Spyder Web

by Tom Grace

  ‘It’s too late to back out now. Her parents just left for dinner and you’re next in line.’The nurse spun the wheelchair around and whisked Kilkenny down the corridor.

  When Nolan had last visited her, Kelsey had been in the Intensive Care Unit following her surgery.Her condition had improved enough to warrant a transfer to a private bed in the step-down unit. The nurse rolled Nolan into Kelsey’s room and parked him beside her bed.Kelsey smiled as he arrived and held out her hand.

  ‘Hey, gorgeous,’Nolan said as he cupped her soft hand in his and gently kissed it, ‘how are you feeling?’

  Kelsey’s eyes stayed locked with his. ‘Not so good, but better now that you’ve come down to see me.’

  Nolan stroked her hand gently, almost unconsciously. ‘They couldn’t keep me away.’

  ‘So I heard. One of the nurses told me about your visit last night. I thought I’d dreamt it, but I’m glad you came.’

  Nolan couldn’t hold the smile any longer. He still felt responsible for her injuries. ‘Kelsey, I’m sorry about this.’

  ‘I don’t blame you for the accident. It wasn’t your fault. You were doing fine until that jerk rear-ended us. It was just an accident, one of those things.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t,’ Nolan admitted quietly.

  Kelsey just stared at him as he softly explained what had happened after she was knocked out, and as he related his conversation the previous night with Mosley. She could find no words to express what she was feeling. A random accident was tough enough to understand, but premeditated murder was unimaginable.

  They’d had long talks like this before, after missions when he’d been forced to kill, when he needed someone to help sort it all out.When those conversations turned too morose, she always found humor to be a good way to get Nolan to snap back.

  ‘I should have known you couldn’t keep out of trouble after you left the navy,’ Kelsey said, shaking her finger at him. ‘Next time you decide to be heroic, let me know so I won’t get in the car with you.’

  Nolan just looked blankly at her for a moment, then smiled. ‘If I start looking heroic again, let me know.’ Nolan paused; his smile was suddenly replaced by a look of panic. ‘Oh no!’

  ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, fearing something terrible.

  ‘My car! I forgot all about it.’Nolan grabbed the phone and dialed the number Mosley had given him.

  ‘I don’t believe you!’ If she’d had the strength, she would have hit him. ‘We barely survived that crash, and you’re worried about your damn car!’

  ‘I don’t love my Mustang nearly as much as I love you, but that’s not what I’m thinking about.’

  Kelsey studied Nolan as he dialed, her hopes balanced less on what he was thinking and more on how he was apparently feeling toward her.

  The phone rang several times before the line clicked, forwarding the call to another number.

  ‘This is Cal Mosley.’

  ‘Cal, it’s Nolan Kilkenny. Do you know if they recovered my gear from the car?’

  ‘I’m not sure. Why?’ Mosley then picked up on Kilkenny’s train of thought. ‘That’s right, the Spyder bypass. I’ll check with the police post in Jackson. The car’s still on their lot. Whatever you left in the car will be in your father’s office by morning.’

  ‘Thanks, Cal.’ Nolan’s gaze didn’t leave Kelsey, who looked a little embarrassed for her assumption. ‘The sooner we get that bypass in, the sooner we nail the bastards responsible for this.’

  ‘Sounds like you’ve got a reason to live. That’s a very healthy sign, Kilkenny. I think you’ll pull through. By the way, my boss sends his best wishes to you and the professor for a speedy recovery and says he hopes that you’ll be in attendance on Wednesday.’

  ‘Barring armed guards at my door, I’ll be there.’Nolan sounded like a man committed to a goal.

  ‘Great, I’ll call you tomorrow with the flight information.’ Mosley hung up and Nolan cradled the receiver.

  ‘Excuse me,’ the nurse who had caught Nolan the night before sternly announced from the doorway, ‘but this patient is on restricted visiting hours. I’m afraid that she’s done for the day. Please say your good-byes.’

  Nolan started to turn his wheelchair when Kelsey shook her head. ‘Nurse, I’d like another few minutes.’

  The nurse checked her watch and nodded. ‘Very well, you have two minutes and not a second more. I’ll be back to escort Mr Kilkenny to his room.’

  ‘Nolan,’ Kelsey asked, her voice low and uncertain, ‘did you mean it?’

  ‘Mean what?’ He felt like an idiot for not knowing what she was talking about.

  ‘When you said that you loved me? I’ve never heard you say it before, not like that.’

  ‘I’ve always loved you. The worst part of our accident was seeing you lying there and fearing that you were dead.’

  Kelsey held out her hand, which Nolan grasped tightly. Tears glistened in both their eyes. ‘The doctors say I was probably unconscious right after the crash, but I would swear that I felt you holding me, protecting me.’

  ‘I did the best I could. I’m sorry it wasn’t enough.’

  ‘We’re both still alive. I think you did great.’ She took hold of his hand as he stared into her iridescent blue eyes. ‘I’ve never had the courage to say anything before. I’ve just been so afraid that if I tried to change our relationship, to make it into something more than it is, I’d lose what we already have.’ Kelsey blushed at her own honesty.

  Nolan agreed with what she’d said about their relationship. He’d grown up with Kelsey, and he had a difficult time thinking of her romantically, thinking of her as something other than family. It now became clear to him that there was nothing wrong with thinking of Kelsey in a different sense, as family.

  ‘Kelsey, I don’t want you to be afraid to love me. I’m not afraid to love you.’

  Nolan rose from the wheelchair, leaned over, and kissed her gently. She turned her head slightly and returned his kiss, full on the lips. The kiss was gentle, slow, and passionate. It was not the kiss of old friends; it was the kiss of new lovers.

  A forced cough from the impatient nurse brought an end to the kiss. ‘That’s enough, you two. Beat it, Mr Kilkenny, or I’ll have to hose you off. This is a hospital, not Club Med. Ms Newton needs her beauty sleep, and, Lord knows, you could use some, too.’

  ‘I guess I am a sight for sore eyes.’

  ‘And I’ve got the sore eyes for looking at you, Kelsey. I’ll see you in the morning. Sweet dreams.’ Nolan sat down in the wheelchair and rolled toward the nurse standing guard at the door. ‘Have you ever considered a career in the military? I know some people who could use a tough drill instructor.’

  The nurse laughed as she grabbed the back of the wheelchair and rolled him out of the room. Their banter trailed down the corridor as Kelsey closed her eyes. She was still shaking, not believing her sudden bravery at exposing her feelings to Nolan. Since January, they’d spent more time with each other than anyone else, and, in recent months, that time had become the highlight of her day. Nolan was a kind, thoughtful, and intelligent man, and in him she found something she’d never found in anyone else: love. A smile lingered on her still-most lips as she drifted into sleep.

  39

  MAY 4

  Sean Kilkenny picked up his son at the hospital’s main entrance, which overlooked the Huron River Valley. Spring was in full bloom and the view of the river, as it flowed along the Nichols Arboretum, was spectacular.

  ‘Ready to go home?’ he asked as he tossed Nolan’s overnight bag in the back of his Explorer.

  Nolan thanked the orderly who had wheeled him down and then climbed in the passenger side. ‘I’m ready to get out of here, if that’s what you mean.’

  ‘I understand. After my recent experiences with your mother, I’m not too fond of hospitals, either. Are you interested in stopping by MARC before we head home? I’ve got a few things I’d like to take care of, if you feel up to it.�
�

  ‘Sure, I want to check in with Grin anyway. Say, did Mosley get my gear out of the wreck?’

  ‘Yes, right after he swore Grin and me to secrecy over this whole mess.’

  ‘Good, he got you both in the loop. I hope the bypass is still in one piece. I don’t want to make another trip to Chicago just yet.’

  ‘I wouldn’t think so,’ Sean agreed. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you about that, Nolan. Grin is a brilliant young man and a very hard worker, but when I asked him to explain what you and Kelsey were after, I got a dissertation about ten levels higher than I could comprehend.’

  Nolan could easily picture Grin soaring way past his father with the intricate details of neural-network systems—not a topic for the faint of heart. ‘Grin’s a little wired about the whole thing. I admit, it’s a very interesting situation we’ve found ourselves in, and that little black box in Kelsey’s lab is an exciting topic of discussion all on its own.’

  Nolan filled the remainder of the ten-minute ride with a layman’s tour of Spyder technology, which was everything he’d gleaned from Iverson during his visit to Moy Electronics. The narrative continued with the CIA’s current theory on how this Spyder had come to Ann Arbor and who was now controlling it. Sean Kilkenny pulled his truck into the MARC parking lot, stopped in his usual space, and sat behind the wheel, digesting what he’d heard.

  ‘So we’re not dealing with some kid joyriding a PC through our computer; we’re up against some damned industrial spies.’

  ‘Sure looks that way, Dad.’

  As they entered the MARC building, the receptionist flagged them down. ‘Nolan, Cal Mosley just called for you.’

  ‘I’ll phone him from the lab.’ Nolan then looked over his other message slips and stuffed them in his pocket. ‘Where’s my stuff, Dad?’

  ‘In my office.’

  Kilkenny searched through his dark blue Eddie Bauer bag for the box that Iverson had given him on Sunday. His soft-sided bag didn’t look all that bad, considering the rough ride it had been through in the Mustang’s trunk. He found the box still well protected by his clothing and completely intact.

  ‘It takes a licking; let’s hope it keeps on ticking. I’ll be down in the lab.’

  ‘Just let me know when you’re ready to go home, son.’

  In the MARC computer lab, Grin was hard at work running a system diagnostic. It was a tedious procedure that more often bored the system administrator to death while it ran. True to form,Grin sat back, his feet propped up on the main console, reading a book on the mythologies of early man. The cover illustration of a ceramic Earth Mother caught Kilkenny’s eye.

  ‘What are you reading there, Grin, a five-thousandyear-old Playboy?’

  Grin’s focus shifted upward from his book to cast a look of disdain in Kilkenny’s direction. ‘Thank you for that commentary from the culturally illiterate. You may now crawl back into your dark corner and warm yourself by the glow of your television.’His stern look broke into a wide smile as he got up to greet Kilkenny. ‘Good to see you back, man, but geez, you look terrible.’

  ‘Really, I hadn’t noticed. But enough of this pleasant chitchat. Are you ready to go to work?’ Kilkenny held up the box of Iverson’s special hardware.

  ‘You bet.’Grin shared Kilkenny’s enthusiasm for taking on their unwanted intruder. ‘Mosley briefed me about that thing in your lab, and you’ll be happy to know that it’s been very quiet all weekend.’

  Kilkenny was looking forward to putting a computerized noose around the stainless-steel rat that had infested his lab, though he would have preferred putting the real thing around the necks of those responsible for it being there. ‘Let’s see what we can discover about our friendly little Spyder.’

  Like the Spyder, Iverson’s bypass was a simple black cube equipped with connector ports for external communications lines. Grin brought the Cray off-line while Kilkenny powered down the experimental optical processor. They followed the standard procedure so the Spyder would be unaware of a sudden severing of its communication link to the university network. Grin joined Kilkenny in the latter’s lab after the system successfully shut down.

  ‘Well, Dr Grin, the patient is under. Shall we perform surgery?’

  ‘I’d prefer to use a hammer, Dr Kilkenny, but I’ll be happy to assist you.’

  ‘Excellent.’ Kilkenny held out an open hand. ‘Phillips screwdriver, please.’

  The procedure took only fifteen minutes, in which Kilkenny mated the bypass to the Spyder. Once connected, the bypass would provide complete access to the Spyder’s program and a view on everything that the device was doing. The bypass tied in exactly as Iverson had promised and, after double-checking all the connections, they brought the optical processor back on-line.

  Grin returned to the main lab and scanned the MARC network screens and his message file. ‘The network is up and running again, with only a few users bitching about the downtime.’

  ‘If they don’t like our service,’Nolan replied, ‘they can just take their business elsewhere.’

  Grin laughed hard enough that Kilkenny didn’t need the speaker phone to hear him. Both men knew that the MARC computer lab was one of the finest supercomputer facilities in the country, and one of only a few in the Midwest that was available to outside researchers.

  ‘Don’t let your old man hear you talking that unbusinesslike trash. After all, we exist to serve our customers.’

  ‘Thank you for that “total quality” reminder, Mr Demming. Now let’s see what our unwelcome guest is really made of.’

  Kilkenny unwound a patch cable and connected his laptop computer to the interface connection on the bypass module. After loading the communications software that Iverson had provided, he accessed the joint memory of the two black cubes. A menu of options appeared on the laptop’s monochrome screen.

  ‘Hmm,what to do first,’Kilkenny mused while looking over his options. ‘I think I’ll request a listing of the Spyder’s operating code.’

  ‘Hold on,’ Grin’s voice called out from the speaker. ‘Let me get over there and pull up a chair. I’d love to see what makes this thing tick.’

  Grin perched himself on the lab bench as Nolan made the request. Almost at once, the drive light on the laptop flashed on to indicate that information was flowing down the portable computer’s hard disk. A few minutes later, the download finished and Nolan checked the size of the file.

  ‘Boy, that program is a hog!’

  Grin glanced down to the bottom of the screen, where a status line showed only twenty-two megabytes of disk space remaining on the laptop. ‘Good thing you had some room to spare. What now?’

  ‘If you’d be so kind as to bring that phone line over here, I’m going to transmit this file to Bill Iverson at Moy.’

  Grin disconnected the phone and handed the line to Kilkenny. ‘Why not use the network? We’ve got a line into Moy, and it’ll go a lot faster than your modem.’

  ‘This is why,’ Kilkenny replied, pointing at the Spyder. ‘Big Brother is watching us. Here, call the number on this business card; it’s Iverson’s direct line. He knows your name; just tell him you’re with me and that we’re sending him the Spyder program.’

  Grin slipped the card into his shirt pocket and began walking back to the main lab. ‘I’ll be sure to tell him to have plenty of disk space free.’

  ‘I think he’ll know what to expect.’

  Grin made the call and, once Iverson was ready, Kilkenny began transmitting the file.Even with high-speed modems, the transfer took almost twenty minutes. Iverson signaled Kilkenny over the modem line that the download was successful. With that program in hand, Iverson could dissect the instructions that the Spyder’s controllers used to manipulate the device.

  Grin returned to the lab as Kilkenny was reconnecting the phone. ‘What now?’

  ‘Wait and watch. This bypass will allow us to keep a closer eye on the Spyder than our jury-rigged laptop, and I’ll find out more about what happens next wh
en I go to D.C. That reminds me—I’d better give Mosley a call.’

  A mischievous smile appeared beneath Grin’s pointed goatee as he sat down in front of Kilkenny’s lap-top. ‘Well, while I’m just sitting around, maybe I’ll just take a little peek at that thing’s fancy hacker program.’

  ‘Grin, the Spyder is classified so high that no one in the government will even acknowledge that it exists.’

  The tone in Kilkenny’s voice caused Grin to pause and turn in his swivel chair toward him. Kilkenny stood with his arms folded across his chest and a look of dead earnest on his face.

  ‘Let me give you a little fair warning, as one who knows firsthand about government secrets. Don’t let so much as one byte of that program out of this room or you and I might both find ourselves living in some dark hole in the ground.’

  ‘I know, I know.’ Grin pressed his hands against his heart with false sincerity. ‘Mosley read me the riot act yesterday. Rest assured, not one government secret will pass from my lips.’

  Kilkenny accepted Grin’s word. ‘That said, let’s take a crack at it; I’m just as curious as you are about how they accomplished this. Also, see if you can stash a copy somewhere for future reference. I expect that once this is all over, we’ll be asked to turn over all materials related to the Spyder.’

  Grin’s jaw dropped slightly before curling back into a smile. ‘Nolan Kilkenny, you sneaky devil! You read my mind.’

  ‘Great minds think alike, as they say.’

  Kilkenny picked up the phone and dialed the number that Mosley had left with the MARC receptionist. After two rings, a receptionist answered and informed him that he’d reached the Detroit office of the FBI.

  ‘Nolan Kilkenny calling for Cal Mosley, please.’

  The operator put Kilkenny on hold as she made the connection.

  ‘How are you feeling, Nolan?’Mosley asked, his gravelly voice booming over the phone.

  ‘Been better, but I can’t complain.What are you doing at the FBI?’

  ‘The kind folks at the Bureau loaned me a little desk in the corner while I was in town. It’s not as cozy as my rabbit hole at Langley, but it beats working out of a hotel room.’