He handed the device to her. “See these scratches?” he said, pointing them out. “Looks like someone used the tip of a knife to pry the case open. Could you have made these marks?”
“Not a chance,” she replied. “And I agree. The scratches are too near the seam to be random. Someone pried it open—recently.”
Carr’s mind began to race as he pondered this unsettling development.
“But why?” said Riley.
Carr frowned deeply. “My instincts tell me the most likely reason to open it would be to plant a tracer or bug inside,” he replied. “And only two parties had access. Your father and the Russians. But your father would have no need. Even if he wanted to listen to us here, there are more reliable ways.”
“Which leaves the Russians,” said Bram.
“Which leaves the Russians,” said Carr, his alarm growing.
He paused in thought while his expression grew ever more troubled. “It had to have been Greshnev’s doing, at the church. He knew he had to let us go. And he knew I’d find the tracers he’d already planted on you. So he must have decided to insert another one into the stunner, one that was undetectable.
“Very clever,” he added, almost in admiration. “And it makes sense. I remember he spoke in private to one of his men, who retrieved you and David. But this took longer than I had expected. Now I know why. And he made sure you got your stunner back, pretending he did it to bring me down a peg, remind me of how you made me look like an idiot.”
“Which means he knows where we are,” said Riley.
“If I’m right, yes,” replied Carr. “And also where your father is,” he added, rising from the table and flinging the blue electroshock weapon with all of his might beyond the edge of the cliff. “We need to warn him and then find a way to protect ourselves.”
He began moving back toward the house, his eyes darting around the grounds, alert for any possible threat. Riley and Bram followed closely behind.
“This still doesn’t make sense,” said Bram as they rushed across the grounds. “Jordan scanned for bugs and tracers, too. You’re telling me the Russians have something that even his tech can’t find?”
“Apparently,” said Carr as they entered the mansion. He began to make his way to the kitchen, motioning for them to follow. “They’ve gone balls-out on advancing spy and commando tech. Especially tracers and bugs. The first tracers they hit you with were actually tiny flying drones, more advanced even than we’ve been able to manage. Rumor has it they’ve been working on a combination tracer and bug that’s totally undetectable. A sophisticated AI that piggybacks on the nearest microphone it detects. Could be in a phone, a television, or a personal assistant like Echo or Google Home. It subverts the mic to broadcast back to the bad guys whatever it picks up, scrambled within a standard Wi-Fi signal. This has been done before, so protections to prevent it have long been a mainstay, but this system overcomes them.”
“But there aren’t any Wi-Fi signals here,” said Riley.
“Which means it stopped working when we got on the grounds,” said Carr, entering the kitchen. “So they don’t know we’ve figured this out,” he added, rushing to the phone on the granite island.
He snatched up the receiver and hit one, the direct line to Isaac Jordan.
After ten rings he hung up.
“No answer,” he explained to his two companions, who appeared to be holding their breath. He hit two, the direct line to the guards. This time, he hung up after five rings went unanswered.
“Now what?” asked Riley.
“Now we need to prepare to defend ourselves against a coming attack,” he replied calmly.
45
Volkov made a show of looking Jordan up and down, letting the man squirm under his gaze, ignoring Brennan’s dead body on the floor behind him and the pool of blood that had collected nearby.
“Just so you know,” said Volkov, “we’ve taken over your experimental facility.”
He gestured to Urinson, who ripped the tape from Jordan’s mouth.
“What are you talking about?” said Jordan the moment he could speak. “What experimental facility?”
“The one beneath us,” he said simply.
Jordan looked as if he had been hit in the stomach. “There’s no way you could know about that!”
“We know about that and much more. In fact, we know everything.”
“Impossible.”
“As impossible as an undetectable bug lodged in your daughter’s stunner?” said Volkov.
Jordan reeled, for a moment looking as if he might not be able to remain standing.
“That’s right,” said Volkov, gloating. “We were listening in to your little reunion. Fascinating conversation. And you couldn’t have explained things more thoroughly. Maybe a little too thoroughly for my taste, but better to err on the side of too much information rather than too little.”
“I scanned everything and everyone for bugs,” protested Jordan. “Including the stunner. Using tech more advanced than the current state of the art. I couldn’t have missed it.”
“And yet you did,” said Volkov smugly. “I’ll be sure to pass this on to its inventors. It’s not every day you can come up with technology that can’t be detected by the great Isaac Jordan. Especially when your sensors are developed with the help of your computer friend. You know . . . Pock.”
Volkov laughed as Jordan’s horrified look intensified. “Yes,” said the major. “I wasn’t bluffing. I really did hear everything.”
“Okay,” said Jordan, shaking his head to clear it. “So you outsmarted me. Congratulations. So now what? Are you going to keep playing with your food, or are you going to kill me already?”
“If I kill you, then John Brennan wins. You don’t want that, do you?”
Jordan gestured toward Brennan’s corpse on the floor with his head. “I’m not sure he’ll feel like much of a winner,” he noted.
Volkov smiled despite himself.
“Look,” said Jordan, “I know you want to kill whoever’s stopping Russia’s efforts at true artificial intelligence. And I know you heard me admit to Carr that I’m the one responsible. So I’m under no illusion that you’re planning to let me live.”
“Oh, but I am,” said Volkov. “I’m just biding my time right now while my team is gathering up your daughter and her two male escorts. You know, at your mansion nearby. I can give you the GPS coordinates if you like.”
For an instant a flash of pure hatred crossed Jordan’s face. “Why bother with that?” he said, fighting to stay calm. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll work for you. Give you access to Pock. I’ll continue to sabotage the rest of the world’s ASI efforts, as long as Russia agrees not to mount any of your own. And you won’t have to. Pock is plenty advanced enough to make sure you stay an entire generation ahead of any other nation. You heard what I said to my daughter. I only want to protect humanity from ASI. I don’t care if Russia or the US is on top, just as long as ASI never gets developed.”
“That’s it?” said Volkov, arching an eyebrow. “Just like that? You willingly come work for us?”
“What other choice do I have?”
“The great Isaac Jordan should always have choices.”
“You haven’t given me any. I’ll work for you. All I ask in exchange is that you keep my daughter out of it.”
“You know I can’t agree to that.”
“Why not?” demanded Jordan.
Volkov smiled broadly, but didn’t answer right away, letting his prisoner twist in the wind. “Because you’re forgetting two things,” he replied finally. “One, I heard every word you said in this room. And two,” he added, his smile transforming into a look of utter contempt, “I’m not a total idiot.”
46
“Follow me,” said Carr, not bothering to whisper. If Volkov or his men were moving in, their sensors would give them the exact location of their targets no matter how silent they tried to be.
“Where are we going?” asked B
ram.
“We need to get Trish,” he replied as he rushed toward the room she was using as an office, almost at a run. A single second could make all the difference.
Carr had become nearly legendary for his creativity at getting out of sticky situations, for winning against ridiculous odds. But this might be his sternest test. Luckily, adrenaline made him hyper-focused and alert. Life-and-death situations sharpened his mind and instincts, allowing him to forge quick and decisive strategies.
Even if the noose was tightening, they still might have some time. Volkov or his men would be coming from the back side of the residence, from the woods. The front wasn’t even guarded, for obvious reasons, since a cliffside approach was too difficult. The Russians would know communications had been suppressed, leaving their quarry no way to call for help.
With this much of an upper hand, the intruders could take their time. Be cautious. Keep the element of surprise.
And they couldn’t risk any damage to their prize. They’d have to consider that Carr might take advantage of this, using Riley as a shield, or threatening her life if they came too close. This is how he had rescued her from the church, after all—by threatening to kill her. So they might refrain from closing in until sensors showed the three of them had separated.
They made it to Trish’s makeshift office in seconds and burst through the door. She jumped in surprise, but when she saw the looks on their faces she could tell this was an emergency. “What happened?” she asked.
“Did Jordan fill you in about the Russians who are after him?” said Carr hurriedly. “The ones who kidnapped Riley.”
“Yes.”
“It’s very likely they’re trying to take him out. We tried the bat-phone, but he didn’t answer. Neither did the guards. We think they’ll be moving in on us at any moment.”
“That can’t be right,” said Trish. “Isn’t it more likely the phone is just malfunctioning? Isaac’s security is crazy advanced.”
Carr considered explaining, but quickly decided against it. There was no time, and she wasn’t likely to be persuaded, anyway. She would surely think he had jumped to some extreme conclusions based on a few scratches on a stunner.
Even if she agreed it had been pried open, she would find his conclusion that someone had placed an undetectable tracer/bug combination inside unlikely. And it was. Unless you had spent years in the spy business, had a highly developed intuition when it came to these matters, and a thorough knowledge of Marat Volkov and Sergei Greshnev.
“No time to explain,” said Carr. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”
47
Volkov didn’t have to wait long to hear back from his second-in-command.
“Both guards are down,” reported Greshnev. “We’re standing by at the edge of the automated security perimeter.”
Since Volkov had been forewarned that Jordan was having Wi-Fi and cell signals suppressed at the mansion, he had made sure his team used comms that wouldn’t be affected. But his imminent transmission required the Internet. “Are you still able to access the Web?” he asked.
“Yes. The Wi-Fi suppression ends twenty yards in from the security perimeter.”
“Great,” said Volkov. “I’m sending the data to your computer now.”
Before Volkov hit the send button, he couldn’t help himself from taunting Jordan, who was still zip-tied and sitting on a leather chair, while Urinson held a handgun on him.
“I wish you could hear the reports I’m getting through my comm,” he said to Jordan. “But no need to worry. Since you can’t, and since you don’t speak Russian anyway, I’ll make sure you’re kept apprised of our progress with your daughter. Your security personnel at the mansion are now dead.”
Jordan couldn’t keep a look of hatred from his face. “A tragic waste of life,” he said bitterly. “One that gained you nothing. The guards aren’t even necessary. You’ll never get through the automated systems.”
Volkov shook his head in contempt. “When you told Carr how the mansion was secured, I was listening in, remember? You said you use the exact same automated security system for that site as you do for this one. And why not, right? When you have a system this advanced, why reinvent the wheel?”
Volkov was delighted to see a palpable cloud of panic envelope his prisoner.
“When your buddy Brennan disarmed this system, he used a computer I gave him. One I programmed to capture his every keystroke, his every swipe, from beginning to end. And there were a lot of them. It took him a fair amount of time, and his hands were really flying.”
Volkov shrugged. “But still a simple matter for my program to capture. I’m about to send this data to my second-in-command. I’m betting that the systems aren’t just exact copies, but can also be defeated with the same commands and passwords. So when Brennan disarmed this facility, he disarmed that one.”
He shot Jordan a cruel smile. “Or am I wrong about that?”
Jordan looked as if he wanted to tear Volkov’s head off with his bare hands.
The Russian briefly manipulated his computer. “I just sent the data,” he announced. “So I guess we’ll know if I’m right soon enough. But even if I’m not, I have a Plan B I can tell you about.”
Volkov smiled serenely. “But judging from your reaction, I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about that, are we?”
48
Trish Casner glanced at each of her three visitors and then nodded at Carr. “Okay,” she said, “I’ll trust you. I’ll assume we’re being attacked. So what do we do about it?”
“That depends. Please tell me this place has a panic room.”
“It does,” she confirmed. “But Isaac doesn’t even keep it locked, and he removed all the weapons that were inside. It came with the place when he bought it. I guess a lot of mansions have them now. Isaac enhanced security so much he said it was a useless appendage.”
“But he didn’t dismantle it, right?” said Carr.
Trish shook her head no.
“I need you to take us there right away. Quickly! Riley, you’re the smallest of the group. So we’re going to surround you and walk extremely close to each other, each of us almost pressing against you as we go. The men after us will have long-range sensors that can pick up our location when we move. I want to fool their sensors into thinking only three of us are going to where the panic room is located.”
Carr arranged the group into little more than a ball of humanity, with Riley in the center. “Let’s go!” he barked. “Now!”
They moved slowly and awkwardly toward the panic room with Trish leading the way, providing the eyes for the four-bodied monster. Carr could only hope that the Russians were taking their time, or making slow and steady progress in their attempts to breach the mansion.
They made it to the panic room without incident, and all four stepped inside.
Carr pressed a touchscreen monitor and activated the room’s controls. “If there is a personal digital assistant manning this room,” he said, “please announce yourself and give your name.”
“My name is Janice,” said a disembodied female voice. “How may I help you?”
“Janice, I want to see the video feeds from all surveillance cameras tiled on the main screen,” he ordered. Since Jordan had thought the room a joke, he had never set up any passwords to prevent others from taking ownership of it.
“Acknowledged,” said Janice, and a moment later, thirty-two tiles appeared on a monitor that covered one wall of the room, each one the size of a large laptop screen.
Carr scanned the monitor like a speed reader who had overdosed on caffeine. One of the thirty-two views, showing the tree line just beyond the automated security perimeter, confirmed his suspicions.
He counted seven men in total, congregated together and armed with automatic weapons. Six of the men were milling about fairly aimlessly, while a seventh was holding a computer and watching it intently.
Carr’s three companions erupted with curses and anx
ious chatter upon seeing the seven Russian soldiers. “Settle down,” he insisted. “We’re in luck. Our situation is better than I thought.”
The three civilians looked at him like he had lost his mind.
“They aren’t even on the grounds,” said Carr. “They must think they have a way through security, but they haven’t made it yet. So we have the time to carry out a key initial step.”
“Is that step conjuring up a tank?” asked Riley.
Carr couldn’t help but smile. “One reason I had Trish bring us here,” he said, “is that panic rooms usually have tech that can block motion sensors, long range or otherwise. If the invaders know exactly where we are at all times, hiding is out of the question.”
“Yeah, so is living,” mumbled Bram under his breath.
“Janice,” said the lieutenant, “please confirm you have the capability to block all motion-sensing technology.”
“Confirmed. But only inside the mansion and guest house, and within the grounds. My range doesn’t extend beyond this.”
“Understood,” said Carr, continuing to keep a careful watch on the monitors. “Their sensors have been tracking us,” he said, addressing the three civilians. “Right now, they’re probably showing Trish as being stationary in the room she was in, and the three of us at our current location.”
He paused. “So here’s what I want you to do,” he said to his companions. “I want you to walk briskly toward the back of the mansion for about thirty seconds. Count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, and so on. When you get to thirty Mississippi, head back here as fast as you can.”
“I don’t understand,” said Trish.
“I’ll be counting also,” explained Carr. “When I reach twenty Mississippi, I’ll have Janice block their sensors. You’ll keep walking for ten seconds just to be sure our timing is okay and you don’t double back too soon.”
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