Don't Order Dog_ 1(150)

“I’m getting to that,” Connolly replied as he raised his hand. “You see, back in the early days, it was my responsibility to oversee one of the teams tasked with creating these cryptographic protocols. As you can probably imagine, managing a large group of geniuses developing new encryption methods had its share of challenges… especially when you consider this was the agency’s most covert project. It may sound ridiculous, but communication was our single biggest obstacle. There was so much sensitive information, so many goddamn procedures to deal with. Christ, you could barely assemble a handful of people without violating some mandate or risk corrupting a new protocol. But then, out of the blue one day, a young mathematician on my team came to me with a rather brilliant solution. He’d developed a completely new cryptographic protocol for the project – a new language that could be used for all internal communication amongst the teams. The protocol itself was quite simple, made up largely of acronyms and analogous associations that could easily be remembered and modified by the team members themselves. But perhaps the most ingenious aspect of it was that it didn’t appear to be a form of encryption at all. It looked and read like any normal message.”

Connolly suddenly paused and looked up at Alex as if snapping out of a trance. He smiled and laid his hand on the folder in front of him. “That was a long damn time ago – more than I care to count – but I can tell you with absolute certainty that the creation of that single protocol made the NSA program a success. I can also tell you with the same amount of certainty that these letters are written in that protocol.”

Alex stood quietly for a moment, assessing the sincerity on Connolly’s face before speaking. “How can you be sure?”

“I used that protocol every day for years, Agent Murstead. Few people could have known it better. Trust me, I’m sure.”

“Okay then, what does it mean?” Alex asked as he flipped the page of notes around and pointed at the last entry. Connolly looked at it and shrugged.

“Well again, the protocol was designed to be adaptable. Without thoroughly analyzing all of the letters, I’d only be able to guess.”

“But you do have a guess, don’t you?” Alex asked.

“Yes, I have a guess.”

“Then tell me.”

Connolly glanced down at the page of notes. “The same man who invented this protocol once delivered a message to my office regarding his suspicion of an operative assigned to a post in East Germany during the cold war. I don’t recall the exact words of the entire message, but I clearly remember the last sentence. It simply read ‘If you have any interest in a pet, I’d definitely recommend a dog.’ I agreed with his assessment, and within twenty-four hours that East German operative was dead.”

“Why?” Alex asked impatiently.

“Because Agent Murstead, as these letters so eloquently say, he ordered DOG, and as everyone within the NSA understood back then, when you ordered the Destruction Of Goods, it was time for someone to die.” Connolly turned and looked at Preston. “You should have told me about this sooner, Jack. We might have saved her life.”

“Who’s life?” Preston asked.

“The bartender, of course,” Connolly replied matter-of-factly. “I think he means to kill her.”

Alex looked sharply at Connolly. “Are you telling me that you think this man – who’s already been hunted by the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, and thanks to you, a US military sniper – is now planning to go to Flagstaff and kill the woman he’s been writing love letters to?”

“They’re not love letters,” Connolly said flatly. “They’re coded messages regarding terrorist activities. Which makes the woman who’s been receiving them a loose end. Of course he plans to kill her. And he’s got a head start on you if you’re planning to catch him. Or should I say, planning to catch him again?”

Alex considered the Director’s response for a moment before walking to the door and waving his colleague back into the interrogation room. The two men talked briefly before Alex nodded his head and addressed Preston and Connolly. “Gentlemen, Agent Davis will be conducting the rest of this interview. I’m sure you’ll give him your full cooperation. Afterwards, you will be escorted to a secure hotel for the evening. Please make yourself as comfortable as possible until I get back.”

He turned to leave, then paused and looked curiously back at Connolly. “Your man in the NSA… the one who invented this protocol. What was his name?”