Midnight Sun (106 page)

“
O
kay,” Hogan
said
,
“w
hy
is
this
important
to
the
Undersecretary
for
Terrorism
Interdiction
,
Andy?
”

“
Ah,
yeah,
”
Andy
said
.
“
The
point
is
that
it
has
nothing
to
do
with
the
original
intent
of
the
poem.
These
were
siphoned
from
an
account
used
by
someone
on
our
watch
list,
one
Steven
Farrah.
”

“
The
guy
Hilde called about
from
Alaska.
”

“
The
one
and
only
,” Andy replied.

Hogan looked back at the pages and reread them more seriously. Rubbing the late
-
afternoon stubble on his chin
,
he muttered, “
And
you
think
it
’
s
a
coded
message.
”

“
That
’
s
where
my
brain
is
taking
me.
”

Hogan
pressed into the wrinkles that creased the middle of
his
forehead
with
the
tips
of
his
fingers,
smoothing
out
deep
furrows
that bounced back as soon as he moved his hand
.
He
was
only
forty-six
,
but
he
felt
old.

Fleiss
continued,
“
They
came
from
another
person
and
were
sent
to
him
. T
hat
person
is
anonymous
—we
can
’
t
figure
out
who
they
are.
”

“
What
do
you
mean
,
anonymous?
We
’
re
the
FBI
—s
upposedly
we
can
find
out
anything
we
damn
well
want.
”

“
Not
in
this
case,
”
Andy
replied.
“
Whoever
created
the
sending
account
[email protected]
did
a
really
good
job
covering
their
tracks.
I
even
tried
getting
Google
’
s
help,
but
they
got
me
no
further
than
I
did
on
my
own.
”

“
How
about
location
? D
o
we
know
if
it
came
in
from
Alaska
,
or
was
it
sent
there
from
somewhere
else?
”

“
The
message
pinged
off
a
server
in
Anchorage,
but
some
of
the
links
in
the
trace
route
indicate
it
may
have
been
proxied
from
an
rdp
session
that
could
be
hosted
from
a
client
just
about
anyw
h
ere
on
the
interwebs.
”

Paul
gave
Andy
a
stern
look
.
“
English,
Dr. Geek.”

Andy
shrugged
.
“
Sorry.
Short
answer
is,
I
don
’
t
think
so.
I
think
it
came
from
somewhere
else,
but
they
tried
to
make
it
look
like
it
came
from
Alaska.
”

“
What
do
you
think
it
means?
”

“
Probably
an
attack
being
set
up,
” Andy said. “
I
’
ve
been
thinking
about
that
,
and
my
first
impression
is
revenge.
It
might
also
be
a
person
who
didn
’
t
want
to
do
it
,
but
feels
forced
into
a
corner.
”

Paul
rose
from
behind
his
desk
and
paced
toward
the
wall.

“
Hilde
said
Kharzai
was
there.
”

“
You
think
this
could
be
from
him?
”

“
He
sent
me
an
email
once
before,
during
the
Ohio
bomb
scare.
It's
what
tipped
us
off
to
the
bad
guy's
plans.
Maybe
this
is
another
attempt
at
a
warning
from
him.
”