The StarSight Project

by S. P. Perone

  As she allowed herself to stare blankly at the distant skyline, Ellen reflected on the events of the past few days. On what she had thought would be a romantic dinner Thursday evening with her husband at one of the remote and secluded colonial inns on the outskirts of Alexandria, she was surprised when the well-dressed tall black stranger had sat down at their table. When the Senator had introduced Nathan Carothers to her as one of his ‘colleagues’ from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, she knew he was CIA. Before the dinner was over, she had not only been stunned by the suspicions leveled at their long-time friend Sharif, but, to her complete surprise, she had also agreed to participate in a daring conspiracy.

  Quickly arranging a trip to New York, the Senator had contacted Sharif to arrange a social visit, as was their custom. As was his custom, Sharif invited the Senator and Ellen for dinner Saturday evening at his penthouse apartment. Sharif rarely dined out. Only a formal banquet, sponsored by one of the several causes that he supported, would attract his attendance, usually accompanied by one of his glamorous celebrity female companions. Wryly, Ellen reflected that, like tonight, it was Ahmed’s practice to prepare dinners for the occasional female guests that he entertained at home…most of which were not the same celebrities that accompanied him in public. She wondered if she would be able to arouse, this evening, his legendary passion for lovely ladies. It was a different role for her, and not one she had practiced before.

  The friendship that had evolved between the three of them over the past decade had never involved flirtatious behavior on her part. But, often she had observed Ahmed’s admiring gaze, and sensed the animal passion that emanated from this powerful man. Her feminine instincts told her that any small indication of reciprocal attraction would elicit confident, seductive action on his part. The thought of following up on that knowledge scared her, but also caused a small fire of excitement within, which she found simultaneously disturbing and pleasing.

  Contrary to her nature, Ellen had used the time before dinner to execute several subtle acts that might arouse Ahmed’s interest. Although the Senator was aware of her intent, her success in this endeavor required that no flirtation could be so obvious as to be detectable by an observant husband. She reflected, hopefully, that she had been successful. The embrace of greeting at the door had been held more tightly for an extra beat; the peck on the cheek had been warmer, lingering an added second; the casual contacts of body parts, while helping out in the kitchen, would be perceived as less than accidental; and she allowed him to detect her lingering, admiring gaze periodically during dinner. Instinct told her that the subtle messages had been received. Ahmed’s hand on hers as he poured the glass of wine she was currently enjoying, and the direct gaze of his piercing dark brown eyes, communicated a primal message that could not be mistaken.

  Still examining the reflection of Sharif and the Senator in the window, Ellen noticed the Senator rise and walk off down the hallway that led to the bedroom and office complex at the other end of the penthouse. She knew he had asked if he could use the telephone to check his voice-mail. And, she knew this was her cue. If she had not misinterpreted Ahmed’s earlier unspoken message, he would shortly be at her side.

  Pretending to be scanning the skyline in the distance, she feigned surprise as Sharif approached, placed his hand gently on her bare shoulder, and glided smoothly along side. Turning her head, she saw that he was focused on the distant skyline, a tight smile on his face. In his right hand was a glass of wine like her own.

  “Breathtaking, isn’t it?” he sighed. “I shall miss it.”

  Turning her body slightly in his direction, Ellen’s eyebrows arched as she queried, “Are you moving?”

  “Yes. I am, Ellen. I’ve slowly been moving all my business offices to Zurich, and I’ve decided to move my residence there as well.”

  Although the CIA was already aware of his plans, and Ellen and the Senator had been told, she exclaimed, “When will you do that?” her eyes widening with feigned shock. “Does Gerry know about it?”

  “I haven’t said anything to Gerry, yet. I just decided recently. And, I’m planning to maintain my residence here for the times that I’ll need to return to New York.”

  “I’m sorry to hear you’ll be leaving us, Ahmed,” she said gently, finding his eyes meeting hers. “I’ll miss our times together.”

  Sliding his hand from Ellen’s shoulder down to her waist, he pulled her closer. “I would miss you too, Ellen,” he said as he continued to look into her blue eyes. Then, turning his head to look out the window again, he added, “You and Gerry.”

  “The thought of enjoying one of your delicious dinners in Georgetown will bring me back to this country regularly, I’m sure,” he added, turning his face back to hers.

  “You didn’t say when you were leaving,” she reminded him.

  “I’m leaving next Tuesday, two days before Thanksgiving,” he replied.

  “My goodness, Ahmed!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe it! Gerry and I will be traveling to Europe this week. He has to attend a NATO conference in Zurich for a few days. You know, they don’t have any concept of our Thanksgiving holiday. Then we were planning a theater tour in London. I know Gerry will be very busy with this conference, but I wonder if we can arrange to get together in Zurich?”

  Ellen held her breath. She didn’t know if Sharif would take the bait. Didn’t know if she had been too subtle with her implied sensuality. Didn’t know if Sharif’s passions had been aroused at all. But, her instincts…

  Removing his hand from her waist, and moving it to the arm closest to him, he rotated her slightly so that she was facing him. “Gerry’s busy schedule shouldn’t keep you from enjoying Zurich, should it?” he asked seductively, his dark eyes probing deeply.

  Returning his gaze, a smile forming slowly on her lips, Ellen said nothing. Turning her body towards the window, she looked out again at the twinkling lights of the Manhattan evening, and took another sip of her wine. “Gerry will bevery busy in Zurich,” she said. “Day and night.”

  The Senator had not ever been in Sharif’s office before. His “friend’s” obsession with privacy was well known, and the Senator had never before requested access to his office. To his knowledge, no one had ever been allowed in it. Tonight, he had hoped that Sharif’s desire to speak privately with Ellen would persuade him to break that rule. And, the Senator had been right. With just a moment’s hesitation, Ahmed had granted permission for the use of the phone in the office, when the Senator indicated he needed privacy to provide some sensitive responses to voice-mails. Deliberately, Sharif had reached into his pocket and retrieved the office key, instructing the Senator to close the door behind him while he made his calls.

  Not knowing how long he would have the office to himself, the Senator worked feverishly to document everything he could, regarding the contents of the room. Carothers had indicated what specific items to look for…unusual communications equipment or computer systems, documents, photographs, keys, phone numbers, weapons, etc.

  Quickly, he opened and inspected the contents of each unlocked drawer and looked behind each unlocked door. Equipped with a miniature camera, the Senator took photographs of as many pages as he could of a small notebook containing multiple numerical entries, many of which appeared to be phone numbers. In the middle desk drawer he found a set of keys that provided access to several locked drawers in the low file cabinets that filled the office walls. In one of these drawers he discovered an unusual electronic box about the size of a desktop computer. What was unusual was the telephone headset connected to the device, and various dials and meters whose labels suggested the selection of communication frequencies and encryption options. From his own experience, the Senator recognized the device as a scrambler set, but much more sophisticated and powerful than anything he had used. He photographed the device from several angles.

  Because Sharif’s computer was on “standby,” the Senator was able to bring up the operating system screen sim
ply by wiggling the “mouse”. Clicking on the file access utility, he displayed the entire hard drive file structure. Using his miniature camera, he photographed the displayed files and filetypes contained in several interesting directories.

  Finally, having taken as much time as he dared, the Senator picked up the phone and dialed his voice-mail number. Responding to the first of his messages only, he dictated his reply, and disengaged. He didn’t want Sharif to discover somehow that the phone had not been used at all.

  Although his dinner jacket hid the large wet stains in the armpits of his dress shirt, he was aware that his undershirt was uniformly soaked with perspiration. Before exiting the office, he paused to take a few deep breaths, and to wipe the perspiration from his forehead. Opening the door, exiting, and then re-locking the door behind him, the Senator strolled as nonchalantly as he could down the hallway towards Sharif and Ellen standing very close together in front of the scenic window.

  PART IV

  Holiday Crunch

  Chapter 19

  Thanksgiving Plans

  Fortunately, Shane and Sarah had persuaded Carothers that they would not have to fake any results in order to justify the ruse of exporting the StarSight system to Langley’s counter-terrorism unit. The progress they had made at the time Carothers encountered them at the Villa Florence in San Francisco last week was worthy of exploration at Langley. They had been able to predict and categorize terrorist events in test sets with high accuracy. They had persuaded Carothers that if they waited until Sarah’s latest proposal for simulating terrorist events was checked out, the package at that stage of development would be a very tempting prize for the undercover agent. That had only taken another twenty-four hours to accomplish.

  By the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the plan to have a CIA courier transport the software and required condensed data files to Langley had been hatched at Livermore, in Tony’s office. With discussion carried out within earshot of his‘bugged’ briefcase, they were certain the elusive “spook” would be prompted to make a move on the courier.

  Performance of the StarSight package had indeed improved to the point where the team was attempting to make predictions based on raw data acquired during the first three weeks of November. The hope was that events that might be occurring during the upcoming holiday season might be predicted.

  The day before Thanksgiving began quite early for the StarSight project team. Very early in the morning at Livermore Lab, the team had gathered again in Shane’s office to discuss where they stood. As nervous as they were about the status of their project, as the holiday season was about to begin, they were looking forward to enjoying an early Thanksgiving meal together that afternoon. Originally scheduled for the early evening at the Pleasanton Hotel, a conflicting reservation had caused the rescheduling to an alternate site. The Cavern Room at the local Bosselli Winery had been reserved for a one o’clock dinner. Everyone was excited about the change in venue, looking forward to the legendary continental cuisine and the unique setting for the private dining room.

  Tomorrow, Barry would spend a few hours enjoying Thanksgiving with his family in San Francisco. Sharon’s daughter was flying out Wednesday evening from Boston with Sharon’s mother. At least they would be able to spend a little time with their families. Tony and Sarah were content to enjoy each other’s company for the holiday, as were Bill and Anna, who had grown quite fond of one another.

  The brief meeting of the project team that Wednesday morning was over by seven o’clock, and all but Tony and Sarah dispersed to their respective workstations. Shane had scheduled a seven o’clock scrambled conference call between Carothers, the Senator, Sarah and himself. Progress on the StarSight project would be reported; and Tony and Sarah would learn if the “spook” had taken the “bait”. For this conversation, Tony had moved his “bugged” briefcase to Sarah’s office. This was one time when they could not afford to be overheard.

  Shortly after answering the phone, Shane learned that the two senior members of the conference were not calling from their usual posts in the nation’s Capitol. Instead, they were using the facilities of the U.S. Embassy in Zurich, Switzerland. He wondered what significance there was in this fact. He knew this could not have been a pleasure trip for either of them. Although he inquired, he learned only that it was 4 o’clock in the afternoon there, near zero degrees centigrade, and snow flurries were beginning to fly.

  Before describing the StarSight project status, Shane and Sarah learned that the courier’s transport of the StarSight software and files had been successfully faked. However, this juicy decoy had not drawn the agent out of the woodwork. The fake materials had been delivered safely to Langley, without incident.

  Given Carothers’ previous insistence on using this ploy to smoke out the undercover agent, and his near certainty that the ruse would work, Shane was puzzled by this turn of events. He asked Carothers if he had any explanation for the failure of this tactic.

  “Well, Tony,” Carothers began, “it didn’t turn out as I expected. But, it was far from a ‘failure’. We actually gained some valuable information.”

  “What did we learn, Nathan? We still don’t know who ‘our friend’ is,” Shane commented testily.

  “Actually, Tony, wedo know who ‘our friend’ is. We’ve known for some time now. But, now, we also know that he already has acquired the StarSight software.”

  “What?” Sarah blurted, shocked to hear Carothers’ statement. “How could he possibly have it?”

  “And, whois this guy? How did you get that information?” Shane added.

  Carothers briefly went over the hypothesis…which he had developed since Shane’s report on his trip to CryptaGen Corp.…that Max Winter was the infiltrator that had been monitoring the StarSight project. It was very possible that he had penetrated at least the first level of the Lab’s internal computer security. Carothers shared with them, for the first time, the detailed information he had collected regarding the mysterious Max…including his certainty that Max had brutally murdered Andie Carey in Albuquerque. Confessing his frustration that no photos, fingerprints, or past history data had turned up, he did point out that the one description he had obtained from Larry Markson at CryptaGen compared Max’s appearance to Tony Shane.

  “Looks like me?” Shane asked. “Or maybe he ‘looked’ like me. We really don’t know what he looks like now.” Still, the odd coincidence bothered Shane, and an annoying half-developed question lingered in the back of his mind.

  “I agree with you, Tony,” the Senator interjected. “But, I have to wonder if the similar appearance is more than just a coincidence. Has there been any indication that anyone has been pretending to be you? Any questionable credit charges? People saying they’ve seen you someplace where you haven’t been? Things like that?”

  After thinking about this for a few moments, Shane replied, “No, Senator. I’m not aware of anything like that going on…” Again, he let his line of thought wander, vainly trying to pick up the loose thread in his mind that remained just out of reach.

  “But, Tony,” Sarah interrupted, “don’t you remember the Daniels alum at the Homecoming game? The guy you thought was trying to hit on me? I recall someone noticing that, from behind, that guy looked just like you! Remember?”

  “That’s it!” he exclaimed. “That’s what I’ve been trying to think of. I remember that. The guy was a jerk. We talked about him over at Harry and Luci’s.”

  “Wait a minute,” Carothers bellowed. “Do you actually think you’ve met this ‘Max Winter’?”

  “I don’t know, Nathan,” Shane replied. “Right now, we can only say we met someone who fits your description. Let’s see if we can pull up more memories that might be relevant.”

  Tony and Sarah related their respective encounters with the person who had called himself “Michael Worth,” and who claimed to have been employed by PeopleSoft in California. None of them could figure why Max would have deliberately exposed himself to two of his targets…e
xcept to feed his own ego. Perhaps it had made the game he was playing much more exciting by interacting directly with the people whose intimate lives he was observing electronically. His presence in Rockville, they all agreed, could have been explained by a need to obtain information that was unavailable by any other means. But, no one knew what that might have been. Certainly, the classified data vault was secure, and no indication of any break-in attempt had been detected.

  “Perhaps what he needed was something more personal,” Sarah remarked. “I recall that he asked me lots of questions that were…well…uncomfortable. Like, he asked if I would date anybody on the faculty…or date a student in one of my classes; would I pick an academic career before marriage; things like that. These are not the usual kinds of questions you get from a guy you just met at a crowded post-game beer party…especially not if the guy was trying to pick you up. He struck me ascreepy . Not anerdy orclueless kind of creepy, mind you; but like this rude kind of communications was acareer choice .”

  After a moment of silence, Carothers responded to Sarah’s comments. “Very good observations, Sarah. Your recollections may provide the best clues we have as to why he was in Rockville…and perhaps to what his strategies might be. More importantly, you’ve just convinced me that this ‘Michael Worth’ character really was Max Winter…look, even his initials are the same…M. W.”