Publisher's Synopsis
It's your first visit to London and the head of your company's R&D program in San Jose sent you to brief one of your largest customers, the British office of Airbus on your latest software breakthrough in artificial intelligence. He could not make it, so you are selected because you did most of the software development. Anyway, you rented a car at Heathrow airport and checked into the hotel. So far, so good. That night you called California from the hotel room and received final instruction on what to say at the meeting to be held the next day. Although you want to impress the customer, you ask, "Should I mention we were able to _____ the ____by ______? The head of R&D says, "Certainly not, that's proprietary information." He says, "If they ask, just say we are working on that and may be able to solve it. Ask if they have any specific requirements, they would like us to address in the product. We may be able to incorporate specific features they would like to see in a future software update."
The next day, the meetings in the customer's high security facility went well, and afterwards you head back to the hotel for dinner and a drink. On the way to the hotel you stop your car at a stoplight and the car behind you runs into your rental car. You are not hurt. Just ticked off that this would happen to you on your first trip to London. The guy in the car behind you comes to the window and apologizes profusely and readily admits it was his fault. He accepts full responsibility and asks if you are injured. It was such a small tap that you are surprised he even asked. You say you are unhurt and mention it is a rental car. The driver notices your accent and asks if you are an American? You say "Yes.", and he says, "California? I have a cousin in Bakersfield." By now you get out of the car and only see a busted taillight. The driver tells you this is his first visit to England from Australia and he just can't get used to driving on the left. The driver says you can avoid any difficulty with the rental company if he pays for the repair and he pulls out a wad of hundred-dollar bills from his coat pocket. He says that $5,000 ought to be enough for the repair, and holds out a stack of bills for you to take. At first you hesitate, then think it would be so much easier to just pay the rental company in cash and avoid saying anything about the accident back at the company. It's obvious to you that such a minor amount of damage will cost less than $5,000 and take the money. That was your second mistake. First of all, you were being recorded and someone now has a video of you accepting what is obviously a large amount of money from what you learn later on, is a known intelligence agent from a former soviet country. Telling you he was from Australia was a mistake that should have tipped you off since they drive on the left in Australia, but you missed that little nugget. What was your first mistake? Mentioning the proprietary information on the hotel phone about your company's breakthrough in artificial intelligence. The hotel telephone was bugged not only by a foreign intelligence service that laid the trap for you, but also by British Intelligence. It would have made no difference if you had used your cell phone for the call since the room was bugged as well. Basically, you fell into their trap and you are screwed. You are being recruited!
