guys to do a B&E on the travel agency and get into Noordin’s computer.”
The task caught me by surprise. Breaking and entering wasn’t a risk-free proposition, and he already had the experts here for that. I couldn’t understand why he wanted to even enter in the first place.
I said, “We’ve got the best hackers in the world in D.C. Why take the risk of breaking in?”
“Yeah, I know, and we’ve already cracked the network, but there’s close to a hundred computers in that building, all on the same ISP. The guys have to go through each one, line by line, to see if it’s the right one. It’ll take a month.”
Knuckles chimed in. “So? That’s what we do. Slow and patient. You push the issue, and you’ll burn the Taskforce.”
“I know, but there’s a lot of chatter right now. Something big is going on, and the boss is willing to push it. Nobody has any leads, and this guy might be involved. CIA, FBI, and DOD are all pinging red, but with nothing concrete. It’s coming from all sorts of groups. JI, GSPC, AQ—everyone’s talking about a hit.”
“Why us?” I said. “You’ve got the Taskforce team. We’ve only got a couple of operators and a cover organization.”
“Because you’ve already seen the inside of the building. You know the layout.”
“Bullshit. Jennifer’s the only one that’s been inside.”
“Right.”
He didn’t say anything else, and it dawned on me that he wanted
Jennifer
to do the B&E.
“Whoa. Wait a minute. We’re just the cover organization. You guys do the operations. We just facilitate.”
“Pike, come on, don’t feed me that shit. You’re the only cover organization in the Taskforce that’s run by operators. What did you think was going to happen when you started traveling? You expect me to believe you wanted to sit on the sidelines?”
I looked at Jennifer and saw she had caught the reference. He had said operators. Plural.
He continued, “You know this makes sense. Why send in someone who doesn’t know the floor plan when you can send in someone who’s already been inside?”
He had a valid point. It’s exactly what I’d do—if I had my own team. But I didn’t, and Jennifer was brand spanking new. She’d never done anything like this outside of training, and it was my fault she was in this position. I’m the one who had forced her to go inside in the first place. This was a much bigger risk, and Knuckles saw it the same way.
He said, “Johnny, I agree with what you’re saying, but I don’t know. Jennifer’s not ready for this. She’s never done a live operation.”
“Jesus,” Johnny said. “She’s not going in alone. She’ll have my team there with her. I just want to use her knowledge of the floor plan. We’ll do the hard work.”
Jennifer spoke up. “I’ll do it.”
We all looked at her as if we’d forgotten she was there.
“I’ll do it on one condition. My guys go inside with me. No offense.”
I scowled and she mouthed
What?
I looked at Knuckles and Bull. “What do you think?”
Bull said, “If someone’s going in regardless, might as well be us getting the high adventure.”
Knuckles nodded, saying, “I’m game, but I think it’s a bad idea all the way around. Not Jennifer or us going in, but anyone going in. Too risky. Especially for a fishing trip.”
Johnny was smiling, knowing he’d won. “It’s not my call. Someone getting paid the big bucks wants it done, so don’t fret over it.”
I said, “Okay. What was your plan?”
“Well, we haven’t seen any security guards—even with the jewelry wholesaler on the third floor—so that’s not a threat. Basically, the place is wired with CCTV cameras and an alarm system, but they’re all linked into a central hub. Unfortunately, it’s a closed network. We can’t find an access point on the Web, and we’ve looked hard. We can still gain controlof the SCADA system if we can just get to a wire anywhere on the network.”
SCADA stood for supervisory
The task caught me by surprise. Breaking and entering wasn’t a risk-free proposition, and he already had the experts here for that. I couldn’t understand why he wanted to even enter in the first place.
I said, “We’ve got the best hackers in the world in D.C. Why take the risk of breaking in?”
“Yeah, I know, and we’ve already cracked the network, but there’s close to a hundred computers in that building, all on the same ISP. The guys have to go through each one, line by line, to see if it’s the right one. It’ll take a month.”
Knuckles chimed in. “So? That’s what we do. Slow and patient. You push the issue, and you’ll burn the Taskforce.”
“I know, but there’s a lot of chatter right now. Something big is going on, and the boss is willing to push it. Nobody has any leads, and this guy might be involved. CIA, FBI, and DOD are all pinging red, but with nothing concrete. It’s coming from all sorts of groups. JI, GSPC, AQ—everyone’s talking about a hit.”
“Why us?” I said. “You’ve got the Taskforce team. We’ve only got a couple of operators and a cover organization.”
“Because you’ve already seen the inside of the building. You know the layout.”
“Bullshit. Jennifer’s the only one that’s been inside.”
“Right.”
He didn’t say anything else, and it dawned on me that he wanted
Jennifer
to do the B&E.
“Whoa. Wait a minute. We’re just the cover organization. You guys do the operations. We just facilitate.”
“Pike, come on, don’t feed me that shit. You’re the only cover organization in the Taskforce that’s run by operators. What did you think was going to happen when you started traveling? You expect me to believe you wanted to sit on the sidelines?”
I looked at Jennifer and saw she had caught the reference. He had said operators. Plural.
He continued, “You know this makes sense. Why send in someone who doesn’t know the floor plan when you can send in someone who’s already been inside?”
He had a valid point. It’s exactly what I’d do—if I had my own team. But I didn’t, and Jennifer was brand spanking new. She’d never done anything like this outside of training, and it was my fault she was in this position. I’m the one who had forced her to go inside in the first place. This was a much bigger risk, and Knuckles saw it the same way.
He said, “Johnny, I agree with what you’re saying, but I don’t know. Jennifer’s not ready for this. She’s never done a live operation.”
“Jesus,” Johnny said. “She’s not going in alone. She’ll have my team there with her. I just want to use her knowledge of the floor plan. We’ll do the hard work.”
Jennifer spoke up. “I’ll do it.”
We all looked at her as if we’d forgotten she was there.
“I’ll do it on one condition. My guys go inside with me. No offense.”
I scowled and she mouthed
What?
I looked at Knuckles and Bull. “What do you think?”
Bull said, “If someone’s going in regardless, might as well be us getting the high adventure.”
Knuckles nodded, saying, “I’m game, but I think it’s a bad idea all the way around. Not Jennifer or us going in, but anyone going in. Too risky. Especially for a fishing trip.”
Johnny was smiling, knowing he’d won. “It’s not my call. Someone getting paid the big bucks wants it done, so don’t fret over it.”
I said, “Okay. What was your plan?”
“Well, we haven’t seen any security guards—even with the jewelry wholesaler on the third floor—so that’s not a threat. Basically, the place is wired with CCTV cameras and an alarm system, but they’re all linked into a central hub. Unfortunately, it’s a closed network. We can’t find an access point on the Web, and we’ve looked hard. We can still gain controlof the SCADA system if we can just get to a wire anywhere on the network.”
SCADA stood for supervisory
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