Protocol 15

Chapter 3

3

TO NEW BEGINNINGS

Headquarters of the National Security Agency, aka, “The Box.” Ft. Meade, Maryland. June 19.

In the NSA command center, the months had passed. First one, then another, and Cade wondered where they went. The passage of time knows no enemies. It has no friends. It holds no grudges. It’s only solace is that it never changes, except when there is a hole in your life that you cannot fill.

Cade stared across the room at Knuckles. Ever since he had met the kid, he wondered how old he was. For all Knuckle’s intelligence experience as an analyst at the National Security Agency, the chin on the kid’s face could barely produce peach fuzz. He looked sixteen, maybe younger. Regardless, Cade knew the kid had brainpower that rivaled even “Uncle” Bill Tarleton, the NSA section chief, and the most brilliant code breaker in NSA’s history.

Knuckles looked at Cade, who was still staring at him. “You look like you’re trying to conjure the next winning numbers in the Pennsylvania state lottery,” Knuckles laughed. “I know you’re dying to find out how old I am. I’m twelve years old.”

“No you’re not,” Cade said. “You’re older than that. Come on, how old are you?”

“Not in this lifetime, pal.”

“Oh come on. We work at the NSA. We’re supposed to be able to find out anything about anyone. You know I can find out.”

“Personnel records are sealed, bright guy,” Knuckles said. “Although . . .”

“Although what?”

“We could work a trade.”

“What kind of a trade?”

“You teach me how to talk to girls, I’ll tell you my real age.”

Cade stared back, grinned, and then started to laugh until people turned to see what was going on.

“You want me to teach you how to talk to girls? I couldn’t talk my way out of a paper bag where girls are concerned. Now, my friend, Kyle, he’s who you want. He could convince a girl . . .”

“Well,” Knuckles said, “from what Uncle Bill tells me, you and that hot FBI agent seemed pretty tight.”

The prior year, during what was known as the Thoughtstorm case, Cade had become the FBI’s only insider in the sweeping terrorism investigation. At the time, he worked as a hardware systems administrator for Thoughtstorm, Inc. When it turned out Thoughtstorm was involved with terrorists, he found himself in the middle of the biggest terrorism investigation since 9/11. It had been the beautiful female federal agent that had convinced him to be a material witness in the first place, and now he was in love with her.

Cade looked down. “Yeah, I know. She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever been around. We worked so closely during the Thoughtstorm case. Things were so intense. I don’t know, I guess we just spent so much time together that we kind of became a couple there for a while.”

As the case ended, Uncle Bill had offered Cade an analyst role. Working at NSA had never occurred to Cade. But, with his old job as a systems administrator at Thoughtstorm gone, the idea of being more involved in espionage work appealed to him.

“But what about now? You’re not together?”

“Doesn’t seem that way, no. I wonder about it all the time. Whether coming to work here was worth it. Sometimes I feel like I stepped into a really cool new career for myself, but I lost Jana in the process. She spent so much time at Bethesda Medical Center recovering from the shooting. I spent a long time watching over her, first in the intensive care unit, then all that time in physical therapy. To tell you the truth, she shouldn’t have survived it. But, the good thing is, she’s been back at Quantico for a few weeks, trying to get in shape to requalify for active duty.”

The hardest part in Cade’s decision to work at the NSA had been separating from Jana. He may have been in love with her, but he had never known if she felt the same way. And, he had always known she was way out of his league to begin with. Both Jana and Agent Kyle MacKerron were now back at the FBI Academy at Quantico, regaining their strength, healing from physical injuries, and requalifying as federal agents. For Cade, who now lived in Maryland near the headquarters of the NSA, having the two of them nearby at Quantico was both heavenly and torturous at the same time. They were close, but he rarely saw them.

“I go over there whenever she lets me,” Cade said. “We’re both just so busy, you know? I get the feeling she’s pulling away from me, almost as if she knows she’s only going to be at the academy for a short time, then she’ll get assigned to a duty station far away from here.”

“Where’s she going to be stationed?”

“From what FBI Director Latent tells me, due to her heroism during the Thoughtstorm case, she can choose to be stationed wherever the hell she wants.”