Traveller Probo

The man at the cafe paused in his tapping on his keyboard. Of obvious sub-continent descent, balding, skinny, and wearing glasses, he was innocuous in the clientele that normally frequented the popular organic coffee shop. Many of the clientele habitually caught up with their social media while they took advantage of the cafe’s high-speed Wi-Fi hot spot.

He sipped his coffee, which was actually quite good, and then nibbled on a bliss-ball. Data had been compiled, informed conclusions drawn and immediately sent to the client. While the target had been easy to tail, the sensor he wore ceased to broadcast as soon as he arrived at the destination. When dealing with one of the world’s most secure research facilities, that was hardly surprising.

Next to him, a couple of middle-aged women met with familiar conviviality and ordered coffee and cake. Perhaps they should bypass the cake. He was always amused how middle-class westerners, especially the Americans and British, were obsessed with eating as much sugar as they could stuff into their gullets. Too polite to display disapproval, the man continued with his work. He was confident his communications could not be cracked. Once he had logged into his own server he was invisible, even in the unlikely event that someone happened to monitor him. His securely encrypted system was unbreakable, at least for the brief time he was logged in.

He confirmed what was suspected; Phil Walker appeared to be engaged in research at the Lincoln Laboratories. That alone would indicate:

1. That the research was supported in part by the US Government and

2. The research was highly secret.

It was obvious what the research could be, so one did not have to be a Professor Phil Walker, Nobel Laureate, to connect the dots on this one.

He finished his coffee, stowed away his notebook and quickly left the trendy little coffee shop.

No-one noticed him leave.