“The SILVERSMITH team is trying to collect exact tracking data on Chinese military units, for one. Of particular interest are these specially outfitted merchant vessels. If Natesh has access to logistics networks, they would need to have locations on all PLA military units, right?”
Tetsuo nodded. “Makes sense, yes. Let’s talk to him and then bring this information back to Langley. In my experience, they’ll have the best resources to assist. If we just tell Natesh to go find out this information by himself, his snooping might attract unwanted attention. But if NSA and CIA assets are involved…”
David finished the thought. “Then we might get a lot of information without the Chinese knowing that we’re in.”
“Right. And who knows, NSA might already have this stuff. Our hackers and theirs are at war every day. But now it seems like the gloves are coming off.”
The two men sat down across from Natesh.
Tetsuo asked a few more questions and was then anxious to leave. “Natesh, this is very helpful. Thank you.” Tetsuo had placed his plate on the table and was writing notes down in a black binder. He looked back up. “Does a military base in Liaoning have any special significance to you?”
David watched Natesh’s head bob. “Yes. Yes. They’re conducting some special forces training there. I wasn’t brought into what they were working on, however. Lena knew about it, but I only heard snippets of information about the project. I heard that there were PLA special forces teams headed there to train. And I know Jinshan was extremely interested in the success of that project. I once overhead him say that it was vitally important to the long-term strategy.”
“But you don’t know what they were working on?”
Natesh shifted in his seat, his forehead wrinkling as he thought. His eyes darted from side to side. “Jinshan hired me for a reason.” He looked down as he spoke. “He believed, as I do, that the key to business and war is the same. Uninterrupted flow. In business, one must have an uninterrupted flow of profits, which will enable bigger and better things in the future, allowing firms to dominate their competition. In war, it’s the same. The uninterrupted and cost-controlled flow of supplies — of fuel, weapons, people, and parts — enables a nation to wage war over long distances, for prolonged periods, and at scale. It’s the key to overwhelming one’s enemy. Jinshan knows this. So, my guess is that whatever his secret projects involve, they’ll give him a strategic advantage over the United States.”
They spoke for a while longer, and then Tetsuo wrapped up the meeting for the evening, reminding Natesh of what to look for and to be careful about not being detected. Natesh left, and David and Tetsuo waited another five minutes to do the same.
David walked out of the hotel, following close behind Tetsuo. Once on the street, they passed a sedan with tinted windows. The driver’s-side sun visor was down, a green piece of paper barely visible between it and the windshield.
“We’re clear?”
“Yup. See? You’re getting the hang of this.” Tetsuo smiled slightly, keeping his eyes on the street.
Inside the sedan were a pair of CIA employees. Locals who were trained in countersurveillance. Not an easy task in a city as busy and modern as Tokyo.
Tetsuo said, “We’ll need to move him if things get too hot. It’s risky, us meeting him here. Cities like this are horrible for this kind of thing. Too many cameras and casuals. I’m worried that they’ll know where to look, and they’ll find out he’s been giving us information. At our next meeting, I’m going to brief him on an exfiltration plan.”
“Okay. What do you want to do about the intel we just got?”
“We need to go straight to the embassy. I’m going to brief the station chief while I type it up. Langley needs that information yesterday. It’s probably going to make the President’s Daily Briefing. I liked your plan — let’s let the SILVERSMITH folks figure out how they want Natesh to proceed with extracting the data from Jinshan’s network.” Tetsuo looked at David as they walked. “Your sister still on a Navy ship in the Pacific?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Because if I had to guess, I’d say she’s about to get new orders.”
The next day, David worked from the CIA trailer on Yokota Air Base. Tetsuo entered the high-security facility, his jet-black hair wet from a late-winter rain.
“Susan wants us to join her on a video call.”
“Now?”
“Yup.”
He showed David to a closed room at the end of the trailer and set up the call. A moment later, David was looking at Susan and General Schwartz in the SILVERSMITH operations room, surrounded by a half dozen analysts.
“David, Tetsuo, glad you could join us. That was great intelligence that you provided us from Natesh — he could be a home run asset, if we do this right. We spoke with our partners at NSA. They’re sending a few experts to you this morning. They’ll have a device for you to give to Natesh — he’ll need training. It is crucial that we get access to the Chinese military movements. With our reconnaissance networks degraded, and with them having switched their crypto on their own GPS network, we’re getting very shaky data. Everyone’s getting nervous in Washington.”
“We’re on it.”
Susan went over the details of how they were to use Natesh to gain information on Chinese military movements. Then she turned to the screen. “David, catch the next flight back here. Tetsuo can manage things there.”
“Will do.”
A few hours later, David was flying back across the Pacific, headed home. As he flew, he couldn’t help but wonder where his father and sister were, underway somewhere below. He prayed that they would be alright.
Tetsuo met with Natesh that night. He provided Natesh with training on a special watch. It looked just like a normal Timex piece. Nothing fancy — not even a smart watch. But that was just the exterior. Underneath, it was quite a sophisticated piece of equipment.
Tetsuo said, “You’ll wear it to work. Make sure you’re signed in to your computer and logged in to your network. Does your computer at work have Bluetooth or Wi-Fi?”
“There is a Wi-Fi network for the office. But that’s not the secure network that the work computers are on. There are separate desktop units that we use to access the Chinese logistics network. I’m pretty sure they’ve disconnected any other connectivity. I can check, though.”
“No, don’t worry about it. We’ll just use the alternate technique. You’ll need to access one of those secure network computers at least twice a day. When you do, aim the face of the watch towards the computer’s hard drive. Press the night-light button like this. Don’t make it look obvious. Let’s practice.”
Natesh did it a few times.
“Good. Just like that. You’ll feel a little vibration when it has established its connection. It is important that you hold it there for a full minute. I know that seems like a long time. But when it’s complete with the data transfer, you’ll feel another vibration. Again, try not to make it look too conspicuous. Just pretend you’re scratching your shoulder or something. Like this.” Tetsuo demonstrated. Natesh imitated it. “Good. Yes, just like that. A full minute, okay? You do that twice per day. Once in the morning when you get to work, then once right before you leave in the evening. We’ll meet at a different location tomorrow night. Bring the watch. Actually, just start wearing it all the time. It’s waterproof, in case you’re wondering.”
Natesh said, “I’m a little nervous about this.”
Perhaps you shouldn’t have betrayed your country and you wouldn’t be in this position. Tetsuo said, “You’ll do great.”