“The Office of Security will pay SkyTech the standard hourly rate according to the service contract you already have with the NSA,” LaForgue said, interrupting his thoughts. “Also, any additional expenses incurred by you and your team will be taken care of. All I need is your signature and our business here is concluded.”
“So, exactly what is it that you want from SkyTech?” James asked.
“That’s classified,” LaForgue said.
“Additional expenses…” James continued. “Are we expected to travel somewhere?”
“That information is also classified.”
James was starting to get angry. “And how long do we have?”
“You have two weeks to get what we need,” she said.
“I find this pathetic little game of yours very frustrating,” James said in exasperation. “You want me to do something, and I suspect it’s important, yet you give me nothing to work with. Everything is classified.”
“You have no idea how important,” she said tersely. “The fate of the global economy may well be at stake.”
“To my point,” James responded. “All too often it’s apparent that government agencies are hiding secrets from themselves and the public. Meanwhile, the fate of the population hangs in the balance. Just look at the non-disclosure in front of me.”
“Some secrets need to be kept from the public,” she said, sidestepping the issue. “Otherwise, they’d lose trust in the government.”
James laughed cynically. “It might surprise you to know that trust was never there to begin with, and perpetually concealing information is exactly the reason why. What baffles me is why all your agencies such as the FBI, CIA and NSA, all existing under the umbrella of national security, spend so much time and money hiding all the same intelligence from each other. The billions, although I suspect it’s trillions, of taxpayer dollars spent by the agencies outdoing each other on eavesdropping and information collection technology could better be used in combining your resources. The only thing you all seem to work together on is deflecting the truth.”
“You need to understand, Mr. Clark…”
“No, you need to understand,” James said, in a controlled tone. “You want SkyTech to do something for you. What that something is, you’re not telling me. Where we need to go, that’s also classified. All you’re telling me is that I have two weeks. If this is really so important to you, why be so evasive?”
LaForgue’s manner relaxed a bit, but only a bit. “You will know what you need in due course. But I am prepared to tell you this. We need SkyTech to find the exact location of the transmission. It cannot be done from here. I need you to select a small team of suitably qualified experts to work on site. There’s more going on with this than you know, but…”
Chapter Eleven
“Yes,” James interrupted, wearily shaking his head at LaForgue. “It’s on a need to know basis and I don’t have the relevant clearance.” He was beginning to feel like a mushroom; kept in the dark and fed shit.
“That’s right, Mr. Clark,” LaForgue said. “I trust that SkyTech will eventually crack this data, and from then, it will be discussed no further through any electronic means of communication. Whatever is in that transmission will be analysed at our secure location. It will be up to SkyTech to determine its authenticity.”
James was still trying to figure out why it was so scrupulously encoded, and why it was sent on such an outdated radio frequency.
“I still don’t get it,” he said. “At this stage, it sounds as if the government knows far more about this than I do. Besides providing deciphered data and ensuring there are no threats to national security, how can we possibly be of any further help?”
“You’re wrong,” she said, shaking her head. “Not the government, just the Office of Security.” LaForgue’s face softened into an almost human-like expression. “Yes, we do know some things, and if that leaked out to any other agency like the FBI or CIA, this will become a complete political fiasco. Every agency will want immediate jurisdiction.”
“That’s the first honest statement you’ve made,” James acknowledged. “So, where exactly is a team from SkyTech expected to go? Surely you can answer that without upsetting the global economy.”
LaForgue looked James forebodingly in the eyes. “You will keep this under wraps until you hear from us. You will be going to Groom Lake.”
“Groom Lake,” James almost burst out laughing. “You can’t be serious?”
“Very serious,” she said. “This is no laughing matter, Mr. Clark.”
“Surely you have enough resources at Nellis Air Force Base to take care of this little problem of yours?”
LaForgue sighed. “Actually, we don’t,” she admitted unwillingly. “We no longer have the technology that was used sending the data. It’s simply too old. We have the receivers, but not the transmitters. Getting them back into commission would require funding and approvals. SkyTech, on the other hand, does still have the technology. And the resources that know how it’s used.”
“How would you know that?” James asked, tersely.
“We’re the government, Mr. Clark.”
James let it go. “As for funding, surely it would be cheaper to have your equipment reinstated than to pay this much money to SkyTech?”
“As I said, Mr. Clark, we’re the government. It would take weeks, if not months, to go through the approval process. We simply don’t have that much time, and I don’t want any awkward questions coming my way.”
“Understood,” James finally conceded. Taking another look at the NDA with pen in hand, James reluctantly signed it.
“Dr. Lovinescu, our resident physicist at Groom Lake, will be in direct contact with you tomorrow morning at precisely ten a.m.,” LaForgue said. “That’s all I can tell you for now.”
“How do I reach you?” James asked.
She returned to her normal abrasive manner. “You’ll use a secure channel that we will provide.” Opening the binder, LaForgue pulled out a small piece of paper. “Here is the Level-2 clearance code for you and your team.”
James looked at the sequence of numbers written on the paper.
“Remember it,” she said. “When asked, that code will transfer your call directly to me.”
“Okay, got it,” James said, storing the sequence to memory.
LaForgue returned the paper to her binder. “You’ll provide feedback to me, and only to me. Be brief and to the point. You will reveal no locations until we meet again face-to-face.”
Typical, James thought. They don’t even trust themselves.
Grabbing his suit jacket off the rack, James walked out the conference room. Leaving the local NSA offices, James thought about the arrangement he’d just agreed to. Based on the regular contract SkyTech had, the government was willing to pay a substantial amount of money for two weeks of effort, and something that really wasn’t that difficult. Ah yes, he thought; tax dollars hard at work.
Looking outside the small space made temporarily available to her by the NSA’s New York office, Yvonne Baird was content that she wouldn’t be disturbed. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her phone and activated Messenger.
Device securely in place, she typed, and pressed ‘Send’. After confirmation of receipt a few seconds later, Yvonne cleared the message. As soon as she had gathered the rest of her personal belongings, Yvonne went down to the street and caught a cab to the airport.