Wormhole (The Rho Agenda #3)(31)

“Several weeks ago Big John began reporting a sequence of data correlations with the Gregory search, data points that by themselves seemed very tenuous.”

Denise changed to a series of slides showing what Big John had identified as connected events.

“I’ll run through these quickly and then discuss the implied connections. The first of these events was the New Year’s Day virus from a little over a year ago. The virus came to the NSA’s attention for two reasons. It had the ability to encrypt data in a manner that our best methods couldn’t break. It also revealed the location of a computer that held another encrypted message, this one breakable, with text that alluded to dangerous activity within the Los Alamos Rho Project. This was the event that caused Admiral Riles to send Jack Gregory’s team to Los Alamos.”

Next came an image showing Jack Gregory and Janet Price standing and cheering at a basketball game.

“This was taken at the New Mexico State Championship basketball game that same year. I’ve circled in red the people occupying the seats next to Jack and Janet. They are, from left to right, Gil McFarland, Anna McFarland, Fred Smythe, Linda Smythe, Jennifer Smythe, and Heather McFarland. You’ll recognize some of those names from my first slide. The other person mentioned in Big John’s message today was Mark Smythe. He was a young allstate basketball player, playing in the state championship game.”

Balls leaned forward. “I remember reading about that kid. Fantastic young point guard as I recall. ESPN was comparing him to a young Steve Nash.”

Denise clicked to the next slide. “This is an article that appeared in the Albuquerque Journal a short while later. A local EPA inspector named Jack Johnson, Gregory’s cover name, had shown up at the Los Alamos hospital with an injured girl by the name of Heather McFarland. The story goes on to say that Jack apparently encountered a crazed homeless man who had been attempting to kidnap Heather McFarland. The two men fought, with Jack getting cut on the arm before the homeless man ran off. That man has never been seen again.”

Balls laughed. “I’d say the chances of ever seeing him again aren’t too good.”

Karl Oberstein snorted in agreement. “Not much chance of that fellow surviving an encounter with Gregory. Surprises me he managed to cut him, though.”

“Probably had to do with protecting the girl,” said Balls.

“Here’s another story from Los Alamos. Heather McFarland kidnapped and attacked by Dr. Ernesto Rodriguez, a top Rho Project scientist. He kills himself before arrest.”

“McFarland kid? Kidnapped again?” Bert asked.

Denise changed slides again. “This is from the Washington Post. It’s the story about Jonathan Riles’s murder of Dr. David Kurtz, after which he took his own life.”

The atmosphere in the room acquired a somber cast.

“This next slide is the AP story about the FBI attempt to capture or kill Jack Gregory and his team. Another black eye for the FBI folks, this one even surpassing Waco. A couple of Gregory’s team killed, a couple dozen FBI agents and civilians killed, Jack and Janet escape.”

Oberstein nodded. “I assume this is going somewhere.”

Denise pursed her lips. “A few more minutes and I’ll put a bow around it for you.”

Her curt response drew another chuckle from Balls Wilson. “Careful. She’s got your number, Karl.”

She began flipping through the slides more rapidly.

The FBI director murdered.

President Harris assassinated.

Senator Pete Hornsby, the key Senate voice against the Rho Project, dead in a car accident returning from his native Maine.

The three McFarland kids win the National Science Fair with a cold fusion device, a prize that is stripped for plagiarism.

Another AP story, this one about three missing Los Alamos, New Mexico, high school students: Heather McFarland and Mark and Jennifer Smythe.

Top CIA trainer, Garfield Kromly, found murdered.

Then the body of Eduardo Montenegro, the assassin known as El Chupacabra, found at Schriever Air Force Base, not far from where Jack Gregory is known to have hijacked the satellite uplink, reprogramming global GPS satellites to shut down the Rho Project’s nanite formula.

Denise ended her slide presentation and faced the general.

“Big John has tagged every one of these events with a very high correlation to my Jack Gregory search query.”

Levi’s nasal voice redirected her attention. “And what was Big John’s calculated degree of correlation?”

“The worst correlation was 0.873.”

“That high?”

“Yes. And there’s more. It turns out that Jennifer Smythe stayed several days at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, was identified by the security staff as a very accomplished hacker, and subsequently moved to the Espe?osa hacienda outside Medellín, Columbia. Not long after that, Don Espe?osa and a number of his guards were killed. After that, Jennifer Smythe just disappeared.”

“What about the other two kids?”

“Nothing firm, but a member of Espe?osa’s cleaning staff reported seeing two young Americans arrive at the hacienda on the day that Don Espe?osa died.”

“Jesus.”

“There’s one more thing. That day was Thanksgiving here in the good old USA. The same day Jack Gregory killed the Espe?osa cartel’s number one hit man, the same day he reprogrammed the GPS satellites.”