by E L Russell
I know what Henri is doing. Trying to ensure YR future but he shouldn’t mess with these people. I have a plan for him I’d like to share thru TOR. Can U help me?
Debby nodded.
Meret hit the elevator’s button to continue. “Let’s get those coffees so we can get back to Granger.”
* * *
Later that day, Meret rushed into to Director Davies’ office in an unscheduled visit, talking before she was fully through the door. “Thank you for seeing meI have a new plan to locate and deal with the people behind the Socotra Genecaust and the pending attack on our government, but it needs your immediate buy-in.”
“Fire away, but slow down.”
She took a deep breath. “The vortex of unknowns swirling around us are converging on a single person. That person is the elusive hacker named Henri Boudin. Everything we have learned points to him as the Brouwer's point in our cup of coffee.”
Director Davies blinked his eyes, but did not speak.
She pointed to his empty coffee cup. “The next time you stir a cup of coffee, wait until the coffee stops moving and then consider Brouwer's Topological theorem that claims there is at least one molecule of coffee that has returned to its original position. That Brouwer's point in our vortex is Henri. He’s the key to locating the eight oligarchs and everyone else involved in this horrendous plot. Not because he is the mastermind behind the Homeland Genecaust, but because he is at the heart of controlling the network of communication between these bad actors. They cannot access to their communication to get in touch with each other without his help.”
Davies’ face held no expression. He nodded and waited for her to continue.
“Finding the records of that network will give you the leads you need to get to the eight oligarchs and everyone else, including Dr. Subash Sen, the creator of the Smart Killing Viruses. The network records will also lead you to the money and the oligarchs plans for the present and future.”
Davies drilled her with his look. “How do you explain that?”
“Eight oligarchs employed Katya to find someone with hacking skills like Henri She found Henri and contracted him to create a globally secure communications network for them. She also paid him to do several hacks that put her into position with PSI Corps as a valued interrogator. That was her foot in the door. She and Dirk Donahue hired Jack Strake and he, in turn, hired dozens of minions to carry out their dark deeds.”
Davies took a note or two and that was all.
Meret continued. “All this was before Henri learned of Katya’s conditioning skills. When he figured out she could have secretly conditioned him to do her bidding, he became terrified of her. To get away, he lost himself in the deep dark world of the Dark Web. His rabbit hole opened for him with his first TOR browser. His fear is such that he refuses to leave that rabbit hole, even at the cost of not seeing his ladylove, Debby Yasser. It’s Debby who ferreted this all out. She’s the daughter of Granger’s asset in Yemen who was murdered. Granger has been watching out for her and they became close. In-between contacts with Henri, she is helping us with his recovery.”
Although Director Davies sat there silent, Meret watched him soak up the information and sift it in his mind for details and value.
“Debby told me that it was Henri’s paranoia of Katya and his concern about the moral and illegal aspects of her planned Genecaust that led him to implant malware in Katya’s communication system, which will continue to send hacking apps to any new computer or smart device that someone connects to it. These hidden packages will record and transmit selected activities from the host computer to one or more of Henri’s TOR servers. That not only provides us with a super cache of information to use against anyone involved in Katya’s activities, Henri told Debby his malware apps include superior GPS routines that not only record the current position of people on her net, but have the ability to predict where they will go next even if it is on a mobile app.”
“Director Davies, I am saying Henri not only knows who these eight oligarchs are, but he also knows where they are at any given time. And from what Debby told me, Henri expects to be out of touch for a week or more in January.”
Director Davies stiffened. “I assume you came here with a proposal.” He raised one expectant eyebrow.
She sat back and thought before saying, “Henri’s intention to be out of touch for two weeks in January supports the theory I have after seeing the logo he placed on Katy’s secret communication system.”
Director Davies smiled. “I think you nailed it. We can read Henri in but leave him out and grant him total immunity up to date. He is an asset and he doesn’t need to come in to work well with us.”
Davies lowered his chin and gazed over his glasses. “Ground breaking. So I assume your plan is I provide him with immunity anonymity, protection, and a salary,” he said tapping the desk with each word.
“For starters.”
“There’s more?” He looked at her from under a shaggy brow.
But Meret was on a roll. She was excited about the latest break through. If only they could get Henri worked out. “We tag the eight oligarchs and we track them until they have nothing more to offer us in the way of INTEL. Then we do with them what serves us best.”
“I like it. This is the kind of electronic operation I secretly always wished we could do.”
Meret leaned closer and whispered. “I have a personal request.” She waved her fingers across her neck, making a cut signal.
“Since Henri’s GPS app lets us track the eight oligarchs, we tag them, but we also tag them with the same chemical tag we used on the congressmen. We study them and decide on one we could turn into an asset by letting him know they’ve been genetically marked. Yes, they are a forced asset, but we tell them we’ll release SKVs on them if they don’t do what we want of them. It is a version of Malware used to extort money by threats to the victim’s computer, only in this case it’s a Bio-Malware attack. The computer being threatened is the host’s DNA.”
Davies pulled one side of his mouth back. “Are you sure you are comfortable going down this path?”
She shook her head. “No. Not one bit, Director. Not any of it. But, the technology’s been out there for a few years and we need to know more about it. The things I’ve experienced and the people I’ve meet during the past few weeks have changed me. Being face-to-face with a monster capable of launching a Genecaust has somehow twisted me so that I can now accept doing the things we have casually discussed. No, Director Davies, I am not comfortable one bit.”
“I understand, you are strong, Meret. But remember you could be paying the price of sanity..” He paused only a moment. “Got it. Set it up today.”
She stood. “Thank you, Director Davies.”
He placed both hands on the table, stood and then extended one to her. “Thank you, Doctor Mather.” Uncharacteristically, he grinned, “You know, you’re very much like your Grandfather.”
“My grandfather? You know my grandfather?
77
An unexpected caller
December, D.C. Black Site - The shape of things to come
Meret had news to share and called Poppy. The familiar face of her Tasmanian associate appeared smiling, as usual, and didn't give her a chance to talk. "G'day, Meret. Great timing. Images moved wildly until Poppy's mystery guest filled the screen. “Someone stopped by our office and just asked me to call you. Here you go."
"Good to see you, Meret.”
"Grandfather Elias.” That about knocked her speechless. She struggled to say hello.
“You’ve developed quite a talent for surrounding yourself with highly capable people, he said, not waiting until she found her voice.
Still stumbling, Meret managed to say, “Yes. I see you've met Poppy."
"Yes, I also met Dr. Zhen and Dr. Chang.”
Meret kept her face pleasantly neutral as she twisted the hem of her scrubs shirt into knots with her free hand. What the hell? She never expected he’d actua
lly take a look at her work before giving her the boot. "H-how’s your visit at the Zalea going?”
"Good, of course,” he said dismissively and she imagined his hand waving. “Your staff gave me the grand tour of your new facility and lab. I see a great deal of forward thinking there."
She struggled for words. Although she wanted to know the answer, she didn’t want to ask. It seemed to slip from her mouth without proper restraint. "Any suggestions?"
He laughed. "The boys are working on some tax advice, but that’s not why I wanted to speak to you.”
The boys? “You brought your accounting team with you?”
"There’ll be plenty of time for business later,” Elias said. “I’m loaning you two of the boys to work with you during the first business cycle. You know, just to get your company started without any financial glitches. Later, you can hire your own team. This call is about you. My god girl, what you contribute to this mad attack is nothing short of astounding. Jimbo sings your praises.”
“Jimbo?”
"Yes, Jimbo told me everything, from your first field action somewhere in Yemen to what’s going on now.” I understand you saved the lives of some of your team and got that virus sample. And then, when you went undercover . . .”
She had to remember to breathe as he related every covert action and event she participated in since she left him at his River Oaks estate. He shouldn’t know this stuff. He couldn’t know this stuff. It was all classified. All of it. Then it hit her. Davies. His name was Jim. "Grandfather, do you mean CIA Director, Jim Davies?”
"Of course, Meret. Who else would know about what you’ve been doing?”
"But, how? How do you know him?”
A dismissive hand waved across the screen. “He and I go waaay back. His photos are plastered all over my office, Meret. You remember, he's the guy in the photos fishing with me.”
The dots were coming into focus. She did remember her grandfather with some other man in a rowboat. She remembered it because he was smiling and she didn’t see that much. The CIA. That was something that never occurred to her. "Grandfather, were you in the CIA?”
“I thought you knew.”
She couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Not one word. How could she possibly know if he didn’t tell her? And Director Davies certainly said nothing. Now that she thought back, though, it made sense. No wonder she’d been fast tracked into the agency.
"Meret? Meret. I can still see you on the screen, can you hear me?”
"Yes, Grandfather. I never saw the association.”
"It will make you feel better to know that neither did he. Director Davies offered you a position with the CIA on your own merit, before he knew you once fished with him when you were a ten-year-old.”
That did make her feel better. She nodded, still stunned. "I thought he knew everything about me.”
"Possibly, but I’m so far off the grid it’s understandable he’d miss a few salient points as they relate to you. I’m looking forward to swapping some stories with you as soon as you clean up this horrific mess he has you working on.”
Mess. That was about as euphemistic as possible. The ‘mess’ was not cleaned up and she needed to get back to it. "I would like that, grandfather, if I’m not too far below your pay grade.”
"Meret," his tone mocked her, "the Company I want to talk with you about is our family's company. Or, to be more precise, the role that you now enjoy in that Company as one of its new CEOs."
78
The State of the Union
January, Washington, The Capitol building - Al In
Meret sat top row, center, next to Director Davies in the United States Capitol. Flanked by two teams of Special Agents providing security, the CIA entourage watched an unknowing audience enter and casually mingle with party colleagues and friends. Zhen had provided the team with special Ray Ban like sun glasses that allowed them to view their smartphone screens with new ‘private’ settings that prevented on-lookers to see the content of the screen. He also supplied them with ear buds that allowed them to throat speak and hear private audio messages.
Meret leaned closer to Davies. “This is freaking me out. These glasses and matching handhelds make us standout like actors in some B-minus cop movie.” She spoke faster. “What do you think if we replaced both with smart contacts?”
The director made a slow methodical scan of the growing Congressional crowd below. “”Do you see any sign of apprehension or unusual tension in anyone?”
“It’s tough to know,” Meret said. I understand we have agents in place monitoring the building inside and out.”
He covered the side of his mouth with the back of his hand and whispered, “We also have team stationed with Secret Service Agents who have been assigned to monitor peripheral surveillance systems.”
“I have nothing to compare all of this with. I haven’t been in a joint session of Congress before, what should I be looking for?
Davies nodded and gave a fake wave to no one in particular. “We mostly follow our instincts. The Capitol, with all its entry points, is fully monitored with both built-in audio and video. It is to be expected for such an event. Since we were unable to detect and intercept 100% of Katya’s delivery of the toxin, we are relying one hundred percent on the protein antidote your team provided to us for dispersal. We have already secretly exposed or infected everyone with the protein antidote who was expected to participate in the President’s address today. We trust the protein antidote will do its job of checking everyone who comes in contact with it.” He shrugged. “Your design of the antidote was brilliant, Dr. Mather. If it finds the poison’s tag it eliminates it. If it cannot find anything, it does nothing except wait for the day someone tries again and is stupid enough to use the same poison.”
She couldn’t think of anything to say and continued with her repeated scan of the politicians, staff, press, and guests assembled for the President’s address. She couldn’t escape the nagging thought they missed something. What was it? Even though their plan was a good one, thoughts of what could go wrong raced through her head. She had to say something.
“Director Davies, “We have put together a very strong plan for success based on no one dying today,
“What if—”
“What if nothing?” He leaned closer to her. “By nothing I mean no one dies today. What we really have here is a giant trap.” He laughed and his voice softened. “These bastards don’t know that we have Katya and when we leak that news, the oligarchs will know that she has failed. They’ll be frightened and furious. Their anger will fill all possible communication channels to Katya former nest.” He chuckled. “They don’t know that we have her.”
“And when they flood the Dark Web with their anger trying to get through Henri’s network to see if they can get to their money – the money they paid Henri to protect, we nail their locations and then their selective asses are ours.”
Davies chuckled again. “I like the sound of that. Then their selective asses are ours.”
Meret replied maintaining her visual scan of the attendees below. “I see, letting some of your enemies think they are safe is a proven strategy.” She sighed, “Oh, God, I hope we did the right thing.”
His eyes never left those in attendance at the President’s State of the Union Speech. “We did, we did. Your plan allowed us to put the last few hours on automatic. We’re here only to clean up in case we missed something. It is entirely reasonable for us to be concerned about our next steps. With that in mind, tell me, what’s the latest from the litter box?”
Meret rattled through her list. “Steve, Nancy and their teams are monitoring Katya and Granger. We got Jack Strake in solitary. Debby is with Zhen and Poppy at the Zalea. Henri and Piero are observing from their rabbit holes God knows where. Everyone else involved in the—”
Davies raised his finger. “Thwarted Genecaust.”
Meret was happy to review her reasoning with an expert. She knew her plan was sound but she didn�
�t have the years experience the director had and maybe she missed something.
Meret continued. “The next step would be initiated and supported by the collective panic from the oligart’s greed when they shift their focus from victory to saving their money and try to contact Henri. And that means the oligarts must believe their effort failed due to a screw up by Katya or Strake. For that to happen, the oligarts must witness the safe conclusion to the President’s State of the Union Address. And for that to happen, we, of course, must remain invisible.”
Davies stared at her with his full attention. “Excellent, yes, Because . . .?”
She glanced away from the speech for the first time. “We need to catch them all. Not some of them and not most of them, every Oligarch who is a part of this planned Genecaust, the damn doctor who created this virus and every slim-ball minion at PSY Co doing dead Donahue and Jack’s bidding. All of them.”
After half a beat, Davies jerked his head in agreement. “What evidence will we have that an attack actually occurred? I know we’ve discussed this but how do we know Katya didn’t arrange a backup plan with another goon-squad?”
Meret closed her eyes and rubbed her hand on her forehead as if to take the skin off. Although they had no evidence, it was a legitimate concern. “We’ve done our homework, Director. If, and I say if, if Katya has a backup plan, we have several BeetleBots in place to measure the air for evidence of any airborne toxin of any kind. Your smart phone’s background screen’s color will turn yellow if Katya deploys the Socotra poison. Our deployed antidote will take care of that and all our smart phones with have a yellow background. If your cell turns red, it means Katya has released an unknown poison. That will prompt an alarm to evacuate and possibly reduce the casualties.”