Read Online The Origin Point: A Future Tech Cyber Novella by Case Lane - Free Book Online Page B

have more to
hide than an innocent mistake."
    Marco slowly lifted his feet off the table
and deliberately placed them on the floor as he moved to sit up
straight. "Are you accusing me of irresponsible behavior?"
    "No."
    "What are you attempting to say with your
statements?"
    "Marco, I'm not your enemy and I'm not
accusing you of any wrongdoing. But we are in a dangerous place.
Our activity is not public information for a reason. We are not
interested in having the public learn about our plans because the
public may not appreciate our intentions. We are also being forced
to establish a plan no future administration could disrupt. You and
I will not be around to see COSA through to fruition. We will be
replaced and we will die, but the system will carry on. We have to
make sure we do not disrupt the ability of this project to live on
after we are gone, and the only way to do that is to ensure the
foundation is established today. Dallas Winter is a friend of
yours, but you and I no longer have friends on the outside. We gave
up our 'regular world' connections to ensure our nation's long-term
security. The damage has already been done, very few names are
connected to COSA, but two of them are ours. Under no circumstances
can our positions be revealed, nor anyone learn the details of the
operation. COSA will function autonomously. Future administrations
will not be able to dismantle the legacy we have built, and more
importantly, they will not want to. We are constructing a
functioning, automatic process designed to stand-alone forever. We
cannot make mistakes."
    "I'm well aware of the stakes. I know the
future we are building. I have been a champion of this plan from
the beginning."
    "We are hardly the beginning, Marco. Many
minds before us set out on this path."
    "Yes I know. But we have carried their ideas
further than anyone. Like you said, COSA has to operate
autonomously. We are the first administrators to solidify the reach
of our intentions because we have identified the money. Once this
project is financed as we have proposed, the rollout can continue
without interference from levels of government. The real beginning
is now."
    Julia sighed. "If you believe that then
there's even more reason to be vigilant. We are moving forward now,
there is no room to turn back." She stood and walked towards him.
Sitting, she took his hand. "I did not mean to sound like I was
accusing you of being negligent. But I think we, all of us, have to
discuss how we are going to protect the operation we have built. We
have to go forward with this program, total surveillance is the
best option for our country, for the world. Imagine an online file
for every human on earth, immediately accessible to match suspects
before there is an incident. We can bring terrorism to its knees.
That's the goal here Marco, the end of living in fear."
    "I agree and I swear to you I know my
responsibilities to our project."
    "I know you do. But we have to call our
friend. We should be totally transparent and prepared to establish
our own internal security protocol for moving forward together. We
need to talk to him."
    Marco dropped his head and stared at the
floor. "I agree. But I want to be clear." He looked up at Julia,
his eyes rimmed with defiance. "Dallas does not know anything. She
saw a bunch of unidentified policy papers, nothing more. She does
not know about COSA or programs connected to the broader project
implementation."
    "I'm sure you're correct, but Dallas Winter
is not the disrupter I'm worried about."
    "You want to find out who the hacker
is?"
    "Of course. But not only who. We need to
uncover the information this hacker took from Horizon, and the
plans he has for the evidence he found."
    *
    On a white, laminated dry-erase wall, a
schematic separated various scenarios with dense red lines. Each
predicted alternate versions of the initial rollout of COSA over
the next ten years. Under one column, the rollout would connect
every single surveillance camera