Chapter 17

CIA Director’s office, Langley Virginia

Gina Haspel was sitting at her desk looking over the transcripts from last night’s conversation with Director Richards when her desk phone rang.

“Good morning Melissa,” She answered.

“Good morning Director. FBI Director Wray is here to see you,” Her PA told her.

“Please, show him in.” She replied disconnecting the call.

Gina stood up and walked over to her office door. She met Director Wray at the door as he walked through. Reaching out to shake his hand, but instead, Director Wray handed her a coffee cup.

“Caramel Latte with cinnamon and an extra shot of espresso...” He told her.

“You are a lifesaver, thank you. Grab a couch and I’ll be right with you.” She said to the FBI man. “Melissa, would you please get an update from Director Richards regarding the fast boat headed to Rota. Also, I want you to have Denny Crane from IT meet with me at 1300 today. Lastly, I’m unavailable to anyone except The Almighty Himself for the next 90 minutes.”

“Yes ma’am, I’ll have that update ready for you by the time you’re finished.” Her PA replied closing the door behind her.

Director Haspel walked over to her desk and activated the SCIF function and grabbed the folder off her desk and sat in her chair.

“So, Gina, what’s got me in a meeting with you first thing in the morning?” Chris Wray asked her.

“We want to run another domestic snatch operation to grab another Russian agent in the capital area.” She told him.

“Ok, I would ask the normal things, who, why, and how?” Director Wray asked her.

She handed him the dossier she had prepared for him. “This will answer who.” She told him.

“Hanna Symanski, Ukrainian, born in 1979, Immigrated to the US in July of 2001.” He read quietly. “Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Heidelberg, master’s degree from Georgetown in behavioral psychology and works as a Clinical and marriage therapist. She’s the Russian agent, I’m guessing.” He asked. Director Haspel nodded her head. “Ok, what’s the rest of it?”

Haspel handed him another packet of papers. “Read that then tell me if that’s a good enough why.” She told him.

He started to read the packet of papers. As he did, his eyes widened in shock. “Please tell me this is a joke...” he said.

“I wish that it was,” She said stoically. “The subject was the one that introduced her to America when she immigrated. They had a friendship even after she was moved to her assignment with Greg junior. The way she explained it to Denise and David was that she knows a few people on the list, but not the whole list. What she gave us is listed at the end of the interview transcripts.”

He flipped the packet of papers to the last sheet and read. “Three sitting senators, nine congressmen and women, Four committee chairpersons, various state/local officials and corporate honchos.” Shaking his head, he closed the dossier, put it on the coffee table, and rubbed his forehead. “Fleiss was a birthday party compared to this,” Wray said rubbing the bridge of his nose. “This would kill the United States in the eyes of the world if this ever got out, never mind the Russian collusion investigation.”

“That was our assessment as well. Which is why we want to run the snatch using people that have no connection to any operations that either the FBI or CIA are running. They stay in the dark and use their own people to do it.” Gina started to explain. She passed a file folder over to him. “This is who we have in mind to run the operation.”

He read over the names on the list. “I recognize Michael Atkinson’s name. I’m guessing that Simone is his wife?”

“Yes. She worked for us for over 10 years and was Naval Intelligence before that. Hank and Denise both agreed that if there’s anyone that can plan and pull this off as quietly as possible, it’s them.” She told him.

Director Wray put the folders down on the table in front of him. “How are you wanting to do this?”

“We’ve got the cyber warfare people tearing Symanski’s life apart down to what kind of toilet paper she buys. They’re also going to take a look at her client list for her legitimate practice and see who’s on it. What I’d like to ask is for you to have a couple of people shadow her for a few days and give us a basic idea of her daily activities.” She told him.

“I’ll quietly task one of the senior SAC’s to handle it.” He was quiet for a moment and then scratched his chin in thought. “I’m completely on board with this. However, I’d like to see a general idea of how the op is going to be run.” He told her.

“As far as how the operation is going to be run, you’ll have to talk to them about it. I legitimately want complete and total deniability if this goes south.” She told him.

“I get it, but I still want to have an outline of the op just so I can move some pieces around to react if this gets into the open.” He told her.

“Are you wanting a complete operations order?” Gina asked him.

“No, just have them jot down a basic outline. I’m also guessing you want one of my guys with their team?” He asked.

Director Haspel nodded her head in agreement. “Hank and I talked it over and we both agree that it would be best for logistical reasons.”

“We’ve got a couple of former CAG operators on the HRT team here in DC and Atlanta. I’ll take a look at them and have a name for you by this afternoon.” He told her.

“Hank is going to send Simone’s old boss to Belize to see them this evening. I’ll let you know what they say about this.” She told him.

“What do you think they’ll say?” Director Wray asked.

“Hank knows them better than I do. He said they’d say yes.” Gina replied.

“Either way, let me know please.” He said standing up. “You know this is not how I like starting my workday right?”

“And you think I do?” she asked him with a slight chuckle. “I’d love to have a minor problem like a third world country’s government being overthrown rather than this.”

“I miss Reagan.” He told her.

“He was the best, wasn’t he?” She replied walking over to her desk and deactivating the SCIF. She walked him to the door. “Oh, I wanted you to have this before you left.” She said handing him a piece of folded paper.

Reading over the page, FBI Director Wray shook his head and smiled. “He really stuck his neck out for the operation.”

“Yeah, he did. But it speaks volumes about his devotion to his duty and the country.” She told him.

“A field agent ... Signing off on a CIA operation on US soil ... I think his name might be on the promotion list this fall.” He told her walking out of her office.

Gina sat back down at her desk and started her daily routine.

Coma Ruga, Spain

Michelle, Talitha, Petra, and Dominic were finishing planning for the hacking operation. Petra had laid out the step by step operational details and how Langley’s IT contractors would start the mission.

“I’m not doing anything overt in this. This is all the contractor’s job to get in. All I’m doing is piggybacking on a different line when they start hacking.” Petra explained.

“Ok, that’s fine, but why just piggyback in?” Dominic asked.

Because I’m keeping a low profile in case, they or someone else that’s watching, start backtracking us. I want them NOT to know that we’re sitting in Marseilles at the port authority.” She told him.

Michelle looked puzzled by her statement. “The port authority in Marseille France?

“People from all over Europe board cruise lines from there. The internet bandwidth is large and having so many people logged onto the network will work well hiding my IP address. Not to mention the fact that I’ve already gotten the French Port Authority’s server information.” Petra told her.

“You’re going to make it look like the French Port Authority is trying to get into Kolab?” Dominic asked.

“No, but it’s easy to hide an IP address in amongst another couple hundred IP addresses in a very public place.” She answered.

“Can you explain how you’ll piggyback on a signal in?” Michelle asked.

“And you still be awake when I was finished? Probably not...” Petra told her.

“What’s your plan if you’re back-traced and they can get people to the terminal to look for you?” Michelle asked.

Talitha spoke up at that point. “Mossad will be watching the video feeds for the security cameras in the terminal. They will also have access to the passport scanners that are used when people arrive at the port. Other than fire exit doors, there are only two ways in and out of the terminal, so we will have a decent amount of notice if someone is looking for us.”

“That’s assuming Mossad has their identity in their system,” Michelle replied.

“Mossad’s facial recognition software and database rival’s China’s,” Denise said sitting down and joining the conversation. “I’m not the least bit worried about them missing the opposing team if they show up, Michelle.”

“So, when you get into the system, how will it work to find the email you need?” Michelle asked.

“I’ve got Davynskov’s email address. Sending the email won’t be a problem. The real issue is going to be hiding my tracks after I get into his email account. I’ve got to bounce a signal from Marseille, around the world and back to Brooklyn, and to wherever it terminates.” Petra told her.

“So how are you going to know it’s worked or not?” Dominic asked.

“Part of the program I wrote, it will correlate all the data it finds and sends it to me when it’s finished. It will compilate the emails and save them to be printed out later. It’s then going to find from where, when, and location to where it was sent, all I have to do is paste the IP addresses on a document and send it to whoever.” Petra told her.

Michelle looked confused as she tried to wrap her mind around this whole thing. “Let me see if I have this straight...” She paused gathering her thoughts. “You’re going to send an email from Davynskov to everyone he’s ever emailed from his Kolab Now account. This will let you trace where, when, and to whom the email went. In the end, the program will, hopefully, and eventually tell us who the subject’s handler is, AND you’re going to get us the contents of all the emails?”

“In a roundabout way, yes it will. The IT section will have to do the leg work to find the handler themselves.” Petra replied. “Simple yeah?”

“Sure...” Michelle said. “What are the chances you’ll get caught?”

“There’s always a chance that we’ll get caught, but honestly, unless they have boots on the ground, then the chances are negligible,” Denise told her. “The whole team is going along to watch their backs and deal with any problems that come up.”

“What if they do have people in the area?” Michelle asked.

“The whole team is going along to watch their backs,” Denise repeated.

“Wouldn’t it be better to send David instead of Laura? I’m sure that if there’s a fight...” Michelle started to say but was cut off by Dominic putting his hand on her thigh.

“Baby, go and walk out the side door, yell and ask Laura what her chosen form of Martial art is and what ranking she is. Then ask her what she’s lifting with this morning.” He told her.

Michelle got up and walked out the front door. “Hey Laura, what is your chosen form of martial art and what rank are you?” She paused listening to what Laura told her. “Really? Then what size dumbbells are you using?” Michelle listened to her reply and stood there for a moment in quiet contemplation. “ ... Thank you” Michelle walked back in and sat down.

“So?” Dom asked her.

“She said she’s a candidate for master in Sambo and she’s taking it easy and only using the 60 lb. dumbbells today since you’re leaving tomorrow for France.” Michelle told her.

Denise grinned at her. “Any more doubts?”

“None. I know MEN that are afraid of the 60’s.” Michelle said. “Back to what we were talking about.” She told the group. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out two jump drives and handed them to Petra. “These are going to mirror yours and Talitha’s laptop feed and transmit it for the directors to watch.”

“Oh good, there’s no pressure then,” Petra said with a frown.

“Nothing like that. The contractors we’ll be using all have the same software. It’s just in case the cyber warfare people can offer some insight or help.” Michelle told her.

“Can they take over if they want to?” She asked.

“No, this is strictly observational software,” Michelle replied.

“I’ll load this up onto my laptop when we get to Marseille tomorrow evening and I’ll do a test run with your Langley at 1900 our time.” She told Michelle.

She made a note and then stood up. “What’s for dinner tonight?”

“We’re actually grilling ribs and watching ‘The Gentleman’ tonight,” Steven told her.

“It’s not even...” Michelle started to say but stopped herself. She looked over at Petra.

“What? We got selected by the studio to view it and give feedback.” She told Michelle.

“Uh-huh...” Michelle replied as she went to help Dominic with the food.

Belize City, Belize

David Fung pulled up to the gate that closed off Mike and Simone Atkinson’s driveway from the Western Highway. Getting out of his car to stretch, he looked at the property from the road. Before he left Washington DC, Hank Richards had shown him a satellite view of their property. He knew that the house sat a half-mile off the road and had large stands of trees blocking the view from the gate area. Looking up, he noticed a camera that was trained on the gate. Smirking, he pressed the call button on the speaker. Climbing back into his car, he waited for a response. Instead the gate opened. Putting his car in gear, he drove on, following the road up to the house. When he got up to the house, he saw Simone outside waiting for him. He turned his car off, grabbed his messenger bag, and got out.

“Have a long trip David?” Simone asked him as she gave him a hug.

“Not too bad overall. I got to take the director’s Gulfstream the whole way, so I didn’t have to deal with customs or anything like that,” He replied. “Where’s Mike?”

“Standing right behind you actually,” Mike said quietly.

David jumped in surprise not hearing him sneak up behind him. “Don’t do that!” He said nervously.

Simone and Mike laughed and invited him into their house. Simone gave David the quick tour of the house while Mike got out some drinks for the three of them. When they got back in from the dock where their boat was moored, they sat down to talk.

“Strawberry Margaritas with an extra shot of rum is the way I recall you like them,” Mike said pouring the drink for him.

“Thanks,” he said taking a sip. His eyes widened in surprise. “This is good, how do you do it differently?” He asked.

“Local rum with a bit less sugar in it and fruit from a local market.” Simone told him. She watches as he drank half the glass and set it back on the table.

“You couldn’t tell me where I could get...” he started to ask but stopped when he noticed that Simone had set a bottle of the rum next to him.

Mike sat down at the table at last. The talked like the old friends they are for about thirty minutes before Mike spoke. “David, we’re happy to see you, but what got you out of your cushy retirement and down here to see us?” He asked him.

“That’s what I miss with you two.” He said with a smile. “Direct and straight to business.”

“Well, it’s 3 in the afternoon, and Mike took steaks out when we heard you were coming. So, let’s get business finished and then we can grill and talk like normal people.” Simone told him.

“Touché. Director Richards wants to use you both to plan and conduct an operation on American soil. Other than that, I have no idea what he wants or how he wants to do it.” David told them.

Simone looked at Mike for a moment before speaking. “David, we’re retired. We do some occasional consultant work for the DOD and Triple Canopy, but we’re happy where we are.”

“I was never a spy; I was always an operator. I wouldn’t have the first clue about how to run a domestic operation. Besides, with the way the US Intelligence is running things now, there’s no guarantee that we could pull this off without someone knowing about it.” Mike told David.

“No offense, David, but word going around the intelligence community is if you want to keep it a secret, do NOT tell it to US intelligence,” Simone told him.

David chuckled hearing her say that. “Strangely enough, you’re not the first person I’ve heard say that. How about this then, would you be open to hearing it from the horse’s mouth as to what they want you to do?” He asked.

Simone looked Mike who shrugged his shoulders. “It would depend on who the horse is,” Simone told him.

“Excuse me a moment...” He said picking up his phone and dialing a number. “Director Richards...” Simone looked at Mike again who only shrugged his shoulders. “Yes sir, I am, and they said exactly what I told you they would ... No sir, I don’t know and to be honest, I doubt that I could convince them since I don’t know the particulars ... No sir ... I really couldn’t tell you, sir ... Of course, I’d be willing to ask ... Of course, I’ll ask and call you back ... Yes sir.” He said disconnecting the call. “Director Richards would like to know if you would be willing to talk to who actually knows what’s going on. Maybe they can give you an idea of what you’d be doing.”

“It can’t hurt, but I doubt you’re going to change our minds,” Mike told him.

David Fung reached into his bag and pulled out another phone. Both Mike and Simone were looking at him with a puzzled look. “Secure phone, I brought one with me just in case this happened.” He told them. He dialed the phone and waited for an answer. “Yes sir, they said they’d listen ... Ok...” He said. “Director Richards is connecting you with the person who knows the most about this.” He handed the phone to Simone.

Simone looked at it and then put it up to her ear trying to listen for the other end.

“Hello?” The female voice spoke.

“Hello...” Simone replied.

“Simone, this is Denise, how’s retirement? Denise asked her.

“Denise, it’s been a while,” Simone said smiling. “Retirement is better than I thought. I’m up by 9am and on the beach by 10. How are you doing honey?” She asked her excitedly.

“I’m good. I made Captain last month.” She replied.

“Congratulations, MA’AM, I always knew you would,” Simone said with a smile.

“Thanks Simone, I honestly had no idea I was even up for it until the orders came.” She told Simone. “I know you have lots of tanning to do, so I’ll get right to it.”

“Ok, I’m listening,” Simone replied.

“First off ... In case you’re wondering, I was the one that put your names up to do this mission. As to why you and Mike, you have a better planning mindset than 95% of the handlers in the agency these days. Mike will run circles around 99% of the operators in the world with all he knows about insurgency and guerilla warfare. Between the two of you, there’s a better than average chance you’ll succeed.” She told Simone.

“How do you know about Mike’s knowledge?” Simone asked looking at him.

“I read all three of his papers that he wrote when he was at the Pentagon and the War College about counterinsurgency, countering foreign influences, and combating terror strategies,” Denise told her.

“Ok, continue...” She told her.

“Secondly, you’re going to have carte blanche to run the operation the way you want to. This mission is so far off the books that there isn’t a pen to write about it. Third, I’m going to say three things and I’ll let your mind put the rest of it together, Ok?” Denise asked.

“Go ahead...” Simone told her.

“Swallow, Fleiss, and whom.” She told Simone.

Simone’s eyes widened and she was silent as she ran through the scenarios. “How bad?” she asked.

“I’m scared if it gets out,” Denise replied.

“You’re not afraid of anything,” Simone told her.

“Of this I am.” She replied. “Hank will fill you in on the parameters should you choose to do the mission.”

“I’ll talk to Mike an see where he stands,” Simone told her.

“Good enough. If you need background or anything involving information, get ahold of Hank and I’ll get what I can for you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an important meeting with a long island iced tea and the pool. Great talking with you Simone, you take care.” Denise told her.

“You too Denise. Be safe out there.” Simone told her as she disconnected the call. She handed the phone back to David Fung, but he held his hand up.

“You keep it. You might need it in the next day or two.” He told her. “As much as a steak sounds wonderful, I believe you and Mike have some things to talk about; I’ll leave you to it.” He said getting up and grabbing his bag.

“You came all this way just to talk to us?” Simone asked him.

“I would stay longer, but the look on your face speaks volumes about what was told to you about what’s going on. So, I’m going to deduce that you and Mike have some big choices to make, and I’ll leave you to make them.” He told her. “Besides, if you take the mission, I’ll be the one handling your disappearing act until it’s over.”

Mike shook his hand. “David, you and Cheryl are always welcome to visit, we turned the other two bedrooms into another master suite that you and she can use.”

David smiled at that thought. “I might take you up on that. It’s 30 years in November.”

“Cheryl’s put up with you THAT long?” Simone asked him with a grin.

“Trust me, I have no idea how or why either.” He replied getting into his car. Putting the key in the ignition, he started up the car and looked at them both. “I’ll have Cheryl plan dinner when you get to town next week.” He said as he drove off.

Mike looked at Simone. “What did Denise tell you?” He asked her.

“Come on, you’re going to want a drink when I tell you what she had to say,” Simone said wrapping her arm around his waist and pulling him to the house.

48 Hours later, Marseilles France

Dominic was standing next to Robert near the entranceway to the terminal. They both smiled as they watched a woman berate her husband for packing a very skimpy bikini instead of the more modest one-piece bathing suit she had wanted.

“She still pissed off about her swimsuit?” Steven asked him in his earpiece.

“Yeah.” He replied.

“They’ve been in here for 30 minutes, how much longer can she go on?” Laura asked.

“They’re accent screams Jersey, so my guess is that she can go for days about it,” Robert told her.

“If Michelle ever does that to me, I’m leaving her ass in the terminal and going home to watch porn the whole time she’s gone,” Dom replied.

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” Hannah told him.

“Yeah, she doesn’t seem like the cruise type,” Laura told him.

“I agree with them,” Talitha said. “She likes the beach, but not going onto a boat with a one thousand other people.”

“Oh, she definitely doesn’t like cruise liners. She says that they breed everything from syphilis to the black plague.” Dom said the others started to chuckle to themselves.

“I don’t think she’ll complain about skimpy swimwear either, she seems to like less of a swimsuit than more of one,” Robert told them. He heard the rest of the team, including Dom agree with him.

“How’s it going Petra?” Hannah asked.

“Waiting on the other participants to join the race. I’ve got everyone online on my end.” She replied.

Suddenly they heard a ping in their earpieces. “Tali?” Dominic asked.

“Stand by...” Tali told them as she types a reply. “The older man in the white polo shirt that’s just walking in, Interpol has an open file on him from 1985 for ties to the IRA,” Tali told them.

“He’s through the gate and looks to be headed for the men’s room,” Robert told

“Steven you’re closest, Laura, make your way over and cover him,” Dom told them.

“Roger.” He heard them say.

“Ok, kick-off...” Petra said. She immediately started typing at a furious rate.

Tali watched her for a moment in awe at how fast she was writing code. “What happened? I thought you were finished with the program?”

“I was, but one of the contractors is using Python and I needed to change a few lines of coding for it to optimally work for him,” Petra said not even looking at her.

“White polo shirt is heading out to board his ship,” Steven told the group a couple minutes later.

“Good, give him 10 minutes then come back inside. Laura, resume your pattern.” Dominic told her.

“Moving.” She replied.

“This is interesting,” Petra said quietly. “Someone put a back door into the system. There’s active monitoring on it and no one is getting in that way unless you have a 27-digit passkey.” She replied. “Tali, can you send up a message and let them know about the backdoor and have them pass the word to leave it alone please?”

“I can do that.” Talitha replied as she started typing.

Cyber Warfare Center, Langley Virginia

Denny Crane heard the ping of his instant messenger box. Reading the message from the team, he replied roger and then set to notifying the other contractors about the back door and the active monitoring they have on it. Director Richards walked over and was looking over his shoulder as he typed.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Information about a back door into the system, but it has dedicated active monitoring and we’re advised to leave it alone. It’s nothing out of the ordinary to have something like this for board members and high-ranking company officers.” He told him as he continued to type.

“How’s it looking so far?” He asked Denny.

“Too early to tell sir. They started about 10 minutes ago and so far, there’s some progress, but not enough to know anything for sure.” He told him.

“What would you say our chances are?” Director Haspel asked walking up to the pair of men.

“Director, at this point, I’d call it a crapshoot. Kolab Now has a reputation for strong security. The fact that the team found a back door...” He paused for a second in thought. “Excuse me, director, I need to IM the asset with a change of plan.” He said turning back to his computer.

“I’m guessing that there’s a problem with the back door you found?” Hank asked him.

“Not at all sir, but I have an idea that might help speed this up some.” He replied. Denny stood and walked over to one of his technicians to give him instructions. “What we’re going to do is hit the power company that Kolab uses for main server.” He said sitting back down at his system to send the team an IM.

“You’re going to attack the local power station?” Director Haspel asked him.

“Yes and no director, we’re not going to attack it with the intent to shut it down. We’re going to send the system into a maintenance routine and that will cut the output from the power plant to the substations. For all intents and purposes, it will look like an ordinary maintenance issue to everyone that’s watching. If the power levels decrease for even a microsecond, their backup generator will kick on almost instantly to keep the server going. That should draw the active monitoring people’s attention away from their attacks for a few minutes.” Denny explained sitting back down at his console and typing a message to the contractors.

“What will this do for the contractors and the team?” Hank asked him.

“This won’t do anything for the team. The contractors on the other hand will have a better chance of getting into their system if part of their monitoring staff is distracted.” Denny explained.

Marseille, France

Back in Marseille, Talitha’s computer pinged. She started reading the message and then spoke quietly. “They are going to hit the power station in Sweden and that should draw some attention away. They’ll give us a two-minute notification when they start.”

“That’s genius...” Petra said to her.

“What’s genius?” Robert asked.

“Unless I’m wrong, they’re going to send a command to the power station where the Kolab monitoring is and put the station and subsequently the substations and power distribution points into a maintenance cycle. That will make the security people look at that and draw attention away from the contractors.” She explained.

“Will that help us any?” Dom asked.

“Us, not so much. The contractors, definitely. The less attention paid to them, the better chance they and us have to beat the security.” She explained. She went back to paying attention to her laptop.

Talitha’s laptop pinged again. She was reading the message come across as Petra leaned over to look. “Guys, the woman in the white dress holding the teacup poodle that just walked in,” she said.

“What about her?” Dom asked as he moved towards her.

“Cecile Toussaint, she is on the watch list as a financier for Basque terror groups specifically the ETA,” Tali told them as she messaged Langley. “Dom what boat is she getting on?”

“She’s standing in the Norwegian ticket line. We’ll watch her when she moves toward her boat.” He told her.