Page 54 of One Knight Stand

“He has degrees in engineering and business?” Kira noted. “That’s unusual.”

“Not necessarily,” I said. “He joined the NSA as a management analyst and worked his way up the agency. He was assigned to the Research Directorate from the Operations Directorate two years ago. I did some digging and found out he was assigned to that position by the director himself, General Maxwell Norton. Nowthatappears to be unusual. Apparently, it’s rare for the director to make position appointments.”

“Maybe General Norton felt like something was up in that division,” Jax said. “So he appointed Ghat to keep an eye on things.”

“Maybe,” I said. “Or maybe Remington lobbied General Norton to get Ghat in the position.”

“That’s possible, too.”

“Anyway, Ghat is married, has two children, lives in Hanover, Maryland,” I continued. “He’s active in his church, likes to golf and play tennis, and apparently has a thing for onlineHalotournaments.”

“I’m not going to ask you how you know that,” Mike said.

“Better that you don’t. Wally, what do you have on Glen Sampson?”

Wally tapped a few keys. “Sampson graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in criminal justice. He worked in private security for a while and then joined the NSA as an intelligence analyst. He’s been at the agency in the Research Division for sixteen years.”

“A longtime employee in Remington’s directorate,” I murmured.

“He was promoted to deputy director thirteen years ago.”

“A year after my dad’s disappearance,” I said. “He had to be a pretty young deputy if he’d only worked in the directorate for three years before being promoted. Bet that rankled longtime employees there.”

“Smacks of favoritism to me,” Wally observed.

“I happen to agree. What else do you have on him?”

“Sampson is divorced, no kids, and has a condo in Odenton, Maryland, which is about fifteen minutes from the NSA,” Wally continued. “He drives a sweet car, spends money on car shows, and likes to frequent the gym. Doesn’t game—in fact, he doesn’t seem to have any other hobbies. Just work, cars, and the gym. That’s all I’ve got so far.”

“Thanks, Wally. I’ve also obtained aerial photos of Remington’s, Ghat’s, and Sampson’s home residences, photos of their cars, and their license plates. This is the information we can give my dad, along with the directory.”

Frankie spread her hands. “Then what?”

“Then we move to the next part of the mission. Surveillance. We need to track them, listen to them, and find out what they know, if anything, regarding the kidnapping of my mother. My dad can’t be in all places, so we’ve got to help him. Otherwise, we’re never going to find her in time.”

“How do you plan for us to go about that?” Jax asked.

“First, we’re are going to use a classic hacking strategy against them.”

“Oh, please tell me you’re thinking of doing an MITM,” Wally begged, using praying hands for extra effect. “Please?”

“What’s an MITM?” Kira asked.

“In hacking terms, a man-in-the-middle attack, or a MITM,” I explained. “It’s where a hacker gets inside the communication channels of their target and relays, and possibly alters, the communications between two parties who believe that they are directly communicating with each other. One example of a MITM attack is active eavesdropping, where the attacker makes independent connections with the victims and relays messages to make them believe they’re talking to each other over a private connection, when, in fact, the entire conversation is being controlled by the hacker.”

“That sounds so cool,” Mike said. “But can we do it?”

“We can, but only if we’re able to intercept all relevant messages passing between the targets, and inject new ones, using intelligence gained from listening to their communications,” I said. “Oh, and we must convincingly impersonate each person to the other.”

“Wow. No pressure,” Kira said.

I sighed. “Unfortunately, tons of pressure.”

“So the goal is for us to get them to tell us where your mom is being held while they think they’re talking to each other,” Hala said.

“Exactly.”

Jax leaned forward in the chair, his hands on his legs. “Okay, guys. How exactly do we do this MITM?”

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