Chapter 39 - Zen and the Art of Intelligence Affairs

Left “alone” in the massive space that made up the CIA’s most secret safe house, Finne and Sarah separated, each heading in opposite directions.

Sarah set her sights on the wet bar at one corner of the room. The dark wooden décor at that end of the facility was comfortably appointed with a large leather sofa, billiards table, dart boards, and a 60 inch HD monitor currently displaying a psychedelic montage of colors and patterns that were harmonized with the music reverberating across the room. Uncle John’s Band had leached into a brilliant version of Ripple and the pub-like room seemed to glow with every note. Sarah danced her way to the liquor shelf, finding an unopened handle of Jack Daniels and a refrigerator full of every possible mixer she could desire, including her go to cocktail companion, Coca-Cola. Finne expected Sarah to sink into the sofa and likely pass out after a drink or two. He had seen the exhaustion in her eyes back at the Chicken Ranch and knew she must have been coming off of a several day bender partying and not sleeping. Sarah needed rest and there seemed to be no place safer for her to get it then here.

Finne headed toward the opposite wall where DCI Thompson had gestured and promised several open access terminals at his disposal. Finne too was exhausted, but the detective within him continued to seek answers and clues to unravel the mystery behind the events of the past thirty-six hours. Sitting down to an open cubicle, Finne jiggled the computer mouse waking the screen in front of him. He began typing his first query on the sleek keyboard integrated into the desk’s surface. The input was captured in a Google-like search box on the home portal screen that started up with the computer’s awakening. Finne knew the portal to be a derivative of the Secret Internet Protocol Network or SIPRNet widely shared amongst US military, Intelligence, and Law Enforcement agencies. The only difference in this case was that there was no requirement to logon to the portal and establish valid credentials and clearance. On this workstation, the root query form was presented without restriction. Finne wanted to explore further and deeper than he could using Clue Tube or the Treasury department intelligence assets. Experienced in the basic navigation and toolsets provided by the SIPRNet portal, Finne began issuing commands through the workstation to retrieve and cross-reference several datasets from across a disparate spectrum of topicality he believed to be relevant.

His first query was simply the term “Watchkeeper” – which Jack had disclosed as being the paramount of security clearance code words within the US IC. Presented on the screen in return was an aggregated list of names, photos, biographies, and a multitude of intelligence attributes for eleven of twelve rows of “juror” data. The twelfth row was blank and contained only the solemn term “Vacant.” Finne read each row of data and with it learned about each juror: the President of the United States, National Security Advisor, Director of National Intelligence, Director of Central Intelligence, National Security Agency Administrator, Jack, himself, four seemingly ordinary citizens, and to his surprise, Sarah. Finne chuckled at the codename Sheriff assigned to him. He wondered if he was the only law enforcement agent amongst the group or if the code name was chosen for another altruistic reason. Sarah, he read was code named Empath. Interesting. Maybe there was more to Sarah than he had judged.

Finne continued to pursue thread after thread of aggregated detail from within the cyber depths of the IC’s repositories. Multiple windows stacked neatly together collocating on the screen to provide a clear visual connection between connected queries. Ninety minutes had passed before Finne was pulled from his focused concentration by Sarah’s hand gently placed on his shoulder.

Sarah stood behind Finne at the workstation beginning to read over his shoulder. “What’s all this?” she asked.

Finne was surprised by Sarah inquisition, and his first reaction was to shield the highly classified information from her view. He began to spurt out a lie with the intent to draw Sarah’s attention elsewhere, but stopped short in his falsity. Finne realized that Sarah had the same right to know what Finne knew. She was a “juror” too. Jack’s initial instruction that she not be trusted with any secrets was likely just a supportive suggestion to help Finne deal with flight from the staged accident scene where they were brought back together hours earlier. If Sarah were allowed to be in this uber-secret room, then she was allowed access to anything within, Finne figured. He pulled a chair from the adjoining workstation for Sarah to sit next to him. Finne began explaining the windows of information on the screen to her and what connections he was developing between this data and assassination attempts against the two of them today.