“This would make national headlines. Defense and technology companies would start to dig into their employees’ backgrounds,” said Marnie. “Especially employees that fit the profile.”

“Would it make national headlines?” asked Berg. “Because of the lack of any verifiable evidence, even the National Enquirer would pass on the story. The libel danger would be very real. Anyone losing their job anywhere to the McCarthy-esque purge that followed would have a strong case against whichever media outlet ran the story. This would have to be published online, anonymously, and my guess is that a few billion dollars’ worth of Russian-backed Bitcoin would quickly push the story into online obscurity. I’m not saying we won’t end up taking this public at some point. But we need tangible evidence before we consider putting this out there, because we’ll only get one shot at bringing this into the public sphere—and it’ll need to be our best shot.”

“Then we do it the hard way,” said Marnie.

“In my experience,” said Rich, “there is no other way.”

“I knew he was going to say that,” said Devin.

CHAPTER 35

CHAPTER 35

The Jeep Wrangler crept along the rutted, gravel-dirt road, Felix Orlov rapidly alternating his attention between the map on his satellite phone screen and the seemingly impenetrable, untamed forest passing down the right side of their vehicle. He couldn’t imagine trying to reach this place in the dead of winter. The 6.2-mile trip up Bear Creek Mountain Road on a clear June day had been sketchy enough.

He could see why this had been chosen as a cache point, even if it was a little extreme. Nobody was likely to stumble onto it. Since turning off the paved road that forked into this one, they hadn’t seen a soul. Only a few closed gates clearly marked with NO TRESPASSING signs. Isolated from prying eyes, but less than an hour from Interstate 80. Once on the interstate, they could be in any major city on the East Coast within six to seven hours or most Midwest cities within eight to nine hours.

That said, he didn’t anticipate them staying here for long. This was more of an equipment run than anything.

They’d grab all the gear they might need and wait until night to shuttle it back to the two RVs parked at a campground closer to the interstate. None of the sites available at the campground had been entirely private. Transferring a dozen or so overstuffed nylon duffel bags from the Jeeps to the RVs was a sight he’d rather keep concealed from the public. From there, they’d wait for further instructions, possibly relocating to a more private site.