Wormhole (The Rho Agenda #3)(91)
“Exactly one minute later, my instruments began recording unexplained activity on numerous circuits, including the TCP stack. Since the laptop was completely isolated, this didn’t cause me concern. Last night’s events and my subsequent analysis of the original data indicate that my original confidence was a mistake.
“Somehow, without sending any measurable signals, that laptop identified every computing system in the building and infected them with the Ice worm. The worm managed to hide itself, migrating to new systems that were subsequently brought in.”
“Jesus.” Karl Oberstein’s face looked drawn.
“Bert,” General Wilson asked, “do you agree with Dr. Wu’s conclusions?”
Dr. Mathews glanced at his young prodigy, saw no fear in Eileen’s face, and nodded. “I’m afraid I do. I reviewed her data before this meeting.”
“So if it didn’t send out any signals, how did that laptop access all our systems?”
Eileen Wu clicked off the projector and turned to face him. “I don’t know.”
“Gregory.”
“More precisely Heather McFarland and the Smythe twins. The Ripper may have helped on the outside, but you can bet that everything that happened inside the Ice House was orchestrated by those three. Worm or no, their escape was some unbelievable shit.”
General Wilson stared directly into Eileen’s dark eyes. “Could you have pulled it off?”
She shrugged. “The computer stuff, if I knew about the worm. Everything else though, forget about it.”
General Wilson leaned forward. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had data appearing inside TEMPEST-certified systems in the last couple of years. Karl, you and Levi take a look back at some of the old Jonathan Riles files from when he sent Gregory’s team to Los Alamos. Find out what Gregory stumbled onto that enticed him to go rogue.
“Eileen, you make damned sure that worm stays confined to the Ice House.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that, General. But if Gregory’s team has its hands on the kind of technology we think they do, that worm is the least of our worries.”
Mark looked up as Jennifer closed her briefing folder and rose to stand beside the kitchen table.
“I’m sorry, guys, I’ve got to get some sleep.”
Mark bent a questioning gaze on his sister. “Sleep?”
Jennifer shrugged, and in that motion Mark noticed the slight tremors traversing her body. “Heroin’s a bitch. Sleep helps, even for me. OK, Jack?”
Jack studied her closely, then nodded. “I guess you can catch up with the others in the morning, but you’re going to have to bring it.”
It wasn’t exactly a gracious dismissal, but Jennifer appeared not to notice. A glance at Heather’s concerned face told Mark that she had. He understood Jack’s need to drive them all hard, but Mark didn’t have to like it, especially when it came to ignoring what the NSA bastards had done to his sister.
After all, they’d worked on the plan for sixteen straight hours. Mark knew the construction plans for the ATLAS cavern and for the matter ingester power station nicknamed the MINGSTER, knew the blueprints, knew every aspect of the electrical wiring, knew what companies had which contracts. Still Jack wasn’t satisfied. Now they were working their way through the dossiers of all personnel currently assigned to the November Anomaly Project. Still on the docket for the night, Mark had to learn the stasis field generator wiring and construction plans. Heather still needed to study the rest of Dr. Stephenson’s papers.
Jack had selected their future project roles, but he was waiting for them to complete the background work before he took them through his plans for getting them the right jobs with the appropriate firms, and for getting them assigned to the desired positions on Gateway Day.
Mark found his future role intriguing. He would become Gunter Fogel, a hotshot young electrical technician with Kohl Engineering. His mission was to impress the lead engineer, Gerhardt Werner, and get himself assigned to the construction team inside the ATLAS cavern. Jennifer would take on the role of Dr. Nika Ivanovich, a Russian postdoctoral scientist working on Dr. Peter Trotsky’s team specializing in the theory and operation of the stasis field controllers.
Heather’s mission would place her in the role of Inga Hedstrom, to become one of the Swiss security guards in the ATLAS cavern on G-Day. Dr. Stephenson had insisted that no military be assigned near the wormhole device through which the anomaly would be transported on G-Day, the military’s role being to ensure security of the entire site, preventing outside forces from disrupting construction or operations. Only a couple of guards would maintain watch within the cavern, typically two or three to a shift, and those would be provided by Paladin, a Swiss private security firm. The inside guards were only there to do Dr. Stephenson’s bidding, including evicting unwanted personnel from the premises.
This would leave Heather with little to do on G-Day, exactly what Jack wanted. It put her in position to use her unique abilities to recognize unanticipated problems and to take immediate corrective action. While her position would be the least complicated, it would also be the most difficult to set up ahead of time.
Rising from his seat, Mark walked over to the coffeepot and refilled his mug. Rolling his neck, he felt it pop and crackle. Definitely too much sitting. But as he raised his cup to his lips, feeling the hot liquid flow over his tongue, he held no illusions. The butt-flattening had only just begun.