“Oh. I think it would be very noble for either of you to do this to protect the country better. And I would be supportive of that patriotic effort. But I have two problems if it is both of you.”
“And they are?” Tom asked.
“Secondly, Colonel, whoever this is, is going to get caught. And it’s not going to be pretty. This is going to end badly for the traitors. There isn’t going to be a ticker tape parade down Broadway. Either this ends as a national scandal and public trial, or the vigilantes will be killed. Either by terrorists, or by our own government. I think I’m good for losing one of you for this noble effort. But I don’t think I could handle discovering that I couldn’t trust either of you and then losing both of you after all these years.”
“And the first problem?” Nancy asked, knowing what was coming.
“And first, I’d be furious you hadn’t asked me to join the gang.”
Chapter 3
May Kung looked over the top of her computer at the man she knew only as Tom, cleared her throat.
Tom looked up from his screen, then at his watch. Two in the morning.
“Got them?” he asked.
“All but one.”
“You sure.”
“Pretty sure.”
“Time to call Samms?”
“Not yet. Almost there.”
“Can I ask you a question while you work?”
“Sure. I can still multitask.”
“Why’d you agree to work with us, May? Originally?”
“You mean over a year ago?”
“Yeah. You’re great at hacking and decrypting. Why wasn’t that job at NSA not good enough for you?”
She looked at him. Made a face in silence and went back to work.
“Seriously, May. The three of us all have military or covert anti-terrorism backgrounds. Killing was new for you.”
“So you all wanted to believe,” she said. Not looking up.
“Cheese says you have an aptitude for it, but seemed inexperienced during training.”
“You mean, sorta like the poor damsel in need of help from the big strong, bad soldier?” in a high pitched fake voice.
He laughed.
She continued pounding away at her computer, still not looking up.
Tom seemed to let it go.
“You each asked me this a thousand times and I thought you completely vetted my background,” she said.
“We did. There was nothing in your background that suggested accomplished assassin. Just your hints. That’s why we pushed so hard. Why we insisted on all that training with Cheese.”
“Just nerdy Asian systems engineer, right?”
“Right.”
“And a girl.”
“Look, May. I’m not doubting you. No second thoughts. You’ve exceeded our hopes on every dimension. I was just idling the time here by wondering more about your motivation.”
“You got that my parents emigrated from Myanmar.”
“Of course.”
“Did you look into why?”
“We’ve been through all this. The whole point of your parents coming here was just like any immigrants. To live in a free country.”
“And they told you that?”
“Yes. You, too as a matter of fact. Your NSA records were consistent with that.”
She looked up, said, “Some detectives.”
“You were, what, eleven, when you came here?”
“Something like that.”
“What did we miss?”
She looked up from her two computers. Hit save on one, then the other. Leaned back.
“I’m not going to tell you.”
They stared at each other.
“Ah. You lied to us about your experience with violence.”
“Let’s just say that Cheese was wrong. I wasn’t a virgin when he met me.”
“You mean sexually?”
She laughed. “That either. No, Tom. Let’s just say that there were aspects of my past activities, and, let’s say my internal propensities, that my parents and I chose to keep under wraps.”
“Until tonight.”
“Sort of until tonight. I’m never giving any details that’ll compromise my family. But there’s no longer any reason for it to be, generally, a secret from the three of you. Especially if you’ve been having your doubts. May as well get this behind us. It’s not something I want to be constantly wondering if you’re going to ask me again.”
“So why then didn’t you think about joining the Army? The Marines?”
“I did. The Marines. I’ve changed my identity more than once that you all missed. NSA too.”
“Any that would give us second thoughts?”
“This late? No. After the Marines, my preference was to leverage my computer abilities in anti-terrorist government work. Until you came along, I was content to be a hacking computer jockey and let the past remain buried back in Myanmar and Quantico. It’s also what you asked me to be. You and Samms failed to mention that I would be involved in your violence. Hell, you didn’t even tell me about it until you had to. To close the deal. You just promised me a less frustrating platform than working for NSA. I think my involvement in our assassinations was a natural evolution.”
“Or unexpectedly natural re-evolution? We were certainly surprised. Pleasantly surprised.”
“Nothing surprising. At least to me. Tom, you guys vetted me ten ways to sundown. I worked twenty-four seven with you and Samms to identify and decrypt these hackers. I’ve knifed a Mexican coyote in front of you personally, and shot at least three Muslim jihadist terrorists with Cheese watching. Are you and Samms worried about me? Did I make a mistake that I now need to explain?”
“No, it was just idle curiosity. Let’s let it go. Sorry I brought it up.”
“You know a helluva lot more about me than I know about any of you, you know.”
He smiled over at her as she went back to the computer.
She typed away, now going back and forth between the two screens.
“That you’ll admit,” he said under his breath.
She looked up and smiled. “Yeah, that I’ll admit.” She shut the computer. “I just nailed the last one down. Call Samms.”
*
Samms returned their call after an hour.
“G’morning guys,” she said.
“Morning,” they said simultaneously into Tom’s cell speaker.
“Are we ready to go?” Samms asked.
“Yes,” Tom replied.
“All eleven nailed down,” May said. “We have dates and target locations for each of the hacker shut-down attacks.”
“How do you know there aren’t more?”
“It’s what I do,” she replied. “There are eleven.”
“How are they coordinating? Simultaneous attacks?”
“No. They’re shutting down the grids in Houston, L.A., and Miami on Wednesday. Then Philly two days later. Followed by Dallas, Denver, Boston…” looking over at her screen, “…Atlanta, and then Chicago. Every couple of days. Made to look random.”
“One guy per grid?”
“Precisely. They fancy themselves to be a confederation of franchisees, each responsible for his own territory.”
“Makes sense, actually. No coordination complexities. No control conflicts. And they’re available to help each other without getting in each other’s way if a problem comes up.”
“And their objective is to just shut the country down? Then count on a spontaneous revolution?”
“So they say to each other,” May said.
May and Tom waited for Samms to continue.
“May?”
“Yes?”
“Walk me through again how you can be so sure. Can we really be this confident you’re not compromised with this many involved and interacting?”
May looked at Tom. Exasperated. Then at the phone. Sighed.
“Honey,” Samms’ voice coming out of the speaker phone. “I know this decrypting is why we brough
t you in. But this is the biggest operation by far that we’ve contemplated. If this turns into a cluster fuck, or it traces back, we’re finished. Humor me. Just this one last time.”
“Not only the decrypting, Samms.”
“What do you mean?”
“You also brought me in, ultimately, because of my willingness to kill terrorists. To share your foxhole.”
Tom smiled at that. ”Yes. You were the only former NSA contractor we found who we thought might be willing and able to kill dirtbags. That was an important factor. Especially for Cheese.”
“Okay,” May started, resigning herself to the torture. “They’ve been communicating among themselves on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, among other sites.”
“All encrypted?” Samms asked.
“Yes, all encrypted. One of the jerks thought he was being really cute and occasionally would lob in an innocuous, misleading communication to the other ten and several others. Those were never encrypted. He viewed himself as the genius of the group.”
“Did you need a contact at each social media site to decrypt everything?”
“No. I was able to triangulate using only two of my internal friends and the external source I use. And don’t ask, Samms. We’ve agreed I don’t give up my sources.”
“And they’re each secure? Buttoned down? No risk, right?”
May shrugged. “It’s in their self-interest at this point, Samms.”
“Even the external source?”
“Especially the external source.”
Tom cut in. “We waited until we were one hundred percent certain before calling you.”
“Right,” May said. “One hundred percent.” Raising her voice.
“They have a leader?” Samms asked.
“No, I don’t think so. No evidence of one.”
“And you think all eleven are in one place.”
“I know they are.” She looked at Tom for verification.
He nodded.
“They’re all in Colorado Springs. Where else would you expect to find a group of self-appointed constitutional militia wackos?”
“Certainly somewhere out West. They spread out or in one spot?”
“They each have their own individual server, but they’re either in one large building on the outskirts of town, or a small number of contiguous buildings.”
“Odd that they’d make themselves that easy a target.”
“That’s not how they’re thinking of it. They think of themselves as a full militia, with the Wet Mountains at their backs as an easy escape route.”
“Samms?” Tom said.
“Yes?”
“May is right about it being precisely eleven franchisees. But there are many more militia members in total. Those are just the hackers. We haven’t been able to pin down the exact number,” glancing over at May and receiving a nod.
“On location, of course, they could turn out to be just the eleven guys I think they are,” May said. “We’ll know soon enough. Cheese is getting there this morning.”
“One last thing,” Samms said.
“Yes?”
“You only named nine sites for the grid shutdowns. I thought you said there were eleven.”
“Really Samms, you need us to spell it out for you?”
Silence. They could hear Samms chewing something.
“What are you eating at four in the morning?” Tom asked.
“A chocolate bar. Breakfast of champions. What else?”
“Ugh.” It was May. “You figure out the answer to your question yet, Samms?”
“Right. Got it, May. Simultaneous?”
“Yes,” May said. “New York and D.C. the last day. At eight am.”
Chapter 4
Nancy’s phone rang in her office, caller ID blocked.
She answered.
“Hey Nancy.”
“Hey Moose, what’s up?”
“How’s the Rogues Task Force going?”
“Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“Just here at the White House.”
“The President, too?”
“Now that you mention it, I don’t think he calls it anything. Just asks if the three of them are making any progress.”
“How many times has he asked? You just put us together four days ago.”
“I think it’s a high priority for him. Listen, Nancy, I think we’ve decided to put me back in as the titular head of the Task Force.”
“Makes sense. Your number two was redundant, and the guy from Homeland Security couldn’t possibly have been involved or useful to us.”
Silence.
“Moose? You there?”
“Yeah. I wanted to get your opinion on the first meeting.”
“It was a little frustrating. You guys just threw us in a room and said one or more of you is a traitor and a national security threat. Get back to us on which ones ASAP. Not surprisingly, nobody volunteered to head it up.”
“Are you the traitor, national security threat, or chief vigilante, Nancy?”
“No, Moose. Are you?”
“No. Is Colonel Edwards?”
“Not to my knowledge, but thanks for your confidence in us.”
Silence.
“Is this an interrogation, Moose? I’m FBI. We’re better at this than you.”
“I wanted to get your take on Linda’s refusal to take the chairman’s job when you tried to push it on her.”
“She sarcastically thanked us all for the honor, but pointed out that she, of all of us, was least able to execute the activities. She pointed out what we already knew. CIA can’t operate domestically. In her mind that included that she could not aggressively be looking among us for an inside traitor.”
“That’s what she said, Nancy. What I wanted was your take on it.”
“If she’s your internal vigilante, Moose, then she has to say that.”
“And if Linda’s innocent, what would she have said?”
“Precisely the same thing. Innocent or guilty, CIA can participate under Presidential orders, but they can’t volunteer to run the operation. Either way, Linda’s right. She couldn’t take it. But why focus on me, Moose, why not ask everybody else?”
“I already did.” And he hung up.
Chapter 5
“Honey?” Linda Simmons was in bed with her husband in their Georgetown townhouse. She curled up at his side.
“Yes?” He turned and looked down at her.
“You come up with any ideas on best approaches for me on the Task Force? How to handle the others? I’m afraid this is going to be a long, drawn-out, waste of time process.”
George Simmons was a retired Marine General. The two had been married for twenty-eight years. Their only child, George, Jr., was at Stanford law school.
“I’ve thought about it. What’s your objective?”
“To spend as little time with them as possible on it. It’s a fool’s errand.”
“The President of the United States has sent you on a fool’s errand? I’m shocked.”
She stuck her tongue out at him.
“You want to play it straight?” he asked. “Or do you want to play games with them?”
“Nancy and Tom look like they’re going to play games. They have no patience with Moose and the process. They have to decide how to play it, that the two of them together are the vigilantes? Or that they’re both hurt the other one might have not included them?”
“They just can’t ask each other?”
“Friends or not, nobody is going to trust anybody in this game. Guilty or innocent.”
“The Agency shouldn’t be involved, Lin. They all know that.”
“That’s why I refused to chair the Task Force.”
“Then why does the President even have you there?”
“He either suspects I’m the traitor or he thinks I’m the best one to work with Nancy and Tom and learn if it’s both of them or one of them.”
“So it’s you versus Nancy and Tom?”
She shrugged.
“Then you play games.”
“Thanks. That’s what I think too.”
She looked over at her unfinished glass of Pinot Noir and the bowl of chocolates, shrugged, turned off the light and snuggled up against him. Kissed him noncommittally.
Sex or sleep? Up to the General tonight.
Chapter 6
“I just now received a message from someone claiming to be one of our vigilantes,” Moose said.
“What’ve we got?” the President asked.
“An offer to work together.”
“Only if they’ll reveal their identities. We aren’t going to be party to illegal executions, Moose. Officially or unofficially.”
“He addressed that.”
“And?”
“And, he said don’t bother to ask. He said they think they can handle this job by themselves, but it’s risky. He doesn’t have the ability to coordinate with local law enforcement and you do?”
“Me?”
“You. By name.”
“That’s odd.” He frowned and looked out the oval office window out on to the lawn. “How do you know it’s a he?”
“I don’t. But he self-identified as a man in the text. Could be true. Could be fake information. Could be Samms. Could be an accomplice. I haven’t passed this along to anyone else for analysis. Wanted to run it by you first. I think he’s being cautious. Calling you by name takes no risk that we could figure out his agency by how he addresses you or how he views you.”
“He has an excess of caution?” the President said. “Maybe this isn’t an inside job after all.”
They both laughed.
“Mr. President, I’ve been thinking about this. I know you don’t want to hear this, but whoever these guys are, they are doing us a favor.”
“We’ve been over this ground, Moose. Whoever this is, is committing illegal acts. And just because they haven’t made any mistakes…”
“Any mistakes that we know of.”
“Right. Just because we don’t know yet that they’ve murdered any innocent American citizens or created any collateral damage, doesn’t mean that they haven’t or that they won’t. My office can never know anything specific about them or any of their operations.”
The Point Of A Gun: Thriller Page 3