by Dan Kelly
Hank looked lost in thought for a second, but he snapped out of it and said, “Maybe the tide is finally leaving our beaches and giving us some room to maneuver. I’ve got one last good tidbit of news for all of you. Ashok, why don’t you tell them?”
“I’ve finally managed to come up with a way to deal with the latest virus our enemy has foisted upon us. Bill Caruthers’ people and I were able to isolate the data the virus uses to identify the circuitry it is designed to invade and destroy. The normal firewalls are like Swiss cheese to this virus so I came up with a way to make the holes in the Swiss cheese bigger and more appealing to the virus and created circuitry using the identifiers it will key in on to direct it to a sub-program which it will immediately begin to attack, but as quickly as it destroys the meaningless data it will be recreated starting a perpetual cycle that will continue until the computer system is shut down thus rendering the virus harmless. We can use the same distribution methods we used for the first countermeasures.”
Smiles broke out all around the room. Kirk Dodson pointed at Hank and said, “Maybe this time around we can corner them, box them in, and give you your chance to kick some ass.”
Hank’s smile grew even wider as he said, “Oh how I’m looking forward to that.”
Shortly after, the meeting adjourned and Joel and Ashok headed for the airport. Ashok was a little nervous as he wasn’t too fond of planes, especially small planes, especially after what Joel, Barbara, Collette and Tania had recently gone through in the recent storm. After they arrived at the airport, Joel got the weather report, filed a flight plan, did his outside walk around and was now finishing up with his pre-flight check list.
“ Everything’s cool, Ashok. Clear skies and gentle winds all the way to Washington. There’s nothing to be worried about.”
“If you say so, but the girls told me that’s what you told them before you took off for home the last time you flew back East and look what happened.”
“Okay, the weather can be fickle sometimes, but that’s the exception not the rule. We’ll be fine.”
“Just get me to Washington in one piece. That’ll make it easier for me to screw up enough courage for the flight back.”
Joel smiled and Ashok returned the smile, but his was much more sickly. “Flying is definitely for the birds.”
A few minutes later they were taxiing out to the runway where they would wait for final take off clearance. When they were cleared for takeoff, Joel revved the engines and started down the runway. The Cessna T182T Skylane soared up off the runway and into the wild blue yonder without any effort at all while Ashok was sure his stomach was still on the ground.
However, after an hour or so he began to show signs of enjoying the experience. He started asking questions about landmarks he was seeing on the ground and about the instruments in the cockpit. By the time they landed in Washington, he was quite settled down and actually enjoyed the landing process. “Now, that wasn’t so bad was it?”
“No, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a flying enthusiast. Like that song says, ‘these feet were made for walking’. That’s me. I even get nervous on trains, buses and in cars. My fear has nothing to do with the devices. It has everything to do with the nuts driving them, present company excluded of course.”
They both had a good laugh and headed for the White House.
Chapter 39
-Washington D. C.-
They took a taxi to the White House and had the cabbie drop them off at the President’s private entrance. Joel had called the President’s office during the last fifteen minutes of their flight and spoke with his admin, Lorraine Caldwell. He told her approximately when they would be arriving and she suggested taking a taxi instead of her having a White House limo pick them up. She also suggested that they instruct the cabbie to drive around to the President’s private entrance instead of leaving them off at the front gate. She would arrange for this accommodation with the appropriate security staff. Her reasoning, “The more surreptitious your arrival the less likely it will be noticed by certain people.” Her reasoning was sound and Joel took a liking to her immediately.
When they arrived at the White House, Lorraine was there to greet them and took them to the President’s private quarters where they met the First Lady, Maureen Weinstein. She was a very pleasant lady and although still attractive she must have been a real looker when she was in her college years. It was public knowledge that the President and she had met at Dartmouth and had been a duo to reckon with in many political arenas ever since.
She led them into a den like room, fairly large but rather cozy and offered them some canapés and other hors d’oeuvres. “The drinks are at the bar over there. You’ll find everything from Perrier to soft drinks to wines and a decent selection of the hard stuff. I’ll leave you with Lorraine as I have some things to attend to that just can’t be put off.”
As she turned and left the room, Lorraine picked up the conversation with, “The President will join us shortly. He’s making sure that Sam has enough to keep him busy at the Library of Congress. He’s given him some research project related to his own future presidential library that he hopes to have open soon after he leaves office next year. It should keep Sam busy for a couple days.”
Joel asked, “What’s to keep him from coming back to his office for something?”
“I told him that while he was away I was going to have the maintenance people check out the heating and ventilation system in his office so he will be more comfortable when he’s working there. I told him there probably would be quite a mess for a couple of days, so his being out of the office on the President’s project presented the ideal time to have the maintenance folks fix whatever is broken. He’s always complaining about how hot his office is, so he bought my story without any questions.
“In fact, Sam’s problem with the heating was one of the things that drew my attention to his strange behavior.” She gave Joel and Ashok a rundown of all of the things that she had noticed about Sam’s behavior of late. “When the President got the call about the likelihood of there being a mole right here in the White House, he asked me for my opinion on whom it might be. That was the prompt I needed to put everything together and I told the President what I thought and why. We concluded that he has to be using his office computer to communicate with the others involved in some clandestine manner undetectable by our internal security setup.”
Joel responded with, “I think you’re on to something. Ashok, do you have any idea about how he might be pulling this off?”
“Emails can be encrypted. There’s a lot of software available to do that, but to completely avoid detection by a sophisticated computer systems security team is something that I wouldn’t think probable. If this is how Sam’s staying in touch with his buddies, it is proprietary software that’s being used which is being hidden somehow. I can’t make any other guesses until I can get at the computer’s memory banks. I ….”
Ashok was interrupted by the President entering the room. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you when you arrived. I was busy making sure that you wouldn’t have to worry about Mr. Ferguson walking in on you.”
Joel said, “That’s quite all right, Mr. President, Lorraine explained what you were doing.”
After introductions were made, the President vented some of his anger. “It’s very difficult to keep your cool around someone on your team who you think is a traitor. If ill will could be detected under ultraviolet light like blood, I’d of lit up like the neon signs in Times Square.”
With a long sigh he changed the subject with, “Dinner is about ready. Let’s go into the dining room and attack something a lot more delectable. The White House chef has prepared my favorite meal. I hope you like roast pork with all of the trimmings.”
The meal and the conversation were delightful, almost to the point of making them forget why they were there. Almost. During dessert, an out of this world blueberry pie alamode with the Frenchiest French Vanilla ice cream th
at ever passed Joel’s highly discriminating lips, the President brought them back to reality. “Ashok, you should have everything you need to check out Ferguson’s computer. I asked Bill Caruthers to personally see that you did without informing anyone else that you were coming here. If something has been overlooked, here’s his direct number.” Handing a piece of paper to Ashok he added, “Don’t hesitate to call him if you need anything. When would you like to start?”
“I’m an early riser. How about seven tomorrow morning? Between now and then I can consider how best to monitor his email messages without revealing that we are doing so. As you’ve indicated, there could be other moles lurking around, high tech types, that you know nothing about.”
They all retired for the night anxious over whether or not Ashok will be successful in time to prevent or at least prepare for another catastrophe. Joel has no so doubt that Ashok will be able to figure out how communications are taking place. “He has to be one of the smartest guys on the planet, but as Hank is always saying, ‘Time is not our ally in these forays and never forget that.’ I’m not forgetting that, Hank. Hell, I can’t stop worrying about it.”
Chapter 40
-Washington D. C.-
At seven the next morning, Ashok is being led to Ferguson’s office by the President himself. “Ferguson’s admin is with him over at the Library of Congress to assist him with the research project I’ve given him and everyone else has been told to keep away because of the dust that might be flying around when the maintenance people start checking out the air ducts and other parts of the heating and ventilation system. You should have no visitors but Lorraine, Joel or me. Good luck.”
The President let him get to work and he quickly headed for his office to get to his. Since these attacks began, his daily calendar has taken on the look of a balloon. If he tried to put one more item on it, it would burst. When he got to the Oval office, Joel Jergensen was waiting for him. “Good morning, Joel. I just took Ashok to Ferguson’s office and turned him loose to check out the computer station there. I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to spend much time with you today. If you tried to lift my daily calendar, you’d most likely wind up with a hernia.”
“I understand Mr. President. I didn’t expect you to have any time to kill with me. I just wanted to ask you two questions before I start my day. The first, were you able to contact all of the international agencies assisting us in the search for the people behind all our troubles of late with the latest information we passed on to you, the likelihood that they have gone to ground somewhere in Northern Italy? The second, would it be alright if I paid a visit to the CIA, Homeland Security and the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to discuss their progress and the possible nature of future attacks against us?”
“The answer to both of your questions is yes. Tell Lorraine that I gave you the go ahead and to arrange appointments for you to meet with the people who are in a position to know what is going on and to give you meaningful input. Hopefully, when we all meet for dinner tonight we’ll have something besides good food to sink our teeth into.” The President headed for his desk and the ringing phone and Joel took that as his cue to head for the door.
Joel spent the rest of his day accomplishing nothing. The people that he met with at the FBI, CIA and Joint Chiefs of Staff were courteous but clueless. The man he met with at Homeland Security was curt and clueless. Joel sensed that the man resented outsiders impinging on his turf even though it was obvious from his lack of any progress whatsoever that he needed all the help he could get.
As he was returning to the White House, his disappointment, annoyance and frustration were quickly gelling into an angry determination he has never experienced before. “Our tax dollars at work! What the hell have these people been doing since the shit hit the fan? “
Fortunately, Ashok had a much better day. Over dinner with the President and First Lady he explained what he had uncovered. “Your suspicions are well founded. He’s definitely one of the bad guys. The software is an ingenious piece of work and it was structured as a sub-program of a sub-program. It was well hidden and it took me most of the day to find it. Once an encrypted message is sent, it is automatically translated into gobbledygook on the sender’s computer which is then erased which makes it virtually impossible for a techie to resurrect the original message. I was able to determine what password is being used to access the software, so I have been doing some trial and error detective work offline to work on the encryption and decryption processes. When Mr. Ferguson receives a message from his friends, he must decrypt it, read it and then erase it. I need to do a little more work on the decryption process to fully understand how it works.
The President asked, “Will you be able to finish what must be done by the end of the day tomorrow?”
“Once I have a complete understanding of the processes, I will work on breaking down the codes being used. I’m also going to secretly link up his computer with a computer at my lab at Sentry. I will be able to monitor all of Ferguson’s email traffic undetected by anyone else because the link won’t appear anywhere.
“The only thing that is mandatory that I accomplish tomorrow is the link up with my computer at Sentry and to be sure that I haven’t missed anything vital to the processes. If need be, everything else can be done at my lab.”
Joel said, “Mr. President, I don’t think it would be wise to share what Ashok has just told us with anyone. Lorraine, when the President leaves office, if you’re planning on looking for another job I know a gal who would love to have someone with your observation and memory skills on her team. This country owes you big time.”
Lorraine’s face turned redder than the apples in the fruit dish sitting in the center of the table. “I didn’t do anything special. I’m just a nosy biddy who’s had years of experience keeping her eyes and ears open for her boss.”
The President “And you’ve done a damn fine job of it too. Joel’s right, Lorraine, Ferguson’s odd behavior wouldn’t have registered with anyone else around here even if they had a whole year to notice.
“Now, let’s move on to something else. If her face gets any redder, she’s going to start sweating blood and ruin that pretty blouse of hers. Joel, has Sentry given any thought to how we can use Ferguson’s email to lure these cretins into a trap?”
“In general yes, specifically no. The more attractive, the more tempting the bait, the more effective the trap will be. Until we knew for sure that Lorraine’s suspicions had substance, we held off spending time that we firmly believe is dwindling on something that might not pan out. When Ashok and I return to Chicago that will be our first priority. I assure you Hank will have the entire team working on it.”
The next day Ashok was able to not only grasp a fuller understanding of the enemy’s software applications and establish a hidden link with a stand-alone computer system in his lab; he was also able to crack the codes being used. Once again, Ashok had demonstrated his exceptional value to the Sentry team. Joel kidded him with, “Man, those smarts have to come from all those beans you eat. There’s no other plausible explanation. All they do for me is give me a rash.”
Like many East Indians, Ashok was a vegetarian and grew all kinds of beans in his backyard for his family’s consumption. Until he met Ashok, Joel had never known there were so many different kinds of beans.
Ashok smiled and fired back a retort. “Joel, didn’t anyone ever tell you that jelly beans aren’t members of the legume family. Lots of people are allergic to them, especially the licorice ones.”
“Oh, now you’re a comedian too. Take a tip from me and heed that trite but in this case apropos expression, ‘Don’t give up your day job.’”
They both laughed and headed for the Oval office. It was three in the afternoon and they intended to say their goodbyes to the President and head for the airport. When they got to his office he was in conference with the Vice President and he had told Lorraine that they weren’t to be disturbed for any reason short of Wor
ld War III. Joel asked Lorraine how long they had been at it and she replied, “Much longer than is usual for their daily tete-a-tetes. Something’s up and I don’t think it’s good.”
Chapter 41
-Washington D. C.-
The special joint sub-committee meeting is just about to get under way in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and it is a somber group that is sitting around the table. There is much grumbling about the negative effect the attacks are having on their relationships with their constituencies and very little about the effect the attacks are having on the country as a whole.