This story owes it's origins to Identity Crisis by ALEO, which is a totally brilliant story by the way, and well worth going to read. A small part of that story stuck in the back of my head and mutated into this…
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FLAGGED
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It started out in a fairly simple manner. All that happened was a break in. No one was home and nothing important appeared to have been taken, but the Eppes residence had been ransacked. It was a quiet week at the FBI, so Don had managed to get Director Wright to let his team investigate.
Thursday morning found Don, Charlie and David in the war room, with Colby and Megan not far away at their desks.
There were hundreds of prints from the house. Most would be family, so Alan, Don, and Charlie's prints were all scanned for comparison. Don's prints were eliminated from the mess after just over ten minutes work. Alan's prints had taken close to thirty minutes.
As soon as Charlie's prints were scanned, the computer froze, spitting up a warning sign and beeping menacingly.
Megan and Colby headed in to see what was up just in time to hear David asking, "Charlie, why are your fingerprints flagged?" in a confused tone.
"Oh shit!" Charlie dove into his backpack, frantically searching, while everyone stared at him. Charlie didn't swear… he was just a mild mannered math professor.
Charlie pulled his phone out of his bag, and sure enough, it began ringing.
"Hello?" Charlie flinched, and pulled the phone away from his ear slightly.
"No Bob, I'm fine. My house was burgled, that's all."
It took Charlie several minutes and code words to calm down 'Bob' and get off the phone.
"Charlie, who was that?" asked Don, although he had a sneaking suspicion he knew. But Charlie was rummaging in his backpack again. He had just pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of his backpack when the phone rang again.
"Hello?" again, he pulled the phone back slightly.
"Sorry Tony, I…" he trailed off. Everyone else in the room could hear the muffled roar coming from the cell phone. Charlie straightened, and said clearly, "Charlie Echo Echo, zero two five zero six four nine zero three seven."
Finally, the man on the other end sank back to a normal volume, and Charlie set about explaining.
By now, the team had pulled up chairs and sat down. Megan was watching Charlie's face intently and David was switching his gaze between the mathematician and the computer screen, still frozen with the warning message. Don seemed to be muttering about a 'Bob' and the NSA, and Colby was staring at the paper Charlie had pulled out and begun writing on.
He was making a list.
At the top of the list on the left side of the paper were the NSA and the CIA, followed by Interpol, NSC, HSC, USSS, DIA, NCSD, DARPA, NASA, FBI, CTO, RMA, BIR, BCBP, NCS, USCG, and CDC. On the right side of the page were the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force, with the UN and NATO sitting by themselves near the bottom. Most interesting were the three blank rectangles he drew in the leftover space, and a single name. George.
Everyone was watching the list now, eyes wide, as Charlie finished the call and crossed off the NSA and CIA. Don snapped his fingers.
"Bob! Robert Tompkins, Director of the NSA." Charlie nodded absently, eyes on his phone. Sure enough, it rang again.
"Hello?"
"Sorry… I was just," Charlie flinched away from the phone, then glanced at the FBI agents sitting around the table, Megan and David staring at him, while Colby whispered 'The NSA director's name is Bob?!' to Don, who shrugged and nodded.
"Yellowstone Knightwake. Finland, Orbit, Danni. Negative on Panama. Iawn dw i'n, o ddifri. Rho caniad di wedyn dw i'n." Charlie snapped the phone shut without explaining any further and crossed Interpol off his list, just as the phone rang again. The stares were growing more dazed by the moment.
"Was that Welsh?!" Charlie ignored Megan's question as he answered the phone again.
"Hello?"
"No Barker, I'm fine."
"Yes fine, as in totally healthy and mentally stable, although I am slightly annoyed." Charlie ignored Don's quiet snort, and went on to explain what was going on. "Oh, and Barker, would you mind telling Amy her encryption is waiting for her?"
"Thanks, goodbye." again, Charlie snapped the phone shut, and everyone watched as he reached for the list and crossed out NCDS.
"Who is NCDS?" queried David, looking lost.
"National Cyber Security Division." answered Charlie curtly as the phone rang again.
"Hello?"
"Yes sir."
"No sir, that's not necessary."
"Yes sir. You see, my house was burgled…"
Megan looked over at Don, who had the beginnings of a smirk forming on his face. Charlie would be busy consoling department heads until well into the afternoon at this rate.
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FIN.
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Just a bit of fun. (IE: for entertainment, not serious, etc.) I don't think it needs continuing, but if people want me to go through the rest of Charlie's list it could be done. It just runs the danger of being rather monotonous though.
The Welsh (which probably has horrid grammar) means roughly 'I'm fine, really. I'll call you later.' In my defense, I didn't use an online translator.
Why welsh? Not many people outside Wales actually know it, it's hard to learn and mistakes in translation are easy, hence my not using a translator although my own attempt is probably not much better. For this story, Charlie knows only enough to confuse the listeners and get a basic idea across. He doesn't speak it fluently.
Charlie's list (all of which really exists) includes the following:
NSA - National Security Agency
CIA - Central Intelligence Agency
Interpol - U.S. National Central Bureau
NSC - National Security Council
HSC - Homeland Security Council
USSS - US Secret Service
DIA - Defense Intelligence Agency
NCSD - National Cyber Security Division
DARPA - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation
CTO - Counterterrorism Office
RMA - Risk Management Agency
BIR - Bureau of Intelligence and Research
BCBP - Bureau of Customs and Border Protection
NCS - National Communications System
USCG - US Coast Guard
CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
US Army
US Navy
US Marine Corps
US Air Force
UN - United Nations
NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Plus three un-named (and imaginary) secret organizations. I'm sure you can figure out who the George is.