The Infiltration
Thompson’s eyes darted from each member of his new unit to the other. Over the past three days since he saw their headshots on the projector, he had read up on them as much as he could. Now that they're all standing before him, their stony eyes glaring straight into his. He realized he might just not be as prepared as he thought he was. He could still remember Jacob's words to him three days ago.
“You don't have to worry, I have briefed them before coming to you. They're all totally on board.” Jacob had said, the excitement in his voice palpable because Thompson had agreed to lead the unit.
To lead the Shadow Command.
“So let me get this straight.” Hera Snow, the Navy Seal started, a slight roughness to her voice. “For our first mission, we have to infiltrate Neurospark? Is this a joke?”
Thompson sighed. “I'm afraid not.” Thompson said, finally getting up from his chair. “Jacob said they've repeatedly tried to hold meetings with them and it didn't work. An executive order is just going to tip off the terrorists so we're left with one last option.”
“I mean, I knew this wasn't going to be a walk in the park but I didn't know it was going to be a walk up a steep hill either.” Aaron, the software engineer muttered, his voice only low enough for Thompson to hear.
“Well, this is what we all signed up for. Neurospark has a file on their server that could lead to the uncovering of this terror plot.” Thompson said, firing up the projector. A bunch of collaged pictures appeared on the screen with labels attached to each one.
“The government believes one of the members of The Calvary works in Neurospark and must have hidden a clue in the server room. Our job is to get the clue.”
“Great. It's not like we're not on our own or anything.” Shane, the lieutenant mentioned.
“This is our first mission. I doubt there'll be as many hiccups as we can imagine. At least as long as we follow the plan.” Thompson continued.
“So there's a plan?”
“Yes.”
As Thompson walked to the entrance of Neurospark, he couldn't help but wonder if Darren was worried or not. He hadn't reached out to him since his wife's funeral. Poor guy probably thought he'd been fired. Adjusting his suit and tie one more time, he decided to change that once the mission is over. His assistant might have been insensitive recently but it didn't diminish the fine work he'd been doing for Thompson ever since he became Brigadier General.
He pushed the glass door open, plastering a smile on his face as he trudged over to the large receptionist table. A couple of voices continued to ring in his head as he walked.
“The plan is simple.” He had said to his team earlier. “Jacob made me understand that the CEO of Neurospark is expecting a guest. Hartley Gaines. Hartley is one of the major shareholders of the company so when he arrives, it's going to be all hands on deck.”
“I'm guessing Hartley won't get to Neurospark if we have anything to do with it.” Hera asked, a preening gaze on her face.
“No.” Thompson replied. “At least not yet anyway.”
“What can I do for you sir.” The receptionist before Thompson asked, staring straight at him, a balanced smile on her face.
“How are you doing, darling.” Thompson asked, returning the smile. My name's Andrew Laughlin. I'm Mr. Hartley Gaines’ lawyer. He asked me to come today because he'll be a little indisposed.”
“Oh.” The smile faded from the receptionist’s face and she reached for her phone one more time.
“And then what?” Aaron asked, folding his arms tightly against his chest, staring hard at Thompson.
“That's where Shane comes in. He's going to find another entrance into Neurospark, find the server room and plug a flash drive into one of the computers. We don't exactly know the name of the file we're looking for so we'll download all of them.”
“And how long is that going to take?” Shane asked, worry, more than confusion on his face.
“Uninterrupted?” Aaron said, turning to look at Shane. “I'd say thirty minutes.”
“Great.” Shane whispered. “That's not a problem at all. All I have to do is sneak into a highly secure server room and download a bunch of documents right? What could possibly go wrong?”
“Don't jinx it.” Thompson responded. “We all just have to look at this with a positive attitude.”
After receiving directions from the receptionist, Thompson made his way to the conference room.
“Can you guys all hear me?” He finally said once he found himself alone.
“Yes.” Shane responded through his earbud.
“Loud and clear.” Hera’s voice came in as well.
“Clearer than ocean water.” Aaron reported too.
“Okay guys. Let's get this over with as soon as possible. If we're careful, they won't even know we were here in the first place.”
Thompson found the conference room soon and walked towards the door. Before pushing it, he drew a long sigh. All he had to do was distract a lot of people for thirty minutes at least. That shouldn't be too hard. If the war has taught him anything, it's how to talk people's ears off.
“Once you're in, I'll coordinate the operation from over here.” Aaron whispered, rubbing the back of his head.
“By doing what exactly?” Shane asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I’ll hack into Neurospark make sure no alarms are triggered once Shane gets into the server room. It's no easy task as I'll be doing it remotely.”
Shane exchanged worried looks with Hera.
“I'm in.” Shane whispered, closing the door behind him as quietly as he can. Following Aaron's directions through his earbud, he walked to one of the giant servers and plugged the drive into it.
“So now all I have to do is wait for thirty minutes.”
“I've looped the cameras too. You're fine.” Aaron replied. “You want to talk about anything while the file copies?”
Shane rolled his eyes. “No.”
“And what do I do in the meantime?” Hera asked, finally butting into the conversation.
Thompson turned to look at her, a determined expression on his face. “You stand guard.”
“How much longer?” Hera whispered, holding up her wristwatch. It felt like she'd been standing outside the server room for hours.
“Twenty five more minutes.” Aaron replied. “Strap in, Hera. It's going to be a while.”
“Great.” She whispered, lowering herself into the floor. “Just great.”
Twenty-five minutes and a successful mission later, they all made their way out of Neurospark, a giant smile on their faces.
“Told you this was going to be easy.” Thompson said, adjusting his suit one more time before getting into his car. When they get back to the base, he handed over the drive to Aaron.
“You guys need to take some time off to rest. Sifting through these documents will take a while.” Aaron suggested, plugging the drive into one of the airgapped laptops in the room. Thompson nodded and made his way to the exit.
“Where are you going?” Hera asked, watching his back move away from them.
“There’s something important I have to do.” He replied.
One minute he was waving goodbye to his team and the next, he was in a bar with his friend, Jerome.
“Okay, I'm not going to lie, you scared me a little with your phone call. I thought you'd drunk yourself into commiting—” Jerome started.
“I need your help.” Thompson finally said. “I need your help in finding my daughter.”
Jerome drew a sigh—one that might as well have been inaudible due to the loud roar of the bar. “I told you, Tom. The cops are already on Ashley's disappearance. They'll—”
“I don't want the cops.” Thompson resumed. “I want you. You're one of the very best detectives I know, Jerome.”
A wave of silence passed, causing Thompson to grab his glass and finish whatever drink was left in it. He dropped the glass and turned into his friend one more time.
“I need you to help me find out who killed my wife and took my daughter.” The words poured out of him slowly. And dangerously.
Whoever it was, he was going to sniff them out. And he was going to make them pay.
