“Giles, you can’t send him in alone. He’s just a doorkicker.”
“He’s not applying to work there, Bridge. All he has to do is get inside and plug in a USB stick.”
“And get out again.”
“Sure, if you like.”
“But Adrian doesn’t know a rack server from a stereo, let alone anything about POSIX threads. What if they question him? They’re not going to let him just walk in there.”
“He may not be an honours girl like you, but give the man some credit. We’re briefing him on what to look for, which internal server to infect, everything you laid out in the advisory. And our local source has given us detailed location plans, including a secret infil method. Radović shouldn’t need to talk to anyone on the way in or out.”
“Assuming nothing’s changed since we smuggled our source out of there.”
“Then he’ll have to improvise. Anyway, he’s going in with Serbian cover, and we’re false-flagging the whole op in case he gets blown. This is not Adrian’s first rodeo, as our American friends would say.”
“Send me in with him.”
“There’s no need, and besides, you’re not yet OIT.”
“So promote me. My scores from the Loch are good, and I know you’ve discussed it with Hard Man. He told me.”
“Yes, because you’ve made it perfectly clear you want in the field.”
“And this is an ideal job to start me on. Adrian can do what he does best, hitting the enemy and kicking doors. I’ll just be there to make sure he kicks the right ones.”
“Have you ever been to Syria?”
“You know damn well I haven’t. But you said yourself, infil should be clandestine, no need for contact.”
“Quoting a man’s own words back at him is no way to endear oneself.”
“We get one shot at this facility, one shot at these servers. As soon as Moscow realises we’ve targeted them, they’ll pull out. Our only chance is to infect them before that happens.”
“You’ll need to be placed on the firearms list. And Hard Man will have to formally sign off on you. Don’t make me regret this, Bridge.”
“Je ne regrette rien, Giles. You should know that.”