EXFIL by Anthony Patton (best book reader txt) 📕

“No.”

“Did you give us the latest security patches for the Pentagon J6?”

“Yes.”

“Were the security patches created by Cyber Command?”

“Yes.”

“Do you plan to tell anyone you passed us this information?”

“No.”

The technician stopped to review the data on the laptop computer. I cleared my throat and gestured to the blood pressure cuff. He bowed and twisted the valve to reduce the pressure, bringing welcomed relief to my arm. They had clearly put some thought into these questions to make sure there was no room for ambiguity or misinterpretation.

The technician leaned back in his chair and nodded, satisfied but seemingly ready to ask the same questions a second time, if necessary. Jade Envy thought about it, looked me up and down, and shook his head with a dismissive gesture as he finished his drink.

The technician disconnected me from the machine, assembled the equipment in a briefcase, and nodded to us both before excusing himself from the hotel room.

Jade Envy walked to the couch and gestured for me to join him.

“I imagine this was difficult for you,” he said.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Thanks for your concern.”

“We should discuss financial compensation,” he said. “We are prepared to offer you one million dollars for the security patches. We have a few ideas to arrange for you to win money in a lottery or gambling.”

“Keep something in mind,” I said, impressed with the creative payment idea. “We’re both in a delicate position. If things don’t work out exactly as planned, you’ll be declared persona non grata and Anna will be arrested.”

He nodded. “We have everyone’s best interests in mind. I imagine the thwarted cyberattack on the Pentagon should help your chances of getting promoted to brigadier general.” He stood and we shook hands. “The next attack will be conducted in such a way as to make it look like my unit in Beijing was not involved. You will have plausible denial for why I did not warn you.”

I left the hotel room and walked the road back to where my car was parked. The stars in the cloudless sky were spectacular, making me feel insignificant yet aware of my breathing and thoughts. I considered all I had done and feared that karma would catch up one way or another, but I also had the peculiar feeling that this would all blow over and things would work out. I’m not sure how to explain it, but I was expecting to feel a lot worse about what I had done.

Before reaching my car, I turned and looked back at the hotel bar where I had seen the Slavic temptress. I can’t explain what motivated me, aside from sheer stupidity, but I returned to the bar and justified it by saying I needed a drink to relieve the stress of the polygraph.

“Welcome back, sir,” the bartender said, inspecting a bottle of Scotch as he looked at me.

I nodded and watched him pour as I scanned the lobby and looked at the table where she had sat. He slid the drink my way with a wink, dialed a rotary phone, and whispered a few words.

Then he hung up.

I surveyed the scene, felt oddly out of place, and reached for my wallet.

“It’s on me,” a sexy voice said from behind me.

I turned to see the temptress entering the bar again, no doubt in response to the bartender’s phone call—what the hell?

“Charge it to your room, ma’am?” the bartender asked.

She approached and caressed my shoulder with a seductive smile. I felt oddly caught in the middle of them as I set ten dollars on the bar—time to go.

“Join me?” she asked with her room key on display.

I waved to the bartender and paused for what felt like an eternity before leaving.

TWENTY-FIVE

I spent most of the night tossing and turning, contemplating the magnitude of my crime and how my plan would most likely play out. Part of me wanted get away with it, obviously, but another part wanted the Cyber Command security guards to arrest me when I entered the lobby, to bring this painful drama to an end. I was confident that my tip about Anna would keep them distracted, and there was no way to prove what I had done without testimony from Jade Envy.

However, I knew that attention would shift my way after the next cyberattack began.

They would ask why didn’t Jade Envy help us stop it.

Intelligence Officers were self-conscious while trolling diplomatic events in search of the next source, aware that others might see through their ploys.

This was also how I felt walking across the Cyber Command watch floor, wondering whether anyone suspected me of anything nefarious. Most of them didn’t notice or care, while others saw me as a cool colonel who ran cool intelligence operations. They had been trained to respect rank, so it would never cross their minds that I would do the terrible things I had done.

Lewis was waiting for me when I knocked on his door.

It was too soon to discuss Anna—Brett and Nguyen wouldn’t be joining us today—so I had no idea why he even wanted to meet. I sat and observed the Laocoön statue, observing it each time in a new light. My focus this time was the recognition that he’d done something wrong and deserved his punishment, perhaps with less violence and suffering. The gods had punished him for his misdeeds; he wasn’t a victim of fate or chance.

“We never discussed your last meeting with Jade Envy,” he said with a comforting and confident tone. “Any new information about the next cyberattack?”

“He had good news and bad news. His unit in Beijing doesn’t have anything planned, but he heard something about other units launching a coordinated attack on the Pentagon.”

His pensive expression didn’t suggest confidence.

“Not much we can do with that—anything more concrete?”

“I have an idea,” I said, “which I raised with the J6 guys at the Pentagon. My recommendation was that we shut down the system for routine maintenance at