by J C Ryan
After lunch, Norma described the new technical security measures she and their IT security expert, Rick Winslow, had in mind. She had made arrangements for him to join them for this part of the meeting.
Irene fetched Rick from the security desk and brought him to her office. He was a young guy, in his early thirties at the most, Carter guessed. He was tall - maybe six two or so, slim, with unkempt dark hair, silver wire-frame glasses, and dressed in the standard geek uniform of jeans, flip-flops, and a T-shirt with a slogan which only another geek would understand.
Norma had given them a heads-up before his arrival. “Don’t be fooled by his appearance,” she said. “He is a professional when it comes to his work, and everything else, including his clothes, is of no significance to him. He is the most brilliant mind I’ve ever seen behind a computer.”
“How did you get hold of him?” Irene asked.
“Well, I won’t give you all the details, but I can tell you he got into a bit of trouble one night when he demonstrated to a few friends how he could hack into one of the FBI servers with his Samsung smartphone. The CIA heard about his stunt when the FBI had him in custody and was contemplating criminal charges. They pulled him out of there and got the charges quashed. So now he works for the CIA and us.”
Carter and Irene were just shaking their heads. The modern day action heroes were in cyberspace.
Norma had them rolling with laughter when she told them how Rick, not too long ago, explained to her how to copy data from a flash drive to a computer. Apparently when she stopped him and told him that she knew what a flash drive was and how to use it. He responded with, “Well I am just making sure. You’re about eight to ten years older than I am and in my world, that is about the same as being on the Ark with Noah.”
Once the introductions had been made and Rick was settled, he explained to Carter, Irene, and James that they were to be issued with new, secure, phones that would not be connected to A-Echelon in any way. They would also be supplied with tablet PC’s that he would install and configure with special software.
He then continued to describe how he’d created a VPN – Virtual Private Network - between the three of them that could not be penetrated. It was built with new technology he had developed for the CIA, using unique ephemeral (temporary) key exchanges, not available to anyone else anywhere in the world.
When he said that Irene and Carter both looked at him with frowns on their faces. Rick saw their puzzled looks and responded. “Yes, I know people always say no communications are secure, and they are right. But let me just ease your minds about that.”
They nodded for him to continue. Not that they would understand much, but it did bring a certain level of comfort to have him say it.
He went on to explain that all data going through the VPN would be encrypted and that the key length determined how long it would take to break using a brute force attack, also known as exhaustive key search, which involved trying every possible combination until the correct one was found.
“So to put that in perspective,” he said. “To break a 128-bit key cipher would require 3.4 x 10 to the power of 38 operations. The NSA can break 1028-bit encryptions. My algorithms are using 4096-bit encryption. If anyone were able to have the same computer processing power as the NSA, it would take them just shy of two billion years. That’s if they were running those machines at full capacity 24/7, to break my algorithm. In other words, yes, your VPN can be compromised, but it’s not something you have to worry about in your lifetime.”
That settled it for Carter and Irene. They were satisfied that they would be able to communicate with each other without having to worry about the mole eavesdropping on them.
“Thanks for the reassurance, Rick, I feel a lot better.” Carter chuckled. “We’ll make sure that we get this work done before anyone breaks your encryption keys.”
The next morning Carter was introduced to the team who was assigned to his protection detail and spent the next three days with them in training. Learning what was expected of him at all times and practicing the various mock scenarios, which they created. It was a welcome distraction for his anxious mind that was continually wandering back to Mackenzie and Liam.
It was during those three days that Carter made a firm resolution that when the day dawned for Mackenzie and Liam to be rescued from wherever they were; he was going to be there.
There was nothing, and no one, who could stop him. If he had to acquire Special Forces skills to do it, then he would acquire them. He was not going to ask James or Irene’s opinion or permission; he would inform them.
Chapter 28 -
No buts, Jim
With Carter under the constant care of bodyguards and Rick’s technology measures deployed, Executive Advantage’s security was in place, and they could turn their full attention to Mackenzie and Liam’s rescue.
James kept in touch with his friend from the Mossad, Ben Friedman. He had confided in Ben, telling him of Carter’s work with the ancient nukes and giving him updates on Carter’s progress. Understandably, Ben was in a hurry to go after the ancient nukes. No one had to tell him that the terrorists who abducted Mackenzie and Liam had also been after Carter and his research. Carter was lucky to have escaped them. He knew he had no evidence to suggest the terrorists were from the Middle East, but it would have been a big mistake to ignore the possibility and not act accordingly. It was no secret that the terrorist groups in the Middle East would give anything and everything to get their hands on a nuclear weapon. And there was no doubt that they all had the same, single primary target: Israel. Once Israel was wiped off the face of the earth, they would go after each other, but Israel had to go first.
Ben was elated when James told him Carter was restarting the nuke project and immediately offered his support and use of the resources under his control.
This was the phase that could not start quickly enough for Carter. By the time they were meeting with Sean Walker again, Carter was about ready to gather a private army of mercenaries and invade a country. The only thing that held him back was he didn’t know which country.
James and Irene could understand Carter’s urgency. The stress of uncertainty and lack of information was taking its toll on them too; God only knew how Carter was managing to cope with it.
“Jim, Irene, I’ve done a lot of thinking since I heard that my family is alive,” he paused before continuing, his voice strengthening, “I am determined, I’m going to be involved in the mission to extract them…”
The two of them were not entirely surprised by Carter’s announcement. “Carter,” James spoke softly, “I don’t know, I mean I can grasp your feelings about that but…”
“No buts Jim; no buts,” Carter interjected. “I am going on that mission. I’m not asking yours or Irene’s permission; I’m informing you just so you make sure you include me in the planning. When my family needed me the most in Jerusalem, I wasn’t there for them. That’s not going to happen again; never again. And that’s the end of it.”
Carter’s determined expression told James to tread carefully. Carter was a patient and good-natured person, but James had seen men like him pushed over the edge a few times during his lifetime. He hesitated; drive that kind of man too hard, and you could end up with serious trouble on your hands James ole boy.
James had his hands up. “Noted. It’s not going to be easy, but …”
Carter's eyes were fiery. “I told you, no buts. Make it happen; no excuses. I’m going in with the extraction team; I don’t care who or what they are.”
James shrugged. “We will have to work out how that would be possible Carter. If it’s a covert operation, which I anticipate it will be, you don’t have the training and skills for it. You could become a serious liability to them, maybe even get yourself killed or jeopardize the entire rescue.”
Irene’s eyes were as wide as two saucers. She had never seen Carter like this. Granted she hadn’t known him as well or as long as James had, but she was a pretty
good judge of character. Carter’s behavior didn’t fit her psychological profile of him. However, she had to admit that if it were her family they were talking about, she would probably turn into a ferocious bear mother attacking anything that was threatening her cubs.
“That problem is easily solved, Jim,” Carter countered. “When we meet with Sean later today, support my request to make some of his resources available to train me.”
James nodded slowly.
“I’ll pay for it,” Carter said. “We do it on Freydis and wherever it’s necessary. It will be a contract between Executive Advantage and me, and have nothing to do with A-Echelon. All I need from the two of you is to support my request to Sean.”
James and Irene glanced at each other and finally nodded in silence.
“Good. Thanks for that,” Carter said and paused as he let out a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry about that…”
Irene touched his arm. “Nothing to be sorry about Carter. We understand and we support you, unconditionally.”
“Carter, I’m past my use-by-date,” James chuckled. “I thought I’d seen my last mission years ago; now I’ll have to get back into shape again.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Carter and Irene said at the same time.
“You don’t expect me to sit around this office while Carter is out there having all the fun kicking those terrorists’ asses! That isn’t going to happen,” James was serious. “Nope, no way is that going to happen,” he continued shaking his head.
Irene rolled her eyes and sighed. The two men reminded her of her two teenage boys in an argument. “Boys, boys! Listen to me. You can’t both be out of the house! Who’s going to take care of mommy and the house?”
James smiled. “Mommy is a big girl and capable of taking care of the house on her own. If my little brother goes, then I go. I’ll have to be there to make sure he’s okay and doesn’t do something stupid. And to use his words, I’m not asking for permission; I’m informing you.”
“Well, that’s settled then,” Carter said with a grin. “We both go. Can we please go and see Sean now?”
However, there was something Irene felt was important to say. “Carter, please allow me to give you an uninvited piece of my mind.”
Carter nodded.
She continued, “There is every reason to believe that the attack in Jerusalem was aimed at you and your family. And it is probably correct that if you and Mackenzie didn’t work for us, none of that would have happened…”
Carter was glowering at her. “What are you trying to say?” he snapped.
Irene remained calm and held her hand up, “You and I, all of us, have to accept those as the facts. However, there is one positive thing among those horrible facts, and I’m afraid you are missing it.” Carter opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him. “Hear me out, please. The fact that you got out of it alive and that you were not abducted is the positive. If it were not for that, the case would have been closed, and we would all have tried to move on. You being alive and with us is what’s going to help us rescue them.”
Irene’s words gave Carter reason to pause. He had a look of humiliation on his face when he spoke again. “Irene, Jim, I’m sorry. Please accept my apology. Of course, you’re right about that. I will remember it. It’s just so damn difficult…” His voice was shaking.
Irene put her hand on his arm again and smiled. “It’s all good Carter. Let’s go and talk to Sean now.”
***
Two hours later they’d returned to the EA safe house in Herndon to meet with Sean.
James, Irene, and Carter briefed Sean in detail about Carter and Mackenzie’s involvement with A-Echelon and the projects they were working on. They covered the events of the past few months including the Jerusalem tragedy, the evidence about the abductions, the suspected mole, and the disappearance of the Sirralnnudam. As before, Sean listened intently, interrupting them only to get clarification when necessary.
“So Sean, as you can see, we find ourselves in the predicament that we can’t even conduct our own investigation into any of this,” James said with a sigh. “Because of our internal security issues, we will have to outsource the whole thing to you. Irene and I will be your only contact with A-Echelon and no one can know that you’re working for us.”
“Understood,” Sean nodded. “I’ll need a day to think this through and assign the best resource lead to the operation. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes,” James answered. “As you can understand we are raring to get going on this, Carter more so than anyone else. Just tell us what you need from us.”
“That’s understandable,” Sean replied. “From this moment on it is EA’s number one priority.”
James leaned back in his chair. “Okay, now the next request,” he grinned at the look of surprise from Sean. “Professor Indiana Jones here,” he jerked his thumb in the direction of Carter, “says he’s going with us on the rescue mission…”
Sean’s eyes squinted, and a frown creased his brows as his gaze darted between James and Carter. He held his hand up. “Jim what are you talking about? And who is ‘us’?”
“Well, I suspect once we find out where Mackenzie and Liam are kept we will have to launch a hostage rescue mission,” James said. “Carter and I are going with you or whoever is going…”
“Ah…hang on…wait…mhh…” Sean stuttered trying to get his thoughts in order. He saw the determination on Carter and James’ faces. “Guys, hang on; not only is that not a good idea, but it could also be a problem…”
“No,” Carter interjected. “There is not going to be a problem. That is a condition of this agreement, and it’s not negotiable. It’s part of the deal, or there’s no deal.”
James nodded. He shrugged as he looked at Sean as if to say, there’s nothing I can do about it, it’s part of the deal. “Carter wants to make a contract directly with EA to train him and prepare him for such a mission.”
Sean had a lot of misgivings about this all of a sudden. He knew James Rhodes by reputation as he was still held in very high regard among the ranks of the CIA operatives. He didn’t know anything about Carter Devereux. The man made a good first impression on him during the first meeting, and nothing had happened since to diminish that impression. But a good impression was not a good enough reason to take him along on a life-threatening hostage rescue operation.
He kept his composure. He needed to think about this and speak in private with James before he made any commitments. “I’ll be straight with you Carter; I have serious concerns about the whole idea. However, let me think about it, and we’ll discuss it tomorrow when we meet again.”
Carter was not entirely happy to leave without a commitment but decided that he would be better off letting Sean think about it and, he was sure, have a quiet word with James later.
Sean contacted James that night, after their meeting, to get background information about Carter.
James shared the results of Carter’s psychiatric evaluation during his induction at A-Echelon and the results of his tests and training, including the comments of his instructors. Reluctantly, James also had to admit that in all his years in the CIA and A-Echelon, Carter was still the only recruit who managed to kick his ass in that first day’s sparring session. A grueling session that was intended to quickly identify and weed out anyone who didn’t have what it would take.
“So, Jim, listening to you, I get the impression Carter has the ability to have passed any of the Special Forces selection courses?”
“Without a doubt, Sean,” James replied without hesitation. “He is a man with willpower, motivation, determination, and a robust body. If you can give him the training, he will not be a burden on any team, quite the contrary, I’m sure he would be an asset.”
“Okay, Jim I feel a lot better about him,” Sean replied. “Now there’s only you, we have to talk about.” Sean smiled on the other end, but lucky for him James couldn’t see it.
“Now, listen to me, Sean Walke
r,” James said. “I’ve been hunting bad guys since you were still a sparkle in your daddy’s eyes, so there’s nothing to discuss. If there is a rescue operation, as we think there will be, I am going with you, or whoever is going. Period. End of discussion.”
“Okay pops,” Sean laughed. “I was just yanking your chain. I knew you wouldn’t want to sit it out. See you tomorrow.”
Little snot nose brat, James mumbled when he put the phone down. Pops! Can you believe it! But then he paused, Sean was right; he was getting a bit long in the tooth for this type of stuff. But there was no way he was going to send Carter into harm’s way without him being there.
Let’s hope and pray there will be an easier, less dangerous, solution.
Chapter 29 -
The briefing
As promised, Sean was ready for them the next day. They met at a different safe house, this time in Arlington, Virginia about six miles from Capitol Hill.
Sean introduced them to Dylan Mulligan, his 2IC – Second in Command -whom he’d assigned to Carter’s case, and who would be in charge of finding Mackenzie and Liam. It would also be up to him to see that Carter was fully trained and prepared to be part of an extraction team if it became necessary in the future. Sean gave them a brief background sketch about Dylan. They were like the Biblical David and Jonathan. Dylan was Sean’s 2IC in SEAL Team Six. They were old school and college buddies. They’d joined the military together, went through the SEAL selection process and training together, and had fought side by side in many battles. The two of them left the military at the same time to setup Executive Advantage.
What Sean didn’t tell them, which James, Irene, and Carter would only find out later, was that Dylan was one of the best snipers in the military, probably in the world, but that would have been difficult to ascertain. Officially he had 135 kills accredited to him in conflicts around the globe when he left the military. Unofficially that number would have been closer to 250. Dylan was not the type of man who made notches in his rifle butt to keep track, and he would never talk about it. But one thing was sure; there were many men and women alive today because of Dylan’s extraordinary skills with a rifle.
