Never Say Spy (12 page)

“No,” he replied.  “If you cooperate with us to figure out what’s happening here, you may be able to escape charges.”

Charges.  Jail.

Bars rose around me again, and I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, willing them away.  When I opened my eyes again, Sandler and Smith were peering at me with curiosity.

“Never mind,” I told them, and walked away down the corridor.

Okay, look for files.  Where would they be stored?  I studied the featureless corridors.  I needed some signs.

Obligingly, signs appeared on the walls, and I smiled.  Just like the Enterprise’s guidance panels.

“What files do you want me to look for?” I asked.

“Keep it simple.  See if you can access my personnel file,” Kane advised, and the other two nodded agreement.

“Take me to Personnel Files,” I addressed the panel on the corridor wall.

A blue directional light appeared in the floor in front of me, receding down the corridor.  As I followed it, I heard Smith’s quiet voice behind me.

“Oh, crap.”

The light guided me through a maze of corridors and a couple of firewalls, the men following behind me in silence.  The trail ended at a door marked ‘Personnel Files’.  How helpful.

I turned to my rapt audience.  “Do I go in?”

They nodded as one, and I opened the virtual door to step into a room full of tabbed files on shelves.  I found my way to the ‘K’ aisle, and reached up to pull ‘Kane, John’ from the shelf.  I handed the folder to Kane.

“I have to know if you can open it and read it,” Smith said.

Kane handed me back the folder, and I opened it.  “Kane, John Wyatt,” I read.  “Mother, Ellen Ann Yates.  Father, Douglas Anson Kane.”  I scanned down the file, idly noting he was two years older than me.  There were a lot of military-looking records and a long list of medals and commendations.

“I can read the whole thing, no problem,” I said.  “Should I read the rest?”

“No.”

I closed the file and handed it back.  “Let’s get out of here.”

The others nodded wordlessly, and I waved my hand to bring back the holodeck.  I went straight to the door, swooshed it open, and stepped through.

This time I was expecting the pain.  It didn’t help.

“Aaah!  God... dammit...  Son of a...” I locked my hands around my skull and rocked back and forth with my eyes screwed shut, breathing heavily through my clenched teeth.

When the pain subsided, I squinted my eyes open.  The five men watched me warily.

“Full access,” Smith muttered.  “How did she
do
that?”

Sandler rounded on him.  “I thought you said the network security was foolproof.  Two-factor authentication, and even then access is only possible through the portal interstices with the aid of a brainwave frequency modulator.”

“As I reminded you when we discussed the initial design spec,” Smith responded caustically, “…the algorithm modulates the frequency to a specific band, which still falls within a normal range of human alpha waves.  I told you from the beginning that some individuals may naturally use that range.  Ms. Kelly is clearly one of them.”

“English, please,” Kane demanded.

Spider spoke up.  “Aydan can match up with the portal’s frequency naturally.  Her brainwaves just happen to fall into the right range.  But she still shouldn’t be able to get access without a login and a specially-generated password.”

“Besides, I could get into it from outside, too.  Don’t you have some sort of physical security?” I asked.  “You’re just broadcasting this network out into space?”

“No, of course we have shielding and jamming devices,” Smith replied condescendingly.  “The network is fully enclosed in this secured building.  Which brings us to the next question.  How did you get into the building?”

“I didn’t!  I told you, I was out on the sidewalk.  Check your building security tapes.  Today is the first time I’ve ever been inside this building.”

Sandler gave a patronizing chuckle.  “We have advanced in our monitoring procedures somewhat beyond magnetic tapes.”

Spider’s fingers were already racing over his keyboard.  “Facial recognition…” he muttered.  “Correlate with log data and search…”  There was a short pause.  No one spoke.

“She’s telling the truth,” Spider said at last.  “The only record of her being anywhere in the building is today.”

“That’s not p…” Smith bit off his denial.  “Let’s go outside,” he said instead.

“Connor; Webb; stay here and monitor,” Kane commanded.  “Let’s go.”

We trooped downstairs to the main lobby.  “Taking our fobs out to the sidewalk for a few minutes,” Kane told the security guard.

The man looked startled.  “That’s a policy violation…” he began.

“I authorize it,” Sandler said, and the man nodded, placated.

An alarm squealed behind us when we stepped out of the building.

“Ignore it,” Sandler said.  “It triggers if a fob is removed from the building.”

“Where were you when you fell?” Kane asked.

I walked down the street about fifty yards and stood in front of the ice cream shop.  “Here.”

“Try the network.”

I concentrated.  Nothing happened.

I altered my breathing, slow and deep, focusing on my garage.  The three men watched me, hands on their security fobs.

“I can’t get in,” I admitted at last.

“Ha!” Smith barked.  “I told you it wasn’t possible.”

We retraced our steps back inside the building and up to the boardroom in silence.

I racked my brain.  What could have changed?  Why did I get into the portal effortlessly from outside the building on Thursday, but not now?  How could I convince them I wasn’t lying?

Spider and Connor looked up from the monitor as we re-entered the meeting room.  “Nothing in the portal,” Connor said with obvious relief.

Wait a minute.  Connor.  Paramedic.

“You said you had jamming devices to contain the network,” I ventured.  “Could those devices fail?  Or be compromised for a short time?”

“Of course not.  They’re on a UPS,” Smith replied as if addressing a simpleton.  “And even if there was an interruption, it would appear in the security event log.”

I noticed Kane watching me while I watched Connor.  Connor looked distinctly nervous.

“Could you check the logs for Thursday?” I asked.  “Because I don’t think I was the only one who accessed the network from outside the building that day.”

Kane followed my gaze to Connor.  “That’s right, you appeared in the portal’s data log, too, Connor.  In fact,” he paused in thought.  “Webb, show us that record again.”

I sighed audibly, massaging my forehead.  “We don’t need the whole thing,” Kane said mercifully.  “Just the first few seconds.”

I averted my eyes while the video ran again.

“Freeze it.  There.”  Kane pointed to the screen.  In the frozen frame, I was staring at the smear of blood on my fingertips, looking puzzled.

He addressed Connor.  “Aydan entered the network
after
she fell.  She was already injured, lying on the sidewalk outside the building.  You came into the portal to retrieve her, so you must have known she was in the portal when you found her on the sidewalk.  So what really happened?”

Connor’s eyes darted sideways.  “I, uh… slipped out for a smoke.  I forgot I had my fob.”

Kane’s gaze sharpened.  “You forgot.  And you didn’t remember when the alarm went off.”

Connor’s face paled.  “Um… I didn’t go out through the front door,” he muttered, not meeting Kane’s eyes.

“Where did you go out?”

“Through the fire exit at the side.”

Sandler leaned forward in his chair.  “The side fire exit is alarmed.  The alarm will sound if the door is opened for any reason.”

“I… disabled it,” Connor whispered.

The tense silence around the table made me feel sorry for the young man.  He had helped me even though he hadn’t been on duty as a paramedic, and now it had landed him in trouble.

“Why did you disable it?” Sandler barked.

Connor shifted in his chair, his gaze slipping up to the corner of the room.  “It was just such a pain to have to go down and turn in my fob each time and then sign for it when I came back in.  I was just trying to save time and be more productive.  I didn’t mean any harm, and I kept my fob hidden so it would be safe.”

“You were surely aware that you were committing a serious policy breach,” Sandler admonished.  “Those policies exist to safeguard our security.”

It looked like the beginning of a long lecture, and Kane broke in.  “Let’s focus on the issue at hand.  Did you access the network from outside the building?”

“Yes…”  Connor hesitated.  “I didn’t even think about it at the time.  I was around the side of the building having a smoke, and I saw Ms. Kelly fall and then she just lay there.  I knew she’d hit her head.  I called the hospital to send the ambulance, and then I ran over.  She had her eyes open, but she had that thousand-yard stare, you know?  I knew right away she was in the network, so I went in after her.  And then I had to ride along to tell Dr. Roth to put her in B Wing.  The paramedics on duty wouldn’t have known, and I couldn’t disclose anything because they weren’t Sirius employees.”

There was B wing again.  “What’s so special about B Wing?” I asked.  “I heard you mention it at the hospital, and when I asked Linda about it, she blew me off.”

“Classified,” Sandler snapped.

Kane brought us back to the point again.  “So the jamming system had to have been disabled.”

Smith appropriated Spider’s laptop and typed rapidly with two fingers.  He looked up after a few moments.  “The security event log shows a ten-minute interruption in the power to the jamming devices at 12:30 on Thursday.  Why was this missed?  This was your responsibility, Mike!”

“I checked the logs as soon as I got back from the hospital,” Connor defended himself.  “I found the log entry, and I checked over the entire system from the electrical riser to the wall current, through the UPS to the jammers.  Everything was operating normally.  No sign of trouble.  And there hasn’t been another interruption since.”

“But you didn’t report it,” Kane said.

“It looked harmless,” Connor whispered.

“And you needed to cover your ass, didn’t you?”  Kane’s voice was edged.  “And a suspected terrorist was able to access the system undetected, until now.”  Catching my look of panic, he added, “Samir Ramos, not you, Aydan.”

He pinned Connor to his seat with a hard look.  “And as a result of your actions, Aydan’s life was endangered and she was wounded when Ramos attempted to abduct her at gunpoint.”

Connor’s face was ashen.  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Kane ran his hand wearily over his eyes.  “Sorry doesn’t cut it.  If this had gone unnoticed…”    He shook his head.  “I need to review what we’ve discovered to date.  I’ll talk to you again later.  Don’t leave town.”

Sandler regarded the young man coldly.  “You can expect disciplinary action.  I will escort you down to security to turn in your fob.  We will discuss this in detail tomorrow morning.”

He turned to Kane.  “This does not, however, explain Ms. Kelly’s ability to browse freely through our secured…
supposedly
secured network.  We will discuss this tomorrow, also.  Keep us up to date with your findings.  Michael, come.”  He turned and left the room with Connor trailing meekly behind him.  Smith got up and left, too.

“Does this mean you believe me?” I asked tentatively.

“Your story is beginning to sound more convincing.  I still need more information.”  Kane picked up the telephone, then paused and shot me a stern look.  “Stay here.  Out of the network.”

I sighed.  “Talk to me, Spider.”

Kane made several calls.  At last he hung up the phone and turned back to us in time to interrupt Spider’s lengthy exposition of the plot of ‘Jane Eyre’.  Thank God.

“Warrants are on the way,” Kane informed us.  “Wheeler and Germain should be here in half an hour or so.  Webb, get a copy of a standard non-disclosure agreement for Aydan to sign.  I’ll take over babysitting duty.”

“I want out of here so much,” I said.  “I just want to go home.”

Kane shook his head.  “Not so fast.  You don’t think I’m going to let you back into your house before we search it, do you?”

I stared at him, horrified.  “But that’ll take hours!  I’m starving!  Oh, please tell me I don’t have to sit in here all that time trying not to think!”

“No, we all need to eat, and I don’t want you within striking distance of this network for any longer than absolutely necessary.”  He exhaled tiredly.  “I wish I knew if you’re telling the truth about not being able to access the network from outside the building.”

I straightened with indignation.  “Of course I am!  I haven’t lied to you!”

“Except that you didn’t tell me where you’d seen Ramos in the first place,” he said quietly.

“That was omission, not lie.  I didn’t know what to tell you.  As far as I knew, I’d been having a private fantasy.  When Ramos showed up in the flesh, I didn’t know what was happening.  I thought maybe I’d seen him earlier and then dreamed him, or something.  Would it have helped if I’d told you then?”

“No, probably not,” he admitted.  “But it’s still suspicious that you looked so friendly with him.”

I dropped my head into my hands.  “Haven’t you ever had a fantasy where you get to skip all the preliminary bullshit and just get laid?” I mumbled.

When I looked up, he was regarding me with an unreadable expression.  “Rhetorical question,” I added as heat rose in my face again.

Spider returned with the paperwork, and I signed my life away.  “Can we go now?” I pleaded.

“Yes.”