Twenty-Nine Cozy Bears

02

Washington D.C. the Waldorf Astoria Hotel conference room

When Agent Doug Tanner came into the large meeting room rented at the Waldorf Astoria in DC, the space was already crowded with politicians, security advisors, one General and two Majors from the Army, and what Doug believed were hackers — or in this venue, OSINT contractors, three of them, sitting in the chairs along the wall. Doug wove his way through the gathering to a chair he believed was not claimed yet.

He glanced at the hacker trio. They could be CIA. The CIA was actively seeking OSINT personnel. Not as temp subcontractors but agency employees with full benefits, and retirement.

The Army too, have revalued Open Source Intelligence, raising their ROI to be — if not equal in lives saved and battles won, at least close to the PsySops and Counter Intel — and certainly worthy of Miliary service. The word came down wearing heavy boots bearing the regulation shine.

.Pentagon orders arrived escorted by a new Army manual; a fresh insightful tome for educating the members of our nation that OSINT were critical and mandatory — at least one OSINT Unit would be required to be active for every brigade of the service. Doug had no idea what that meant. Did units go by fours? Eights? Were they legion?

The Open Source Intelligence men and women found a home in military service, and soon after were invited into the ranks of the CIA. Then, recently an at a conferences , a week ago, a new acquaintance told Doug that the FBI had housekeeping clearing out boxes from cubicles to reclaim office space. Their first dedicated team would be moving in by summer.

Doug settled into the chair just as the doors opened again and Congressman James Terry came though the threshold with Congressman Earl Askov, and the FBI Head of Investigations: Kidnapping, Willard Michaels

The trio moves with purpose to the bottom row of the square frame the tables were positioned, assembled to allow the greater field of vision for those attending. The long tables were already near capacity, however, three men sitting at the from stood and relinquished their seats to the arriving lawmakers.

Doug promised his boss that he would attend this meeting — to get a feel for where the trio had evolved to over the time since Operation Olympic Games. Just seeing them now told him all he needed to know in order to present a clear and satisfying repot in the morning.

Watching the three of them settle into their chairs, Doug figured out what was wrong with this country — everyone with any position of merit was simply too old. This thought caused an easy smile to curl his lips and to shove of a couple pounds of pressure off his shoulders.

This wasn't an age-gap- phobia. He didn't have a prejudice regarding old people, He never commented about them at all. It just struck him, just now, watching them setup the flyers and the swag they had with them. Other men were carrying this stuff. The three of them focused on their tasks and periodically for just a brief flash, they exposed an expression of profound terror.

The fright came across in micro expressions, which felt like he witnessed the struggle of a captive soul of a possessing spirit. Trapped inside, they found a way to break through, to come to the surface, only to be pulled back under by their assailant before they could cry out or cause alarm. Once the demon recovered there composure their expressions were their normal, with only edges of their compositions lined in confusion, anger and vagueness.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and fore-finger. The lights felt bright. He admitted he was too tired to be of any use. He should probably record this meeting and listen to it in the morning.