Enemy In the Room (38 page)

“Tell me how I can help.”

“Just be there when we need you. It may be
soon. A plane ticket and some money for Goli”

“For both of you. I will, but don’t call on
my old phone. At least not your phone. Have a friend call me, and
I’ll call you back on another one.”

“OK, cousin. I’ll be back to you soon.”

“Elizabeth and I will be waiting to
help”

“Thank you.”

Knox was alone, seated at his desk in his
top floor office early the next morning when he received a video
call from Mustafin and Kamali.

“Is everything ready to go?” Knox
immediately asked, laying aside the report he had been reading on
their operations in Brazil.

Mustafin spoke. “Yes. The Russians at
NovySvet are able to track the micro-GPS repeaters virtually
anywhere on the globe.”

“And what about the missile?”

“We went over that in detail this morning,”
Kamali answered. “The team is ready, and they’ve found a suitable
site in the area we designated.”

“And these men can do the launch?”

“Certainly. Actually, once the physical
cover is removed from the transport, which resembles a large lorry,
and the missile is prepared, we can give the command to launch it
from here, or even from your plane, for that matter. We just need
them to get it ready.”

“Yes. So you think anyone who later traces
the flight path will think Chechnya?”

“In Russia, the Chechnyans are an easy way
to explain anything unpleasant. The missile will launch from inside
Russia and fly well below the floor of their domestic air
surveillance radar. But in case anyone on the ground happens to
notice the missile and remembers it the next day, the launch will
be on a line from Chechnya to Moscow, so the implication will be
clear.”

Knox thought for a few moments. “It sounds
plausible. Keep working on the details, and let’s review them next
week at our regular meeting. And signal Salim to prepare for the
Stinger martyrs in Los Angeles and New York, right after we take
out the leadership of the two countries that persecute us the most.
Besides the political chaos, the U.S. will have to shut down all
air travel—maybe for months or years. Imagine the economic impact.
We’ll have to think well about what to buy and sell in
anticipation. What a great day for the faith it will be! We’re
about to set the events in motion by making our announcement in
support of President Harper.”

“When?” Mustafin asked.

“Burke and I are holding a press conference
in our auditorium at ten this morning. And David Sawyer will be
there as well—since he’s an integral part of the public part, we
want him to be very enthusiastic. Watch us on TV if you can. We’re
great supporters of the President now.”

The two men chuckled. Kamali said, “I can’t
wait to see the transformation.”

“It’ll be good,” Knox assured them. “Academy
Award material.”

After the press conference and lunch, David
welcomed Akbar Kamali to his office. Over the years the two had
never been close, but they had worked on several cross-department
projects together. And they had talked occasionally about events in
Iran, Kamali’s home, though usually just to regret the
demonstrations and violence.

“Thanks for coming by,” David said, as he
rose and motioned the Persian to a chair at his small conference
table.

“Sure. Any time. How may I help?”

David took the seat across. “Of course I
know that we have extensive special security on our servers and our
databases, but I was wondering whether you think that our USNet
emails and cell phone calls are secure. Could someone, somehow, be
listening or gathering information, without us knowing?”

Kamali did not answer immediately, but
looked intently at David. Finally he said, “Why do you ask?”

David took his smartphone out of the holster
on his belt and put it on the table in front of him. He glanced
down at it. “I don’t know. I’m not a technical guy. But I’ve read
stories over the years about the possibility—even that the
government is doing it—and now that we depend so much on these for
so much of our communication, I wonder whether some supercomputer
couldn’t be monitoring and stealing information from what we say
and write.”

Kamali paused again. “Do you have any
indication that your calls or emails have been compromised?”

David leaned slightly forward. “No. But I
would think that anyone doing it would be careful to keep it
secret. But I did get this report.” He held up Todd’s letter,
ostensibly from a Midwestern security company.

“May I see it?”

“Sure.” David handed the document to Kamali,
who quickly scanned it. “May I have a copy?”

“Of course,” David said, as he reached to
get it back. “I’ll ask Julie to scan a copy and send it to
you.”

“Thanks. I’ll look into it. Right now I’m
not sure, but I’ll get back to you.”

“Good. I appreciate it. You, know, I’ve been
trying to help two family members in Tehran, and I worry that maybe
their government is monitoring every call.”

Kamali shifted slightly in his chair. “In
Tehran? How have you been helping?”

“Mostly with encouragement, I’m afraid. But
I’ve also sent my cousin Omid and his wife phones and SIM cards.
They have a group that is trying to expose the excesses of the
thugs who are running the country.”

“Really? Good for you. How do you get the
phones there?”

“Through another cousin who makes business
trips to Turkey. We’re also hoping to get Omid and Goli out of Iran
soon. She was beaten and raped by the police.”

“Terrible. It sounds like your cousins are
very brave. I hope that you continue your help.”

“We plan to. It’s just very difficult.”

“Yes, of course. I have family there as
well, of course, so I know.”

“Well”—David glanced at his watch—“thank you
again, Akbar. I’ve got another meeting now, but I look forward to
hearing what you find out.”

The two men rose. “Hopefully it will not
take long, and, if necessary, we’ll think about some extra
measures.”

David nodded. “Good. I’m just trying to
help.” As Kamali walked through the door, David put the security
report on his desk.

RobSaw: Whatzup?

Calliente: Studying.

RobSaw: It’s summer

Calliente: Doing summer school to get
thru

RobSaw: Acting?

Calliente: And history. U?

RobSaw: MailDrop job.

Calliente: Is it good?

RobSaw: It’s OK. Did u know Dad met the
President?

Calliente: When?

RobSaw: Yesterday in Wash.

Calliente: Why?

RobSaw: Big meeting in Moscow soon.

Calliente: Pretty cool.

RobSaw: Yeah.

Late that Friday afternoon David was
finishing up the final invitee list for the Moscow reception. With
Julie’s help he had applied for his Russian visa and had
reservations on several flights to Moscow, waiting word from Tanya
Prescott on how early he should arrive. The phone rang, and he
could see on the readout that it was Kristen’s cell phone.

David picked it up and then returned it to
its cradle, cutting the connection. The phone rang again. Same
number. David frowned and repeated the hang up. Ninety minutes
later he was driving home and dialed Kristen’s apartment with one
of his new phones.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Kristen. It’s David. How are you?”

“Fine. Hey, is something wrong with your
phones? I tried twice today to get you, and each time it was like
the phone answered and then hung up.”

“Actually it was me.”

“Why?”

“It’s complicated. I want to talk with you,
but I prefer to use this new cell phone.”

“Why? It sounds like a spy movie.”

“Yeah. It’s not that. I just think that it’s
too easy for people to listen, and our conversations now are not
strictly business.”

“David, are you serious? That sounds
paranoid.”

He nodded to himself. “Maybe. My cousins in
Iran have taught me to be much more cautious. The same with emails.
Please just humor me, OK? Call me like you did; I’ll see the
readout and call you back, just like I’m doing.”

“Where are you?”

“Driving home.”

“David, are you in some sort of
trouble?”

“No, actually, just the opposite. Things are
getting better.”

“But I can’t call you or use email? That
doesn’t sound better.”

“Hey, why did you call?”

“A couple of reasons.” Her tone brightened.
“First, I think I got the job with the Ohio pension fund to open
their office here.”

“That’s great!”

“Yes. They’re doing background checks, and
assuming I pass those, they want me to start July 5th.”

“I’m really pleased for you.”

“There’s still time for you to quit USNet
and for us to open our own corporate service firm.”

He smiled. “I wish. Maybe, some day.”

“If it’s the money, David, I know we’ll make
a
lot
.”

“We’ve been through this, Kristen. There are
too many reasons why I can’t leave.”

“Is one of them why you can’t talk to me on
an office phone?”

“You said there were a couple of reasons why
you called me today.”

She paused. “Yes. Did you see Knox’s news
conference this morning about the Media and Entertainment Reform
Law?”

“I was there.”

“Do you think he’s real?”

“Yes. Of course. Why?”

“I don’t know. I just had a bad feeling
watching him. I couldn’t match what he was saying to what I was
seeing.”

“Burke says that he means it.”

“I know. I hope so. I just…” She was
silent.

“I’m counting on it being right, because I
think I’m going to L.A. before Moscow, and I want to tell Callie
that this means she and her wonderful boyfriend can’t do any more
of their videos until she’s twenty-one, in a year. Hopefully by
then she’ll have seen the light and moved on.”

“That would be great.”

“I know. That’s one of the reasons I said
that things are actually looking up. Maybe she’ll dump Alex and
focus on finishing school.”

“I hope. She and I talk several times a
week, now.”

“Really? About what?”

Kristen laughed. “Just stuff. She calls me
or I call her. She’s actually very good with fashions. She’s helped
me a lot.”

“What about the movies?”

“She knows how I feel. But I don’t push her
and I don’t lecture her. I’m just there.”

“I hope you can make a difference. By the
way, Elizabeth may go to L.A. with me, and I hope she won’t find
out about all of that.”

“Can I tell Callie you’re coming?”

“No, not yet. I have to set it up. But I’ll
let you know. Maybe you can help reinforce not hurting her
mother.”

“Sure. I think she actually understands
that. I think she just wants to get back at you when she can.”

“For what?”

“Well, the trigger of course is your
disapproval of Alex, and cutting her off. But she told me once that
you always criticized her and never congratulated her, even as a
little girl. That if she made B’s, you’d ask her why not A’s. And
why wasn’t she the fastest, or the best. And then you were usually
not at home. David, I’m not trying to be a dime-store psychologist,
but you asked me, and I don’t know what really happened. But she
has a precocious personality, and I think she’s been trying to get
your attention and your approval all her life, but now you’ve
disowned her. So with Alex and these movies, she’s finally got your
attention.”

“She certainly has,” he added softly.

“Well, but now all of that should change,
thanks to President Harper’s new law.”

“And Knox dropping the lawsuits.”

“Yes. I’m glad you think he’s genuine. I
feel better.”

“Kristen, he has to be. There’s way too much
riding on it.”

“All right. I just felt like he wasn’t for
real.”

“Congratulations again on your new job.”

“It’s not quite official yet. So keep it
quiet ‘til I tell you.”

“OK, but they’re getting the best.”

“Only because you trained me. Say hello to
Elizabeth for me, and call me sometime on a pair of tin cans.”

He laughed. “Will do. Talk to you soon.”

Knox was finally able to respond to an
earlier encrypted email from Akbar Kamali, asking for a
videoconference with him and Victor Mustafin. With his office door
locked and the late afternoon sun flooding his penthouse office, he
dialed both of his lieutenants on their secure video network.

After their initial greetings, Kamali
related his conversation earlier that day with David Sawyer,
including the security report David had given him to read.

Knox listened attentively, then sat back for
a few moments before speaking. “First things first. Do you think
there is any connection between David’s sudden concern for
security, and that Phelps man who works for David joining us in
RTI?”

From the right half of the split screen,
Kamali replied, “It’s hard to say. When I can get into the report,
we should know whether it’s an issue, but I doubt it. People have
been speculating for years. And I think all of it may have been
some sort of cover for his real concern: his cousins, whom he’s
helping to work against Allah and the Revolution.”

“Yes. That’s the second thing: his help for
Allah’s enemies. Why didn’t we know about this sooner?”

Mustafin said, “Because our system is
focused to find business intelligence, not Iranian security issues.
David has been calling his family for years, so it didn’t rise to
an intercept.”

“Well, then Allah be praised that he
confided in Akbar.” Knox again paused, looking out at the setting
sun. “David is another tragic loss, like my cousin. Sold out to the
lie of America.” He sighed. “Praise Allah that there are other,
better men—believers—coming along to take his place.”