EXFIL by Anthony Patton (best book reader txt) 📕

of seeing my name and photograph plastered on the screen for the world to see, knowing that Beth and the boys would see it as well.

Few people really knew what happened, and those who did had a vested interest in keeping it secret. The President’s response was shown on all the channels.

“Good evening,” he began with a somber tone. “Earlier today, the government of China launched an unprecedented cyberattack on the Pentagon. Our most critical command-and-control systems are still up and running, but the damage was extensive. In response to this attack, I have put our military forces on high alert and am working with members of Congress to release emergency funding to repair the damage from this unprecedented attack.

“As your commander in chief, I want you to know I have advised the government of China that these attacks will not go unanswered and that our response will be swift, proportional, and at a time of our choosing. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.”

My first visitors were Brett and Nguyen.

I was embarrassed to look them in the eye, but they sat on the bed opposite me without any sign of judgment or condemnation. I leaned back against the wall and wiped my tears.

“When did you figure it out?”

Nguyen took the lead because it was a question with legal implications. The CIA never wanted to dirty its hands with criminal investigations. “We knew for sure what you had done after you brought the laptop to the J6 the other night. The files that were downloaded included a security code indicating that the security patches were downloaded twice.”

I nodded, impressed. I should have thought of that.

“Could you tell us what happened?” Brett asked.

“Look, guys,” I said, “I’d like to face a court martial and be done with this. What difference does it make? All the discussion in the world won’t change a thing.”

Nguyen spoke again.

“It’s not that simple, unfortunately. As part of our investigation, we need to hear from you exactly what you did. We need to understand the full extent of the damage.”

Fair enough. I inhaled deeply. “As you recall, the meeting in which I pitched Jade Envy appeared to go well.” They nodded in agreement. “However, during the next meeting, he handed me feed material and asked me to work for him.”

“Why would he think you would work for him?” Brett asked.

I exhaled. “Because they had the mother lode on me,” I said. “He knew about an affair I had in Bangkok, and threatened to tell Beth. He also knew I’d pressured Tom to sleep with a dancer, and the poor guy committed suicide.” They were kind enough to give me a moment to cry, struggling to keep it under control. I grabbed the pillow to wipe my eyes.

“That poor woman will have to raise her kids alone because of me,” I said finally, struggling.

“Anything else?” Nguyen asked, as if what I had said so far wasn’t sufficient.

“Oh, it gets better,” I said. At this point, I wanted it all off my chest, to confess my crimes. “You remember this Anna Stuart woman I told you about?” They nodded. “Well, it turns out she’s working for Jade Envy—I have a video of them meeting in a park—but she also has a cross-dressing Asian boyfriend named Judy who drugged me making a sex video.”

I got a hold of myself and took another deep breath.

“So, with my marriage, career, and professional reputation on the line, I agreed to give him the latest security patches, with the stupid idea that I could blame Anna and we could shut down the computer system during the next attack to prevent any damage.”

Brett and Nguyen looked at each other, nodded, and turned to me.

“We can confirm that Anna is working for the Chinese,” Nguyen said.

“Did your surveillance team catch them meeting?” I asked, hopeful, although this detail wouldn’t help me at this point. Anna getting caught was supposed to be my big break, but now we would both rot in a prison.

“Not exactly,” Brett said. “We know that Anna is working for the Chinese because…she’s really working for us. She’s a double agent.”

What?

My heart leaped. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears.

I could hardly breathe as I sat up, my heart pounding so hard that it hurt.

“What?”

“Chinese intelligence approached her during her semester in China and pitched her after she returned,” Nguyen said.

“She reported the pitch to us,” Brett said. “We opted to run her as a double agent, so we delayed her security clearance to keep her interesting to the Chinese but prevent her from gaining access to the most sensitive information.”

I reflected. “My friend said her security clearance had an administrative hold, but he didn’t understand why.”

“When we learned that Jade Envy was arriving here,” Nguyen said, “Anna was told that her job was to target you.”

I struggled to stay calm as I processed these revelations, unsure whether to jump for joy or strangle them. “So,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief, “if I understand you correctly, you were running Anna as a double agent, which means she told you everything that was happening to me?”

They looked at each other and nodded hesitantly—guilty as charged.

“I guess this is the part where I ask—why?” I stood and paced. “I mean, you knew all this terrible shit was happening to me and you did nothing to stop it?”

“Unless this terrible shit was precisely what we wanted to happen,” Brett said with a glimmer in his eye. I knew that look, so it merited my full attention.

“Hold on, OK, so you wanted Anna to approach me, knowing about the plan to make the video, knowing about the plan to gain access to the security patches…” And just like that, a jolt of electricity shot up my spine. “No fucking way!” I jumped on the bed and pounded the wall. “No fucking way!”

I turned to see Brett and Nguyen smiling.

“You son of a bitch! You knew they would subject