Everyone went to see what was going on, except for Angel. She remained at her desk and sent Anderson an email.
Please tell me Toby is safe.
Anderson’s response was instantaneous. You did well, Angel. I will be in contact soon.
Then the computer screen went black. She shut it down and hurried over to her other computer. They all stared at the massive activity in the previously dormant program. She wrote on her pad. We definitely need to understand this program.
Leon nodded in agreement.
Hamilton spoke over the speaker. “Gentleman, return to your seats. You have work to do assessing what changes have occurred in the programs. Davenport, bring Angel to me at once.”
Davenport didn’t speak to her the entire way there. Once he led her into the room, he spoke. “Do you wish me to leave or stay, sir?”
“Return to the lab,” Hamilton stated.
Once he had left, the director spoke. “What did you do to your computer that caused those alarms?”
Annoyed at the accusation within his words, she wrote a full explanation about the odd program that she had requested it to ding if it had activity.
Nothing dinged during our tests, but whatever Anderson activated from his side had that program working over time. The problem is it’s in an unknown software and it may take considerable time to determine what he intended to do unless you can find someone in the military who can decipher its code.
He picked up his phone. “Braddock get in here.”
His brow furrowed as he listened to Braddock’s response then replied, “Well, I believe I have the reason why they believed entry was possible.”
Fear ran through Angel. Anderson would soon know he’d been tricked. She grabbed her pen and wrote frantically on her pad. Sir, you have to retrieve Toby now, or Anderson will kill him! She shoved the pad in front of him and thumped it to get his attention.
He glared at her for her impertinence but followed through. “Have you secured the boy?” His jaw clenched. “Well, do it now! I want Anderson to fail completely on this.” He paused and rolled his eyes. “Don’t give me that shit. All it takes is a damn phone call, which you could have already made instead of arguing with me that you don’t have the time. Get the boy secured—that’s an order!”
He hung up his phone and breathed out with such anger that papers on his desk fluttered about. “I’ll talk to Braddock later about that software, but given he took away your copy of the manual yesterday, I’m guessing he knows exactly what the damn software does, and evidently whatever it does gave Anderson’s men the belief they could take over this site with ease.”
His comment worried her.
You no longer think Max is behind this? she asked.
He read her question and snorted. “I am a hundred percent certain Max created and masterminded every inch of this. No one on the outside could possibly know about that hidden software program written in some code that no normal programmer knows about. But Max could. He has strong ties with our military think tanks. And they were strongly against my taking this post. It’s why Braddock was given more authority than I was aware of, until we sent Tom out. They didn’t believe I could keep this facility safe.” A faint smile came to his lips. “And thanks to your obsession with detail, we proved them wrong.”
She nodded.
“If it’s any consolation, I don’t believe Anderson will harm Tom’s son.”
His statement worried and confused her. She grabbed her pad. Because Anderson works for Max?
“Precisely.”
She couldn’t take that risk. This was Toby!
He came around the desk and sat beside her, taking her hand. “Braddock is bringing the boy in, all the same. I’d offer to do the same for his daughter, but my sources tell me she is better protected than the president.”
Angel stared at him in shock and tilted her head in a silent question.
“She’s acquired herself a mentor who is far more powerful than either Max or terrorists wish to fight.”
Angel closed her eyes in relief. Toby and Anna were safe. Whether Anderson worked for Max or didn’t, both were safe.
Braddock entered the room, pissed as hell. “The boy has been picked up, but he’s not happy about it. We caused him to miss a test.”
Braddock continued to pace the room in anger. “I guarantee you this was not an external terrorist group. The person who did this had to know about a military software program that I didn’t even know about. This software was so secret that the programmer who wrote it was ‘removed’ to ensure no one knew what it really did.”
“But Angel had a manual.”
“The manual is crap! How her team used it to attach the program to the tables, I haven’t a clue, but it shouldn’t have been possible.”
“What exactly was its purpose?” Hamilton asked.
“It’s a doomsday program, only activated under the scenario that the facility had been taken over by an enemy and they have altered all codes and access to the facility. The program would enable us to wipe out Black Hole before they could use or copy it. It also opens every door in this place and prevents relocking, enabling us to reclaim the facility.”
Hamilton pushed himself up from the chair. “And you knew this?”
“Not until five minutes ago when I reported to my superior we were under attack at every entry.” He paused. “That in itself is a red flag, because several of those entries are top secret.”
“When I asked if this could be related to the MSOP program which no one would admit to, he insisted it couldn’t be, because only five people were even aware of its existence.”
“Was Max one of them?”
Braddock nodded.
Hamilton smiled. “Well, thanks to Angel and her team, Max played his hand and lost.” He turned to her. “I will need documentation that Max activated the program. And test the other programs to see if he did anything else.”
She nodded and stood.
Braddock stepped forward. “I want to watch as they assess the program. I wish to be intimately involved in the details when I report further up my chain.”
“And I don’t?” Hamilton challenged.
“I didn’t say that. If you wish to watch them work from within the lab, come join me.”
Angel hoped to God he didn’t. Having Braddock looming over them would be bad enough.
“I’ll watch from here,” Hamilton finally replied. “I will want to see your final report.”
Braddock nodded and pulled Angel from the room.
As they hurried to the lab, he spoke. “I owe you a great debt. Had you not insisted on preparing for a ridiculous ‘what if’ scenario, Max would have discovered the trap and never pulled the trigger.”
She tugged at his grip which was hurting her arm. He released her entirely. “Sorry. It’s been a hellish day. You’ve no idea how shocking it is to see men you’ve trained trying to break into the facility. Fortunately, I was able to patch my supervisor in and get him to order everyone to stand down.”
Angel shook her head in dismay. What was Max thinking? But she knew what he was thinking. If he proved Hamilton’s ‘soft’ approach made the facility vulnerable, then he could get reinstated and reinsert his sadistic protocols.
Still, shouldn’t the other four men-in-the-know objected to him using a secret weapon to achieve his goal? Yet, how would anyone know he triggered MSOP? The only reason she knew was because of the alarms that rang on her computer.
When Braddock and she entered the room, Sinclair and Leon were both seated at her computer. Leon looked at her. “You’re not going to believe this, but despite all that ringing, these tables are showing no data.”
Sinclair added, “I don’t see how that’s possible, unless these tables are a front of some sort.”
She touched her nose and pointed at him. She then looked at Braddock. He shook his head slightly.
“What I need documented from each of you is the program you used to attach to those
tables, a simple explanation of what it was meant to do, and the videos proving no dinging during the test verses what happened after Angel hit the link requested.”
Both men relaxed. His request was not only doable, but remarkably easy to provide.
He then looked at Scott. “Any changes made to the other data?”
Scott ran his hands through his hair. “It’s crazy how much he hit. The fake Black Hole indicates three attempts were made to enter through the backdoor you recently closed. Also, the fake backup storage received a complete rewrite order.”
“Which means?”
“If this had been done on the real system, Black Hole would no longer exist, unless there’s a copy held somewhere else.”
Braddock sighed. “Document that.”
Scott scowled. “We’re documenting everything.”
Bob looked up. “It altered a code in the facility security system changing ‘door locked’ to ‘door open.’ Then it triggered a total lockdown. The result would have been all doors would open upon lockdown, and even if you tried to override and lock doors manually, you’d just keep opening doors. Damn clever trick: simple and effective.”
“What if I had ordered doors open?”
“That command strand wasn’t affected. Your only choices would have been doors open and doors open.”
Braddock’s forehead furrowed deeper. He was looking a bit like an angry shar pei dog.
He sat down at the table, now realizing the magnitude of the damage that could have occurred. “What else?”
Cole reported next. “He activated something in the ventilation system, but I’m not sure what, because on the specs I’m looking at, there shouldn’t have been anything there. You should probably send someone to investigate our duct works.”
“I will. Can I see what he activated?”
“It only says “S1.”
“The code he altered for the South section of the Facility says ‘S3,’” Davis added and pointed to the section, so he could see.
Braddock’s eyes hardened, and his jaw twitched in anger, then he glanced at Angel.
She recalled the monitors label for Tom’s room had been S3-146. Dear God. Had Max just tried to kill Tom and her boys? She wanted to tell herself he wouldn’t have known their location, but she was certain Derrick was one of his spies.
Which meant he intended to kill her boys. Why? To punish her because she continued to help Hamilton?
Could he actually do that? His biological son was safe in her rooms. Only Steve’s and Tom’s boys…and Derrick’s son would have died with Tom. Would Max really kill the son of a man who spied for him? Maybe her suspicions were wrong. Maybe Derrick had refused to help him.
Dear God! What type of monster had she married?
Suddenly Braddock was kneeling beside her. “Angel, you okay?”
She wasn’t, but how did he know?
His thumb wiped across her cheek.
Ah…she’d been crying.
“Davenport, I’m taking Angel back to her room, stay here.”
“I’ll take her if you want,” Davenport offered.
Braddock looked ready to refuse his offer but glanced at the guys.
Angel wrote on her pad. I’d rather stay here and help. I need my mind focused on facts.
He stroked her hair. “All right. Then get back to work.”
She moved to her team, checking what each was working on, so she wouldn’t duplicate their work. She wrote down the program she intended to work on and let them each know.
Sinclair crossed the program off his list and smiled at her in silent appreciation.
She loved working with these guys.
She was running the sanitation program and did not expect any changes. But oddly, two new data points had occurred. She located the manual to understand what had occurred. A sewage gate had been opened and a pump activated. She rolled her chair beside Sinclair‘s chair since he had the infrastructure map.
She wrote what she was looking for. It turned out to be in the proximity to what Sinclair was studying.
Braddock moved in behind them. “What’s up?”
Sinclair pointed to the sewer gate and his air-conditioning valve. “What would be flowing in these?”
Braddock frowned. “Ammonia in the A/C pipe. I’m not sure what would have been in the sewerage line. I’ll check.”
He pulled out his phone and called someone. Whatever the answer to his question was, it pissed him off. He grabbed the map and walked further down while speaking to someone on the phone.
“If all doors were open how far would the kill zone be?” He softly cursed at whatever the answer had been, closed his phone, and returned the map to them.
“Document this. This A/C contains ammonia and this sanitation line carries bleach for the water purification process.”
Angel covered her face. Dear God, was there no end to the extent of Max’s revenge.
Sinclair studied the map. “The two combined would create a deadly gas. How much bleach and ammonia are we talking about?”
“With all doors open? Enough to kill everyone within this facility. That’s over a thousand people.”
But that made no sense. Why would Max use a different method to kill Tom and the boys? She wrote her question on her pad.
“Tom is in a hermetically sealed section. There are no overriding commands to open or close doors there and due to low air pressure within the rooms, a door will never open on its own.”
Braddock’s anger quickly focused to Davenport. “Given the value of Angel, not even Max would intend to kill her. So, exactly how were you expected to save her, Davenport?”
Angel stood up in shock and faced Davenport as well. At first, she had intended to come to his defense, but she froze upon sight of his reaction. His stance was military rigid and stoic, but his eyes held pain.
“I was under orders by General Thomas to ensure Asset Brown wore a gas mask. Thankfully, that situation did not play out as planned.”
“General Thomas?”
“Yes, sir. I deeply regret my part in this mission. I did not volunteer for this job, sir. I was ordered, and I obey orders of my generals, even bad ones.”
“And what were your orders?”
“To remain alert and protect Angel at all cost.”
“Specifically, what were your orders!” Braddock barked.
“I was told no details, only to pay close attention to the doors. When all doors remained in open status, this would indicate the facility had been breached. I was to place gas masks both on myself and Angel, then remove her through security hall N46.”
“And my boys?” Angel asked, trying not to move her mouth more than necessary.
“I had no instructions on the boys. However, I knew you would never voluntarily leave without them, so I had always planned to take them as well, only you sent them to Tom.”
She recalled Davenport’s sadness when she talked about Tom returning to her. “You knew Tom would die.”
With eyes closed and jaw clinched, he seemed to be in an internal battle with his emotions. Finally, he responded. “I am a soldier, Angel. I follow orders.”
“Who else in here is following the general’s orders?” Braddock demanded.
“I do not know, sir.”
“We’ll see about that.” Braddock called security. “Secure Black Hole.” He then refocused on Davenport. “I would have never selected you, if not for that damn profile on Angel. I thought I needed a specialist to handle her. So, I took you, warts and all.”
Davenport’s military stance stiffened even further. “I wish you hadn’t, sir. I wanted no part of this.”
Angel sat down before her legs gave out. She believed every word Davenport said. But she had also believed he and Tom were friends, and that he liked and admired Braddock.
How was it she could detect a lie in numbers so easily, but continuously be wrong about men?
Unable to think about her betrayals, she looked on Leon’s list of programs y
et to be done, asked for one, and returned to her station to work.
“We need Tom back,” Sinclair stated, and the other men agreed. “I’m not keen about being watched by soldiers any more. They seem to think I’m expendable.”
Leon glared at Davenport. “I’m glad you planned to save Angel, but I’m guessing that means you planned to leave us to die. And what really pisses me off is this wasn’t even a real terrorist threat. It was an internal fight between eggheads. And I don’t appreciate dying for a pissing contest.”
The guys agreed loudly with that.
Braddock held out his hand. “Settle down. Dissension would suit the side that tried to kill you just fine. The fact is, Angel and you guys proved smarter than they were. You won. This country won, because Angel isn’t even close to being the only valuable asset in this facility.”
Angel turned and nodded in agreement. She wasn’t even close.
Chapter 22
An hour later, Leon looked up at the sound of the door opening.
“Well, I’ll be damned!”
Angel glanced up and squeaked in happiness as she rushed into Tom’s arms…strong, muscular arms. He felt wonderful!
“God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered and then spoke to the guys over her shoulder. “I’ve missed you guys as well, just not in the same way.”
They chuckled and nodded, waiting a moment before greeting Tom with handshakes and man-hugs.
Braddock tugged Angel from his arms and led her to the corner. “Your boys are back home. Kelly and Maria are watching them, but they really want to see you.”
She pressed her hand to his chest. He had done this for her.
“Hamilton and I both agreed it was time to bring Tom back in. The positives outweighed the negatives.”
She never believed the weights had ever tilted differently, but that was water under the bridge.
“What about Davenport?’
“He’s cooperating. His testimony along with the evidence your team is compiling will hopefully retire one bad general.”
“And Max?”
“The bastard should spend the rest of his life in jail, but I doubt he will. Max has too many connections.”
A Better Life Page 22