Skill Set

by Vernon Rush

  The email disappeared from the screen and was replaced by a scrolling series of white numbers and letters that flashed quickly one after another. Isaac leaned back in his chair, propping one foot on the corner of the desk while he let the computer do its work. Impatiently, he tapped his index finger on the plastic edge of the keyboard.“Come on,” he grumbled under his breath, his dark, restless eyes darting from the screen and drifting back out to the window.

  There were two people in the large office across the street who were standing close to the wall-sized plate glass. The men seemed to be having a heated discussion. One was jabbing a finger accusingly at the other's chest, while he shouted. They were drawing the attention of the co-workers and then, suddenly it turned violent. One man pushed the other and then a fist flew through the air and connected with a jaw.

  Rose’s foot slid down from the desk and he sat up a little straighter in his chair, intrigued by the fracas. However, a loud ’beep’ from the computer brought him back to the job at hand.

  The search had found nothing Foxhound and the CIA didn’t already know. The hack had come from within the Oval Office, using one of the computers in the building. Determining he was not going to find out anything this way, he shut the computer down and pushed his chair back from the desk. As he stood up, he clicked the intercom on his desk.

  “Yes?” a female voice answered.

  “Hey, Jennifer,” Isaac said. “I need you to get me an appointment for a meeting with the defense secretary.”

  “When?” she asked.

  “Soon as possible. . .” He, glanced over his shoulder just in time to watch a thick sheaf of papers hit the opposite window. “And it has to be with her, in person,” he added. “I don’t want to be fobbed off with one of her aides.”

  Jennifer’s chuckle was distorted over the intercom. “Trust me,” she assured him. “Have I ever let you down?”Smiling, Isaac released the button and walked over to a large cabinet in the corner of the room. It was actually a wardrobe and he pulled a suit from its hanger , draping it over his arm.

  * * *

  Isaac had to show his ID three times, was frisked twice and then was signed into four different sections of the defense secretary’s office. She finally greeted him and despite the rigorous checks just completed, she also asks to see his ID.

  Rose shrugged, and reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and showed her his card and badge.

  She looked at it with amusement. “Never thought I’d see one of these,” she admitted. “Thought you guys were something of an urban legend,” she smiled. “Follow me,” she added, the light banter gone as she spoke in a much more business-like tone.

  She led him down a corridor, stopping at a pair of open double doors. Halting, she nodded ever so slightly, inviting him to enter.

  Rose fiddled with the knot of his tie. “Thank you,” he said, as he glanced around the large room. It had a domed ceiling, a sitting area with two large couches and fireplace. Over by the window was a huge desk, on which sat a closed laptop, a stack of papers and a bonsai tree. “Japanese white pine?” he asked.

  “Mm hmm,” she mumbled, closing both of the doors behind her. “Yes, good eye. . . You’ve grown bonsai?” Her heels clicked on the hardwood floor as she walked toward her desk.

  Isaac mentally catalogued her as in her mid-forties, but still looking good. She obviously worked out and a professional application of make-up coupled with dyed blonde hair allowed her to look easily as if she were a woman a good five to eight years younger.

  “No,” Isaac responded. “No, it’s just one of those factoids I’ve come across before,” he said, his tone respectful and non-committal.

  “I see,” she replied with a nod. “Well,” she sighed, her tone changing back to matter-of-fact. “I’m guessing you're here because of our hack?”“Yes,” he watched her eyes as he spoke. “I realize the CIA has probably already spoken to you, but I wonder if I could ask a few questions?”

  “If you think it’ll help,” she said good-naturedly. “Shoot.” Leaning back on the front edge of her desk, she crossed one ankle over the other.

  sighedIsaac remained standing. “Is it usual for that kind of correspondence to be sent unencoded?”

  “Ah , no, no,” she replied, pushing a few strands of her hair behind her ear. “It wasn’t,” she insisted. “But the hacker must have got to it before it was encoded or after it was decoded by the system.”

  “And there haven’t been any other security alerts since this one?”

  “No, I’m thinking maybe it’s just a prank. Some kid showing off. . .”

  “So, although it seems to have come from the Oval Office, it could have come from a computer outside the system?”

  She hesitated. “The truth is I don’t know enough about it. But I can call my IT security guy in here.”

  “Please,” Rose nodded affirmatively. He knew very little beyond the basics himself. He admitted to himself he was confused at having been put on the job in the first place. He knew from previous missions the team had a computer expert in its midst: Orion. Isaac, on the other hand had talents in other areas, apart from a great ability to mix things up and create explosive situations, he was an excellent judge of character. Having earned a minor in anthropology while at MIT, he picked up a few things that have enabled him to see through a lot of the bullshit people throw around.

  He watched the defense secretary lean back and pick up her phone. She dialed three numbers and within a split second had a response. “Hello, Daniel. . . It’s Emma,. . . can you come into my office?”

  Rose remembered well the day Emma Soto was appointed to the Cabinet. It was almost exactly two years ago and it happened amidst a furor. Many political commentators claimed she lacked the experience and knowledge for the job. Others said outright she was the result of positive sexism; the president having been under fire for a lack of women in his administration. From what he’d seen of her work over the last two years, he didn’t believe she’d been hired without any merit. However, there were areas in which a lack of experience had caused her problems in diplomatic relations.

  “Can I get you anything? Coffee?”

  “No, I’m fine, thank you.” Isaac moved restlessly as they waited. In less than two minutes a tap sounded at the door.

  “Come in,” Ms. Soto announced.

  Isaac watched the door open as a tall, wiry man in glasses stepped across the threshold. He was wearing a sky blue dress shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. Around his neck hung his identification badge, attached to a red cord. The top button of the shirt was loose, disclosing his thick, dark chest hair. “You wanted to see me?”

  “Yes, Daniel, and thank you for coming so quickly. This is Isaac Rose. . . he’d like to ask your professional opinion about our security leak.”

  “Oh, sure,” he nodded eagerly. “Happy to help,” he added, pushing up the bridge of his glasses with his index finger.

  “I was just wondering whether it’s possible for the hack to have come from outside the building and for it to still look like it came from inside. . .what do you think?” Isaac waited expectantly.

  “Uh, well, theoretically, yes,” the pale-skinned man replied. “But in this case, it definitely didn’t.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “It’s a theory I looked into myself,” Daniel explained, a smug grin on his face.. “It all boils down to how you track the hack back,” he added, chuckling at the rhyme. “The way we did it, we know we’re getting an accurate reading about exactly where the security breach occurred.”

  Isaac tried to wrap his head around the implications of the man’s comment. “Someone in the Oval Office just sat down at one of the computers here and casually hacked into the secure system?” he asked, incredulous.

  “There are hundreds of employees here and hundreds of computers, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to go unnoticed,” Soto chipped in.

  employee
sIsaac nodded. There was sound reason to that, he knew. However, another employees floated around in his mind. One that wouldn’t quite go away. He didn’t mention it, however.“I can give you all of the data I have,” Daniel offered.

  Rose smiled self-deprecatingly. “I doubt it would mean much to me.”

  A burst of laughter was Daniel’s response and he continued to chuckle, until he noticed the somber expression on the agent’s face. “Umm, with all due respect…”

  “Why have you been assigned to this if you don’t know anything about hacking or security?” Emma Soto gave voice to the question that was no doubt swirling through her employee’s mind.

  “Don’t worry . . .I haven’t failed a mission yet,” he announced with no degree of feigned modesty. “And as I’m sure you can appreciate,” he added, “experience isn’t everything.” He flashed her a quick reassuring grin. For a second, she wasn’t sure how to take the blithe comment.

  “This matter is of the greatest importance. . .” she said.

  “It always is if our branch of the agency is brought in. . .”

  “I appreciate that, but we’re talking massive ramifications here!” she insisted on his having more respect for the situation.

  “I understand completely,” Daniel was almost cocky.

  Soto’s eyebrows knit together in the center as she contemplated the situation. “Daniel, could you leave us, please? And get that information for Mr. Rose, just in case it proves useful to him.”

  “Sure!” Daniel backed toward the door and left quietly.

  “If it’s just that one email, there’s no great international scandal,” she said. “But I could still lose my job over this.”

  “And if it’s more than just that one email?” Isaac asked, playing devil’s advocate.

  “You need to stop the hacker before it comes to that,” she says darkly. “There’s no other option.”

  CHAPTER

  4

  Later that afternoon, Isaac was still in Soto's office while she had been called away to a meeting. Isaac sat on one of the couches, opposite her 'tech guy', with sheets and sheets of printouts on the coffee table between them.

  “Maybe we're going about this all wrong,” Rose sighs, leaning back in the seat and loosening his necktie.

  “What do you mean?” Daniel replied, holding his glasses by the temples.

  Pursing his lips and staring at the ceiling, Isaac was silent for several seconds. “At the moment, we're looking at it from the same angle as everybody else,” he mumbled, mostly to himself. “And nobody is getting anywhere. So, what if we look at it another way. Why hack this email, why send it to Russia? Exactly who was it sent to and what do those people have to gain from it?” He reeled the questions off quickly, not pausing for breath or for an answer.“Umm,” the young man’s eyes stretched open even wider. “Well, I...errr.”

  “I'm just thinking out loud,” Isaac assured him. “I don't expect you to figure it all out.” He pushed himself wearily to his feet.

  “Oh,” Daniel chuckled, embarrassed.

  “I just need to talk to the secretary again before I go,” Isaac said, smoothing his hands down the front of his jacket, a habit he'd picked up from watching Foxhound. “She'll be back in a few minutes,” Daniel said, jumping to his feet. “Please don't hesitate to call me if there's anything I can do to help, Mr. Rose,” he added.

  Nodding, Isaac smiled at the young man’s enthusiastic and excited expression. “I think we'll be seeing more of each other, Dan. . . . and I'll let you know if I need anything.” He was amused by the fact the young man seemed to find the whole affair so thrilling. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to not be surrounded by this kind of intrigue on a daily basis.

  “Great,” Daniel beamed. “Well,” he added awkwardly, pointing to the door. “I better, umm, get back to it,” he nervously stuttered like a high school kid who had just been thrust into a room with his crush.

  Isaac chuckled as Daniel headed for the door and awkwardly tripped at the threshold. It wasn't a cruel laugh and he tried to keep it as muted as possible.

  Nevertheless, Daniel heard it and his cheeks flushed red. “There's..errr...a little lip,” he muttered pointing to the pesky metal threshold that had tripped him.

  After the young computer geek had shut the door, Isaac shook his head and sighed. “These are the people I'm working with now?” he asked the ceiling. More worrying still, he thought, these are the people who are in charge of ensuring our government's computers are secure. The thought didn't instill much confidence.

  While he waited for Emma Soto to return, he eyed her bonsai tree, tenderly taking one of the branches between his finger and thumb. It brought back fond memories; his grandmother, who supplied the Asian portion of his blood, was crazy about those trees. Growing up, he remembered her always having dozens and she cared for them as though they were her children. She was a good woman; the best Isaac had ever known.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Rose.”

  The voice behind him pulled him out of his nostalgia and instantly back to the present. “No problem. . .I just wanted to ask a couple more questions before I go.”

  “All right. . .but you know everything I know. There's really nothing left to tell.”

  “Well, they’re not those kind of questions . . .I think if the problem is here, then I need to be here.”

  “ Okay, whatever you think best. . .”

  “It would be helpful if I could place myself undercover in your office. Nobody, with the exception of our young friend, Daniel is to know who I am and why I'm here.”

  “Fine,” she agreed, “But, if you don't mind my asking, what role do you intend to take?”

  ”“That's easy,” he said, shoving one hand into his pocket as he waits for her to figure it out.

  Several seconds pass and she still looks puzzled.

  “I'll be your bodyguard!” he stated, as if that were the most obvious solution in the world.

  Emma Soto's eyes widened. “You can't be serious,” she said. “I don't need another bodyguard, Mr. Rose.”

  “Sure you do.”

  “Mr. Rose,I already have two bodyguards, and they do a perfectly good job.”

  “Ms. Soto, This is not really a request. I need to do my job, do you understand? If we're going to find the guy who's been hacking your emails, I need to be here. So, you can claim you received a threat and that I'm your new personal guard or you can just tell people that you wanted a large security detail. Makes no difference to me.”

  She was stunned into silence for a few moments. “Have you quite finished?” she asked, reasserting her authority by placing her hands on both hips.

  “Yes,” he nods.

  “All right,” she sighs. “Then, you can start tomorrow,” she turned smartly and marched toward the door.

  * * *

  Isaac didn't bother to contact Foxhound. Officially, all Trackers are supposed to keep him a breast of what they are doing at every step. Going undercover as part of the defense secretary's staff definitely qualified as a step. Nevertheless, Rose was accustomed to playing by his own rules and ignoring the etiquette of the department. As far as he was concerned, his situation was of no interest to his boss anyway.

  Dressed in a smart suit with a white, open-collared dress shirt, Rose arrived at Soto's office the following morning. He had new ID, which the secretary rushed through clearance as a member of her 'security' team and he also had a pass and badge prepared for him. The only people who knew he was actually really part of the intelligence agency were the security personnel who had checked him in the day before. And they hadn't known the reason for his visit. It was quite plausible they too would buy the story that Emma Soto had received a death threat and was being supplied with an extra bodyguard. Emma Soto and Daniel the computer whiz were the only two people who knew Rose's true purpose for being there.

  As he walked through her open door, he lightly rapped his
knuckles against the frame to announce his entrance. She glanced up and beckoned him inside. “I'd like you to meet the men you'll be working with,” she said, her face tight and businesslike. “Isaac Rose,” she began, “this is Ed Hayes,” she gestured to a mountain of a man with a shaved head. He was tough, of that there can be no doubt, but he would certainly lose in a battle where speed mattered. “And this is Paul Kendrick,” she added, pointing to a shorter man, with a sleeker but still very muscular physique. He had blonde hair with far too much gel in it, and a pair of aviator sunglasses hanging out of the breast pocket of his jacket.

  'To cool for school', Rose silently noted. However, he stepped forward and offered his open hand to Ed and then Paul. “Nice to meet you, guys!” They shook hands.

  “Likewise,” Ed sized him up, looking him up and down. Within a matter of seconds, he smiled indicating that Isaac had met his prerequisites, whatever they were.

  Kendrick, on the other hand, was not quite so welcoming. “We'll show you around,” he groused, tipping his head to the door. “Then we need to get an earpiece fitted.”

  “I don't need an earpiece, and I'm sure I can show myself around.” Isaac spoke softly but with an undercurrent of independent determination.

  Raising an amused eyebrow, Kendrick stared at Rose. After several seconds, he turned to Ms. Soto. She was sitting at her desk, her eyes fixed on a piece of paper, apparently oblivious to what was happening in front of her.

  “I was here yesterday,” Rose added. “I've already familiarized myself with some of the building. Look, I'm not exactly new to the field,” he stated, as Kendrick’s obvious resentment was beginning to get on his nerves.

  “So you think you're going to protect the secretary single-handed?” scoffed the disgruntled bodyguard.