Free The Origin Point: A Future Tech Cyber Novella by Case Lane Page B

least want to keep an eye on her
for a little while longer. I do not like the fact she might not
have understood the warning I was trying to give her. Her writing
has always been strategic national security stuff. I didn't think
she'd want to get into a junior reporter's investigation of lost
files. I might have to visit her in person to make her understand
we do not need her help."
    Carter sat up, his hands on Apex's arms as
he pulled her body to face him. "No way. Confronting her in person
is too risky. You have a face you know, someone might recognize
you."
    "I don't look anything like I did when we
were first married."
    "You do to me."
    "Only because you see me every day. Hardly
anyone else does. Don't worry," she responded, wiggling out of his
hands and moving her body into the crux of his arm. "I know what
I'm doing."
    "None of us know what we're doing. At no
other point in history have a group of private citizens, in public
positions, worked to develop a system to monitor the entire world.
We do not even know the legal implications of the entire
process."
    "The Attorney-General said 'go for it.'"
    "Yes because the Attorney-General thinks
'it' is nothing but a discussion exercise. She has no idea the
depth of permanent activity already taking place. One of my
companies does the vetting for the software. On my flight here, I
finally had time to read through their reports. And I must say, I
am impressed with how much work has been successfully completed.
I'm telling you baby, this thing is going to happen."
    "Okay now you're freaking me out," Apex
worriedly said as she sat up to face him. "How were a bunch of
government bureaucrats able to move so fast?"
    "Because GCS picked the right bureaucrats
out of the whole lot of them. Marco and Julia are kind of
diabolical masterminds. Together they plotted out a cover for every
single government department's contribution to the 2100 policy
papers, which as we know is really the 21st century cyber
surveillance rollout plan. Every department head assumed they were
participating in a thought piece or policy research and provided
enough information and money to drive the project forward. With
businesses, they essentially did the same thing. They gave CEOs and
CTOs a few 'if' scenarios and asked for a response. With those two,
each answer was also a roadmap into the company's potential
complicity in the larger scheme. And on an international scale,
Julia made the research a sort of competition for junior Foreign
Service officers. She made these new kids in embassies all over the
world think they each had a unique assignment from the Secretary to
discover particular aspects of the host country's cyber
infrastructure. Again, she worded the questions in a targeted
fashion. Some of her officers even managed to obtain classified
documents developed by the Chinese for local officials. The details
explained how cyber security should be implemented for resource
mines, ports, airports and even highways toll booths. Their results
are extraordinary stuff. Another team put the information together
in concise briefing documents. Those two have created a record
unprecedented in history. Effectively their findings are the
foundational blueprint for the connection of the entire operating
world through the U.S. government, business and overseas missions.
And you know, once the federal government is set, state and local
governments will fall in line. The federal government can pay them,
in the name of national security, to connect all of their servers
to the national system. I'm completely stunned by their competence,
the whole process is more developed at this point than we even
imagined."
    "You've seen all of these reports and
documents?"
    "Yes of course. Everything is on one of my
servers. But as far as I can tell, Winter only saw the aggregated
summary report and probability scenarios. I'm sure she's not aware
of the sources for all of the information and the
recommendations."
    Apex stood up and