Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 02 - Peeking Duck (25 page)

-Chapter 51-

I managed to get a few hours of sleep before Galveston barged into my room.  I was amazed I was able to get that much sleep with the worry that encompassed me over Jane and Maddie’s ordeal.  The pure exhaustion proved to win out, and the much needed rest helped clear my head.

“
Hey, man, time to get to work,” Galveston said loudly, shaking my shoulders.

“
Okay, bro,” I mocked, stifling a yawn.  “Is this your cool guy routine or something?”

“
Wow, you are always a little pissy after no rest, aren’t you?”

“
When I wake up to see your mug I am.  What you got?” I pulled myself up to the edge of the bed as the muscles in my arms and legs began to revolt.

“
I’ll disregard that last statement because I have some interesting news.  I’ve got it all, our bad guys, our computer friend in there, and some other stuff you won’t believe.”

“
Well, lay it on me,” I said with excitement as the adrenaline began to surge back into my body.

“
I talked to Alex at length.  Once he found out what was going on, he went to work.  I’m sure he broke a few laws in the process.” Galveston paused.  “You need to take a shower, you kind of reek.”

“
The information,” I demanded.  “You have the attention span of a garden slug.  Let’s go, spill it.”

“
Okay, okay.  We’re all set with the helicopter.  It will be here in two hours.  We’re in its range, but it might be dicey.  There’s another storm brewing south of here.”

“
That’s good.  At least we can get off this ship.”

“
Well, I hope you’re sitting down for the rest of this,” Galveston said seriously, “I’ve got some whoppers.”

I rolled my eyes and motioned that I was already sitting.  Galveston
‘s child-like giddiness was beginning to annoy me.

“
The best one first.  Alex did some digging into the information he had, you know, from his little sojourn to San Francisco.  He designed that system so he had all kinds of access.  Anyway, he found an interesting tidbit of information that kept coming up.  It was an operation called,
Blue Lotus
.  Real hush-hush, and about our Chinese fella there.”

“
So?  Was that what the CIA’s operation was called or something?”

“
Nope, not the CIA.  Their operation was called
Peking Duck
.”

“
That seems kind of insensitive,” I responded.

“
Follow me here.  The CIA called their operation
Peking Duck
because that is the handle Kim Su Lee used.  It was his username away from the operations he did for the Chinese government.  He described it as his hacker name.”  Galveston explained Lee was known in forum and hacker circles as PeekgDuk.

“
That’s pretty good,” I chuckled, “
Peeking Duck
.  That fits nicely for what his job was.”

“
Yeah I guess he is a legend in those circles.  Alex was in awe that we got to talk to him.  He even said he had conversed with him a few times,” Galveston said.

“
What is Alex’s hacker name then?” I wondered aloud.

“
Gold Zeus,” Galveston laughed.

“
Of course.  What an egotistical maniac.”

“
Are you surprised?  Anyway, that’s not the best part.  Try to guess who was running the
Blue Lotus
operation,” Galveston challenged.

“
I don’t know, the American Florists Association?”

“
Good guess, but no,” Galveston paused as if for dramatic effect, “the NSA.”

I was shocked.  What did the
National Security Agency have to do with a CIA operation?  The NSA was in charge of collecting information, translating, decoding, and analyzing data domestically and internationally for intelligence and counterintelligence.  What did they want with an operation being conducted by the CIA?

“
The NSA?” I exclaimed.  “What is that about?”

“
Alex said that after
Peking Duck
was started by the CIA to get Lee out of the country,
Blue Lotus
began to appear on communications between a squad of NSA agents.”

“
They have agents?  I thought they were just computer people.”

“
Alex told me they have field agents now, and this was their operation, very top secret.  The CIA has known about them, but the NSA won’t tell what they’re up to,” Galveston said rapidly.

“
Aren’t we one in the same?  Aren’t them, us?”

“
Easy cowboy.  The NSA set up
Blue Lotus
to get Lee out from under the nose of the CIA.  They were going to have the CIA do all the work, get him on the boat, and then steal him away at the port.”

“
You have got to be kidding.  Why then?  Why wouldn’t the CIA share Lee with the NSA?” I wondered, becoming more confused at the lunacy of the whole situation.

“
Because the CIA doesn’t share.  They were going to use Lee for their business.”  Galveston paused to think of a way to explain.  “It all comes down to appropriations by Congress.  How much money are they going to give us this year, how much freedom are they going to unleash.  That’s all that matters to the CIA.  They don’t care about Lee.  The CIA just wants his brain, and his skill.”

I was beginning to understand, and it still baffled me. 
“So, if I have it straight—the CIA wanted Lee, but so did the NSA.  I’m assuming because he’s like the best hacker in the world.  So the NSA wants him all to themselves.  But let’s say something goes wrong; the CIA would get blamed because it’s their operation.  If things go right, the NSA steals Lee away and uses his talents to further their cause.”

“
Pretty much in a nutshell, yeah.  Neither group gives a rat’s hind end about what Lee wants.  They just want his skill in their camp.”

“
Amazing,” was all I could mutter.  Here was a guy trying to make a life he wanted, but unknowingly being thrust into the exact same life in another country.  “Neither of them is going to get him you know.”

“
Hell no, they’re not!  We’ll make sure of that,” Galveston said, with confidence.

“
With all that out of the way, then how in the world did these revolutionaries get involved?” I asked, remembering about our little ordeal back on the
Trusian
.

“
That may be the best part,” Galveston smiled.  “A little turd named Aaron Smith, a low-level analyst working the
Blue Lotus
project, decided he needed to pay back some gambling debt, and fast.  He used NSA computers to troll chat rooms where nasty people involved in organized crime, weapons dealing, and computer fraud hang out.  Mr. Smith freely offered that he had primetime information that the world’s foremost computer hacker from China wanted to defect.  He sold the information to the highest bidder and whamo; we have mercenaries pirating the ship.  Mr. Smith gave Olvary the entire CIA operation; where the ship would be, the date, the times, and that Lee was stowed in a container.  He gave him the whole kit and caboodle.”

“
How in the world did Alex find this all out?” I asked, realizing that if Lee was the best hacker in the world, we had the second best.

“
He’s good for sure, but once he was in the pipeline of the NSA, the information was endless.  The NSA knows every move the CIA is going to make.  Problem is, the CIA doesn’t know this, and this Smith guy was just dumb.  If he hadn’t used government computers to do his little auction, we would have no idea how Olvary pulled this off.”  Galveston was getting breathless from the pace in his speech.  “The FBI is paying a little call to Smith as we speak.”

“
So in other words, he’s screwed.”

“
Just slightly.  It also means we could get screwed too.  If the FBI starts unraveling this, it could hurt our chance of getting to the ladies,” Galveston said flatly.

“
Hopefully they can’t get it done in thirty-six hours.”

Galveston
shook his head.  “Alex is flying, as we speak, to New York and then Paris.  I think he just wants to meet Lee.”

“
Probably so.  One thing bothers me, though.  How was the NSA going to do the switch?”

Galveston
shook his head again.  “Alex had no idea and couldn’t find anything about that.  I tried to think of something.  You know the port would be crawling with CIA agents, just as it was when we went to see Sailor Pete.”

I thought about it for a second.  The NSA couldn
‘t remove Lee from the container and get him, and they couldn’t just ferry off the container he was in.  What else could they do?  Then it struck me.  If the NSA knew everything the CIA was doing, then why couldn’t they just change some things in the CIA’s plan?  It seemed too simple to work.  What if the NSA had the CIA take the wrong container, while the NSA took the correct one containing Lee.  That seemed to make the most logical sense.  A simple change in the numbers on the containers would do.  To me that was how the NSA would get it done.  I didn’t realize I had the answer in front of me the entire time.  I would deduce it soon enough.

All the pieces of the puzzle were now neatly aligned, but the information wouldn
‘t help us free Jane and Maddie.  That last piece of the puzzle would come down to us, and our creativity.

-Chapter 52-

The Gulfstream business jet crossed the French border and started its approach into Le Bourget Airport in northern Paris.  The two women had temporarily dosed off and awoke to a view of the French countryside. 

They had been left alone in the back of the plane, but each woman knew they were being monitored in some way, either with a camera or a listening device. 

“We have to alert customs,” Maddie whispered to Jane.  “If we can somehow make a break for it when the customs officials check the plane, we can alert them.”

“
What do you suggest?” Jane asked nervously.

“
As soon as that door opens and you see a French officer, run as fast as you can toward him with your hands up.  I’ll slow the others down if I need to.”

“
I’m scared,” Jane answered honestly.

“
Me too.  This may be our only chance,” Maddie responded determinedly.

The plane touched down lightly on the runway and began to taxi.  They were not
heading towards the passenger terminals; they were taxiing to the far end of the airport.  Maddie could make out a group of large hangers from the left side of the plane.

The aircraft stopped just outside the large metal doors of a massive hanger, near a parked
blue sedan.  The engines ran down, and the curtain separating the cabin opened.  In strolled another large man the women had seen accompanying Olvary.  The man didn’t speak as he pulled Jane and Maddie by the arm to a standing position. 

First the man pushed Jane through the
exit.  He then pulled Maddie down the steep steps of the aircraft.

Jane immediately surveyed the situation, attempting to see a French official that had to be waiting for them to check passports or hear declarations.  As she neared the bottom, she noticed an official looking man in a brown uniform with a brown cap.  He had the French flag on his sleeve and stood in an erect manner.  He was flanked by another man with the same uniform. 
“These have to be the French authorities.  They have to be suspicious we’re being led off the plane like this,” she thought to herself, and readied to break away from the grasp of the henchman. 

As the burly man made the last step off the airplane, Maddie pushed him forward,
causing him to lose his balance, freeing his grip on Jane’s arm.  Jane took the cue.  She wrenched her arm from his hand and began to run toward the two French officers.  She threw her hands over her head.

“
We’ve been kidnapped, please, you must help us!” she screamed as she neared the officers.

The apparent customs officers didn
‘t move and only gave Jane a steely stare.  She ran up to the first officer, nearly knocking him over.  The man said nothing as Jane continued to yell at him.  Out of nowhere, Jane felt a stinging blow across the side of her face, causing her to drop to the ground and recoil from the pain.  She stared up at the Frenchman through watery eyes only to see a sinister smile cross his face.  He raised his hand again to strike her with a slap, but stopped as a voice emanated from behind.

“
Enough!” The voice of Marcus Olvary boomed.  “Get them in the car.  No more of this childishness.”

The two Frenchmen yanked Jane from the g
round as her eye began to swell and threw her in the back of the car.  Maddie had been held at the foot of the steps of the aircraft by the large henchman.  He hiked her up on his shoulders and carried her to the awaiting sedan.  The man threw Maddie in a crumpled heap on the back seat of the car next to Jane as Olvary climbed in the front seat of the vehicle with them.

“
Fools,” he chided.  “Did you really think I wouldn’t have a way around customs?  Do you perceive me as that naive?”  Jane flashed a look of anger at the man and clenched her teeth.  “I would watch my behavior, for next time you won’t receive just a slap,” Olvary threatened.

The women were trapped again.  Maddie sunk deep in her seat. 
“I have to find a way out,” she thought to herself, but realized any further attempts would likely prove futile.  She would have to wait on another opportunity. 

Jane was beginning to crack under the stress.  She was starting to wonder if she wasn
‘t as strong as she thought, but her mind turned to Roger and her driving desire to see him again at any cost.  She gave a look to Maddie in a way only two women can communicate to each other, and with clenched teeth and narrowing eyes, slowly shook her head.  Maddie could tell it wasn’t a sorrowful expression, instead she could tell Jane was pissed.

Maddie was taken aback by Jane
‘s strength and fortitude, and both women, through only the use of their eyes, vowed to do whatever it would take to free themselves, and make these men pay.