by Ken Fite
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” said Meyer.
“I hope I do, too.”
“This took a lot of convincing, Mr. President. Peter Mulvaney was very reluctant to set this up for us.”
“I understand, Ethan,” said Keller, moving back to his desk. “Now tell me everything you know.”
Meyer took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Approximately one hour ago, American drones used by the CIA, the Bureau, Homeland Security, and the Department of Domestic Counterterrorism went offline. Agents at DHS and DDC worked to regain control of theirs and were successful in doing so. I just got word a few minutes ago that the Bureau’s Cyber Division also regained control of their drone fleet.”
Keller eyed his chief of staff. “But the same can’t be said for the CIA’s fleet operated by the Air Force.”
Meyer said nothing.
“Ethan, I just received a briefing ten minutes ago telling me they believe Creech Air Force Base was taken out. Communications are down, and aerial surveillance shows there was an explosion. Now eighty CIA drones armed with Hellfire missiles are unaccounted for and are no longer under our control.”
Meyer nodded. “We believe this was the demonstration Omar Malik warned us about.” He paused. “We should take him very seriously at this point, Mr. President. Unless someone within the Air Force is able to regain control of the CIA’s massive fleet of Reapers, Omar Malik holds all the cards. We’re powerless.”
Keller sighed heavily. He heard another knock at the door and told the people on the other side to enter. Three men stepped inside. One was holding a laptop and set it down on the desk in front of the president.
“Secure line, sir,” he said. “Per your request of Director Mulvaney. Shall I start the video conference?”
Keller glanced across to Meyer for a brief moment before nodding that he was ready. The man turned the laptop slightly and typed in a command and turned the laptop straight again. The guy stepped back and stood with the others. “Gentlemen, give us the room,” said Keller. “This will be a private conversation.”
They nodded and left. Keller saw Meyer’s eyes grow wide. He stood and moved around the desk to watch.
Thirty seconds later, the screen came to life, and a man wearing all black stared back at the president. Malik stifled a smile. He set his hands on the desk and tilted his head. “Greetings, Mr. President.”
“Let’s get this over with,” said Keller. “My people tell me you have complete control of eighty US drones. Each one of them is weaponized with two Hellfire missiles. We both know what they’re capable of. You’ve threatened to use them on the citizens of this country, claiming you’re going to target major US cities.”
“Your people are correct.”
“What do I need to do to change your mind?”
Malik smiled again. “My terms have not changed.”
“Your terms were for me to turn myself in,” said Keller. “You think anyone would ever let that happen?”
Malik nodded. “You’re right,” he said. “You will need time to figure out how to convince your people to go through with this. So I’ll give you ninety minutes to comply. I’ll give the FBI the location when you land.”
Keller leaned forward, getting closer to the monitor. “An American president will not negotiate with—”
“This is not a negotiation, Mr. President.” Malik leaned in closer in turn. “This is a demand. There is no room for negotiating. It’s very simple. Turn yourself in to my people; innocent Americans will not die.” Omar Malik paused before continuing. Keller saw his eyes narrow. “If you don’t, you will see the worst massacre America has ever experienced. Their blood will be on your hands. And you will be responsible.”
Keller stared at the monitor. “Explain,” he said. “I want to understand the full picture.”
Malik nodded. “I have the exact coordinates for each of your major Air Force bases and government agencies. Homeland Security, DDC, the FBI, I will take them all out. With any remaining missiles, I will then start attacking every major US city, starting with Washington, DC, New York City, and Chicago. Does Mount Weather mean anything to you?”
Keller said nothing.
Malik just smiled. “It should. It’s the location from where your people would attempt a continuation of government. We will destroy it completely.”
“You’re bluffing,” said Keller.
“Am I?” Malik smiled again. “Then I’m cutting the deadline to sixty minutes. Good luck, Mr. President.”
The screen went black. Keller reached for the lid to the laptop and pulled it down shut. Meyer remained standing next to him, arms crossed, the blood drained from his face. Silence filled the office. Only the constant hum from the aircraft could be heard as Keller looked away, thinking through the situation.
“What are we going to do?” asked Meyer.
Keller thought for a moment, then turned to look up at Meyer. “We’re going to give him what he wants.”
FORTY-ONE
WILLIS AND I spent the next twenty minutes driving to the home of Robert Hayes. I called Jami on the way over to check on her. She said Chris had brought them into a conference room at the Hoover Building and was meeting with Mulvaney. She said Chris seemed to think Mulvaney’s people had a breakthrough. Jami said she had set Maddie up at the table and had changed the television in the conference room to something she wanted to watch, while Chris had sent some of the Bureau’s medics up to check the girl out.
The headlights caught the lush, green lawn in front of the large home as Willis brought the SUV to a stop and killed the motor. He swung his door open and I did the same. I stepped out. Reached for my Glock and gripped it tight as we approached the home. We saw something was wrong with the front door. Willis motioned for me to take the back, letting me know he’d enter through the front. I could see the front door was busted open as I walked past. I found my flashlight and held it underneath my weapon and swung it side to side as I moved quietly along the side of the house and made my way to the back door and waited.
I kept my back to the wall next to the door, listening and waiting. It didn’t take long. A minute later, Willis opened it for me. He said nothing. Just let me in and motioned for me to wait downstairs while he cleared the upstairs. While he was gone, I again checked the rooms he’d already checked. Saw a living room with antique furniture I guessed had been passed down from generation to generation. There was a study. Books lined two shelves by a fireplace. There was a laptop on an oak desk. I kept one hand on my weapon and moved the mouse with my free hand. The screen came to life, prompting a password to be entered.
“Find anything?” asked Willis from the door, holding his weapon with one hand.
I turned, startled. “Laptop, but it’s locked,” I said. “Anything upstairs?”
Willis shook his head. “All clear.”
I nodded. Holstered my weapon and saw Willis do the same. I walked past him and went to the front door. Stood in the foyer and saw the damage that had been done. The door had been kicked in hard. Pieces of splintered wood were scattered on the floor. The doorjamb was busted. Pictures were knocked off a table. I bent down and grabbed one of them and stared at the faces of Robert Hayes, Maddie, and a woman.
“What do you got?” called Willis.
I glanced back and showed him the picture I was holding. Willis stepped closer, and I handed it to him to look at. I grabbed another picture from the floor and turned it over. Held it by its frame and stared at another image of the three of them. This time, they were at the beach. Probably a family vacation. I turned back. Saw Willis staring down, eyeing me like he was concerned about something. I showed the other picture to him. I gave him a minute to tell me what was wrong, but he didn’t say a word, just stared at me.
“We have a problem,” I said and looked down at the picture I was holding.
“What is it?”
I turned again and stared up at him. “You don’t see it?”
Willis
said nothing. Just shifted his gaze and kept his eyes fixed on the picture, expressionless.
I stood. Set the small framed picture I was holding down on the small table and faced Willis. Crossed my arms, waiting, but he made no reply. “The wife,” I finally said and looked away, thinking. “Where is she?” Willis watched as I looked around the large home, trying to put the pieces together. “They have her, too.”
He furrowed his brow. “What do you think happened?”
I shrugged as I thought about it. “I think they came and decided to use her and the girl as leverage. They separated them for some reason. Maybe kept the wife close to Hayes and took the girl to another location. The guy named Jackson used the daughter to get cash and passports so they could leave the country.”
Willis said nothing. Just studied the photo. Before I could continue, my cell buzzed. “Jordan,” I said.
“Blake, it’s me,” said Morgan. “Listen, I don’t have much time. Simon and I have been tasked with helping Mulvaney’s Cyber Division hack the CIA drones, but first I tried to look into Hayes for you.”
“What do you mean tried?” I said. “This is the only real lead we have right now.”
“It’s classified,” he said. “All I can see is the guy started working for the NSA fifteen years ago and left five years after that. So it’s been ten years since he was on their payroll, but I can’t get any information on what he may have been working on there.” He paused. “Since then, he’s been running his own company. There is something you need to know about, mate. The guy’s car was found abandoned by Metro PD.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Where?”
“Police found it parked in the middle of an alley. Gunshots were reported in the area, so they checked it out and had it towed. I called Metro PD a few minutes ago. They said the vehicle hasn’t been claimed yet.”
I looked around the large home. “Morgan, can you get a work address for me?”
“Okay,” said Morgan, sighing heavily. “But then I really have to focus on helping Mulvaney.”
I told him I understood. Morgan said he’d text the address to me and I clicked off. I filled Willis in on the conversation and started looking around the home again while I waited for the address to be sent to me. We stepped back into the office. I started going through filing cabinets. Willis watched me as I worked.
“How do you know?” he asked from the door.
“Know what?” I said as I sifted through paperwork, unsure what I was even looking for.
“That they took the wife?” he said and paused. “She could be away for the weekend visiting her mother. Maybe she’s on a business trip.” He looked confused. Maybe worried. “How do you know they have her?”
I shrugged and nodded to the oak desk. “They didn’t take the laptop,” I said. “So why’d they come here? Why break in?”
Willis said nothing.
“Morgan said they found the guy’s vehicle abandoned in some alley. Metro PD had it towed. So they kidnapped Robert Hayes there, in the alley. But they came here first and took his wife and daughter to use as leverage. I think they’re forcing him to do something for them.”
I found a file folder labeled clients on the desk. I picked it up and thumbed through the papers inside. There was a listing of current and prospective clients. I scanned the list and noticed a date and time at the bottom of the printout, indicating when it had been printed. It was from the prior week. “Looks like he brought his work home with him,” I said to Willis, who stepped over and looked at the client list with me.
My cell buzzed in my pocket again. I handed the file to Willis and answered the call. “This is Jordan.”
“Blake, it’s me,” said Chris Reed. “I just met with Mulvaney. He was briefing his team about some kind of secure line he got set up for the president. But then he discussed the contents of the stolen NSA schematics.” He paused for a second as I stared at Willis. “One of them was authored by Robert Hayes.”
FORTY-TWO
I PUT THE call on speakerphone as I processed the information Chris was telling me. “What were the schematics for?” I asked as Willis narrowed his eyes. “The one Robert Hayes authored?”
“The device I told you about,” said Chris. “Robert Hayes created it for the NSA when he worked for them. It’s just one of many schematics that were stolen. But Mulvaney’s looking into this one as a priority.”
Willis stepped closer. “What kind of device did Robert Hayes design?” he asked. “What does it do?”
There was a brief pause on the line. It sounded like Chris was moving to another room before responding. “It’s some kind of override device,” he said. “From what the NSA told Mulvaney, it can do a lot of things.”
“Like what?” I said.
There was another pause. “It sounds like it can take control of foreign military systems. Mulvaney said it was created to be used primarily against Russia and North Korea. I’m sure in the past ten years we’ve used it against other countries as well, we just don’t know who, and the NSA isn’t telling us.”
I thought about that for a second. “I’m not sure I understand, Chris,” I said. “How would it be used?”
“When I was in the room and Mulvaney’s people were going through it, they gave the example of North Korea. You know those missiles they’ve been trying to launch for years? You know how they almost always explode on the launchpad? Everyone thinks they’re just incompetent and incapable of launching a missile that can work right and make it all the way to US soil.” He paused. “But that’s not true. The missiles are built correctly. There’s nothing wrong with anything they’ve built over there. This device hacks the launch sequence and forces the missiles to explode too early or fail in some other way. It’s a true override device.”
Willis crossed his arms. He looked concerned again and fixed his eyes on my phone. “So you think the schematics for the device got into Omar Malik’s hands and now he’s using it against us somehow?”
“Yes,” said Chris. “To control the drones.”
“That’s a stretch,” said Willis.
“How else would Omar Malik be able to take over the drones?” I asked.
Willis shrugged. “What else did Mulvaney say?” he asked. “Do we know who stole the schematics?”
“Not yet,” said Chris. “They were on an interagency drive shared between the Bureau and the NSA. Could’ve been anybody. We confirmed the original device is still at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade.”
Silence filled the room. “Malik had a replica built,” I finally said. “And Hayes made it work.”
Willis said nothing. “But they changed the way it works,” said Chris from the phone. “And they changed the target. Instead of using it against foreign governments and the missiles they try to launch against us, Omar Malik had Hayes configure the copycat device to take control of the US drone fleet.”
Willis stared blankly. “And there’s more,” I added. “Robert Hayes not only configured the device for Malik, he’s the one piloting the CIA’s drone fleet now. They forced him to take out the pilots at Creech.”
“That’s what we thought, too,” said Chris as Willis looked away and nodded to himself as if he finally agreed. “Mulvaney’s assembling a team to send to the address we have for Hayes to see what we find.”
“Tell him not to bother,” I said. “We’re there already. We found signs of forced entry when we got here. We think Omar Malik’s people kidnapped his wife along with Maddie, and they’re using her as leverage.”
There was silence in the room again. Willis was pacing, looking nervous. I felt the same way he did.
“So what do you suggest we do?” asked Chris. “What do you want me to tell Mulvaney?”
Willis glanced at me, then looked at the phone in my hand. “Tell him to focus on taking control of the CIA’s drones,” he said. “And tell him DHS will handle tracking down Omar Malik and to leave it to us.”
Chris said he’d be in touch. I clicked off. Dropped my cell
into a pocket and looked around Hayes’s office. Willis said he needed to step away and give Parker an update. I told him Parker was probably focused on helping Simon and Morgan get access to the CIA’s drone fleet along with the Bureau’s Cyber Division. Willis said he was going to call Parker anyway. I held my hand out, and Willis handed the file folder back.
I watched him leave. I could see him in the next room, pacing and talking with his cell pressed against his ear. Heard a text message come through and reached for my phone and saw it was from Morgan Lennox. He’d sent me the work address for Robert Hayes. I dropped the cell phone back into my pocket and started looking around the large office again, trying to find anything I might have missed while giving Willis another minute to speak with Parker. I searched through everything I’d already looked at, and stopped.
I was drawn back to the file folder with the client list. I opened it up and studied the list of prospective clients Hayes had worked with over the last few weeks, along with three new clients with three addresses listed. I realized one of the addresses was the building at the office park where we had found Frasier.
The other two addresses were in the DC area close to each other. I looked away and thought about their relation to each other. Most of the names on the list had some variant of ‘technologies’ or ‘simulations’ in their name. I figured Hayes must’ve had some kind of consulting business. He’d opened it right after he’d left the NSA. Maybe after creating the override device, he’d decided he’d strike out on his own. Maybe his superiors at the NSA didn’t appreciate what he’d created for them. Maybe he’d expected a raise or a promotion and hadn’t gotten one. Maybe he’d decided to cut his losses and went into business for himself.
My cell phone chimed. A reminder of the text from Morgan with Hayes’s work address. Then it chimed again. I grabbed my phone and saw a text from Chris telling me the FBI was headed to the work address.
