After quickly driving to the hospital, the gang positioned Slocum behind the wheel of his car, which they parked near the emergency entrance. It wouldn’t be long before someone investigated the illegally parked vehicle, at which time Slocum would be discovered and treated.
The gang transferred to the other car and beat a hasty retreat.
Chapter Nine
“Call the police. Tell them we have another case of Black Magic.”
The doctor treating Robert Slocum shook his head in disgust. Why a man of this age and apparent social standing would be dabbling in dangerous narcotics was beyond comprehension. It wasn’t that the doctor didn’t understand addiction, but there were a number of other drugs that didn’t have such unpredictable side effects, so why risk it? He just didn’t get it.
The nurse wrote something down on a note pad. “Is he going to make it?” she asked.
“Yeah, I think so. Lucky for him that he was blocking that ambulance. Otherwise he’d be in the morgue right now.”
The nurse shook her head and went to call the police.
***
George Pampas had sources of information that would be the envy of most intelligence services, so it wasn’t surprising that he quickly learned of the incarceration of Robert Slocum. When the police ran his prints against the national database in Washington they figured out his name, but they also alerted the agency.
As soon as he found out, Pampas went to see Mason. His door stood ajar, and Pampas rapped on it once. Mason nodded for him to enter.
“Slocum’s in some sort of trouble. Drug related,” said Pampas.
Mason had been writing on a yellow tablet, and now looked up. “What did he do?”
“Overdose. He was treated in the hospital, and they notified the police. Apparently he had been using a new designer drug that the police were hot to track down.”
“That doesn’t exactly fit his profile, does it?” said Mason. “You think he was trying to kill himself?”
“Slocum? By taking drugs?” He shook his head no. “My guess is he got into trouble with his handlers, and they made it look like an overdose. Could be he wasn’t supposed to make it.”
“Why go to all that trouble?” said Mason. “Just shoot him in the head and be done with it.”
Pampas shrugged his shoulders. He was thinking the same thing–the pieces didn’t fit. It was like the situation at the Whipple house, and with the palmtop in general. Events didn’t support any particular conclusion.
“Without more information, it’s hard to say,” said Pampas.
“At least now we know where he is. I want you to bring him in.”
“Take him from the cops?”
Mason slowly nodded. “It’s the only way. Once he hits the street we won’t get another chance.”
“A couple of my guys can pose as federal agents and pull him out. It’ll take a few hours to put it together.”
“Top priority,” said Mason. “I want Slocum in our custody by the end of the day.”
“I’m on it.” Pampas was elated. He finally had an operation, something to focus his efforts on. He wore a determined look as he strode purposefully from the office.
***
Stanley and Katherine sat side by side in Stanley’s cubicle, pouring over the latest in a series of test results. The situation at work had been tense, with little room for the good-natured banter that typically flowed back and forth.
Stanley whispered to Katherine as he made an adjustment to a program. “We have to bring the network analyzer back to Slocum’s apartment tonight.”
“I know,” said Katherine. “But I think Klugman’s been watching us.” She stole a glance at their boss’s office. She could see him moving about.
“You think he’s suspicious about the equipment we borrowed?” asked Stanley.
“No. I think he’s just worried about the project. If we’re going to take the analyzer, we’ll have to be extra careful. They keep close tabs on it.”
It was true. The device, which belonged to ScanDat, was a sophisticated model. It could be used both for general purpose network troubleshooting, and for radio frequency measurements, critical when working with wireless technology. The unit was expensive, and company policy was clear regarding its use. It had to be signed for, and it never left the premises.
“So we’ll be careful,” said Stanley.
Klugman suddenly appeared in the doorway of the cubicle. “What’s the verdict? Everything okay?” He gripped the top of the cubicle wall with his left hand, causing the whole thing to wobble. His unexpected arrival just as they were talking about him was unnerving.
Katherine forced a smile. “So far so good.”
Klugman nodded towards Stanley. “How about you?”
“The software needs some tweaking, but it should be perfectly in sync with the incoming data stream. I don’t anticipate any problems.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Time’s short, so let’s keep our noses to the grindstone.” He turned and left, his duties as taskmaster fulfilled.
Katherine watched Stanley as he continued to work. “Doesn’t that bother you?” she asked.
He smiled. “You mean the looking over our shoulders bit?” She nodded. “I guess it makes him feel important. Why didn’t you say something?”
“It wouldn’t do any good,” she said. “Besides, if we want to solve the palmtop mystery we may need to borrow a few more things. We should keep on his good side.”
“I see.” He finished entering a line of code. A loud click sounded as he thumped the Enter key. “Isn’t that a bit duplicitous?”
“A tad. But I’ve been thinking about Slocum’s agency, and I’ve decided that I’m not real crazy about how they do things.”
“You mean the secrecy?”
“Yeah, that. I also don’t care for the idea of men with guns running through your house.” She looked towards Klugman’s office, and could once again see him moving around. “And I’m really curious about that palm unit.”
He looked at her from the corner of his eye. That was the real reason. Katherine couldn’t stand the thought that there was a piece of electronic equipment that she was unable to master.
“Let’s get this module debugged and run through the simulation again,” he said.
When Stanley reached for the mouse, their hands brushed together. A brief glance was exchanged, and their eyes locked for less than a second, but it was enough. In the infinitely complex way that the brain registers attraction, the bond was cemented. Not a word was spoken, but they knew. They both knew, and they both felt it. Unspoken, without fanfare, love had been revealed.
For Stanley the revelation was startling, and he wanted to say something, and though his mouth opened, no words came out. Then the moment passed, and he retreated to the safety of his electronic display.
“We have to get this subroutine packaged,” he stammered.
Katherine, her heart still fluttering, simply nodded, as Stanley refused to look at her. She wanted to reach out, but his peck, peck, pecking at the keyboard kept pushing her back.
Pushing her out.
She watched him as he worked–the curve of his back as he hovered over the keys, and the way his hair curled up–just a bit at the ends. It was untidy, but not messy, and to her, not at all unattractive. She loved the way he set his jaw when he was concentrating. And his eyes–those mysterious, deep eyes! She wondered what secrets they held.
These were small things, perhaps, but they were things she loved about him. Because she loved him, she thought. But he seemed so unreachable. She looked away as he continued to click.
Stanley consciously suppressed the emotions of only a moment ago, and now forced himself to focus on the task at hand. Working at the level of bits and bytes, he fed instructions directly into the computer’s CPU. It was tedious doing it this way–without the benefit of a fourth generation interpreter–but the finished product ran very fast. And speed was essential for what they would ask their
system to do.
The algorithms that Stanley was encoding would apply their logic against unknown threats from the data stream, and decide what to pass through and what to trap in a holding area for further examination. Of course, the algorithms would be given an unfair advantage for the demo, as they would know exactly what threats were incoming. This was the farce that both Stanley and Katherine found maddening.
“Stanley?”
“Yeah?”
“Quitting time in half an hour. Maybe we should start getting things together.”
Stanley leaned back and looked through the cubicle doorway towards Klugman’s office. He was on the phone, his gesticulations indicating that it was a heated conversation. Boyd was nowhere to be seen–probably in the lab.
“Looks clear,” said Stanley. “Go get the analyzer.”
Katherine pushed back from the desk and walked to the wire mesh-enclosed storage area. She returned several minutes later with the very complex, very expensive device.
Stanley was just closing his laptop case. “I’m ready,” he said.
“Good. The analyzer should fit in my bag. I’ll be right back.”
As Katherine left with the analyzer, Stanley snuck another peek at Klugman’s office, and noticed with alarm that he was no longer there. He spun around, looking over the top of the cubicles, until at last he spotted him, approaching Katherine’s desk from the opposite side of the room. He turned to his desk and picked up the phone, dialing Katherine’s direct line. It buzzed twice before she picked up.
“Miss me already?”
“Klugman’s headed toward your cubicle!”
She slammed the phone down, and looked around, panicking. She was too short to see above the cubicle walls, so she couldn’t tell from which direction Klugman was approaching. She guessed, and turned left after exiting her office space. It was the long way around, and she had no logical reason for going that way, but she chose correctly. A minute later she was back at Stanley’s desk with her tote bag and the analyzer.
“That was close,” said Stanley.
“Let’s get out of here.”
They wasted no time, and soon were out the door. They walked towards their parked cars together, and stopped when they reached Stanley’s Chevy.
“I have to pick Bobby up at his after school program,” said Stanley. “Are you going straight to Slocum’s?”
Katherine fumbled for her keys. “I have to run home first, and I want to pick up a few groceries. I’ll meet you at the apartment.”
“About an hour.” He hesitated. “Katherine…”
“Yes?” She had found her keys, and clutched them tightly.
He looked into her eyes. “I just wanted to…you know.” He stopped.
“You have to get Bobby,” she said. “We can talk later.” She smiled at him, and he looked at the ground.
He lifted his head, and was about to say something, but she had walked away, and was almost to her car. He fished his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the Chevy. A minute later they both left the parking lot, turning in opposite directions.
Slightly more than an hour later, they were back at Slocum’s apartment, but he was nowhere around. His unexplained absence was troubling.
“I don’t understand,” said Stanley. “He wouldn’t just take off–not without leaving a note, something.”
They looked around the apartment. Nothing was missing, but it seemed empty without Slocum. They felt like they shouldn’t be there without him. Katherine stood in the kitchen, where the two bags of groceries she had purchased sat on the counter.
“Maybe it’s nothing,” she said. “It could be that he just went on an errand.” She didn’t sound very convincing.
“Dad, I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?”
Stanley looked at Katherine, who looked at Bobby. “Sandwiches okay?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“Stanley, why don’t you get the palmtop ready, and I’ll work on dinner.”
He nodded, and moved towards the desk that served as a work area. “I’m going to need your help with the analyzer.”
“Get everything else set up,” she said. “Then I’ll splice the analyzer into the mix. The next time we trigger a download, we should get a decent look at what’s coming across the wire.”
“How will we use that to reverse the flow?” asked Stanley.
Katherine had finished unloading the groceries. “I’m not sure yet. Once we figure out how to open an outbound link to their data stream, maybe we can saturate the conduit with a full spectrum burst. If one of our packets finds whatever they’re using as a portal, it may show us how to configure our transmissions.”
Stanley had just finished booting up his computer, and switched the palmtop on. “Smart girl. You want to combine the two devices with the palm unit to form a ground-based positioning system. I wouldn’t have thought of that.”
She smiled. “Yes you would, but it would have taken longer.” She took out some bread and started making the sandwiches. When she had finished she brought a plate over to Bobby.
“You want one?” she asked Stanley.
“No, maybe later. I want to get this hooked up.”
She went to his side and started untangling a bunch of cables she had brought with her from work. Using a razor knife she carefully sliced through the channels that separated the individual strands of a length of ribbon cable, then meticulously scraped a small section of each one down to the wire. It was delicate work. She spaced the cuts so that none were directly next to each other, to prevent short circuits. Next, she took the covers off of the network analyzer and Stanley’s PC, and placed alligator clips on each strand of the ribbon cable, with the opposite ends running to various pins on the analyzer and the PC. One end of the ribbon cable was plugged into the PC, the other left dangling. There was no need to plug in the free end of the cable, as all necessary connections had been made with alligator clips.
She double-checked the wires, satisfied with her handiwork. With any luck they could now both provoke a download, and monitor and record all subsequent activity. Whether or not this would yield any useful data was another question.
She looked at Stanley. “Ready?” she asked.
He nodded once. “Yeah. Just let me get this wire out of the way.” He moved a stray bit of cable away from the palmtop. “Good to go.”
“Activating the analyzer.” Katherine threw a switch, and a light on the analyzer turned green. “I’m setting the frequency generator to initiate a download.” She applied power to the device, making sure it was set to the same frequency that had been successful earlier. “We should see something soon.”
Stanley responded immediately. “Yes, the palmtop is doing something. I’m getting some strange numbers here.” His voice was uncertain. “I’m directing it to a log file.” His fingers flew across the keyboard.
“Was it a download?” asked Katherine.
“No, it was something else.” He stared at the screen. “Wait a minute, here we go. This is the download.” Five seconds passed. “It stopped now. That’s it.” Stanley closed the log file and prepared to shut down. Suddenly more numbers appeared.
“What’s that?” asked Katherine.
“I don’t know.” As he peered into his display, he suddenly realized what was happening. “Turn everything off!” He began reaching for switches.
Katherine powered down the frequency generator. “What’s going on?”
“Trace route. Someone was trying to find out who we are.”
“The agency?”
Stanley nodded. “Had to be.”
“Did you get any data from the trace itself?”
“I closed the log file just before it started,” said Stanley.
Katherine shook her head. “Too bad. Let’s have a look at what we did get.”
***
“Sergeant…?”
“Donaldson. What can I do for you guys?” The police sergeant looked bored, yet curious about the suits standing
in front of his desk.
“FBI.” A badge was offered.
The sergeant accepted the badge, examining it closely. “Yeah, so what brings you boys to our precinct?”
“You’re holding a prisoner, a Robert Slocum. We’re supposed to bring him to our office for questioning.”
The sergeant shook his head. “That’s not how it works. You want to talk to him–you do it here. Not that it matters. He doesn’t say much.”
“We have the paperwork. I’m sure you’ll see that it’s all in order. Prisoner to be transferred to the custody of special agents Lasik and Gerault.” The packet was presented.
Sergeant Donaldson looked at the papers. “See the Lieutenant. He’ll sign off on it.”
They thanked him, and after a brief meeting with the lieutenant, were given custody of Slocum. The three men–Slocum with his hands cuffed in front of him–left the police station and got into a dark sedan, which quickly pulled away from the curb. Slocum sat alone in the back seat.
“What does the FBI want with me?” He was ignored.
The man in the passenger seat looked at Slocum and smiled. Suddenly Slocum’s suspicion was aroused. This didn’t feel right at all. He noticed then that the man who had looked at him was holding something; a palmtop–one of the agency’s devices. Slocum looked out the window at the passing buildings. He would have been better off with Bobo.
***
Professor Walthrop felt out of place at the FBI regional data center. Though he was doing his best to convince a pair of Sharon’s technicians that their method of isolating the Internet anomaly was ill advised, his academic demeanor gave the impression that he was talking down to them. The result was a high level of tension in the room, as the technicians basically ignored him and proceeded as they saw fit. Justin, sitting silently nearby, sympathized with his former professor, but didn’t want to risk alienating his co-workers. Then the event happened again.
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