Free Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller by BMichaelsAuthor Page B

been told that all the kinks
will be gone soon. Of course, you can’t
discuss anything related to FOGGY with anyone at Gamification, but
Saul. Also, there’s a project that I can’t discuss yet. But, I’m going to
need your top REALSPACE talent.”
    “ General, you’re
so mysterious. That’s going to be Ali Asir
and Saul—”
    “ Do you absolutely need
Saul? I’d rather compartmentalize FOGGY from the other
project.”
    “ I’m sorry General. You
know how I hate to disappoint you,” said Samantha, seductively.
“But first off, you’re not telling me anything about the project.
Secondly, Saul is also the key to doing anything in REALSPACE. He knows
G-Bridge backwards and forwards. Ali is very sharp, but he takes his
lead from Saul.”
    “ Ok,” said the General,
with a tone of resignation in his voice.
“But, I need you to keep everything very compartmentalized. There
can be no leaks of this classified information. Only those read
into FOGGY, can know about FOGGY.
    “ Even details about information that’s not classified; like the integration you’re doing with
Prosthetic Thought, you need to keep on a need-to-know basis. And, I want you
to keep Becca Roberts in the dark about these classified projects.
She can’t work any of them.”
    Samantha was irritated by
the directive to cut Becca out of the loop. “Let me get this
straight. You want GAMESPACE to incorporate a first-person shooter
that gamifies something secret in REALSPACE, using brain waves for virtual
reality control? And, you’re limiting the resources I can employ?
You don’t want my second best software engineer to work on it? Is
that all you want?”
    “ That’s all you need to
know for now. But that’s not all I want,” said the General. He
poured them both another scotch. “I want you—now.”
    Shields’ words didn’t register with
Samantha. “Why don’t you like Becca?”
    “ I like Becca a lot. I
agree. She’s one of your best. I know Saul is a better coder, but Becca
is both a great software engineer and an outstanding
communicator. She’s probably more valuable to Gamification Systems
than Saul. You can put her in front of a client. It’s great that
you have her working with Josh. But I’ve read her
SF-86.”
    SF-86’s were the form
that individuals seeking to work with classified information
submitted to the government. It
was the document used to formally request a
clearance . The Office of Personnel and
Management—OPM—was the government agency ultimately in charge of
SF-86’s.
    SF-86’s not only contained
extremely personal information, like financial records and health
data, but also included data on known associates of the person
seeking the clearance. This
included neighbors, co-workers, parents,
spouse, ex-spouses, and children. In 2015, the OPM database was
hacked, yielding a massive amount of personal information—including fingerprint data.
    The General continued,
“Her dad is a fundamentalist pastor. She strikes me as a bit naïve.
Becca is a straight
arrow . Straight arrows get bent when you
have to fight radical Islamic terrorists, like the
Caliphate.”
    A flash of hot anger shot
through Samantha. Who the hell was he, to
tell me, how to run Gamification Systems? She quickly suppressed the emotion.
    Then, the General’s words
of boardroom foreplay finally hit her. She was appreciative of him
for the Gecko opportunity and funding offer. She didn’t want to ruin the moment. “Ok. I
understand.” She’d employ the art of persuasion in upcoming
days.
    Samantha rose from her chair and
straddled the General with her taut thighs.
    As the two began to kiss, the General
fondled Samantha’s voluptuousness.
    “ General,” she said,
oozing lust, “I don’t know anything about a straight arrow; but,
there’s something else that’s very straight in this
room.”
    Samantha grabbed the
General’s hand. She led him over to his English oak desk. In one
fell swoop, Samantha dumped the entire contents of