Read The Origin Point: A Future Tech Cyber Novella for Free Online Page A

have given you, right?" Dallas wavered.
"Seriously Dal, I am being kind and restrained right now. You
understand, right? I do not have to repeat my advice and
recommendations again, do I?"
    "No."
    "And you respect my advice, right? When I
walk out of this room, I am assuming we are still good friends who
appreciate each other's advice, yes?"
    "Yes."
    "Great." Marco stood. "The guys will give
you a ride back to wherever you want to go. I'll see you
around."
    "Yeah, see you around." Dallas commented to
Marco's back as he exited through the office door. She had no time
to reconsider her world before the agents walked in to escort her
out. The only action she had time to complete was to hit the 'stop
record' button on her mobile.
    *
    A minute after Marco's escorts had dropped
off Dallas at her home, her mobile phone rang.
    "Yes," Dallas answered.
    "Dallas Winter?" a voice asked.
    "Yes?"
    "You don't know me, but I know what you're
doing."
    "Look Frez, if this is some kind of joke,"
Dallas responded annoyed. "I've had a weird day. I do not need your
crap."
    "This is not your friend the restaurateur
Fresno Tyler," the voice unemotionally responded.
    Dallas froze. "Who is this?"
    "You don't need to know my name, only my
motives. I wanted to let you know you have guessed correctly. The
flash drive you received last night is not a random think tank's
policy paper." Dallas gripped her phone. "But the documents are not
FedSec either. The content comes from a more influential
source."
    "What source?"
    "I'm not talking about specifics Ms. Winter,
I'm only warning you. Stay away from the contents in those
documents. The information is dangerous. There is a discussion
going on right now in Washington...and London, Paris, Brussels,
even Beijing and Moscow, and believe me, the words and policy ideas
in those conversations transcend top secret."
    "You really expect me to believe you? Who is
this?"
    "I know you recorded your conversation with
FedSec Director Manuel." Dallas was stunned into silence. "When
FedSec vets an electronic device they put the controls on their own
internal monitoring system. They know you were recording too. Don't
even think you can use the audio. But if you try to broadcast the
conversation, they'll erase the file, unless I get to your laptop
first."
    "What the fu—"
    "Dallas, believe me I'm a friend. I'm
helping you. Don't provoke people about those documents."
    "Who is provoked? Who are you?"
    "My name is Apex. And when I say I'm a
friend, I'm being truthful. But let us handle the issues, stay out
of this business with the 2100 files, okay."
    "You have got to be kidding..."
    "You have been warned. Don't push your luck
Dallas, and do not follow up on this story again." Before Dallas
could re-express her anger, Apex disconnected.
    *
    "You let her know there was something to
fear?" Julia chided Marco. "You left a journalist thinking there's
a story in those files?" The fading evening peered through the
window of Marco's Horizon office where, on his laptop, he had
paused his replay of his conversation with Dallas.
    "She won't make a move," he told Julia who
faced him across his desk with unshielded anger.
    "What makes you so certain?"
    "She has no usable information. A flash
drive with a bunch of documents appearing to be thought pieces is
hardly verifiable evidence. There's no story and speculation would
be ridiculous. If she makes an accusation, we deny her version and
she looks like an idiot."
    "Except her statements would not be
speculation, but the truth. The contents of those documents are the
real plans of the government of the United States."
    "Not even the government of the United
States knows those documents are its plans."
    "She has information we cannot let
spread."
    "She won't say a word. I've shut her down,
and the restaurant guy too."
    "What did you do with him?"
    "We double-checked he had not read the files
and had no interest in the story."
    "How did you verify his interest?"
    "We went through his recent