isn’t the time to be running and gunning against Americans in America. None of Jack’s dad’s pardons will do us any good if you get ID’d and picked up on a local or state rap.”
“Look,” Jack Ryan said, “our enemy is foreign, that much is clear. Just some of their resources are here. I say we just go down and take a look. I’m not talking about gearing up in body armor and hitting the place, just some recon. We get a couple of snapshots of the guys working down there, poke around into their backgrounds and known associates, and that can lead us to the next link in the chain.”
Granger shook his head. “I wish we could, but that’s a slippery slope. Your dad did not set up this operation so that we could spy on Americans.”
Jack said, “Assholes are assholes, Sam. It doesn’t matter what color their passport is.”
Sam smiled at this, but it was clear his mind was made up. “We tip off the FBI about the command server. We’ll figure out the details of how we are going to go about notifying them. But in the meantime, The Campus stays out of it.”
Dom and Jack both nodded. Neither man really got it, but Sam was their boss, so that was that.
The meeting broke up soon after, but Gavin Biery asked Ryan to follow him back down to his office. Once there, Biery said, “I didn’t want to discuss this in the meeting, because at this point all I have is a theory, but I wanted to tell you about it, because it may necessitate some work on the operations side of The Campus.”
Jack said, “Lay it on me. Since we can’t go to Miami and investigate, I’d appreciate some work.”
Gavin held up a hand. “This is nothing for you to do now. This may take days and days. But with a lot of work, I might be able to reverse-engineer two pieces of malware I found on Zha’s computer and, with it, make a pretty powerful weapon.”
“What kind of weapon?”
“Zha built a covert delivery system that allows someone to sneak malware through Cryptogram, and he booby-trapped his device with a virus that infects any device that connects to it with a version of his RAT software.”
“The thing that makes it where he can see through the camera.”
“Right.”
Jack slowly understood. “So… you are saying you might be able to construct a new virus that could be delivered through Cryptogram to infect the computer on the other side, and then take a picture of what’s on the other side?”
Biery nodded. “Again, this is theoretical. And on top of that, you would have to find a computer that someone uses to connect with Center. Not Zha’s handheld, because Center will know that device is burned and he would never establish communications. And not the Istanbul Drive, for just exactly the same reason. But a new device, used by someone Center trusts. If Center opened up a Cryptogram conversation, accepted the digital handshake of the other party, then accepted a file that was uploaded by another party… then we might be able to get a look at Center.”
Normally Jack saw Gavin light up when he talked about what he could do with computer code, but Gavin seemed to be a lot more subdued than usual.
Jack wanted to encourage him. “You do realize how important that would be for The Campus? Shit, how important it would be for America?”
Gavin said, “No promises, though. It’s not going to be easy.”
Jack patted him on the arm. “I’ve got faith in you.”
“Thanks, Ryan. I’ll work on the code, you work on finding one of Center’s people stupid enough to play along.”
Two hours later Ryan was at his desk. He felt a presence, then looked up to find Dom standing behind him with a smile on his face.
“Hey, cuz. Any big plans for the weekend?”
Ryan shook his head. “None. Melanie says she’ll be working Saturday. Figured I’d come in here and mess around. I guess we’ll hang out after that. Why, what’s up?”
“How long has it been since the two of us have gone on vacation together?”
Jack looked up from his monitor. “Have we
Tony Wills, Jack’s cubicle mate, was away to lunch, so Caruso slid his empty chair over and sat down in it. He moved closer to Ryan. In a conspiratorial tone he said, “Too long, then.”
Jack sensed trouble. “What’s on your mind, dude?”
“We’ve been working hard. I was just thinking we might push off early this afternoon, do a quick weekender somewhere. Just two guys blowing off a little steam.”
Jack Ryan cocked his head. “Where were you thinking about blowing off this steam?”
Dom Caruso did not reply. He just smiled.
Jack answered his own question: “Miami.”
“Why the hell not? We fly down commercial, get a couple of rooms in South Beach, eat some good Cuban food…” He trailed off at the end, and again, Ryan finished the thought.
“And we pop over to Coral Gables, maybe do a quick peek at Southwest Sixty-second Place. Is that your plan?”
Dom nodded. “Who’s gonna know? Who’s gonna care?”
“And we don’t mention it to Granger?”
“Do we have to tell Granger what we’re doing every weekend?”
“If we aren’t going to tell Granger or anybody else here, what’s the point of going?”
“Look, we won’t get too close, we won’t compromise ourselves. We just go for a little look-see. Maybe get tag numbers in the parking lot, follow some computer nerd back to his computer-nerd apartment and get an address.”
“I don’t know,” said Jack. He knew, as Dom said, the two of them could do what they wanted with their downtime.
But he also knew this was violating the spirit of Sam Granger’s instructions, if not the actual instructions. Even though they wouldn’t be working for The Campus on their trip, that was a pretty fine line.
“You want to go home and sit on your ass this weekend, or do you want to do something that just might make a difference? Again, if nothing comes of it, no harm, no foul. But if we do get some actionable intel, we take it to Sam and give it to him with apologies. You know how it is. Sometimes it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.”
That hit home with Jack. He saw himself sitting around wondering what he could accomplish if he took his cousin up on his offer. He thought it over a little more, then smiled slyly. “I have to admit, cuz, that I love a good mojito.”
Caruso smiled. “That’s my boy.”
FIFTY-THREE
Dominic and Jack arrived in Miami late on Friday afternoon. They’d flown commercial, coach, and it felt a bit like the Stone Age to them compared with the Hendley G-550, but the flight was on time and both men had slept most of the way.
They had no guns on them, although bringing a gun along on a commercial flight in the United States is not against the law. Since licensed concealed carry of a handgun was permitted in Florida, they could have flown into Miami with locked, unloaded guns in their checked luggage, but that entailed forms and delay, and, both men decided, this wasn’t that type of a trip. They were under orders not to initiate a formal surveillance operation of the command server location, and they also knew if Sam somehow found out, the fact they hadn’t even brought their pieces along might serve in their defense, indicating they weren’t down there on “official business.”
It was splitting hairs, and Jack didn’t feel great about it, but he did feel that The Campus operators should
