There's An App For That
rating: +39+x

I stood nervously before the desk. Although I'd met the Intelligence Operations Regional Director once before, when I first transferred into the department, I'd never had to deliver a report to someone this high up the chain of command before. It was a less than pleasant experience.

Director Jameson looked up from the smart-phone she had been handling, turned it to face me, and said, "So, Agent Beard, please explain what I'm seeing here." On the screen of the phone was a large circles-and-arrows logo, with "Special Containment Protocols. How safe do you feel?" printed below it.

"Well, ma'am, I was looking for an app on my personal phone and decided to look up a few Foundation keywords as a joke. Unfortunately, as you can see, there actually was an app out there. At $14.99, it's more expensive than most apps, which we hope may have limited the number of people downloading it, but until we complete analysis of the involved databases, we won't know for certain how many copies are out there."

She placed the phone on the desk and steepled her fingers as she looked at me. "And how extensive is the breach?"

I held my hands behind my back, absently noticing that my palms were getting sweaty. "It contains heavily redacted protocols for about 450 items, mostly classified as Safe, and a couple of other internal documents, including a handful of personnel files." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "One of them is an almost fully unexpunged file on Dr. Bright."

Director Jameson's brow furrowed slightly as she briefly closed her eyes and sighed heavily. "Can these files be traced to any given Site?"

"The most likely origin of the leak is the central data hub in-" The phone buzzed, interrupting me. Director Jameson picked it up, tapped the screen a couple of times, then slid it over to me.

There was an update to the app, advertising "37 new Items! New pictures for 17 old Items! UI upgrade! New submission form to report any Items you find out in the wild!"

Director Jameson's voice grew harsh and her eyes grew cold as she said, "Coordinate with Internal Security and locate the source of this leak. I don't care if you have to crash Apple's servers, but get that app off the market immediately and locate anyone who got a copy. I want a weekly summary on your progress. Dismissed."

I picked up the phone and left the room, glad that I wasn't getting blamed for the breach. Yet, anyway. And here I thought that transferring from field intel duty would be less stressful.

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