A Quest Within

by Len Marshall

  “Yes, you’re right, Francis. We must remember this is not an easy task to accomplish at a time when all democracies, particularly America, are being run not by any political ideology but by industrial complexes including those related to the military and the world will remain in great peril unless that changes or at least their military industrial complex start behaving differently,” Ken Fellows said while looking out of window where the sun was slowly going down in the sky and London looked magnificent.

  The other three participants listened to him attentively. “After reading world history and travelling across the globe, I’ve learned that humans have made progress only in those eras when they had listened to each other by crossing every apparent political or ideological divide. I’m British by birth. When I was very young, I saw my birth city, London, going through a massive rebuilding program after the horrors of World War II. It had been almost demolished and left in ashes.”

  He added, “Since then, I’ve witnessed humans making the same mistakes over and over again. Superpowers have monopolized our world resources for centuries. Now we are also faced with the control of knowledge itself, the knowledge we now yearn for is military and its strategy for wars which are triggered by the acquisition of global resources and the control of trade routes, the very resources which are necessary to sustain life on this planet. This is a viscous circle, doomed to failure. This is where the very fabric of democracy and nation states are being torn apart in their quest for control. This is why the silent, nameless, marginalized people all across the world are being fragmented. If we’re going to stop all this, we must end this monopoly on knowledge which creates the strategic imbalance in the world. The ideal way to do that is to spread awareness and create a mass awakening but that will take lots of time, time which we just don’t have.”

  He continued, “The North American cyber revolution goes some way to control its superior technological advantage to temporarily achieve this. Military contractors, like Waverley Davis, control the knowledge through so called ‘Patent monopoly’ which leads to this sense of technological superiority in the American strategic community when new war engines are created based on these patents. I’m fine with patent monopolies as long as it is some luxury item like a new smartphone chip or automated car drive module but not when it endangers humanity or involves manufacturing weapon systems. Once resources are spent on manufacturing these systems, they sell them to the Pentagon and then that becomes a business motive to maximize their profit.”

  He concluded his long lecture as on his feet. “This is what has transpired in the USA since the end of World War II. The world has become a stable place, not because of the United Nations, but because of the threat of Russia and the fact that there was a strategic balance in the shape of two global powers, US and USSR, to keep the world safe by keeping away from each other. After the World Trade Centre attacks, the threat of world conflict was perceived to have increased global terrorism while traditional rivalries and strategic posturing seems to have decreased. The realms of war now hang on conjecture and hearsay, indicating another global conflict in the making. My mission today, gentlemen, is to see that that never happens. That’s why we’re all here together, regardless of our faith or race.”

  He sat down having concluded his speech.

  “Your reputation of a desire for global peace precedes you Ken and we all share the same dream. Please let us know how we can contribute to the realization of this dream and make the world a better place to live,” Francis Juke added. This was a brief and concise comment which did not really add anything and then Abu Salem spoke for the first time.

  “Each and every one of us here has a role to play and, considering our joint international reputations, we can restore balance back into the world if we all work together. What as a group do we recommend?” He continued, “My understanding is that we’re going to conduct a cyber-operation at Waverley Davis. Therefore, if I’m right, we’re trying to do the same thing that the Chinese FBS failed at despite their best efforts. In particular, we have no idea what the Chinese were looking for in the first place.”

  “My sources in China have confirmed that even the nature of the Waverley Davis secret cyber project is not known,” Anton Sergei commented.

  “Well, it was a top secret revolutionary navigation system for the US Navy detection service,” Ken Fellows intervened. Unsurprisingly, Anton Sergei looked puzzled.

  Ken outlined the project, “It’s much more than a navigational system. It’s basically an advanced real-time satellite aided navigational plus tracking system which would let the US navy identify friend or foe ships in hostile oceans. This would instantly give an unprecedented advantage to the US Navy to cripple any adversary during any future naval conflict. Waverley Davis has been secretly working on this for the last two years.”

  “Monopolizing battlefields, humans and their insanity,” Fellows added, placing an open folder on the table. “I think we now have enough understanding of the challenge we are faced with. It’s time to discuss our future strategy to ensure global peace through establishing how to prevent this American project concluding.” Suddenly everyone was intrigued.

  Anton Sergei was thinking what possible role this deterrent would play in helping his country restore some of the former Russian glory. Abu Salem was the most perplexed amongst the four of them. He was totally unable to understand his own personal role or his country’s possible role in this hi-tech game but he had been told that, for his part, he would personally receive a high financial reward from the operation. He thought about financial backing to support the militia of his chosen sect which was one of many factions fighting the sectarian wars in Iraq and Syria. This, his sectarian faction, had already killed thousands of innocent people so far.

  Ken Fellows was thinking about the money he would receive from the Russians for selling the secrets of Waverley Davis. Something he had done previously as well. He did not consider it to be blood money.

  He was the only person in the room who visualized a peaceful and stable world with multiple power brokers at a global level. Lots of bad karma had been earned by the other three participants. The universe absorbed it.

  ***

  “We’re no longer able to get into their network,” Natalie informed Jenifer who was lost in her own thoughts, looking quite distraught as if she had lost something very valuable.

  “Did you hear? I’m not able to access the backdoor you created at Waverley Davis.” Natalie’s eyes were glued to the computer screen then she looked towards Jenifer after waiting for couple of minutes for her reply. “What’s happened? Are you OK?” Natalie asked anxiously.

  “Nothing happened, everything’s fine,” Jenifer replied but Natalie was barely able to hear her.

  “We’ve been kicked out of the Waverley Davis computers. You’re sitting there lost to the world, without telling me the reason and now you’re insisting that everything is alright. Nothing is right. Please tell me what’s going on?” Natalie was seriously concerned now.

  “It’s ok if we’re not in their network anymore. I’ve changed my plan. We’ll be leaving here soon,” Jenifer shocked Natalie who was still baffled by the whole entire situation.

  “You’re not a person known for having second thoughts so tell me, Jenifer, what the hell has happened?” Natalie really was curious now.

  “I don’t know,” she replied staring out of window. “Whatever it is, I never felt anything like this before in my life. I desperately need more money but something inside me won’t let me harm him in any way, shape or form.”

  Natalie was still struggling to connect and understand Jenifer’s slow disconnected replies. Jenifer had hesitated to grasp what the missing piece of this complicated puzzle was. However, now she had the last piece, everything became clear to Natalie.

  “So love happened, I guess,” Natalie suggested.

  “It wa
s never supposed to happen,” observed Jenifer. “All my future plans have been thrown into the air.”

  Seeing her in such a state was not easy for Natalie. “We’re talking about Jacob, right?” Natalie asked the question whose answer was already very obvious.

  Jenifer nodded her head and tears began to roll down her cheeks. Natalie embraced her, patting Jenifer’s back with one hand, trying to comfort her. “You were saying something about leaving this place?” Natalie said after few minutes. “You mean that we’re fleeing New York like I suggested before? Well, OK, that’s brilliant, finally some peace from constantly chasing our tails.” She just wanted confirmation from Jenifer.

  “Yes. We’ll be leaving the US in the next couple of days. I’ve made all the arrangements.”

  “When did you make all these plans?” Natalie asked.

  Jenifer shocked Natalie again when she asked where they were going.

  “Brazil, you know how much I love the beaches there,” Jenifer explained. “Pack some light clothing and take this and keep it safe,” Jenifer said, handing a large thick envelope over. Natalie took it and looked into it and was shocked to find money in it. There was thousands of dollars in cash, cool green cash.

  “Where did you...” Natalie was about to ask further questions but Jenifer raised her hand and said, “No more questions.” Natalie was anxious to find out more information but she wasn’t going to get the answers today because right now Jenifer had decided to leave. She started packing.

  After couple of days preparing to leave, they arrived at La Guardia airport. When they got there, Jenifer told Natalie that she would be traveling to Brazil alone. This was a tremendous shock for her of course and she tried to protest but Jenifer made her understand, after much argument, that she was sending Natalie away now only so that she could take care of the Jacob matter.

  This made Natalie even more furious. She complained out loud “You could have told me about your plans,” Natalie said sharply.

  “Yes, I know. I should have said something but you know how much was happening around us. Now we’ve lost Fu Wang it complicates matters even more.”

  Natalie tried to put herself in Jenifer’s shoes and thought that perhaps Jenifer was telling the truth. Just then, the final call was announced for Natalie’s flight. They embraced each other and Natalie left for the departure lounge. Jenifer watched until she passed into the passenger only area. She left the airport when the Brazil flight had taken off. Soon, she was in her car driving towards the Waverley Davis Headquarters.

  It was time to face the biggest demon inside her!

  “I think you’re here to meet Jacob, is that right?” he asked.

  “No, Ajay, I’m here to meet you, actually. I should have come earlier but I think I may still have enough time left and I hope I’m not too late,” Jenifer replied attempting a smile.

  “Not too late for what?” he replied.

  “OK, I mean not too late to finally put right this mess right,” Jenifer replied now in a much more serious tone.

  She continued, “There are some things I need to discuss, things that you need to know about and things that are extremely personal. You need to listen to this, it’s vitally important in order to help you get rid of this hacking problem of yours. I wouldn’t be taking up so much of your time if the things I want to tell you won’t enable you to understand everything that’s been going on lately.”

  Ajay was intrigued to know what this girl had to tell him and wondered, if he did listen, that she would solve the Waverley Davis network security problems.

  She continue, “To start with, you should know that Neil is innocent. I implanted that malware deciphering code on his mobile.” Ajay gasped then fell into a stunned silence.

  “How could this happen? You...You are Jacob’s...” Ajay could not complete the sentence, he had no idea what to say to her.

  “Let me explain to you from the beginning. You must be keen to know how this all began, aren’t you?” Ajay could only nod his head to prompt her to begin.

  She then went on to explain to Ajay about her past life, her life so far in the technology sector, the difficulties of her childhood, her challenging education and how she became besotted with learning all about hacking. And then the list grew and grew and he listened as she told him about how he was her inspiration during her younger days with his teachings about the Law of Attraction.

  She explained how his inspiring work had motivated her to deal with the paralysis of her mother and how his healing words had equipped her to face how her father had destroyed their family. She told him about her previous hacking exploits and finally how she got the assignment to hack into Neil’s mobile via a Chinese agent from the communist regime. She kept secret Natalie’s role in the entire story, totally excluding her from the account.

  Meanwhile, Ajay remained silent and just listened but she had now reached the most difficult part of her confession. It was hard for her to tell Ajay about her initial plans for Jacob but she had already confessed to everything else. She told Ajay bit by bit about what she had actually planned to do to Jacob. Ajay kept listening to her, wondering why she hadn’t fled the country already or why she hadn’t walked into his office to tell him all this in the first place.

  Then, “For heaven’s sake, why did you come here? You could have just disappeared?” Ajay asked solemnly.

  “Well,” she replied, “have you ever in your life fallen in love with someone?” Ajay was certainly not expecting that answer.

  Ajay was completely lost for words. He tried to fill in the missing pieces from what he had just heard, joining up the virtual dots so that he could draw a complete picture in his mind. What he knew for sure was that he was looking at the girl his son had fallen in love with and who was also responsible for Neil’s detention. She had conspired with some unknown foreign elements against his company and his country.

  Jenifer fell short of telling him about her role in saving the Waverley Davis server so many times from the Chinese. “It was Jacob who made me walk in here and say all this to you,” she explained, “to confess to my wrongdoings. I wanted to do this in front of him but I couldn’t find the courage in me for that. I wanted to tell him that I’m not worthy of his love but my conscience refused to take me to him.”

  “So, as a result I came to you,” Jenifer talked as if she was in some kind of trance. She remembered the moment when she had made her mind up to come clean to Jacob but could not say anything to him.

  Suddenly, Ajay realized there was a third person in the room. It was Jacob who had been standing there, in the doorway, for at least the last ten minutes and he had heard the last part of Jenifer’s confession. Jacob was stunned to learn this about Jenifer. His body and mind both became numb and he stood there for few moments expressionless. After he had regained some composure from the initial shock, he left Ajay’s office without a single word.

  Ajay was bewildered by all the drama unfolding there in his office. He looked towards Jenifer who had her eyes closed, tears rolling down her cheeks. Ajay then picked up the phone to call the FBI. Just then Jenifer opened her eyes. “I think you must also be wondering about the mysterious hacker who helped your team to secure your servers and network?” she asked.

  “How do you know so much detail?” he asked.

  “Because I’m the one who did it, that securing on line inside your server,” she confessed.

  “You mean, you did all that work to save my networks?” Ajay asked. Then Jenifer told him all the details of her role in the whole story. Needless to say, Ajay was completely amazed, perplexed and confused all at the same time. He put the phone down as now he was not sure if she was an enemy or his best friend or at least his company’s best friend. She decided that she was now ready to leave the building and, as she left, she said, “I think now, I must go where I belong.”

  Wh
en she had left his office, Ajay sat quietly and began to try to understand the entire situation that had just been played out before him. Somehow, strangely enough, just listening to Jenifer’s confession he felt exactly the same way he had felt when Neil was apprehended by the FBI weeks earlier.

  On her way out of the building, Jenifer spotted Jacob who looked heartbroken. Regardless of this, Jenifer decided she did not want to face him, she tried to pass him in the corridor but as she passed his office he was standing right in her way.

  “Who the hell are you? You’re a two-faced liar, Jenifer,” he started.

  “You know I would never hide anything from you. I came here today to tell the truth and I think you should have realized that by now,” Jenifer said calmly.

  “Why speak of this now?” he asked, anguish etched in his voice. “Why confess now?”

  “You made me do this Jacob. I’m just an ordinary girl really, not a sociopathic liar.”

  Jacob was stunned to see tears in Jenifer’s eyes and had no idea what to say. He let Jenifer pass and as soon as she had left he headed to Ajay’s office. “I think we should stop her. I’m calling security.” Jacob picked up the phone but Ajay stopped him.

  “That will not be necessary, Son. She’s going to surrender herself to the FBI soon anyway.” He began to explain to Jacob, “You know, Jacob, she’s your mystery hacker who saved the Waverley Davis network from the Chinese invasion time and time again.”

  Jacob remembered how he visualized meeting this mystery cyber friend, Hacker X, to thank him or her and now he had no idea how to react to this emerging situation.

  “Well, one good thing, Jacob,” Ajay said gratefully, “we now know that at least Neil will be freed from jail.”

  More than anything, Jacob was disgusted with himself. How could he be so stupid as to fall for that type of a girl? However, he kept thinking about her saying “You made me do it, Jacob.” This gave him something to consider within the conflict churning around in his already dizzy head.