“You manipulated me,” she said, breaking away from his touch.
Jordan pulled back, “I had to act like the hopeless romantic to gain you trust.”
“That’s hardly what you did. What about Ryan?” Kennedy asked, hoping that he wasn’t a lie as well.
“Ryan, oh he has always been the better man. He told me to tell you hello. We will meet with him later,” Jordan continued. “We're almost there.”
She looked out the window again, and Jordan didn’t talk for the rest of the ride.
∆∆∆
Chapter 18
R 10010
Dustin sat in the second car. He had a mask over his head and was handcuffed at his feet and hands. He couldn't believe that his employee, and his best friend, could be dead. As they dragged Dustin over to the car, he tried to get free, tried to rescue Taylor, but the men were too strong. It should’ve been him, not Taylor.
As hard as it was, Dustin pushed his friend's condition behind him, and focused on his assignment, Kennedy. He needed to get her out of this mess. If Kennedy refused to work for Jordan, Dustin knew he would be tortured until Kennedy gave in. In his current position, his escape was unlikely. Two men sat in front, and one sat next to him. Also, he also was in horrible condition. They hadn’t broken any bones, but Dustin had endured a serious beating before arriving at the warehouse, and then while leaving. He could feel his face swelling up, along with bruises on his ribs. His knuckles were bleeding from punches, and he probably had at least one black eye.
Dustin took this time alone to reflect on everything that had happened in the warehouse. Jordan's confident attitude was concerning. Could Jordan’s company really have the capability of planting a bomb at NSA headquarters? Andrew had penetrated its security, so surely Jordan could manage it somehow too. But a bomb? Who was Jordan's inside man?
After watching Jordan with Kennedy, Dustin doubted that Andrew had worked for the company. Jordan wanted to use her and liked her. He wouldn’t attempt to kill her. Where was Penny? There too many questions, not enough answers.
The ride lasted for about an hour. The three men stepped out and left Dustin inside. He struggled against the cuffs. He had already given his lock pick to Taylor. Then he heard footsteps approaching.
The door opened, and Dustin felt hands pulling him out of the car. His feet hit some pavement, and then someone pulled off his mask. It was night again, and the street was dark, but he could see a house in front of them. At first Dustin stared at the house that stood before him, and then he furrowed his eyebrows. This house looked familiar. Then it came to him, the drawing Kennedy drew from the coded message. Dustin didn't know what that meant, but he remembered that the one word below the picture read, “home,” and Dustin didn't like the sound of that. They then uncuffed his feet so he could walk.
Only two of the men stayed with Dustin. The other one walked behind him. It was night, so one would pay them any attention. They looked like friends walking into the house. Dustin searched for the other hummer, and found it parked in the driveway. He couldn’t see if anyone in the vehicle, and guessed Kennedy was already inside the house.
The men forced Dustin through the front door. There was a formal living room to his right, stairs that descended in front of him, and a hallway that ran parallel to the descending stairs. He was already halfway down the hallway when he saw the back of the house open up. A kitchen sat to the right, the dining room in front of him, and the living room to his left.
To the far left, was a massive desk holding several computer monitors. Kennedy sat on a couch that faced the back windows. The men behind him pushed Dustin forward to the couch across from her.
She was surprised to see him, and then nodded. That signal meant she was ok. After he sat down, they handcuffed his feet again, and took their positions on either side of the couch.
Dustin waited, he needed to read the situation before he acted.
Kennedy watched him patiently but didn’t try to communicate. Jordan was typing away on the computer, headphones on. One screen was split into several boxes, all with faces of people he was conversing with. Currently, Jordan was speaking Mandarin. Dustin knew a few words, but not enough to understand the conversation. The second screen consisted of computer programing codes. Dustin could read some commands they were constructing, but a small piece of code hardly revealed much. On the final screen were NSA security cameras. How had they gained access to that? The building was quiet this late at night.
Twenty minutes passed before Jordan took off his headphones and turned around.
“Dustin, so glad you could join us.”
Stretching, he then took a seat next to Kennedy, “Do you speak Mandarin?”
“A few phrases,” Dustin admitted.
“Impressive,” Jordan replied. “I learned while in college. I then spent a few months there on assignment. Fascinating country, not very fond of American’s.”
“They are your funder?” Dustin asked curiously.
“They are my customers,” Jordan clarified. “Very well-paying ones. We are done for the night, which brings us to our current situation.”
“Kennedy, there is a room down the hall for you. If you even attempt on leaving, I’ll have to shoot poor Dustin here. Dustin, I’m afraid you’ll have to sleep here on the couch. I have a second team arriving, who will switch off with these men. They are well rested. One will take you to the bathroom while I sit here with Kennedy.”
Dustin understood exactly what he was saying. It wasn’t the right time to make his move. He needed the element of surprise. They uncuffed his feet and walked him to the bathroom. Once he returned to the couch, they cuffed his feet and put a hood over his head.
“And now my dear, it’s time for bed,” Dustin heard Jordan say.
For the next hour Dustin heard mumblings, and footsteps. Everything else was quiet. Eventually, he closed his eyes and attempted to sleep.
∆∆∆
After a good night's sleep, Penny woke up refreshed. She was finishing her last preparations. Today was the day. She held the thumb drive in her hand that held the virus. It was crazy how such a little device could cripple the NSA. Of course, it was only one stage of their attack. If any of the three attacks failed, each on their own would be enough to damage the NSA. Inserting it into her computer, she uploaded the final changes that Jordan and his team and made the night before.
Next, she left the hotel and went to the warehouse where they were waiting for her. They taught her how to assemble all the random objects into the final contraption. Once she learned how to do one, they moved onto the next. Finally, they went over her exact route. If that route was blocked, she then knew the backup routes.
After a few hours, she felt confident. She grabbed some lunch, and then began her drive to the NSA.
∆∆∆
Kennedy hadn’t slept all night. In the morning they had come in, grabbed her, handcuffed her again, and dragged her back to the couch. Dustin was already awake too. He looked at her and she nodded again. She wasn’t comfortable, but she was fine. Her handcuffs rubbed against her wrists, and the sealed cuts from yesterday started to open up again.
The house was exactly like the picture from the coding. It almost felt like Jordan had kicked a family out, leaving all their belongings. Shuddering, Kennedy hoped that wasn't the case, or worse. Although, nothing surprised her anymore.
Jordan had been vigorously working since they both sat down. Kennedy kept staring at all the computers but was coming up empty. Everything was right there. Why couldn’t she figure it out? She felt useless.
The attack was going to happen today. Kennedy didn’t even know where she was, let alone how to help. Suddenly she realized something. Dustin didn’t know about Penny.
“Jordan?” Kennedy asked softly.
He couldn’t hear her over the headphones.
She looked to Dustin; his eyes always seemed to be on her.
“Penny is a...” she started.
“
Hey,” the man behind her started. “No talking.”
“...traitor. She drugged you, and tricked me,” she finished.
Dustin’s eyes went wide in understanding. The man behind her came around and punched her in the face. Kennedy screamed in pain.
Jordan finally turned around, “What is happening back here?”
He looked to Dustin and then to Kennedy.
“Who touched her?” Jordan demanded.
“Sir, she was talking,” the man behind her said.
Jordan stood up from his seat and walked to the man behind her. Suddenly, Kennedy heard punching. It went on for several seconds, and she didn’t dare look.
“Don’t ever touch her without my permission.”
Kennedy eyes watered, how much more of this could she take?
∆∆∆
Jennifer and Brett began to worry when Taylor and Dustin didn't make their routine check in, the day before. Contact with Penny wasn't happening, and they weren't sure what else they could do. The safe house they had set up was empty, and there was something jamming Kennedy’s GPS locator. Regardless, they kept trying different avenues.
“Did you check security cameras at the hotel?” Jennifer asked.
“Yes, they show nothing. They must have hacked them,” someone from her team said.
“What about public transportation?” Brett asked.
“Nothing, it is like they disappeared.”
Brett and Jennifer looked at each other, it didn’t sound good.
Meanwhile, Jordan's bomb threat and a sense of impending detonation kept them busy at the NSA. Not only were they thoroughly checking each room, but they were also slowly evacuating personnel. Every team had set up off site locations for a temporary work area. Those remaining at NSA headquarters were in pure chaos. Searching the NSA building was time consuming and coming up empty. Without any direction or more information they were flying blind.
“Think!” Jennifer said to the team they had assembled, also at an offsite location.
“There must be something we aren't finding,” Brett added.
“We've checked the whole building for explosives and found nothing,” Jennifer said sitting down and putting her head into her hands.
“Surely one of the messages said something,” one of the men on the team asked.
Jennifer looked hopeful, “One of Kennedy's messages did talk about uploading a worm, but that was after the bomb, supposedly.”
The man seemed to have an idea, “Well then we have a location of where the invader will be.”
Brett considered this, “Yes, the servers.”
“But how?” Jennifer asked.
“An inside man, it has to be,” another woman answered for her.
“So, it could be anyone?” Brett asked.
“Anyone,” Jennifer said, losing hope again. “So, we should try and focus our teams to the server rooms.”
“That is what I would do, at least till we get more information,” the man confirmed.
Brett was already on the phone with the teams inside the NSA.
“I hope you're right,” Jennifer said.
“Me too,” the man replied.
“Alright,” Brett said. “Let's start focusing on who could be our inside man. Look through security footage and see if we can spot anything.”
The team opened a new tab on their laptops and started typing away.
“It could have been another member of Kennedy’s team,” Jennifer said.
Brett signed, “Or, it could be someone who didn’t work with Kennedy at all.”
“We have a lot of work to do,” Jennifer said.
∆∆∆
Dustin could see that Kennedy was beginning to struggle. Every time she moved; her face cringed. Blood dripped down from her writs. He tried to send her encouraging smiles, but she was losing hope.
Nothing had changed over the last half an hour, which didn’t help boost either of their mood. Jordan kept his fingers moving over the keyboard, as he talked to the men on the computer screen. Standing like a statue against the wall, the men guarding them also hadn’t moved.
From Dustin’s angle on the couch, he could see the front door, and saw someone approaching the house. The man walked into the house without knocking, and down the hall towards the back of the house. He was Dustin’s age, early thirties, and Kennedy seemed to recognize him.
“Kennedy,” Ryan greeted before talking to Jordan.
“Hi Ryan,” Kennedy said weakly.
“Jordan, you have her handcuffed. What is wrong with your arm?” Ryan asked as he held up her arm. Dustin saw her cringe again.
“She was being difficult,” Jordan said without looking away and easily switching into speaking English.
“Give me the key,” Ryan said.
Jordan nodded to the man who could have passed as a statue on the wall. He tossed Ryan the keys. Ryan quickly released Kennedy from the cuffs and dove into his bag. He pulled out some ointment and bandages. From the kitchen he got some paper towels and got them wet.
“Let me see your wrists,” Ryan requested gently.
Kennedy placed her hands into Ryan’s waiting hands. and he wiped her wrists off with the paper towel. She cringed when he put the ointment on, and he finally wrapped her wrists with some bandages. He then carefully checked her arm.
“Thank you,” Kennedy said.
“Of course, how is your shoulder? Did they treat you okay?” the man asked, completely ignoring Dustin.
“Yes, it is feeling much better. Back to how it used to be.”
“Great, you couldn’t have asked for more,” Ryan said. He washed his hands in the sink and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. He walked back to Kennedy and handed her the water.
“Thank you,” Kennedy said, and then took a drink.
“So, what is your plan for her, Jordan?”
“She just needs to be out of the way until we are done. Then we’ll all go back to the company.”
Dustin had put together that Ryan must have been Kennedy’s doctor at the company. He seemed genuine. Kennedy had warmed up the minute he walked in. Maybe they could use him to their advantage.
“She clearly doesn’t want to be here,” Ryan said while looking at Kennedy’s reaction.
“She can’t decipher for them,” Jordan said as he continued to work.
Ryan rolled his eyes, “It is hard to force someone to comply.”
This kept looking better and better from Dustin’s perspective.
“The information will be sent to you in about one hour,” Jordan said, forgetting to switch back to Mandarin.
“Information?” Kennedy asked.
“What? You don't know either?” Ryan asked.
“Information that is hidden in the NSA of course,” Jordan said as he continued to type.
“What information are you looking for?” Kennedy pushed.
“We can sell all kinds of things the NSA has on the black market.”
Dustin could tell that Jordan was getting annoyed by all of Kennedy’s questions. Did she see that too? Was she trying to make him mad? Or was she simply looking for information to help solve the case?
“Can’t you find that stuff online?”
“Yes, but not in mass quantities,” Jordan sounded frustrated,
“What about people at the NSA, you would kill them?” she pushed.
“Kennedy, darling, I have to work,” Jordan said clearly strained.
“I’m just trying to understand,” Kennedy said pleadingly.
“Ryan, it’s time,” Jordan said bleakly.
“I’m sorry Kennedy,” Ryan said, pulling out his bag.
Dustin didn’t like where this was heading.
∆∆∆
Brett and Jennifer’s team worked hard but were coming up empty. Looking for clues over the last few weeks or months of surveillance took time, the one thing they didn't have.
The problem was whoever placed the bomb inside the NSA could’ve had several stra
tegies. They could have brought pieces in separately, or could have used equipment that existed inside the building to build one, or they could have snuck a full bomb in. The possibilities seemed endless. Who was responsible for the bomb? Where was it?
Brett focused mostly on the people who worked with Kennedy directly, and Jennifer worked on those who had access to bomb supplies inside the building. Neither of them had any leads.
“Brett, Jennifer, I might have found something,” one of the men checking surveillance yelled across the room.
Jennifer ran over to the man. Brett was close behind her.
“What have you found?” Jennifer asked, staring at the screens.
“This woman...” he said pointing at one of the figures “...is constantly looking over her shoulder, around the room, making her look very suspicious.”
“Can you figure out who that is?” Brett asked.
“We don’t need facial recognition Brett, that is Wendy,” Jennifer said shocked.
“Wendy? We didn’t even consider her,” Brett said running over to his laptop.
“Can you track her whereabouts?” Jennifer asked, while Brett walked over with his laptop.
“Of course,” the man said as he typed in some keys. “It is going to take some time to watch her over the course of the last couple of weeks.”
“Focus on the last four days,” Brett said. “We need to find out where Wendy is now.”
“She could be anywhere in this chaos; she was deemed essential personnel” Jennifer said.
“But our advantage is surprise. Wendy thinks that she has gotten away with planting the bomb. So, she is probably still hanging around or helping out with the evacuation.”
Jennifer considered this, “But we don’t know for sure if she was the one who planted the bomb.”
“It is our best lead; we have to go with it.”
“Alright, let’s get going.”
∆∆∆
“What are you doing?” Kennedy asked.
Dustin could tell Kennedy fear was growing.
“It is just something to help you relax.” Ryan said as he pulled something out of the bag.
Coded Page 32
