Imagine (Fuzed Trilogy Book 2) Page 9

  She opened her eyes, and between coughs said, “Oh, there you are.” She grabbed his good hand and held it in a vice grip as he carefully stroked her hair. Thankfully, she must have missed his unconventional entrance. He just sat on the floor of the helicopter holding her.

  Looking toward the back of the helo, he noticed one of the crew wasn’t wearing a flight suit or helmet. Instead, he wore fatigues with a holstered pistol, but even from the side, Josh recognized Tim Smith. He and Tim were similar height and build, but Tim looked like a classic Anglo-Saxon guy, with brown hair, brown eyes and no remarkable features. It was the perfect disguise for a truly remarkable man.

  The deadly CIA operative glanced back at Josh and gave him a head nod.

  Josh nodded back dumbly, wondering, How on earth? Still sitting on the floor, he leaned back against the stretcher support and closed his eyes for a second.

  When he woke, Josh found himself lying against a soft equipment bag, sporting an oxygen mask and a bandage on his burned hand. Sitting up, he pulled the mask off and looked out the window next to him. The helicopter was approaching a small city. As they descended, he saw white colonial architecture. His internal clock said he’d been out for about 30 minutes. From his research on Columbia, he knew the city of Popayan, about 150 kilometers north, was nicknamed the “white city.”

  The skies were clear and the sun was setting over the hills, creating a beautifully serene vista. Sometimes, it took the very real possibility of death ... to appreciate life. It explained the adrenaline junkie’s quest, or at least provided a poetic excuse.

  As the Black Hawk started its landing approach, Josh noticed ambulances and police waiting for them on the ground below. Looking back inside, he saw Elizabeth giving her windbreaker to Alejandra and dumping the guerilla’s camouflage jacket into a medical trash bag. Curious, Josh watched Elizabeth take her own necklace with a cross, and place it over the young guerilla’s neck. She then pulled Alejandra’s hair back into a ponytail. He realized Elizabeth was transforming Alejandra from a dangerous guerilla into a cute teenager — an important distinction among those waiting below.

  The pilot set the Black Hawk down gently. As soon as he could, Josh stepped out of the helo to allow the emergency medical team to offload patients. As the helicopter’s engines shut down, Josh made a point of thanking the pilot and crewmembers with an appropriate South American hug.

  He found Elizabeth near an ambulance, reporting the status of each patient to the EMTs. Alejandra stood next to Elizabeth holding her little brother’s hand. As they loaded the small boy and his IV into the ambulance, his eyes opened and he smiled at his sister. The fluids, undoubtedly, spelled the difference between life and death for the child.

  Smiling and crying, Alejandra hugged Elizabeth. Then, seeing Josh, she ran to him and gave him a huge hug.

  He kissed her forehead and in Spanish said, “Us Indians need to stick together.” She hugged him again, and then jumped into the ambulance with her brother.

  As it pulled away, Josh looked over and saw Rodriquez lying on a stretcher waiting to be loaded into another ambulance.

  Rodriquez waved him over.

  With the helicopter’s engines shut down, it was quiet as Josh went to the priest’s side.

  Rodriquez pulled his oxygen mask off and said softly, “Thank you, but you should have left me behind.”

  “I couldn’t. I’d never get to hear the rest of your story.”

  Rodriquez smiled. “We’ll discuss it over a glass of wine someday after you complete your mission.”

  Josh shook his head. “I’m done with comets and volcanos for a while.”

  Rodriquez raised his eyebrows. “That’s not the mission I meant.”

  Josh frowned. “What do you mean?”

  The EMTs indicated they were ready to load him into the ambulance.

  Grabbing Josh’s hand, Rodriquez’s eyes became unfocused as if he were staring through Josh. With a distant, inflectionless voice, he said, “The danger isn’t from above. It’s close, very close. You don’t have much time.” His eyes refocused as he let go of Josh’s hand.

  “Who told you that?”

  Rodriquez ignored his questions and, sounding normal again, said, “My life has had many challenges, but ...” he winked at Josh, “thank God I’m not a prophet.”

  “Wait!” Before Josh could question him, the EMT put the oxygen mask back on and Rodriquez closed his eyes. As they loaded him into the ambulance, Tim came over and stood next to Josh.

  Seeing Josh’s frown, Tim nodded toward the ambulance. “Is he going to be OK?”

  “Yeah, he is ... not so sure about the rest of us.” Turning to Tim, he asked, “So how’d you find us? Did a satellite spot our plane in the river?”

  “A satellite, yes, but it wasn’t a photo bird. Weather was too bad. It was a SIGINT satellite. It locked onto one of your cell phone’s transmissions and got the GPS coordinates. Took us right to you.”

  “Whose phone?”

  “Elizabeth’s.”

  Josh glanced at Elizabeth, who was sitting on the back of an ambulance, finally allowing the EMT to look at the bump on her head. Josh smiled and shook his head. “Great. I’ll never hear the end of that one.” Looking back at Tim, he said, “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but I don’t imagine you just happened to be vacationing in the mountains of Columbia.”

  “Soon as I heard you were outside the U.S., I came.”

  Josh looked at him blankly.

  In his usual deadpan, Tim said, “Last time you left the country, you dove off an Antarctic cliff. The next time, you stole and destroyed an Australian fighter. Then you—”

  “All right, I get it.”

  Tim continued, “Davidson sent me here to give you a message because he couldn’t reach you by phone. When I heard there was an airplane involved ....”

  With a half-smile, Josh said, “What’s the message?”

  Tim looked around and quietly said, “Your personal records from the Prophet Operation were compromised.”

  “Compromised?”

  “Someone broke into the CIA’s computer system. They were searching specifically for your files and apparently downloaded everything the CIA knows about you.”

  Josh frowned. “I’m guessing it’s not easy to break into CIA computers. Do we know who was behind it?”

  “Not yet, but whoever they are, they knew what they were doing.”

  “Who’d be interested in me?”

  “I was going to ask you the same question.”

  Josh thought for a moment. “I honestly don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’m a pretty likable guy.”

  With the slightest hint of a smile, Tim said, “Although the CIA did try to kill you last year.”

  Josh smiled. “I don’t make a good first impression.” Then, looking Tim in the eye, he said, “Regardless ... thank you for saving our butts.”

  “Just returning the favor.” He added, “You need to get back to D.C. and figure out what’s going on.”

  Josh shook his head. “Can’t leave Elizabeth, particularly now.”

  Tim’s eyes narrowed. “If they’re targeting you, your presence may actually put her at risk.”

  Josh frowned. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

  Tim said, “I’ll stay here and watch after her until we can get her back.”

  “OK. No one in the world I trust her life with more than you.” For a second, he saw a flash of pain in Tim’s eyes. Then his normal mask returned. He nodded, turned and left.

  Exhausted, Josh and Elizabeth found one of the few hotels in Popayan that the earthquake hadn’t damaged. They grabbed some basic food and collapsed into bed.

  The next morning, they woke up sore and still coughing, but happy to be alive. Elizabeth called the U.N. Relief Director in Bogota. After she got off the phone, she said, “Josh, they’re in desperate need of a neuro nurse here. I told them I’d stay in Popayan a couple days until they can replace me. Tim doesn’t have to stay her
e and babysit.”

  Josh said, “This isn’t open for debate. Until we get to the bottom of this, he’ll be your shadow.”

  She rolled her eyes, but gave him a kiss.

  Discovering the last flight out of Popayan was leaving in an hour, he rushed to the airport. On the way there, he realized he still hadn’t told Elizabeth about his developing relationship with Jen.

  14

  RETURN

  As soon as Josh arrived in D.C., he called the number Tim gave him for Davidson. They connected him with someone named Pat, who gave him a location and a time to meet. It was a suite at the Marriott in Tysons Corner, about six miles from Langley. Josh understood it was safer for all involved to meet outside the headquarters for now.

  Josh knocked on the hotel room door. A large man in a suit opened the door and invited him in, then left. Davidson came over to shake Josh’s hand, but seeing the bandage, patted him on the shoulder instead. “Good to see you, Josh.”

  “Thanks for sending Tim.” With a wry smile, he added, “Although, I had the guerillas and volcano pretty much under control.”

  Looking at Josh’s bandaged hand, Davidson smiled. “No doubt.”

  They sat down in upholstered chairs by the window.

  Looking serious, Davidson asked, “Do you think that situation had anything to do with you specifically?”

  Josh frowned. “I can’t imagine someone disabling the entire GPS satellite system on the off chance I’d be in an old airplane with no nav aids and a pilot blindly following his iPhone.”

  Davidson nodded. “Actually, it wasn’t the GPS satellites; it was just the navigation apps that used the GPS signal. It caused traffic jams across the globe, but you’re right, I’d have trouble buying that even in a Mission: Impossible movie.”

  Josh said, “I told Tim, I can’t think of who’d be aware of me much less out to get me.” He paused. “Since you’re now the director of the agency that tried to kill me,” Josh smiled, “I feel relatively safe.”

  Davidson laughed.

  Josh continued, “Do we know anything more about who broke in?”

  “No, but we found out how they did it. Now we are talking a good Mission: Impossible plot. The computer rooms are shielded from cell signals, and all phones have to be turned off and turned in before entering. The hackers piggybacked a program onto the phone of one of our IT people. They disguised it as an update to one of his apps. Somehow, this program turned his phone back on after it had been set aside. The phone connected to a short-range Bluetooth system used to control peripheral equipment like printers. It somehow accessed the servers through that, broke through several levels of encryption, and found and downloaded your files. Then it shut the phone off. Once the phone was outside and turned back on, it transmitted the files.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah. The cyber guys were blown away by the sophistication of the attack.”

  Josh asked, “So, now that you know how it was done, can you prevent it from happening again?”

  “Sure, but our cyber guys are worried.”

  “Why?”

  “They said the bad guys didn’t bother to hide how they did it.”

  Josh nodded thoughtfully. “So, that means they either got all they needed, or they’re so far ahead of us, they believe they can gain access whenever they want.”

  Davidson nodded.

  “Have there been any other attacks like this on government systems?”

  “Based on the sophistication and method, our Cyber Warfare people think that whoever stole your files was behind the global traffic jams.” He paused. “The entire U.S. is at INFOCON 4.”

  “INFOCON 4?”

  “Stands for Information Operations Condition. It uses the same classification levels as DEFCON. Five is the lowest level and One is the highest. One would mean we’re engaged in full-out cyber warfare.

  Josh nodded. “So, what information did they get?”

  “They copied all the Prophet Operation files. They know everything we knew about you up until the time you were shot and medevac’d to the carrier. At that point, we shut the operation down and closed the files.” He added with a half-smile, “Mostly out of embarrassment.”

  “So they don’t necessarily know I’m still alive.”

  “No ... but the files included information about Elizabeth. It would be pretty easy to find you through her.”

  “What else was in the files?”

  He grimaced. “Unfortunately, it included your medical records and the results of all the tests they did at the hospital: genetic, IQ and Dr. Lopez’s psychological evaluation.”

  Josh nodded and then asked, “By the way, was there anything odd about any of my medical test results?”

  Davidson smiled. “Yeah, your IQ was over 160, and the psychological test said you were paranoid.” He smiled. “But, since we really were out to get you, we can probably disregard that diagnosis.”

  Josh smiled and then asked, “You mentioned a genetic test?”

  “After you were identified as public enemy number one, we did a full genome mapping.”

  “Why?”

  “Standard procedure on high-interest individuals. It sometimes helps us determine nationality and even family. It can also identify inheritable diseases, allowing us to track a suspect by treatment or medication. Of course, it can be used later to positively identify remains.” Shrugging, he added, “It’s a long shot, but we’d be crazy not to use it. In your case, it was easy to get tissue samples from the hospital.”

  Josh nodded and then casually asked, “Was there anything unusual about my genetic test results?”

  Davidson shrugged. “Don’t know.”

  “Why?”

  “Apparently, the test didn’t work. The lab said the tissue samples were bad.”

  Josh repeated, “Bad?”

  Davidson shook his head. “I don’t remember the details.” He picked up and flipped through one of the files. After a few seconds, he said, “I think they only found part of your DNA.” He closed the folder and handed it to Josh.

  Josh asked, “Who else knows about me and these files?”

  “Aside from Carl Casey and my Science Director, the Director of National Intelligence and the President are aware.”

  Josh nodded.

  Davidson said, “Josh, I’m sorry about this.” He leaned forward. “How about helping us figure out who stole your files? It’s in the CIA’s interest to find out who can hack what we thought was an un-hackable system, and if this was tied to the global traffic jam, whoever did it is a huge potential threat to national security.” He paused. “But it’s also in your best interest to figure out who might be gunning for you.”

  Josh thought for a moment and then nodded.

  Davidson said, “Great. Would you be willing to work with Tim Smith?”

  He nodded again.

  Davidson stood up. “I’ll have him contact you.” Then frowning, he added, “Wait. I remember something else about your file. Shortly after we closed the operation, I got a call from the head of one of our labs. She asked if she could get more tissue samples from you. I told her you’d disappeared and were presumed dead. She was clearly disappointed. Really wanted a piece of you.” He tilted his head slightly. “Any idea what that might be about?”

  Josh looked down and shook his head.

  15

  DNA

  After leaving the meeting with Davidson, Josh found and rented a second-floor, furnished apartment in D.C. Old on the outside and remodeled on the inside, it was conveniently located and outrageously expensive. However, with Elizabeth’s U.N. work based out of D.C. and Josh working with the CIA at Langley, it made sense. For Josh, it was both comforting and frustrating to know his daughter, Caitlin, lived only a few miles away.

  Elizabeth flew from Bogota to Austin to spend a day with her parents, and Tim flew to D.C. He told Josh to meet him at CIA Headquarters.

  Josh asked, “Is that wise?”

  Tim said, “Cat’s
already out of the bag.”

  The CIA headquarters had a very different feel for Josh than the last time he was here. The SR-71 Blackbird jet at the entrance no longer felt like Edgar Allen Poe’s menacing raven. In a year, Josh had gone from public enemy number one to CIA ally.

  They met in a small conference room.

  As soon as Tim saw him, he asked, “How’s your hand?”

  Josh looked down at it. He’d removed the bandage. Just like his recovery from the bullet wounds, his hand had healed ludicrously fast. Holding it open, there was only a little pink skin where the burns had been. Josh shrugged. “Guess it wasn’t as bad as it looked.”

  Tim looked at his hand, clearly surprised. Then frowned and shook his head. “Davidson said you’re willing to help them figure out who cracked their computer.”

  Josh nodded and then looked at him curiously. “What exactly did you do when you worked for the CIA?”

  Josh could tell he was debating how to answer. Finally, he said, “I did a number of things, but started as an Exfil.”

  “What’s an Exfil”?”

  “Exfiltration.”

  Josh scratched his head. “Opposite of infiltration? You snuck out of places?”

  “I snuck people out, out of places and deadly situations.”

  “Sounds dangerous.”

  Tim nodded. “I liked helping people escape, but that’s not what we’re here for. Let’s talk about your skills and experience.”

  Josh smiled. “I can recite the Greek alphabet backwards in case we have to infiltrate a fraternity or sorority.”

  Ignoring his humor, Tim asked, “You have a photographic memory?”

  Josh nodded. “And a knack for languages. I can speak Spanish, and I think I can learn other languages quickly.”

  Tim said, “That’s very useful.” He paused. “On Mount Howe, you got the jump on a SEAL. I assume you have a strong background in close-quarters combat?”

  “Second-degree black belt in Karate, some judo and a military Expert qualification in pistol and rifle.”