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It's a weekday afternoon in late 2012.

Edward Snowden is carrying a desktop computer through a long and empty hallway.

The walls are reinforced with concrete and the lights overhead are bright, fluorescent and buzzing with menace.

Snowden pauses to set down a large computer and catches breath.

He wipes away a bead of sweat from his forehead and then Snowden shakes out his arms.

He grabs the computer again and continues down the corridor hoping he won't run into anyone.

As he hurries down the hallway Snowden tries to reassure himself that he's going to be fine.

He's 29 years old, pale and lanky, looking a lot like the other guys here in this government installation outside Honolulu.

The building is buried deep underground underneath an old pineapple field.

Everyone working here had to say goodbye to the Hawaiian son and accept that they aren't going to get much vatain.

So Snowden knows he doesn't look out of place and it's not that suspicious for him to be carrying an old computer.

He's an analyst with a national security agency, the kind of guy who spends his entire day on a computer.

And this underground building is where he works.

Still Snowden can't help but feel a rising panic that's threatening to overwhelm him.

He's about to carry out a dangerous plan.

Snowden is going to blow the whistle on the United States government.

He's going to reveal that the NSA has been conducting mass surveillance on American citizens without their knowledge.

Snowden firmly believes the public deserves to know the truth that American democracy could be at risk if the country's intelligence agencies are left unchecked.

But Snowden is also aware that doing the right thing could land him in prison.

So he has to be careful.

He has to get back to his office with this old PC, a computer that's central to his plan.

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