by Mark Donovan
“The driveway entrance is nearly a quarter mile long to our building,” Dave said, after he finished wolfing down the last bite of his hamburger. “After we finish up dinner, I’m going to go out while it is still light out, and set up some surveillance cameras and motion detectors along it. Based upon the attacks already made on us, and what we saw for film footage today, there is no doubt in my mind that Barbas is working independent of the administration and has his own men hunting us down. Unlike the FBI or Department of Homeland Security forces, his men will shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Do we have any additional weapons to protect us besides my Ruger?” asked Ron.
“Yes, but not much. When I stocked this facility I also included a couple of bolt action hunting rifles and a .44 Remington Magnum pistol, along with a couple of boxes of ammunition for each.”
“Not much, but it’s better than nothing,” responded Ron.
“Let’s hope we don’t have to use it,” Dana replied.
“Dr. Gillian and Joe, do either of you have any experience using guns?” asked Ron.
“I have some experience with hunting rifles,” responded Dr. Gillian proudly. “When we moved to McCall I decided to get into hunting. I haven’t had much luck bagging any big game, but I have had some time shooting my rifle at the range.”
“Good enough,” responded Dave. “How about you Joe?”
“Not really. I shot a BB gun a lot as a kid, but nothing else.”
“Well if you’ve got some experience with a BB gun, then you at least know how to hold a gun and aim it,” said Ron.
“Overall it sounds like we are in decent shape. We’re only looking to defend ourselves here. Not launch an assault,” said Dave.
Dave stood up from the table and went over to clean his plate and silverware. Ron and Joe followed. “We’ll give you a hand setting up the surveillance equipment,” said Ron.
“While you guys are out setting up the equipment, Dr. Gillian and I will continue to work on preparing tomorrow’s video,” commented Dana. “I’ve still got some work to do on the narration.”
Dave grabbed several glass containers sitting on the kitchen counter, along with their lids.
“What are you going to do with the containers?” asked Dana.
“I didn’t bring any standard surveillance cameras with us so we’re going to have to improvise a bit. I plan to pour a small amount of nano-dust into each one of these glass containers, seal them up with their lids, and then have Ron here configure the nano-dust in each one of them into a video camera sensor. We’ll then go out and tie them up to trees along the driveway.”
“Sweet,” commented Joe. “Using state of the art nanotechnology with mayonnaise jars for common home and business surveillance applications.”
“Got to love it,” responded Ron as the three walked out to the lab.
An hour later the three men were walking down the driveway carrying their newly made video sensors, a step ladder, and some rope. They started at the entrance of the driveway and installed one sensor on each side of it. They mounted the two sensors ten feet off the ground in nearby trees and faced them out towards the main road.
After mounting the first two video sensors, and Joe testing them on his laptop to make sure they were functional, they worked their way back another fifty yards and installed another pair of video sensors.
With the sun nearly setting they installed one final pair of sensors another hundred yards further in from the driveway entrance.
“Well, with these video sensors now installed we should have fair warning of any visitors,” commented Dave, as he carried the ladder back towards their building.
“Yes, but what good is it going to do us when we see someone coming?” asked Joe. “It’s not like we have a place to go.”
“Oh, on the contrary,” said Dave. “It isn’t much, but there are remnants of an old dirt driveway behind our building. It circles around back to the main road. It’s unnoticeable from the main road, due to all of the vegetation that has grown up in front of it. None of which is too big that we couldn’t mow over it with our vehicles in the event of a necessary fast departure.”
“Great, we have a hidden back door,” joked Ron.
The three returned to the NSurv building to call it an early night. Dr. Gillian and Dana had also just completed their work for the evening as well.
As everyone else was settling in for getting an early night sleep, Dana asked Dave if he would like to go for a short walk. She wanted to talk with him in private about a few items that were on her mind.
“No problem. Just give me a minute to grab the .44 Magnum. You never know what might be lurking outside after sunset.” He gave her a quick smile as he ran off to the back storage closet.
When he returned with the gun holstered on his side Dana asked, “You really think you need that tonight?”
“You never know. Not only do we have bad guys searching for us, we’re also in bear country. One can never be too prepared to defend himself in the back country.”
Dave and Dana walked down the long driveway. It was officially dusk. The final rays of the sun had already set and the night was growing dark quickly. There was, however, a moon out that provided a little natural light.
“So what’s up Dana?”
“I’ve been thinking more about Jeff Kolosky.”
“Really?” Dave feigned jealousy. “I didn’t realize you were so close to him.”
“No, you fool,” responded Dana, as she let out an exasperated laugh. She reached for his hand and held it tightly with hers as they continued to walk.
“I mean I think we need to contact Jeff. I think I can convince him to come around and help us. As I’ve told you before, I think he is on the bubble and could be convinced to turn on his bosses, Grivas and Barbas.”
“In what way could he help us?”
“Though the evidence we have been airing is compelling to most people, there are still many out there in the public who are susceptible of being convinced by the national press corps that all our videos are fake and distortions of the truth. That the video recording clips are taken out of context.”
“What happens if all the information we shove in front of the public’s face isn’t enough to make them react and force a change, due to the successful discrediting of it by the administration’s media friends.”
“Yes, your concerns are all valid. However, we understood these concerns, and their associated risk, since the inception of this mission when we founded NSurv.”
“But Dave, what if we could mitigate the risk of the major news networks discrediting NSurv’s revelations. What if we could actually have one of the major news networks help us out and corroborate the content of our video facts? If we could, then our chances of taking out this administration and all the other corrupt politicians along with them on Capitol Hill will greatly be improved.”
“So what are you suggesting?” asked Dave questioningly and with a bit of skepticism.
“That we use Jeff Kolosky to help us. That we have him, and effectively the ABO network corroborate our efforts.”
“Really?” laughed Dave. “You think Barbas’s ABO news network is going to help bring down its own man? Barbas has been financing Jesse Coleman since he was practically in diapers. Not a chance.”
“Dave you’re not getting it. Jeff is the Vice President of ABO’s news division. Grivas and Barbas don’t oversee his daily news operation. If we can get Kolosky to help us, he’ll do it right under the noses of his own bosses and expose them for what they are, along with the President.”
Dave was silent for a couple of minutes as they walked, thinking intently on what Dana was proposing.
“Do you really think we can get him to turn?” asked Dave.
“I think so, but I need to talk with him more to find out. I’m just not sure how we can do it without risking exposing our location.”
Dave stopped walking and thought for a moment. “We can start out
by having you email him. Ron can do some clever stuff to cloak the computer’s and router’s IP addresses so that the email’s source location can’t be traced. We’ll get you set up first thing tomorrow morning so you can send him an email and gauge his mindset. If that conversation is successful, you and I can possibly arrange to have a meeting with him somewhere. We’ll have to have that meeting quickly, however. I want to air the last video by Saturday. That only gives us three days. We can’t delay it anymore as we are being desperately hunted.”
“That sounds great.” Dana turned to Dave and stood on her toes and gave him an extended and romantic kiss.
As the two started walking again Dave commented, “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.”
“That’s because you’re always focused on your work,” laughed Dana. “Though I’m fully in support of our efforts, why else do you think I’d be sitting out here in the middle of nowhere with four men. Do you think it’s all for just the cause.”
Dave looked over at her and laughed. “Your right, I do fit the bill of a classic nerd.”
“No, you’re not a nerd. You’re just an intense man. It’s one of the traits I like about you so much.”
Dave stopped walking and gave Dana a warm and embracing hug. The two stood quietly and kissed one another as the moon lit up the evening sky. Cut Bank, Montana may be a rural place, but it was also a beautiful place for renewing a romantic relationship between two old friends.
Chapter 68 (March 28, Thursday 7:30am Mountain Daylight Savings Time)
Dave and Dana looked over Ron’s shoulder as he typed away furiously at the computer’s keyboard. After fifteen minutes he sat back and turned to the two of them with a proud smile.
“Okay, I’ve doubled checked the encryption on our router, set up a domain name and a VPN account with a third party web hosting company using a fictitious name, and created an email account for you.”
“So what does that all mean?’ asked Dana.
“It means you can now email Kolosky without us having to worry too much about the Feds or Barbas tracking us down.”
“But how are we actually protected from that happening?” pressed Dana
“To describe it simply, when you log into your new VPN email account to contact Kolosky, no one will have the ability to know who you are, or track your location. Moreover, with the VPN service I set up to use, no one will be able to gain any idea of what country we actually established our connection with the VPN. For example, though we are in the United States, I’ve set it up so that we will connect to the VPN via one of their servers in Brazil. The most anybody will be able to do in regards to IP tracking us is identify what VPN company and its server the email originated from. Knowing that we connected to a server in Brazil will be of little value to anyone. The bottomline, no one will be able to decipher the content or source location of your email message between our router, the VPN’s server, and Kolosky’s computer.”
Dana looked at Ron confused from all the tech talk, but was confident he knew what he was doing.
“So you’re good to go. I’ve already logged into the VPN and its email tool. All you need to do is sit down here and start typing.”
Ron jumped up from the seat and Dana hesitantly took his place. Dave and she had discussed in detail earlier in the morning what she should say to Kolosky in the initial email message. They needed to first feel him out to see if he was even open to helping them. The message would be brief and to the point, basically confirming her identity, since the email address would be new to him, and explaining to him that there were more bombshells about to be dropped about the administration. She would end the email simply asking if he would be interested in switching sides and helping them, but he needed to respond fast. Based upon his response, Dave and Dana would make a decision to meet with him in person up in Canada.
Dana typed furiously at the computer keyboard for less than a couple of minutes. Dave and Ron looked over her shoulder as she typed. When she completed her typing, she looked up at the two of them and asked, “Does it look good to go?”
Both agreed and with a simple click of the mouse button the message was sent out across the ether to Jeff Kolosky’s email inbox.
Chapter 69 (March 28, Thursday 9:30am Eastern Daylight Savings Time)
It was 9:35am in the morning and Jeff Kolosky was walking briskly down a hallway at ABO’s corporate headquarters to attend a meeting that he was already late for. As he walked, he was also staring down at his smartphone and checking to see what he had for new emails. Scanning down the fresh batch of incoming emails one email in particular caught his eye and caused him to pause. He didn’t recognize the email address, however, the message was cryptically titled “Hello from your Injured Reporter”.
Curious, he stopped walking to open and read the email. To his surprise it was from Dana Cogswell. He had called her and left a message on her cell phone a couple of nights ago, but hadn’t heard anything back from her. Until now. The message was brief and to the point. She was with NSurv and they were about to release another disturbing surveillance video of the President. More shocking to him, however, was her request of him to help them out. The message didn’t explain in what way they wanted his help. But apparently for some reason Dana thought he might be supportive of their efforts. As he read the email again a chill ran through him. He knew he was partially interested in Dana’s request, but it went against the grain of all his other decisions that he had made with his career over the past two decades. He quickly shoved the cell phone back into his pocket and continued on to his meeting. However, he walked much more slowly, as his brain chewed on her request.
Although Jeff had been the senior member at the meeting he wasn’t able to focus on much of it. For the entire meeting his mind kept thinking about the contents of Dana’s message. He had been struggling with what to do, both from a career perspective and a moral perspective. He had no doubt that the videos NSurv had broadcast were real, despite the contradictory message ABO and the other major broadcast and print media outlets were telling the public every day. ABO itself had its own small library of records on the President and his administration, including the dirty truth about their past and present sordid behavior. However, Dimitris Barbas, the ultimate boss of ABO as the Chairman of the Board, paid his check each week and provided the standard of living he and his family so enjoyed. To do what Dana Cogswell was asking was absolutely career suicide. On the other hand, if NSurv was successful bringing down the administration in Washington D.C., they’d also bring down the likes of Grivas and Barbas. Heck, Barbas was even highlighted in the videos. Based upon the protests breaking out all over the country with NSurv’s last video, Jeff figured they had at least a fifty percent chance of succeeding. And if they were successful, what would that mean for him and his job. Would guilt by association lead to the removal of all the executives at ABO? Very possibly he thought.
After his meeting, Jeff had returned to his office still in deep consternation. As he sat in his office staring at Dana’s email again on his computer, he was also plagued with the question on what was the morally right thing to do. As a journalist student back in college twenty plus years ago he had told himself over and over that he would use his journalism skills to help the public. Well had he? As he thought back on his career, particularly over the past decade, he couldn’t help but have some remorse, as he knew he hadn’t lived up to the standard he had set for himself two plus decades ago as still just a young man. The more he stewed on this fact the more guilty he became. After nearly an hour of just staring at his computer, and ignoring every other new email that popped up on his screen and the repeated phone calls from his administrator, he finally came to a conclusion. He would meet with Dana to learn more about what she was asking from him. If he deemed her requests morally sound, he’d help them. Otherwise, he’d walk away and let Grivas know what he had found out from Dana. For now, however, her email was his little secret.
Jeff hit reply to Dana’s email and typed a
brief response agreeing to meet with her and to discuss her proposal. He didn’t, however, agree to necessarily help her and NSurv. He wanted to understand their objectives more, beyond just taking down the President and his administration, before making that commitment.
Chapter 70 (March 28, Thursday 2:30pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)
On the outskirts of Cut Bank, Montana the NSurv team had worked all morning and through much of the afternoon before they finally broke for lunch. They had been editing and putting the final narrative touches on the video that they were going to broadcast to the world this evening. Tonight’s video would not be limited to just the President and his sordid behavior. It was also going to be an indictment on the Speaker of the House. Though the Speaker had displayed a certain level of remorse on the video recording of the President’s plans to play hardball with congressional members, it was also apparent that he had lost any sense of a moral compass. As a result he had to go. As a matter of fact, they needed him to go. Without a change of Speaker of the House, the chances of a successful impeachment of the President would be reduced. The Senate was less of a concern. Though the Senate leader was also an administration supporter, he lacked the clout and the votes to prevent a successful vote of impeachment in the Senate. So it was imperative that the Speaker of the House be thrown under the bus and to be the first man to topple in Washington.
As the NSurv team milled around the kitchen area while preparing food, Dana asked Ron if they could log into her email account on the VPN and check if she had a message back from Jeff. The two of them walked out to the lab while the others prepared the late lunch, and Ron logged her in. Two minutes later they were both looking at a response from Jeff Kolosky.
