by James Cage
Chapter 25
September 11, 2001
I have a small home on the New Jersey shore. After making some extra money, I had a contractor build the house in October, 1982.
In 1995, I purchased a brand new Toyota Corolla. I don’t drive the car much, so after six years the Toyota is in very good condition. I never take the car to New York City. I just keep the car at the house in New Jersey.
On Tuesday, the eleventh of September, I am at the Jersey shore purchasing food in a Shop Right Store. I get into my car and turn on the radio. The disc jockey says, “A plane flew into the World Trade Center. What the hell is going on? How could someone fly a plane into that building?” Then the DJ says, “This must be a terrorist attack that the government will try to cover up.” Then a second plane hits. The disc jockey says, “This is definitely a terrorist attack and the government can’t cover it up.”
When I get home, I watch the horror on television. It is like seeing a movie, not real. I write in my logbook, Tuesday, September 11, 2001, WTC goes down.
I stay in New Jersey until Friday morning and then take a train back to New York City. As the train approaches New York from the Jersey side, I see smoldering smoke where the World Trade Center once stood.
I had witnessed the construction of the World Trade Center from about 1967 through 1973. I recently had dinner there at one of the restaurants in the mall. It is hard for me to believe that the entire complex is destroyed.
During the past six months the L&J company website has been bombarded with viruses. The viruses do not get through because of a firewall set up on a server in Connecticut. This past week before the eleventh of September, there was a hit every second on the website. There were a total of one million hits for the week. The viruses are named red and blue. I am not sure why they are called that. I now realize there is a new kind of germ warfare out in cyberspace. The attackers will spread enough viruses to electronically break down communication links. These attackers are very smart and very organized. They are the new germ spreaders.
Danny and Louis return from London on Sunday, the sixteenth of September. They come directly to my apartment. We have had no contact since their departure for Europe the previous week. They say they saw the World Trade Center attack on television.
Louis speaks first, “People were jumping from the buildings.”
“They did not show the jumpers very much on television here,” I answer.
Danny asks me. “How do you think something like that could happen?”
I say, “The government can track all planes by the Norad system. Our fighter pilots probably would not shoot down the commercial airliners that crashed into the World Trade Center buildings or the Pentagon building. They may have shot down the plane in Pennsylvania.”
Danny says, “Louis and I are going to allow the worm to destroy our programs in the pharmaceutical companies in Paris and London.”
“Why,” I ask?
“Because the company in London has an affiliation with Iraq and the Paris’ company has connections with Iran,” he answers.
Then Louis says, “Do you understand how the worm procedure is initiated.”
“Yes, you have a specific date and time code. If you don’t return to those companies within a certain period of time to update the code then the sequence for destruction will start.”
Danny says, “We won’t be returning to London and Paris. They can fix the problems the computer virus will cause in a few weeks. They can find other consultants.”
I say, “When the worm destroys their network they may want you two guys to fix the problem.”
“L&J Incorporated will be unavailable when that happens,” speaks Louis.
I say, “Why?”
Danny says, “Louis and I are going to enlist in the army tomorrow. With your help we shall keep part of the business going for the next year.”
I say, “Are you both sure you want to do join the army?”
“Yes,” they answer in unison.”
I know that Louis and Danny have made up their minds and I will be unable to change their decision. But I try anyway. I say, “You both can be anything you want. You can go back to school and become doctors, college professors, anything. You can become rich from this business. L&J Incorporated has gross receipts of $809,000 for this year and the year is not over.”
They smile at me and leave.
Over the next few weeks we are all very busy reorganizing L&J Incorporated. Louis flies to Nevada and California with some computer disks. These disks will remove the worms I had delivered to those companies the past February. Louis gives notice to the western companies that L&J Incorporated will not be doing any more consulting. Louis then recommends another consulting firm. After completion of business in California, he takes a flight from LAX to Memphis. It takes Louis two days to complete work at the Memphis genetics research firm. When he gets back to New York, he tells me that I will have to visit Tennessee in the future.
Danny takes care of business at the two companies in New Jersey and the other company in Manhattan. These three companies are pharmaceutical firms. They will not need any future consulting because their contracts expire with L&J Incorporated this coming December. Danny tells me that I am capable of handling any software problems with these local companies over the next few months. I can contact him or Louis if I have any questions.
Next, Danny flies to Boston. After three days working with the two companies there, he jumps on an American Airlines flight at Logan Airport and goes to Washington D.C. The government contract is with the Department of Defense located in Arlington, Virginia. If the government needs any help with the computer program they can consult with either of the Boston firms. The government can also find Danny and Louis at any time. They are entering the army shortly.
L&J Incorporated will close the office on Broadway when the lease runs out in May, 2002. I am going to give up my apartment on the East Side and move into Louis’s apartment on East Eighty Third Street. Louis owns a large three bedroom apartment with an extra maid’s bedroom. Louis has set up an office in the maid’s room. I will take the smallest bedroom. Louis will keep his bedroom and the other bedroom will be setup for Danny.
Danny owns a very large two bedroom West Side condominium. He tells me to lease the fully furnished apartment after he and Louis leave for the army. My job is to keep L&J Incorporated in business for a little while longer. It should not be difficult. I shall collect the royalties on program sales from the Silicon Valley Company and answer all correspondence. Danny and Louis tell me that I have a clear understanding of the functionality of the computer program. I can do consulting work. I shall consult with the two companies in Boston and the company in Memphis.
My understanding of the computer program starts with the definition of a Monte Carlo simulation. “A Monte Carlo Simulation is a spreadsheet simulation, which randomly generates values for uncertain variables over and over to stimulate a model.”
These simulations are mostly used in risk analysis. Danny and Louis have a few textbooks on this subject. However when there is something I don’t understand, I go to the Internet and do a web search. I type in “Monte Carlo Simulation” and I get websites with definitions, explanations and software all pertaining to a Monte Carlo Simulation.
What the L&J Incorporated software program does is this. It joins the proper combinations of messenger RNA molecules. These messenger RNA molecules are composed of several hundreds or thousands of unpaired straight strands. They contain codons that are exactly complementary to the code words of the genes. There are about twenty-five thousand genes in human DNA. It is the proteins made from the genes that will cure illness. Danny and Louis’s program builds protein models. The program takes the amino acids, adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine, (uracil in RNA), places them into the Monte Carlo Simulation and codes a gene sequence.
It is a good thing that
over the past few years I have read many articles about genetics in scientific and medical journals. Prior to this job the last time I studied genetics was just after Gregory Mendel grew his first flowers. Anyway, I could always contact Louis or Danny if I have problems writing computer code.
On Monday, the fifth of November, 2001 Danny and Louis leave for Fort Benning, Georgia. It is one day after the marathon in the city. The boys passed their preliminary physical exams a few weeks earlier in Manhattan. The exam consisted of chin-ups, pushups, sit-ups, a one-mile run and some agility drills. They both ran a mile under six minutes. They easily completed twenty chin-ups, one hundred pushups and one hundred sit-ups in a few minutes. Danny and Louis are only a few weeks away from their twenty-eighth birthdays. I assume the age limit for Officer’s Candidate School is twenty-eight years old. Danny and Louis meet the age qualifying limit. I read on the army website that the age requirement for special candidates can be waved up to thirty-four years old. These guys are certainly special candidates for officer training. I am sure they scored extremely high on the intelligence tests.
After the attack on the World Trade Center many young men and women enlist in the armed forces. Some of the new recruits are older enlistees such as Danny and Louis. However most are very young only 18 and 19 years old.
I remember when I was in Chicago nine months earlier. I saw young men and women sailors stationed at the Naval Base at Lake Michigan. They looked like children. It felt funny to me that these young kids were in the Navy to protect me. I felt that I should be protecting them. Shortly, these sailors will be going into a real war. I consider all the young soldiers and sailors true believers. They have a calling to protect people.
The firemen and policemen in New York City are also true believers. They give up their lives to help save innocent people every day. Than there are the health care workers, doctors and nurses. Their job is to heal the sick and injured. They dedicate their lives to help others. They are all heroes to me. I wish that I were like them but I am not. I am not a true believer of anything.
Danny and Louis spend nine weeks in Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. After completion of their basic army course they have a few days leave. Next they enter Officers Training School also at Fort Benning. It is fourteen weeks of very difficult training.
On Saturday, the twentieth of April, 2002, Danny and Louis graduate from Officer’s Candidate School as second lieutenants. I am unable to attend their graduation ceremony. I have to go over data documentation procedures that involve the Boston companies. They tell me in an email, “It is more important for me to do the work involving the Boston companies then to attend their graduation ceremonies.”
After graduating OCS, the boys do not return to New York for leave. They go directly to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for a thirty days course in Special Forces training with the Eighty Second Airborne. I figure they will be jumping from airplanes.
Danny and Louis send me copies of their military graduation pictures. I place Danny’s picture next to a picture of his mother on his bedroom bureau. I do the same with Louis’s picture. Louis has a small snapshot of his mother and father. In this photograph his parents are dressed in bell-bottomed blue jeans. They are very young. Louis has the same light complexion as his mother. I also have a picture of Danny and Louis together. They look very similar in the army dress uniforms. Danny’s skin color is shaded darker but he definitely resembles Louis.
In May, 2002 I close the L&J Incorporated office on lower Broadway. The lease has expired. I leave the city to spend the summer months on the Jersey shore. I travel back into New York City twice a week to collect mail and take care of business. Rather than drive the car, I take the North Jersey Coast Line Train.
Most of my correspondence with Danny and Louis is done by email. They do not write letters or talk on the telephone. I have a personal aversion to the telephone. You never know who is listening to your private conversation. I do carry a cell phone. In case of an emergency I can call 911 or I can use it as a weapon.
Danny and Louis left some large files with me before they went into the army. I added data and documentation to those files.
Danny said, “Just keep the files safe.”
I brought the files to my house in New Jersey.
On Saturday, the second of June, 2002, Danny and Louis fly to San Francisco, California. They are attending the Army Language School in Monterrey, California. They will be stationed there for almost six months. They have intensive language training. Danny will learn Arabic and Louis will study Dari. Danny and Louis are already fluent in Spanish and French. They send me an email saying, “We shall enjoy learning these different alphabets and languages.”
On Friday, the thirtieth of August, Danny emails me instructions. He and Louis want me to go to Boston and Memphis to complete some business with the biotechnology firms in those cities. The instructions tell me I will have to work in Boston. They leased a furnished apartment for me. It is a four months lease that begins on Wednesday, the fourth of September and ends on Tuesday, the thirty-first of December.
Chapter 26
September, 2002
On Tuesday, the third of September, I drive from the Jersey Shore to Wakefield, Massachusetts. It is the day after Labor Day. I take the Garden State Parkway from Exit 98 all the way to the last rest stop in New Jersey. After my fifteen minutes break, the ride continues onto Interstate Highway 287 in New York State. I drive over the Tappan Zee Bridge into Westchester County. There are “Men at Work” signs. They have been repairing this highway for twenty years. Perhaps they are just about done. I pass an exit for Westchester Avenue and Purchase, New York. I believe that exit goes to Manhattanville College where Danny attended school.
The car drives through Connecticut on Interstate 95. The ride is not going badly. The tollbooths had been taken down years ago. This used to be a horrible ride. You had to stop and pay a toll every few miles. The truck drivers would slam into the tollbooths at night. They would get injured or killed. Finally the tolls were taken down and the state of Connecticut put safety before greed.
New Jersey is a greedy state too. There are tolls every few miles on the Garden State Parkway but there are no large trucks allowed on the road north of Long Branch. Therefore the ride in New Jersey is safer on the parkway. If I had chosen to take the New Jersey Turnpike, I would have had to deal with the giant trucks and still pay tolls when exiting the road. However, the state that takes the cake for greed is New York State. Wherever there is a bridge or a tunnel in the State of New York you pay a toll fee.
I continue my ride through Bridgeport, Connecticut. A few miles further there is an exit for Trumbull. The company that provides the computer server for L&J Incorporated is located in Trumbull.
At the Madison exit, I pull off the road to find a McDonald’s. This is the farthest point I had ever previously driven into New England. I knew a girl from this area long ago. It was her sister I saw in Las Vegas in January, 2001. I try not to think of the past. It is best to have my memories blurred. A Steely Dan song plays inside my head, “You’ll be on your knees tomorrow.”
I think, “Yeah, right.” The road is new to me from this point onward.
There is light highway traffic through the rest of Connecticut. Traffic gets heavier as I approach Cranston and Providence, Rhode Island. I stay on Highway 95. More cars enter the highway in Massachusetts. I circumvent the city of Boston and arrive at my final destination, the Best Western Hotel in Wakefield, Massachusetts. This trip took over seven hours and was two hundred eighty-five miles.
One of the biotech firms is named WFD Genetic Engineering, located in Wakefield, a northern suburb of Boston. When I received the email from Danny a few days ago I immediately called the WFD office. I set a meeting with a Mr. Scott for 9:00 AM Wednesday, the fourth of September, 2002.
At 8:40 AM, Wednesday, I drive one mile into the WFD
office complex. It is a medium size, gray, three stories building with ample parking spaces in the back. After parking my Toyota, I walk about thirty yards and enter the rear of the building. I report to the security office and show the security guard my driver’s license for identification. He confirms my appointment with Mr. Scott. Then the guard places a visitor’s badge on my jacket and directs me to the elevator. Mr. Scott’s office is on the third floor. I knock on the door and a male voice with a Mid-Western accent says, “Come in.” Mr. Scott is a young man. He is strongly built, six feet in height, fair complexion. He is not wearing a suit. He is a graduate school buddy of Danny and Louis. He is the owner and president of the genetic engineering firm. He has a picture of himself, his wife and two young sons on his office desk next to his computer. They are a good-looking American family. There is no secretary in his office.
He tells me to call him, “Scotty.”
All I can think of is, “Beam me the fuck up.”
Scotty explains what Danny and Louis want me to do. I am to work on an offline computer in the small office adjoining office. He tells me to make my own schedule concerning when I want to work.
I say, “I can work here Monday and Tuesday from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM, if that’s Ok with you?”
Scotty says, “Fine, but you have to go down to the security office and have your picture taken. The security guard will make a WFD Identification for you, than you can come into the building without any hassles.” He adds, “Where are you staying?”
“L&J Incorporated leased an apartment for me in Woburn. I am going there now.”
Scotty says, “Did you stay there last night?”
“No, I stayed at the Best Western Hotel up the road.”
“See you Monday,” says Scotty.
“Ok, bye.”
I leave and walk down the stairs to the security office. The guard takes a photographic of me. I return my visitor’s pass. I wait a few moments and he hands me a new personal identification badge with my photo affixed.
