Genecaust Page 24

  “Shit. She could have done that before we wheeled the damn thing down miles of twisting corridors,” Granger said, echoing Meret’s thoughts exactly.

  The woman had no sooner left the room, then a doctor arrived and asked Meret to leave. She glanced at Granger, but the doctor, cut off any communication. “This meeting is confidential.” He shrugged, “Agents only. Sorry. CIA protocol.”

  Meret found her wait in the hallway frustrating. The discussion with the Director had fallen short of her expectations. There were too many unanswered questions. What did the CIA suspect about the next attack? What would be her part in it? What was her role now? What did they learn from Dr. Piero della Francesca? And why the hell had she been the only one to speak? The longer she was made to wait, the more she fumed.

  Reaching for her cell phone, she hit the Poppy icon. They both needed to meet with Zhen about the progress of their business venture. Before her assistant answered, the doctor exited Granger’s room and pulled the door shut behind him.

  “Sorry for the interruption, Dr. Mather, Special Agent Granger has been cleared for duty. He is dressing and will be with you shortly. You’re an MD, correct?”

  “Yes, but I’m in research now. I don’t practice medicine.”

  “Close enough. The two of you are being transferred and I need you to monitor his behavior. While I believe he has recovered sufficiently to travel, I’m always cautious about head injuries. You know what to look for. Keep an eye on him.”

  “I will doctor. How may I contact you?” She handed him her cell.

  While she waited for the doctor to enter his number, Granger opened the door. “I’d invite you in, but I need to pack, and so do you. Get shakin’. We’re flying to Washington in one hour.”

  She started for her room throwing over her shoulder that she’d meet him on the plane. She tapped Poppy’s icon.

  * * *

  Meret found herself once again in the aft section of the plane, next a large oval the window. This time, she faced Granger diagonally across a small table. “I can understand Director Davies not trusting our communication channel, but why the non-discussion of the next attack when there is chatter out there that says there will be another attack. You said you heard you captors talking about it. Why aren’t we discussing it?” Damn. She felt fully ‘one of them’ and when she said ‘we,’ it was viscerally felt. She was part of the CIA team and she ‘wanted’ to be in on this mission be almost as much as they ‘needed’ her to be.

  He reached across the table for her hand.

  She saw his effort and extended hers, meeting him more than half-way.

  He held her fingers. “Don’t let the Company’s culture get you down. Davies is a good man and he’s brought you in to help change the way we do business. Doesn’t the slowness of our reactions to this current threat wave all kinds of red flags?”

  She found his candor encouraging and unfortunately, knowing his frustration probably equaled hers reinforced the magnitude of the problems they had to face.

  “Thank you, Granger. How to you stand it?”

  Still holding her hand, he shrugged with his free arm. “Well, there’s an argument for some of our institutions to evolve slowly.”

  She needed both hands to talk. “I get that, but why in hell can’t we striate the CIA with fast channels? Flatten the freaking hierarchy.”

  He nodded but she didn’t see the fire in him for change she carried and pushed on. “Look, genomics will create a new arena for INTELligence services. If we incorporate the changes life code requires, we will have clear reason to react faster, analyze faster, and respond faster.”

  “You’re right.” He took her hand and this time held it palm to palm. “Tell me, how did you end up looking at things the way you do? Weren't you a medical doctor first? Was something like this always in your plans?”

  “No, the practice of medicine introduced barriers to what I came to understand as the basic reasons for my interest in healing people.

  He snorted through a smile. “I get that. I went through a period when I wanted to be a field medic.”

  “Did that lead you to any formal education?”

  He laughed, “I ended up doing mathematics. No labs and plenty of time for sports.”

  “What happened to biology?”

  “I had little respect for my Pre-Med classmates who talked more about how much money they could make based on the area of medicine they pursued. Later I fell into Cognitive studies. I played with the idea of psychology and how behaviors shape our lives. That path got a bit foggy when several of my professors tried to induce me to take more biology and even some microbiology. I wasn’t playing sports so I began to enjoy the lab work. At one point I toyed with the idea of a Ph.D. and an MD. I discovered new studies that opened me to our organic four-bit computer. DNA pulled me in deeper. However, learning the how and whens of learning, got me to focus on behaviors, and then law, and then the Company.”

  “That’s one hell of a set of transitions. Nothing linear about your career path. You must be very good at reading people.” Meret paused, becoming more serious. “Did your asset turn on you?”

  His head snapped back as though she’d slapped him. “What rabbit hole did you pull that from?”

  “Sorry, just wondering. How were you taken?”

  He inhaled and leaned back in his chair. “My asset was a good man.” He stopped, not offering more.

  “How were you able to turn him? I mean, this whole CIA culture is new and over whelming. I feel a certain pressure to join, but need to understand what it is all about. How do you turn someone?”

  He shook his head. “We don’t talk about those things. Perhaps, some day. You need to know that Yasser was a good man a family man. With our funding, he was able to get his oldest daughter, a real whiz-kid, out of Yemen and away from the harassment of fundamentalism. She enrolled at the University of Rome, you know, Sapienza University of Rome.”

  “Nice.”

  “His daughter heard students at a Roman coffee shop at an adjacent table talking about something really big about happen in southern Yemen. One of them said it would be the biggest attack on Muslims ever. Then he warned the other man to take his family to a small desert village away from Aden.”

  “Oh, my god. Did they say it would be biochemical? What else did they say? And she told her father?”

  “Yes, of course she told him and no, they didn’t say what kind of attack it would be. Yasser assumed it would be an old-school chemical explosion in Aden at a place where the population was dense.”

  Meret touched her lips. “Oh, my god, Granger. Did the Yemen police intercept her message? Is that why people were after him, because they thought he knew something?”

  “Right, they were never after me. My guess is that they were short on time and couldn’t wait for the opportunity to snatch Yasser when he was on his own. We didn’t get a chance to talk. The last voice I heard was a woman’s voice and then no more talk until after they deposited me in an apartment.”

  “They kept you hidden for close to a month. What was that like?”

  No interrogation except the conversations we had while I ate. There were more drugs, sometimes they got impatient and knocked me around, but no real torture. I never saw or heard about Yasser, again. They told me they killed him. Steve told me the Company never saw his body, but your beetle-bots gleaned enough trace to from the dumpsite to say he was the one they tossed out of the window.”

  Meret drummed the desk with her fingers. “We have to lay-over in Rome.”

  “Why?”

  “Didn’t Steve read you in on our luncheon stakeout rendezvous with Dr. Piero della Francesca, Ph.D?”

  “Dr. Piero who?”

  She expected Granger would have memory gaps and attention problems from the drugs they gave him and was fully prepared to fill in the gaps for him when she could. “I had lunch with a Dr. Piero della Francesca, Ph.D. Associated with Sapienza university in Rome. His academic credentials a
re impressive and very much in tune with the bio disaster in Socotra. So much so, in fact, that when he asked to meet me, Steve said yes and set up a sting. Do you know him?”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard of him, dammit.” He smacked his thigh. “He’s also been associated with the ‘Hacking Team.’ It’s a dark web store that offers of services and tech, including a special tool box of hacks called ‘The Remote Control Hacking Suite for Governmental Intervention.’ They take pride in allowing any idiot to monitor and steal information from anyone.”

  “Holy shit. I’ve seen that site. Total graphical interface with a la carte menu of Drag-Drop options that let you plant malware on any device, anywhere from your home desktop. Full military grade encryption. Do you think the CIA knows about the Hacking Team’s site and Piero’s association?”

  He reached for his cell phone. “No, Steve didn’t mention it. I basically woke up, saw the Director talk to you, and got on this plane.” He placed the phone between them and touched the Director’s icon, commenting , “I guess this is an example of the Company’s need for better data sharing.” He tapped his ear bud, muting his phone and turned away to talk with Director Davies in private.

  Meret watched him make the call and shook her head in silence. Glad the Director had previously changed our plan, and pleased they were making a needed stop in Rome, she wondered how things could have moved forward if MJ were on this flight and she were headed off to god knows where with Steve. Granger would end up in Washington, ignorant of the connection between Granger’s informant and the guy she and the rest of the team had lunch with. Her comment to the Director about getting better communication and sharing INTELligence raced through her brain. God. Zhen must create an app to tag data so it’s pushed to the right audience for this sort of thing.” She hung her head. Lord, we could loose another 1500 innocent people.

  44

  Three Way

  Late July, another Zhen surprise - an issue of transfer

  Meret called Poppy and had her set up a conference call with Dr. Zhen Jianjun. It was past time the three of them talked. After her discussion with Granger about Dr. Piero della Francesca, she wanted to bring them all up to speed. The timing was ideal because Granger was on the phone to the Director. She had almost finished editing her notes when the cell rang and an animated atom with three electrons filled the screen while text scrolled sideways repeatedly proclaiming “Li Three-Way App for Conferencing . . . downloading.”

  Unfamiliar with the logo, she stared at the screen debating whether to reboot the cell, when the screen changed to the broad smile of Poppy.

  “G’day Meret. How are you?”

  “I’m well.” She raised her eyebrows as in what’s going on?

  Poppy talked to someone off screen before returning her attention to Meret. “Sorry, Zhen and I are having a go with is new toy. How many of us do you see? Hold on . . .” Her head ducked to one side and then returned, as did her broad smile. “He’s got it now.”

  Meret’s screen flickered and broke into two square images, one of Poppy and the other of Zhen.

  Zhen’s screen showed him pointing to the bottom row of icons that had appeared when his image split the screen. “Lay the phone flat on the table and tap the triangle.” He waved the back of his hand, fingers pointed down at her. “Do it now.”

  The cell gave a quiet hum, almost like a vibrating ring tone and raised itself up to a 45-degree angle, transforming itself into a small portrait picture screen of Poppy and Zhen. She took a quick peek behind the cell and saw two wire legs that extended from the top corners of the phone, forming a hands free viewing easel.

  Excited by the tech, she interrupted. “I see it. I’m hands free Wait, wait, let me guess. The semi-transparent row of icons at the bottom are icons for mute, and ah, record, and an on-off under each image, and, okay, I can’t figure out the other ones.”

  Poppy added, “You did just fine. They’re for enhancements Zhen hasn’t enabled yet. The recording is direct to the secure cloud and none of it has to be recorded on any of the participating caller’s phones.”

  Zhen explained, “Since the CIA’s current policy requires agents to work in pairs, my current app has been designed for two or three users. I expect the automatic content tagging cloud-shared data by this model will become the basis for a more sophisticated means of communication by encrypted cell.”

  “Yes.” Meret raised an arm in victory. “Well done. You’ve anticipated the first item on my agenda. The CIA’s communication system reflects the company’s current culture and this app can help change that. How soon can this—”

  Zhen smiled showing his teeth. “I call it LeeWay,” He bowed slightly. “As in the lee of a sand dune, the quiet, comfortable, secure side of a blowing wind.”

  Poppy laughed. “That should give you a giggle over the lithium logo we put on it. You get it? Three electrons? You know, a three-way?”

  Meret nodded and grinned. “As that old-time Texan Aunt Doris might say, there’s no flies on you guys.”

  Ever looking for more to do, Poppy said, “What’s next?”

  Meret adjusted her chair. “You ready for this?”

  Her screen showed a pair of faces leaning in.

  She cleared her throat. “We’ve witnessed our first Genecaust in Socotra based on a SKV, a Smart Killing Virus. I’m sure you’ve seen it. To a limited extent, it’s has been all over the news, in spite of the INTELligence community’s wishes.”

  “Yes. That’s terrible,” Poopy mumbled. “Targeting a haplogroup. It has a macabre brilliance.”

  Meret exhaled, “Too much brilliance.”

  Poppy exclaimed, “I take it our job is to figure out the next attack before it’s delivered.

  And then Zhen knowingly said. The only effective way to deal with a Genecaust is to be aware of it and stop it from being delivered.”

  Meret paused, shaking her finger. “Or,” then nodded with each word, “if we didn’t know when but learned of the pathogen, we could chemically tag the targets and make them immune.”

  So Zhen’s communication devise is very timely, huh? Meret could see Poppy elbowed Zhen in the ribs and Meret could see he was pleased.

  “Without a high level of rapid, secure, communication within the global INTELligence community, I don’t see how we could ever get ahead of the schemes of extremists. Yet even so. It presents a challenge beyond difficult.”

  Meret appreciated their grasp of the urgency. “CIA chatter says the people behind the Socotra Genecaust, having proved they can are preparing their next attack on the Homeland.”

  Poppy’s eyes grew huge. “Here? In the States?” Like Socotra? Here?”

  “What do we know, Meret?” Zhen asked, looking only minimally less rattled.

  “We have an idea of the who. The when, how, or why are not clear. But I’m guessing they’ll use the same pathogen.”

  Poppy’s jaw dropped half open while Zhen rubbed his chin in apparent thought.

  Good God, a Genecaust in the US?

  Meret pulled on her lower lip. It didn’t bare thinking of, yet they must. They had to clear the smoke and mirrors on this attack and nail down the facts. “We need more tools, Zhen. That’s on you. What can you come up with? Maybe modifications of the drones. Maybe a big one could drop off a fleet of little ones. I don’t know.” She rubbed her cheeks back with both palms. “We need to cover more ground. The CIA is increasing the eyes and ears of the INTELligence community. Together we have to sniff this thing out. There is no alternative. This is a huge challenge we must win.

  Granger had finished his phone call and was listening. “We do have some leads on the ‘who’ component that might lead to the rest of the unknowns.” He jutted his face next to Meret’s. “Meanwhile, I’m going to arrange for a team of CIA agents to work with you in Houston to provide a higher level of security. You guys are low-hanging fruit of knowledge and are critical to the initial success of us getting ahead of the pending Homeland attack.”

  Poppy
nodded and Zhen looked like he was some place else, all ready working on solutions. It was one of the many things she loved about him.

  “One more thing, and I hope this works for you. When the security agents meet with you, and they will soon, they will be armed and will insist you follow their directions and accept the fact you need to be trained and armed as part of your training.” She knew they might not like it and Zhen frowned, as she thought he would, but not Poppy.

  “Yippie ki-yay,” she said with a huge smile.

  45

  Rome

  August, Debby’s apartment - Debby joins the fray.

  They went directly to the last known address Granger’s asset had for his daughter. Looking at the apartments favored by students within walking distance between Sapienza university and the huge terminus of trains at the Roma Terminal, Meret remembered one of the non-academic reasons living at the Zalea made for her to attend Rice. The apartments were clean, inexpensive and very crowded.

  Ascending the column of stairs to the forth floor reminded her of the several weeks that passed without her daily run.

  Meret said, “Does she know you are coming?”

  He paused after climbing one floor and looked at the remaining stair case. “No.”

  “Have you ever met her?”

  “No.”

  They continued and she noticed he used the hand rail for the first time. “What will you say to her?”

  He stopped on the third floor landing and rubbed his fingers across his forehead. “Her father told me she knows some English and Italian, but my Arabic should be sufficient.” He exhaled sharply. “I’m not looking forward to telling her of her father’s death.”

  She placed her palm on his shoulder. “Are you okay, Granger? Want to sit before we knock on her door?”

  He gave her a quick open mouthed smile. “Good idea, but let’s stop for a minute,” He lifted his chin toward the forth floor landing “up there.”