The Origin Point: A Future Tech Cyber Novella (13 page)

On the one hand Carter welcomed the
innovations. He considered the efficiencies and conveniences to be
gained would transform people's lives and provide extended time for
education, culture and recreational pursuits. But on the other
hand, did government really have a right to maintain such detail on
every citizen? Shouldn't the focus of technology be on security
only, and those who may threaten domestic peace? Blanket coverage
was designed to catch everyone, but at the expense of the majority
innocent, law-abiding citizens.

Turning away from the window, Carter knew
his musings were futile. Having provided money, equipment and
technical expertise to build the program, he was already entirely
implicated in the project's eventual implementation. His name would
be hidden from history but he would always know the critical role
he had played. In his lifetime the early stages of COSA would come
to fruition, and he would clearly see the impact his handiwork will
have on future generations, including his own children. 'All
right,' he unenthusiastically conceded. 'I've made up my mind. I'm
still with them. But where is Apex and what will happen if her
actions are ever traced back to me?'

*

A week later Dallas's first article,
covering the impact of transforming public education online,
appeared in the National Republic. In the article, she covertly
speculated on the possibility of the initiative being encouraged by
the federal government. Julia did not miss the insinuation, and
immediately contacted Marco.

"So much for having Dallas Winter under
control," she admonished him.

Marco had been stunned by the story and knew
all too well the impact Dallas's words would have on his colleague
and their plans. But he downplayed his concern to reluctantly
reassure Julia of their position. "She is covering a legitimate
story Julia, there is nothing to worry about," he responded.

"A legitimate story? She's trying to draw
attention to our work."

"She can't draw attention to the specifics.
She does not know what we're doing. She's speculating as
journalists do all the time. There's an article a day about online
education, no one will attribute unique significance to her
words."

"But if people do, they will want to take
immediate action."

"What do you mean?"

"You understand my meaning. People have
worked long and hard to get to this point, Marco. No one wants to
see even subtle leaks generated by your friends in the broader
media. No one will accept being undermined by a reporter."

"And?"

"And action will be taken."

"Like what?"

"Like making sure she cannot spread the
story."

"Julia, there is no story to spread. Dallas
does not have our confidential information."

"You have to understand, Marco, this project
has important sponsors."

"As I am well aware, but they will not
notice suspicious words in a general story on online education.
Only we know the whole story behind the story."

"The backers will not be disrupted in their
plan to rollout on time."

"What have you done, Julia?"

"We have to make sure everyone connected to
the process is protected."

"Did you tell other people about the
information Dallas inadvertently obtained?"

"For the protection of COSA, our security is
on par with national security, Marco. We have no choice but to
defend our interests."

"She didn't do anything wrong!"

"Did you read Carter's report on the
security breach at Horizon? You let down your guard with Winter and
we have to face the consequences."

"She did not create the flash drive."

"Maybe not, but she has compromised our
security by reading the contents of the documents. She is a danger
to us, Marco. I'm sorry, but action has to be taken."

"What action?"

"Action appropriate to the
circumstances."

"Julia, if you have authorized an
action—"

"Don't bother to try and threaten me, Marco.
You knew what could happen when this whole mess started."

While she was speaking, Marco turned to his
laptop to activate a FedSec emergency protocol and sent agents in
search of Dallas. "I can take action too, Julia."

"Don't try. You'll force questions to be
asked where none should be forthcoming."

"I'll do what I can to protect an innocent
woman."

"Save yourself, Marco. Let me recommend you
save yourself."

*

Entering her darkened apartment, Dallas
moved forward into the hallway and nonchalantly reached back to
switch on a light. A second later, a glove hand encircled her head
from behind and clamped over her mouth.

Swallowing a scream, Dallas fought an
instinct to hold still while squirming to face her assailant.

But he held her back tightly against his
body and in his grip she nearly missed the strained sound of a man
rapidly confessing, "It's me, it's me. Don't scream." Dallas
twisted around in his arms as Marco let go and removed his hand.
"Sorry I did not mean to startle you," he hastily stated. "But I
did not want you to scream or throw something at me."

Shaking in shock, Dallas backed up against
her front door. "Oh my God!" she responded.

"Sorry, sorry." Marco took her hand and led
her to the living room sofa. "Sit down." Dallas dropped onto the
sofa and stared at Marco. "I'll get you some water." Marco ran to
the kitchen and returned with a glass of water, which Dallas
accepted with an unsteady hand.

"What are you doing here?" She finally
managed to ask.

"Are you all right, feeling calmer?"

"I guess."

Marco sat down on the couch next to her. "I
had to sneak in, sorry I startled you."

"What are you doing here?"

Marco took a deep breath. "What are you
doing with the information you read in the fake policy files?"

Dallas stared at him. "You snuck into my
apartment to confront me about the files?"

"What are you doing with the
information?"

"Nothing."

"You wrote an article about online
education."

"And?"

"And the speculative hints you added were
mysteriously similar to the content of the education file in the
documents you found."

"Is that a problem?"

Marco bristled. "You promised not to refer
to the content."

"I did independent research."

"Don't split hairs, Dal. You are trying to
draw out the writers of those documents."

"And if I was, why do you care? You said
you're not the writer. FedSec is not the writer."

"I care because from the beginning you have
associated the files with FedSec, and we do not want to be
associated with somebody's random thought pieces about the
future."

"And you had to break into my place to
remind me of your concerns?"

"Yes. I cannot be meeting you all the time
during business hours. And I cannot drop by and officially visit
you at night. I had to covertly come over here to specifically
remind you of your promise."

"I'm keeping my promise."

"Dal, your article is not a joke. You are
trying to work around your promise by writing about the very issues
you should be avoiding. Is gender bias in code up next?"

"No."

"Okay, one of the other topics? Either way,
drop the idea right now."

"And if I don't?"

"Dal..."

"What's the real story here, Marco? You must
have more because you would not go to all this trouble over a
little online education piece if you weren't engaged in some kind
of cover-up."

"Cover-up?"

"Yes."

"What are you talking about?"

Dallas hesitated. "I know there is a bigger
story, Marco. I literally know and I'm not the only one. Why don't
you come clean, be the one to break this wide open and we can have
a proper public debate."

Marco narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what
you are talking about."

"Marco, give up your plan and tell me the
story. I can protect you, as a source."

"You're crazy, Dal." He stood up. "There is
no story. And let me tell you, I am not going to accept your idea
about doing an end-run around our deal. You publish another story
containing content from those files, and I'll personally request
the warrant for your arrest."

"For what?"

"You'll find out when you hear the
charges."

"The files are authentic, right?" Dallas
stood to face him. "The documents are not some policy speculation.
The information is real, right?"

"No comment."

"You think your threats will stop me."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because FedSec has extraordinary resources,
Dal. Don't make me use them."

"Go ahead Mr. Director, use the best you've
got. Because I know about the project you are planning. I know
about your unconstitutional infiltration into our personal privacy.
And I'm not the only one. Go ahead and take me out if you want. But
remember there will be others behind me."

Marco fought to keep his eyes from clouding
over in shock, and his face from betraying his galloping concern.
"You expect me to believe you shared this potentially explosive
story with another reporter, no way."

"Go ahead with your theory."

"Be careful Dal, I will."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"It's not me you need to be afraid of.
That's your challenge here, Dal. I'm not your enemy. Your enemy is
not someone you can see. And you will realize too late, just how
vulnerable you have been from the beginning."

*

Julia completed her eleventh straight
appeasement phone call to a GCS colleague, sighed, stood and walked
over to a cabinet where she had all the supplies to pour herself an
adult drink. From the window inside her office at Horizon, she
could see the flat tranquility of the Potomac River and appreciate
the silence of this section of the city, which was a buzzing hub of
waterfront activity during the day and melted away into upper class
passivity at night. Her mind reeled from the lectures she had been
receiving from each caller. GCS's backers had established clear
overall objectives for their alliance: keep democracy and free
market capitalism moving forward; accept policies towards progress;
reject failed ideas from eras past; promote individuals striving
towards their highest potential; guard wealth and prosperity for
those who are willing to work for it; and fight back against anyone
attempting to abandon, disrupt or end any objective of the mission.
At its core, the mandate tactically covered maintaining an
operational free market not with hope, but with industry,
technology and a viable defense against those who were aiming to
destroy their stability. In a world where human beings had the
capacity to think, GCS members used their brains to a singular
advantage. They determined that regardless of the vagaries of the
democratic process, the pronouncements of media headlines or the
chatter on social media, they would advance their own plans to
ensure an economic and social atmosphere in which they could
thrive.

Members met throughout the year in scattered
small groups and private reunions aimed at solidifying freedom and
wealth by uniting those who thought about independent action. Among
themselves, people spoke freely about exactly how they would guard
prosperity by, among other initiatives, building a cyber safety net
across all of their government, business and social operations. The
discussions initially began as distinctive aspirations, but emerged
into determined pronouncements. The group placed no constraints of
politics, culture, gender, ethnicity, seniority, media, or the law
on its thinkers. And demanded in return attention, diligence,
confidentiality and perseverance in exchange for a future
employment contract designed to ensure their ability to continue to
manage the project until the point when the secret died with them.
Members understood the risk they were taking with their careers
when they agreed to join GCS, and none thought twice about the
importance of the broader external mission.

Returning to her desk, she called Marco.

"Hello Julia," Marco responded on
answering.

"I have just spoken to about a dozen of our
outside colleagues to reassure them about the project's status,"
she said.

"Why did they need reassurance?" Marco
guardedly demanded.

"You know I have a duty to ensure our
international cooperation remains in place."

"Fine." He paused. "Has everyone settled
down?"

"Nominally there is fear, Marco. And when
people are afraid, we have trouble."

"You made them afraid for no reason."

"No, I did not."

"What do you call your actions?"

"My actions were the needed response to an
unsettling event."

"Really?"

"Yes, not all activity is related to you and
your friends, Marco. In this case, I was responding to a story
about someone telling someone else there was subversive discussion
in hacker circles about the reach of our program."

"What?"

"And the hackers have much more information
than Dallas Winter ever could have gathered from reading a few
files."

"What information?"

"Basically the whole program."

"The documents from the breach at
Horizon?"

"Maybe."

"And it's legitimate...the details they've
been saying?"

"Yes, the information has been disseminated
much further than we could have predicted."

"But how and by whom?"

"We have no clear idea. But your friend
Dallas has received a break. Our efforts now turn to the more
definite problem on our hands, a hacker, one or more with an agenda
to expose our secret."

*

Apex lay across the couch in her College
Park room fielding text messages from independent technologist
friends around the world.