Early Birds

We're Done

Offering Worm a coffee, Laswell, her associate and Ghost sat down to begin a debrief. Laswell asked Worm to give them a full debrief. Ghost looked at each of them cautiously awaiting the fireworks to start.

Worm took a deep breath. 'I was requested by station chief Laswell to urgently attend a listening station outside of Montana Bulgaria, as there had been several server access issues with their database system. On arrival, I did a full system diagnostic, looking for corrupted registers and any conflicts and system bugs. My initial assessment found a series of anomalies around access to information relating to the Bulgarian special forces and their association with Romanian Intelligence'. 

'Further investigation allowed me to narrow down the files accessed, their dates, times and IP addresses, however, the system showed a conflict error which caused the files to lock down. I set up and ran several spyware and anti hack programs to determine the origin of the conflict and found that someone had introduced an errant program onto the database. This program was not part of the database build programs and was therefore unauthorised'. 

'I immediately contacted Laswell to inform her that the database had been compromised and that I would engage security protocol with a secure upload of data to quarantine in case of any attempt at datawipe and prepare the killswitch program. With the conflict program still trying to prevent access to certain drives on the database, I secured all data in the cloud server and set up a counter program to block out any further access from outside the database server'.

'I watched live attempts to access the database whilst my counter program was running, so immediately initiated the killswitch program. Approximately 20 minutes into the program execution, I heard gunfire coming from somewhere in the station and the alarms were triggered. I gathered my possessions and sent an urgent message to Laswell informing her of the killswitch activation and that the station had been breached. I signalled to the server room guard to unlock the doors so that I could evacuate, only to find that he had left his post, locking me in the server room'. 

'With the gunfire and explosions coming closer, I climbed up into the ventilation grill and hid in the ducting shaft. I was there for about 10 minutes when I heard someone trying to force open the server room door. Several shots were fired at the door, then there was an explosion, blowing the door open. I couldn't see but heard two men enter and try to turn on and access the system. When they couldn't they started arguing and it sounded like one of them called someone on his radio. The person on the radio responded and the two men left the room'.

'Shortly after, I heard two items being thrown into the server room, then the room below me exploded. I was knocked out or at least dazed, but stayed where I was in case they returned. I think I lost consciousness for a bit, then was aware of someone moving inside the room. I felt someone pull me from the vent and I tried to defend myself only to be immobilised'. 

'The lieutenant identified himself and informed me that he was there to get me out. We left via a side window and were able to get away from the station without further incident. The lieutenant helped me up the mountain to a safehouse, where he tended to my wounds while waiting for an airlift'.

Ghost was stunned at how clear and precise Worm was in her debrief, despite everything she'd just been through. There was no emotion, just a clear determined account of what had happened up until he'd arrived, minus a few details. He was fully impressed.

Laswell sighed 'Thank you Worm, I appreciate how traumatic this situation was for you and I'm relieved that Ghost was able to safely extract you without serious injury. You said that you uploaded all data to a secure quarantine, will the data show the breaches and the details you mentioned about the live attempt at access?'Laswell enquired.

'Yes, everything is recorded in the logfile and a static image of the system is automatically uploaded with the data set. The quarantine is fully encrypted and secure and will allow me to do a full security sweep before I examine the breech details. I can have that for you before the end of the week and will send you a link to download the server to a more secure location'. Worm said confidently.

'Thank you Worm, I have taken the liberty of setting up a secure room here on base for you to....' Laswell started, but Worm interrupted her

'No, ma'am, I will not be staying here to work on the breech, I am returning home now our debrief is complete. You can contact me on the usual channel for updates. Now if that's all, I'll excuse myself'. Worm said standing up with determination and readying to leave the room.

Laswell called out to her 'Worm, wait a minute, please?.

Worm turned to Laswell 'Before you start Kate, I haven't changed my mind. My terms are simple, I complete the task of securing the database files, remotely from home, and turning them fully over to you with my report and findings. Then that's me done, my contract is over'. She said strongly.

Ghost felt his heart swell with pride at how Worm was handling herself, especially standing up to Laswell like she was. Laswell was a formidable woman and not easily swayed, so he figured that their long relationship went a lot deeper than just contracts, for Laswell to be so calm with Worm.

'Worm, I can assure you that your safety is of utmost importance and I can promise you that going forward, this will not happen again in future contracts' Laswell said trying to keep the olive branch alive.

Worm paused before looking up 'Kate, after this, there's not going to be a next time. This was way too close for my liking. Our agreement was that I would never be in the line of fire or in a combat situation, I'm not willing to take that risk again. Thanks for coming Kate, I'll be in touch' Worm said bluntly before leaving the room.