An Armageddon Duology (25 page)

C
BD
: And it was at this point that you put your trap in motion?

MR. SAVAS: Yes.

[
R
EDACTED
]: Why did you trust this criminal?

MR. SAVAS: To be quite honest, I didn’t. Maybe the trap was going to be reversed and sprung on us. I was flying on instinct, and something resonated as truthful about her dislike of Fawkes and what he was doing. Anyway, I didn’t feel I had much of a choice. We had to act fast or things might get beyond the point of fixing. The disaster with Angel just confirmed how vulnerable we and the entire world were to this maniac.

[
R
EDACTED
]: The purported accident with your computers.

MR. SAVAS: Not accident, sabotage. It was a cyberattack.

[
R
EDACTED
]: Conveniently timed to cripple you at a moment, to use your words, where things were so serious that they might not be fixed.

MR. SAVAS: Which is exactly what Fawkes would have wanted. We’d shaken him. He responded to protect his plans.

[
R
EDACTED
]: But no one else was with agent Lightfoote when the alleged hacking attack occurred?

MR. SAVAS: Alleged?

C
BD
: Why don’t you tell us about Angel Lightfoote, Mr. Savas.

MR. SAVAS: Can you be a little more vague, please.

C
BD
: Why did you put her in charge of your cybercrimes unit? Her records do not indicate any experience in digital technology or training of any kind.

MR. SAVAS: She showed an aptitude. After we lost Manuel—agent Manuel Hernandez—we needed someone in the chaos of the time to handle the system he had set up, our operations room at Intel 1. Angel was one of those to step up. After a short time she was running things by herself.

C
BD
: Is it common practice at FBI to promote people into positions for which they clearly have no training, no experience?

MR. SAVAS: Of course not. But it wasn’t common occurrence to lose half your people to a vengeful tycoon plotting a global genocide. John Gunn and Mjolnir massacred half our division. The regs didn’t mean a hell of a lot in those moments. We were battered. We survived as a team. More than a team. As a family. Screw the fucking protocol.

[
R
EDACTED
]: Again, we are to understand that you were able to
ignore
policies and procedures because of your division’s vaunted status at FBI and elsewhere?

MR. SAVAS: We were cut a lot of slack.

[
R
EDACTED
]: Which you used to promote an unstable personality into the prime position overseeing your cybercrime investigations just as the world was to suffer an unprecedented digital terrorist attack.

MR. SAVAS: Unstable? Look, Angel was weird, but she was a damn fine agent. Became a better one after Mjolnir. The trial by fire chars some, brings out the gold in others. She was gold.

[
R
EDACTED
]: These photos, Mr. Savas. This is Lightfoote?

MR. SAVAS: Yes.

[
R
EDACTED
]: How can you possibly justify this?

MR. SAVAS: So she’s got short hair and some piercings. She saved the damned world, you idiots! You want to turn that back so you can dress her like a Stepford girl?

[
R
EDACTED
]: Saved the world. Only she could do it. Only she had the power to stop the virus, a virus she was instrumental in discovering, that she claims wiped her computers and all previous records of cyber-activity in your division. A woman contacted by the very man you assert was the prime terrorist in the events last fall. A woman with a diagnosed mental illness, hired and promoted without following basic FBI protocols.

MR. SAVAS: What do you mean a diagnosed mental illness?

[
R
EDACTED
]: Don’t play ignorant with us now.

MR. SAVAS: What diagnosed mental illness? There’s nothing like that in her file.

[
R
EDACTED
]: Of course not, because as our research has uncovered, FBI computers were used to wipe national databases, medical records destroyed. Or so it was thought. But you were not thorough enough.

MR. SAVAS: Deleted records? [INAUDIBLE] Larry. Dammit, Larry, you should have told me.

[
R
EDACTED
]: Now you wish to pass the buck to a dead boss, is that it?

MR. SAVAS: Never mind. You’re going to twist and fit everything into your preconceived notions in this witch hunt. I can tell you I didn’t know, but I don’t much care even knowing now. Larry made some unorthodox hires, including yours truly. Those choices wouldn’t look good on paper in front of a committee like yours. And those choices put together a group of damaged yet exceptional people that have saved all your asses on more occasions than we have time for!

[
R
EDACTED
]: So you would justify this?

MR. SAVAS: I’ll justify it with our record.

[
R
EDACTED
]: That is exactly what we are here to examine. Not the fantasy you put forth as you actions, but what really happened.

MR. SAVAS: What really happened.

[
R
EDACTED
]: Yes. And we know that Angel Lightfoote is at the center of this. Placed at the center of digital operations immediately before the chaos by you, escaping from custody with two known terrorists and enemies of the state that you sheltered and aided.

MR. SAVAS: Oh, good God.

[
R
EDACTED
]: You might ought to pray to your God, Mr. Savas, because as things are shaping up, that is the only place you can expect to find any mercy.

C
BD
: Can we turn this back to the so-called trap?

MR. SAVAS: [INAUDIBLE]

C
BD
: So, this “Poison”, real name Tabitha Ivy, she agreed to serve as bait for Fawkes?

MR. SAVAS: Yes. She was bait. We’d make it clear we were holding her, that we would extract information by any means necessary, threatening to expose Fawkes, to harm someone he possessed an emotional attachment to.

C
BD
: And by any means you mean torture?

MR. SAVAS: We faked interrogation scenes, placed them on poorly secured servers. Sent unencrypted emails revealing that we held her, provided information that we could possess only if we did. We believed this would get back to him and he would respond.

C
BD
: Which you claim he did?

MR. SAVAS: With a vengeance. We weren’t actually prepared for how swift and devastating the response would be. We were naive about just how much manpower he had amassed and how obsessed he was with Poison. But afterward, we knew the plan would work. He gave us the confidence to set it up by those actions.

C
BD
: And so that was the next event in the chronology, the warehouse in Brooklyn?

MR. SAVAS: The plans for that were set in motion, but everything was exploding at that point. Lopez and Houston were sent to D.C. You know, your two terrorist enemies of the state? They
volunteered
to try and stop the assassinations we deduced were coming. They saved the president.

[
C
BD
]: Let the record show that Mr. Savas refers to former president Elaine York.

MR. SAVAS: Former?

[
C
BD
]: She has been charged with treason and is a most wanted fugitive under the current authorities.

MR. SAVAS: Current authorities? What does that mean? Who is running the damn country?

[
C
BD
]: We are not at liberty to convey such information to you.

MR. SAVAS: Jesus Christ! What the hell is happening topside? What have you people done?

“
L
ook
, you need to understand. This comes from way up—from Sergei. We need those users in China. If we don’t expand into those markets, we’re going to end up on the wrong side of history in tech.”

The bald suit behind the desk looked down at his desk as he spoke. Across from him, a dark-haired man with smart glasses stared forward with intense eyes. His fingers drummed on the armrests of the chair.

“Wrong side of history? What the fuck is ‘Don’t be evil’ then? We censor and keep information from people? Information should be free for everyone! You know, even the Chinese! I thought that’s what this company was about!”

“We have to make compromises. Find the right balance.”

The young man stood up, his voice seemingly focused on the conversation, but his fingers on a smartphone and tapping furiously. He began to pace the small office space.

“And what about the backdoors to NSA and others?”

The superior finally did look at the younger man. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I’ve got enough access to source that I can recognize a backdoor when I meet it. Fucking sloppy code too, if you asked me. Some Russian mobster is going to rape you up the ass for it someday if you don’t clean it up.”

“I think you’re definitely poking around in places you don’t need to be,” he said, swiveling around in his chair to fully face the young man.

The pacing continued. “Oh, look at that. Suddenly we’re all serious like. Well, I’m into free information. Nothing is off limits.”

“Then you’re going to have to find yourself another job. I don’t know why we tolerated you as long as we did.”

“Because I can code circles around anyone here.”

“No one is irreplaceable.”

His step uninterrupted, the youth laughed. “Oh, a threat. From the internet’s biggest, baddest company.”

“You should take that seriously. We can make you. Or break you. Don’t fuck with us or you’ll never work in the valley again.”

Finally the pacing stopped and the man stood over the desk, facing his superior. “Make me? What, move up the ladder? To what? Chief of sucking China’s dick? You dumb ass, I can make more money hacking clueless banks than you pay me here. I thought maybe there was something good in the corporate cesspool. Man, you guys have let me down.”

The man behind the desk looked stunned. “There will be no more talk of illegal activity in my office.”

“‘Cause the NSA is on the line, you mean. How much of your soul did you sell for this shit?” He laughed and shook his head. “Let’s get this straight. You're actually upset about me tapping the
evaporation
off these big companies while you prostitute yourselves to a dictatorship? Keeping information from its own people? Allowing our government to spy on its own citizens? Okay, this place is actually
seriously
evil. God, I didn't see it. I didn't want to see it. I mean, what’s left? I can be a legal criminal here or a black hat out there? This whole tech industry is in deep with the devil.” He threw a chair across the room. “Fuck you! And fuck the slave masters. The entire system’s corrupt.”

The bald man stood up behind his desk and pointed to the door of his office. “Get out of here. You’re fired! No, as of today, I can promise you, you’re finished in this industry.”

The youth laughed again. “You fucking moron. I’m just getting started.”