The hieroglyphics on the crumpled paper must have meant something to someone. Otherwise why would they be there, why would the paper be all crumpled, and why would it be sitting in my wastepaperbasket. I call them hieroglyphics but technically they may not be. But they look like those little bird pictures, wavy lines, pharaohs sort of turned in profile that you see on Egyptian tombs. Of course I’m not an expert, and it could be some sort of code.
But why it bothers me is that I’m a CIA employee and naturally suspicious about everything. OK, I do work for the CIA and what I do is install the software updates onto the PC’s of the operatives but it puts me in contact with a lot of clever dudes and I pick up things. Like how to read a suspicious clue when it hits you in the face.
How did that piece of paper end up in my trash bin anyway? I operate in a small office that’s behind a door that has a 7 digit password on it that only my supervisor and I know. And he’s off in Europe at an IT conference. See the software that I install on the PC’s isn’t your simple Microsoft Office or the like. I install the super snooping type of software that every agent needs to do his work. Stuff like voice recognition, finger print analysis, chemical decomposition and a bunch of other stuff that I don’t understand and don’t have a need to know either. But the agents all need this stuff and I’m the only one in our division that is cleared security-wise to touch all their PC’s. Not just anyone can go and do it. I’m patriotic, trusted and have to be.
So now I have to figure out what to do. Clearly there’s been some sort of breach in security. Someone broke the code and got into my office. And if they could do that, they could also break into the code on my PC and get the security codes for over 250 CIA agents. Now I have to be one step smarter. The person who did this wasn’t stupid. The hieroglyphics have to be a message of some sort. Is it a warning to me personally? Am I being tested by our security department? If I don’t crack the code will I lose my job?
Or is it more sinister? Do we have a mole in our building? Am I being taunted, dared to take this further? I mean should I report this to head of security right now? Is this bigger than just me? But how could I do that without first at least trying to figure it out? I’ve got to show some initiative don’t I? Or maybe not? Maybe this is really big? Maybe this is something from a terrorist cell that’s infiltrated our building? Maybe this has been left here for somebody besides me? Maybe my office is considered some sort of drop-box and they didn’t count on me rummaging around in my waste bin. I mean if I hadn’t drop my flashstick into the bin, I wouldn’t have even found this paper. Hey, that’s right. This paper wasn’t meant for me to find?
Hey maybe I’m being tested by the head of the CIA himself....
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4 comments:
Kerry says:
Well, well Rick. A CIA employee. I like your logic, the way you work through the possibilities. I like how we get into your mind, all those questions to answer. It's a pretty spooky set-up. Good one.
Heather says:
Short of breath from laughing. Glad you belong to the CIA and not some kind of Australian security organisation.
I am aghast at how many creative, funny, descriptive words you managed to pack into those very few minutes I saw you working on this.
You manage to take down the CIA, the USA, Intelligence generally, IT and this superb paranoic character all in one blow.
Loved it!
Peta says:
Rick, so many questions! I think he suffers from paranoia which is understandable if you worked in the CIA. Never trust any one! Sounds like you know a bit about this stuff???
I could see this expanding into a longer piece which would be interesting to take the plot further.
Nice work!
This is a puzzler Rick. I like the twists and turns it takes and the internal dialogue or imaginings. Then the final paranoid twist.
Like Heather you must type a lot faster than I can in 15 minutes. Well done.
Gordon
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