Immune (The Rho Agenda #2)(96)

But that had been before Jennifer had taken that laptop and run away. This time, he and Heather had been forced to apply the same modifications to the other laptop, the one that had been connected to the larger power supply, the one reserved for Jack and Janet’s access. Even though it meant taking that system off-line, there was no help for it. He and Heather needed it worse than Jack and Janet did, at least Heather was convinced of it.

Mark completed the connection and glanced up, his eyes locking with Heather’s. God he hoped she was right. What the hell? Heather was always right. So why was the doubt shining so brightly in her beautiful eyes?

“Ready,” Mark said as he tightened the screws that secured the board to the laptop casing, a few quick motions restoring the outer cover to its normal state.

“Power it up.” Heather took a deep breath. “The program worked for the other laptop so, if the circuit holds up, this should work too.”

“It’ll hold up,” said Mark. He sure as hell hoped he was right. This was the last thing they had to have working before they could go after Jen. As crazy as his twin had been acting, he was still desperate to find her. The other pissant stuff didn’t mean anything. Getting Jen back safe was what mattered.

As the laptop finished booting, Heather slid it over in front of her. She might not be as fast as Jennifer on the keyboard, but she was no slouch. Activating the subspace transmitter, she set the signal location, watching the readouts as she adjusted the wave packet synchronization.

“The Rho Project?” Mark asked, glancing at the coordinate she had entered.

“I won’t be in long enough to be noticed.”

Mark nodded. “Okay. Just so it’s a quick in and out.”

“Almost done.” Heather pressed the transmit button. “That’s it. We have confirmation of packet insertion.”

Before he could say it, she shut down the transmission and brought up a second software control panel, this one of her own design.

“Now to find out if my math’s as good as advertised.” Heather’s lips moved in a nervous tick that may have been intended as a smile.

As much as he wanted to, Mark found that he was having difficulty watching. So much depended on this next test. Heather had come up with the idea that the alien headsets remained in contact with the Second Ship, even when it was powered down, so that they could send commands that would bring its systems back online. And if they did, that meant those subspace signals could be detected.

Of course, it wasn’t that easy. First, you had to have a subspace receiver capable of detecting them. Second, you had to know the precise location where the signals were directed. Third, you had to know the wave packet characteristics of the headsets in order to separate the signals from the background noise. They had the first two answers. Now they would find out if her theory about the headbands transmitting a periodic ping to mother held any water.

Heather reached down into her backpack and pulled out her alien headband, setting it on the workbench beside her. She held out a hand and Mark gave her his own headband, which she placed beside the other. Although she could have performed the test with just one band, Heather wanted both so she could analyze the Fourier transforms of the subspace signals. Even if everything else worked, if those signals were too different she might not be able to get a trace on the two headbands in Jennifer’s possession.

Mark leaned in close, his head almost even with Heather’s right shoulder. The data scrolled along the left side of the display, a jumble of digits forming a cascade of numbers. Shit. For the first time in his life, he wished he’d paid a little more attention in math class. He was stuck, helplessly waiting for Heather to say something.

Instead, she leaped up, catching him around the neck in a hug that threatened to leave bruises.

Her breath stirred the hairs in his ear as she spoke. “Look’s like tonight’s the night. Let’s get packed.”



~



Raul raised his head until he seemed to be staring directly at the circuit panels that covered the room’s ceiling. The anomaly had been so brief that he had almost missed it. He certainly wouldn’t have noticed it without his new linkage, but now, as he analyzed the data on his neural net, there could be no doubt.

Another subspace probe had penetrated the Rho Ship.





98


Pauly Farentino moved through the mass of humanity toward the Union Station exit to the parking garage, his right hand hidden inside his jacket pocket as he screwed the linear inertial decoupler (LID) and silencer onto the nose of the Glock 9mm. Unlike the Beretta, the Glock used a Browning action, which tilted the barrel down after about a quarter inch of recoil, letting the slide move freely backward to eject the spent round. Without the recoil assistance provided by the LID, the inertia of the suppressor prevented this tilt. It was an added complication that just didn’t matter. Pauly had done this so often it came as natural as shaving.

He increased his pace slightly, making sure to keep his target in sight. The transfer had been so smooth that Pauly would have missed it if he hadn’t recognized the man helping Natalie Simpson recover her bag. Garfield Kromly. That meant that Kromly had the disk. It also meant Pauly had a new target.

Even though this raised the operation profile way above the hit he was being paid for, there was no time to call in the Colombian. Kromly had to be taken down before he could get to a computer and access that data. Pauly could report this new development when the job was done.