The Athens Solution: A Short Story

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It was hot, and noisy, as Michael Avery picked his way through the late-afternoon crowds clogging Athens’s famous Plaka district. Behind him, two Diplomatic Security Service agents mixed with the throng. A block over, a contingent of heavily armed Marines and an NSA communications expert followed in a nondescript van. There should have been a drone, but things had moved too fast.

Avery, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, had been told to come alone. The White House, though, had other plans. Too much was at stake.

In his white polo shirt and blue blazer, Avery looked like any other upscale Westerner visiting Greece during the height of the tourist season. He even carried a backpack casually slung over one shoulder. But unlike the other backpacks around him, his contained an encrypted laptop, complete with a wireless modem and sophisticated remote-viewing application.

He was passing a small outdoor café with a dramatic view of the Acropolis and the ancient Parthenon atop it, when his cell phone rang.

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