Tom?”
The room was silent for a full minute. Having digested Kyle’s moving speech, Tom started to slowly nod. Immediately, the room burst forth into applause.
This Kyle White really knows how to rally people, thought Hendricks as he clapped gingerly. Oddly, a small part of him started to feel compassion for the individuals seated around him, especially as he thought of the mandate he’d received from Irving Butler: convert or kill the cell.
Through the evening, as he watched Kyle lead the group and interact with his children, he started to have doubts about Butler’s orders. This man was just trying to protect his family and live his life. There was a time when Ezra might have chosen such a path himself. But that was no longer a possibility. His family was gone, and nothing could be done to change that. His job was all that mattered now, and his mission would bring him the satisfaction he sought. He pushed aside the File-enhanced, perfectly recalled memories of his wife and son, and refocused on his task.
۞
“Ezra, you’ve been to three meetings now. Haven’t you made any sales yet?” asked Devin. Another meeting had just ended, and he was getting frustrated at how long it was taking to complete this deal.
“Oh, yeah, kid. I’ve sold fifty of ‘em.”
“Really?”
“Of course, not! Look, I’ve been in sales for a long time. Longer than you’ve been, well, anywhere. A sales cycle in this business can be weeks, even months. I can’t just walk up to people and start offering Files for sale. Especially not in this group. There may be some prime candidates here, but there’s also a greater danger of getting in trouble. Can you imagine what would happen if I approached the wrong person – say, Tom? And a bunch of the newcomers here are dead ends because they just got done going through the trouble of having their Files removed. Don’t you see? I have to get to know my potential clientele before jumping into closing deals. Got it?”
“But I already told you Fred was a likely buyer. And I mentioned two or three others. Why don’t you talk to them?”
Ezra’s face grew dark. “I’ll say this one time only, Devin.” It was the first time Devin could remember Ezra using his actual name. “Don’t. Rush. Me.”
Kyle walked up and joined the conversation. “Everything alright over here?”
“It’s great, Dad,” said Devin with a quick smile. “And thanks again for what you’ve done for me here. Everyone is really nice to me now – even Tom. And – and I’m sorry about what I did – running off and getting the File installed. It was stupid.”
Ezra noted that Devin sounded sincere. Well, sincere enough to fool his father.
“It’s alright, son,” said Kyle, putting an arm around the teenager. “I’m just glad you’re back.”
۞
Over the successive weeks, Ezra became friends with many of the members, and especially close friends with Kyle. Each meeting provided a wealth of intel on cell members, plans, and connections with other cells. Ezra’s File-enhanced brain memorized every bit of data as he ingratiated himself with the group.
It had been two months since Devin had approached him about their deal. Ezra had sufficiently intimidated him with their last conversation on the subject. Meanwhile, the cell had doubled in size, and the meetings were getting crowded with people who’d found various ways to rip the File from their heads. Some of the means were less-than-ideal, leaving a few of the newest members permanently disabled, and giving the group the flavor of a war refugee camp.
Through his friendship with Kyle, Ezra had learned that the cell leader had something big brewing. A plan that would rock the foundations of the status quo and could potentially do massive damage to the work of the BCC. Ezra just didn’t know what the plan was yet.
“Hello, everyone,” said Kyle. “Tonight I’m going to get right down to business.” He could barely contain his enthusiasm as he grinned at the large group. “I’ve been working on this for months.”
He touched a button on his computer and projected an image on the white wall behind him. It appeared to be some sort of schematic, with a high level of detail and a number of flowchart type lines and symbols.
“Some of you newer members may not know this, but I used to work for Neuralinx. When I left there, more than sixteen years ago, I still had some of their data on my own computer. I’d been working on a solution to a small security problem in the GPS interface, but never finished it because I never went back. Some of the data I had on my computer was proprietary information, stuff I shouldn’t have had. But as time went by, I managed to slip through the cracks of the system, and they either ceased pursuing it, or never tried. For all I know, there’s an old government flag about me out there somewhere on the NI. Either way, it doesn’t matter. In fact, nothing on the NI will matter soon.”
The group just sat there, waiting patiently for Kyle to get to the point. Ezra shifted in his seat after the last comment. This may be the big unveiling he’d been waiting for – evidence of an active insurrection on the part of this cell.
Kyle continued. “Now, I don’t want to get too in-depth into the technological details of my plan. But suffice it to say, based on the old, outdated data from Neuralinx, I was able extrapolate a few things, and I believe that I have programmed a self-propagating recursive algorithm that will be unstoppable.”
“A virus?” asked Sascha.
“Better,” Kyle said, his eyes gleaming. “It’s a maggot. It embeds itself within the security layer, then expands. This maggot is of such power, and so well camouflaged, that it has the capacity to completely disable the NI within six minutes of its release.”
“Bring down the NI?” called out Fred. “Everyone with a File would be killed!”
“Not so in this case,” said Kyle. “That was the part that took so long in the programming – making sure that it was safe for File users. It’s relatively easy to infect the NI and do some localized damage. But such attacks always harm innocents. The Underground we know has never been about that – we’ve always shunned the small, violent factions that have tried those tactics. No, this is different. Not only will it have a worldwide effect on the NI, but it is completely innocuous for File users. It has a failsafe protocol that simply deactivates all Files, then disengages all account access so that users can’t reconnect even if they can get their Files functional again. By the time they can reengage their accounts, the NI will be nonexistent – there’ll be no accounts to engage. And everyone will be safe.”
“Will it permanently destroy the NI?” asked Sascha.
“It will cause irreparable damage to the NI’s data delivery system. However, the wealth of actual information will be safe. The Global Server’s redundant storage units will be untouched. People will be able to access that data by more traditional means, but the NI construct itself will be unrecoverable.”
“Very impressive,” said Ezra. “When do you plan to initiate the maggot?”
“As soon as possible. That is, provided we all agree.”
“Shouldn’t we coordinate with the other cells, get everyone’s opinion before going forward?” asked Sascha.
“Yes, we should,” said Kyle. “In fact, their cooperation is required for my plan. But communicating with all of the Underground, using traditional, non-traceable means, can take time. I wanted to first run this past everyone here and see what you all think.”
The group fell into a general state of murmuring and side conversations. Ezra approached Kyle.
“You really think this’ll work?”
“I’ve run so many simulations, I have no doubt, Ezra.”
“This is big, man. This is very big.”
“It’ll change everything.”
“So, how long do you think it will take to get buy-in from the whole Underground?”
“Two, maybe three weeks, if we’re really organized.”
Sascha joined Kyle and Ezra.
“Kyle, this is really amazing.
You’ve outdone yourself,” she said, linking her arm through his.
The two had become quite close over the past several weeks, despite Mikayla’s reservations. Kyle and his daughter spoke openly together about most things, including Kyle’s interest in Sascha. Mikayla felt cautious about Sascha, fearing her father’s heart would get broken. She knew how much he’d loved her mother, and although she wanted to see him happy, her desire to see him not get hurt was just as strong. Kyle frequently thanked her for her concern, but made it clear that he was an adult and could take care of himself, and that after sixteen years, maybe he was ready to let a new love into his life.
“This is the paradigm shift I spoke of at your first meeting – do you remember?”
“Of course I remember,” she said. “It’s the moment I fell in love with you. Oh, I didn’t know it at the time, but in retrospect, that was a real shining moment for you, Kyle.”
Although Ezra was well-suited to spying, standing next to Kyle and Sascha as they exchanged goo-goo eyes was even too much for him. He excused himself and returned to mingle with the other cell members he had befriended. As he walked off, he glanced back to see Sascha eyeing him suspiciously. Ezra hoped his cover was still solid – he’d hate to have to eliminate Sascha just to ensure his façade could be maintained. He was actually starting to like a lot of these people, but the look Sascha just gave him