by Andrew Watts
A voice said, “We ready to go?”
“Yes sir. We’ll be airborne in five.” American accents.
“Roger. Thanks, gents, that will be all.” Footsteps down a metal ladder.
The jet engine noise faded and then a hiss as the cabin door must have been closed. He heard a higher-pitched whine and felt the rumble of the aircraft as it taxied out. He was pretty sure that there was at least one person nearby. He could sense it.
“Hang in there, David. We’ll untie you in a minute. Sorry about this. It is not ideal. Relax. We’re not going to hurt you.”
A rush of relief and maddening curiosity flooded him. He fought back tears as he thought once again about his family. He thought about trying to talk but again it felt useless. Just wait. Wait. Wait. He knew that voice. Who was that? It was…Tom. It was Tom Connolly, one of the senior managers at David’s work. David didn’t work directly for him, but they had been in meetings together. What the hell was he doing here?
Someone lifted off David’s mask. He looked up at Tom and two others, sitting in the spacious cabin of a Gulfstream G-V. It was huge—and almost empty. There must have been ten luxurious seats, including the cream leather couch that David found himself lying on. Tom wore a wrinkled suit and a tired face. There was another man who had on black tactical gear and was about the size of an NFL linebacker. The third person was a short, round woman who looked to be in her early forties. She had fading highlights in her hair and a very odd smile on her face considering the situation. It was a sheepish look, like she was hoping that David wasn’t going to be mad at her.
David coughed and sucked in deep lungfuls of air. He was still tied up, lying sideways on the couch that ran along the plane’s cabin wall. The two men sat across the narrow aisle, facing him. The woman sat one seat aft of them, watching.
“What the hell is this, Tom?” David asked, looking back and forth between them.
As he spoke, he heard the engines roar. They were all pushed backward as the aircraft took off and rotated upwards into the night sky. They were airborne. This was all happening too fast.
David was still on the couch, and the big guy was holding him as the aircraft angled up into the sky, making sure that David didn’t slide down and fall off. Tom leaned over and yelled above the noise of the engines. “I’m sorry, Dave! This was the best way to do this! We had to make you disappear! Hey, promise me you aren’t going to do anything stupid like start throwing fists, and we’ll untie you and I’ll explain everything. Can you promise me that? Like I said, we are not going to hurt you. We’re on the same team.”
David was confused, but nodded vigorously.
Tom turned to the big guy next to him and motioned towards David. The man flicked open a pocketknife and hunched over David’s body. With one hand he held down his limbs, pressing a good portion of his easily 230-pound frame into David so he couldn’t move. A few quick slices cut open the zip ties, and then the man stepped back, watching to see David’s reaction.
Even if he had wanted to, David could barely move. He rubbed his sore wrists where the zip ties had left deep red marks on his skin. His legs were tingling and sore. He lay on the couch, propping himself up by his elbows. His ears popped as the aircraft gained altitude, and his body lurched in the turns. David repositioned himself to sit upright. The loud noise from the jet’s takeoff had subsided, and the four of them sat staring each other down in the large cabin.
Tom said, “Are you alright?”
David nodded. He kept his guard up. He didn’t know what to do or say. He still wasn’t sure if his life was in danger. David didn’t know Tom too well, but he knew his reputation. Jerk was the single most-used description. He was supposed to be one of those guys who thought he was smarter than everyone else in the room, regardless of his expertise on the subject at hand. The result was that he tended to treat people like they were idiots. In an organization full of smart people, he was not loved. David had worked with him a handful of times, and each time Tom had used that condescending tone, like the engineers and analysts were wasting his time. But David never had any reason to fear or distrust him. Until today.
Tom said, “You hungry? Thirsty?”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
Tom snorted. “Sure. It’s down in the back. I’ll explain everything when you get back. Go.”
David got up, rubbing his sore joints and limbs. He hobbled past the woman to the back of the plane, with Tom’s assistant in tow.
“Leave the door open,” said the henchman.
David didn’t acknowledge him. The command pissed him off. Apparently they weren’t totally on the same team. But he still wasn’t sure what was going on, and didn’t want to risk any sort of physical punishment for a disobeyed order. He urinated and washed his hands, then splashed some water on his face. He headed back to sit in the seat across from Tom. His body sank into the plush leather chair.
Tom was on the white phone connected to the seat. He had a grim look.
The woman held out her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Brooke Walters.” She gave him a polite smile.
David didn’t know what to say. He held out a limp hand and looked at her like she was a madwoman.
“David Manning,” he said.
Tom spoke over them on the phone. He said, “So it’s confirmed? He’s gone? Okay. Understood. Yes, we’re airborne. Walters and one from In-Q-Tel. No. We had to go with someone else. Manning. Yes, I’ll explain later. Yes. That’s everyone on the list. Yes. Yes. Okay. I’ll talk to you then.” He hung up the phone and looked over at David, letting out a deep sigh.
David closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He then looked directly at Tom and asked, “Tom, what just happened?”
Tom tilted his head and stared back at him. David could smell stale tobacco on his breath. There was an opened pack of Marlboro reds on the table.
Tom said, “We kidnapped you. Sorry about that. It had to be done.”
The woman seemed to shrink into her seat.
David said, “I realize that. Why? What reason could you possibly have?”
Tom stared up at him, his face shifting into a tired frown. He glanced at the big guy and said, “Can you give us a minute?”
The henchman nodded, went to the back of the plane, and sat down. Tom waited until he was out of earshot before speaking. He took out a paper folder and read through some of the papers.
“Says here you’re an Annapolis guy. Just like your dad. And your brother and sister went there too. Wow. I see they were big athletes while they were there. And you did…sailing. Ladies must have gone crazy when you told ’em that, huh? Still, that’s quite the Naval Academy legacy, huh?”
David found it surprising that Tom had worked in the same office for the past couple of years and knew nothing about him. It fit with his reputation of being completely self-involved.
“What is that you’re reading from?”
“Your file.”
“My file?”
“So your dad was an Admiral”
“Is an Admiral. Could you please tell me what this is all about?”
Tom raised his eyebrows and said, “And your brother was a SEAL…and now he works for… oh, I hadn’t seen this yet. He works for us?”
David replied, “No, he does not work for In-Q-Tel.”
The woman laughed. Tom looked up from the file and smiled.
Tom said, “In-Q-Tel. Right. Dave, let’s get a few things straight. I am not employed by In-Q-Tel. Not really. It is a more of a part-time deal for me. My real employer is the same organization that indirectly pays the bills at In-Q-Tel. The Central Intelligence Agency. I specialize in counter-espionage.”
David frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Tom ignored him and said, “This situation all started a few weeks ago. We have uncovered some very disturbing bits of information. I’d heard rumors of course, but until you hear it from a reliable source, you tend to discount those as conspirac
y theories. Rumors like that…just seem too crazy to believe.”
Tom was lost in thought for a moment and then looked David directly in the eye. “A penetration of that scope…and at those high levels. It’s unthinkable.” He sighed. “But it looks like it’s happened. And the same source that tipped us off on that told us something much worse.” He looked down at the file again. “Now, we’ve got a long flight ahead of us. I promise I’ll answer your questions. But I only recently found out I’d be taking you on this little vacation, so humor me for a few minutes while I peruse your biography.”
David didn’t know what to say. He clenched and unclenched his jaw, trying not to erupt. This man had just kidnapped him and taken him away from his family, and he had the audacity to make him wait while he looked through his file? Still, something told David that he needed to calm down and try to be patient. He still didn’t understand what was going on, and this remained a potentially dangerous situation. He needed to keep his wits about him, and anger would cloud his judgment.
He said, “Tom. Look…if this is about some national security breach on a project or something, I’ll cooperate with whatever you need. I still don’t understand how kidnapping me from my home could possibly be appropriate or necessary. Why the hell would you take me like this? And what do I have to do with whatever is going on?”
Tom ignored him. “Your sister’s a Navy pilot, huh? Hmm. Some family. And you…failed out of flight school. Huh. I guess you were the black sheep? That must have been a hell of a conversation with old Dad.” Tom looked up briefly. Enough time to see the flash of anger in David’s eyes.
“I didn’t fail out of flight school. It was a medical disqualification. Bad eyesight.”
Tom waved off what he was saying like it wasn’t important. David decided that the jerk personality wasn’t some CIA cover. That part was genuine.
He said, “So then you got a job with In-Q-Tel as an analyst in 2008, and have been with the company ever since. Your current project is ARES, correct?”
David looked at the woman and then back at Tom.
Tom saw his hesitation and said, “Relax, she’s cleared. She’s NSA.”
David looked at her in surprise. She smiled cheerfully. David said, “Why should I trust anything you say to me after what I just went through?”
The air phone next to Tom rang. He ignored David’s question and answered the phone.
“Connolly here, go.”
David turned to Brooke and whispered, “Okay, can you tell me what’s going on?”
She said, “Sure can. First, I just want to say how sorry I am about how they took you. I had nothing to do with that. I just found out about all of this yesterday—”
Tom hung up the phone and got up, walking to the front of the plane. Brooke and David watched as he opened the door to the cockpit, spoke to the pilots, then walked back and sat down. The plane banked to the right and David felt his stomach flutter. Whatever Tom had said, it seemed like the pilots had made some course corrections.
David said, “Changing our destination?”
Tom said, “We didn’t really have a destination prior to takeoff. The pilots had to file in flight. We’re good now. We’ll be in California in six hours.”
Had they really just taken off without knowing where they were going? What kind of mess was David in?
David said, “Alright. I’m all ears.”
Tom’s voice was gruff. He said, “We lost someone. Actually, I just confirmed that on the phone a few minutes ago. He had been missing for about a week. But now it seems they’ve identified the body. An agent stationed in China. He was the one who sent us the warning a few weeks ago. Stumbled onto something big. Bigger than any of us imagined. Turns out all those rumors had some legs.”
“I’m sorry about the agent. What rumors?”
Tom said, “Dave, how much have you been following the news about China’s economy?”
David said, “I mean, I’ve seen the news. It’s tanking, right? Our stock market is getting pretty bad too.”
“Right. Their stock market is in decline. But more important than that is that China’s unemployment is starting to rise. And their median income is starting to drop. What you probably haven’t seen on the news is that there have been several workers’ strikes. And some protests. The government over there is putting the kibosh on that for now. They’re good at censorship. But sooner or later, 60 Minutes or CNN will pick it up.”
“I’m still not following how this gets me on this airplane and probably scares the hell out of my wife when I don’t show up tonight.”
Tom replied, “David, we have reason to believe that China is planning to invade the United States. There are leaders in their government that have set plans in motion. Our agent was there to investigate some inner circle that was supposed to deal with the ‘economic problem.’ We thought it was going to be more censorship or maybe some sort of monetary policy that pisses off the Fed. Were we ever wrong.”
David just sat there, numb and confused. He had been kidnapped, thrown into a trunk, and then put on a jet going to God knows where. Now he was being told that World War Three was going to start. He still didn’t see how this involved him, but the magnitude of the situation gave him the patience to listen for a few more moments before asking again.
“This inner circle of Chinese leaders came up with a solution, alright. Now here’s what you need to know. Why you’re here. There’s a fire on the horizon. Me and a few of my colleagues are trying to fight this fire. We’re either going to prevent it or have to put it out when it reaches us. Either way, you’re going to be part of a group that will contribute. I’m taking you to a place where you’ll be able to help us prepare our defense. We were going to use someone else but there was a conflict at the last minute. That complicated telling you ahead of time. Plus, there is a good chance I’m being watched. We all had to jump through hoops to get on this plane unseen. No one could know that you were going to be going on this trip. No one can know that this trip exists. For these reasons, I had to kidnap you tonight. To keep it secret. And that is about as simple as I can make it.”
David stared back at Tom, guarding his emotions. He didn’t know what to feel. Anger. Distrust. He tended to have trust issues after kidnappings. He tried to stay as calm as possible. His sense of duty was making its way into his mix of feelings. A million things ran through his head, but one was at the top.
David said, “What about my family, Tom?”
“I’ll talk to them. You’re going to be gone a little while. I’ll make sure they know you’re okay.”
“Christ, my wife is going to kill me, I didn’t…”
“Alright, hold on. Now you listen to me, David. Listen very carefully. The reason you are here is more important than getting put in the doghouse by your wife. Get that through your head up front. This is top-level, national security shit. I need you to understand that. I need you to put your country first, and to quit bitching about the way it had to start. I said I’m sorry. But honestly, I don’t really give a shit about the inconvenience it caused you or how you probably pissed your pants when they gagged you. To be quite honest, I’ve got bigger things to worry about. The bottom line is, we needed you and we had to do it this way.”
David fell silent as his face flushed. They sat, not speaking, for a moment. The only sound was the thrum of the engines. Brooke stared, interested in the drama, but trying not to appear so.
Finally, David asked, “Where are we headed? California?”
Tom smiled in a way that made David uneasy. “At first. Yes. After that, I wish I could tell you, pal.”
He studied Tom for a few seconds before saying, “How long will I be gone?”
“A couple weeks.”
David rolled his eyes.
“Don’t look so upset, buddy—like I said, I’ll give your wife a call for you. I’ll make up an excuse. You won’t be able to call her yourself. I can tell you that we’re headed to a small airport on the West Co
ast. From there, you’ll get on another jet with other members of your team. I won’t be going. Got other fish to fry. I don’t even know where that flight is headed. Due to the sensitive nature of this mission, we’ve kept a lot of info compartmentalized. But when you arrive they’ll give you a brief, which will help explain everything. Just know that this is a vital project that will immensely help our nation’s security. And there is a specific need for someone with your background.”
“What background is that?”
“You’ll be perfect. Your knowledge of the Navy should even help. But mostly…your knowledge of ARES.”
“What does this have to do with ARES?”
ARES was the codename for a cyberweapon that David had researched a little over two months ago. The NSA was enormously interested, and David had been sent out to evaluate and secure the technology for the US government.
“You’ll find out when you get there. Plan to discuss it. You know it better than anyone besides those MIT kids who created it. From my understanding, many of the people who will be going will have different pieces of the puzzle. The group that has put this little shindig together knows enough to realize the danger, but we need to get you all in a room together to really make sense of it. And that can’t be done easily; too many possible eavesdroppers to worry about. Hence the remote location.”
David glanced out the window. He could see the setting sun painting the tops of the clouds orange on the western horizon. He sipped his coffee and tried to make sense of it all. He wasn’t sure what to believe and couldn’t think straight. He was still too worked up from what had just happened. He was worried about his wife and how she would react to his being gone for three weeks without any phone calls. Hell, she would probably be a wreck after he didn’t show up tonight.
“You’ll call my wife soon?”
Tom nodded. “Scout’s honor.”
“Tom, I gotta be honest with you—this is all a little too insane. Is there anything else you can tell me about what I’ll be doing?”
Tom said, “I’ve seen some of the evidence. The threat is real. One CIA agent already sacrificed his life to get the word out. And lately, finding people we can trust has proven quite challenging.”