Battle Road

by Gerry, Frank

  Dylan felt his stomach tighten, wondering if Brooks was right. He spoke slowly, trying to get his head straight for his words to come out right. “This time is different. Sure we've done a lot of partying and met a lot of girls. And what I thought was love turned out to be lust. But this is different. The moment I first laid eyes on Tien, I fell in love with her. It's killing me that I can't even tell her that because she'll think I'm some kind of pathetic creep.”

  “She wouldn't think you were a creep,” Brooks laughed, “She'd know it.”

  “Do you know why, Brooksie, I've been beating you every match? The reason is I haven't had a drink in weeks. Probably a month. Not since I've met Tien. Think about it, when was the last time since you knew me that I didn't have a drink in my hand.”

  Brooks looked somewhat amused. “You said the same thing last year with what's her name, Emily, Evelyn. Whatever. It's fine. I'll tell Karen you weren't feeling well.” He paused for a moment, the question popping into his head, “You haven't stopped smoking weed, too? Have you?”

  “I'm especially done with that. I emptied my last baggie down the toilette weeks ago. I haven't felt this good in years.”

  FIFTEEN

  “I can't believe how warm it is out tonight. For the second week of December can you remember it being this warm?” Tien asked Dylan. The two walked arm in arm along Hanover Street in Boston's North End, having just left one of the nicer eateries in the area.

  “I don't care if the government says global warming is propaganda spread by the terrorists. Seventy three degree's at night in mid December just isn't right,” Tien said. “Well, officially as a Party member, I'm required to correct any misinformation and inform you that global warming doesn't exist. But, damn, I agree. Seventy three degree's is messed up,” he said playfully.

  Tien pressed her body closer against Dylan as they walked, her arm around his waist, his arm around her shoulder. “I shouldn't have eaten so much. But I couldn't help myself. That meal was so good,” Dylan said. “I told you to take the rest home. I've got dinner for tomorrow night. And you've got nothing,” she said teasingly.

  They walked for a while without saying a word. Occasionally looking into each others eyes and smiling. People passed them on the sidewalk, perturbed at the couple in their way. At the end of Hanover Street the lights from the dome covering the Faneuil Hall marketplace came into view.

  Tien finally broke the silence, “This is our first weeknight date. Do you know what that means.”

  “We're engaged?”

  Tien hit him in his side playfully. “No, you jerk. It means you couldn't wait till the weekend to see me again.”

  “I hadn't thought about it like that. But yeah, you're right. I couldn't wait till Friday night to see you again. I couldn't wait another day. Not another minute,” he said. He turned and looked into her eyes for a moment before they embraced and kissed one another.

  At the Faneuil Hall dome, they made their way through the security entrance, leaving the dark city streets behind. Crowds of people walked to and fro on the cobblestone walkways inside the well lit, environmentally controlled Boston landmark. The two of them meandered around for awhile. “Want to check out that chocolate store over there?” Dylan asked. Tien was silent. She stood frozen, with a distant stare. “No I can't do this any longer,” she said. “I was really just thinking about taking something home. And it's just fun to look around, see what they have,” he said.

  Tien pushed herself away from Dylan, turning to face him. “I can't do this any longer,” she said. People swarmed past the couple.

  Dylan's eye's narrowed, he shook his head halfway back and forth. “Do what?” he managed to say.

  “Listen to me. I have so much to tell you. I don't know where to begin. And I know whatever I say you're not going to like it.” A look of pain spread across her face.

  “Now you're starting to scare me, Tien. What is it?” He looked out at the people milling about before looking into her eyes. Tien looked down then back up again at him. “You have to hear me out. Listen to what I have to say before saying anything. OK,” she said. “OK,” Dylan responded slowly.

  “I've fallen in love you, Dylan. I fell in love with you the moment I first saw you. I didn't think that ever happens in real life. But it did. And it wasn't suppose to happen.” Dylan tried to speak but Tien raised her fingers to his lips. “I'll just start with the hardest thing. I lied to you Dylan. Everything I've told is is a lie. Everything. I didn't grow up in Connecticut. My parents don't work in Manhattan. I have four brothers and sisters. I never went to Harvard. I'm not even a Christian. I'm an atheist.” Tears began falling from her eyes.

  Dylan looked like a deer in headlights. “What are you talking about?” was all he could bring himself to say. Tien looked down at the cobblestones they stood on, then turned away from him.

  “Tell me. What's going on, Tien?” This time Dylan was more forceful in his tone.

  She turned back to face him. “I never expected for this to happen. For how I feel about you. But the things I've told you, I had to say those things. I can't tell you why. Not now. All I can say was I had no choice. And I swear to you I will tell you why. Soon but not now.”

  Dylan ran his left hand through his hair. He looked around at the crowds of people. Then turned back to face her. “What the hell are you talking about. I don't understand what you're saying. Just tell me will you!”

  “I can't tell you now. I know that sounds so fucked up. But I can't. If I did, I'd be putting you in danger. I'd rather walk away and never see you again than see something terrible happen to you because of me.”

  He grew more flustered. He ran both his hands through his hair this time. His body grew stiff. “What the fuck are you telling me?” he said. His stomach started to twist. “My life changed the day I met you. I've never felt like this towards anybody in my entire life. I thought this was it, the real thing. Now I find out everything was a fucking lie!”

  Tears fell from Tien's eyes. “My life changed the day I met you, as well. Everything changed for me.”

  Before she could explain further, Dylan cut her off. “You said you can't tell me anything. Why?” Tien tried to take his hand. He shook her off. “This is difficult to explain. What I can tell you is everything in your life is a lie. Everything you believe in is a lie. The books you read, the music you listen to, the media, your church, your friends, your teachers when you where young, your bosses at work, the government. Everyone lies to you every day. I'm standing here in front of you telling you I won't lie to you anymore,” she said.

  Dylan stepped back a foot. “So everyone's a liar but you. Fuck!” he said, taking another step back. “And you're an atheist, too. No. No. I don't know what to believe. Especially you right now.” He took out his wallet from his back pocket and shoved a couple of twenty dollar bills into her hand. “Here, take a god dammed taxi home. I don't want to talk to you right now.”

  Tien tried to grab his arm, “Dylan, no. You don't understand.”

  He shook free and walked away without looking back.

  SIXTEEN

  At nine fifteen the next morning, Jim Hayden sat in Dylan's office. The two engineers were going over quantum encryption methodologies. Jim was one of the newer software engineers for Homeland Security and Dylan was assigned to be his mentor. Jim pointed a finger at a diagram on his tablet computer. “I still don't get how you can change the superposition, the quantum state, of a qubit. Wouldn't even measuring the superposition destroy the state it's in?”

  Dylan did not want to be in the office. He wanted to stay curled up in bed with the blinds closed. If it wasn't for Senior Agent Goodman calling a hastily scheduled meeting for today, that he was required to attend, he would have called in sick. Besides, deep down, he knew that getting back to work right away was the best way to get over Tien, get over her lies. Her betrayal, the thought entered his mind.

  Dylan began his lecture, “We don't need to know exactly how the state of the parti
cle is measured or changed to form the qubit for our code development. Having a general idea is all we need to know. But it is fascinating stuff. I'll forward you a link to some good info explaining it if you're interested.” Dylan tapped away on the display to his virtual keyboard, sending Jim the web page to the documentation.

  “For our purposes all we need to know it that qubits can have the value of zero, one, and both simultaneously. So our quantum interpretations are based on time, the picosecond we select for our calculations. But more importantly setting the value of one qubit will instantaneously change the value of the entangled particles, whether that's the second, third, fourth, or one millionth qubit regardless of it's location. In other words, everything is effectively transmitted instantaneous across time and space. No more digital pathways for electrons to flow at a snails pace as in the olden days. And all we need to do is to write the code to take advantage of these massively parallel, instantaneous quantum threads.”

  Dylan continued explaining the inner workings of quantum computing, most of which Jim had already learned in school. It wasn't until Dylan began describing encryption that Jim took a more intense interest. “Originally, and up until recently, scientists believed that quantum encrypted codes where unbreakable. That you'd have to change the laws of physics if you wanted to break them. Until that is, Homeland Security scientists came up with algorithms that could decipher each qbits possible state in combination with every other qbit value for quantum key codes. We found that our quantum computers arrayed in massive super computing grids could make these kinds of computations possible. It's mind boggling, the decillions of simultaneous computations. But we did it. So now we have an entirely new method of encrypting digital signal transmissions.”

  The video phone in Dylan's office signaled an incoming transmission. Senior Agent Goodman was on the display. Dylan excused himself and engaged the transmission, “What can I do for you Agent Goodman?” Goodman spoke with a somber tone, “Please stop what you're doing and report to conference room 318 in Building 5 immediately. Our meeting has been pushed up and it's important for you to get here asap. We'll be here waiting.” Goodman terminated the transmission without saying another word. Jim looked quizzically at Dylan before speaking, “Well, that sounded pretty serious. I'll see you tomorrow then.”

  Dylan sat in his chair for a moment after Jim had left the office. He spoke in a low, soft voice to himself, “We'll be here waiting?” Who the hell is we, he thought. He didn't like the tone of Goodman's words. They didn't sound good at all. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe he should have stayed in bed with the covers over his head after all.

  Dylan stepped into the open doorway of the conference room in Building 5. Seated at the long rectangular conference table were Goodman, two male and two female Homeland Security officers, along with two other officers dressed entirely in black with no insignias. Goodman looked over and saw Dylan, “Shut the door behind you and take a seat if you would.”

  Making his way to the conference table, Dylan couldn't help himself from focusing on the officers attired in black. They stood out. One was an older heavy set man. He looked to be the senior officer. The other was a middle aged blond woman with a red serpent tattooed on her neck. He couldn't recognize which division the black uniforms where from. Who the hell are they? he thought.

  Goodman sat in the center of the conference table. The other men and women talked quietly among themselves or viewed files on their computer video displays. Only Goodman paid any attention to Dylan as he took his place at the table. Goodman spoke up, “OK, lets get started. Dylan, let me introduce you to everyone. Starting on your left is Agent Wilson, Agent Chang, Senior Agent Rivera, Senior Detective Friedman, Detective Perez, and Agent Greene.” Each person nodded or lifted a hand as they were introduced. Dylan learned it was the Detectives who were the officers wearing the all black uniforms without insignia.

  Senior Agent Rivera, a fifty something year old Hispanic woman, actually probably closer to sixty, stood and addressed Dylan. She paced back and forth along a small area behind her chair. She appeared to be the most senior officer. “We called you down here, Dylan, because of the situation that has arisen that involves you. But more importantly because we need your help.” She placed an emphasis on the word 'but' for some reason. “I'll do anything I can to help,” Dylan responded quickly. He was more than a little nervous sitting in the room with all of these officers, not to mention the Detectives who looked mean as hell. What the fuck is going on? was all he could think.

  “Well, we're going to ask a lot from you. I mean a lot. So, you better listen to everything we say very carefully before you volunteer,” Senior Agent Rivera said as she stopped her pacing to look directly at him. Dylan shook his head up and down, then shrugged his shoulders, “OK, I'm listening.” Rivera sat back down in her seat, issuing an order while waving a hand at one of the agents, “Agent Wilson why don't you provide the background.”

  Wilson, a slim, pretty brunette who looked to be in her early thirties began speaking, “Approximately eight weeks ago the terrorist activity in the Northeast sector began escalating. We went from isolated terror attacks to numerous all out assaults at our infrastructure. We have responded with additional resources, including more troops, drones, etc.” Agent Wilson stopped to take a sip of her coffee. “We are in the process of increasing our visible presence by creating checkpoints and outposts. Increasing our patrols, both on the ground and in the air. Our counter terrorism strike force has been doubled and they are making good progress.”

  Agent Chang, an older, balding Asian male cut in, “But not good enough progress. We're basically heading into an insurrection in the Northeast by homegrown criminal terrorists who think they're freedom fighters. I mean, these terrorists have delusions they are modern era Minute Men with Boston once again leading the way for the revolution. If we do not destroy these terrorists now, they just might be right, and we could see this spread to other regions of the country.” Senior Agent Rivera interjected, “This is top secret information, not to leave this room. Do you understand that, Dylan?” Dylan turned to her, “Yes, I do. Very much so.”

  Goodman initiated an MRI lie detector aimed at Dylan, then he spoke, “At this point, Dylan, I'm sure you're wondering why we're telling all of this to you. The reason is simple, you're involved. In fact you're in the center of all of this. Whether you like it or not. And we need your help whether we like it or not.” Goodman lied. Events were lining up exactly as he intended.

  Dylan looked around the room, trying to conceal his emerging panic. Agent Greene was the next to speak, “Mr. Fraser, it came to our attention seven weeks ago of a plan by terrorist leaders to convert a member of our DHS Engineering staff. To be more precise, convert one of our engineers to their side for the purpose of acquiring digital transmission encryption technology for our fleet of aerial drones. In other words, they wanted to obtain knowledge of jamming or taking control of our fleet of drones.”

  Dylan looked at Goodman, then at Agent Greene, “We'll if there's anything I can do, I'll do it. I know pretty much everyone in the engineering staff here in Burlington.” Awkward silence filled the room until Goodman broke the tension, “It's you Dylan. They intended to turn you. Convert you to their side.”

  For a few seconds Dylan froze up, not fully comprehending what was just said. His face turned red. “I don't understand, .... I, I would never …...,” Dylan stammered out his words until he was cut off mid sentence by Senior Agent Rivera. “We're going to explain everything to you Dylan,” she said. “But first I want to say that what we're about to tell you will be rather unsettling. You may be embarrassed, feel a lot of anger, and so on. The important thing to remember is that all of us in this room know that you are a loyal Freedom Party member and a good Christian.” Silence filled the room as Rivera stood and walked over to Dylan's side. Putting her hand on his shoulder in a motherly way, trying to reassure him before continuing to speak, “We know that you will do your duty to
you country above all else.”

  Looking up at Senior Agent Rivera, Dylan shook his head in a positive way and was able to mutter, “Of course.” Agent Greene addressed the group once again, “Seven weeks ago we were tipped off by one of our informants embedded within a terror cell of the plan to convert Dylan, here.” Each of the computer screens around the conference room table suddenly displayed a video of Tien-Mu. Dylan's mind raced, Tien! Agent Greene went on, “The subjects name is Tien-Mu Chang. 26 years old, a terror cell commander in the Boston area. Her orders were to seduce and convert Dylan to their cause.”

  Dylan felt like he just got punched in the stomach. Oh that fuck'in bitch, the anger plainly visible on his face. All her lies suddenly made sense to him. The video screen displayed Dylan and Tien in various locations during the past few weeks. There were video's showing the two holding hands, kissing in public, entering Tien's apartment. Agent Greene opened a manila folder and began reading the reports DHS agents had written during their surveillance. The list went on for a while.

  Sweat ran down Dylan's temples. Agent Greene went on reading from the reports, “From listening devices beamed into the terror suspects bedroom, there did not appear to be any illicit sexual activity that took place during the nights that the subject of our surveillance, I mean Dylan, spent with the terrorist suspect.”

  “Did you have sex with her Dylan?” Goodman asked after the details of the surveillance was completed. Dylan felt his head starting to spin. He didn't look well as he answered, “No...... no, I didn't.” The MRI lie detector displayed on Goodman's computer reported; TRUTH. Goodman saw the distress in the younger man, “Agent Wilson could you get some water for Dylan please?”