Nate

by Mercer, Dorothy May

  “Hands are off, now. Relax, everybody you are now in God’s hands.” A few nervous chuckles tittered throughout the cabin.

  Scientists and engineers strained to watch out the windows. Others watched the display screens in the cockpit. Occasionally another airplane or a drone would enter the conflicting airspace and show up on the display. “We’ve got one,” announced the Captain. “Autopilot is now activated. Please remain buckled in your seats.” Immediately the plane started to climb, while the target airplane was seen to descend. Cheering was heard throughout the plane.

  To the casual observer, Kabandha was quietly watching the proceedings, almost hidden from view in her window seat. In truth she was watching the whole thing on her smart phone display. She had activated a simple app that would display all the airplanes in the vicinity that were giving off the GPS positioning signal. Anyone could do it, if they knew.

  Kabandha watched for a half hour as one potential collision after another was successfully averted by the ACAS-Xu system. The captain’s eyes never left the instruments, his hands hovering over the wheel, and his feet the rudders, ready to take over at an instant’s notice. He hated not being in control. Let’s face it, he didn’t trust those eggheads with their computers and fancy doodads.

  For that, Kabandha was thankful, as she was about to try her own private little experiment and she certainly wanted Captain Mahoney to be alert.

  She reached into her bag and pulled out the GPS interference device. The thing was designed to work off 12 volt battery power and came equipped with a cord that plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter. Every car and truck in America had one or more of these lighters. However hardly anyone used them for cigarettes, anymore. Instead they plugged in their battery powered devices, everything from cell phones to GPS gadgets, and converters which turned 12 volts into 110 AC alternating current.

  Kabandha had refitted her GPS jamming device with a USB connector. By plugging the device into her computer, she hoped to run the jammer off the computer battery. She had no idea how well this would work, or whether it would work at all. She poised, with her eyes on her smart phone screen and her hand ready to insert the USB connector. She waited until her display showed a couple of unmanned drones approaching each other’s air space. Now was the time.

  Kabandha inhaled deeply and shoved it in. She held her breath as she watched the drones suddenly jerk downward and then spiral straight toward the water and plunge out of sight in the deepest part of Lake Superior, nestling quietly among the lost ships from earlier centuries. Other drones seemed to go wildly dizzy, first buzzing around like flies, two crashing together and shredding to bits. One lurched into the side of an airliner, and slid off toward the sea. The other two just seemed to drift off, out of control and then sank out of sight.

  Kabandha had seen enough. She quickly disconnected her jamming device and hid it in the bottom of her bag. Also, she had her hand poised to turn off her smart phone if discovered watching it. The urge to watch was almost overwhelming and so she waited a couple minutes before she forced herself to turn it off and shove it into her bag. Likewise she closed her computer and put it away into its own case.

  Fortunately the cool captain piloting her plane had been ready for any emergency. In seconds he had realized something was terribly wrong with the autopilot. His training kicked in and he pushed the override button on the instrument panel. Immediately he went on VFR, Visual Flight Rules. “Ladies and gentlemen please tighten your seat belts, we are going into a sharp banking turn,” announced the captain. “This mission is aborted.” In seconds the plane banked to the right, circled around and headed back to Chicago. No one spoke. All were shocked and astonished, except for Kabandha, who knew exactly what had happened and was elated. She hid her face and schooled her features into a solemn mask.

  ~~~~~

  Agonizing Evaluation

  Next day at work, an emergency meeting of scientists bordered on chaotic. Periods of stunned silence were interspersed with everyone shouting at once.

  Kabandha feigned ignorance, and was easily ignored. In fact, she was listening carefully to the cacophony of voices, alert to any hint they could be making headway in answering the question, “What the hell happened”.

  The mere fact that the experiment was conducted out over the deepest part of the sea, made it impossible to recover any of the wreckage. Also, it mitigated any likelihood of interference from a ground based device. The idea that someone could have controlled the drones from the deck of a ship was deemed preposterous. There were too many drones and each one had a complex set of instructions in its computer controls, which the scientists had spent weeks inputting. How could anyone have hacked into that and inserted even more complex instructions into the software? Impossible. Besides, who would know enough and want to do it?

  By late afternoon, the meeting had resulted in no conclusions, not even a hint of speculation as to what went wrong. Kabandha smiled to herself. These men had their brains up in the clouds, accustomed to thinking in such complex terms that they could not imagine a simple device could overcome their magnificent creation. Little David had defeated Goliath and they could not see the moon for the stars.

  Kabandha soon realized she had made a strategic mistake. She should not have gotten carried away, taking down all six of the drones. She should have stopped at two. Now there was a danger that her company would scuttle the whole project. She realized she might have to speak up.

  Gradually the scientists arranged themselves into small casual break-out groups of three to six guys, talking among themselves. Kabandha scooted her chair over to the nearest group and listened to their quiet discussion. At length the group fell silent having exhausted all ideas. In a quiet voice, Kabandha spoke for the first time.

  “Well, if I may say something here…” she paused looking for assurance. Four pairs of eyes turned her way. One man nodded.

  Kabandha continued, “I’ve been listening to all of the ideas being put forth. What I’m hearing is that no one seems to have a good handle on what may have happened.”

  They shrugged as if to say, “Duh.”

  “And so, I think we should simply conduct the experiment again, maybe on a smaller scale, and this time set it up to observe the drones better. What do you think?”

  There were nods all around. “Perhaps we should put our minds to devising better ways to monitor the results.”

  After a period of silence, the weary men revived and began making suggestions. This was good. Kabandha knew that she would not need to sabotage the next experiment, thus allowing the project to go forward. In years to come, her knowledge could be put to use in a grand scheme to take out hundreds of planes at once.

  In the meantime, she would continue to sharpen her skills, operating on a small scale around more remote airports all over the country, never in the same place twice. She would, then, begin to teach others. The increase in mid-air collisions would only give rise to a clamor to spur the ACAS-Xu project forward sooner and faster than originally planned.

  Perhaps she had gone as far as she could in Chicago. It was time to move on.

  ~~~~~

  Seattle Overnight

  It was a bit unusual for Sally to take a day off in Seattle. The only time she really needed it was when she went to see her mother. At other times, she stayed overnight in the same hotel suite near the airport. This was one of those nights. She would relax, rest and either order “in” or defrost a dinner in her apartment-sized kitchen.

  Sally was startled to hear her house phone chirp. It could be just a nuisance call. Perhaps the manager wanted to pay a courtesy call, making sure everything was all right.

  “Hello, who’s calling, please?”

  “This is the desk. I have a call for you from a Mr. Bacon. Shall I put it through?”

  Hmm, unknown, well that doesn’t tell me anything. Usually she bypassed those calls. Still she never knew when something might happen to her mother. “Okay, I’ll take it,” she said.
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  “Hello Sally. I just wanted to tell you the bacon and eggs were great.”

  Sally gasped.

  “I loved the brownies, too. Just call me the brownie lover, kiddo.”

  “B-but …”

  “Can we talk?”

  “No, I’m afraid not.”

  “C’mon, sis, I saw Mom yesterday. We need to talk, don’t you think?”

  I don’t like this, thought Sally. The hairs on her arms were standing up. She was frightened and dared say nothing. “Y-y-you saw Mom?” she stammered.

  “Yes, that shouldn’t surprise you, Sally.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “Well, I’m not such a bad person. I try to get up there at least once a month, sometimes twice.”

  “Well, I guess she doesn’t remember.”

  “Yeah, I know. It’s sad,” he said. “Well, listen, what time are you leaving in the morning? Maybe we could meet for some breakfast.”

  “I have to be to work early.”

  “Okay, I can figure that out. I’ll meet you at the usual place for breakfast. Don’t worry, I’ll find you.”

  He hung up.

  “Wait,” said Sally. He was gone. She plunked down on the bed with the phone in her lap, her hands shaking. What just happened? Who is this guy? Was it really Mr. Brown? She couldn’t be sure, as someone could have stolen the password. Did he really know about her mother, or was it just a lucky guess? Maybe her employer was testing her.

  She sat back against the pillows and replayed every word that was said. He said a lot, but she didn’t say anything—nothing that could give her away except to say she had to be to work early. Was that dangerous? She didn’t think so. So, what should she do in the morning? Well, all she could do was get ready for work as usual, and eat breakfast here in the hotel as usual. If he was expecting her to eat at somewhere in the airport he was mistaken. What was he hinting at? She couldn’t imagine. Well, she had to get some sleep. Whatever this was about, she couldn’t change it.

  Six AM came early after a restless night. Sally showered, dressed in her flight attendant’s uniform, grabbed her shoulder bag and roll-aboard and headed for the elevator. Like most hotels of this type, a free breakfast was do-it-yourself style. Hotel guests served themselves from the food that was prepared and arranged by just one server. Guests made their own toast or waffles, and selected from sausage or bacon and scrambled eggs. Sally filled her plate from the offerings, added juice and coffee, and chose a seat at an empty table. She opened the free newspaper and quietly ate while she read. Her back was turned to a muted television set tuned to CNN news.

  She paid no attention to the other people who came and went. There was plenty of space for people to spread out without speaking to each other, or making eye contact. Most of the guests were business people with their own concerns, who left you alone. And so, Sally barely noticed when someone pulled out the chair opposite her and sat at her table. By keeping her eyes down, she assumed the person would take the hint and say nothing. Instead, the man started to talk.

  “Good bacon and eggs this morning, wouldn’t you say?”

  Sally choked on her food and raised her napkin to cover her mouth. Peeking over her napkin, she saw who it was and coughed into her napkin again to cover the startled look on her face. And so, he must have been here in this hotel last night!

  “Excuse me,” she said, and coughed again. She picked up her coffee and sipped a few times, and then she slapped her chest and let out one more little cough.

  He spoke in low tones, “The first thing we must do is create a new password, one that no one else knows.”

  Sally nodded keeping her eyes averted.

  “Have you seen mother?”

  “Too personal,” said Sally.

  “Seattle Mariners?”

  “Good.”

  “Okay, Seattle Mariners is my favorite team.”

  “We need to talk somewhere more private.” Sally tried not to look around, but she felt very nervous. “Not on the phone. Not in my room.” She covered her mouth and spoke into her food.

  “All right, I’ll rent a car and pick you up.”

  “No time.” Sally glanced at her watch.

  “Taxi?” He spoke very quietly, barely moving his mouth. “We could share.”

  “Okay, but not here. Go down the street. Pay with cash. Pick me up one block over. I need to make a purchase.”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  Sally took out a pen and wrote “at Rite-Aid” on an empty sugar packet and added her cell phone number. She folded the note and slipped it into the sugar bowl, picked up her disposable dishes and put them in the waste container. Without looking at him, she grabbed her things and left.

  Mr. Brown casually picked up a sugar packet and added half of it to his coffee. He palmed Sally’s note without looking at it, took care of his things, picked up his case and left by the front door. He walked briskly down one block to the next hotel to get a taxicab. Once inside the cab he read Sally’s note and instructed the cabbie, “I’ll be going to the airport, but first I need to pick up my friend at the Rite Aid, one block over.”

  Sally was waiting at the curb. She slid in close to him and gave him a hug. “Hello, darling,” she smiled.

  “Did you get everything you needed, sweetheart?” he asked.

  “No, they didn’t have everything I needed,” she said. “Ask the cabbie if he will drop us off at the nearest drugstore—one that is not a Rite-Aid.”

  “Change of plans,” he told the driver. “Please drop us off at a different drug store.”

  “Sure,” said the driver. In a few minutes he found another. “Is this okay?”

  “Perfect,” said Sally. “Please stop right here.”

  The taxi pulled up to the curb. She got out with her things. As Brownie reached to pay the driver in cash, he said, “Don’t wait,” and got out to join Sally.

  “We won’t go in here,” said Sally. “Just let him drive away and then we will walk over to that bar across the street.”

  Soon they were seated in a darkened booth.

  “We won’t take the same cab again,” said Sally in low tones. “We cannot be seen together like this. I am to be your contact, but it will only be on flight 1715, in first class. Is that clear?”

  “Miss Millecan, I don’t know what your relationship is with this lobbying firm. Can you tell me?”

  “Well, I am just a part time employee. At first I was doing research for them, and now I am your contact person.”

  “What do you know about them?”

  Sally thought a while. “Well, I really know very little. In fact that part is rather frustrating at times. But, the pay is good and I need the money.”

  “As far as you know is it an honest and legitimate firm, on the up and up, nothing shady?”

  “Well, I certainly hope so. I mean, after all, it is a registered lobbying firm. They are strictly regulated, I understand. Aren’t they?”

  “Sally, I have done some checking and you seem like a very nice woman, honest as the day is long.”

  “Of course.”

  “You have passed a five-star background check and are cleared to work for the airline.”

  “Yes. What are you driving at Mr. B?”

  “I’ll be honest with you, Sally, we think you may be mixed up with the wrong people.”

  “That’s preposterous! Who are you anyway?” She was feeling uncomfortable and looked around nervously.

  Brown pulled a slim leather case out of an inside pocket and handed it to her. “Please don’t let anyone see you look inside of this,” he said as he handed it to her.

  Sally turned it away from the room and opened it tightly to her chest. It read Harold L. Brown, Jr., Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and included his ID number, the date, the FBI seal and the signature of the Director. Sally bit her lip, folded the case and quietly slid it across the table. Was this genuine? How could she know? It was too dark to examine it closely.


  “But, I thought you were some kind of software engineer,” she said. “I mean we have talked before.”

  “I am,” he said. “In fact I am a senior scientist. But, I’ve been placed within the company, hoping that the bad guys would try and recruit me. It has taken years, but they finally did, thanks to you.”

  “Who is they?”

  “We think that a terrorist organization is trying to infiltrate the airplane manufacturers and various suppliers as well as tech firms that supply the industry.”

  “Oh dear me, I didn’t know.”

  “You did just fine.”

  “But what do I do now?” Sally was confused as well as scared.

  “You keep doing what you are doing. Don’t change a thing. The only difference is that now you will be taking messages back and forth from me to the group who we think are working for these terrorists. We don’t know all their plans, but it has something to do with the software engineering on the new passenger series that is under development at our company. That’s why they recruited me.”

  “I guess I need to know more,” said Sally. “Some way I could check and make sure that …”

  “That I am who I say I am,” said Brown, laughing. “Yes, of course, and we will take care of that when you get back to Washington. Remember the password, now?”

  “Seattle Mariners.”

  “Good. Now there is a lot more to talk about, but you need to get going. And so, would it work for you if we had a bit of a dating arrangement, from time to time?”

  “I’m not allowed to date the passengers or employees.”

  “Of course not. I’m thinking it would have to be during off-duty hours, and not at the airport.”

  “Maybe, after I know for certain who you are.”

  “I’ll arrange that. For now, you need to hit the road.”

  She checked her watch. “Oh my goodness. You’re right.”

  “I wish I could drive you.”

  “Let’s not chance it. I’ll hail a cab.”