Eagle

Part 6

            “So you know him, yes?” Chan paused, “So he works at the NSA?”

            “Define ‘works’”

            Chan shot Ellie a disapproving look.

            “Yes, he works there. Though he doesn’t do much but bitch all the time.”

            “He’s a babysitter. His job is to watch the analysts and keep them in line. Make sure they don’t suspect anything. You see, those communiques you were processing were intercepted by computers, analyzed for key words and phrases, then fed on to you.”

            “Yeah, it’s my job. But what do you mean ‘suspect anything’?”

            “Those communiques weren’t from terrorist cells, or even people under suspicion. You see, these communiques were intercepted from across every US based email connection, every phone line running through the United States, every satellite that deals with information. If it is deemed suspicious, it’s sent to an NSA satellite office. An office like yours.”

            “What does this mean?”

            “You’re a smart girl, you know what it means.”

            Ellie tried to make sense of what he was telling her. She was monitoring the communications of not terrorist organizations, but ordinary citizens of the United States.

            “What about those ones that talked about bomb making, terrorist attacks?”

            “Those ones are simply real terrorist communications thrown in with the rest to keep you happy and unsuspecting. Most of them had already been processed by other agencies that don’t even have initials. Agencies you’ve never heard of.”

            Ellie wanted it to be untrue, to be able to laugh it off, to laugh in Chan’s smug looking face. She wanted to, but she couldn’t. It all made too much sense to be able to.

            “How do you know all this?”

            Henry sighed.

            “What the news reports said was true. Stanford was one of us. That’s why they picked him. It was easy enough to pin it on him. Believe me; we were all heartbroken when we heard the news. His final act, that was just like him. Always putting others before himself.”

            Ellie felt tears forming in her eyes; she knew she was going to break down. She figured that Chan sensed it too since he was leaving the room.

            “Wait,” she said, “I want to know everything.”

            Chan paused.

            “Do you want to turn us in or something?”