The Lion's Prey

by Camden Mays

  ✽✽✽

  Burley, Idaho

  Aunt Becky pulled the Hyundai Elantra rental car into the Walmart Supercenter in Burley, Idaho. She was cranky after driving for nine hours. It was already past seven in the evening. Hannah and Reichert couldn’t take the risk of driving. If they were pulled over and in some sort of incident, they would be in the system and easily found by the cyber geeks. Hannah had drawn up a shopping list for her aunt as she and Reichert waited in the car.

  Hannah had instructed her aunt before she left to bring a lot of cash with her. She had no idea Aunt Becky would come with a wad of over ten thousand dollars. Hannah realized they had different definitions of what a lot meant. She was expecting several hundred dollars, not several thousand.

  Becky pushed a cart full of items to the car trunk and off-loaded them, then got in the car. She huffed.

  “I’ve gotta say, Hannah. This isn’t as much fun as I thought this trip was going to be. I didn’t know I was going to be doing all of the driving and shopping.”

  “Sorry, Aunt Becky.”

  “No problem. I just added a few things to the list that you’ll reimburse me for.”

  “Were you able to get the laptop and the thumb drives?”

  “Yep. And bottles of wine, too.” Hannah saw her aunt looking in the rearview mirror at Reichert in the back seat. “Don’t worry, Georgia boy, I got you some beer, too,” she said with a wink. Reichert had a frightened look on his face.

  “What about Mountain Dew?” Reichert humbly asked.

  “Yes, I got you two twenty-ounce six-packs.”

  They grabbed dinner from a drive-through and then checked in at the Fairfield Inn and Suites and were able to get adjoining rooms. Hannah insisted on keeping the door open to provide protection.

  Cole had called Hannah earlier in the day to share what he learned from McCune and to say goodbye before leaving the States. McCune was working her connections, and Cole had given her a burner that Hannah could call for follow-up. Hannah was glad to have someone helping, but the most significant win was having Reichert use the hours on the road trip to produce multiple copies of his program, save them on drives, and send them express mail to crucial personnel in cyber defense. The more, the better. McCune was building the list for them.

  Reichert sat in his room unwrapping all of the toys Becky had purchased and began working to make multiple copies of his program. He put the rubber band around his thumbs and started the signature rolling motion.

  Over the next three days, they drove and they ate junk food. Becky flirted with Reichert, and Reichert downed his Mountain Dew drinks one after another. They arrived in Carroll County late Wednesday night. Becky wanted to get some rest before driving the rental car to the Nashville airport where she had left her car. More importantly, McCune had delivered a list of nearly thirty people that needed the program. Each day as they set out on their trip, they mailed off a new batch of drives that Reichert had completed. Hannah felt that the sooner these people had the software, the better. They had used a computer in a business center to print a form letter explaining Haslet’s corrupt security software and directions for Reichert’s program.

  ✽✽✽

  Carroll County, Tennessee

  Hannah checked the perimeter of the house, her Glock 23 drawn and ready in her right hand as she held the flashlight with the other hand. The dense woods around the home made it impossible to see anything beyond twenty or thirty yards. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something seemed off. She stood still near the back of the brick house, listening to the sounds in the woods. The middle of September meant the crickets were still chirping. The woods out in the country always carried those strange noises from frogs, insects, and other nocturnal creatures.

  Hoo, hooooooo, came the sound from a horned owl. Hannah took it as a good sign and went back into her aunt’s house. If things went well, this would be her last night to watch over Reichert. Nancy McCune had given valuable assistance, and by tomorrow afternoon the world would know the story about Haslet Securities, and Ty Reichert would be remembered as the man that potentially saved the US from a crippling cyberattack.

  ✽✽✽

  The men’s black tactical uniforms were wet from the earlier rain and the soggy ground where they lay in position around the perimeter of the west Tennessee house. The team of mercenaries was made up of former special ops personnel. The kind of men who actually enjoyed the thrill of the kill.

  “We go at zero four hundred, no witnesses,” the leader said over the comm from his position across the country road.

  The number-two man squatted next to the leader. “We’re all set on the perimeter.”

  “Good.”

  “This is a shitty job, boss. I think we should have gotten a lot more money. Do we even know who is footing the bill?”

  The leader gave his number two a glare. “You know that we never ask. Doesn’t matter now. We’re committed. They won’t know what hit them. Get in position and get some rest.”

  “Roger that.”

  At the rear of the home in the woods, two other mercenaries finished off their MREs. “We’re really doing this?” one of them asked the other, kneeling next to him.

  “It’s a job, and it pays a hell of a lot of money. This one even more,” the other one said.

  “Yeah. They must have pissed off the wrong people.”

  Chapter 27

  Counterterrorism Center – Langley

  Nancy McCune was down on basement level three in the room across the hall from the den that housed Cole’s team of analysts. This was a different group. More seasoned and entirely off the books.

  “The team is in position, ma’am.” An analyst standing in front of the bay of multiple screens pointed to the team’s placement and the infrared images of the team’s targets.

  McCune looked at her watch.

  “I want this to be surgical. No trace left of Echo team or the targets.”

  “The team’s aware, ma’am.”

  “Alright, I don’t want to wait any longer. Give them the green light—let’s go now,” McCune ordered.

  “Copy that, ma’am.” The ops coordinator turned back to view the screens and punched his comm. “Echo One, you have a green light. Expedite the mission. I repeat—you have a green light.”

  “This is Echo One, copy. On the move.”

  McCune exhaled. She didn’t want to watch. “Let me know if there are any problems. I’ll be back in a few.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Nancy McCune left the room and walked across the twelve-foot concrete hall to the den. She swiped her badge and steadied for the eye scanner. The doors unlocked, and she greeted Amy Wiggins, who was coordinating the team of analysts.

  “You’re here early. Or is it that you stayed late?”

  “Went home for a few hours, ma’am,” Amy replied. “I wanted to be here for the operation in Istanbul.”

  McCune nodded. “Are they in position?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ve got Wang patched in. She’s running point at the embassy with Sinha staffing the board. Capps and Robinson are positioned outside the café, and Liski is with Cole inside.”

  McCune folded her arms and watched the screens that were feeding views from the cameras the team had placed. The CTC had HUMINT that Jamil Rasul was scheduled to meet a high-ranking member of the Turkish Hezbollah. Cole had joined the team in Turkey after Rasul failed to show in Beirut.

  “Did we get any other intel to confirm this meeting?” McCune asked.

  “No, ma’am. Just intel from one of our Turkey assets that got filtered over from the Hezbollah desk.”

  McCune looked at her watch, knowing the mission being directed from the room across the hall was in motion.

  ✽✽✽

  Carroll County, Tennessee

  A hand covered the mouth and a knife slid across the throat of the first victim. Not a sound was made. Soon the second victim suffered the same fate.

  At the rear of
the home, one of the mercenaries took his last bite of the MRE as he and his partner were simultaneously, silently eliminated. The number-two man on the mercenary team stood in the dark, quietly relieving himself, and was cut off midstream as the tactical blade of the special operator ran up the base of his skull.

  The mercenary team lead was on one knee, positioned across the road from the home, using tall weeds and an old deserted breaking plow as cover. Two of McCune’s special ops members stealthily approached. They saw his head turn slightly. They squeezed off several rounds from their assault rifles equipped with suppressors. He fell back against the plow, his hardware pinging the rusted metal.

  The special ops team froze in their prone position in the tall weeds and waited for the all clear. The front porch light on the home flipped on. Hannah Jacobs in her T-shirt and shorts moved out to the front yard, shining her flashlight, looking around. The two special ops men that lay in the weeds across from the house looked at each other. One mouthed to the other, “Damn, she’s hot.”

  Hoo, hoo, hooooooo, came the sound from the owl again. Hannah looked to the side of the house where the owl seemed to be. The men heard her speak to the owl.

  “Hey, let me know if you see anything, will you?” she said as she went back in the house.

  The one man chuckled under his breath while the other gave him the hush sign. McCune’s special ops team quietly extracted the bodies of the mercenaries and fell back into a watch position to provide security for the three unsuspecting people in the house.

  ✽✽✽

  Istanbul, Turkey

  Cole Cameron and Sasha Liski sat at the table in the Turkish coffee shop, waiting for Rasul. Cole recalled the Turkish Coffee Lady in Tysons Corner where he had met with Katrina Nikolin.

  Damn coffee shops, he thought.

  Liski checked her phone. “Going to the restroom,” she said, standing to leave.

  “Really?” Cole asked. “He’s supposed to be here in five minutes.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Liski made her way to the back of the building.

  “Gator One, anything on your end?” Wang asked over the comm.

  “Negative,” Cole whispered as he surveyed the room. Then he noticed a young man leaving empty-handed who he thought he had seen earlier carrying a case. But they had been there a while and it was all running together. And he didn’t see any signs of an unattended case from his position.

  “Base, the man leaving now—can you confirm that he brought in a case? Leather satchel, I believe.”

  “Standby, One,” Wang said. Cole knew she had Sinha rewinding the video feed.

  A person a couple tables over got up to leave, and Cole spotted the case.

  He jumped up and ran toward the hall that led to the back of the building, and just as he reached the hall, the IED exploded with a thunderous, deafening roar, blasting out the storefront windows and sending lethal projectiles hurling through the air. Cole was thrown by the force of the blast against the wall as all manner of debris raked over his body at an incredible velocity.

  He felt lightheaded and dizzy and tried to focus his thoughts as everything blurred. All that he could hear was muffled sounds, but they were distinguishable enough to know they were moans and sounds of anguish and pain. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn’t cooperate. He couldn’t get his legs under him. His head wobbled as he looked further down the hall toward the restroom where Liski had gone. He saw her there. She seemed to hesitate, then came toward him. He saw her holding her earpiece and speaking over the comm but still couldn’t hear well enough to make it all out.

  Liski knelt next to him and looked him over for wounds. She removed her outer shirt and wiped some of the blood and smut off of his face. Capps and Robinson ran from the car to help as well. They each looked him over. Capps was talking to Cole, but Cole was incapable of making sense of much of anything.

  Cole felt Capps pulling him up, and the muffled sounds became more of a ringing in his ears, but his dizziness was fading and Cole was gaining more clarity. He was finally feeling his body parts. He moved to take a step, staggered at first, but started regaining his motor functions.

  “Damn, that was close, Cole,” he heard Capps say as his hearing improved slightly.

  “I’m OK, I’m OK,” Cole managed to say. “Go help the others.” He knew that there were over a dozen people in the path of the deadly blast.

  ✽✽✽

  Counterterrorism Center – Langley

  At the CTC, the team had watched the explosion over the camera feeds and feared the worse until they received word that Cole and Liski were alive. Amy Wiggins took it hard. Her days at CIA—and specifically on the high-octane team that Cole led—was wearing her down. She looked at her hands as they shook from the stress. She caught McCune’s gaze from the corner of her eye.

  “I’m alright, ma’am.”

  McCune put her hands on her hip. “OK, let’s make sure they get him to a hospital and put double security on it.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Now, I want to know the source of the HUMINT that set this ambush up.”

  Amy handled the logistics for Cole’s care, then tapped her keys and projected an image and the personal data of the asset on the screen for McCune.

  “Send me the file,” McCune ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Amy sent the digital transmission, knowing that the click of the mouse was basically pulling the trigger. She doubted that the asset would live to see the next day.

  “Get facial recognition on the bastard that left the IED. Once you’ve got a positive ID, send me his file.” Amy had never seen the associate director so enraged.

  “Will do,” Amy said. McCune turned and left the room. Amy turned to another analyst. “Walsh, you’re in charge. I need to leave for a while.”

  Amy left the den and sat in one of the CTC’s breakrooms for a few hours. Finally, shortly after nine in the morning, she took the elevator up to the admin level. She marched to the desk of an admin assistant.

  “I need an appointment with Dr. Marquez as soon as possible.” Amy’s hands shook as she made the request.

  The admin noticed Amy’s emotional state. “Her open time today isn’t until fifteen hundred . . . Hang on.” The admin typed on the keyboard. “She’s in a staff meeting right now, but her ten o’clock is pretty flexible. Let me see if I can move them to three so you can see her sooner.”

  “Thank you,” Amy said, trembling and wiping a tear.

  “Go ahead and have a seat over there, Officer Wiggins,” The admin directed.

  Amy sat for a few minutes, and then she saw Dr. Francesca Marquez heading to her office. Amy caught the admin nodding in her direction, signaling to the veteran psychologist.

  “Officer Wiggins, come on in with me to my office.” Dr. Marquez nodded. “I’m glad you came to see me.”

  Amy knew that the step she was taking could potentially lead to her release, regardless of what the agency’s policy stated.

  ✽✽✽

  Nashville, Tennessee – Undisclosed Location

  Hannah stood back with Aunt Becky, watching the camera crew adjust the diffusion screens and do one more light test, checking the angle before the live broadcast. Almost all the living room furniture had been moved out to make room for the news crew and the US Marshals service personnel. The Witness Protection Team, also known as WITSEC, had set up the safe house south of Nashville. They were set to whisk Ty Reichert away immediately after his live statement. The CNN crew had been vetted, blindfolded, and escorted from the Nashville office to the location.

  The news reporter adjusted her blazer and took one last look in the mirror. Everyone was told to be quiet as the cameraman counted down backward with his fingers and zoomed in on the reporter. Reichert held the Georgia Tech drive in his hand.

  “Good afternoon, Megan. Yes, I’m coming to you live from an undisclosed location with a breaking story related to the allegations against Haslet Securities that we began repor
ting on earlier this morning. Key government officials and cybersecurity professionals began receiving anonymous tips regarding the malware that resides in Haslet’s program. You may recall, Haslet recently installed programs with several of the country’s largest financial institutions and power companies. They were also awarded government contracts with the Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security.

  “Today we were brought under cloak to this location to meet with this young man, Ty Reichert.” A second camera zoomed in on Reichert. “Ty, tell us why you asked us to meet with you today.”

  Reichert began telling his story of events as he was coached and prodded by the seasoned reporter. He disclosed everything, stating that he knew the country was at high risk from the planted malware and hoped that by coming out in the open he could regain his identity and freedom. He had spent the last several days on the run with the help of two special people. Reichert said, “If it weren’t for the two brave people that helped me, I’d be dead right now.” He looked to the back of the room where the two women stood and smiled at them.

  After several more questions, the reporter gave additional information on Haslet, sharing that the company offices in Seattle had been raided by the FBI. They also reported that the company’s spokesperson claimed that the CIO, who was taken into custody, was acting with its head of development, Timothy Lam. And the company was looking to take corrective action with its software programs. Authorities so far had been unable to locate Lam. The reporter also discussed Haslet’s stock value as the news rocked Wall Street.

  The broadcast ended and the room quickly filled with noise and activity. The marshals grabbed Reichert and escorted him out the door. He asked them to wait one minute. He came back to Hannah and gave her a hug, thanking her.

  “Good luck, Ty,” she said.