by Eden Sharp
‘This guy Sam’s given me a trial day but that means I’m working for free. Luckily there’s not been that much to do but he’s just like left me here all by myself. If a heap of people come in together or like ask me for something I don’t know if we carry I’m screwed, but so far so good. You should come down. He said he’s not back for a couple of hours. I’ll make you a deluxe hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream if you come and keep me company and talk to me.’
I drank half of my coffee. Still no one arrived to keep tabs on me, but I didn’t doubt they were watching from the outside. Time was running out for me to meet Karim and I still needed to lose them. It was time for me to make my move.
I headed back to Kearny. If I could find a store with an easy exit I would take a prospective outfit to purchase and take it into the fitting room where they couldn’t follow and try and see if there was another way out. That way they wouldn’t be able to follow me in.
I went through the routine of stopping to check mirrors and holding a chosen outfit up against myself and headed to the fitting room. It was then that I noticed the woman. So, they had got a female agent which meant she could follow me into the changing room. I wondered if they had someone on Karim too. What was certain was they would do if I led them to him. It was time to change my plan. I needed to make sure he was warned and not left hanging around, if I didn’t show, looking like he was obviously waiting for someone who hadn’t turned up.
I headed for the fitting room anyway. I walked to the end of a long row thankful that most of them were full, so it looked natural. I grabbed a quick look as I turned to head in to a vacant one and saw the female agent come in with an outfit. She went in one down from me. I scooted into a free one a couple up nearer to the exit and got changed as quickly as I could.
Except not into the outfit I’d brought in with me. I took off my leather jacket and emptied the contents of my bag. First, I put on the floral maxi dress which was long enough so that the hem reached the floor, then I added the denim jacket. Lastly, I swept my hair back into a ponytail then wrapped it into a twist and piled it on my head under the blond wig. I stuffed my leather jacket into my bag and exited the fitting room doing my best to keep to a casual place.
One of the guys was waiting leaning like he was waiting for a girlfriend or wife and he never gave me a second glance. I made it out of the store pretty confident that no one had picked up my trail. I headed back to the coffee shop.
The server still appeared to be alone. I walked up straight behind the counter like I had the right to be there. I already knew her name from the phone call.
‘Hi Louise, I heard you were starting a trial day today. I’m Sam’s partner. He’s on his way back now.’ I headed for the door into the back. ‘It was nice meeting you. You seem to be getting along just fine.’
She seemed to take everything I said at face value. While she was stuck with a small line of customers I saw various rooms, a store room, the bathroom, and I headed for what I presumed to be an office. I was right. Inside I sat down at the computer. I didn’t even need to crack it to log on. It was booted and idling with no password protection. I brought the screens back to life and opened up a web browser. Left a message for Karim that we were going to have to abort and that I would contact him soon. I closed down everything I had opened and left it how it was.
When I came back out, the line had gone and people were sitting with their drinks quite happily. Louise was wiping things down trying to make an impression.
‘You’re doing a real good job,’ I said.
I was just about to leave when an older guy walked through the front door.
‘Sam’s back,’ she said. ‘Will you put in a good word for me?’
I slipped back round from the counter, thinking fast. Okay I was a customer who’d just used the bathroom.
He was advancing toward me at an alarming rate. I met him before he fully reached the counter and hoped he wasn’t within earshot of Louise. Then I noticed that she’d followed on behind and was standing right next to me.
‘Louise has been really helpful,’ I said. ‘She’s great.’
He looked from me to her then back to me.
‘Anyway, I gotta run,’ I said. Literally I thought.
I turned to the girl and smiled and gave her a wave and left.
I headed straight to a Starbuck’s and made for the bathroom. Inside, I changed back to my usual appearance then headed home.
23
Special Agent Marks
‘So, we lost McGlynn and Soulierre was a no-show. That’s just terrific,’ Marks said, addressing no one in particular and everyone in general in the crowded briefing room. It was a relief to be back on home turf after the necessary ongoing relocation to the hotel, though he wished Douglas, as the lead, could have been there.
A new guy named Edwards presented his findings. ‘Knox spent the evening in a sports bar with a guy who works as a karate instructor, name of Mike Kelly. They both served in USMC.’
While it was true the Department of Defense had an expansive veterans’ program and veterans' preference was used within the federal government to recognize the sacrifices made for the country, with John Knox’s final ranking of sergeant this was likely to result in no more than an entry-level public service role. Even so, he clearly had more power than his military service officially implied which flagged a possible covert history, the status of which was currently unknown.
Marks dismissed the team and waited for them to depart then called Douglas to provide an update. It turned out he was free from his meeting and clear to talk. More thinking out loud and rhetorically than requiring an answer Marks said, ‘This story on why we’re stuck with Knox and McGlynn. DoD’s the cover for all intelligence agents. They’ll be reporting back?’
Douglas’ voice came over the line loud and clear. ‘Yep.’
Nothing added up. ‘What’s the NSA’s actual involvement in this?’
‘Supposedly an intel gathering exercise. National security and whatnot. It’s not like we have a choice. This is strictly top down. But something’s fishy about all this,’ Douglas said. ‘I’m on my way upstairs to you now.’
‘There’s more going on than somebody’s telling us,’ Marks said.
‘Ain’t that the truth.’
‘You think we’re being set up? We handle the interviewing and then get the rug pulled out?’
‘It had crossed my mind.’
‘You think Lau could be an ex-intelligence guy?’
‘Could be. Could be anything with these guys as you’re about to find out.’
There was a brief noise behind the door before it swung inward to reveal Douglas still with the cell in his hand along with a file in the other. His face signaled urgency. He pulled out a chair and sat down placing down the file and disconnecting the call.
Marks did the same.
‘There are two new guys in play from the DoD,’ Douglas said. ‘Agents Franklin and Reardon. They have clearance to be sitting in. They’ve shared new information.’
‘Now what?’ Marks asked.
‘Angela McGlynn was in Japan when she was sixteen and she was Lau’s girlfriend,’ he said.
‘You’re kidding me?’
‘There’s more. Some of the intel we have about back then includes chat about a sixteen-year-old female hacker going by the name of Ghosthex.’
‘This stinks. We got two different factions inside the DoD working against each other?’
‘They’re not allowed to say.’
Marks banged a fist on the table. ‘What the actual?’
‘We knew something was off. This DoD story, the NSA’s intel gathering exercise? There’s more going on than we’re being told. Think about it. Someone somewhere could have busted her and now she’s been put in place to nail Lau as part of some kind of deal. Maybe that’s Knox’s role, a minder. You must have seen how intensely he watches both of them?’
‘We’re going to get kicked aside by som
e inter-agency crap,’ Marks said.
‘Let’s leave that to the brass. In the meantime, we have a play.’
‘Which is?’
‘Members of the Infinite 9 are, understandably, obsessed with secrecy and security. But they seem to believe that they are safe in this chat room while using their identifying code. Unfortunately for them we’ve got an ace up our sleeve. Somebody that knew Lau. We’re going to use McGlynn to either try and wrong foot them or incriminate herself. Either way it’s a win-win.’
‘We need to look at everything we have on her.’
Douglas tapped the file in front of him. ‘Way ahead of you. As a sixteen-year-old she was in Japan as part of the US karate team participating in the world championships. It’s hard to believe she would have found the time to join the group and participate in any hacks except she stayed on with the coach, Jeff Besson. They were there for eighteen months. She was seeing Lau for a quite a while.’
‘And doing the coach?’
‘No. No parents. Besson was her legal guardian from sixteen to eighteen.’
‘Lau would have been what? Twenty-four at the time?’
‘Yeah. Talk about jailbait. Either she was very mature for her age, which could make her a lot smarter than we think, or maybe she was completely controlled.’
‘Or maybe she knew nothing about it.’
‘We know about Lau and the Takano kid. Do we think a group this sophisticated could have included a sixteen-year-old girl?’
‘We know how young some of these kids are. Some serious threat to national security and it emanates from some teenager’s bedroom. It’s been known.’
‘How does little orphan Annie come across to you?’ Douglas asked.
‘Smart.’
‘That smart?’
‘Guess we’ll have to wait and see when we meet up again tomorrow.’
24
Tuesday May 9th
Angela McGlynn
I was just about to leave my apartment to go get Charlie when my cell rang.
‘I’m on my way to pick you up,’ Knox said. ‘We’ll go get Lau together. Hanging with the Feds by myself does not make for fun times.’
I failed to see how being in a car with Knox and Charlie at the same time would be any kind of party either.
‘Not happening,’ I said. ‘The whole point of meeting at the hotel and not the FBI field office is we’re trying to keep this on the down low from the guy Charlie works for. As far as he’s concerned we’re a couple. If he’s got eyes on Charlie, we can play these off as trysts. We’ll meet you outside the second-floor elevators and all go up together if that makes you feel better.’
As soon as Charlie opened the door he zeroed in on the blooming bruise on my cheek that Chrissie had landed on me and looked me a question. How’d the hell that happen?
‘Sparring,’ I said.
‘You let someone get that close to you?’
It sounded double-edged but maybe I was just being paranoid. It was becoming a habit.
‘White belt.’
He nodded. Beginners were often the most dangerous opponents. They lacked the ability to judge distance, naturally used unreadable non-moves, often went in gung-ho and equally often didn’t raise enough concern in the experienced to warrant mounting a solid defense.
I got a similar response from Knox and a party of Feds as Charlie and I exited the elevator at the floor for the meeting room. Spotlight on me.
Knox, I knew, would wait for a private moment but Marks had no such filter.
He made a circling motion with his finger against his own cheek. ‘What’s with the bruise?’
‘Martial arts,’ I said.
‘Not so good at seeing what’s coming at you these days?’ he said.
Just because you were paranoid didn’t mean they weren’t out to get you.
‘We’re going to do things a little differently today. We need to discuss some matters before proceeding with the interview,’ Marks said.
A different guy in a similar dark suit turned to face Charlie directly. ‘Follow me please.’
‘Where’s Lau going?’ I asked.
‘To drink coffee and await your arrival. Nothing’s going to happen until we’re done.’
I hoped that was true and they weren’t trying to pull something.
Douglas had Knox and I follow him down the corridor to a new room, presumably for this new purpose. I noted Marks sitting off to the side on one of two couches surrounding a coffee table. The room was set up similarly to the other one with a meeting table and chairs. Another agent I hadn’t seen before, in the same style job lot suit, sat at a smaller table with an empty chair beside him in front of a laptop which appeared booted and ready to roll.
Douglas turned to Knox and extended a hand toward the spare couch then looked at me and pointed to the computer motioning me to sit down in front of it.
I glanced at Knox. What the hell?
His eyes narrowed slightly and his shoulders raised imperceptibly and stiffened. For the Feds he was playing stoic and giving nothing away. He made his way over to the couch and sat.
I stood in place. ‘And just what is it that we’re doing here?’ I asked.
Douglas had an enthusiasm about him that reminded me of a puppy. He fixed me with a smile that was friendly at face value but didn’t venture beyond that. ‘We found out something interesting. You actually know Lau from when you were younger.’
A faint sense of alarm began to surface. Paul had said everything on me would be locked down tight. I wondered how they’d got their information.
‘Knew,’ I said.
‘And now you just happen to be working for the DoD and in the middle of an investigation?’
I felt Knox’s attention directed whole-heartedly toward me.
‘Yes. And now you tell me the part about not believing in coincidences and I tell you it was because I knew him briefly as a teenager they picked me to monitor his case because they thought it might be useful. So…?’
Douglas tried the friendly face again. ‘So, it might be useful. Intel has revealed that the hacker known as Ghosthex has been talking to Crimetech, aka Karim Soulliere, via channels we’re monitoring.’
My stomach lurched at the mention of Karim. They knew his real name.
‘Our plan is to use someone else masquerading as Ghosthex to talk to Soulliere. You see the problem is, Ms. McGlynn, they use coded identifiers as credentials to prove they are who they say they are. We need someone who will come across as righteous. Then we find out you knew Lau back in Japan when the infamous Infinite 9 first came into being. So, what do you know? You’ll be perfect. We have you do it and when Soulliere asks for the identifier all you have to do is provide something personal about Lau. It might just work. We’d really like it if you, pretending to be Ghosthex, asked for a meet. Once we get something in place we’ll be there standing by for the arrest.
I felt my heart rate elevate and was thankful I wasn’t wired to a polygraph. Could I refuse on the grounds of some agency boundaries bullshit? Cite entrapment? I had no idea. On the other hand, if I didn’t do it could someone else pull it off?
We didn’t have a definitive protocol of codes to use for every occasion so that Karim would know for sure something was wrong if it went differently to what had been previously agreed. We just used anything relevant. Better me than anyone else then. I could warn him that it was a trap.
The problem was I would need to use something which would not only send an alert to him but that I could also explain away as a convincing choice to the FBI. Paranoia came on in waves. Were they somehow on to me and using this as a test? After all, how had they found out about my prior relationship with Charlie?
‘All right. I’m game,’ I said.
Douglas nodded at the guy sitting in front of the laptop. He began to type. Seconds ticked by. I raced through various ideas searching for something that would work without tipping the Feds off to the fact I’d been complicit in some way. The g
uy stood up and nodded at Douglas. He offered me his seat. I sat down and read the screen.
[Tuesday 9th May 10:14] Gh057H3x: any news?
[Tuesday 9th May 10:14] Cr1m373ch: Gh057H3x need ID
‘Type something that had to come from someone close to Lau,’ Douglas said.
I knew they’d check. I thought about it. It was really just a case of plausible deniability. I began to type and hit send.
Douglas peered at what I had typed on the screen.
[Tuesday 9th May 10:15] Gh057H3x: r1p0u13k3um
‘What is that?’ he asked.
‘It’s the only thing I could think of,’ I said. ‘It’s the gamer name that Lau used to use. Hopefully it will work.’
From their positions on the couch both Knox and Marks leaned forward staring at the screen. Everyone, including me, waited for something to happen. It didn’t.
‘Come on, come on,’ Douglas said.
The screen remained blank.
He let out a sharp sigh. ‘Try something else,’ he said. Not to me but the other guy.
Job Lot stood up, so I moved out of the way to let him sit down. His fingers rattled the keyboard and then hit the enter key.
[Tuesday 9th May 10:17] Gh057H3x: hello?
The screen remained satisfyingly inert.
He looked up at Douglas. ‘No reply. We lost him.’
Douglas turned to me. ‘Explain to me again what you said to him.’ His tone was agitated.
‘You said these people, whoever they are, had all known Lau since the beginning. From when I was around? So, I used an old gaming name he used to type in on the leader board when he hit the high score. I figured they might know it.’
Douglas didn’t look convinced.
‘Go check it with Lau,’ he said. Presumably at the guy in front of the laptop though his eyes remained on me.
