired of it, Calista. I’ve got half a mind to join LKC myself. I’m so goddamn angry. The time for talking and talking and talking is over. We’re at war—and, guess what, we’re losing!”

  “Well, Robert, I understand your feelings. I just can’t go there. I’m with Martin Luther King, Jr. on this issue.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m going to go with Malcolm X. It’s either the ballot or the bullet. And since the ballot is rigged, it’s time for the bullet.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  HOLOCONFERENCE - DECEMBER 21

  “Let’s get started,” said Ellul when all the LKC members were online in the holoconference. “We’ve got important news from Thoreau this morning.”

  “Wait, we need to talk about fucking San Gabriel,” interrupted Othello, the ex-CIA black ops agent Peter Cook.

  “Hold on, Othello,” said Ellul. “We’ll get to a review of what happened in San Gabriel in a few minutes. But first we have to hear from Thoreau.”

  Miles O’Connell, aka Thoreau, flipped on his voice-disguising microphone. “Good morning. You are not going to fucking believe what is happening inside DTTF. We’ve got an executive order that has opened every corporate router to warrantless access. I was personally involved in tracking Melissa King. It was done in minutes because we had complete data access, including the medplant system.”

  “What?” said JT.

  “You heard me!” Miles said. “The government can now see any personal data about anyone without a warrant.”

  “Those bastards!” said Pam. “It was just a matter of time before they started to abuse their powers.”

  “You’re right, Geneva,” said Ellul, referring to Pam by her code name. “But this also creates a huge opportunity. Tell them, Thoreau.”

  “Because there is no digital warrant, there’s no record of the data access. Either in the target system or within DTTF itself. It’s invisible.”

  “Wait,” said Pam, “are you saying you can now download private data undetected? And access corporate systems without leaving a trace?”

  “Yes!” said Miles.

  “Oh my God, that’s huge,” said Pam.

  “My thinking exactly, Geneva,” said Ellul. “This gives us the chance to open up an entirely new front in our battle.”

  “We could demonstrate just how much deep personal information is being hoarded by corporations for their own profit. I say we expose the secrets of all those hypocritical politicians,” suggested Artemis.

  “Not just politicians,” added Zerzan. “For broadest engagement in omnipresence we should target some celebrities too. And journalists, to get them falling all over each other reporting the story.”

  “Leaking information will generate buzz for sure,” said JT. “But I think we should focus on injecting worms into those corporate systems to bring down communication, financial, energy, and transportation networks.”

  “Is that possible, Thoreau?” asked Ellul.

  “Well I’m no expert on worms. But I can get right past any firewall right now. So if someone can make them, I can plant them.”

  “I can make them,” said JT. “But it will take a little while. There are worm factories in the dark web but every generation needs to be run through simulations against the latest security tech.”

  “So why can’t we first work on the private data leaks, then in a second phase unleash the worms?” asked Ellul.

  “Getting information on a lot of people is going to take some time, too,” said Miles. “I can’t just do massive dumps of data because my terminal traffic is monitored. I’ll need to do a little at a time.”

  “How long for say a thousand people?” asked Pam, who had already been identifying the most important targets in her head.

  “That many? Damn, that would take a month.”

  “Okay,” said Pam, “I c
an work with Artemis and Zerzan to create a list, others can review. We should start the data collection ASAP.”

  “And I’ll start on the worm generation process,” said JT.

  “Agreed. Thank you, Geneva and Zurich,” he said using JT’s code name. “And thanks Thoreau for giving us this opportunity. Now let’s turn to San Gabriel. Geneva, please report.”

  “The operation was a mixed success,” Pam began.

  “Mixed success?” said Othello. “It was a fucking disaster!”

  “Hold on a minute,” said Pam.

  “Othello,” said Ellul, “let’s hear her out.”

  “Thank you. First, the target was hit as planned. Unfortunately, RezMat seems to have reduced the fuel in the tank to a bare minimum and that reduced the impact of the explosion. Second, there was an unexpected casualty, the maintenance worker. Third, our operative Melissa King was captured, and we just learned how from Thoreau.”

  “Like I said,” broke in Othello. “A complete disaster. For all we know, the feds will be sending drones at us any minute once Melissa starts talking. I knew this would happen. I warned you all against using amateurs for operations!”

  “May I remind you we collectively thought it was worth the risk,” said Ellul.

  “Melissa can’t compromise the Collective,” said Pam. “She doesn’t know anything about any of us. We followed strict compartmentalization.”

  “What about her partner, Jacob?” asked Artemis.

  “He’s on the run,” said JT. “No contact from him, he’s off the grid.”

  “Another wild card,” said Othello. “There’s no telling what he might do with his girlfriend in the hands of the feds.”

  “How many fucking times do I have to say it, there is no risk to our security!” said Pam. “Look, the capture of Melissa was unfortunate, but it has had the effect we expected and wanted. Omnipresence has blown up with her story, and the fear of so-called ‘normal people’ joining us is creating the kind of instability we need.”