There’s just one rule we have for all the people we buy things

Canada Goose Jackets An excerpt from ‘The Quantum Spy’ Canada Goose Jackets

A cold mist hovered over Lake Washington, a vaporous green after a morning of rain, when John Vandel arrived in Seattle. The CIA official had traveled from Washington to visit an electronics engineer named Jason Schmidt, who ran a small, privately owned Canada Goose Coats On Sale computer company that hadn’t yet built its first product. The plant was a low rise brick building on the southern end of the lake, near the Boeing factory in Renton. A sign announced the initials of the company, “QED,” short for Quantum Engineering Dynamics, etched in cobalt blue.

Vandel rang the buzzer. He was a lean, putty faced man with a bad haircut that spiked short gray hairs in odd directions. His complexion was scarred; his body had an elastic bend at the joints. The only https://www.canadagoosejacket-outlet.ca things that sparkled were the slate gray eyes that retained an intense focus even when the rest of him was slack. He was wearing canada goose uk outlet a rumpled black suit Canada Goose Outlet and carrying a briefcase.

The doorbell stuck for a moment; it was answered eventually by a Canada Goose sale young woman in a black t shirt with three small diamond studs in one ear and a silver piercing through her eyebrow. The building had a musty Canada Goose Jackets odor, as if it had once been something else.

A round faced man wearing a knit shirt and a jacket bearing the company logo walked toward Vandel. He looked like he hadn’t been outdoors in a year.

“I’m Jason Schmidt,” he said shyly. “I guess I’m the boss.”

canada goose black friday sale “I’m Mr. Green,” said Vandel. “Do you have someplace quiet where we can talk?” canada goose black friday sale

canada goose clearance Schmidt led him down a nondescript corridor to a conference room that had a view across Rainier Avenue to the southern shore of the lake. On the way, they passed the detritus of a start up that hadn’t yet made its start: rows of grubby cubicles; glowing computer screens flanked by pal lid faces that hadn’t gotten enough sleep, ever; the strange sounds from a nearby recreation room for over caffeinated employees the click click of Ping Pong balls and the knock knock of canada goose foosballs scudding toward the goal. canada goose clearance

Canada Goose Parka Vandel had a loose, ambling gate as he strolled down the corridor, cheap canada goose uk peering into doors and windows. He had the gift of a good case officer, which was buy canada goose jacket that he looked harmless. In his wallet, he kept a card on which he had printed the advice he had received from his first station chief in Damascus: “Always remember that you are a snake handler, not a snake charmer.” Canada Goose Parka

Unkempt as he appeared at first glance, Vandel was meticulous in his work as the CIA’s deputy director for operations and acknowledged as the agency’s top spy even by the many people who feared or disliked him. He had come to Seattle to do the essential, Canada Goose online manipulative business of a case officer, which was to recruit a reluctant agent.

“I’m here because of your letter,” said Vandel when he was seated. His eyes wandered the room for a moment and then locked on Schmidt. He removed a two page letter from his briefcase and read the opening sentence aloud:

Canada Goose Outlet ” ‘I am writing to the Central Intelligence Agency because I have infor mation that is important for our national security.’ That rang our bell.” Canada Goose Outlet

Schmidt was nervous. He cleared his throat. “You must think I’m a crank, you know, or a kook, or something.” He was fumbling for words. “You probably get canadian goose jacket crazy letters from people all the time.”

canada goose “We do. But not like this. And we knew about your company. The NSA checked Canada Goose Outlet you out months ago. So when this letter arrived at the CIA, it interested people. Someone sent it to me, and I wanted to come see you myself.” canada goose

Schmidt mumbled an apology. government all this way.

“I wasn’t sure who to contact. There are so many intelligence agen cies. But I have canada goose factory sale a cousin who works for the CIA. Maybe I’m not supposed to know that, but I do. So I sent the letter canada goose clearance to my cousin and told him to give it to the canada goose coats right person. I guess that’s you, Mr. Green. Although that’s probably not your real name.”

Canada Goose sale Vandel shook his head. No, “Green” was not his real name. Canada Goose sale

buy canada goose jacket “I need to talk about two things in your letter, Mr. Schmidt. First, you said you had made a breakthrough in building a quantum computer. I think uk canada goose your exact words were, ‘I’ve solved the puzzle.’ Our engineers looked carefully at the paper you sent. They’re not convinced, but Canada Goose Parka they don’t think you’re crazy, either.” buy canada goose jacket

Canada Goose online “I promise you, I’m not crazy.” Vandel scratched his head. Canada Goose online

canada goose clearance sale “You understand what a big deal this is, Mr. Schmidt? We’re buy canada goose jacket cheap spend ing billions on quantum canada goose clearance sale research. This is a race. The White House pounds on me every week wanting to know where the Chinese are, and we say relax: It’ll be ten years before anyone builds a machine, probably twenty, and we’re way ahead. And now you say bang, you’ve done it. I won’t pretend to understand what you wrote about ‘liquid electrons’ and how they interact near absolute zero. That means absolutely nothing to me, but our computer scientists say it’s plausible.” canada goose clearance sale

Schmidt held up his hand. He was an engineer. He didn’t want to overpromise.

canada goose coats on sale “It’s still a prototype. It has a lot of Canada Goose Online bugs. It’s not a fully program mable machine. It needs work.” canada goose coats on sale

canada goose store “Details,” uk canada goose outlet said Vandel. “Here’s the issue. It’s not just that you think maybe you have a breakthrough, but that someone wants to steal it. That’s the bell ringer in your letter, about the venture fund that wants to buy you.” canada goose store

“I don’t know anything about them except their name. ‘Parcourse Technology Partners.’ I’ve never heard of them. Nobody around here has. But their fund manager said they would pay cash for control of QED. When I asked for a number, he said a billion dollars, maybe more.

buy canada goose jacket cheap I mean, we’re still beta testing our first machine. It didn’t make sense. Who are they? Do you know?” buy canada goose jacket cheap

cheap Canada Goose “They’re Chinese. They have an office in Menlo Park, owned by a nameplate company in Panama. The Panama shell is a front for the Chinese Ministry of State Security. I’m assuming the Chinese govern ment is so impressed with what you’re doing that they want to buy you out. So I’m here to make you a better offer.” cheap Canada Goose

canada goose coats “I don’t want to sell the company, to anyone,” said Schmidt. “I just want to make my machine work. QED. Quantum Engineering Dynam ics. We think we have a shortcut that can give quantum solutions, now. The purists canada goose uk black friday say it’s not canada goose store really quantum computing, but I don’t care. If it does what I canada goose coats on sale think it can, then everything else will take canada goose uk shop care of itself. So just let me build it. I don’t want to sell the company to anybody, not even you.” canada goose coats

canadian goose jacket “We don’t want to buy it. We just want to be your customer. Every thing you make, you sell to us. We’ll agree on a price that will make you very rich, I promise, and you keep control. There’s just one rule we have for all the people we buy things from, Mr. Schmidt, and you have to fol low that. Otherwise, you’ll get in a lot of trouble.” canadian goose jacket

“I don’t like rules. I’m a scientist. If I wanted rules I could work for Microsoft up in Redmond. But tell me anyway: What’s the rule?”

canada goose deals “As soon as we make our agreement, starting today, I hope, every cheap Canada Goose thing you do is classified. Your company goes black. It doesn’t publish papers. It doesn’t have canada goose black friday sale a website. When it gets inquiries from outsiders, it contacts the FBI.” canada goose deals.

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