“Thanks, Tom,” James said, as he shook his head.
“That’s not all of it, boss. After this guy disappeared, our wireless intrusion prevention system picked up a very sophisticated soft rogue access point on a laptop in your old office. It was apparently transmitting to a wireless access point outside the building. The system tracked the location of the wireless access point to a white van parked nearby. We asked one of our engineers to casually walk by the van to see if it had government plates. It did, but as you know, government plates aren’t unusual down here. Government vehicles are used by the navy guys at Pax River right next door.”
“Do you think it was the government doing this, Tom?”
“I don’t know, but when we disconnected the rogue access point, the van left. We decided to do an inspection of the entire network. Our techs found some unauthorized connections to the serial ports on some of the VoIP phones. They were apparently being used to monitor our voice communications. We checked all the phones and disconnected the serial ports. It’s clear that we were under attack by someone, but it seemed to stop after Philip went to work with the guys at Fort Meade.”
“Philip and I designed and developed all of VSI’s security systems and procedures when we started the company. I’m confident they would’ve kept all of our sensitive data secure. Our corporate proprietary data is stored off-line in a security vault that isn’t accessible via the network. As far as I know, there are only a handful of individuals, including Philip and myself, who can access that data. I assume the missing network administrator wasn’t added to the list, or was he?”
“No, he wasn’t, boss. He had no physical or network access to privacy act information, corporate financial records, or proprietary data such as patent applications, copyrights, and trade secrets.”
“Do you all think these attacks stopped because the attackers were able to coerce Philip into providing what they wanted?”
“We aren’t certain,” Theresa said. “But about a month after the attacks stopped, there was a big meeting here on a Sunday between Philip and several senior military officers.”
“Was any one of you, or for that matter, anyone from the VSI staff here during the meeting?”
“No one other than the guards, Philip, and his guests,” Tom said. “It was the day of the big Redskins-Ravens game. The facility was empty since both teams were playoff contenders, and all employees received a memo saying that the network was being worked on that day and that VSI would be closed. I only heard about the meeting from one of the guards who told me he was specifically instructed by Philip that the guests didn’t have to log in and sign the visitor journal. That was unprecedented. You know as well as I do that logins are a corporate requirement for every visitor. It was mandated by both Philip and you. I have no idea what it was all about.”
“Okay, I think we’ve beaten this to death, and I appreciate your input. This helps me a lot in determining what happened after I left, and why Philip would suddenly start working with the feds.”
“Well actually, you were both working with the feds,” Theresa said.
“That’s true, Theresa. But I was working on cyber defense, while it appears Philip may have been working on the development of cyber threats. I hope I’m wrong.”
“Since you were both working with the feds, does that mean that VSI will start selling our products to the government?”
“Not as long as I have anything to say about it, Theresa. There are reasons for my and Philip’s decision to only sell VSI products to the commercial sector. Even though Philip and I were working with the feds as individuals, that requirement hasn’t changed. It can’t change without the unanimous approval of the VSI board of directors.”
“I understand, but the government market is huge, and they have a lot of interest in our products. The board should consider the opportunities and revenue we are missing.”
“We have looked at it, Theresa. I also want to let everyone know that I still plan to continue working as the Federal CIO. I made a promise to President Meredith that I wouldn’t abandon him during his first term. Since I won’t be available to run this company, I’ll need to select a successor. I’ll do that over the next week or so. It’ll definitely be someone in this room. I won’t pick an outsider, unless all of you decide you’re not interested.”
“I’d like to remove my name from consideration, since I don’t agree with the restriction against federal business,” Theresa said.
“I would like you to reconsider your withdrawal and delay your decision for a couple of weeks, Theresa. Will you do that?”
Theresa stammered for a few seconds. “Okay, I’ll do it for you, James.”
Theresa walked with James to his car. He’d always liked Theresa. She was extremely intelligent and very attractive but could alienate those around her by her forceful personality and aggressive temperament.
“I hope you can forgive me, James, but I think this company can be so much more than it is now.”
“It’s doing very well, Theresa. Please don’t become discouraged.” James smiled and kissed her softly on the cheek.
When James got in his car, he immediately checked his phone for messages. He listened to one from George requesting a return call and decided that he’d better call him back. James knew George got irritable if he was ignored. Probably most billionaires would, he thought. He dialed the number and George answered immediately, which was unusual.
“Hello, James. Where are you?”
“I’m just about to leave VSI. What can I do for you?”
“You and your beautiful girlfriend could meet me at Michelle’s for dinner tonight.”
“I’d need to see if JoAnn is busy, but if she isn’t, I see no reason why we couldn’t. Let me call her and get back to you.”
“Okay. She’s never turned me down before.”
James called JoAnn and she answered immediately.
“What’s up?” JoAnn asked.
“Well, if you’re not busy, your former boss and my business partner just invited us to dinner at Michelle’s.”
“That sounds good. What time do you want to meet me? Or should I drive separately?”
“I can pick you up. Where are you going to be in about an hour and thirty minutes? It’ll take me that long to get back to DC from here.”
“Meet me at my house. You can take a shower and wear one of the suits you have here. It’s about four, so tell George we can be there by seven.”
“Do you have something else planned? I was thinking more like six.”
“Think of something we can do in an hour, baby.”
“Okay, I’ll be there even earlier.”
James called George and smiled as his Corvette accelerated and he hit almost no traffic. He made it to JoAnn’s house a little after five. He rang the doorbell and then let himself in with his key. He was surprised to see JoAnn walking down the staircase absolutely nude.
“Got home earlier than expected,” James said.
“I see that. You’re lucky you didn’t get a ticket. Let’s go to the bedroom,” JoAnn said, as she started walking up the stairs.
“We could start with the sofa down here.”
“Not tonight, sweetie. Just follow me.”
James did as he was told and started removing his clothes while walking behind her. He couldn’t get used to how incredibly beautiful JoAnn was and how unaffected she was by her appearance. From the first time they met, he was mesmerized by her statuesque appearance at almost six feet tall, and with a figure that a Greek goddess would envy. He thought her long, wavy black hair, beautiful green eyes, wide full lips, and alabaster skin were almost hypnotic.
James watched as she lay down on the bed and grabbed his hand to pull him toward her. After forty minutes of incredible passion they were both exhausted. James looked at JoAnn and then kissed her on the lips.
“Will you marry me?” James asked.
JoAnn was so surprised she couldn’t say anything. He stared at her a
nd said, “I think that deserves some response, don’t you?”
JoAnn smiled and said, “I fell in love with you the day George introduced us, James. Saying it now would almost be anticlimactic, but my answer is yes.”
They lay in bed together holding hands.
“What’s next?” James asked.
“Well, I guess we should get up, shower, and get dressed. You know how George hates it when people are late.”
“That isn’t what I meant, and you know it.”
“Well, what do you think is next, James?”
“I asked you first.”
“If you’re referring to marriage, both of us are no longer kids and have never been married. I think I’d like to have a family, wouldn’t you?”
“Very much so.”
“What does that mean? I’m thirty-one and don’t have many childbearing years left. So let’s think small, maybe two kids, and drop the ‘very much so,’ okay?”
“Okay, two kids would be fine, a boy and a girl.”
“Children aren’t something you can order, James. You get what you get, and there are no returns.”
“I know that, baby. We can talk about this later. We better shower and get dressed, or George will be angry.”
James walked into the shower and turned on the water while JoAnn walked in behind him. She turned the temperature down since it was starting to steam. After they showered, James grabbed a towel and went downstairs and shaved in the other bathroom, then got dressed in a navy blue suit. James knew it always took JoAnn longer, so he turned on the TV to the local news. He saw a news conference with the Washington, DC, medical examiner, Pamela Robinson, who had been assigned to Senator Thompson’s autopsy.
She seemed much too young and attractive to be a medical examiner. James had always seen them played on TV by grumpy old men. She was definitely neither. The reporters kept asking questions she couldn’t or wouldn’t answer, such as whether she saw any indications that the death wasn’t due to natural causes.
“The senator’s cause of death hasn’t been determined,” she said. When asked about his excessive drinking and obesity, she acknowledged they could’ve been contributing factors. She went on to say that they were still examining the body and were waiting on the toxicology report. The reporters asked when the autopsy would be completed. “When I’m satisfied that we have all the answers,” she responded and then walked away from the podium.
JoAnn walked down the stairs in a silver dress, blue scarf, and diamond earrings. James thought she looked like an angel. They drove to Michelle’s, and as they walked into the restaurant, Michelle personally led them to their usual table overlooking the Potomac.
“Would you like anything to drink?”
“I’d like a vodka martini, heavy on the olives, and I’m sure my fiancé wants his favorite single malt scotch.”
Michelle smiled. “When did this happen?” she asked.
“About forty minutes ago,” James said.
“Congratulations to you both. I’ll be back with your drinks.”
“I have something to tell you, baby. I plan to take a few weeks off from my Federal CIO position to assist with the selection and transition of the new VSI CEO.”
“I expected that. Who do you think it’ll be?”
“I hope it’s one of the senior management.”
“How’d your meeting go with them today?”
“Not good. Theresa announced that she doesn’t want the job, and there’s been a lot of strange things happening since I left. Tom thinks the VSI network was under attack.”
“By who?”
“They think it’s the military and that Philip was coerced by someone at NSA or Cyber Command into working with them. I need to determine the relationship Philip had with the military and what he was working on after I left VSI. Can you find out anything? You’re on the Senate Intelligence Committee.”
“Getting such information from the military, especially NSA or Cyber Command, on projects they’re working on is very difficult, James. Even Congress has problems getting that information.”
“Yeah, I guess they would,” James said.
“I wonder if George is bringing his new fiancée. Her name’s Astrid Von Steuben, and she’s supposed to be a really tall and beautiful redhead. Have you met her, James?”
“No, but that’s definitely George’s type. All his past girlfriends were tall redheads.”
“Well, this one has a brain and a fortune of her own. I wonder what she sees in George.”
“I wonder what any of them did. The abuse is not worth it. Just ask Nadya.”
“Nadya Murin was once George’s fiancée?” JoAnn asked.
“Yes, about twenty years ago. He couldn’t buy her off like the others. She was originally an employee, and she knew too much about George’s companies and their operations. That’s why she’s the manager of George Solomon Enterprises. What’s weird is that I think she still loves him.”
“That’s got to be difficult for her, working so close to George and seeing all those women in his life. That poor woman.”
“She seems to handle it well.”
“I think I just saw George walk through the door, and it looks like he did bring his new fiancée.”
Michelle led George and Astrid to the table and took their drink order. George introduced Astrid as his fiancée and then introduced James and JoAnn to Astrid.
“James is the Federal CIO and former CEO of VSI, a very successful company I helped fund. JoAnn is a US Senator and successful entrepreneur, and a former employee of one of my investment companies.”
“I’m certain they had a lot to do with their own success. You can’t take all the credit, George, now can you?” asked Astrid.
George’s face flushed. “Of course not,” he said in a very low voice that could hardly be heard.
James liked her immediately. So did JoAnn, who always considered George something of a pompous ass. Nothing slowed George down, and he immediately moved on to his reason for dinner.
“Do you know who the president is supporting as the new majority leader, James?”
“When I left the president this morning he was planning on having his staff provide a list of possible candidates. I assume he’ll meet with the senate leadership to determine who they think is the best choice. As far as I know he has no favorite.”
“Thanks, James. Do either of you know who the senate leadership favors?”
JoAnn knew it was her turn to answer.
“The most likely candidate will probably be Senator Hopkins from South Carolina, since he’s the assistant majority leader. However, he may not want it, as his health is failing and he was considering retiring when his term is up in about a year. If he passes on the job, the next likely choices are Senator Castro from Florida or Senator Domingo from Texas.”
“Of those three, who do you think has the best chance?”
James jumped in. “JoAnn’s vote is privileged information, George. She won’t even tell her future husband, the current Federal CIO.”
George knew when he’d been had.
“Congratulations to the both of you. When did this happen?”
“Today, George, less than an hour ago. But I’ll need to get JoAnn a ring to make it official.”
“I can help you there. I have a lot of friends who are jewelers. They created Astrid’s ring.”
“Thanks, George. I’ll let you know.”
As James drove JoAnn home, he said, “I hope I wasn’t too presumptuous by saying we’re officially engaged. I haven’t gotten the ring or officially asked you while getting on one knee.”
She looked at him affectionately and said, “James, I’m on cloud nine tonight. If you hadn’t told them, I would have. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, baby, but I don’t think George should be involved with the engagement ring. Did you see that iceberg that Astrid had on her finger? It was the gaudiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I want to thank
you for saving me from having to tell George where to get off when he asked me how I might vote. I didn’t like Lee Thompson, but I don’t want to discuss his successor before the poor man is even in the ground.”
“Yeah, he certainly has always lacked sensitivity. George can be as cold as that diamond on Astrid’s finger.”
8
Kim couldn’t believe his good fortune. He’d been sent to China to learn Information Warfare Technology and to support cyber warfare opportunities against America. A great opportunity that would allow him to do both, and also get paid for it, had fallen into his lap. He couldn’t have asked for anything more, but first he needed to call Lee Park.
“Hi, Lee, I’m at the apartment and I need to talk with you. It’s very important.”
“I’ll be there in an hour, Kim.”
Kim was excited to tell Lee, which was obvious to her when she arrived at his apartment.
“What’s so important, Kim? You’re acting like my son when he gets a new toy.”
“That’s about right. I have an opportunity to participate in cyber warfare against the Americans. It includes some of my classmates at HIT. Here’s a report I put together for my superiors. It looks real, Lee.”
“Okay, I’ll forward this to my contacts in North Korea and let you know when I hear something. In the meantime, be careful who you talk to about this.”
Kim didn’t tell Lee that he’d already committed to the project, but it didn’t matter since Lee met with him two days later to brief him on the response.
“You certainly intrigued my contacts, Kim. I’ve never seen them respond this quickly.”
“They must be really interested.”
“They are. Your orders are to proceed with caution and determine who is behind the attack.”
“I’ll see what I can find out, but everything I’ve seen indicates this isn’t a trap.”
Kim was amused at how the North Korean government was hardwired to believe that nothing was ever what it seemed and that any opportunity was a potential trap. Before Kim had left for China, his uncle advised him to make the most of his training at HIT. The admiral warned him that life in North Korea was going to get much worse, since the leadership was becoming desperate. North Korea’s economy had worsened even after the worldwide economic sanctions were removed. It seemed as if his uncle was telling him to look elsewhere for his future.
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