Friday, September 21st. Late Afternoon.

The news came over the wire: it was time to go and it had to be now. With a mission like this there was only a small window of opportunity and stalling even one more day could mean the difference between success and failure.

The first security check loomed ahead and we fell into line behind the others heading into hostile territory. Inching forward one car length at a time we rehashed our cover story to iron out the small details. We would be posing as two innocent tourists visiting for a weekend of camping. A recent stop at a gas station provided us with the small details that allowed us to get into character; a half-eaten bag of chips and a bottle of SoBe green tea that lay on the back seat. Rolling up to the checkpoint, the smell of all beef hot-dogs wafted from our breath as we submitted to questioning.

“Destination?”
“Deception Pass.”
“Purpose of visit?”
“Camping and general recreation.”
“Are you bringing more than $100,000 in Canadian currency into the United States of America.”
Pause. “No.”
“Do you have any citrus, firearms, explosives, drugs, immigrants, or extraplanetary matter in your vehicle?”
Pause. “No.”
“Are you aware that the Canadian dollar reached parity with the US dollar today?”
“No?” Pause. “I mean, No.”
“Welcome to America. Enjoy your visit.”

Forty minutes after joining the back of the line, we were pulling away from the interrogation window. We would later learn that just hours after we passed through, the crackdown began in earnest and many unfortunate souls were trapped for more than three hours.

Immediately upon entering the grounds at our objective we were intercepted by an enemy agent.
“Are you from out of country?”
“Yes, is that going to be a problem?” I ask.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you proceed without authentication.”
Reluctantly, I submit to his probing and hand over the necessary documentation. The agent says nothing as he mechanically types my information into his computer. Hoping that my source was correct with his intel I try to distract him with friendly small talk but he is non-responsive, engaging me only when he needs more information. In my nervous state I fudge a detail, but a few quick lies put me back on track.

“I’m sorry sir, I’ve never seen this come up for an out of country query before. I’m afraid I’m going to have to call our processing center. Please stand by.”
The agent steps a few paces back and picks up the phone, maintaining eye contact with me the whole time. I can’t make out everything he is saying but I do hear a few phrases filter though.
“… authorization type nine …”
“… PDRT request invalid …”
“… failed to retrieve positive match …”

I smile at him and pretend to be interested in a nearby display. I really do not know what service is being offered by the shiny pamphlets in front of me but I stare at the bright colours and try to make out more of the conversation between the agent and this mysterious processing center.

“… code ZX372PY? Are you sure?”
“… okay I will …”
A nervous glance to the computer screen and then back at me.
“… yes I understand.”
click

“Okay sir.” More typing at the computer. “One more step and we will have you right on track.”

The fake smile on my face is so forced and painful that I feel a tic begin to develop at the corner of my lips. My companion has cracked under the stress and is on the other side of the office trying to avoid all interaction with the enemy agent. I look across the room and manage to catch a look on her face that says We need to be out of here NOW.

“Can I have your card sir?”
“Yes,” I say as I hand it across the counter. “Will you need to reverify my ID?”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”

The only sound in the office is the twittering and beeping of the machine as it processes my card. After what seems an eternity it silences before spitting out a small sheet of paper. The paper is placed into the bag containing what I came for and the package is slid off across the counter.

“Enjoy your iPhone sir.”
“Thank you, I will.”

I am smiling in earnest as I walk out the door of the AT&T store. The game is now afoot and I once the seal on the box has been broken I am deep enough into it that I can not easily abandon.

Postscript: Saturday, Sept 29th.
The iPhone has been in my possession for a week now and the trip across the border was well worth the effort. After a night’s stay in Deception Pass state park, we crossed back over the border with our small bounty of goods and I set about hacking into my phone’s security settings. In two hours I had the phone working on my Rogers SIM card thanks to a dedicated community that has worked hard to unshackle the phone from its bond to AT&T. Less than a week after I bought my phone Apple released a firmware update that reverts all unlocked iPhones to factory status and renders them completely useless to a non-AT&T subscriber. By avoiding the update I still have a working phone and am confident that the community will overcome the current setback to allow other Canadians to buy iPhones and use them with their current carriers. By buying my phone just days after the $200 price drop, on a day when the Canadian dollar closed at $0.9993 USD, and days before the firmware update rendered all unlock methods useless, I really did manage to slide into the window of opportunity.