Digital Fortress Chapter 15

Susan Fletcher sat at her reckoner terminal inside client 3. thickener 3 was the cryptographers private, soundproofed chamber fitting off the main floor. A two-inch sheet of paper of curved one-way glass gave the cryptographers a panorama of the Crypto floor while prohibiting anyone else from eyesight inside.At the back of the expansive inspissation 3 chamber, twelve terminals sat in a perfect circle. The annular governance was mean to encourage intellectual transfigure between cryptographers, to remind them they were part of a larger team-something corresponding a code-breakers Knights of the wheel Table. Ironically, secrets were frowned on inside Node 3.Nicknamed the Playpen, Node 3 had none of the sterile olfaction of the rest of Crypto. It was designed to feel desire home-plush carpets, high-tech sound system, fully stocked with fridge, kitchenette, a Nerf basketball hoop. The NSA had a ism about Crypto Dont drop a mate billion bucks into a code-breaking reckone r without stimulate the dress hat of the best to stick approximately and use it.Susan slipped out of her Salvatore Ferragamo flats and dug her unshoed toes into the thick pile carpet. Well-paid government employees were boost to refrain from lavish displays of personal wealth. It was normally no problem for Susan-she was perfectly expert with her modest duplex, Volvo sedan, and conservative wardrobe. But blank space were another matter. Even when Susan was in college, shed budgeted for the best.You cant get down for the stars if your feet hurt, her aunt had once told her. And when you get where youre going, you razz well better look abundantSusan allowed herself a luxurious stretch and whence(prenominal) settled down to business. She pulled up her tracer bullet and prepared to configure it. She glanced at the email address Strathmore had given her.email protectedThe man vocation himself northerly Dakota had an anonymous account, but Susan knew it would not remain ano nymous for long. The tracer would blend in through ARA, get forwarded to northernmost Dakota, and then send information back containing the mans documentary Internet address.If all went well, it would locate North Dakota soon, and Strathmore could confiscate the pass-key. That would leave only David. When he found Tankados copy, both pass-keys could be undone Tankados little measure bomb would be harmless, a deadly explosive without a detonator. Susan double-checked the address on the sheet in front of her and entered the information in the purify data field. She chuckled that Strathmore had encountered difficulty sending the tracer himself. Apparently hed sent it twice, both generation receiving Tankados address back rather than North Dakotas. It was a simple mistake, Susan thought Strathmore had credibly interchanged the data fields, and the tracer had searched for the wrong account.Susan accurate configuring her tracer and queued it for release. Then she hit return. The c omputer beeped once.TRACER SENT.Now came the waiting game.Susan exhaled. She mat up guilty for having been hard on the commander. If in that location was anyone qualified to handle this threat single-handed, it was Trevor Strathmore. He had an uncanny way of getting the best of all those who challenged him.Six months ago, when the EFF stone-broke a story that an NSA submarine was snooping underwater telephone cables, Strathmore calmly leaked a unlike story that the submarine was actually illegitimately burying toxic waste. The EFF and the nautical environmentalists spent so much time bickering over which version was true, the media ultimately tired of the story and moved on. all move Strathmore made was meticulously planned. He depended heavily on his computer when invent and revising his plans. Like many NSA employees, Strathmore use NSA-developed software called BrainStorm-a risk-free way to keep out what-if scenarios in the safety of a computer.BrainStorm was an artific ial intelligence sample described by its developers as a Cause Effect Simulator. It originally had been intended for use in governmental campaigns as a way to create real-time models of a given political environment. federal official by enormous amounts of data, the program created a relationary web-a hypothesized model of interaction between political variables, including current prominent figures, their staffs, their personal ties to all(prenominal) other, hot issues, individuals motivations weighted by variables like sex, ethnicity, money, and power. The user could then enter any hypothetical event and BrainStorm would signal the events effect on the environment.Commander Strathmore worked religiously with BrainStorm-not for political purposes, but as a TFM device Time-Line, Flowchart, Mapping software was a powerful as well asl for outlining complex strategies and predicting weaknesses. Susan guess there were schemes hidden in Strathmores computer that someday would chang e the world.Yes, Susan thought, I was too hard on him.Her thoughts were jarred by the flop of the Node 3 doors.Strathmore burst in. Susan, he said. David just called. Theres been a setback.