by Thomas Craig
They were growing used to seeing Lauren do things at lightning speed that defied the laws of coding as they knew them. One of them whispered, “She rocks.”
On that note, the NSA team was flabbergasted at what Lauren had done right in front of them without them even noticing it, and likely in record time, whatever it was.
Wisely, the lead NSA analyst calmed her two technicians and approached the situation as a learning opportunity and to ensure compliance could be maintained. She asked Lauren to walk them through the changes to the NSA security code.
“This part of the NSA code was cumbersome, so I removed it versus correcting it, making it more efficient for what I want to do next. I look at coding as a conversation between two people. One telling the other what is needed, but in a way where the fewest, most precise words are used allowing incredible efficiency. Here is where I added my LO code to talk with yours, merging the two systems at my command while you were using our Wi-Fi. Releasing the two systems at my command or if your connection is broken from our Wi-Fi. Here is where I inserted the LO code to convert your NSA code and our FBI code to just LO code allowing me to swim freely in my customized data pool. No lifeguards. No rules. Well…my rules,” she explained.
At this point in the tutorial, the NSA team was divided. The techs were glued to the screens holding their jaws in place following along and taking some notes. The lead analyst moved over to a semi-private corner and got on the phone trying to contain either her excitement or concern. Maybe both.
Lauren had seen this reaction and behavior before and turned to her team. “Let Cooley know he is needed here immediately for potential talent poaching protocol.”
Eric, the older FBI analyst knew what to do and called Director Cooley on his emergency line.
“Cooley here,” the harsh voice echoed on the other side of the line.
“Hi sir, it’s Eric in the Bullpen. I mean in the Behavior Analysis Cyber Support team downstairs. The NSA is all over Lauren about her skills and the fact that she tapped into the NSA just now. You might be needed down here to smooth things over. Also, I think the NSA will be calling you to acquire Lauren,” Eric advised the Director.
The Director didn’t mind people moving up or even moving on. However, the DOD didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and Cooley never liked the pressure applied by other Agencies when they had their minds set on acquiring someone.
He closed the briefing he was reading before the call interrupted him; then headed to the elevator.
He knew Lauren’s time with the FBI depended on three things:
One; not dying in the line of duty since she insisted on being in the field. This is why having Lou around to keep people healthy was a fine blessing.
Two; finding the job rewarding and wanting to come to work. After all, she was a self-made millionaire. She’s not in it for the money. When possible, he encouraged Lauren to spend time with the analysts when she was not in the field. It allowed her to be creative and helpful while playing to one of her major strengths.
Three; not being forced into the DOD and lost in the catacombs of computer warehouses where she would code for the rest of her life because she was deemed, “too valuable of an asset for our national security.”
All he could think of as the elevator ascended was, ‘not on my watch.’
Chapter 7
The NSA has been around since 1952 as the Department of Defense’s leading cryptology division. Their mission included; coding US intelligence to safeguard the government's communications and top-secret plans, breaking codes, and advancing technology to intercept communications from, well… anyone anywhere. It was supposed to focus on foreign intelligence gathering, but that has not stopped them from gathering domestic data through the “Mass Surveillance Program (MSP)”.
The topic of domestic surveillance generally split people into two groups; those who wanted uncompromised protection and respect of their privacy, while fully expecting the best protection from imminent danger, like terrorist acts foreign and domestic, and those that thought the best protection was only possible if one has the best intelligence.
The criminals and terrorists are more sophisticated and use the latest technology to research or even communicate their evil plans, and it would be impossible to head off these activities without some civil liberty compromises.
A popular question to get a discussion going was “were citizens willing to have NSA supercomputers sift through their personal computers and cell phone communications looking for key phrases and words that could potentially lead to preventing crimes and terrorist acts on US soil?”
Some don’t mind their data being accessed because they don’t see how it impedes their daily lives. These people just lived their lives doing what they liked and, outside of the occasional speeding violation, generally followed the laws that govern the United States of America. For them, the daily electronic and telephonic data is garbage in and garbage out of the supercomputers.
Others are adamantly against it. While the first group thinks these people can be conspiracy nuts, the people who do not want their government tracking their every movement and monitoring their every thought have legitimate concerns. Corporations share these concerns, considering their intellectual property and the chance that their trade secrets may be exposed.
These groups of people would feel better if all requests to surveil met legitimate requirements of a regular judge, but instead, these warrant requests go to a secret group of 11 judges that manage the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act in the FISA Court. In fact, in 2011, the President and his administration secretly acquired a judgment from the FISA Court to once again allow the NSA to use the intercepted calls recorded under FISA warrants and phone taps for ‘whatever’ it deemed as useful.
This debate has gone and probably will go on forever. In fact, that is why the NSA finally just said, “screw it. We will do what we need to, and we will not let you know.” They ran on the notion that ignorance would be bliss for all until whistleblowers from within the NSA showed the world what was going on behind the secret NSA doors.
It sucked to be the NSA for all of a New York minute. Then, they just became too proud to care and started boasting about the success they had with programs like Mass Surveillance and elite hacking units like TAO, which stood for Tailored Access Operations.
TAO agents were the NSA’s Navy Seals of Cyber Space. They are tasked with finding high-value targets wherever they may be in the world.
High-value targets could be a person, a place, a piece of data, a military target, or communication that no one else could get. How they took down their high valued targets was, at times, almost unbelievable.
They were capable of back-dooring the security of the internet, telecommunication systems, and even Apple Phones. They could even infiltrate someone’s PC and install a replica of the internet and be in total control of what the suspect researched and read.
The TAO has gone as far as giving foreign and domestic terrorists incorrect instructions on bomb-making to ensure the evil bastards' lives ended in disaster. Most people have heard a news anchor tell a similar story on the evening news, ‘Neighbors say the Smith’s were good people and the community mourns after their home blew up because of an old gas pipe that leaked.’ Bullshit. Johnny was building a bomb in the basement thinking he wanted to be some sort of worthless extremist, and the TAO helped him blow himself up, along with his extremely irresponsible parents.
If the parents were alive, they would have said something stupid like ‘we didn’t know Johnny was building a bomb’ or ‘we just gave him space. Had we known he amassed four AR 15’s, several handguns, 2,000 rounds of ammo, and 5 pounds of C-4, we would have said something.’
Would neighbors or anyone else really mourn or miss them?
The TAO had done more elaborate operations where they have had to literally break the security of the internet to achieve their objective and were likely the cause of at least two Internet Explorer upgrades.<
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It’s not always your local providers’ connection that kicks you off the internet. But it’s not just the NSA elite hackers leaving things slightly out of place or broken to get what they need.
China and Russia were bigger offenders. China created a government hacking machine, and they would stop at nothing to get information.
China was known for its maniacal obsession with stealing intellectual property, source code on how things work, ideas in think tanks, research material for engine specs, or whatever the hell they wanted to ‘keep up with the Jones’. The People’s Republic of China had cyber thieves, and damn good ones. They cost corporations hundreds of Billions of dollars yearly.
The Russians were more notorious hackers and thieves than the Chinese, but mainly on private citizens. They were presumed to have 2 out of every 3 adult’s personal information globally. Unlike the well-organized government hacking machine that is China, Russia took a more individual, entrepreneurial approach to cybercrimes. That’s not to say the Russian government did not commit cyber-espionage. They did.
Wars were only partly fought in plain sight now. So much has changed in the last few decades. Personal computers could be bought by anyone and the internet connected us all. So much danger lurked in the zero’s and one’s that were now broadcasted so widely, so freely.
It wasn’t just the FBI that was trying to recruit Lauren back in college; the NSA Director of TAO also looked into her. The NSA was secretly disappointed that the FBI recruited Lauran.
The NSA, especially TAO, wanted people that they believed would not be influenced by bribes or corruption, due to the unique access TAO has to Banks, Governments, Top Secret Information, Black Market, and anything. One wrong person on this elite team could bring the country to its knees. Integrity was a must, but certain principles and values that aligned with putting the country above the individual were sought after and those types of scruples were hard to vet. Oh, and you had to have unheard-of coding and hacking talent.
Chapter 8
When SAIC Cooley entered the Behavior Analysis Cyber Support area, he pulled the senior FBI Analyst off to the side and was quickly caught up. He didn’t like how the NSA had separated Lauren from the other FBI Analyst and it seemed like there were always two of them talking to her at the same time. This was a tactic often used when the questioning party wanted the person to become unfocused and slip up to reveal more than typically willing.
But there sat Lauren with a smile on her face, completely ignoring one analyst and only answering the questions she chose to answer with the other. If anything, the tactic was backfiring, as the NSA analyst being ignored would occasionally say more than he was supposed to say, trying to get Lauren’s attention. The lead NSA Analyst was constantly shooting looks of disapproval to the overzealous NSA Analyst.
Like a bull in a china shop, Director Cooley entered the NSA circle and released Lauren from their questioning. Even though she was handling herself exceptionally well, he thought it best to give her a rest and do some questioning of his own.
“Lauren, you are working too hard, take a break. Eat something,” the Director said as he gently helped her up out of her seat and directed her away from the group. He wished she would just go home, eat a great meal, and sleep for two days. Cooley knew she was running on fumes and was amazed that she was still pleasant to be around.
Lauren caught a brief glimpse of the Directors’ softer side as he helped her up and removed her from the NSA hot seat. She took his advice and went to find something to eat. Once food was mentioned, she realized how famished she had become. As she left the room to go to the small but appreciated onsite cafeteria, she could hear Cooley taking control of the NSA group. She knew this would probably end with Cooley talking to NSA shot callers in Fort Meade.
She didn’t feel bad for being herself and exercising her talents for upgrades or needed outcomes. After all, that is exactly what she knew the NSA did, with zero remorse or second thought.
She did feel guilty that the Director had to step in to smooth a few wrinkles out. Lauren reminder herself, as she walked off the elevator and down the hall while eating a burrito, Cooley encouraged this type of work from her in the office and would not be mad.
She arrived at the one place that had a couch in the building. It looked so inviting. She was so tired, she did not remember finishing the burrito or laying down.
SAIC Cooley politely gestured for the lead NSA Analyst to sit where Lauren had been sitting. Now he had them all sitting before him like very attentive school children about to be scorned for passing notes behind his back. But he took a different path.
“We all deal with fear differently,” he started out saying. They all looked up at him, wondering where he was going with this.
“I remember playing football against Auburn one year. Their quarterback was superhuman, eyes on the side and back of his head. He had the quickest step back and release I had ever seen,” he said as he acted out the movement for them.
“I was playing defense outside linebacker and on plays that I rushed the QB, I could not get to him. Fear of failing set in and I seriously thought about taking this guy’s knee out just so the backup QB would come in and I would have a fighting chance for some legitimate sacks or play disruptions. I had never thought about purposely injuring someone before.” He paused and shook his head.
“The next play, I was off balance and then pushed by the left guard right towards this guy’s knee. I had a split second to roll away or to continue toward his knee. I was in his blind spot and he had no idea what was about to happen. No one would have been wise to my lack of effort to miss him, as it would have looked like an accident. I continued toward him and miraculously he jumped in time to avoid a serious injury.” Cooley paused and shook his head again as if still in disbelief of his poor decision that day.
“As I got up, I heard, ‘You could have avoided my knee.’ This guy was smiling at me and offering me a hand. Then he said to me while tapping the side of his helmet with his index finger, ‘Allow me to make you play better, not worse’. A sixty-second commercial time out came, and it felt like an eternity to me on the field. It was in that moment that I realized I was in the presence of greatness and I became embarrassed for my action and humbled for the opportunity to play for two more quarters against this talented individual.” Cooley looked them over. He had their attention, even if they were not football fans.
“She was shot four times barely two days ago,” Director Cooley announced pointing to the elevator.
“Who?” The tall NSA Analyst asked in utter confusion. His mind was on football.
“Special Agent Lauren O’Quinn was ambushed while transporting a material witness. She was shot four times, but not before killing one of the assailants,” Cooley added with noticeable pride in his voice.
“Stitches in her shoulder and her side, bruised ribs, and for Hell or high water I can’t get her to leave here. She updates your ‘so-called’ world-class security code while finding my team crucial leads we have been needing for weeks.” His barrel of a chest was at full capacity now.
“Lady and gentlemen, you were in the presence of greatness. I know you know this. So, act with more decorum and allow her to make you better, not worse.” Cooley paused again, staring at the lead NSA agent.
“Whomever the HELL you called earlier, you are going to call them back and erase that conversation from their memory. You are welcome to stay for as long as you want to learn as much as you can when Lauren is around, but don’t fucking test my patience or good nature again. If I get one call from the NSA about Lauren’s future, I will personally turn you all into bobbleheads for my desk.” He didn’t blink or breathe until the lead agent dialed a number on her cell phone and started to speak. That was all the confirmation he needed that they all understood his expectations.
As he turned and left, he could have sworn his crew of FBI analysts all looked a little taller than normal.
When he returned to his offi
ce, he was surprised to find a beautiful young lady sleeping on his couch. A place he had spent many nights sleeping himself.
People just look different when you see them sleeping. Their faces seem unusually peaceful, more relaxed and they tend to be laying in positions you would not normally see them in, for instance, the fetal position. Which is how this young lady was laying on his couch. After a few seconds, he realized it was Lauren.
Cooley was glad to see her resting. He located his flannel blanket and placed it over her. She did not move. She was in deep sleep. Cooley returned to his desk just a few feet away, opened his briefing, and went back to reading.
He remained there for the next 6 hours, well past midnight, allowing Lauren to get much-needed rest. It wasn’t until his cell phone vibrated that he stopped working and realized how late it was getting. It was Arya texting him looking for Lauren.
About 40 minutes later, Arya arrived and gathered Lauren for a car ride home to a warm meal and a bed that would carry her through what could be accurately described as a two-day coma.
Chapter 9
The Lost City & Lost Women
The construction project at La Cuidad Perdida in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta started with bribing local officials and creating a fake but very authentic looking land deed going back before the discovery of the ruins in 1952.
The deed claimed 40 acres of the jungle, two-thirds of the Lost City (La Cuidad Perdida) rested on. A private road was cut into the thick jungle on the backside of the mountain, connecting the ruins to the base of the coastal city Santa Marta, Colombia. For six straight months, lumber trucks, plumbers, electricians, masons, carpenters, and labor crews came in and out to work on the private project. Some from Panama, but most from the neighboring country of Venezuela. No one locally knew what was being built.