Ron Schwartz - The Griffins Heart.txt

by The Griffin's Heart(Lit)

  “The key is 2A56X3QT. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going back to bed.” She turned and headed back outside.

  “Wait! How do you know that?”

  She smiled. “Women’s intuition, silly. Some things a woman just knows.”

  “Hogwash! I can’t just enter a guess! If we’re wrong, there will be elements of the Iraqi army all over us in no time!” He was testing her, trying to give her every opportunity to explain. If she could tell him, she would do it now. If she couldn’t, then he would just have to trust her.

  “I’m not wrong! Don’t ask me how I know, because... Because a woman’s got to have some secrets.” With that, she paused to stare briefly into his eyes, then walked out, leaving him, Katz, and Grant to finish.

  “What are you going to do?” Grant asked.

  He took a deep breath and contemplated how she stared at him. Clearly, she couldn’t tell him something, and she was emphatic about knowing the correct key. He had to trust her no matter how hard it was. “I’m going to enter her key into the packets.”

  “How do you know it’s correct?”

  “There are some things that a woman just knows.”

  Rob enter the key and a new prompt appeared.

  “What’s that?” Katz asked.

  Rob sighed. “This, gentlemen, is the security access to this command center.”

  “I thought we just broke into it?”

  “No, we just broke into the communications network. We’ve now got to get into this system.”

  Katz looked puzzled. “What, call Marie again?”

  Rob glanced at Logan, who simply shook his head and turned to leave. “No. Something tell me that we’ll need to try something else. Let’s tear this system down an see if we can’t make heads-or-tails of this equipment.”

  Logan stepped in front of Marie just before she got to the place where her children and Terry were still sleeping. Everyone seemed fast asleep. “I want to thank you for not giving it away.”

  “Why did you have to give me those keys? Rob’s not going to sleep until he finds out how I knew what the key was.”

  “For his own safety, you can’t tell him.”

  “I know.” She laid back down to sleep.

  Several hours passed as the three men worked together removing cover panels and tracing wires. They charted circuit diagrams. Slowly and methodically, they developed an understanding of the system. Around midnight, they were ready.

  “I think we have enough information to try,” Rob announced.

  Katz shook his head. “I don’t know. I think we’re making way too many assumptions.”

  “Look, if we try to flowchart each and every system, we’ll be here for a month. I say we proceed under the assumptions we’ve been able to agree on so far and hope for the best.”

  Rob glanced around the room. Aside from the three of them, there was Wright, Taylor, a few other Marines, and the ever-present Logan, leaning against the door with his arms crossed. He stopped when he noticed Logan. Did he have anything to contribute?

  Logan had been silently watching and listening to these men work throughout the night. Most of what they were saying was too technical for him to follow. Instinctively, he knew they were correct in most of their assumptions. Now it’s my turn, he thought. Marie was right. He had to try to help. So, without prompting, he dropped his arms and stepped forward to share his knowledge.

  “I can only tell you what we’ve been able to learn about the recent Iraqi missile technological developments. How and if it is applicable here, I don’t know.”

  Everyone turned to stare at him in surprise. This long-time silent passenger was now speaking with knowledge and authority.

  Rob stared at him. “Who is ‘we’?”

  Logan paused to look around the room, eventually returning to Rob and took a deep breath. “Israeli intelligence.”

  Moans and questions erupted from every direction.

  Veins bulged in Wright’s neck. “Why have you kept this a secret from us? You could’ve helped us all along!”

  Taylor moved menacingly close to Logan, ready to strike. “Israeli intelligence knows everything about this region. He’s been standing by watching us grope in the dark.”

  Rob came between them. “All right, all right.” It’s almost like trying to stop a lynching, he thought. Probably well-deserved.

  Taylor wasn’t about to back down. “He’s left us groping in the dark all this time instead of helping us!” Everyone seemed to agree with him in demanding retribution.

  “That may have been true, but he’s not now.” Rob looked at Logan. “You’re going to help us now, right?”

  “Actually,” Logan replied quietly, shaking his head, “I really wouldn’t have had that much to contribute. Most of the things we’ve come across so far, our intelligence, and yours, too, I might add, knows little or nothing about. What you people have done on your own could not have been done better, even with my help.”

  “So why the change of heart now?”

  “Let’s just say that someone helped me see the light.”

  Rob turned his head slightly and grinned as everything became clear. “And this someone wouldn’t happen to be blonde and married to me?”

  Logan ignored the comment. “Look, I’m willing to help you with what I know if you want it.”

  Rob studied the group and cleared his throat as he tried to sort out his thoughts. “Listen, there’s no need for this information to go further than those of us here. If you’re upset, people, deal with it. One thing that none of you know is that the information about how to turn those cameras into transmitters as well as what frequency to use came from him. It wasn’t my idea. He has been helping us in ways of which most of you are unaware.”

  He glanced at Logan for his approval, but none was given. Logan stood expressionless, neither confirming nor denying Rob’s claims. He found himself in the surprising position of defending the man with whom he was most irritated. “Now that we’ve settled that, what can you tell us about these missiles?”

  Logan gathered his thoughts. “I don’t know that I can tell you any specifics about these missiles. However, I do know that the missile technology Iraq has been developing uses a mid-course adjustment from a ground radar to insure accuracy. If these missiles incorporate that technology, then this facility must be attached to a radar site somewhere nearby in order to transmit the necessary course corrections to the missile.”

  “What do you mean by mid-course adjustment?” Wright asked.

  “When the targeting computer selects a site, the ballistic trajectory is fed into the missile. But once the missile is fired, a lot of things can affect the trajectory: wind direction and speed, atmospheric thermo-layers, barometric pressure, et cetera, et cetera. So the missile depends on a ground-based radar to measure the actual trajectory against what it’s supposed to be. Once the ballistic computer attached to the radar determines the degree of error in the missile’s trajectory, it transmits a message back to the missile telling it what course corrections to make.”

  Katz looked at Rob. “So that explains the link.”

  “What link?” Wright asked.

  Katz turned to address the group. “There’s some kind of multi-frequency multi-phased transmitter attached to the ballistic computer. We speculated that it was for a constant link with the missiles once they’re fired.”

  “If the transmitter is here...” Logan began.

  “Then the radar tracking unit is here also!” Rob finished.

  Grant pointed to the large blank screen covering a large portion of one wall. “That’s probably what that is, then. A radar screen. Should I try to enable it?” He moved toward the console.

  Logan jumped forward. “No! Any radar emissions would be immediately targeted by the American forces. The fact that the radar is not active is probably why no intelligence agency knows of this place’s existence.”

  “Agreed. We’ll wait to activate it until just before we launch the missiles
.”

  This new information brought added elements of complexity to the already intricate picture they were working on. One of the Marines started translating the control panels while another translated the documents. The room became very busy through the early morning hours.

  Day Thirteen

  Twenty-three miles southwest of Tikrit

  Salah Ad-Din Territory, Iraq

  Dawn was breaking as Marie rose from her first restful night’s sleep in two weeks. She looked down at her sleeping children, then up at Nancy, who was sitting nearby having also just awakened. “Could you watch them for awhile?”

  Nancy smiled and nodded.

  “I want to go check on Rob.”

  She walked through the bunker to the control room. Over to one side of the doorway, Terry stood looking into the room, almost as if she was trying not to be seen. She paused for a moment and studied her. Why was she hiding and from whom? “Is something wrong?”

  Terry jumped, obviously startled and turned quickly toward Marie. “Oh, no, nothing. I was just watching. I was curious, you see. I was just wondering what they were doing.”

  “But you were hiding. Why? Why don’t you just go in and watch?”

  “Oh! Well... Actually, I was watching the men work. I didn’t want them to see me staring at them. I’m so embarrassed.”

  She tried to be understanding but wasn’t convinced. Terry continued to smile an embarrassed smile as she moved away. Marie watched her leave, then walked over to the place in the doorway where Terry had been standing. What was she looking at?

  From this angle, she could see Rob and Logan lying together under a console discussing the purpose for the circuits. What could have possibly have interested her about that conversation? But then, Marie thought, it isn’t really the conversation. It’s Logan she’s interested in. She was just watching Logan. Now she felt bad for having embarrassed her the way she did.

  She stood in the doorway a few more minutes, watching Logan and Rob working together. Maybe Logan had really changed. Maybe he was finally starting to pull his own weight.

  She watched as Rob rose to stand by the primary console. “I think we’re ready to try.” His face showed obvious signs of fatigue.

  He’s worn out, she thought.

  Rob noticed Marie standing in the doorway and hesitated as he contemplated his next move. When he finally spoke, his words came as a surprise to everyone in the room. “I want everyone to leave the room but Logan and Marie.”

  Wright drew himself up. “What’s up?”

  “I can’t say, other than you’re just going to have to trust me on this.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I... I’m not going to do anything. Logan is.” Rob cast a nervous glance toward Logan. Logan returned his gaze, looking concerned.

  But Wright would not be put off so easily. “Rob, I have complete security clearance. I am cleared for anything you are going to do!” He had used Rob’s real name instead of his title for the first time, and everyone noticed. He was sending a strong message to Rob not to push the issue.

  It was a staredown now, as Rob glared at Wright. “Captain, you will address me as Colonel.”

  The silence was deafening. “Colonel, why do you need your senior staff out of the room?”

  “Because Logan is going to break the security features of this system, and he deserves a degree of protection.”

  Logan stepped forward shaking his head. “I can assure you that I know nothing of these systems or how the security works.”

  “Logan, please! Be patient with me. I will explain.”

  “But I’m not concealing anything this time! I really don’t know!”

  “You’ll understand when I explain it to you.”

  Logan could not resist Rob’s intensity. He didn’t quite understand but decided to play along. “Okay, Colonel. I will share with you what I know, but it has to be in complete secrecy. I don’t want anyone in here but you.”

  “Well, we will need Marie... for the codes.” Rob’s eyes were pleading.

  Logan took the hint. “That’s right. Marie will have to provide the codes. She’ll need to be here, also.”

  Wright was outraged. “What’s going on here, Colonel? This man doesn’t know anything! What are you two up to?”

  Rob sighed in frustration. “Captain, follow your orders. I want everyone out of this room but Logan and Marie so we can crack this security console.”

  “What about a translator?” Wright tried to argue. “Who’s going to type in Arabic?”

  “I will,” Logan replied.

  Rob took a step toward Wright. “Captain, if you can provide us another way to break the security features of this system, then I’m willing to let you try. Otherwise, pipe down, and step out of the room!”

  Another long paused followed while Wright considered the situation. He had a civilian with a token military command and a self-proclaimed spy wanting to be left alone in a ballistic missile command center. But he could offer no other way to break the security access. Having evaluated the options, he finally decided he had no choice but to follow his orders. “We’ll be just outside if you need anything.”

  None of the others dared to speak as they followed Wright from the command center.

  When the last man was gone, Logan turned to Rob. “What gives? Why did you want me in here alone?”

  Rob looked at Marie as if asking permission, but she gently shook her head. “I don’t think it would be a good idea, Rob.”

  He smiled at her. “Marie, please trust me.”

  She had learned to trust him in the past and decided that today would be no different. She would back him.

  Rob looked at Logan. “I need your cover.”

  Logan was confused. “What cover?”

  “I’m going to break into the security system, but I need them to think that you did it.”

  “Okay, I’m confused. Why don’t you want them to know it was you?”

  “Logan, you seem to be a man of principle, not like so many other intelligence men I have known.”

  “What are you talking about? You’re just a civilian. How can you be familiar with people in the intelligence community?”

  Rob paused as he studied Logan. “Am I right about you? Are you a man of principle or have I read you all wrong?”

  “I guess. I’ve never really thought about it.”

  Rob paused again, struggling with some very difficult issues.

  Logan was curious. “Are you some kind of CIA hacker?”

  Rob laughed. “No. No, just a businessman with a data processing background.”

  “How is it that you can...”

  “I’ll explain it all. Just be patient.”

  Marie took Rob’s arm and gently tugged it. He turned to look into her deep blue eyes and smiled. “Honey, are you sure this is a good idea? Is it really necessary for us to take this risk? After all, I heard someone say that we could just blow up these missiles and drive away.”

  He watched her intently as she spoke. He had learned over the years to respect her judgment. She was rarely wrong. Her concern was well based, but he knew she still didn’t see the whole picture. “You’re right, of course, but consider something else. Out there are hundreds of thousands of men, just like me, many of whom have wives and children. They will be dead before the sun ever rises this morning because of the strength of the Iraqi army set against them. What we have here is an incredible opportunity to spare their lives. We can deal a deadly blow to the Iraqi forces by using these missiles to knock out their airfields and army bases. We can potentially save thousands of children the pain of having to grow up without their fathers. I think we owe them this sacrifice.”

  Logan did not understand what sacrifice Rob spoke about but nevertheless admired him for his willingness to so easily give for the sake of people he had never met.

  Rob turned to Logan. “When you hear what I have to tell you, I pray you’ll not expose us. We’re putting our l
ives in your hands.”

  Logan’s brow furrowed. “What is it?”

  “Sy VanCopeland?”

  “Yes, of course. Everyone who has anything to do with security has heard of him. Why? Do you know him? Is that how...?”

  “Easy, easy. What do you know of him?”

  “Just that last year he presented a mathematical model that, if ever understood and implemented, could potentially break any security scheme. Is that what this is all about?”