*
Alongside the Potomac River, tucked into the northwest corner of D.C., the exterior of the Horizon office complex appeared to be an established group of high-rises offering innocuous work locations for striving knowledge professionals. But inside, three of the four buildings were gutted as each floor housed only server stacks from floor to ceiling. The fourth building, where two agents escorted Dallas, accommodated functioning business offices on every floor. Dallas stared at the tightly dressed executives and polished assistants who nodded or politely said 'good afternoon' while passing by in the lobby. At automatic entry gates, the agents swiped biometric cards while cameras recorded their every move as they reached the elevator and rode to the 11th floor. Dallas was left alone in a stark office with a spectacular view of the river through floor to ceiling glass windows. Surrounding her were bookshelves containing a selection of business and technology bestsellers, but in the middle of the room stood an empty desk, devoid of paper, supplies, or even a small lamp. Dallas quickly calculated the office was not a permanent location for an occupied operational executive.
Sitting in a chair facing the desk, she took out her mobile and began checking messages. Several minutes later, she stood up to stand by the window and admire the view. Returning to her chair a few minutes later, she began idly surfing the Internet. After another forty minutes, when she was ready to cease debating whether to send a text to Marco, the office door opened and the director walked in. Dallas stood.
"Hello Dal," Marco said, smiling as he stretched out a hand to her to shake and offered no apology for his tardiness.
"Hello Mr. Director," Dallas answered accepting his greeting. Marco moved to sit at the desk. "I have to admit I was expecting a gray-walled windowless hole."
Marco laughed. "You watch too many movies, my friend."
"Well your approach was a little cloak-and-dagger."
"Comes with the job I'm afraid."
"Really?"
"Yes really. You know the era we are living in."
"You are concerned about terrorists?"
Marco laughed again. "Yes. But I was talking about D.C. politics and the media. You know every step we take is being scrutinized for a story to feed the 24-hour news cycle. This city is a fishbowl Dal, and I for one have to watch how much all those peering eyes are allowed to see."
"Okay sure. So how does this work?"
"Don't you have something for me?" Dallas reached inside her handbag and removed the flash drive. Without hesitating, she handed the device to Marco. "Hmm..." he suspiciously noted while accepting the drive, "...you've made a copy?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because you made no demands and are not reluctant to give me your precious find. I assume you have a back-up."
"Well you did not expect me to just hand over evidence did you?"
"Yes I did."
"Why?"
Holding the drive up in front of his face, Marco hesitated then shrugged as he selected a button on the desk. "Let's see what you've got." Dallas jolted backwards when the desktop suddenly slid away like a panel, and a laptop computer rose up in its place. Marco grinned and motioned for her to sit down. Putting the drive into the laptop, he accessed the files and read in silence.
Dallas did not see his expression change or notice a sense of alarm. But his composure was expected. The FedSec Director would hardly be expected to cry with fear if a journalist picked up top-secret national security information. When Marco finished reading, he looked up. "Scary headlines and generalized content, you say this was left in a restaurant?"
"Yes, Infrared."
"Infrared? Cool place, hard to get a reservation there. Have you been?"
"Yes. You?"
"Yes."
Dallas waited another thirty seconds. "What are these documents, Marco?"
Marco leaned back in his chair. "As I suspected, an individual or organization's speculative policy thoughts."
"But the template led me straight to FedSec."
"What can I say? You know the schematic of a FedSec template, but so do hundreds of other people. Our instructions are not hard to copy."
"Marco, these documents contain specific information with detailed plans involving high-ranking people."
"Yes, people usually write policy ideas in a format that makes the content readily digestible for government departments. People assume the government could implement the policy verbatim."
"And their assumption is not a problem?"
"Well depends on the administration, the policy, and the credentials of those who wrote the detailed implementation plan."
"You're saying the documents are not important, and I should what...search for another source?"
"No. Dal, there's no story here. What are you going to do, knock on every think tank's door and ask if someone lost a flash drive? I imagine such amateur behavior is beneath the talents of a journalist of your caliber."
"What do you recommend?"
"Well I know you like to follow your instincts. But why not ask the restaurant to put the drive in lost-and-found and wait until a customer picks it up. If someone was working hard on putting all the research together they'll want to claim their property before another idea wonk steals their opinions."
"Lost-and-found?"
"Yes."
"For documents professing racism and sexism may be coded into business and government websites? For policies about weaponizing civilian drones?" Marco stiffened. "You think these are lost-and-found ideas? Marco, I have never even heard of some of these plans. The one for replacing the entire public school system with computers is almost completely mapped out in detail, for every state."
"Washington is full of people who perform comprehensive research and planning, Dal. They live off the challenge. They want to be the first to tell the government they thought of all the possibilities, and the ones to hand the full story to the right members of Congress to discuss in committee. Details do not make the content real."
"These documents look real."
"Listen, I cannot spend all day discussing this with you. Either you believe me or you don't. But you're my friend Dal, so listen to a friend's warning. I highly recommend you do not publish these documents or any of the content or even repeat the names of the titles of the files. And I am specifically warning you not to make any reference to FedSec or FedSec's template or discussions with FedSec's director in connection with these files. Do you understand?"
Dallas stared at him, searching his face for a hint of leeway. "What are these files, Marco? I can tell you know more than you're saying."
"What files?"
"Marco."
"I do not know what you are talking about. The content on this drive is not FedSec documents. Do you understand?"
"Whose documents are on the drive?"
"I do not know."
"Yes you do."
"Do you want to accuse the director of FedSec of lying? If so, we will be walking down a different road, my friend."
"I'm not accusing you of anything."
"Good, now what are you going to do next?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean."
"I'm not sure what I'll do next."
"I'll give you some advice. I'm going to let you go without conditions, which one day you may discover is an extraordinary gesture on my part. You're going to go home and continue with your life. But I once again highly recommend you do not talk about the document contents or this meeting or anything at all connected to the last few hours from the time the drive was handed to you." Marco paused. "Actually who did hand you the drive?" Dallas did not respond. "Do you want to force us to find out?"
"What will you do?"
"Depends on the circumstances. Was the individual an unknowing citizen?"
"Yes, totally innocent. Some cleaning lady found the drive in Infrared and gave it to the restaurant's owner Fresno Tyler and he ga
ve it to me."
"Why would he give you these documents?"
"Because he..." Dallas stopped. "Why do you want to know?"
"Why do you think?"
"Marco no," Dallas insisted, her voice rising in panic. "Frez has nothing to do with my investigation into these files."
"Did he give the drive to you because he read the contents?"
"Marco, no. His involvement is totally innocent. He has no idea what he saw."
"We'll be the judges of his knowledge."
"What do you mean?"
"We cannot have people claiming to have read FedSec documents when the material is not from FedSec."
"What are you going to do?"
"You do not need details. Focus on the advice I have given you. You do understand the advice I have given you, right?" Dallas wavered. "Seriously Dal, I am being kind and restrained right now. You understand, right? I do not have to repeat my advice and recommendations again, do I?"
"No."
"And you respect my advice, right? When I walk out of this room, I am assuming we are still good friends who appreciate each other's advice, yes?"
"Yes."
"Great." Marco stood. "The guys will give you a ride back to wherever you want to go. I'll see you around."
"Yeah, see you around." Dallas commented to Marco's back as he exited through the office door. She had no time to reconsider her world before the agents walked in to escort her out. The only action she had time to complete was to hit the 'stop record' button on her mobile.