CHAPTER 57

GREG FOLLOWED Floyd Kenagan's instructions. Around four o'clock he arrived at La Guardia airport for the trip. The darkness of the early morning was obscured by the airport lights, but the atmosphere was calm.

Floyd was waiting for him in the boarding area, to Greg's surprise. Unexpectedly, the President of the Agency would be traveling with him on a civilian flight.

He walked over to the stubborn man, in a black overcoat and with the next morning's newspaper in his hands. He sat down next to him and, judiciously, remained silent. Floyd only sketched a "good morning" in the corner of his mouth and continued reading, as if they were two strangers, which in fact, they were.

After responding to the greeting, Greg remained silent. Until they took off, no other comments were made; the two remained indifferent to the people who walked by, inattentive, at the airport.

Given the boarding time and duly seated in their seats, Floyd Kenagan finally brought up the subject:

— Has anyone heard about this trip?

— No, sir.

— Everything I am going to tell you is confidential, it is of the utmost importance that no data from your investigation is disclosed, all information obtained will be passed directly to me. Understood?

Gregory Evans found it all very strange, he still did not understand the fact that they were both traveling on a civilian flight in the middle of the night. He wondered what could be so important as to exclude the FBI team he was part of. Even so, his only option was to accept the task:

— Yes, sir. What is the case?

— Two days ago, President Vaine's private communication line was hacked. This line is completely closed even to internal agents, like us, not even the NSA could access it.

— Forgive me, sir, but I do not understand how I would be qualified to investigate this? Wouldn't this be for the Cyber ​​Crimes Division? It's a completely technical matter...

— The case isn't limited to that, it was the President himself who requested that you come here.

Greg nodded and Floyd Kenagan continued:

— The intruder managed to communicate with President Kenan Vaine on two occasions. The first was two days ago and the second was yesterday, right after an important meeting of the State. According to the President's report, the individual was aware of the matters discussed at the meeting.

— Which means he followed its progress in real time.

— Yes... The forensics team found no trace of wiretapping or hacking into the building's monitoring system. Our main theory is that the person responsible has free access to the White House's sectors.

— Now I understand... — Greg said in surprise.

— This investigation is top secret, anyone could be the suspect, so no one can have any knowledge of what we're doing. You have stood out in the procedures and investigations as a great evidence hunter, that's why the President called you, I know it was his recommendation that you join the FBI, so we need to resolve all this before the case goes to the General Staff or, by God...

— The media!

AN INCREDIBLE WEIGHT of responsibility fell on his shoulders at that moment, but Gregory tried to remain calm in the face of the facts, he couldn't show insecurity to his superior.

— Understood, sir.

— Now take the next few minutes to rest, Agent Evans, you have a lot of work ahead of you...