Operation Indigo Sky

by Lawrence Ambrose

Lilith nodded, her lips clamped, as if she didn't dare speak. I grabbed a windbreaker and my keys, and we left the room. Outside, I suggested a walk and Lilith agreed.

  "We could go back for your jacket," I said.

  "I'm fine. I have a fast metabolism."

  We walked away from the building into an adjacent grassy field. Lilith hugged herself, and I considered offering her my coat, but guessed her shudder could be more about apprehension than the seventy-degree breeze fluttering over our desert-baked skin.

  "I should talk to Janine," I said. "She should be warned."

  "Go ahead and warn her, if you must. Then we should get the hell out before someone decides to arrest us. There's nothing more for us here."

  "Arrest us for what?"

  "Who knows. Like they need a legal reason."

  "If Janine doesn't know about this, I can't leave her in the lurch. She could face serious criminal penalties."

  "Oh boo-hoo. About time some of these scientists face some consequences - hiding behind glass doors while their inventions help destroy the world."

  "Come on, Lilith. They'd be punishing her for having enough of a conscience to talk to someone, not for doing anything wrong."

  "Conscience?" Lilith snorted. "She has a crush on you. That's the only reason she told you anything."

  I bit my tongue. Arguing with Lilith was like hitting yourself repeatedly with a baseball bat upside the head - except a baseball was softer. But this time, regrettably, she had a point. Janine had told me that stuff because she wanted to confess and she trusted me, not for any noble reason. Still, Janine did have a conscience, which I suspected was more than you could say for most of her co-workers. She didn't deserve to be punished because I'd manipulated her into spilling some classified secrets.

  "Regardless," I grated out, "I'm going to talk to her."

  AT JANINE'S front steps, it took several rings before I heard footsteps approaching. The porch light came on. The door creaked as she leaned forward to peer through the peephole.

  "What's going on?" she called through the door. "Why are you here?"

  "Sorry about the late visit, but I need to talk to you about something. Preferably not in your house. Could you put on something and come out?"

  "Not unless you tell me what this is about?"

  "It's about your job. Believe me, I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't important."

  "What about my job?"

  "I've just learned something about it that I believe you'll want to know."

  The breeze played with my hair. I glimpsed something – a lizard? - skitter over the sandy hill beside the swimming pool.

  "Okay," Janine said in a soft, frightened voice. "I'll be out in a minute."

  Janine soon emerged, bundled in a sweater and sweat pants.

  "This better be good," she said.

  "That's not the word I'd use for it."

  "Please tell me what's going on, Scott."

  "Can we take a walk – get some distance from the house?"

  "You're starting to scare me."

  "Sorry about that, but there's a reason for the cloak and dagger."

  She moved past me, and I followed her along a well-worn trail leading away from the house under the light of a full moon.

  "So what's going on?" Her voice shuddered. "You think my house is being bugged?"

  "Possibly. Remember that couple from the beach? The one that couldn't keep their hands off each other?"

  "Of course."

  "I stopped at the gym after taking you home. The female half of that couple showed up there."

  Janine paused in mid-step, giving me a hard glance.

  "I thought that was kind of suspicious, so I went up and started talking to her. She denied being at the beach or even having a boyfriend. Still, I was suspicious, so I decided to talk to her some more over lunch."

  "You invited her to lunch?" Janine's voice was glacial.

  "Uh, yes. It was just about finding out what her story was – if she was spying on me...or us." I took a breath. "She drugged my drink."

  Janine stopped walking and glared at me. "This is sounding ridiculous, Scott. Can you please skip to the punch line? What does this all mean?"

  "It means that the couple on the beach was spying on us. It means someone – I'm not sure who – is aware that we've been talking, and they didn't like it."

  Maybe it was the moonlight, but Janine's face suddenly took on the pallor of a ghost.

  "This woman. Did she have a name?"

  "Lara."

  Her eyes grew wide and panic-filled. "Lara? Lara Knowles?"

  "She didn't say her last name..." I stared at her. "You know a Lara?"

  "Not personally." Janine hugged herself. "Lara Knowles works in security. I glimpse her once in a while. She's supposed to be a real bitch. I've heard people refer to her as 'the Nazi.'"

  "No shit. What does she look like?"

  "Tall, athletic, dark hair. Most guys would say she was hot." Janine bit her lower lip as she scowled. "God, she could've been that girl with the guy on the beach. Hard to tell with the cap and sunglasses and casual clothes. I've usually glimpsed her striding past in full corporate dress – pants suit, makeup, high heels."

  I imagined the woman in high heels and a business suit. I shut down that image before it got the better of me.

  "Sounds like her," I said.

  "Oh, no." Janine shivered. "This is really bad. Did she ask about me?"

  "She did. I didn't tell her anything."

  Janine ducked her head, contemplating the desert floor for a few moments.

  "I wonder why she gave you her real name. It's like she's announcing who she is. She'd know you'd come to see me, to warn me..."

  "Probably. My question is how much they know. When you see her next, I strongly suggest that you claim to be completely innocent – deny telling me anything. If they try to pressure you into confessing that just means they don't know."

  Janine nodded, expelling a semi-relieved breath. "I never would've believed our own security would do something so extreme as drugging you. That has to be completely illegal."

  "One would hope."

  "Did she say anything about why they started following us?"

  "No. I'm guessing they bugged your home and maybe your computer."

  "If that's true..." She made a teapot hissing sound. "That really pisses me off. They never asked my permission. They had no right to do that."

  "There's a lot of that going around."

  "If I'd known that was their policy, I never would've agreed to work here."

  I was basking in her anger, liking how it distracted her from my duplicity. She turned away from me, glaring up at the Moon.

  "On the plus side," I said, "at least now you know a bit more about the company you're working for."

  "I wish I didn't."

  We stood for a while in the moonlight listening to chirping insects and the pulsating hoot of what I guessed was a Great Horned Owl. Perhaps because that was the only bird call I was sure about.

  "What am I supposed to do now?" she groaned. "Go back to work and pretend nothing happened?"

  "I would go preemptively to her, get in her face, all angry innocence. Storm in there and demand to know what the hell is going on and how dare they drug your boyfriend!"

  She gave me a sly smile. "You're my boyfriend now?"

  "If that's what it takes." I smiled.

  "So I storm in there and she tells me they have recordings of me blabbing their secrets."

  "If they had those, why bother to follow us, drug and question me, and search my computer?"

  "That's true. They probably don't know anything."

  "That's my thought."

  "But they must suspect me of something or they wouldn't've done all this. God." Janine eyed the heavens. "Stuck between a conspiracy-crazed guy and my paranoid employers. I don't know who or what to believe anymore."

  "Dare I say 'trust your heart'?"

  "No."

  She st
ood there rubbing her shoulders and looking so vulnerable that I longed to wrap my arms around her.

  "Let's go back," she said. "It's starting to get cold out here."

  We turned around and descended toward the house. At one point she stumbled, and I caught her arm for a moment.

  "I'm okay," she said.

  We paused at the backdoor.

  "I don't even feel as if it's my house anymore," she said. "They could be watching and listening to everything I do in there."

  "The government's already listening to and watching many things you do. Most people just shrug."

  "I admit I used to be one of them. If you're not a terrorist or committing a crime, what's the problem? But to me my home is my sanctuary and the idea of someone watching me in my most private place..."

  "Right. I've argued that point with more than a few people, and I've found even the most rabid supporter of national security spying draws the line at their own home. But by then it's too late. Besides, your home computer and phone activity is already being monitored 24/7, and if you have a smart meter, every form of electrical use in your home is being recorded."

  "You know, you really aren't very comforting."

  I laughed under my breath. "Sometimes the truth sucks."

  "Okay." She seemed to steady herself. "I guess I'll take your advice and confront her first thing. If I don't do that, it's almost an admission of guilt."

  "I agree."

  I had my doubts that Janine could pull it off. She was one of those people who don't have a clue about how to lie or bullshit. Not that I wanted to think of myself as some great expert on that.

  "She or her people might act as if they know stuff they don't," I said. "They might lie. That's standard police and interrogation technique. Just stay angry and deny everything, no matter what they say."

  "Got it."

  "Good. I'm sure you'll be fine." I started to back away. "Well, good luck. And again, sorry for dragging you into this mess."

  "You're leaving tomorrow?"

  "At some point. I'm not sure about my schedule yet. Give me a call if you need to talk to me."

  "Okay."

  We exchanged a brief and shaky hug, and I told her to "hang strong." When you've had people shoot at you I've found it's easier to hold up under metaphorical fire. Maybe Janine was stronger than she seemed. In the "crucible of fire" weak people sometimes discovered their strength and strong people sometimes discovered their weakness. I hoped it was mostly the former with Janine.

  I STOPPED at Wal-Mart first thing the next morning and purchased a new laptop, a couple of memory drives, and an external drive. Also, a screwdriver and a hammer. Despite being a 'software engineer,' I knew next to nothing about sophisticated spy programs. I figured I'd just beat my hard drive into bits and drop it along with my old laptop in a dumpster somewhere away from the hotel.

  Back in my hotel room, I used the screwdriver to remove the hard drive and started hammering it to shit in a plastic Wal-Mart bag on the floor. An impatient knock shook the door. Was I making too much noise? Or had the DHS come to get me?

  But it was Lilith. She spotted the wreckage on the floor as I let her in.

  "Taking out your frustrations?"

  "Something like that. You should probably do the same with your laptop. I just picked up a new one at Wally World."

  "I'll do that. I've got plenty of time. I'll be flying out eleven this evening. Apparently my father has more work for you in California. He'll call you about that later."

  "Okay."

  I was somewhat relieved we'd be around most of the day, just in case things went south for Janine. I wasn't sure what I could do, but I liked the idea that I'd be here to do something.

  "You want to get some breakfast?" Lilith asked.

  "Sure."

  Just to be on the safe side, I took my new laptop with me. I had the cook pile on pancakes and eggs – I was starving after the stress and missing dinner the night before – and enjoyed a relatively amicable breakfast with Lilith. She seemed happy to be going home – or maybe just happy to get away from me.

  After breakfast, Lilith headed out to Wal-Mart, and I couldn't think of anything better than dropping by the gym and working out or maybe getting in some pickup basketball.

  Very few people at the gym, and only a couple of guys on the basketball court. Fueled on pancakes and two cups of coffee, I made up for my unfocused workout yesterday with some hardcore lifting, followed by a relaxing swim and a long, warm shower.

  Staggering out into the parking lot on wobbly legs, I heard a car door open and close nearby. I turned to see a familiar, tall brunette striding away from a dark SUV in my direction. Surprise rattled through me. I couldn't believe Lara Knowles would dare to show her face to me again.

  "Got a few minutes to talk?" she asked.

  "Here?"

  "You probably just finished a brutal workout. How about I buy you lunch? I owe you that much."

  I longed to tell her to go fuck herself – or even better for her to give me an excuse to get her in a truly nasty submission hold – but if she had something to say that concerned Janine, I needed to hear it.

  "Okay," I said. "But fair warning. I'm really fucking hungry."

  "Then I'll buy you a really fucking big lunch." She started toward her SUV.

  "I'll follow you," I said.

  "Suit yourself. Black Angus all right?"

  "That should work."

  I followed through town and up the highway long enough for my stomach to growl and my imagination to run amok. Yet a big juicy steak was exactly what the doctor ordered, and I wasn't about to let a fascist, drug-dropping brunette spoil that. I'd just keep my eyes on her hands at all times.

  I parked next to her Ford SUV, and walked with her toward the front doors. I instinctively opened one for her, which drew a surprised arching of her brow.

  Inside, a waitress showed us to a booth in a quiet corner. Lara ordered a glass of Chablis. I settled for water. I drank half the glass before placing it well out of her reach. She issued a soft chuckle.

  "I don't blame you." She set aside her purse and removed her sunglasses. Her smile was hard but not unfriendly. "Your girlfriend came to see me this morning."

  "Oh? What did she say?"

  "What you coached her to say, I'm sure. We had no right to spy on her or to assault you, yada, yada, yada."

  My fingers closed on my glass as I eyed her throat. It was the first time I'd noticed how muscular and thick her neck was – an MMA female fighter's neck.

  "You do martial arts?" I asked her.

  "Yep. How'd you guess?"

  "You have a Rhonda Rousey neck."

  She laughed. "I'll take that as a compliment."

  "So what did you say to her?"

  "I asked her if she'd ever been inside a jail cell."

  "Dating me is a criminal offense?"

  "No, though maybe it should be." Her smile contracted and the humor in her eyes, genuine or not, cooled. "But revealing classified information is."

  "She didn't do that."

  "Didn't she?"

  "No."

  The wine arrived, and the waitress took our orders: a chef's salad for Lara and filet mignon for me. I would've killed for a beer, but I needed to keep my wits, such as they were, in peak shape.

  "I know who you are, Hayden Hunter," Lara said after our server departed. "And I know what you're about. Former Marine turned Phoenix programmer, associate degree from San Diego State computer science, now runs a software consultant business in Phoenix. Blogs about conspiracies in his spare time."

  I couldn't help quaking in my tennis shoes a little. She had to have some pretty solid government connections to dredge up that much information so fast about me. Of course, once they had my true name they wouldn't have any trouble tracking me down with mere conventional internet searches. Still, it was disconcerting to hear someone from Skunk Works security recite my curriculum vitae, and I wasn't clear on how they'd learned my name.
>
  But I kept my expression unimpressed. I wasn't going to give her shit.

  My flinty stare drew a cheery smile from her. "So you're poking around in Skunk Works - why? Looking to see if we've back-engineered UFOs or have a secret space fleet with warp drive? Or maybe we're building big-busted sentient fembots to rule the world?"

  "A guy can dream."

  "So you latched onto Janine and applied your studly gentleman charms. Poor little geek girl ripe for the plucking."

  "Wow, you really think I'm a gentleman?"

  Her upper lip curled as she laughed. "I'm counting on it. You're just a guy who wants to play at uncovering the deep, dark truth behind evil government scheming. You never thought prying a few classified secrets out of a gullible girl might result in her spending years in prison."

  My stomach clenched just as the server delivered our meal. I was beginning to wish I'd ordered a salad instead of the thick, juicy steak lying before me.

  "Again," I said, "unless hanging out with me is a criminal offense, what do you think she's done that rates prison time?"

  "I have reason to believe that she's violated her non-disclosure agreement."

  "What reason?"

  "What you said to your partner in your hotel room." She smiled at my doubt sickly expression. "Yes, you were right. We did leave a recording device in your room. I didn't mention that to Janine, by the way. She left my office believing she might have a chance."

  I made myself undo my silverware and cut a thin slice off my mignon while I wracked my brain trying to remember what I'd said to Lilith that evening. Lara smiled as if basking in my discomfort.

  "If that's true," I said, "then you know Janine's innocent of wrongdoing."

  "Hardly. And yes, we know the identity of your accomplice – the daughter of the famous former professor-activist-blogger, Markus Killian."

  I wiped my face with my napkin, working hard to hide the tremors those words had started in my hands. Lara sipped her wine and took a bite from her salad, her sharp grey-blue eyes never leaving me.

  "How did you get onto me?" I asked.

  "We keep an eye on our employees, especially when they have new relationships. We were able to identify you."

  "How? A facial recognition program?"

  "We have our ways. If you were a foreign interest, you'd be talking with DHS or the FBI right now, perhaps even in detention. And that still could happen. Using fraud to obtain classified information is a crime, U.S. citizen or no. But if you and your associates cooperate, I'm going to treat you like the well-meaning yellow journalists you are."