AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was certain Black was involved at the highest levels in the war-gaming that was going on all over Washington and in the capitals of the world. Riley had just thrown him for a loop.
So Pierce had a little window of opportunity to study her. Her photo on the corkboard of the IT office back in Portland had intrigued him no end. Four beautiful women, but he had eyes only for the one in the middle. Good thing, too, because Felicity, Hope and Emma were spoken for by his brothers Metal, Luke and Raul. If he was fascinated by any of them, he’d never have acted on it. But he wasn’t. He was fascinated by Riley, the most beautiful of them all. Elegant and aloof, never laughing in the photos he’d seen, but always smiling. Something a little sad in those amazing eyes.
She’d completely forgotten about him and even about Black as she was diving into some kind of database. The other women did that too, his brothers reported. Simply disappeared into their computer screens when something intrigued them or worried them.
Riley would be completely taken by this issue. A war was brewing between the two major superpowers of the world, and she took it seriously. He took it seriously too, while also appreciating how incredibly appealing Riley was, super-focused. She’d been appealing running toward him outside the National Surveillance Office, too. Graceful andfast.
“Okay,” Riley said and he shook himself, trying to get his head out of his ass. Now was not the time to obsess over Riley running.
She turned the laptop’s screen so they could all see.
Riley folded her hands in her lap. “The first thing I have to say is that I pulled the images you’re going to see from a cache in the dark web, where I put them. It is totally illegal for NRO employees to keep sat images for personal use. You are free to report me to the authorities, but you need to see these.”
Pierce was silent, and so was Black. She thought they’d report her to the authorities? For something like this? He’d rather tear out his own throat, and Black would, too.
She gave a sigh. “Okay. What you are about to see are images taken from Scorpius, which has a Moliya-style orbit, an elliptical orbit. It’s essentially a data relay satellite, intercepting and routing data from other satellites, worldwide. Which means it intercepts data from unusual latitudes and longitudes. It will eventually monitor every point on Earth.
“We were sent a video to analyze two days ago, and it was this.”
She pressed a button and Pierce finally saw the entire thing and not clips that had been on the news. It was horrifying. He watched as soldiers of the PLA attacked unsuspecting scientists in a particularly brutal fashion. One scientist was even clubbed to death. White letters in the top right-hand corner gave the date, the time of day, time elapsed, the GPS coordinates, putting the attack in the empty heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo. As remote as the far side of the moon.
The video lasted almost 12 minutes, then the satellite moved on, though the killing continued. It was unusual in its ferocity, as if the Chinese soldiers had a personal beef with the scientists. At one point, a soldier lifted his face to the sky and howled silently.
It made goosebumps rise on his arms. Pierce was a soldier, had been all his adult life. He was used to battle. This wasn’t battle, it was slaughter. The soldiers could easily have just rounded up the scientists, then destroyed the scientific equipment, if that was what they wanted. But they were hell-bent on destruction, frenzied. Intent on slaughter.
It was a provocation, and could lead to war.
Pierce met Black’s dark gaze. He was disturbed, too, and of course understood the implications as well as he did.
Riley continued. “As far as anyone knows, PLA soldiers viciously attacked and murdered a peaceful American party of scientists. Killed them and destroyed their equipment. We all know that China is very active in Africa and has an interest in minerals and rare earth elements there. So we’re looking at a clear provocation.”
Pierce and Black nodded.
Riley pressed another button, then used the track pad to move around the video, which she had stilled. The trackpad allowed her to blow up elements.
“Well, it’s all a fake. Look here,” she commanded, and Pierce and Black both peered at the image. One of the Chinese soldiers holding a weapon. He studied it and looked at Black, who shrugged.
“Look at his hands.”
Pierce did, then shrugged. They were hands. Holding a QBZ-191 assault rifle, the service rifle of the People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police.
“Count the fingers.” With a glance at Black, Pierce leaned forward again then frowned. “Whoa.”
“Wrong number, right?” Riley asked. “He has six fingers on each hand. Two other soldiers have the same. Do you know why?”
“They’ve been breeding soldiers in a lab and got the finger gene wrong?” Black wondered.
Riley smiled briefly. Oh man, she should smile more often. That smile broke through that sad aura that surrounded her. And you noticed her extraordinary beauty.
“No. It’s because deepfake programs have trouble with fingers, because they have less data on hands than they do on faces. They’re working on it, and in a year, all deepfakes will be perfect and we’ll be in trouble. Or since AI works so fast, maybe the next iteration next month will be perfect.”
Black sat back, looking troubled. “This is a deepfake video?”
“Yes, sir,” she said. “It’s been expertly altered. The original is quite different.”
He frowned.
“Indeed, Mr. Bl … Jacob. It hardly bears thinking about, yeah?”
