Dream State

by K. Z. Howell

  Loudon changed his focus from the surroundings to the person. The person studiously wasting his time just because she could. That spoke to either narcissism or plain conceit. Not that either was a rarity in the intelligence communities’ upper echelons. He studied his boss with the eye of a trained professional, looking for clues to her mental and emotional state in her dress, manner and body language.

  She wore the silly lab coat that all of the technicians in the lab wore. A pointless garment since they worked with computers and code rather than chemicals and fluids that could spill. Yet, even in her office away from other staff Dr. Mills still wore hers. Combine that with the tightly bound hair and oversized glasses and he tagged her as a hardass woman who expected to be held to a higher standard than those around her. Her dress was consistent with someone who had been told she wasn’t good enough once and had carried the chip on her shoulder ever since. Not an uncommon reaction for a female in a male dominated field. Twenty years ago. But twenty years ago his boss had been a pimple faced teenager looking forward to senior prom, not the Director of a research lab in the National Security agency.

  As she read through the file on her desk, she did not move at all, he could see the almost imperceptible ripple of muscle in her cheeks as her eyes scanned the page, but no corresponding head or involuntary hand movements. Her posture was rigid with her back straight and tightly pressed to the high backed chair, the inclination of her head the only concession to the physical strain that reading from a distance caused. The open front of her coat revealed more than any other aspect of her appearance. Her hands were smooth and feminine and her exposed neck showed a smooth, attractive dark complexion that spoke to her African islander ancestry. The unblemished flesh of her graceful face and neck melded smoothly with the impressive swell of her breasts underneath the shiny fabric of her dark gold blouse.

  His study was interrupted as she finished reading whatever had held her attention. As with most people, she telegraphed her next move by straightening just slightly and withdrawing her arms from their position just a touch before bringing her face up and turning to look at the man waiting for her.

  “Did you find them?” she asked.

  “Of course.” Loudon replied, handing her the files. “They have all moved on from college of course but they were easy enough to locate.”

  Director Mills opened the folder and began looking through the few sheets of data that the spy had put together.

  “This is it?” she asked impatiently. “This is nothing but addresses and work history, I don’t see anything useful here, Mr. Loudon!”

  Exasperated, Loudon answered “You requested that I locate the people, what you see is exactly what your requested, ma’am.”

  “Obviously I wanted much more than this. What have they been doing? Are they still in contact with each other? Who do they associate with?”

  “I wanted every move they’ve made and every person they’ve spoken to since graduation, Mr. Loudon. Asking the NSA for something any internet search engine could give would be pointless, don’t you think?”

  Loudon ignored the rude jab, he barely restrained himself from lecturing the academic on the legalities of surveilling American citizens without a warrant. “Director, your request was a verbal order for the location and current status of four citizens. I have given you that information. Anything beyond that requires a written directive and if you want an expanded report that includes associations, phone records or other detailed information, you will need a warrant for the surveillance.”

  Loudon could see in her eyes that she was not only irritated but that she was unused to being told to follow the rules by a “lackey”. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to lose his job by breaking protocol for her and he certainly wasn’t going to jail for her by conducting an illegal surveillance on American soil.

  Her tone softened “ Mr. Loudon, I am new to the spy agency business. Would you be so kind as to acquire whatever permissions you need to get the information for me?”

  Loudon wasn’t fooled. Putting sugar in the vinegar just makes it thicker vinegar.

  “Director, you have two options for getting authorization for a surveillance on American citizens. I can file for a FISA warrant but that still requires a realistic probable cause affidavit and almost all get turned down. Also, you can issue a written directive on your own authority that those people may have information you consider either potentially classified or directly necessary to your specific project under the Patriot Act.”

  “And a directive under my own authority will get me what I am asking for? Phone records, conversations, associations and the rest?” Mills asked.

  “Yes, as a department director you can get whatever information you deem important to your project. You simply have to issue the directive, specifying what you want to know and from whom. It will also need to be limited to surveillance only.”

  Now came the question Loudon always dreaded in conversations like this with these academic types.

  “Who else will know about this?” Mills asked, “This is very important information to my project, I don’t want it chatted about in some clerks Facebook feed.”

  “ Besides you and I, Director, the department of legal review will get a copy of the directive along with the personnel department who assigns the surveillance team. Another goes to Director Hall since he controls all surveillance and direct action teams through his department. Director Hall isn’t known for being interested in simple data surveillance missions. There are hundreds going on at any one time, and as the Director in charge of direct action groups he usually has his plate full.”

  Mills sat silently for several minutes. Loudon waited patiently, he already knew what she would decide, the only question would be how she would try to cajole him into keeping her request below the radar of Director Hall. He had spent his entire adult life in the spy world, first at CIA as a case officer and then working his way through the ranks of the NSA. He had learned early that anyone whose title started with Director would have secrets that they kept secret from their own secrets. It was the nature of the beast. She wanted things done that she really had no business doing. Spying on Americans was bad for business if the Agency got caught and spying on a bunch of fresh out of college all American citizens on American soil could get a person hauled in front of a congressional committee or worse.

  “Send me the forms, Mr. Loudon. I’ll fill them out and have them back to you tomorrow. This time I want them tracked and I want to know everything they are up to, Mr. Loudon. Whatever that takes, see that it gets done. There is no need to bother Director Hall, I’ll see that he is brought into the loop.”

  Loudon sighed inwardly, but his expression revealed nothing of the thoughts behind his eyes.

  “I will have them sent before noon, Director. Once everything is filed and a team is assigned I will have their senior officer brief you on his plan.” Loudon said as he rose to leave.

  “See that you do, Mr. Loudon.” Mills replied as he left the room.

  Two hours later Loudon was finishing up his end of Dr. Mills paperwork when Director Hall opened his office door and closed it behind him before plopping down in a chair and thudding his feet onto Loudons desk. Arching one eyebrow, Loudon reached behind a row of books on the shelf beside him and tossed the flask he kept hidden there over to the grinning Hall. Once the Director had taken a big swig of the scotch he tossed it back to his old friend Zach who took a big pull at the burning liquid before returning the battered tin container to its hiding spot.

  “To the living, to the dead and to the lost.” Hall recited in unison with Loudon.

  “So, how goes the Interdepartmental liaison business today Zach? As much fun as we had in Kabul?” Hall laughed.

  “Can’t complain, Rob. The paperwork sucks and these technical dweebs are a really being a pain in my ass today, but on the bright side no one is shooting at me!”

  “Ha!” Hall retorted, “There is that. I’ll take the bureaucracy
over bullets any day.”

  “So what kinda really smart stupid stuff are the dweebs doing this time? Still trying to get you tell them about Area 51?” hall said jokingly.

  “No, thank goodness they finally gave up on that one. This new Director you put over the development team though, now she is starting to think she’s the queen spy and wanting surveillance teams to waste their time watching college kids. I’ve put her off once but now she wants a full 24/7 team on them. Plus, naturally, she wants it kept hush hush. Hell, Rob even after I told her you controlled the operations teams she wants it to be “just between us”, no need to bother Director Hall with this, he is so busy. Blah, blah, blah” Loudon said. Then with a grin added, “So I decided to do the paperwork and turn it in. Then she becomes your problem and not mine.”

  Laughing, Hall said “Some friend you are!”

  He held his hand out to Loudon “Here, let me see.”

  Hall read through the application. It was standard legalese requesting that the four former students be placed under human and electronic surveillance to determine possible security leaks or to preserve information potentially valuable to an ongoing NSA project. The same language that was used to spy on suspected computer hackers, it had been tested enough in courts that it was considered bulletproof in any possible complaints against the agency.

  To Loudons surprise, Director Hall took a pen from his shirt and signed the authorization before handing the forms back to him.

  “You actually think her request has merit, Rob?” He asked.

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Hall replied. “Doctor Mills was once a project assistant professor over those kids on a college experiment related to her work here. That request proves that she exaggerated her involvement though. She passed herself off as being intimately involved with the experiment under a Professor Bench. The fact that she wants information from those four means that she doesn’t have nearly the knowledge she promised when she was chosen to head up the development team.”

  Loudon was perplexed. “Why not just can her for lying and get someone else then?”

  “Several reasons, the main one being political, unfortunately. I wanted another scientist who is working on a somewhat different way of achieving the goal, but A.D. Minuchen was under pressure from congress to get either a woman or a person of color into a directorship. Kendra Mills just happens to fit both descriptions rather nicely.”

  Hall snorted his derision “The spy game has been infected with political correctness, Zach. Imagine that! Plus, with Professor Bench dead now, she is still the closest scientist to being successful at her task.”

  Loudon shook his head “That PC crap will be the death of us yet, Rob.”

  Hall stood “No doubt Zach. No doubt. Give her a team, as a matter of fact, have personnel put Simms on it. His team lost four guys last time out, a few months of babysitting a bunch of college kids will give him a chance to get his new people up to speed.”

  Dream State

  Chapter 5

  All men seek power at all times, some for good, some for ill

  Imagine the power of controlling a mind.

  Professor August Bench

  William peeked around the boulder he was hiding behind. He and Jennifer had seen the small drone circling, its white painted underside only visible silhouette against the rare black storm clouds. Seeing a drone was rare enough, out here in the desert, 80 miles from the nearest hint of civilization, it was definitely not a coincidence. He had brought Jen here to spend a few days away from the hustle and noise of town. Her paranoia had been increasing for weeks. First it was the strange black SUV she kept seeing everywhere. Then her insistence that things in their apartment were just slightly out of place when they came home from work and the new faces that always seemed to be staring at them in public. Will hadn’t noticed anything odd really, that one time his toothpaste was in the wrong spot but he had convinced himself it was just his own carelessness that put it on the wrong side of the sink.

  His disbelief had evaporated less than an hour ago, though. Jen had panicked when they saw the drone, her nerves having been on edge already. Will had almost convinced her it was just some hobbyist and they had moved deeper into the shallow canyon to prove it was not stalking them. Only it was. The deeper into the towering stones they had moved, the lower the craft had come in order to remain in sight. Once it came down below the rim he had recognized it from news footage. It was a Predator drone. There was no mistaking the shape for some commercially sold toy, the missiles below its wings were Air Force, without a doubt. Jen had been right. Someone was stalking them and that someone had to be the military or an intelligence agency.

  He had moved Jen far into an area with closely packed columns of stone in the lowest portion of the canyon, a spot that the drone couldn’t follow them to but was less than a hundred yards from an outlet. That was where he had gone to see if the drone was still circling. It was. It slowly made an oval pattern in the sky as its operator patiently waited for the flying eye to relocate its quarry. His attention though had been drawn to the open, flat area outside the stone rift.

  The unmistakable sight of a dust trail heading straight for him sent a ball of ice straight into his gut. The two black SUV’s raced ahead of the dark brown plume in an arrow straight path to his location. Whoever the drone was working for, was coming for its prey. The scattered stones and small boulders that covered the slope down to the flats kept the vehicles almost a half mile away as they slid to a halt in a billowing cloud of dust and sand. Will watched the men exit the vehicles as the cloud dissipated in the breeze. Even without the binoculars that were back in the campsite, Will could see the rifles the men carried. The ice in his stomach grew colder. They were here for Jen. He didn’t know how he knew that. He just did. And there wasn’t a damned thing he could do to stop them!

  The men fanned out and began slowly advancing up the slope. Will noticed one man had stayed behind at the vehicles. That ended his immediate thought of sneaking Jen past the seven armed men and getting away in an SUV. The sound of the drone making its lazy turn just above him reminded him that he and Jen were going nowhere. Will moved back further into the shadows.. The men were only a few hundred yards away and he needed to get back to Jen and figure out how they could hide. He still had no idea what was going on but when heavily armed men come looking for you and they aren’t cops? He had seen that movie before.

  He ran through the narrow paths between stones, the sound of his feet quietly echoing among the hundreds of fissures would alert the pursuers to his presence but Will had been here several times. Tracking someone by sound in the maze of the canyon was hopeless. That should buy him some time.

  He reached the spot where he had left Jen but she wasn’t there, his heart skipped. Had someone come from the other side and found her? He called out as softly as he could. After his second try he heard her voice. “here”, coming from a darker shadow at the canyon wall. Racing over he saw that she had found a very narrow crack in the stone. It was barely wide enough for her to squeeze into and so deep in the afternoon shadow that it was all but invisible from more than a few feet away. If he had never seen it on his trips here, the men coming for her would surely never notice it. It was a small hope, but more than he had had five minutes ago.

  “Men are coming Jen. They are armed to the teeth and they mean business.” He said.

  “Why? What do they want?” Jen cried.

  “I don’t know Babe. I don’t know. But I think they want you. I think you were right all along. I am so sorry I didn’t believe you.”

  Jen threw her arms around Wills shoulders and buried her face in his chest. He felt her chest heaving against him. She was terrified but he didn’t have time to comfort her. He squeezed her tightly then peeled her away and pushed her back into the narrow crevasse.

  “Stay here. Stay quiet. Don’t come out until I come back or you don’t hear the drone. It will have to refuel at some point and when it does you can make a break for t
he old Miller cabin. My motorcycle should still be in the shed. Don’t go back to the camp. Leave the truck, they will just find you again.” He said.

  “Will! No! Get in here with me. We can both hide.” She said.

  “No babe. There’s not enough room. Besides, I need to draw them away. They can’t catch me in these rocks and if I can get to the other rift they will think you are with me. Now, stay hidden and stay quiet. I will come back as soon as I can.” He told her. Then, leaning into the opening he kissed her forehead and looked hard at her face before turning and sprinting away.

  He didn’t look back. He was out of time. The sound of the men moving through the canyon echoed amongst the standing stone columns, each dislodged rock and each muttered curse bounced around until it filled the hollow he ran through with a steady hum. Will emerged from the maze of broken stone and made it across the open space just before this crevasse met the main canyon. He stopped at the narrow opening, one of the few areas that the fading sun still lit, and waited. He didn’t have to wait long, within minutes the seven armed pursuers emerged from the shadows of the standing stones, weapons ready.

  Will watched as they professionally swept the area with their weapons, searching for prey. As soon as he knew he had been spotted he bolted for the opening. He looked back for just a second as he reached the shadowed far side. All seven men were sprinting towards him. Good, Will thought. He would lead them on a wild goose chase until it became too dark to track him. By then, he hoped, Jen would have snuck out behind them and made it to safety.

  Jen bit down on her hand so hard it left deep grooves for every tooth in the soft skin. Any sound, any movement, could draw the attention of the two men who stood mere feet away. The darkening shadow kept her hidden in the deeper darkness of the crack she took refuge in, her fear grew with each deafening beat of her heart. She knew they had spotted Will when one of them pointed and they took off at a run.