Impossible (Fuzed Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  Elizabeth says, “Wow! That’s great, but I’ve been working for the U.N. for less than two years.”

  Deken picks up a file on her desk, clearly Elizabeth’s, and flips through it. “Yes, but you have an extensive neurological nursing background with a unique double major in nursing and computer science. You also volunteered for fieldwork after the comet and handled yourself well under very dangerous conditions. Equally important, you have been very successful with your current program.” She sets the file down and looks at Elizabeth. “You have packed a lot into those two years.”

  “So, I’d be transferred to another department?”

  Deken nods. “Yes, but this is voluntary.”

  “I’m honored and love a new challenge, but I’m right in the middle of trying to get the TELEMED project off the ground. I just don’t see how I could leave it right now.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say that. You place the mission above your career goals. However, the way it works is that each department gets to choose their replacement. That means if they get you, we would get to choose your replacement from Global Security, and they do have some of the brightest software engineers in the world.”

  Surprised, she says, “Global Security?”

  Deken just nods.

  Elizabeth pauses and with a frown says, “Have to admit, at this point in the program, we’re more limited by software than medical knowledge. A brilliant software engineer could really help.” She shakes her head. “But what on Earth would I do in Global Security? I’ve never served in the military or law enforcement.”

  “Yes, I was surprised at the request. Our departments are on opposite sides of the spectrum.” She taps a finger on her desk for a moment and then asks, “I don’t mean to pry into your personal life, but do you know anyone in Global Security,” she raises an eyebrow, “personally?”

  Elizabeth shakes her head. “I don’t think I know anyone over there. I met Dr. Turan once, but it was like for a few seconds at a conference in Belgium, and that was before I worked for the U.N.” She can’t elaborate about the meeting because Jen’s existence is only known to key world leaders and a handful of others. Humanity isn’t ready to learn that The Great Tech Out was caused by a childlike artificial intelligence that lives in their phone.

  Looking thoughtful, Deken says, “Why don’t you go do the interview? If, after talking to them, you’re not convinced it’s a good fit, or you have any concerns,” she gave her a meaningful look, “we’ll stop the transfer.”

  Josh lands at Washington National. Grabbing a rental car, he drives to Tyson’s Corner near the CIA Headquarters. The meeting location comes in via encrypted text. They will meet him in an underground parking garage near the old Tyson’s Corner Mall.

  Applying the tradecraft he learned at The Farm, he tries to be observant and notice if anyone is taking an interest in him. It isn’t his best skill.

  He circles the area twice to see if anyone is following him. With no obvious tail, he drives to the bottom of the parking garage. Davidson didn’t text him his vehicle type, but on a Sunday morning, Josh sees only a few cars on the bottom level. One of them is a large, new, black SUV. As he parks across from it, the rear door opens.

  Josh climbs in and sees Davidson in the back seat and two men in the front. He shakes hands with Davidson and nods to the others.

  “Good to see you, Josh. Sorry for all the sneaking around but it never hurts to be careful and I want to protect your identity.”

  “Good to see you too.” He pauses. “Protect my identity from who?”

  Davidson nods to the two men in the front seat. They get out, close the doors, and stand near the front of the SUV with their backs to them.

  Frowning, Davidson says, “That’s the problem. I don’t know.”

  Josh just looks at him questioningly.

  “What I’m about to tell you is extremely sensitive and must not be shared with anyone. Not even Elizabeth. Do you understand?”

  Frowning, Josh just nods.

  “Even before I took over as DNI, there were some strange things happening inside the CIA. We completely lost touch with several deep cover operatives. It’s an occupational hazard when you’re investigating terrorist groups.” He shakes his head, “But we haven’t had these kinds of losses since the height of the Cold War.” He pauses. “It’s more than that. There are always leaks of classified information. Most of them can be traced to a politician who couldn’t keep their mouth shut. Recently, however, we had several leaks that occurred before the President or Congressional Committees were even briefed, and they came from very different programs.”

  “So, you think the CIA has been breached?”

  “I believe there have been penetrations into the highest levels of intelligence and law enforcement and not just in the U.S.”

  “Who could be behind it?”

  “That’s the problem. We have no idea. Our investigations have turned up nothing.” He pauses for emphasis, “But if we’ve really been breached, it would be easy for whoever’s behind it to stay one step ahead of us. That’s why I’m talking to you.”

  “I’m outside the system.”

  “Yes.”

  “What about Tim Smith?”

  “You two were a good team. He received the Distinguished Intelligence Cross. There are very few who’ve achieved that and fewer still that are alive. Despite the classified presentation, he’s a minor legend inside the CIA. Not the best situation for an internal investigation, but I’m going to risk bringing him in as well.”

  “So,” Josh narrowed his eyes, “what exactly do you want me to do?” With a slight smile, he adds, “I was hit point blank with Tasers from four Chinese agents I never saw.” He shakes his head. “You gotta question my spy craft abilities.”

  “Let me remind you that with no identity, you managed to insert a fake black program into the Military Industrial Complex, and had the CIA on your payroll. You may not be good at detecting surveillance, but you’re an expert at infiltration. After your CIA files were stolen, I had all your records and the original operation files destroyed with no backups.” He hesitates. “Josh, the President thinks I’m imagining things. I have nothing concrete to support my fears, but I believe there’s something very dangerous out there. We need to know if the threat is real, and if so, who’s behind it.”

  Josh looks at him carefully. “You’re really worried about this.”

  Davidson looks down. “I’m the head of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world,” looking back up at Josh, he adds, “and my instincts tell me we’re being played like pawns.”

  3

  U.N.

  Early the next day, Elizabeth reports to the Department of Global Security for her interview. She’s ushered into a conference room and told to wait. She read up on the department’s purpose and mission. They consolidated the Office of Disarmament and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Global Security. They also incorporated the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, and, of course, created the new Planetary Defense Directorate in charge of the space-based laser. All very impressive, but why is she here?

  After waiting a half hour, the door opens. “Elizabeth, I’m so sorry to keep you waiting. It’s been a crazy day.”

  She’s expecting a branch manager, but it’s Dr. Doruk Turan, the Director of Global Security himself. She stands up and shakes his hand, saying, “No problem. I can only imagine how busy you must be.”

  As he sits down, he says, “Thank you for seeing me on short notice. You’re probably wondering why you’re here?”

  She shrugs with a smile. “Yes sir.”

  “Call me Doruk. Even though we have a lot of military types around here, we’re pretty informal.” He pauses. “I worked closely with Brian Davidson and he shared the critical part you played in the initial comet deflection program. I’ve also read the reports about your adventures in Columbia. You have courage and work well under pressure. We need people like you in our department.”r />
  She marvels at his English. It’s impeccable with a barely detectable accent. Like Josh, she knows he has an amazing talent for languages. Nodding politely, she says, “I appreciate that, but I have no military or police training. I’m not exactly a warrior.”

  “I’m not so sure about that, but I realize our departments have quite different missions.” He smiles. “I’m aware of the nicknames our two departments have given each other.”

  Elizabeth laughs. “You mean Bullets and Band-Aids?”

  “Yes. The work you’re doing is critical, but so is ours. I believe we’re on the brink of a global society without wars, refugees and starving children, but that will still require police and firefighters; that’s our role. Elizabeth, right now our number one priority is the new space station, the International Space-based Laser and Observatory.” He looks right at her. “There are three reasons I want you on our team, and two directly involve the ISLO.” He pauses. “There are only a few of us that know about,” he pauses again, “Jen. The council we created for her education is doing a great job, and she’s already helping solve major science and engineering problems. Since she’s still a child, I think we correctly limited her contact to her guardians, Josh, Dr. Lee and the education council. I don’t want to interfere with that, but we could really use her help with a couple crucial projects. I know you and Josh are like parents to her and I would love to have you act as a kind of envoy between her and us. You not only have direct access to Jen, but you also have a computer science background and can better understand her capabilities and limitations.”

  With a wry smile, she says slowly, “So, you don’t want me for what I know … but for who I know.”

  He gives a small laugh. “Yes, that’s partly true, but we would only go to you with intractable problems that we can’t solve, such as our nuclear reactor and laser challenges. Elizabeth, this could shave months off our program and potentially save lives. If you accept, you would have the rank of Special Envoy and report only to me. That gives you diplomatic immunity and will significantly increase your salary. Your hours would be flexible and you could continue to work from home some of the time, but we would also provide a very nice apartment nearby.”

  She nods noncommittally.

  “The second reason I want you on our team deals directly with the ISLO. The space station holds a crew of 50 and it will soon be moved out to Lagrangian Point Two. L2 is a million miles from Earth, four times further away than the moon. If there’s a medical emergency on board, it’ll take weeks to get the patient back to Earth. Two of the crew are physicians, but it’s critical we have a tele-robotic operating suite to allow Earth-based specialists and surgeons to assist in emergencies. We’re having some challenges with that and I understand you’ve been successfully shepherding the U.N. TELEMED program.”

  “It really sounds interesting, but I’m in the middle of trying to get the Earth version operating. It has the potential to save a lot of lives, particularly in areas that have been ravaged by natural disasters or wars.”

  Turan looks thoughtful and then says, “It’s easy to see the ISLO as a space station with a big laser, but it’s much more than that. Its primary mission, of course, is to deflect asteroids and comets, but it has two other missions. L2, where we’re parking the station, is perpetually in Earth’s shadow. That makes it the Goldilocks zone for telescopes. The ISLO will become humanity’s most powerful observatory allowing us to explore the universe like never before.” Watching her, he adds, “Ok, I can see that didn’t impress. Let’s try the third mission. The ISLO will be a gateway.”

  “Gateway to what?”

  “Mars. If, for whatever reason we’re unable to prevent a planet killing impact or some other global catastrophe, we want to make sure all our eggs aren’t in one basket. Colonizing Mars might be the best way to do that. It turns out L2 is a perfect waystation for crewed missions to Mars. They can stop there, refuel and make sure everything works before launching on their six-month trip. It substantially reduces the risk to the crew, because once they head to Mars, they can’t turn around if something goes wrong.”

  She slowly says, “I mean I can see that’s important but….” She leaves the sentence hanging.

  He raises an eyebrow. “You’re still not convinced.”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s easier for me to see the potential of saving thousands of children’s lives today versus building a Mars colony tomorrow.”

  “You’re right, so let me give you one more thought, and if you’re still not convinced, I’ll stop the transfer.” He leans forward. “Many of those children you mentioned need medical help because they’re helpless victims of conflicts. The ISLO mission has captured the hearts and minds of the world. It’s given hope and purpose to people around the globe. Elizabeth, there’s been a significant reduction in conflicts and wars attributable to having a common purpose, an exciting cause. We all want to help the sick and injured, but,” he gave her a meaningful look, “it’s better to prevent the injuries to children than to try to fix them.”

  “That’s a good point, but many of the people we will help are injured or become sick because of natural disasters.”

  He gives her a triumphant smile. “We now know that the bombardment rate of Earth is ten times what we thought it was, and the Sentinel telescopes have identified half a dozen kilometer-sized threats. Just one of them could kill more people than every hurricane and earthquake in history combined.”

  She put her hands up in surrender and with a short laugh, says, “Ok, you got me. As long as we can bring in a brilliant software type to take my place.”

  “Done!”

  She smiles and then asks, “You said there were three reasons you wanted me on the team.”

  “Yes. The last one is equally important but it’s classified and a bit sensitive. I’ll share that with you in the future.”

  She nods her head. “Since Josh and Dr. Jessica Lee were appointed as Jen’s legal guardians, I have to bounce this off them first.”

  “Of course. Speaking of Josh, how’s he doing?”

  “He’s doing well. Just a little bored.”

  “I understand. It’s hard to sit at home when you’ve been slaying dragons.” He tilts his head slightly and tentatively asks, “Elizabeth, I don’t mean to pry,” he hesitates, “but have you ever met his family?”

  She knows Turan was presiding over the meeting last year when the Chinese government and the former prime minister of Belgium challenged Josh’s … background. She shakes her head. “I don’t think he has any.”

  Turan just nods thoughtfully and then stands up. Smiling warmly, he says, “Welcome to the team, Elizabeth.”

  Shaking his hand, she can’t help but notice the remarkable similarity between Turan and Josh. Clearly, they’re both of mixed ancestry, have identical skin tones and are strikingly good looking with unusual, captivating eyes. They could easily be brothers.

  4

  DEATH

  Josh arrives back in Houston just before Elizabeth’s flight. As they drive to their beach home, he can tell she’s excited.

  “Josh, I’ve been promoted and will have the opportunity to work directly for Dr. Doruk Turan!”

  “That’s great, but I’m confused. I thought you worked in the Humanitarian Department.”

  “They want to transfer me to Global Security and head up the TELEMED surgery program for the space station, and,” she put her hand on his arm, “Dr. Turan wants me to be a conduit to bring some challenges they’re working on to Jen. I said I’d have to check with you first about that. Josh, I’ll have the rank of U.N. Special Envoy and it will triple my salary!” She looks at him expectantly.

  “Special Envoy? Wow.” With a slight frown, he asks, “What type of challenges do they want Jen to work on?”

  “They’re tied to the space-based laser. He says it could shave years off and save lives. It would further what you started.”

  Josh nods.

  “Josh I’ll have the c
hance to work with one of the world’s most brilliant men. Did you know Dr. Turan speaks a dozen languages fluently? He’s a certified genius and arguably the most accomplished leader on the planet. He was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year because of his incredible ability to bring people together. Oh, Josh, I can learn so much from him!”

  Feeling a little inadequate, he forces a smile. “Yes, it’s a great opportunity.” He pauses and says slowly, “We just want to make sure we’re not bypassing the program we put in place to protect and educate Jen. We need to run this by Jessica.”

  “Sure, but otherwise, do you think it’s ok?”

  He can’t help but smile at her excitement. “Of course.”

  She kisses him and immediately calls Jessica via one of their encrypted links and explains Turan’s request.

  Jessica says, “Sounds reasonable. Jen’s been successfully helping on several science and engineering projects.” She pauses. “Guess I’d like to see the problems first before we give them to Jen.”

  Josh adds, “I agree.”

  Elizabeth says, “I know they’re having challenges with cooling the nuclear reactor that powers the space-based laser.”

  “That’s the type of problem Jen could probably help with. I’d like to see more details but I don’t have a problem with it if Josh doesn’t.”

  With a shrug, Josh says, “Sounds good.”

  “Awesome!” Elizabeth grins. “I’ll let Dr. Turan know and get you the details. Oh, I heard through the grapevine that you’ve been offered the position of the President’s Science Advisor.”

  With a short laugh, Jessica says, “I think the President wants me close for the same reason Turan wants you, or maybe it’s just to keep me out of trouble. Haven’t decided if I’ll accept. My company’s really taken off and I have more offers than I know what to do with.”