The Phoenix Agenda: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 6)

by JC Ryan

  “You know the rules of the spy game and the principle of need-to-know. I was at the hotel where you were staying, and I saw you when you returned from the interview,” he replied with a big smile.

  “Okay, now it’s your turn. When did you know?” he wanted to know.

  “When you taught me fly-fishing at the Rabbit Hole, which is why Sam let you do all the teaching and he stayed away.” She laughed.

  They stopped talking and sat in a daze looking at each other for a long time, enjoying it. Nothing else mattered - they were the happiest people in the world.

  After a while, reality started setting in. They had a few decisions to make. They would keep their engagement secret to protect Peter from the public eye. Ring shopping would take place on Saturday, and Kelly would only wear the ring when in her disguise or when in his or her apartment.

  Peter just laughed when Kelly commented, “I guess those are the sacrifices spooks have to make when they fall in love.”

  “Don’t worry. When this mess is over, you will have the rest of your life to show your ring to the world,” Peter remarked.

  “Oh, yes, please, and when?” she said as they fell to enjoying a happy and contented night together.

  Sarah could wait until tomorrow.

  The Chinese connection

  Wednesday night, Rube and Sombra turned up at the safe house as agreed. Once they had a pen of silence deployed, they got right down to business. Rube reported that their information gathering operation was going well, and the good news was that they'd activated two of their hackers in China a few days ago, Gui and Jian. They were expecting to hear from them in a few days.

  Peter questioned them about their method of communications with the Chinese hackers, to which they replied that they were using steganography techniques on websites in the Dark Net. The messages, even if intercepted, would not be compromised, because they only contained food recipes. The reader would have to know what the inclusion or exclusion of items meant, as well as what the order and quantities of ingredients meant.

  He listened to them, asked for clarification on a few things, and in the end he was satisfied that they were using a safe method to send simple messages back and forth. However, once the hackers were able to infiltrate the plant’s computer systems, the current communications method would not be suitable for sending the collected information back.

  Rube grinned while he explained one of their online shops sold cowboy clothing and had just received an order from China for a few pairs of boots and belts with great big buckles. It took a few seconds for Peter to comprehend that the boots, leather belts, and buckles were fitted with spyflies and other gadgets before they were shipped.

  Rube continued to explain that they didn’t send the new generation spyflies that could be linked back to Raj via the mirrors. They were not keen on sharing that technology with too many people. Rube also explained they’d sent their contacts a few other technical gadgets, which they could use to send information back. The plan was that once the Chinese agents were able to get the information, he would buy something from their online store.

  Peter was happy with their arrangements. He conveyed Sam's and the rest of the Rosslerites’ gratitude for their help. He then gave them a quick update on the progress Roy and his team had made, thanks to the information they'd dispatched.

  ***

  When Peter arrived at Kelly’s apartment, the addictive aroma of a curry pulled him in and welcomed him. He was surprised. “You actually know how to cook?”

  Kelly had a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she put her arms around his neck. “Oh, yes, I know, but when I am trying to talk a man into asking me to marry him, I get nervous and forget how to do it. But then...” she paused, “You should also remember that I know how to defrost and warm up food after taking it out of the packet.”

  Peter laughed and said, “I get the impression it would be good for the two of us to take a few cooking classes before we leave New York. There are no takeaways at Mount Ararat or the Rabbit Hole, you know.”

  “That would be a lot of fun! I’ll see if I can find a place we can attend in the evenings after work. With my connections, we might even find a cordon bleu school that might turn us into world class chefs.” She laughed.

  “Kelly, we haven't had much chance to talk about this, but are you sure you want to give up everything you have here and move into the rough country?” he asked.

  “I can’t wait for us to get out of this city and live out there! There's nothing that would make me happier than to be there with you. I had the best time – correction; that would be second best time of my life – out there with you a few weeks ago,” she said.

  “Care to tell me about the best time?” he wanted to know.

  She put her arms around his neck again, kissed him, and said, “Peter, that time started last night.”

  ***

  The Chinese Tectus agents got their spyflies, studied the instructions that came with them carefully, practiced how to operate the gadgets, and tried to smuggle some of them into the manufacturing plant.

  However, on their first attempt they discovered that the production line was a fortress. Workers had to take a shower, change into special disinfected clothes and gloves, and wear full-face masks, as well as present for a retina and chip scan before they could enter the production area. The production line area was sterile and completely isolated - many times more hygienic than a hospital operating room.

  They managed to get one of their spyflies into the area and were surprised to find that the entire production line was automated. The only humans in the room were those checking and maintaining the robots.

  They surmised, after a few hours of watching, that there was not much they could learn from looking at the robots. They retrieved the spyfly and started looking for the computer control room. They located that in another part of the compound and found it much easier to infiltrate. Soon they had three spyflies inside the computer center and were collecting information.

  Rube reported the good news to Peter and told him that he expected to place his first order for samples of bamboo clothing from China within a week.

  ***

  In the meantime, Peter’s flight training commenced, which kept him busy almost full time during the day for the next four weeks. He enjoyed every bit of it - the real thing was much more exhilarating than he ever imagined it would be.

  Upon arrival of the first consignment of bamboo clothing they’d ordered after getting the news that their Chinese colleagues had some information, Rube and Sombra examined the clothes. They found strands of nanofiber carrying the information neatly woven into the fabric. The information was extracted and passed on to Raj and his team, who got into it immediately.

  The first batch of information from China contained details of the exact assembly process and the sequence in which the components were fitted onto the chip. This was valuable information, which helped them to enhance their computer model.

  The next bit of exciting information was the complete details of all the contractors who were involved in the development of the components. The bad news was that many of the contracted companies were not located in the United States. Some were in China and Taiwan, some in Japan, and a few in Europe.

  Nevertheless, on the positive side, this information helped them get a much better idea of the makeup of the chips and precise information about which companies were involved in the component manufacturing. Tectus’ hackers could now focus their full attention on those organizations.

  They were still stuck on the issue of conducting live trials. A message was passed on to Gui and Jian to find the quality control center and try to gain access to it.

  The two of them went to work and deployed a spyfly into the production area again to follow the process carefully. They knew that somewhere along the line, chips would be collected for quality control checks. On the second day of their surveillance, Gui pointed Jian to a small container close to the end of the assembl
y line and asked him to maneuver the fly closer. That was when they saw a chip dropping into the bucket every few minutes.

  They stayed on it for a few hours and saw how the bucket with chips was removed by a robot and placed into a small box on the wall. The next time it happened, they saw that the first container, which they expected to see in the box, had disappeared. They'd discovered the quality control line; they now had to find the lab that was receiving those chips. The compound was an enormous place, so it took them two days, with three spyflies in operation, to find what they were looking for. Then they went to work.

  The things I saw beggar description

  The Tectus hackers had the time of their lives when they singled out the contractor companies one at a time, combined forces and attacked their computer networks from all directions with every tool in their arsenal. In some cases they managed to break in and collect all the information they wanted within hours, others took them a few days – nonetheless, they were moving forward in leaps and bounds.

  Information was streaming into the Rabbit Hole much quicker than the technical teams could analyze and reverse engineer. It was not an issue, as Roy pointed out, “This is a nice problem to have, much better than having to deal with a lack of information.”

  Rube and Sombra were extremely pleased with the quality of the shipment of bamboo clothing samples they received and placed an order for a large quantity to stock their warehouse and ship directly to their online customers. Three weeks after Gui and Jian got access to the quality control facilities the shipment of bamboo clothing cleared customs in New York and Peter received a call from Rube, who sounded extremely distressed. He asked, almost demanded, an urgent meeting that same night.

  Peter was on high alert when he walked into the safe house that night. His first observation of Rube and Sombra was that they’d seen a ghost or worst. The two of them looked sick.

  “My friends, you don’t look well. What’s going on?” Peter wanted to know.

  Rube replied, “That’s because we are sick, Peter. We received the second batch of information earlier today. What we saw is the cause of our nausea. We wanted to show it to you before sending it to Raj.”

  “That sounds dangerous, Rube. What have you got?” a worried Peter asked.

  “Be warned, what we are about to show you will make your worst nightmares look like a birthday party,” Sombra replied. Peter noticed how his hands were shaking while he started his tablet.

  Within ten minutes, anyone observing Peter would have reached the same conclusion about him; he looked sick, in fact, he was very ill. “My God! How is this possible! How could human beings ...” Was all he could stutter before he had to run to the bathroom.

  When he returned, he looked at his companions and said, “I'll call Sam and prepare him for what's coming. We have to get this over to them now.”

  He phoned the Rabbit Hole. Sam took the call, immediately gathered that Peter wasn’t okay, and inquired.

  “Sam, I’m with Rube and Sombra. They have just shown me the latest information from China. It’s the most horrific stuff I’ve seen in my entire life. There is no horror I can imagine that would even begin to describe what I have just witnessed.” Peter’s voice was trembling.

  “Shit man, what are you talking about! What is it?” Sam was worried. It was clear that Peter was extremely distressed.

  “You better have a look at it. Sombra is sending it as we speak. I suggest that you look at it before you decide who else should see this.”

  When the call ended, Raj had the files and handed Sam the laptop. There were more than six hours of video footage and over a hundred pages of text showing in detail what was happening at the quality control center. There were also many more files containing technical information. Sam was sick within a few minutes, but he managed to get through two hours of it before he woke Luke, Daniel, and Salome and took them to the meeting room.

  Sam gave them a summary of what to expect and then turned on the video. The quality control lab was a twelve-story building. On the outside above the main entry, the words Science Advisory Panel Headquarters were clearly visible in English and Chinese. This was where Professor Barbara Cohen, head of the Science Advisory Panel of the Supreme Council, was stationed.

  Nothing of Sam’s introduction, or for that matter any warning, could have prepared them for what they were seeing and reading as the videos took them floor by floor through the building. It was not a quality control lab - it was a human experimentation center. There were a few thousand people kept like animals, tied to chairs and beds in soundproof cubicles that would stifle their screams and agony. Syringes carrying nanobots and cocktails of drugs, chemicals, viruses, and bacteria were injected into the helpless victims while their reactions were monitored, recorded, and analyzed. On one of the floors, they kept people of different races with the explicit objective of developing race and descendant-particular sterility and death causing chemicals.

  Some of the chips from the assembly line were tested for quality by implanting them into the human subjects and activating them. After the implant, they would send signals to the chip to test that everything was working correctly. The victims’ agony was clearly visible and audible as they were trembling, convulsing, vomiting and gasping for air from the effects of the torture bots. Relief was clearly visible on their faces as death mercifully set them free when the final button was pushed that would kill them.

  In some cases the button was not pushed, the chip would be ripped out of the victim’s body to make sure the killer bots were activated. The bodies of the dead were carried out and new victims were dragged into the cubicle for the next quality test.

  Outside the building, trucks were lined up in two parallel lines; one line of trucks was waiting to be filled with corpses, while the other line delivered the doomed. One of the enclosed documents stressed the fact that the facility was in operation 24/7 and so were the lines of trucks outside. They had a seemingly endless supply of human guinea pigs.

  Two floors were dedicated to experiments to find cures for various incurable diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and others. The terminally ill were brought in and subjected to the latest untested drugs and treatment, which in most cases ended with their horrific death.

  Much of their medical research was focused on the study of virus and bacterial infections. Victims were given injections carrying the viruses and bacteria and then the progression of the infection was monitored while the victims were being treated with experimental drugs. The deadliest viruses known to science, such as Ebola, Rabies, HIV, Marburg, Hanta, Dengue, Rota and various strains of Influenza, received top priority.

  The documents retrieved from the servers and computers revealed details of every experiment that was in progress. The files from Professor Barbara Cohen’s computer had the details of projects still in the pipeline.

  The genetic engineering and cloning experiments were conducted on the fifth floor. When they got to the top floor, the opening scene had the four of them screaming with rage. It was filled with babies!

  Daniel was on his feet hissing through his teeth. “God, what have I done? I am going to get Roy now. I want him to stop what he is doing and build me a nanonuke, and then I am going to Brussels. I have caused this. I should never have allowed that 8th Cycle project. I should never have trusted Brideaux. I have to rectify this. The blood of those people is on my hands and my conscience.” Daniel’s whole body was shaking.

  Sam put his arm around Daniel's shoulder while Salome and Luke stood next to him. “Son, that is not true. That is not what happened. You are not evil. You were not negligent and you are not responsible. You carry no blame.” Sam looked at Salome and gave her a slight nod to take over; she had much better psychological skills than he did.

  She managed to get Daniel to sit and calmed him down. ‘Sorry about that,” he said after a while. “Of course, we all feel the same, and yet, I’m the one throwing a tantrum.”

  “D
on’t worry about that,” Salome said, with as much of a smile as she could muster while desperately trying not to run out and throw up. “That tantrum was on behalf of all of us.”

  They were all numb and silent.

  Sam searched for something on the laptop and found it. “This is as bad as the World War II Nazi death camps. Here is what General Eisenhower said when the Nazi extermination camps were discovered. ‘The things I saw beggar description. The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty, and bestiality were so overpowering. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations to propaganda.’” When he stopped reading, Sam drew in a ragged breath.

  Daniel regained his composure, “Sam, like Eisenhower, I want this place photographed, videoed and documented. Every file and every email must be collected; absolutely nothing must be left out. The world has to see this.”

  They all agreed with Daniel. The world had to see it. Sam undertook to ask Rube to send through this request to China.

  Daniel asked the question on everyone’s mind, “Who among our community needs to know about this and who doesn’t?”

  They decided that the full Steering Committee had to know and, for now, no one else. Their first reason for not wanting to show it to the rest of the adult population in the Rabbit Hole, was to spare their sensibilities. At some point, it may be necessary, but until there was a compelling reason to show it to others, they felt they needed more time to think through the possible consequences.

  ***

  When Peter left the safe house, he had a dilemma. He knew he would not be able to hide his shock from Kelly, but he desperately wanted to protect her from the horror that he had just seen. Kelly was a mentally strong person, but this had nothing to do with a healthy psyche. It was something that would upset any normal human being, irrespective of gender or state of mind.