Mark Young - Off the grid

Kane nodded. “A background investigator in Seattle asked the same question when you left the Marine Corps and turned your back on MIT to become a cop.”

“So you know the answer.”

“You told them it was none of their damn business.”

“And I’m telling you the same thing.”

“I’m surprised they took you on after that answer.”

“I guess what I had to offer outweighed what the investigator thought was an impertinent answer.”

Kane smirked. “I see things have not changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“Still trying to be a loner. Disobeying orders. Getting into situations without any backup. In short, you’re still impertinent.”

“Is that a problem for you?

“Not at all, my b-” Kane caught himself. “Not at all, Gerrit. In fact, you’re just the kind of man I want. Willing to think on his feet and take chances.”

Kane began pacing the room. “Clarke thinks you’ll be watching his back while in Vienna. That dummy thinks his backside’s worth protecting. Personally, I could care less if a terrorist caps him. But babysitting this jerk will give you a legitimate reason to be in Vienna. We have another mission for you. Another opportunity.”

“Opportunity?”

Kane returned to his desk. “Exactly. I want you to steal something for us without getting caught.”

Lawton rose. “I think I’ll be off, gentlemen. Don’t think you need me to discuss these details.” He shook Gerrit’s hand before turning toward Kane. “Richard, I know you’ve picked the right man. Let me know when you’ve knicked this thing. If you run into any trouble, I will be around in Vienna. Let’s just try to keep this operation between friends, shall we?” He nodded before leaving.

Gerrit’s stomach tightened as he watched the British agent leave. Whatever they wanted him to do, Lawton wanted to be able to say he was not part of this conversation. That he was never present when Gerrit got his marching orders.

Plausible deniability.

Gerrit turned toward Kane as soon as Lawton left. “You brought me all the way over here to be a thief?”

“Cool down,” Kane said, as he returned to his seat, leaning back before continuing. “Let me preface all this by saying national security really is at the heart of the matter. There are some documents we need to get our hands on that an American scientist is concealing. If we go snooping around his office back in the States, we might ruffle some feathers over at DOJ.”

“You mean spying on American citizens on U.S. soil?”

“Exactly. Even under the Patriot Act, we’d be hard-pressed to explain why we’re snooping around this guy’s research facility.”

“But on foreign soil, the rules somehow change?”

“Not exactly, but at least it’s not on U.S. soil. And we’re using foreign operatives that can get us the kind of access and information we need to pull this off while building layers between us and-”

“Foreign operatives? Do I look like a foreign operative? And what do you mean by access? Are you talking about-?”

“This guy is not willing to level with us. He believes he has a mandate from God to share his findings with the world. That, my friend, would not be in our country’s best interests.”

“What exactly does he want to unleash on the world?”

“A way to make the Internet virtually unprotected. No secrets. No privacy. No way of shielding governments from the prying eyes of their enemies.”

“You mean computer technology and data open to the world? Like Internet banking?”

“Exactly. This moron-like those whackos from WikiLeaks-believe that all communication and data storage should be available to the world community. Everything open to gawk at. They want to curtail commerce to on-site transactions, for example.”

“How do they expect to achieve this?”

“They’ve almost achieved it. By combining recent research in quantum computers, finding the flaw in the latest bio-inspired cyber security, and by linking recent developments with nanotechnology-we believe they may have reached their goal.”

Gerrit shook his head. “There is no way one scientist was able to accomplish all that. He’d have to-”

“Conspire with a core group of scientists with the same goals. That’s exactly what this idiot did. Joined forces with other do-gooders in interrelated fields to break down our security.”

“What’s their objective? Destroy the country?”

“Naively, they think by exposing all governments to world scrutiny, this will somehow bring about world peace.”

“I can see some merit to that. But total exposure?”

“Exactly. This is why I detest weak-minded academia. No offense, Gerrit. Unlike you, they never lived in the real world.” Kane stood. “It would be absurd to be that open in the kind of world we live in. Look at the dangers we face in the intelligence community alone.”

Gerrit nodded. “Has our government sanctioned this operation?”

Kane raised his hands palms up. “Let’s just say the government would like to see us succeed.”

“What makes this guy so important? Can’t you put pressure on him to back off? The feds ought to be good at that.”

“It gets worse, Gerrit. This guy hacked into a closely guarded server the government maintains that stores every known operation-military and intelligence-throughout the world. Names, dates, times, resources, covert scientific projects, and a list of operatives and scientists in each of these operations.”

Whew! “And he intends to publish this?”

Kane nodded. “That’s why we need to stop him cold. To discredit his work, and take what he’s already stolen.”

“And if I get caught?”

Kane shrugged. “We’ll try to intervene, but…”

Gerrit had heard this music before. They’d intervene on his behalf about as solidly as he could tap dance on a sheet of thin ice with steel-toed combat boots. “These foreign operatives…how will they achieve what you want. Coercion?”

Kane grimaced. “Coercion is such a strong word. Let’s just say they will be able to reason with him more forcibly than we could under U.S. law.”

CIA interrogation efforts overseas? Gerrit heard about some of these operations, however he’d never witnessed any. He found himself divided over this issue, having seen firsthand what these terrorists were capable of. But U.S. citizens? “I won’t be a part of any operation that calls for torture-whether U.S. citizens or foreign nationals.”

“And you won’t. All we need for you to do is grab this guy’s files and extract anything that might harm our national security. He won’t even be around to bother you.”

Uneasy, Gerrit sat back down. This operation seemed to have been cleared through his chief, and the Department of Justice’s sanction would make it appear that Kane and his people would be on their best behavior. His own boss ordered him to cooperate. “Okay, tell me more about this guy and what you want me to do.”

“The target is a scientist by the name of Ron Adleman.” Kane began sharing details of the operation.

As Gerrit listened, he didn’t hear anything that would be outside the realm of sanctioned covert operations. It was more Kane himself that made Gerrit wonder if he was doing the right thing. Instinct urged him to walk away from this.

Instead, he sat and listened. He could not walk away from a threat to his country’s security. However, the absence of a clear chain of command, a clearly identified sanction from the government meant that he would be swimming in murky waters.

And he would be on his own. No backup. No safety net.

He’d better not fall. “Okay, I’m in.”

Kane smiled broadly and rose, walking toward the door. “Good. Be ready to move in about a week. We will be in touch with details. Now, return home and relax. Have a good trip.”