Washington DC
Jennifer observes as Bobby is searching on the internet. She comments, “I work for the FBI, and I’ve never been exposed to some of those sites you just accessed.”
“As I told you before, you are on the dark side now. There is a lot of chatter about the feds pulling out all the stops to try to find someone; you, apparently.”
“I still can’t believe it. I went from trusted agent one moment to most wanted criminal the next.”
“Well, you know my thoughts about what happens when we start giving up our freedoms.”
“But what makes you think this is related to reduced freedoms?”
“It’s all connected. We give up freedoms; the state takes more control. The state needs to control how we think and communicate in order to ensure the maintenance of its greater control; individuality is a threat and must be eliminated as much as possible. Eventually, the individual ceases to matter, except in the service of the state, and the state therefore can eliminate any individuals who rebel or pose any kind of threat to the state.”
“You make it all seem so straightforward.”
“It is. You’re just not ready to accept it yet.”
“But I am moving in your direction. I truly apologize for how I just dropped you in college. You are a true and loyal friend, and I was absolutely wrong to treat you like I did. I just got wrapped up in the idea of getting ahead and selfishly felt that being connected with you would hurt me. I’ll never do anything like that again.”
“Apology accepted,” Bobby says, smiling. “Now let’s see if we can get a better handle on what’s going on. I will try the Renegades.”
“Who are the Renegades?”
“A group of people like me. We coordinate to help each other.”
Bobby types on his keyboard: “Renegades, consult requested.”
“Aren’t you concerned about security? Like what about the NSA?”
“We use dynamic encryption, with our own bells and whistles. It makes the alphabet soup, AES and RSA, as well as the fishes, seem like child’s play.”
Responses begin to come in on the large monitors surrounding them.
“Aussie here, mate.”
“Rebel with a Cause, as well.”
“Hi, Supergirl checking in.”
“The Prisoner is on board.”
Several others connect, and then Bobby says, “I have a friend in trouble at the highest levels. Have any of you picked up anything?”
There is a pause, and then Aussie responds, “I picked up one unusual item, but I don’t think it would be connected to your friend; it was over in China. There was some top-security chatter about how they grabbed a Yank doctor named Johnson, Mark Johnson.”
“Great, thanks Aussie.”
“My Mandarin teacher should get some thanks as well.”
Bobby wraps up by saying, “Everyone, please let me know if you pick up anything else.”
The Renegades disconnect.
“Well, that’s a start. I will dig into it and see where it leads.”
After a few minutes of work, Bobby says, “Johnson is reportedly a top expert on viruses; he works for Dr. Michael Gates, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases here in DC. That’s quite a mouthful. Ring any bells?”
“Well, I have heard of Gates, but not Johnson. I don’t really know much about Gates, and Jim never mentioned either one.”
“Okay, I’ll keep digging.”
Bobby does some more research and then says, “Gates reports to Dr. Samuel Page, the director of the National Institutes of Health; Page just covered for him at a conference, indicating that Gates was indisposed.”
“Like Gates, I have heard of Page, but I don’t know anything about him.”
“The presentation that Page covered for was titled ‘The Next Viral Pandemic: What We Learned from COVID-19, and Should Gain of Function Research Be Considered?’ This is getting very interesting.”
“What is gain of function research?”
“This is where my work on conspiracy theories pays off. Gain of function research involves creating new, more dangerous viruses in order to study them. It’s kind of like Frankenstein-type research, which leads to the obvious concern: what happens if it gets loose, like the monster did?”