The Second Ship (The Rho Agenda #1)(104)
As hard as her heart pounded in her chest, Heather barely paused to congratulate herself. A rapid scan of the files on the hard drive drew her attention to a folder named “Nano-Test-Subjects” and its two sub-folders “Carlton Williams” and “Raul Rodriguez.” Each folder contained a large number of spreadsheet data files as well as documents that appeared to contain detailed notes on test procedures and results. Without bothering to read any of the contents, Heather removed her PDA from her pocket, slid the connector into the USB slot on the front of the computer, and began copying the folders. Exactly eighty-seven seconds later, she disconnected the portable device and re-engaged the screen lock on Dr. Rodriguez’s computer.
As she started to stand, a large hand closed across her face, covering both her mouth and nose with a soft, moist cloth. Her surprised inhalation sucked a vaguely familiar smell deep into her lungs. A desire to fight back surged through her mind, but never quite made it to her rubber limbs. Through the rapidly narrowing straw of her vision, she saw Dr. Ernesto Rodriguez staring down at her with sad eyes.
“Young lady, I’m sorry you had to find this.”
Indeed, as he strapped her down to the metal bed, the sorrow that shone in his damp eyes looked real. If Heather could have remained conscious, she thought that she probably could have felt pity for the man. Probably. 52.163 percent.
Chapter 78
Mark had endured just about enough of the girls’ overly cautious thinking. After all, they had worked for almost three weeks to develop a microchip version of the quantum twin device, and it had tested out perfectly. The thing was a masterpiece.
It looked exactly like a wide variety of small multifunction chips common in TV remote controls, cell phones, and computers. Countless numbers of electronics used this chip type. And this one didn’t have to be directly inserted into any circuitry. It worked by Faraday's principal of induction, picking up the faint signals from nearby circuitry. Of course, its quantum twin also picked up the same signal with no communications between them.
Even better, a signal could be injected into the quantum twin, and that signal would be propagated to the remote device where the other chip had been placed. It allowed for two-way communications.
There was nothing new about any of this. They had long since modified their own cell phones to have a QT mode, which let Mark, Heather, and Jennifer talk with complete security. What was so exciting about the tiny version was that they could place a bug in someone else's electronics that was completely undetectable unless a person happened to open the electronics and had enough knowledge to spot the extra microchip stuck to the circuit board.
Even though they could now hack into any system through their subspace transmitter, that system was bulky. Worse yet, it required them to specify the exact coordinates of the system where they wanted the subspace tap to occur. If someone was moving the equipment around, like a cell phone, then that just didn’t work.
What annoyed Mark most was the two girls refusing to accept his plan to plant one of the new QTs on one of Jack’s or Janet’s devices. When he had mentioned it, Jennifer’s mouth had dropped open wide enough to swallow an orange.
“Mark, are you insane? You’re not talking about any Tom, Dick, or Harry here. Those two are intelligence agents.”
“Jen’s right,” said Heather. “There are too many things that could go wrong. We can’t risk it.”
Mark had argued with them, pointing out that without being able to monitor Jack or Janet, they were flying blind. And hadn’t Jack hidden bugs in both the McFarland and Smythe houses?
But the girls refused to cooperate. They had outvoted him, two to one. The subject was closed.
For two weeks, Mark had chaffed under the yoke of the girls’ decision, but no more. At least he could stop by the Johnson house after school on the pretense of asking about homework. No doubt Janet would just think he was there because he thought she was hot.
Well, that was true. But it still provided a good excuse to get inside the house. Then he’d just have to see if the opportunity to plant the QT presented itself.
As Mark approached the street with the Johnson house, he saw Janet’s car pull out of the driveway and head down the street in the opposite direction. Mark stopped, found a secluded spot to secure his bike, and walked up to the house on foot, a new plan forming in his mind.
Skirting around into the backyard, Mark glanced up to the second-story windows. As he had hoped, one of them remained open, just a crack to let the air in. Apparently, Janet did not plan on being gone for long.
Measuring the distance to the windowsill, Mark jumped, his hand just catching the edge. With a quick pull, he lifted his entire body, holding himself in place with one hand as he lifted the window with the other. Within seconds, he was inside.
His eyes swept the bedroom, but he did not linger. Mark needed to quickly find something they used, plant the bug, and get the hell out. He moved down the hallway, past the stairway leading down to the den, past the bathroom, to the spot where a rope dangled down from the trapdoor to the attic. Mark glanced up, then moved past it to the door at the far end of the hall. The door stood open and led to a room with a desk covered with school papers and a laptop, the screen saver busily constructing a network of multicolored 3D pipes. Bingo.
Moving quickly, Mark flipped the laptop up onto its side, extracted the set of tiny electronic screwdrivers from his pocket, picked a small Phillips head, and began removing a single screw.