by James Rosone
*******
JBCC – Computer Lab
Beijing, China
“Dr. Xi, I just received a phone call from Ma Yong’s parents,” his assistant informed him. “They said Ma has unfortunately slipped into a vegetative state. They’re going to pull him off life support tomorrow. They wanted me to pass along that information to you.”
Xi sat back in his chair, stunned by the information. He was still in shock over what had happened to Dan, who had been in the hospital for nearly two weeks. The doctors had said his condition was starting to improve. Then suddenly, two days ago, it appeared to be taking a turn for the worse. They had performed two separate brain surgeries to alleviate the pressure, but it seemed like his body had just given out.
Letting a deep sigh out, Xi nodded in reply. “Please send my condolences to his parents and tell them we will do whatever is necessary to help them repatriate his body back to China if they would like. It’s the least we could do for a member of our team.”
I should have gone with him to speak at the Union. If I had been with him on that trip to Oxford, then maybe this terrible accident wouldn’t have happened, Xi bemoaned. He kicked himself for insisting that Dan take his place. Now he was gone…and Xi felt terrible about it.
*******
Cordeman Farms
Isle of Man
“I’m sorry the accommodations are a bit sparse, but this is the best we can do on short notice while keeping you away from the prying eyes of CCTVs,” the SIS guard commented as he led Dan and his parents into a small cottage. “I guess you don’t realize how prevalent the little buggers are until you suddenly need to avoid them.”
The man placed their meager belongings in their rooms and showed them around the place. They had satellite TV, a DVD player with a slew of shows to choose from, and some Kindles preloaded with books. What they didn’t have was anything that could connect them to the internet. No phones, no computers. The only people that had that access were the two SIS guards that would watch over them.
When the guard had left, Dan’s father asked, “How long must we stay here, son?”
Dan felt bad for his parents. They had been lied to and lured to England without a chance to settle any of their affairs back home or bring anything with them. Their entire lives had just been upended and that was on him.
“I don’t know. I’m supposed to meet with some people soon. I will ask them and find out where we will stay long-term. Perhaps there is a better place they can take us, or someplace we can be out and about more freely.”
“If I’m going to be trapped here, then I’d like to set up my own garden. I was never able to have one in the city. I would like to at least have something like that,” his mother commented.
She was probably taking this whole thing a lot better than his father, who was extremely upset at Dan for defecting to the UK. He couldn’t fathom why his son would turn on their home country like this, especially when he had a good life working for Alibaba. His parents were oblivious to the real nature of his work.
********
Two Days Later
Dan looked at the three visitors sitting in the small living room of the cottage. His parents had agreed to stay in the bedroom while they talked. As far as Dan was concerned, the less they knew, the better.
“Dan,” Hank Iverson began, “I want to introduce you to some people. This is a colleague of mine, Nigel Younger, and this is Jessica, from the US. They’d both like to ask you some questions about this program you’ve been working on and how it might be leveraged against the West. If you can be as open and transparent with them as you have been with me, that would be greatly appreciated.”
Dan canted his head to the side, looking at the American. “I take it you are CIA?”
Jessica didn’t say anything right away; she just stared at him. “I’m from Homeland Security.”
Snorting at the response, Dan countered, “You want me to be honest and truthful about what Jade Dragon can do, then how about we forget about the subterfuge, shall we?”
Dan saw a slight smile crack on the woman’s face. She nodded. “My name really is Jessica Parker. I do work for the CIA. I’m in the Directorate of Digital Innovation.”
“Digital innovation…you work in the cyberwarfare section,” Dan said confidently.
“It’s one of our disciplines. Putting that aside, Dan, I’m here to assess you and determine if you’re full of BS or if you’re the real deal,” Jessica explained, to Dan’s chagrin.
“OK, I get it. You want to make sure I’m legit and that I keep spilling the beans if I am. But here’s a question for you, Jessica and Nigel. What’s in it for me? I just walked away from a job that paid me a salary of three million USD in China, a position that, I might add, had me completely exempt from the country’s social credit program. I was considered an elite inside China. Now”—Dan waved his hand about—“I’m living in a three-room cottage on the Isle of Man, unable even to go into town. I’ve also upended my parents’ entire world by talking with you. I don’t mean to be rude, but I’d like to be compensated for the life I’ve just given up.”
The British SIS officer, Nigel, scoffed. He stood up and paced the room briefly, lighting another cigarette before he took his seat again. Looking at Dan, Nigel countered hotly, “Compensated? How about keeping your life and that of your parents, you little prat? Isn’t that enough?”
Jessica scrunched her brow at Nigel’s outburst. She held a hand up as if to forestall him from saying anything further. “Dan has a point, Nigel. He’s giving up everything.”
“You can’t be serious, Jessica. We just saved this wanker from being killed by his own government. That should be thanks enough. Now he wants money? If we pay this guy, how will we ever know he’s being truthful? These millennials are pathetic.”
“Come on, Nigel. He did just give up a very extravagant lifestyle in what’s otherwise an authoritarian regime. I think if his information checks out, we should compensate him for it,” Jessica said matter-of-factly.
Snorting at the comment, Nigel countered, “Let’s start by verifying what he’s telling us isn’t just some pie-in-the-sky science fiction wet dream, shall we?”
Dan returned his gaze to Iverson, boring a hole through his head with his stare. Are these people serious? he wondered.
“I assure you, what we have built is not some fantasy. It is very real, and you are about to have it unleashed on your countries,” Dan said with a chill in his voice.
“OK, Dan,” said Jessica, leaning forward. “We understand you have been instrumental in the development of this new super-AI called Jade Dragon, or JD by you and Dr. Xi. But here’s the deal—we’ve had our own super-AI in the works for decades too. It’s constantly being upgraded and improved, and frankly—no disrespect—we have the best scientific minds in the world working on it. So why is your computer so much better that we should fear it?”
Dan snorted. He had to keep in mind he was talking with an American. If there was one thing he’d learned about them at Carnegie Mellon, it was that they were supremely confident and often arrogant.
“How about I give you an example of what Jade Dragon can do?” Dan offered.
The group nodded and waited for Dan to continue.
“OK, let’s assume my government is going to go to war with America. Prior to that conflict, Jade Dragon would have war-gamed thousands of scenarios. They would largely know how it would turn out before it even started. Next, if China lost, the AI would look at some of the variables that led to that outcome—did we run out of resources, did we run out of fuel, etc. If we did, then the AI would begin to stockpile those commodities in advance of a conflict. Then the AI would look at the US and see what kind of shortages it could inflict on the Americans, either before or during the conflict, that could change its outcome. All of these ideas it’s coming up with would be war-gamed thousands of times before the government ever made a move. Once they believed they had found the right path, they’d move
to set things in motion and execute the plan.
“Before President Yao gave the order to attack, he would already know the likely outcome of the war. The only real variables would be how each individual battle played out. But even before a battle started, it’d be war-gamed and a strategy devised to ensure victory. You have to keep in mind, you aren’t fighting the Chinese people or Chinese soldiers—you’re fighting a machine that’s directing them how to fight. The machine is devoid of emotions. It has no political or career aspirations, no fear, and absolutely no morals. The people and soldiers are just tools the machine is using to achieve the goal it has been given. Once Jade Dragon is fully unleashed on the West, you won’t know what’s hitting you,” Dan tried to explain.
“Let’s assume all of that is correct, Dan,” said Jessica, steepling her fingers. “Your nation still imports huge amounts of food and agricultural goods from abroad. If there is a war against the West, how is China going to obtain its grain and other food products? Particularly from the US?”
Dan chuckled. “Ms. Parker, just months ago, your president signed a trade deal with Yao. What exactly do you think was the very first thing Yao agreed to purchase, and in such unheard-of quantities?”
“Farm products.”
Dan smiled and nodded. “Not just farm products. Yao purchased enough grain and agricultural goods to feed three-quarters of China for nearly two years. Once Project Chengdu starts, it’ll be enough food for many more years, at least until we acquire the additional agricultural lands we need to sustain our people.”
Nigel furrowed his brow. “What is Project Chengdu?”
Dan smiled. Wouldn’t you like to know? he thought. “I’ll tell you what Project Chengdu is. But first, I have a list of demands I’d like met for betraying my country and giving away the farm. I didn’t spend ten years of my youth in college to become one of the world’s leading experts in machine learning so I could toil away on the Isle of Man in a cottage with my parents.”
Jessica smiled at his bluntness. “OK, Dan. What do you want?”
“I want facial reconstruction surgery. I need to permanently change the way I look, or else the first time I pass a CCTV or have a picture taken, Jade Dragon will find me, which means the Ministry of State Security will find me. Second, I want a bank account with twenty-five million dollars in it. Third, I want either British or American citizenship with a completely new identity and a backstory that would stand up to heavy scrutiny. Fourth, I’d still like to be able to work in the field of machine learning, even if it’s for one of your governments. This field is my passion—it’s my reason for being, and I’m not about to just give it up. I’m far too young to do that. Lastly, I want my parents given new identities and the ability to settle in a remote place of their choosing with enough money to live out the rest of their lives. You guys grant me that, and I’ll not only tell you about Project Chengdu, I’ll tell you about some other secret projects Dr. Xi had been planning on using JD for—projects even President Yao and the CMC are unaware of.”
He’d gone over this list of demands both in his head and with his parents for some time. His parents wanted to settle in America. They wanted to live in rural Idaho, of all places. They’d traveled through the state many years ago and were fascinated by the mountains.
Nigel looked at Hank Iverson with a raised eyebrow but didn’t say anything right away. Jessica saw his hesitation and pounced. “Dan, I need you to provide me with something that we can use to verify your information—something that no one else could possibly know. If you can do that for me and it checks out, I can get your demands met,” Jessica said as she extended her hand to Dan.
Reaching for her hand, Dan gave her a firm American handshake. “Deal. You won’t be disappointed, Ms. Parker.”
“So, what can we check to verify your story?” Nigel asked, still skeptical.
“This likely won’t be in the news, but inquire with all the DNA genetic companies out there and ask if they had a security breach or had their information stolen seventeen months ago,” Dan offered.
Biting her lower lip, Jessica asked, “You mean places like Ancestry.com?”
Dan nodded. “Exactly.”
“Why would you steal people’s DNA information?” Nigel asked.
“Verify my story, then I’ll tell you why Jade Dragon stole it and all will be revealed.”
*******
CIA Headquarters
McClean, Virginia
“Dotty,” called out the Starbucks barista.
Dotty smiled when she heard her name called. She walked up and grabbed the venti caramel ribbon crunch Frappuccino and thanked the woman who had prepared it for her.
It was exactly 5:25 a.m., and Dotty was determined to get a jump on the week. While she enjoyed the three-day weekend President’s Day afforded them, it meant she would have a lot of things to catch up on when she got into work on Tuesday. She was also trying to get ahead of things before her two-week vacation.
In March, her husband was taking the two of them on one of those National Geographic expedition trips to Antarctica. They’d been talking about doing one of these cruise excursions for the last five years. Since their youngest son had left for college this past fall, they figured now would be the time to take a trip. Dotty was beyond thrilled. They would spend five full days exploring Antarctica while camping, kayaking around icebergs, and seeing the wildlife that lived in this hostile environment.
When Dotty reached the third floor, she made her way over to the Caribbean/South American section, where her office was. She swiped her access card in front of the scanner and then entered her individualized pin code. All of that activated a retinal scanner next to the door frame. Dotty hated this new retinal scanner. It was finicky and it had problems. She looked at the green light like she had been taught.
Pop…hiss…
Wow, first try. This must be my lucky day. Normally, it would take a couple of tries before the stupid scanner would accept her iris image.
Once she made it to her desk, Dotty dropped her purse and plopped down into her office chair. As her computers warmed up, she took a long drink of her coffee, letting the sugar and caffeine make their way into her bloodstream. Once she logged in to her unclassified, classified, and then top-secret computer terminals, she saw something that caught her attention.
Oh, some new reports from Goldfinger.
Goldfinger was the code name for their nonofficial cover agent in Cuba. The Agency didn’t have a lot of NOCs in Cuba, so they didn’t get a lot of information out of the island. The Cuban Ministry of Interior was especially good at rooting out foreign spies. They’d learned from the best—the Soviet KGB and their successor agency, the SVR.
Scanning the report from Goldfinger, Dotty saw that he’d attached close to three dozen photos and a few videos. She was impressed he’d been able to obtain images of the place they’d sent him to investigate. Camera phones were still relatively new in Cuba despite their proliferation around the world. The average Cuban could buy them now, but they weren’t cheap, which meant most people tended not to have them.
Dotty spent a few minutes looking over the photos, then she dug into the report. Once she’d read it, she looked the photos and videos over again, this time with a new understanding of what she was seeing.
What are the Cubans doing with that place, and why are they letting the Chinese build a new harbor and airport on the island?
Dotty assigned the research to a couple of her junior analysts. She also put in a request with NRO to provide her with some real-time imagery of Isla de la Juventud. Next, she tasked one of her collection requirements managers to come up with a new priority intelligence requirement to determine the nature of the activity between the Chinese and the Cubans. Perhaps some of the other intelligence agencies had more data. In either case, once the PIR was created and published, they’d get some new data.
With nothing more to do regarding Goldfinger’s information, Dotty went back to work. Her current p
riority was Venezuela and the Moros regime and what the Agency planned to do to help support Juan Guaidó and remove Moros once and for all.
Chapter Fourteen
Spy Games
March 2024
Beijing, China
“Dr. Xi, several weeks ago your AI began to put together a comprehensive database of foreign spies. That database helped us identify more than three hundred of them from over a dozen countries, all living in China. We have used that information to arrange a series of ‘accidents’ for them. It also identified nearly eight hundred others that might be considered spies. In their cases, we have revoked their visas and kicked them out of the country,” the person from MSS said.
Xi nodded.
The man leaned forward and lowered his voice. “What we’re here to talk with you about is someone whom you have had contact with in the past…a Professor Hank Iverson.”
When Xi heard the name, a chill ran down his spine. He’d known Hank for at least fifteen years.
“Let me guess, he’s a part of British intelligence?”
The intelligence officer lifted an eyebrow at the assumption. “He is, but how did you know?”
“Hank is a gifted professor and a true leader in the field of machine learning. He teaches some of the best and brightest minds in the world. It only makes sense that he would be.”
“How long have you suspected this, and why have you not brought it up sooner?” the intelligence officer pressed.
