Immune (The Rho Agenda #2)(11)

"They kicked the local cops off the crime scene?" Jennifer asked.

"Yes."

"I bet they were mad as hell," Mark laughed.

"They didn't say so, but the policeman being interviewed didn't look happy about it. The FBI agent wasn't looking too pleased either."

Mark looked puzzled. "You mean they even had the FBI blocked? I didn't think that was possible."

Heather shrugged. "It sure had the press spun up. The only thing they could get out of the military spokesman was the same line about the classified cargo on the truck requiring special security measures. But there was something else."

Heather paused, rewarded almost immediately with a look of annoyance on Mark's face.

"Which was? Christ, Heather, if I'm going to have to pull the story out of you piece by piece, this is going to take all day."

"Someone in the Espanola Police Department leaked the nine-one-one tape to the media. They played it on the air. Talk about creepy. On the tape, Abdul Aziz mentioned that he was going to steal something from the Rho Project."

A gasp from Jennifer reminded Heather of the other twin's presence.

"And," Heather continued, "he said that the police should collect blood samples from the dead men. Aziz warned them not to share the samples with the government."

Mark, whose mouth had fallen open, closed it with a snap. "Holy crap. Aziz must know about the nanites. Did they say any more about the blood or what was on the truck?"

"The government spokesman just said that this was typical terrorist propaganda, lies designed to fool the Muslim faithful into believing wild conspiracy theories."

Mark had begun pacing back and forth beside the cold fusion tank. "But how could Aziz know that the Rho Project is working with alien nanotechnology? His people couldn't have intercepted one of our messages. We put those directly onto the NSA SIPRNet using the subspace transmitter."

"They must have an agent inside the NSA," said Heather.

"Oh, that is just great," said Jennifer. "The NSA director and his top computer scientist are dead, and now you think there may be a double agent on the team?"

Heather was surprised to see that her own hands were shaking. She clasped them together, hoping that Mark had not observed her nervous reaction to this line of thought.

"I don't know." The probabilities that cascaded through her mind for each of the possibilities were small. "Something doesn't add up. I just can't put my finger on what’s wrong."

Mark stopped pacing, turning to stare directly into Heather's eyes. "What about the quantum twin bug I put into Janet's laptop? Those two are bound to know something. I think it’s time we checked it out."

Jennifer rose to her feet so rapidly that she almost knocked over her chair. "Are you insane? Jack and Janet won't be able to detect a transmission, but that doesn't mean they can't detect the fact that files on the computer have been accessed."

"That's exactly why we have a computer whiz like you. Figure something out."

"Figure something out? I've already figured it out. It’s okay for us to passively monitor what they’re doing on that computer, but there’s no way we can remotely browse the files on that system without leaving behind some evidence that it’s been accessed. That's all there is to it."

Mark refused to be cowed. "Fine then. So they might be able to tell that someone browsed their system. They can't trace it, so what’s the problem?"

Jennifer's forehead furrowed in frustration. "You don't get it. If they notice the system has been tapped, they'll tear it apart. When they do, they’ll find the little QT microchip. Even though they won't be able to determine what it does, they’ll know that it was put there by someone who was in their house."

"Okay, so they’ll think it was that Priest fellow."

"Maybe. Maybe not. You were there too."

"I'm a senior in high school."

"Yeah, whose dad works on the Rho Project." Jennifer's lower jaw jutted out like an English bulldog’s.

Heather interrupted the argument. "Mark, I have to agree with Jennifer on this one."

"What a shock."

"Hey, I back you up too, when I think you're right."

"Oh yeah? And when was the last time that happened?"

"When we decided to explore the inside of the Second Ship, for one."

"Hell, that was almost a year ago."

Heather, feeling her own anger rising, took a deep breath. "All I’m saying is that Jack and Janet scare me. Even if they’re the good guys, they’re too dangerous to take unnecessary chances with…"

Jennifer nodded. "Please, Mark. Just go along with us on this one."

Mark looked from Heather to Jennifer, his eyes locking with those of his twin. "Okay, Sis. I'll go along with you, for now. But since you don’t like my idea, you two need to figure out another way for us to find out what’s happening. I have a bad feeling about this."

Heather watched as Mark turned and stalked out of the garage, leaving her and Jennifer staring after him. Something in her un-remembered dreams tugged at the corner of Heather's mind as she watched the door close behind him.