The cafeteria was one of the job perks. Unlike most company cafeterias, this one would make available anything she ordered, and all of it was covered by the foundation. For unexpected or exotic dishes, such as lobster tails for breakfast, prior notice was required, but no questions were ever asked. Her usual lunch order remained simple and consisted of a fruit plate and a specific brand of European yogurt.
“Yes, please.” She sat at her customary table beside the window, turned on her tablet, and pretended to read while thinking more about that morning’s dream. She wondered if she was just becoming paranoid.
Maybe it was just a random murder. She wanted to convince herself but knew this wasn’t the case.
The chef brought over her meal, and she made an attempt to eat. A motion caught her attention, and she looked up to see Mikhail stroll into the cafeteria and pick up a cup of coffee. Then he walked over to her table and pulled out a chair. “Hello, again.”
“You wanted to speak to me?” she asked, wanting to get to the point.
Mikhail nodded, “Yes. I know that you were hired to work here on Virtuesh and its vaccine, but you’re nearly done. Would you be interested in working at the North America village site known as Percipience? You’d be getting their laboratory established and making sure that everything is set up properly for the arrivaal of the virus.”
She hoped he hadn’t noticed her exhale with relief. “For how long?”
“That’s up to you. The construction time is about a year so you could be part of that, or you could join the village permanently. You certainly have the personality profile for it. But if you decide to stick around, you have to make your decision formal very soon. Permanent members do help with the construction, but most of the next year will be spent training them on basic skills like farming, making clothes, and building things in the on-site Fabrication Hub.”
“How long do I have to make up my mind?”
“Two, maybe three, weeks tops.”
“I’ll let you know in a week.”
“Great, I’d hate to see you go. Staying would be the right decision.” Mikhail said then got up and left. She still wasn’t sure what to make of Mikhail and couldn’t help wondering if there was an implied threat in his response or if he was being genuine. In either case, she felt that she needed to be very careful over the next week to avoid the same fate as her friend.
4 - Reconnaissance
Other than being with Gwen and helping with funeral arrangements, Diane had not done too much in the days following her brother’s death. She contacted the detectives assigned to her brother’s case, and although they were working hard, they stood at a dead end with no leads to follow. The only thing they were certain about was that it was not a random stabbing.
Gwen had invited Diane to stay in her house, but she preferred her own bed in the RV. She had parked on the street beside her brother’s house and right beside where he had left his boat in winter. Each time she looked out of the side window of the RV, she remembered his talking about getting her to help him pave the space next summer. This memory along with many more that were triggered by being around his home helped to make up Diane’s mind that within the week she would leave the city and go somewhere far away. Gwen showed her concern when Diane told her of her plans to leave soon.
“Are you sure you want to do this? You’ve been living around here your entire life, and all your friends are here.”
“I’ll keep in touch with them, but I need to get away for a while. Everything around here reminds me of my brother, and it’s too painful right now.”
“Are you going to keep living under the radar like you’ve been doing for the last few years?”
“Yes—I can’t stand the thought of being monitored and controlled by the government, or for that matter, society in general. I’ll keep my two identities going and use my fake one when I can.”
“What about work?”
“I don’t think I’ll have much trouble. There’s always someone looking for a mechanic, welder, or a general laborer for odd jobs, and before you ask, yes, I can take care of myself. I have a few guns in the RV, and my brother taught me years ago how to hold my own in a brawl.”
“But you’ll keep in touch, won’t you?”
“Absolutely. I’m not sure if I’ll keep the same phone number though as I usually try to get local area codes with my burn phone. The best way to reach me will be via e-mail, which I promise to check every day.”
The moving plan gave her something other than her brother’s death to focus on. She started by cleaning her RV, which she had neglected during the past few weeks. When she was nearly finished, she discovered it—the laptop her brother had dropped off a few days before he was killed. He had complained that some virus had infected it and asked if she could get rid of it. She knew that she should turn it over to the police but decided to examine it first and see if there were any pictures of her brother that she could save.
Before turning it on, she turned off the switch that controlled the wireless Internet access. The last thing she wanted was to have any number of people see her brother appear online in his social media feeds. She felt uncomfortable snooping through his personal folders but soon was engrossed in the pictures. She was very pleased to find several recent ones of them together that Gwen had taken. Saving them to a thumb drive, she was about to turn off the computer when she decided to look at recent files, emails, and websites to see if she could find a clue to his murder.
She accessed his email account, which, fortunately, had been set to automatically log in. She went through a few weeks of entries, as well as recent files, and other than messages from friends and advertisements, there was nothing of significance. However, she did find something curious in his Internet history. Her brother hadn’t used his laptop frequently and was very predictable when he did. Almost every day, he visited the same websites for news, banking and sports scores, but one entry from a few weeks ago stood out. He had searched for “Virtuesh,” found an unusual link, and then spent considerable time going through the site.
Diane didn’t possess a personal data passport RFID. She wanted no part of what she felt was another way for the government to track the population. She reached into her purse and pulled out a temporary burn RFID then turned on her own computer and used an Internet search engine to look up Virtuesh. She was surprised when only a single relevant link came up. Clicking on it produced a website that described a new research project run by the Pleasant Belief foundation with many job positions that needed to be filled. She scanned the list and saw a few positions she was sure she qualified for. Without thinking much of it, she jotted down the phone number, then spent another few hours looking through her brother’s computer but found nothing else out of the ordinary.
********************
Mikhail’s computer produced a “Hooray” sound, and a small icon began to flash on his screen.
“Looks like I’ve hooked another fish.”
He clicked on the flashing icon and an image of a girl he recognized appeared, but one that he could not place. The trap was a fake website he had put up that could be found only by typing “Virtuesh” into a search engine then clicking on the only website associated with the word. When the site appeared, it fired up a script that activated the computer’s camera, took a picture, and then sent it with the IP address and other information directly to him. This was part of his plan to keep the research division work under strict secrecy and to learn if anyone from outside had discovered information about the virus.
There was no usable information in the RFID information sent so he did a quick location search of the IP address, and despite being unable to get an exact address, he found it to be in the same town as the professor he had just contracted the hit on.
Of course! This was the man’s sister! He had seen a picture of her taken at the funeral. It made perfect sense. He had ordered Hope to get all the evidence the professor had on Virtuesh, but something must have been mi
ssed.
He put the picture and a few details into an encrypted message and sent it to Hope, asking if she could take care of the problem and to find out how the girl had learned about Virtuesh. He had enough to worry about without having to chase after people who would derail Richard’s project or his own agenda.
********************
Packing up the computer and making sure that everything was secure in the RV, Diane drove to the police station to drop off the laptop. As she suspected, there were no new leads, and given the shortage of detectives, she knew that unless there was something solid to follow up, her brother’s case would be filed as a cold case. At her request, they gave her a copy of the suspect’s photo taken from the bus’s surveillance camera. Though the picture showed a clear image of the killer’s face, there was nothing else that could identify him. She knew it was up to her to find him or at least give police a solid lead to follow.
When she returned to Gwen’s house, Diane spent the rest of the day going through her brother’s office but found nothing out of the ordinary. Though she tried, Gwen also was not much help, as she repeated the same thing that she told police, her husband did not have any unusual behavior prior to the attack. Diane felt a growing sense of hopelessness as she headed to her RV late that evening.
Diane awoke the next morning after a restless sleep. Still laying in her bed, she looked again at the picture that the police gave her and then went over the few notes that she had taken in her notebook. The number for the jobs with the Virtuesh project stood out and she decided she had nothing to lose and dialed the number. A pleasant woman with a strong southern accent greeted her.
The woman explained that they had filled most of the positions, but they were still looking for a variety of skills. She went on to explain that not only was the pay quite competitive, but it was work for a good cause as well in support of the Pleasant Belief Foundation. The only drawback was that the last interviews were going to be next week at foundation headquarters, which was on the coast of Washington state. Even though the woman’s tone was upbeat, Diane felt that she was hiding something and before the call ended had already decided that she had to make the fifteen-hundred-mile trip to the Foundation site, and quickly.
********************
Hope hung up from a call, although hers was no ordinary phablet. It was one she had recently purchased from an underground electronics store. Many of its features, while useful, were also illegal. A dozen numbers could be assigned to it, each able to have the owner’s voice disguised with a different accent such as the southern one she used for the Virtuesh website contact number or the British accent that she had assigned when Mikhail called. The additional abilities of being able to record calls, read nearby IIPA RFID chips, and intercept text messages from any phone within a one-mile radius rendered the device tailor-made for Hope’s profession.
Hope had received the message from Mikhail only the day before regarding the new contract and was delighted that her new target had called her. Since Mikhail’s message, Hope had tried to get information on Diane but had come up blank. There was no recorded employer, phone number, address, or credit card transactions to be found. To be this well-hidden, Hope was sure that Diane must have a few different identities. That would be the sensible thing to do if she had a reason to hide. There may be more to this girl than I initially thought.
Using the phone call as a new lead, she took the number that Diane had called from and was able to trace it to an area very close to the house of the last person she had a contract on. Of course! She must be staying with her sister-in-law, Gwen. Hope was not sure from the call if Diane would actually make the trip to the foundation headquarters, so decided to book a private flight to Gwen’s location, leaving immediately.
During her flight, Hope worked on putting on a disguise of a much older woman and spent the remaining time, readying a few gadgets and concealed weapons. After landing, she rented a car and made the short drive to Gwen’s neighborhood. As she approached Gwen’s home she noticed that there were no empty street parking spaces and was relieved when a small RV pulled out right in front of her. She quickly grabbed the spot, made sure she was prepared, then walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.
“Hi,” Gwen said, pulling the door open. “Can I help you?”
“Yes.” She handed Gwen her business card. “My name is Catherine, and I work for the EC Rusk Insurance Company. I’m handling a life-insurance policy your husband held that lists his sister as the beneficiary.”
“I didn’t know anything about this.”
“Well, it’s an old policy.” Hope looked at the clipboard she was carrying. “Do you know where I can find Diane?”
Gwen hesitated, “No. She was here but then left a few days ago. She pretty much keeps to herself, and I don’t know where she went.”
Hope hid her disappointment, “That’s too bad. If she does contact you, or whenever you see her again, could you please tell her to call me? My number is on that card.”
“Of course I will,” Gwen said. “Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”
Hope smiled and turned to walk back to her car. As she reached the end of the sidewalk, she stopped and pretended to adjust her shoe while keeping one hand on the mailbox post to keep her balance. She actually was placing a small wide angle camera on the side of the post. The camera was state of the art and would last at least two days before running out of power while broadcasting a signal that could easily be picked up several blocks away. I know that Gwen is lying, Diane hit the Virtuesh website from this location two days ago and just called from here about six hours ago. I’m going to stay around here for the next day and see what is actually going on.
Diane’s anxiety level started to drop as she put some distance between her and Gwen’s house. Since early in the afternoon, for no reason that she could think of, she was feeling more and more anxious to leave Gwen’s.
After an hour on the road and now feeling much better, she pulled off of the highway and stopped at a gas station and decided to call Gwen.
“Sorry for leaving so abruptly this afternoon.”
“No problem at all,” Gwen replied. “It was a good thing that you did. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes after you left that some insurance agent came around looking for you.”
“Insurance agent?”
“Yeah, said she had an old policy that had you as the benefactor. I was suspicious since your brother never mentioned anything to me about it so I told her that you left days ago.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
“She gave me a business card for you to contact her,” Gwen said and then gave the phone number to Diane.
“So where are you heading?”
“Nowhere in particular, I’m heading south right now,” Diane said, then promised to keep in touch and hung up. Entering the convenience store, she picked up a bit of road food, a roll of duct tape and a new burn phone. Scouring the parking lot, she found a car with Florida plates and taped her fully charged old phone behind it’s bumper before getting back into her RV and programming her GPS for the Foundation headquarters in the Pacific Northwest.
********************
“Impossible!” Spencer thought as he made his way to his cubicle. Quiet time in the office without Sue around had so far eluded him. He had tried staying late but gave up after she continued to work past dinner time. He thought he would outdo her by showing up at six-thirty in the morning, but there she was, a half cup of coffee already consumed and working away.
Others around the office had warned him to not feel discouraged. Though Sue was considered to be the best she was also known to be extremely hard to work with. They had tried to place partners with her in the past but the longest one lasted only a month before asking to be transferred to a remote location if only to get away from her.
It was neither the grueling hours nor the constant pointing to his mistakes that irritated Spencer the most, but it seemed
everything he was asked to do was a test, and over the past few weeks, he was sure he had not passed many of them.
“Good morning,” he said, pulling out his chair.
Sue looked up at him, shifted her gaze intentionally to the clock on the wall, and returned to her work after a final, disapproving glimpse in his direction.
He settled into the work day and finished his fourth draft of the Asia factory report, hopefully this time to Sue’s satisfaction. The next assignment was to review the white paper that led to the creation of the DIR. The report was commissioned after the sudden release of thousands of pages of documents from governments and corporate computer systems that were illegally obtained by a group of computer hackers. The stolen work showed blatant manipulation of data related to climate change for both political and corporate gains. Further investigation revealed that the powerful computers and search algorithms from the National Security Agency were also involved in the scandal.
This was not the first time that the NSA had been involved in controversy and in an effort to fix the problem once and for all, control of the NSA’s computers was given to a newly formed department, The Department of Information Retrieval. With the charter of being the single trusted source of essential information for all government departments, strict security, rigorous independent audits, and autonomy from other areas of government, it was nearly impossible for the new organization to be involved in corruption. As he read through the detail, he remembered the warning that Sue mentioned regarding DIR security monitoring his personal life.
Suddenly Spencer felt “the gaze” of Sue looking in his direction, and without uttering a word, he knew that she expected him to notice. A quick look in her direction proved him right and he wondered how long she had been staring at him.
“Ready for an interesting problem?” she asked.
“Sure!” He felt ready to do something different.
She made a small, sharp gesture with her head, indicating that he should come to her desk.