“It’s the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. A Chinese organization that is supposed to root out corruption in their government. A few months ago, it got a new boss. A guy by the name of Jinshan. Cheng Jinshan. Heard of him?”
“Uh, no.”
She laughed. “Sorry, of course you haven’t. Sometimes I forget that everyone doesn’t spend all day studying obscure Chinese businessmen and politicians. Well, this guy Jinshan is well-connected. He’s a very successful entrepreneur, but also was rumored to be tapped into the Chinese cyber warfare units with some of his Internet companies. We knew he was working closely with the government agency that heads up their internet censorship program. Turns out, he’s more than tapped into the government’s cyber warfare. He practically runs China’s cyber warfare. This guy has been interwoven into their operations from the beginning. Anyway, Jinshan is put in charge of the CCDI, a position that is almost always given to a politician. But this time the Chinese President himself picks Jinshan, a businessman. So the Chinese President has been using Jinshan and the CCDI to whittle away at the government’s leadership and shape it the way he wants. It’s Tyrant 101; clean house of all who could oppose you. Well, naturally we started hacking into Jinshan’s files and computers more closely. Turns out he really is a much bigger fish than we thought. He had his hands in everything. He rubs elbows with their highest-ranking military brass and has played golf with several members of their politburo. Some people think he might even be responsible for getting the current Chinese president in office. So we started an operation to monitor him more closely. The CIA agent that was killed was our man on the ground. But I had no idea what he had uncovered until yesterday when Tom read me in.”
David said, “So what does Jinshan have to do with a Chinese attack on the U.S.?”
“I don’t know exactly. I just know that our ground asset had started getting close to people in the CCDI. He began to realize that the whole point of that organization, which is supposed to be about stopping corruption, was now to fill key government leadership roles with people who were handpicked by Jinshan. I told you that before Jinshan got tapped for the CCDI leadership role, we didn’t have too much on him. Well, that isn’t true for the people he was picking to fill different political leadership roles. They are stacking the deck with politicians that are or have been closely aligned to the military or intelligence services. It’s like they’re militarizing all government posts over there. The CIA agent was supposed to get into some secure hard drive that would give us more info on their strategy and end game. That is where he must have gotten the info Tom shared earlier. Someone must have been onto him though… ”
“Shit. This reminds me of the Soviet Union.”
“Well, they are Communists too, you know.”
“Right. So who else at the NSA knows about what Tom told us? About China having a ton of spies in the US, and about the invasion?”
“My boss was working with Tom and some others in the CIA. But at the NSA, it was just my boss and me. We compartmentalize information like crazy. Thank goodness we do. If there really are sleepers in the NSA, we wouldn’t want this to get out. We wouldn’t want them to know that we know. With any luck, we still might be able to get out ahead of this thing.”
Brooke and David talked for another hour. She was a local Maryland girl, had gone to UMBC, and excelled in mathematics and computer science. She had interned at the NSA while in college and worked there for the past 15 years.
Eventually, David politely hinted that he needed a nap. He got the impression that she would talk the entire flight if he let her. But they ended their conversation and David found himself alone looking out the oval window into the vast evening sky.
David kept thinking about his family. He was worried about the short-term and how his wife would react to his being missing. And he was worried about the long term — about how their lives might change if America really was thrust into a war of this scale.
Could this really be true? He kept asking himself that question. It was all just too hard to believe. What was the saying? The simplest explanation was usually correct. The problem in this situation was that there didn’t appear to be any simple explanations.
The answer to the truth question had a significant implication. He had a choice here. David could go or stay. Tom didn’t say that he had a choice, but David could try to escape when they landed if he really felt this wasn’t safe or legitimate.
He decided he would go. David would get on the next plane. He committed. Cautiously, but firmly. For now, David chose to believe that Tom was being truthful. After all, no one in the CIA ever told a lie. Talking to Brooke helped. After the first five minutes of speaking to her, David instantly liked and trusted her. And she was smart. If he had learned anything from his days at the Naval Academy, it was to follow smart people. It almost never failed. Almost.
David leaned against the hard plastic of the plane window. One thought led to another. If China truly was planning an invasion, then David felt a patriotic obligation to help. If this so-called Red Cell was what help looked like, he would work hard to contribute.
He saw a pen and paper on the table and decided to write his wife a note. He wrote what he thought he could say. Mostly he just wanted to let her know that he was okay. He put in a few details to let her know that it was really him. Then he leaned back into the window and shut his eyes. Sleep was not quick to come. The cold window pressed up against his forehead, and his mind began to drift to thoughts of what a war with China would really be like, and what kind of world his daughters might grow up in.
David awoke to a firm shake of his shoulder. It was the big guy in tactical gear.
“We’re here. Time to go. ”
He looked up, dazed and still sleepy. “Okay. Where is here?”
“Let’s go.” replied Big Guy.
The plane was shut down. David hadn’t intended on sleeping but eventually the fatigue got to him. He had slept through the landing. The note. He grabbed it off the table, got up and walked out the open door of the plane.
An empty twilight sky cast grey and purple hues over a silent runway. There were two identical planes parked next to each other. Other than that, the airport seemed deserted. The faint runway lights were the only man-made illumination.
Tom walked around the nose of the plane and handed David a large black duffel bag. “Here. It’s clothes and toiletries. Not your own, but they should fit. You’ll get your phone and wallet back when you return. Sorry about the inconvenience.”
Suddenly David realized that there were voices coming from the other plane. He ducked under the fuselage to see a similar-looking private jet that had people getting on.
“Who are they?” David asked.
“A few of the other consultants. That’s what we’re calling you guys. Consultants. You’ll meet them on the plane.” said Tom. “We’ve got to go. Like I said, I’ll tell your wife you’re okay, and don’t worry about work. It’ll be there when you get back.”
He grinned, but the wrinkles stopped at his eyes. David didn’t have a good feeling about this.
David handed him the note and said, “Here. Please deliver this to my wife.”
Tom looked down at the paper note. He nodded and said, “Of course. Sure thing.”
“Mr. Manning?” called a voice. David looked over and saw a guy in a silly-looking airline uniform, his cap half cocked to the side.
“That’s me.”
“Right this way, sir.”
Tom waved and said, “Good luck. Remember, this may be one of the most important things you ever do. So do your best and don’t screw it up.”