Use of Force

CHAPTER 62

In the aftermath of the Paris attack, it had been all hands on deck. People had been in and out of the Central Intelligence Agency all afternoon. Director McGee hadn’t been able to reach out to Lydia Ryan until after five o’clock. He had asked his assistant to summon her back and tell her to come “ready to travel.”

When she arrived in the Director’s Conference Room, McGee was waiting for her. “Any problems?” he asked.

“None,” she replied, as she set her rolling suitcase upright and unzipped it. “I appreciate you sending your team down to meet me at the car.”

Extending her hand, she helped Nicholas climb out.

He thanked her and then turned and shook hands with the Director.

“I apologize for the subterfuge,” said McGee.

“That’s the business you’re in,” Nicholas responded. “Besides, how many people can say they were smuggled into the CIA in a piece of luggage.”

McGee smiled. “Hopefully, you’re the only one.”

“And as we agreed,” Ryan reminded him, “this isn’t a story you’re ever going to tell.”

“Agreed,” the little man conceded. “That is our arrangement.”

Getting down to business, the Director asked, “How much time do you think you’re going to need?”

“It depends on how the Malice source code is structured. I only need a piece of it, but we’ll have to test it and make sure it works.”

“Is Jake good with all of this?” Ryan asked.

McGee nodded. Jake Fleischer was a brilliant hacker and IT specialist. In the CIA’s Directorate of Digital Innovation, his expertise in cyber threats and cyber security were second to none.

Fleischer could have been running the Agency’s Center for Cyber Intelligence. He was eminently qualified. But he didn’t want the headache. Fleischer wanted to be on the cutting edge, pushing the boundaries of what the CIA could do when it came to cyber espionage.

“Jake’s on board,” said the Director.

“How much did you have to tell him?”

“I told him this was important, that he needed to trust me, and that he’d be the only person in this room with a computer.”

Nicholas looked from Ryan to McGee. “I don’t understand. How am I supposed to get what I need?”

“You’re going to work with Jake,” the Director replied. “Every string of code you need, he’s going to get it for you.”

“It would be a lot faster if—”

McGee cut him off. “It’s not personal, Nicholas. It’s business. I’m not giving you unfettered, unsupervised access to the Agency’s cyber arsenal. This happens my way, or it doesn’t happen at all.”

The little man nodded. He understood. While the Carlton Group was building an ark to save America’s intelligence capabilities, McGee had taken an oath to faithfully serve his country and execute his duties as the Director of the CIA.

“How confident are we that what happens in this room will stay in this room?” asked Ryan. “Even as Deputy DCI, I don’t have any history with Fleischer.”

“A large part of what I’ve been doing,” McGee replied, “is identifying core personnel who are mission critical as we move forward — people who believe in the Agency’s mission and are absolutely dedicated to it. Jake’s one of them.

“He knows that something very serious is going on, but that the details of what he’s being asked to do cannot be fully explained. He also understands he isn’t allowed to talk to anyone about this.”

Ryan smiled. “Real cloak and dagger. That’s what everybody here signs up for, right? And on top of that, it’s an assignment from the Director himself. What else could he have said, but yes?”

“He’s a good man,” McGee added as he turned and looked at Nicholas. “He also understands that there are some unorthodox components associated with this.”

“Meaning me,” the little man stated.

The Director nodded as the phone in front of him rang.

Picking it up, he listened to his assistant and said, “Okay. Thank you.” Turning to Ryan and Nicholas, he said, “Jake’s here.”