Descripción: otra obra de Dan Brown , esta vez la historia se desarrolla en un laboratorio
The Acra or Akra (Hebrew: חקרא or חקרה, Ancient Greek: Ἄκρα) was a fortified compound in Jerusalem built by Antiochus Epiphanes, ruler of the Seleucid Empire, following his sack of the city…Descripción completa
Resumen de las ideas de Brown, para procesos psicosociales básicos.Descripción completa
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mentalismoDescrição completa
Piano arrangement of Golden BrownFull description
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B-17 , FLYING FORTRESS , PAPERMODEL , PAPER MODEL
Dan Brown Digital Fortress
Dan Brown Digital Fortress For my parents… my mentors and heroes heroes
A debt of gratitude: to my editors at St. Martin’s Martin’s Press, Thomas Dunne and the exeptiona!!y ta!ented Me!issa "aobs. To my agents in #e$ %or&, %or&, 'eorge (ieser, (ieser, )!ga (ieser, (ieser, and "a&e *!$e!!. To a!! those $ho read and ontributed to the manusript a!ong the $ay. And espeia!!y to my $ife, +!ythe, for her enthusiasm and patiene.
A!so… a uiet than& you to the t$o fae!ess ex- #SA ryptographers $ho made ina!uab!e ina!uab!e ontributions ontributions ia anonymous anonymous remai!ers. remai!ers. (ithout them this boo& $ou!d not hae been $ritten.
Prologue P!a/a de *spa0a Sei!!e, Spain 11:22 A.M. A.M .
It is said that in death, all things become clear; Ensei Tankado now knew it was true. As he clutched his chest and fell to the ground in pain, he realized the horror of his mistake. People appeared, hovering over him, tring to help. !ut Tankado Tankado did not want help"it was too late for that. Trembling, he raised his left hand and held his fingers outward. 3oo& at my hand4 The faces around him stared, but he could tell the did not understand. #n his finger was an engraved golden ring. $or an instant, the markings glimmered in the Andalusian sun. Ensei Tankado knew it was the last light he would ever see. Chapter 1 The were in the smok mountains at their favorite bed%and%breakfast. &avid was smiling down at her. '(hat do ou sa, gorgeous) *arr me)+ ooking up from their canop bed, she knew he was the one. $orever. As she stared into his deep%green ees, somewhere somewhere in the distance a deafening bell began to ring. It was pulling him awa. -he reached for him, but her arms clutched empt air. It was the sound of the phone that full full awoke -usan $letcher from her dream. -he gasped, sat up in bed, and fumbled for the receiver. 'ello)+ '-usan, it/s &avid. &id I wake ou)+ -he smiled, rolling over in bed. 'I was 0ust dreaming of ou. 1ome over and pla.+ pla.+ e laughed. 'It/s still dark out.+ '*mm.+ '*mm.+ -he moaned sensuous sensuousl l.. 'Then 'Then definite!y come over over and pla. pla. (e (e can sleep sleep in before we head head north.+ &avid let out a frustrated sigh. 'That/s wh I/m calling. It/s about our trip. I/ve got to postpone.+ -usan was suddenl wide awake. '(hat2+ 'I/m sorr. I/ve got to leave town. I/ll be back b tomorrow. (e (e can head up first thing in the morning. (e/ll still have two das.+ '!ut I made reservations,+ -usan said, hurt. 'I got our old room at -tone *anor.+ *anor.+ 'I know, but"+ 'Toni 'Tonight ght wa wass suppo supposed sed to be speia! "to celebrate celebrate si3 months. 4ou 4ou do remember we/re engaged, don/t ou)+ '-usan.+ e sighed. 'I reall can/t go into it now, the/ve got a car waiting. I/ll call ou from the plane and e3plain everthing.+ 5P!ane67 she repeated. '(hat/s going on) (h would the universit5)+ 'It/s not the universit. I/ll phone and e3plain later. I/ve reall got to go; the/re calling for me. I/ll be in touch. I promise.+ '&avid2+ she cried. '(hat/s"+ '(hat/s"+ !ut it was too late. &avid had hung up. -usan $letcher la awake for hours waiting for him to call back. The phone never never rang. ***
A!so… a uiet than& you to the t$o fae!ess ex- #SA ryptographers $ho made ina!uab!e ina!uab!e ontributions ontributions ia anonymous anonymous remai!ers. remai!ers. (ithout them this boo& $ou!d not hae been $ritten.
Prologue P!a/a de *spa0a Sei!!e, Spain 11:22 A.M. A.M .
It is said that in death, all things become clear; Ensei Tankado now knew it was true. As he clutched his chest and fell to the ground in pain, he realized the horror of his mistake. People appeared, hovering over him, tring to help. !ut Tankado Tankado did not want help"it was too late for that. Trembling, he raised his left hand and held his fingers outward. 3oo& at my hand4 The faces around him stared, but he could tell the did not understand. #n his finger was an engraved golden ring. $or an instant, the markings glimmered in the Andalusian sun. Ensei Tankado knew it was the last light he would ever see. Chapter 1 The were in the smok mountains at their favorite bed%and%breakfast. &avid was smiling down at her. '(hat do ou sa, gorgeous) *arr me)+ ooking up from their canop bed, she knew he was the one. $orever. As she stared into his deep%green ees, somewhere somewhere in the distance a deafening bell began to ring. It was pulling him awa. -he reached for him, but her arms clutched empt air. It was the sound of the phone that full full awoke -usan $letcher from her dream. -he gasped, sat up in bed, and fumbled for the receiver. 'ello)+ '-usan, it/s &avid. &id I wake ou)+ -he smiled, rolling over in bed. 'I was 0ust dreaming of ou. 1ome over and pla.+ pla.+ e laughed. 'It/s still dark out.+ '*mm.+ '*mm.+ -he moaned sensuous sensuousl l.. 'Then 'Then definite!y come over over and pla. pla. (e (e can sleep sleep in before we head head north.+ &avid let out a frustrated sigh. 'That/s wh I/m calling. It/s about our trip. I/ve got to postpone.+ -usan was suddenl wide awake. '(hat2+ 'I/m sorr. I/ve got to leave town. I/ll be back b tomorrow. (e (e can head up first thing in the morning. (e/ll still have two das.+ '!ut I made reservations,+ -usan said, hurt. 'I got our old room at -tone *anor.+ *anor.+ 'I know, but"+ 'Toni 'Tonight ght wa wass suppo supposed sed to be speia! "to celebrate celebrate si3 months. 4ou 4ou do remember we/re engaged, don/t ou)+ '-usan.+ e sighed. 'I reall can/t go into it now, the/ve got a car waiting. I/ll call ou from the plane and e3plain everthing.+ 5P!ane67 she repeated. '(hat/s going on) (h would the universit5)+ 'It/s not the universit. I/ll phone and e3plain later. I/ve reall got to go; the/re calling for me. I/ll be in touch. I promise.+ '&avid2+ she cried. '(hat/s"+ '(hat/s"+ !ut it was too late. &avid had hung up. -usan $letcher la awake for hours waiting for him to call back. The phone never never rang. ***
ater that afternoon -usan sat de0ected in the tub. -he submerged herself in the soap water and tried to forget -tone *anor and the -mok *ountains. (here ou!d he be6 she wondered. (hy hasn’t he a!!ed6
6raduall the water around her went from hot to lukewarm and finall to cold. -he was about to get out when her cordless phone buzzed to life. -usan bolted upright, sloshing water on the floor as she grappled for the receiver she/d left on the sink. '&avid)+ 'It/s -trathmore,+ the voice replied. -usan -usan slumpe slumped. d. '# '#h.+ h.+ -he was una unable ble to hide hide her disapp disappoin ointme tment. nt. '6o '6ood od aftern afternoon oon,, 1ommander.+ 'oping for a ounger man)+ The voice chuckled. '7o, sir,+ -usan said, embarrassed. 'It/s not how it"+ '-ure it is.+ e laughed. '&avid !ecker/s a good man. &on/t ever lose him.+ 'Thank ou, sir.+ The commander/s voice turned suddenl stern. '-usan, I/m calling because I need ou in here. Pronto.+ -he tried to focus. 'It/s -aturda, sir. (e don/t usuall"+ 'I know,+ he said calml. 'It/s an emergenc.+ -usan sat up. *mergeny6 -he had never heard the word cross 1ommander -trathmore/s lips. An emergeny6 8n 9rypto6 -he couldn/t imagine. '4%es, sir.+ -he paused. 'I/ll be there as soon as I can.+ '*ake it sooner.+ -trathmore hung up. *** -usan $letcher stood wrapped in a towel and dripped on the neatl folded clothes she/d set out the night before"hiking shorts, a sweater for the cool mountain evenings, and the new lingerie she/d she/d bought for the nights. &epresse &epressed, d, she went to her closet closet for a clean blouse and skirt. An emergeny6 8n 9rypto6
As she went downstairs, -usan wondered how the da could get much worse. -he was about to find out. Chapter 2 Thirt thousand feet above a dead%calm ocean, &avid !ecker stared miserabl from the ear0et 89/s small, oval window. e/d been told the phone on board was out of order, and he/d never had a chance to call -usan. '(hat am I doing here)+ he grumbled to himself. !ut the answer was simple"there were men to whom ou 0ust didn/t sa no. '*r. !ecker,+ the loudspeaker crackled. '(e/ll be arriving in half an hour.+ !ecker !ecker nodd nodded ed gloomil to the invisible invisible voice. voice. (onderfu!. e pulled the shade and tried to sleep. !ut he could onl think of her. Chapter 3 -usan/s :olvo sedan rolled to a stop in the shadow of the ten%foot%high, barbed 1clone fence. A oung guard placed his hand on the roof. 'I&, please.+
-usan obliged and settled in for the usual half%minute wait. The officer ran her card through a computerized scanner. $inall he looked up. 'Thank ou, *s. $letcher.+ e gave an imperceptible sign, and the gate swung open. alf a mile ahead -usan repeated the entire procedure at an euall imposing electrified fence. 9ome on, guys… 8’e on!y been through here a mi!!ion times. As she approached the final checkpoint, a stock sentr with two attack dogs and a machine gun glanced down at her license plate and waved her through. -he followed 1anine 9 ards and pulled into Emploee ot 1. nbe!ieab!e, she thought. T$enty-six thousand emp!oyees and a t$e!e-bi!!ion- do!!ar budget; you’d thin& they ou!d ma&e it through the $ee&end $ithout me. -usan gunned the car into her reserved spot and killed the engine.
After crossing the landscaped terrace and entering the main building, she cleared two more internal checkpoints and finall arrived at the windowless tunnel that led to the new wing. A voice%scan booth blocked her entr. NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (NSA) CRYPTO FACILITY AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY The armed guard looked up. 'Afternoon, *s. $letcher.+ -usan smiled tiredl. 'i, ?ohn.+ '&idn/t e3pect ou toda.+ '4eah, me neither.+ -he leaned toward the parabolic microphone. '-usan $letcher,+ she stated clearl. The computer instantl confirmed the freuenc concentrations in her voice, and the gate clicked open. -he stepped through. *** The guard admired -usan as she began her walk down the cement causewa. e noticed that her strong hazel ees seemed distant toda, but her cheeks had a flushed freshness, and her shoulder%length, auburn hair looked newl blown dr. Trailing her was the faint scent of ?ohnson/s !ab Powder. is ees fell the length of her slender torso"to her white blouse with the bra barel visible beneath, to her knee%length khaki skirt, and finall to her legs5 -usan $letcher/s legs. ard to imagine the support a @9 IB, he mused to himself. e stared after her a long time. $inall he shook his head as she disappeared in the distance. *** As -usan reached the end of the tunnel, a circular, vaultlike door blocked her wa. The enormous letters readC crpto. -ighing, she placed her hand inside the recessed cipher bo3 and entered her five%digit PI7. -econds later the twelve%ton slab of steel began to revolve. -he tried to focus, but her thoughts reeled back to him. &avid !ecker. The onl man she/d ever loved. The oungest full professor at 6eorgetown Dniversit and a brilliant foreign%language specialist, he was practicall a celebrit in the world of academia. !orn with an eidetic memor and a love of languages, he/d mastered si3 Asian dialects as well as -panish, $rench, and Italian. is universit lectures on etmolog and linguistics were standing%room onl, and he invariabl staed late to answer a barrage of uestions. e spoke with authorit and enthusiasm, apparentl oblivious to the adoring gazes of his star%struck coeds.
!ecker was dark"a rugged, outhful thirt%five with sharp green ees and a wit to match. is strong 0aw and taut features reminded -usan of carved marble. #ver si3 feet tall, !ecker moved across a suash court faster than an of his colleagues could comprehend. After soundl beating his opponent, he would cool off b dousing his head in a drinking fountain and soaking his tuft of thick, black hair. hair. Then, still dripping, dripping, he/d treat his opponent opponent to a fruit shake shake and a bagel. bagel. As with all oung professors, &avid/s universit salar was modest. $rom time to time, when he needed to renew his suash club membership or restring his old &unlop with gut, he earned e3tra mone b doing translating work for government agencies in and around (ashington. (ashington. It was on one of those 0obs that he/d met -usan. It was a crisp morning during fall break when !ecker returned from a morning 0og to his three%room facult apartment to find his answering machine blinking. e downed a uart of orange 0uice as he listened to the plaback. The message was like man he received"a government agenc reuesting his translating services for a few hours later that morning. The onl strange thing was that !ecker had never heard of the organization. 'The/re called the 7ational -ecurit Agenc,+ !ecker said, calling a few of his colleagues for background. The repl was alwas the same. '4ou mean the 7ational -ecurit 9ouni!67 Ageny. The 7-A.+ !ecker checked the message. '7o. The said Ageny. '7ever heard of em.+ !ecker checked the 6A# &irector, and it showed no listing either. Puzzled, !ecker called one of his old suash buddies, an e3%political analst turned research clerk at the ibrar of 1ongress. &avid was shocked b his friend/s e3planation. Apparentl, not onl did the 7-A e3ist, but it was considered one of the most influential government organizations organizations in the world. It had been gathering global electronic intelligence data and protecting D.-. classified information for over half a centur. centur. #nl F percent of Americans A mericans were even aware it e3isted. '7-A,+ his budd 0oked, 'stands for 7o -uch Agenc./ ' (ith a mi3ture of apprehension and curiosit, !ecker accepted the msterious agenc/s agenc/s offer. e drove the thirt%seven miles to their eight%si3%acre headuarters hidden discreetl in the wooded hills of $ort *eade, *arland. After passing through endless securit checks and being issued a si3%hour, holographic guest pass, he was escorted to a plush research facilit where he was told he would spend the afternoon providing 'blind support+ to the 1rptograph &ivision"an elite group of mathematical brainiacs known as the code%breakers. $or the first hour, the crptographers seemed unaware !ecker was even there. The hovered around an enormous table and spoke a language !ecker had never heard. The spoke of stream ciphers, self%decimated generators, knapsack variants, zero knowledge protocols, unicit points. !ecker observed, lost. The scrawled smbols on graph paper, pored over computer printouts, and continuousl referred to the 0umble of te3t on the overhead pro0ector. ?d0aF0G&hmadoHertwt0lw0g0F=J >0halsfnGhhhfaf#hhdfgafHf0Fwe ohiKFL>9sKd0fd=hHrt$fJKF9F K>0sp0f=09JK9Ih0KJhfi9J9ewrt9F 0o0rJL>h9ro0t9euLtefeHHou0w 0o0rJL>h9ro0t9euLtefeHHou0w 9JD49I9KFL0tpwfia0er9KuL0rKgu iv0PMduwLhK>peJrtugv0wFpLeHikkc mffuerhfgv9FKLik0rmgunhvsKoer irkH9K>8u9poikI#0pKfJ89weri Eventuall one of them e3plained what !ecker had alread surmised. The scrambled te3t was a code" code"aa 'ciph 'cipher er te3t+" te3t+"gro groups ups of number numberss and and letter letterss repres represent enting ing encrp encrpted ted wo words rds.. The crptographers/ 0ob was to stud the code and e3tract from it the original message, or 'clearte3t.+
The 7-A had called !ecker because the suspected the original message was written in *andarin 1hinese; he was to translate the smbols as the crptographers decrpted them. $or two hours, !ecker interpreted an endless stream of *andarin smbols. !ut each time he gave them a translation, the crptographers shook their heads in despair. Apparentl the code was not making sense. Eager to help, !ecker pointed out that all the characters the/d shown him had a common trait"the were also part of the Gan0i language. Instantl the bustle in the room fell silent. The man in charge, a lank chain%smoker named *orante, turned to !ecker in disbelief. '4ou mean these smbols have multiple meanings)+ !ecker nodded. e e3plained that Gan0i was a ?apanese writing sstem based on modified 1hinese characters. e/d been giving *andarin translations because that/s what the/d asked for. '?esus 1hrist.+ *orante coughed. 'et/s tr the Gan0i.+ ike magic, everthing fell into place. The crptographers were dul impressed, but nonetheless, the still made !ecker work on the characters out of seuence. 'It/s for our own safet,+ *orante said. 'This wa, ou won/t know what ou/re translating.+ !ecker laughed. Then he noticed nobod else was laughing. (hen the code finall broke, !ecker had no idea what dark secrets he/d helped reveal, but one thing was for certain"the 7-A took code%breaking seriousl; the check in !ecker/s pocket was more than an entire month/s universit salar. #n his wa back out through the series of securit check points in the main corridor, !ecker/s e3it was blocked b a guard hanging up a phone. '*r. !ecker, wait here, please.+ '(hat/s the problem)+ !ecker had not e3pected the meeting to take so long, and he was running late for his standing -aturda afternoon suash match. The guard shrugged. 'ead of 1rpto wants a word. -he/s on her wa out now.+ 5She67 !ecker laughed. e had et to see a female inside the 7-A. 'Is that a problem for ou)+ a woman/s woman/s voice asked from behind him. !ecker turned and immediatel felt himself flush. e eed the I& card on the woman/s blouse. The head of the 7-A/s 7-A/s 1rptograph &ivision was not onl a woman, but an attractive woman at that. '7o,+ !ecker fumbled. 'I 0ust5+ '-usan $letcher.+ $letcher.+ The woman smiled, holding out her slender hand. !ecker took it. '&avid !ecker.+ '1ongratulations, *r. !ecker. I hear ou did a fine 0ob toda. *ight I chat with ou about it)+ !ecker hesitated. 'Actuall, I/m in a bit of a rush at the moment.+ e hoped spurning the world/s most powerful intelligence agenc wasn/t a foolish act, but his suash match started in fort%five minutes, and he had a reputation to upholdC &avid !ecker was never late for suash5 class mabe, but neer suash. 'I/ll be brief.+ -usan $letcher smiled. '
ruin the mood b talking business. -he felt like a schoolgirl all over again; nothing was going to spoil it. And nothing did. *** Their courtship was slow and romantic"stolen escapes whenever their schedules permitted, long walks walks through through the 6eorgeto 6eorgetown wn campus, campus, late%night late%night cappucc cappuccinos inos at *erlutti/ *erlutti/s, s, occasiona occasionall lectures and concerts. -usan found herself laughing more than she/d ever thought possible. It seemed there was nothing &avid couldn/t twist into a 0oke. It was a welcome release from the intensit of her post at the 7-A. #ne crisp, autumn afternoon the sat in the bleachers watching 6eorgetown soccer get pummeled b
-usan blushed and admitted she/d been a late bloomer. ank and awkward with braces through her late teens, -usan said her Aunt 1lara had once told her 6od/s apolog for -usan/s plainness was to give her brains. A premature apolog, !ecker thought. -usan e3plained that her interest in crptograph had started in 0unior high school. The president of the computer club, a towering eighth grader named $rank 6utmann, tped her a love poem and encrpted it with a number%substitution scheme. -usan begged to know what it said. $rank flirtatiousl refused. -usan took the code home and staed up all night with a flashlight under her covers until she figured out the secret"ever number represented a letter. -he carefull deciphered the code and watched in wonder as the seemingl random digits turned magicall into beautiful poetr. In that instant, she knew she/d fallen in love"codes and crptograph would become her life. Almost twent ears later, after getting her master/s in mathematics from ?ohns opkins and studing number theor on a full scholarship from *IT, she submitted her doctoral thesis, 9ryptographi Methods, Protoo!s, and A!gorithms for Manua! App!iations. Apparentl her professor was not the onl one who read it; shortl afterward, -usan received a phone call and a plane ticket from the 7-A. Everone in crptograph knew about the 7-A; it was home to the best crptographic minds on the planet. Each spring, as the private%sector firms descended on the brightest new minds in the workforce and offered obscene salaries and stock options, the 7-A watched carefull, selected their targets, and then simpl stepped in and doubled the best standing offer. (hat the 7-A wanted, the 7-A bought. Trembling with anticipation, -usan flew to (ashington/s &ulles International Airport where she was met b an 7-A driver, who whisked her off to $ort *eade. There were fort%one others who had received the same phone call that ear. At twent%eight, -usan was the oungest. -he was also the onl female. The visit turned out to be more of a public relations bonanza and a barrage of intelligence testing than an informational session. In the week that followed, -usan and si3 others where invited back. Although hesitant, -usan returned. The group was immediatel separated. The underwent individual polgraph tests, background searches, handwriting analses, and endless hours of interviews, including taped inuiries into their se3ual orientations and practices. (hen the interviewer asked -usan if she/d ever engaged in se3 with animals, she almost walked out, but somehow the mster carried her through"the prospect of working on the cutting edge of code theor, entering 'The Puzzle Palace,+ and becoming a member of the most secretive club in the world"the 7ational -ecurit Agenc. !ecker sat riveted b her stories. 'The actuall asked ou if ou/d had se3 with animals)+ -usan shrugged. 'Part of the routine background check.+ '(ell5+ !ecker fought off a grin. '(hat did ou sa)+ -he kicked him under the table. 'I told them no2+ Then she added, 'And until last night, it was true.+ *** In -usan/s ees, &avid was as close to perfect as she could imagine. e onl had one unfortunate ualit; ever time the went out, he insisted on picking up the check. -usan hated seeing him la down a full da/s salar on dinner for two, but !ecker was immovable. -usan learned not to protest, but it still bothered her. 8 ma&e more money than 8 &no$ $hat to do $ith, she thought. 8 shou!d be paying. 7onetheless, -usan decided that aside from &avid/s outdated sense of chivalr, he was ideal. e was compassionate, smart, funn, and best of all, he had a sincere interest in her work. (hether it was during trips to the -mithsonian, bike rides, or burning spaghetti in -usan/s kitchen, &avid was perpetuall curious. -usan answered what uestions she could and gave &avid the general, unclassified overview of the 7ational -ecurit Agenc. (hat &avid heard enthralled him.
$ounded b President Truman at @=C9@ a.m. on 7ovember L, @K>=, the 7-A had been the most clandestine intelligence agenc in the world for almost fift ears. The 7-A/s seven%page inception doctrine laid out a ver concise agendaC to protect D.-. government communications and to intercept the communications of foreign powers. The roof of the 7-A/s main operations building was littered with over five hundred antennas, including two large radomes that looked like enormous golf balls. The building itself was mammoth"over two million suare feet, twice the size of 1IA headuarters. Inside were eight million feet of telephone wire and eight thousand suare feet of permanentl sealed windows. -usan told &avid about 1#*I7T, the agenc/s global reconnaissance division"a mind%boggling collection of listening posts, satellites, spies, and wiretaps around the globe. Thousands of communiuOs and conversations were intercepted ever da, and the were all sent to the 7-A/s analsts for decrption. The $!I, 1IA, and D.-. foreign polic advisors all depended on the 7-A/s intelligence to make their decisions. !ecker was mesmerized. 'And code%breaking) (here do you fit in)+ -usan e3plained how the intercepted transmissions often originated from dangerous governments, hostile factions, and terrorist groups, man of whom were inside D.-. borders. Their communications were usuall encoded for secrec in case the ended up in the wrong hands"which, thanks to 1#*I7T, the usuall did. -usan told &avid her 0ob was to stud the codes, break them b hand, and furnish the 7-A with the deciphered messages. This was not entirel true. -usan felt a pang of guilt over ling to her new love, but she had no choice. A few ears ago it would have been accurate, but things had changed at the 7-A. The whole world of crptograph had changed. -usan/s new duties were classified, even to man in the highest echelons of power. '1odes,+ !ecker said, fascinated. 'ow do ou know where to start) I mean5 how do ou break them)+ -usan smiled. '4ou of all people should know. It/s like studing a foreign language. At first the te3t looks like gibberish, but as ou learn the rules defining its structure, ou can start to e3tract meaning.+ !ecker nodded, impressed. e wanted to know more. (ith *erlutti/s napkins and concert programs as her chalkboard, -usan set out to give her charming new pedagogue a mini course in crptograph. -he began with ?ulius 1aesar/s 'perfect suare+ cipher bo3. 1aesar, she e3plained, was the first code%writer in histor. (hen his foot%messengers started getting ambushed and his secret communiuOs stolen, he devised a rudimentar wa to encrpt this directives. e rearranged the te3t of his messages such that the correspondence looked senseless. #f course, it was not. Each message alwas had a letter%count that was a perfect suare"si3teen, twent%five, one hundred"depending on how much 1aesar needed to sa. e secretl informed his officers that when a random message arrived, the should transcribe the te3t into a suare grid. If the did, and read top%to%bottom, a secret message would magicall appear. #ver time 1aesar/s concept of rearranging te3t was adopted b others and modified to become more difficult to break. The pinnacle of non computer%based encrption came during (orld (ar II. The 7azis built a baffling encrption machine named Enigma. The device resembled an old%fashioned tpewriter with brass interlocking rotors that revolved in intricate was and shuffled clearte3t into confounding arras of seemingl senseless character groupings. #nl b having another Enigma machine, calibrated the e3act same wa, could the recipient break the code. !ecker listened, spellbound. The teacher had become the student. #ne night, at a universit performance of The #utra&er, -usan gave &avid his first basic code to break. e sat through the entire intermission, pen in hand, puzzling over the eleven%letter messageC $GN1 :& &-
$inall, 0ust as the lights dimmed for the second half, he got it. To encode, -usan had simpl replaced each letter of her message with the letter preceding it in the alphabet. To decrpt the code, all !ecker had to do was shift each letter one space forward in the alphabet"+A+ became '!,+ '!+ became '1,+ and so on. e uickl shifted the remaining letters. e never imagined four little sllables could make him so happC I* 6A& (E *ET
e uickl scrawled his response and handed it to herC & -77
-usan read it and beamed. !ecker had to laugh; he was thirt%five ears%old, and his heart was doing back flips. e/d never been so attracted to a woman in his life. er delicate European features and soft brown ees reminded him of an ad for EstOe auder. If -usan/s bod had been lank and awkward as a teenager, it sure wasn/t now. -omewhere along the wa, she had developed a willow grace"slender and tall with full, firm breasts and a perfectl flat abdomen. &avid often 0oked that she was the first swimsuit model he/d ever met with a doctorate in applied mathematics and number theor. As the months passed, the both started to suspect the/d found something that could last a lifetime. The/d been together almost two ears when, out of the blue, &avid proposed to her. It was on a weekend trip to the -mok *ountains. The were ling on a big canop bed at -tone *anor. e had no ring"he 0ust blurted it out. That/s what she loved about him"he was so spontaneous. -he kissed him long and hard. e took her in his arms and slipped off her nightgown. 'I/ll take that as a es,+ he said, and the made love all night b the warmth of the fire. That magical evening had been si3 months ago"before &avid/s une3pected promotion to chairman of the *odern anguage &epartment. Their relationship had been in a downhill slide ever since. Chapter 4 The crpto door beeped once, waking -usan from her depressing reverie. The door had rotated past its full open position and would be closed again in five seconds, having made a complete F89%degree rotation. -usan gathered her thoughts and stepped through the opening. A computer made note of her entr. Although she had practicall lived in 1rpto since its completion three ears ago, the sight of it still amazed her. The main room was an enormous circular chamber that rose five stories. Its transparent, domed ceiling towered @=9 feet at its central peak. The Ple3iglas cupola was embedded with a polcarbonate mesh"a protective web capable of withstanding a two%megaton blast. The screen filtered the sunlight into delicate lacework across the walls. Tin particles of dust drifted upward in wide unsuspecting spirals"captives of the dome/s powerful deionizing sstem. The room/s sloping sides arched broadl at the top and then became almost vertical as the approached ee level. Then the became subtl translucent and graduated to an opaue black as the reached the floor"a shimmering e3panse of polished black tile that shone with an eerie luster, giving one the unsettling sensation that the floor was transparent. !lack ice. Pushing through the center of the floor like the tip of a colossal torpedo was the machine for which the dome had been built. Its sleek black contour arched twent%three feet in the air before
plunging back into the floor below. 1urved and smooth, it was as if an enormous killer whale had been frozen mid breach in a frigid sea. This was T
At first, the pass%kes being used were short enough for the 7-A/s computers to 'guess.+ If a desired pass%ke had ten digits, a computer was programmed to tr ever possibilit between 9999999999 and KKKKKKKKKK. -ooner or later the computer hit the correct seuence. This method of trial%and%error guessing was known as 'brute force attack.+ It was time%consuming but mathematicall guaranteed to work. As the world got wise to the power of brute%force code%breaking, the pass%kes started getting longer and longer. The computer time needed to 'guess+ the correct ke grew from weeks to months and finall to ears. ! the @KK9s, pass%kes were over fift characters long and emploed the full =>8%character A-1II alphabet of letters, numbers, and smbols. The number of different possibilities was in the neighborhood of @9@=9"ten with @=9 zeros after it. 1orrectl guessing a pass%ke was as mathematicall unlikel as choosing the correct grain of sand from a three%mile beach. It was estimated that a successful brute%force attack on a standard si3t%four%bit ke would take the 7-A/s fastest computer"the top%secret 1raH?osephson II"over nineteen ears to break. ! the time the computer guessed the ke and broke the code, the contents of the message would be irrelevant. 1aught in a virtual intelligence blackout, the 7-A passed a top%secret directive that was endorsed b the President of the Dnited -tates. !uoed b federal funds and a carte blanche to do whatever was necessar to solve the problem, the 7-A set out to build the impossibleC the world/s first universal code%breaking machine. &espite the opinion of man engineers that the newl proposed code%breaking computer was impossible to build, the 7-A lived b its mottoC Everthing is possible. The impossible 0ust takes longer. $ive ears, half a million man%hours, and [email protected] billion later, the 7-A proved it once again. The last of the three million, stamp%size processors was hand%soldered in place, the final internal programming was finished, and the ceramic shell was welded shut. T
having their cellular phone transmissions intercepted"were turning to the e3citing new medium of encrpted E%mail for instantaneous global communications. 7ever again would the have to face a grand 0ur and hear their own voice rolling off tape, proof of some long%forgotten cellular phone conversation plucked from the air b an 7-A satellite. Intelligence gathering had never been easier. 1odes intercepted b the 7-A entered T
Although most 7-A departments were full staffed seven das a week, 1rpto was generall uiet on -aturdas. 1rptographic mathematicians were b nature high%strung workaholics, and there e3isted an unwritten rule that the take -aturdas off e3cept in emergencies. 1ode%breakers were too valuable a commodit at the 7-A to risk losing them to burnout. As -usan traversed the floor, T
1A< AD-TI7 TE<*I7ATE& $#<
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$rom that da on, nobod messed with her; -usan $letcher was 1ommander -trathmore/s golden girl. !ut -trathmore/s oung crptographers were not the onl ones who learned to respect him; earl in his career -trathmore made his presence known to his superiors b proposing a number of unorthodo3 and highl successful intelligence operations. As he moved up the ranks, Trevor -trathmore became known for his cogent, reductive analses of highl comple3 situations. e seemed to have an uncann abilit to see past the moral perple3ities surrounding the 7-A/s difficult decisions and to act without remorse in the interest of the common good. There was no doubt in anone/s mind that -trathmore loved his countr. e was known to his colleagues as a patriot and a visionar5 a decent man in a world of lies. In the ears since -usan/s arrival at the 7-A, -trathmore had skrocketed from head of 1rpto &evelopment to second%in%command of the entire 7-A. 7ow onl one man outranked 1ommander -trathmore there"&irector eland $ontaine, the mthical overlord of the Puzzle Palace"never seen, occasionall heard, and eternall feared. e and -trathmore seldom saw ee to ee, and when the met, it was like the clash of the titans. $ontaine was a giant among giants, but -trathmore didn/t seem to care. e argued his ideas to the director with all the restraint of an impassioned bo3er. 7ot even the President of the Dnited -tates dared challenge $ontaine the wa -trathmore did. #ne needed political immunit to do that"or, in -trathmore/s case, political indifference. *** -usan arrived at the top of the stairs. !efore she could knock, -trathmore/s electronic door lock buzzed. The door swung open, and the commander waved her in. 'Thanks for coming, -usan. I owe ou one.+ '7ot at all.+ -he smiled as she sat opposite his desk. -trathmore was a rang, thick%fleshed man whose muted features somehow disguised his hard%nosed efficienc and demand for perfection. is gra ees usuall suggested a confidence and discretion born from e3perience, but toda the looked wild and unsettled. '4ou look beat,+ -usan said. 'I/ve been better.+ -trathmore sighed. 8’!! say, she thought. -trathmore looked as bad as -usan had ever seen him. is thinning gra hair was disheveled, and even in the room/s crisp air%conditioning, his forehead was beaded with sweat. e looked like he/d slept in his suit. e was sitting behind a modern desk with two recessed kepads and a computer monitor at one end. It was strewn with computer printouts and looked like some sort of alien cockpit propped there in the center of his curtained chamber. 'Tough week)+ she inuired. -trathmore shrugged. 'The usual. The E$$/s all over me about civilian privac rights again.+ -usan chuckled. The E$$, or Electronics $rontier $oundation, was a worldwide coalition of computer users who had founded a powerful civil liberties coalition aimed at supporting free speech on%line and educating others to the realities and dangers of living in an electronic world. The were constantl lobbing against what the called 'the #rwellian eavesdropping capabilities of government agencies+"particularl the 7-A. The E$$ was a perpetual thorn in -trathmore/s side. '-ounds like business as usual,+ she said. '-o what/s this big emergenc ou got me out of the tub for)+ -trathmore sat a moment, absentl fingering the computer trackball embedded in his desktop. After a long silence, he caught -usan/s gaze and held it. '(hat/s the longest ou/ve ever seen T
'(ell5+ -he hesitated. '(e hit a 1#*I7T intercept a few months ago that took about an hour, but it had a ridiculousl long ke"ten thousand bits or something like that.+ -trathmore grunted. 'An hour, huh) (hat about some of the boundar probes we/ve run)+ -usan shrugged. '(ell, if ou include diagnostics, it/s obviousl longer.+ 'ow muh longer)+ -usan couldn/t imagine what -trathmore was getting at. '(ell, sir, I tried an algorithm last *arch with a segmented million%bit ke. Illegal looping functions, cellular automata, the works. TC9KCFF A(AITI76 GE4C
-usan stared in amazement. It appeared T
'ave we got a virus)+ -trathmore shook his head. '7o virus. ?ust hear me out.+ -usan was flabbergasted. T
The commander/s response was slow. 'A public sector programmer wrote it.+ '(hat)+ -usan collapsed back in her chair. '(e/ve got the best programmers in the world downstairs2 All of us working together have never even come !ose to writing a rotating clearte3t function. Are ou tring to tell me some punk with a P1 figured out how to do it)+ -trathmore lowered his voice in an apparent effort to calm her. 'I wouldn/t call this gu a punk.+ -usan wasn/t listening. -he was convinced there had to be some other e3planationC A glitch. A virus. Anthing was more likel than an unbreakable code. -trathmore eed her sternl. '#ne of the most brilliant crptographic minds of all time wrote this algorithm.+ -usan was more doubtful than ever; the most brilliant crptographic minds of all time were in her department, and she certainl would have heard about an algorithm like this. '(ho)+ she demanded. 'I/m sure ou can guess.+ -trathmore said. 'e/s not too fond of the 7-A.+ '(ell, that narrows it down2+ she snapped sarcasticall. 'e worked on the T a.m. August 8, @KL>"a vile act of destruction. A senseless displa of power b a countr that had alread won the war. Tankado had accepted all that. !ut what he could never accept was that the bomb had robbed him of ever knowing his mother. -he had died giving birth to him"complications brought on b the radiation poisoning she/d suffered so man ears earlier. In @KL>, before Ensei was born, his mother, like man of her friends, traveled to iroshima to volunteer in the burn centers. It was there that she became one of the hibakusha"the radiated people. 7ineteen ears later, at the age of thirt%si3, as she la in the deliver room bleeding internall, she knew she was finall going to die. (hat she did not know was that death would spare her the final horror"her onl child was to be born deformed. Ensei/s father never even saw his son. !ewildered b the loss of his wife and shamed b the arrival of what the nurses told him was an imperfect child who probabl would not survive the night, he disappeared from the hospital and never came back. Ensei Tankado was placed in a foster home. Ever night the oung Tankado stared down at the twisted fingers holding his daruma wish%doll and swore he/d have revenge"revenge against the countr that had stolen his mother and shamed his father into abandoning him. (hat he didn/t know was that destin was about to intervene. In $ebruar of Ensei/s twelfth ear, a computer manufacturer in Toko called his foster famil and asked if their crippled child might take part in a test group for a new keboard the/d developed for handicapped children. is famil agreed. Although Ensei Tankado had never seen a computer, it seemed he instinctivel knew how to use it. The computer opened worlds he had never imagined possible. !efore long it became his
entire life. As he got older, he gave classes, earned mone, and eventuall earned a scholarship to &oshisha Dniversit. -oon Ensei Tankado was known across Toko as fugusha &isai "the crippled genius. Tankado eventuall read about Pearl arbor and ?apanese war crimes. is hatred of America slowl faded. e became a devout !uddhist. e forgot his childhood vow of revenge; forgiveness was the onl path to enlightenment. ! the time he was twent, Ensei Tankado was somewhat of an underground cult figure among programmers. I!* offered him a work visa and a post in Te3as. Tankado 0umped at the chance. Three ears later he had left I!*, was living in 7ew 4ork, and was writing software on his own. e rode the new wave of public%ke encrption. e wrote algorithms and made a fortune. ike man of the top authors of encrption algorithms, Tankado was courted b the 7-A. The iron was not lost on him"the opportunit to work in the heart of the government in a countr he had once vowed to hate. e decided to go on the interview. (hatever doubts he had disappeared when he met 1ommander -trathmore. The talked frankl about Tankado/s background, the potential hostilit he might feel toward the D.-., his plans for the future. Tankado took a polgraph test and underwent five weeks of rigorous pschological profiles. e passed them all. is hatred had been replaced b his devotion to !uddha. $our months later Ensei Tankado went to work in the 1rptograph &epartment of the 7ational -ecurit Agenc. &espite his large salar, Tankado went to work on an old *oped and ate a bag lunch alone at his desk instead of 0oining the rest of the department for prime rib and vichssoise in the commissar. The other crptographers revered him. e was brilliant"as creative a programmer as an of them had ever seen. e was kind and honest, uiet, and of impeccable ethics. *oral integrit was of paramount importance to him. It was for this reason that his dismissal from the 7-A and subseuent deportation had been such a shock. *** Tankado, like the rest of the 1rpto staff, had been working on the T
nobod trusted a cripple accused of sping, particularl when he was tring to bu his freedom with absurd allegations about a D.-. code%breaking machine. The oddest thing of all was that Tankado seemed to understand; it was all part of the intelligence game. e appeared to harbor no anger, onl resolve. As securit escorted him awa, Tankado spoke his final words to -trathmore with a chilling calm. '(e all have a right to keep secrets,+ he/d said. '-omeda I/ll see to it we can.+ Chapter 7 -usan/s mind was racing" *nsei Tan&ado $rote a program that reates unbrea&ab!e odes4 -he could barel grasp the thought. '&igital $ortress,+ -trathmore said. 'That/s what he/s calling it. It/s the ultimate counterintelligence weapon. If this program hits the market, ever third grader with a modem will be able to send codes the 7-A can/t break. #ur intelligence will be shot.+ !ut -usan/s thoughts were far removed from the political implications of &igital $ortress. -he was still struggling to comprehend its e3istence. -he/d spent her life breaking codes, firml dening the e3istence of the ultimate code. *ery ode is brea&ab!e=the +ergofs&y Prinip!e4 -he felt like an atheist coming face to face with 6od. 'If this code gets out,+ she whispered, 'crptograph will become a dead science.+ -trathmore nodded. 'That/s the least of our problems.+ '1an we pa Tankado off) I know he hates us, but can/t we offer him a few million dollars) 1onvince him not to distribute)+ -trathmore laughed. 'A few million) &o ou know what this thing is worth) Ever government in the world will bid top dollar. 1an ou imagine telling the President that we/re still cable%snooping the Irais but we can/t read the intercepts anmore) This isn/t 0ust about the 7-A, it/s about the entire intelligence communit. This facilit provides support for everone"the $!I, 1IA, &EA; the/d all be fling blind. The drug cartels/ shipments would become untraceable, ma0or corporations could transfer mone with no paper trail and leave the I<- out in the cold, terrorists could chat in total secrec"it would be chaos.+ 'The E$$ will have field da,+ -usan said, pale. 'The E$$ doesn/t have the first clue about what we do here,+ -trathmore railed in disgust. 'If the knew how man terrorist attacks we/ve stopped because we can decrpt codes, the/d change their tune.+ -usan agreed, but she also knew the realities; the E$$ would never know how important T
the data%pulses as a network anomal but ignored them as a seemingl harmless e3change of gibberish. !ut after T9 a da, there was still a backlog of files awaiting decrption. *** 'Tankado called me last month,+ -trathmore said, interrupting -usan/s thoughts. -usan looked up. 'Tankado called you67 e nodded. 'To warn me.+ 5(arn ou) e hates ou.+ 'e called to tell me he was perfecting an algorithm that wrote unbreakable codes. I didn/t believe him.+ '!ut wh would he tell ou about it)+ -usan demanded. '&id he want ou to bu it)+ '7o. It was blackmail.+ Things suddenl began falling into place for -usan. '#f course,+ she said, amazed. 'e wanted ou to clear his name.+ '7o,+ -trathmore frowned. 'Tankado wanted T
'I downloaded it from Tankado/s Internet site like everone else. The 7-A is now the proud owner of the &igital $ortress algorithm; we 0ust can/t open it.+ -usan marveled at Ensei Tankado/s ingenuit. (ithout revealing his algorithm, he had proven to the 7-A that it was unbreakable. -trathmore handed her a newspaper clipping. It was a translated blurb from the 7ikkei -himbun, the ?apanese euivalent of the (all -treet ?ournal, stating that the ?apanese programmer Ensei Tankado had completed a mathematical formula he claimed could write unbreakable codes. The formula was called &igital $ortress and was available for review on the Internet. The programmer would be auctioning it off to the highest bidder. The column went on to sa that although there was enormous interest in ?apan, the few D.-. software companies who had heard about &igital $ortress deemed the claim preposterous, akin to turning lead to gold. The formula, the said, was a hoa3 and not to be taken seriousl. -usan looked up. 'An auction)+ -trathmore nodded. '
-usan suddenl felt ill as she imagined the scenario. Tankado would give his pass%ke to the highest bidder, and that compan would unlock the &igital $ortress file. Then it probabl would embed the algorithm in a tamper%proof chip, and within five ears ever computer would come preloaded with a &igital $ortress chip. 7o commercial manufacturer had ever dreamed of creating an encrption chip because normal encrption algorithms eventuall become obsolete. !ut &igital $ortress would never become obsolete; with a rotating clearte3t function, no brute%force attack would ever find the right ke. A new digital encrption standard. $rom now until forever. Ever code unbreakable. !ankers, brokers, terrorists, spies. #ne world"one algorithm. Anarch. '(hat are the options)+ -usan probed. -he was well aware that desperate times called for desperate measures, even at the 7-A. '(e can/t remove him, if that/s what ou/re asking.+ It was e3actl what -usan was asking. In her ears with the 7-A, -usan had heard rumors of its loose affiliations with the most skilled assassins in the world"hired hands brought in to do the intelligence communit/s dirt work. -trathmore shook his head. 'Tankado/s too smart to leave us an option like that.+ -usan felt oddl relieved. 'e/s protected)+ '7ot e3actl.+ 'In hiding)+ -trathmore shrugged. 'Tankado left ?apan. e planned to check his bids b phone. !ut we know where he is.+ 'And ou don/t plan to make a move)+ '7o. e/s got insurance. Tankado gave a cop of his pass%ke to an anonmous third part5 in case anthing happened.+ )f ourse, -usan marveled. A guardian ange!. 'And I suppose if anthing happens to Tankado, the mster man sells the ke)+ '(orse. Anone hits Tankado, and his partner publishes.+ -usan looked confused. 'is partner pub!ishes the ke)+ -trathmore nodded. 'Posts it on the Internet, puts it in newspapers, on billboards. In effect, he gies it awa.+ -usan/s ees widened. '$ree downloads)+ 'E3actl. Tankado figured if he was dead, he wouldn/t need the mone"wh not give the world a little farewell gift)+ There was a long silence. -usan breathed deepl as if to absorb the terrifing truth. *nsei Tan&ado has reated an unbrea&ab!e a!gorithm.
-he suddenl stood. er voice was determined. '(e must contact Tankado2 There must be a wa to convince him not to release2 (e can offer him triple the highest bid2 (e can clear his name2 Anthing2+ 'Too late,+ -trathmore said. e took a deep breath. 'Ensei Tankado was found dead this morning in -eville, -pain.+ Chapter 8 The twin%engine ear0et 89 touched down on the scorching runwa. #utside the window, the barren landscape of -pain/s lower e3tremadura blurred and then slowed to a crawl. '*r. !ecker)+ a voice crackled. '(e/re here.+ !ecker stood and stretched. After unlatching the overhead compartment, he remembered he had no luggage. There had been no time to pack. It didn/t matter"he/d been promised the trip would be brief, in and out. As the engines wound down, the plane eased out of the sun and into a deserted hangar opposite the main terminal. A moment later the pilot appeared and popped the hatch. !ecker tossed back the last of his cranberr 0uice, put the glass on the wet bar, and scooped up his suit coat.
The pilot pulled a thick manila envelope from his flight suit. 'I was instructed to give ou this.+ e handed it to !ecker. #n the front, scrawled in blue pen, were the wordsC GEEP TE 1A76E.
!ecker thumbed through the thick stack of reddish bills. '(hat the5)+ 'ocal currenc,+ the pilot offered flatl. 'I know what it is,+ !ecker stammered. '!ut it/s5 it/s too much. All I need is ta3i fare.+ !ecker did the conversion in his head. '(hat/s in here is worth thousands of dollars2+ 'I have m orders, sir.+ The pilot turned and hoisted himself back into the cabin. The door slid shut behind him. !ecker stared up at the plane and then down at the mone in his hand. After standing a moment in the empt hangar, he put the envelope in his breast pocket, shouldered his suit coat, and headed out across the runwa. It was a strange beginning. !ecker pushed it from his mind. (ith a little luck he/d be back in time to salvage some of his -tone *anor trip with -usan. In and out, he told himself. In and out. There was no wa he could have known. Chapter 9 -stems securit technician Phil 1hartrukian had onl intended to be inside 1rpto a minute" 0ust long enough to grab some paperwork he/d forgotten the da before. !ut it was not to be. After making his wa across the 1rpto floor and stepping into the -s%-ec lab, he immediatel knew something was not right. The computer terminal that perpetuall monitored T das a ear. There was one thing 1hartrukian knew for certain"if -trathmore found out the -s%-ec lab was unmanned, it would cost the absent rookie his 0ob. 1hartrukian eed the phone, wondering if he should call the oung techie and bail him out; there was an unspoken rule among -s%-ec that the would watch each other/s backs. In 1rpto, -s%-ecs were second%class citizens, constantl at odds with the lords of the manor. It was no secret that the crptographers ruled this multibillion%dollar roost; -s%-ecs were tolerated onl because the kept the tos running smoothl. 1hartrukian made his decision. e grabbed the phone. !ut the receiver never reached his ear. e stopped short, his ees transfi3ed on the monitor now coming into focus before him. As if in slow motion, he set down the phone and stared in open%mouthed wonder. In eight months as a -s%-ec, Phil 1hartrukian had never seen T
TI*E EAP-E&C @>C@C=@
'$ifteen hours and seventeen minutes)+ he choked. 'Impossible2+ e rebooted the screen, praing it hadn/t refreshed properl. !ut when the monitor came back to life, it looked the same. 1hartrukian felt a chill. 1rpto/s -s%-ecs had onl one responsibilitC Geep T
'Thirt%two,+ -trathmore corrected. 'e had a congenital heart defect.+ 'I/d never heard that.+ 'Turned up in his 7-A phsical. 7ot something he bragged about.+ -usan was having trouble accepting the serendipit of the timing. 'A defective heart could kill him"0ust like that)+ It seemed too convenient. -trathmore shrugged. '(eak heart5 combine it with the heat of -pain. Throw in the stress of blackmailing the 7-A5.+ -usan was silent a moment. Even considering the conditions, she felt a pang of loss at the passing of such a brilliant fellow crptographer. -trathmore/s gravell voice interrupted her thoughts. 'The onl silver lining on this whole fiasco is that Tankado was traveling alone. 1hances are good his partner doesn/t know et he/s dead. The -panish authorities said the/d contain the information for as long as possible. (e onl got the call because 1#*I7T was on the ball.+ -trathmore eed -usan closel. 'I/ve got to find the partner before he finds out Tankado/s dead. That/s wh I called ou in. I need our help.+ -usan was confused. It seemed to her that Ensei Tankado/s timel demise had solved their entire problem. '1ommander,+ she argued, 'if the authorities are saing he died of a heart attack, we/re off the hook; his partner will know the 7-A is not responsible.+ '7ot responsible)+ -trathmore/s ees widened in disbelief. '-omebod blackmails the 7-A and turns up dead a few das later"and we/re not responsib!e6 I/d bet big mone Tankado/s mster friend won/t see it that wa. (hatever happened, we look guilt as hell. It could easil have been poison, a rigged autops, an number of things.+ -trathmore paused. '(hat was our first reaction when I told ou Tankado was dead)+ -he frowned. 'I thought the 7-A had killed him.+ 'E3actl. If the 7-A can put five
-usan shook her head. '
It was the letters A
-usan now knew e3actl wh -trathmore had called her in. 'et me guess,+ she said. '4ou want me to snoop A
'#f course.+ -trathmore seemed puzzled b -usan/s reaction. 'I had to brief him.+ '!rief him)+ she demanded. '$or $hat67 '$or his trip. I sent &avid to -pain.+ Chapter 11 -pain. 8 sent Daid to Spain. The commander/s words stung. '&avid/s in -pain)+ -usan was incredulous. '4ou sent him to -pain)+ er tone turned angr. 5(hy67
