Nano Surveillance (Dave Henson Series Book 1) (26 page)

Chapter 68 (March 28, Thursday 7:30am Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

Dave and Dana looked over Ron’s shoulder as he typed away furiously at the computer’s keyboard. After fifteen minutes he sat back and turned to the two of them with a proud smile.

“Okay, I’ve doubled checked the encryption on our router, set up a domain name and a VPN account with a third party web hosting company using a fictitious name, and created an email account for you.”

“So what does that all mean?’ asked Dana.

“It means you can now email Kolosky without us having to worry too much about the Feds or Barbas tracking us down.”

“But how are we actually protected from that happening?” pressed Dana

“To describe it simply, when you log into your new VPN email account to contact Kolosky, no one will have the ability to know who you are, or track your location. Moreover, with the VPN service I set up to use, no one will be able to gain any idea of what country we actually established our connection with the VPN. For example, though we are in the United States, I’ve set it up so that we will connect to the VPN via one of their servers in Brazil. The most anybody will be able to do in regards to IP tracking us is identify what VPN company and its server the email originated from. Knowing that we connected to a server in Brazil will be of little value to anyone. The bottomline, no one will be able to decipher the content or source location of your email message between our router, the VPN’s server, and Kolosky’s computer.” 

Dana looked at Ron confused from all the tech talk, but was confident he knew what he was doing.

“So you’re good to go. I’ve already logged into the VPN and its email tool. All you need to do is sit down here and start typing.”

Ron jumped up from the seat and Dana hesitantly took his place. Dave and she had discussed in detail earlier in the morning what she should say to Kolosky in the initial email message. They needed to first feel him out to see if he was even open to helping them. The message would be brief and to the point, basically confirming her identity, since the email address would be new to him, and explaining to him that there were more bombshells about to be dropped about the administration. She would end the email simply asking if he would be interested in switching sides and helping them, but he needed to respond fast. Based upon his response, Dave and Dana would make a decision to meet with him in person up in Canada.

Dana typed furiously at the computer keyboard for less than a couple of minutes. Dave and Ron looked over her shoulder as she typed. When she completed her typing, she looked up at the two of them and asked, “Does it look good to go?”

Both agreed and with a simple click of the mouse button the message was sent out across the ether to Jeff Kolosky’s email inbox.

Chapter 69 (March 28, Thursday 9:30am Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

It was 9:35am in the morning and Jeff Kolosky was walking briskly down a hallway at ABO’s corporate headquarters to attend a meeting that he was already late for.  As he walked, he was also staring down at his smartphone and checking to see what he had for new emails. Scanning down the fresh batch of incoming emails one email in particular caught his eye and caused him to pause. He didn’t recognize the email address, however, the message was cryptically titled “Hello from your Injured Reporter”.

Curious, he stopped walking to open and read the email. To his surprise it was from Dana Cogswell. He had called her and left a message on her cell phone a couple of nights ago, but hadn’t heard anything back from her. Until now. The message was brief and to the point. She was with NSurv and they were about to release another disturbing surveillance video of the President. More shocking to him, however, was her request of him to help them out. The message didn’t explain in what way they wanted his help.  But apparently for some reason Dana thought he might be supportive of their efforts.  As he read the email again a chill ran through him. He knew he was partially interested in Dana’s request, but it went against the grain of all his other decisions that he had made with his career over the past two decades. He quickly shoved the cell phone back into his pocket and continued on to his meeting. However, he walked much more slowly, as his brain chewed on her request.

Although Jeff had been the senior member at the meeting he wasn’t able to focus on much of it. For the entire meeting his mind kept thinking about the contents of Dana’s message. He had been struggling with what to do, both from a career perspective and a moral perspective. He had no doubt that the videos NSurv had broadcast were real, despite the contradictory message ABO and the other major broadcast and print media outlets were telling the public every day. ABO itself had its own small library of records on the President and his administration, including the dirty truth about their past and present sordid behavior.  However, Dimitris Barbas, the ultimate boss of ABO as the Chairman of the Board, paid his check each week and provided the standard of living he and his family so enjoyed. To do what Dana Cogswell was asking was absolutely career suicide. On the other hand, if NSurv was successful bringing down the administration in Washington D.C., they’d also bring down the likes of Grivas and Barbas.  Heck, Barbas was even highlighted in the videos. Based upon the protests breaking out all over the country with NSurv’s last video, Jeff figured they had at least a fifty percent chance of succeeding. And if they were successful, what would that mean for him and his job. Would guilt by association lead to the removal of all the executives at ABO? Very possibly he thought.

After his meeting, Jeff had returned to his office still in deep consternation. As he sat in his office staring at Dana’s email again on his computer, he was also plagued with the question on what was the morally right thing to do. As a journalist student back in college twenty plus years ago he had told himself over and over that he would use his journalism skills to help the public. Well had he? As he thought back on his career, particularly over the past decade, he couldn’t help but have some remorse, as he knew he hadn’t lived up to the standard he had set for himself two plus decades ago as still just a young man. The more he stewed on this fact the more guilty he became. After nearly an hour of just staring at his computer, and ignoring every other new email that popped up on his screen and the repeated phone calls from his administrator, he finally came to a conclusion. He would meet with Dana to learn more about what she was asking from him. If he deemed her requests morally sound, he’d help them. Otherwise, he’d walk away and let Grivas know what he had found out from Dana. For now, however, her email was his little secret.

Jeff hit reply to Dana’s email and typed a brief response agreeing to meet with her and to discuss her proposal. He didn’t, however, agree to necessarily help her and NSurv. He wanted to understand their objectives more, beyond just taking down the President and his administration, before making that commitment.

Chapter 70 (March 28, Thursday 2:30pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

On the outskirts of Cut Bank, Montana the NSurv team had worked all morning and through much of the afternoon before they finally broke for lunch. They had been editing and putting the final narrative touches on the video that they were going to broadcast to the world this evening. Tonight’s video would not be limited to just the President and his sordid behavior. It was also going to be an indictment on the Speaker of the House. Though the Speaker had displayed a certain level of remorse on the video recording of the President’s plans to play hardball with congressional members, it was also apparent that he had lost any sense of a moral compass. As a result he had to go.  As a matter of fact, they needed him to go. Without a change of Speaker of the House, the chances of a successful impeachment of the President would be reduced. The Senate was less of a concern. Though the Senate leader was also an administration supporter, he lacked the clout and the votes to prevent a successful vote of impeachment in the Senate. So it was imperative that the Speaker of the House be thrown under the bus and to be the first man to topple in Washington.

As the NSurv team milled around the kitchen area while preparing food, Dana asked Ron if they could log into her email account on the VPN and check if she had a message back from Jeff. The two of them walked out to the lab while the others prepared the late lunch, and Ron logged her in. Two minutes later they were both looking at a response from Jeff Kolosky.

“Dave come on in here,” yelled Ron. “We might have a defection.”

Ten seconds later Dave came bounding into the lab area. “So you heard from Kolosky. What’s he have to say.”

“He’s agreed to meet with us and hear us out,” replied Dana excitedly.

“Fantastic,” responded Dave. “If we can get him to help us, we can wrap up this mission soon.”

“So how should I respond to him?”

“Hold on, I need to get one of my Canadian aviation sectional maps,” responded Dave.

Dave ran out of the lab and returned a minute later with a sectional that covered the area of Canada northwest of Cut Bank, Montana. He unfolded the sectional and placed it on a lab bench to study. After reviewing the map for a few minutes, with Dana and Ron looking over his shoulder, he pointed to a small airport that was about 60 miles southeast of Calgary, Canada.

“Here,” he said, as he tapped his finger on the sectional map suddenly. “We’ll meet Kolosky at Vulcan Airport (CFX6). It’s in the middle of nowhere but only 60 nautical miles from Calgary Airport and 114 miles from here. It also has no control tower. Jeff can fly into Calgary on a commercial airliner and then have a local pilot associated with the Calgary FBO fly him out to Vulcan.”

“How will we get there?” asked Dana.

“I have an old pilot buddy at Cut Bank Airport. He’s a bit of a recluse, but he was quite the man in his time. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1962 and flew F111s in Vietnam back in 1968. In that same year he was shot down and held as a POW at what was famously known as the “Hanoi Hilton”, for nearly five years until his release.  He has a Cessna 182 Skylane. I’m sure he’ll let me borrow it for a day, with no questions asked.”

“But how will we avoid being detected or deal with customs.”

“We’ll scud run at treetop level to avoid detection by the Canadians.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” accused Dana.

“Yes, a little. However, I’ve had my fair share of practice with scud running over my aviation career. We’ll be safe.”

“When do you want Jeff to meet with us?”

“Tell him to meet us on the ramp at Vulcan Airport at noon tomorrow. He can take a flight out of New York tonight to Calgary. He can spend the night at the Calgary airport and then fly into Vulcan tomorrow.”

“You realize it’s almost 5:00pm on the east coast?”

“Yes, and I also know there are three major airports in the greater New York Area that he can catch a flight out of. Email him a response back telling him to meet us at Vulcan Airport at noon tomorrow. Also make sure to tell him to come alone, other than the pilot that will fly him out there. Finally, give him a simple reminder that we have eyes and ears everywhere.”

“You don’t have him bugged do you?” asked Dana questioningly.

“No, but he doesn’t know that. We do, however, have a number of his buddies wired in, including his big boss Barbas as you know.”

Dana typed up a quick response to Jeff and hit the send button. “Hopefully he gets this message soon,” she commented after sending the message.

“Oh, I’m sure he will,” Dave responded. “I suspect he’s in near panic mode with the decision that he has already made, but still doesn’t quite yet fully realize.”

“Well, hopefully it will become abundantly clear, and logical, to him when the two of you meet with him tomorrow at Vulcan Airport,” said Ron with a grin.

As the three laughed at Ron’s obvious Star Trek Mr. Spock reference, Dana’s email inbox blinked with a new message notice.

The response was from Jeff Kolosky.

“Well that didn’t take very long,” commented Ron. “What’s your old boss got to say?”

Dana opened up the email and read the short reply. “I will see you at noon tomorrow on the ramp at Vulcan Airport in Canada, and I’ll be alone.”

“Excellent,” Dave commented as he stood up from the lab chair. “I guess I better go and pay a visit to my old friend out at the airport and confirm that we indeed have an aircraft for tomorrow. I’ll leave the rest of you to finish up preparing tonight’s video.”

“Do you want me to come along?” asked Dana.

“No. As I said earlier, my buddy is a bit of a recluse and is somewhat uncomfortable around people he doesn’t know, and particularly when it comes to women. Also, the fewer people who see us walking around the airport or town the better off we all are. No reason to bring any unnecessary attention to our activities.”

“Okay, we’ll sit tight and make final preparations for tonight,” responded Dana. “How long do you think you’ll be gone?”

“I shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours, assuming my buddy is around the airport, which 99% of the time he is.”

“If you’re longer than that, then Joe and I will come looking for you,” said Ron half joking, but also very serious.

“Sounds good,” said Dave as he walked out of the lab and into the kitchen to grab his car keys. As the others watched him walk out to the car Ron ran out after him. “Hey, you may need this.” He handed Dave the .44 Magnum handgun. “You never can be too safe nowadays,” he said with a slightly nervous laugh.

Dave took the handgun from Ron and said, “Thanks. You guys watch yourself too while I’m gone.”

The two parted with Ron returning to the building and Dave hopping into his S60 Volvo. As Dave drove down the long driveway away from them, Dana watched from the front door with a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was all going just a little too smoothly.