Lockout

CHAPTER SEVEN

NSA, Ft. Meade, Maryland (3:15 p.m. EST / 2015 Zulu)

“Seth! It’s not a primary signal; it’s an echo!”

Jenny had noted the unusual fact that Seth’s office door was closed at the same moment she thrust it open. It was immediately obvious that she’d interrupted a closed meeting.

Seth Zieglar’s back had been to the door, but he turned now, motioning to an unfamiliar man standing near Seth’s desk.

“And right on cue comes Ms. Reynolds, the analyst I was describing to you. Jenny, meet Will Bronson of Defense Intelligence.”

“DIA?” she asked, off balance.

“Yes,” Bronson said, coming forward to shake her hand. “We’re equally curious about this SIGINT… signals intelligence… you’ve found.”

“I know what SIGINT is,” she said a bit too defensively.

“Jenny has a tendency to enter like Seinfeld’s Kramer, Will, but other than that, she’s really quite competent,” Seth winked at her in a way she detested.

“I’m sorry to burst in,” she managed. “I was just, well, excited.”

“Sit!” Seth commanded, pulling up a third office chair for her. “Everyone, sit.”

Will Bronson waited for her to settle into a chair before doing the same. “So this is not primary flash traffic you found?” he asked.

She shook her head, watching Seth out of the corner of her eye. Bronson was easy on the eyes. Heavy dark hair, clean shaven, almost squarish face, and clearly mid-thirties in an impeccable dark blue business suit and what she judged to be a Jerry Garcia tie. She could date a guy like this, she thought—provided one ever asked her out. He had a genuine smile, too, but any Defense Intelligence operative so well turned out was too smooth to be overtly trusted, and she made a mental note to think before blurting.

“I thought it was coming up from somewhere west of the Irish coast, now I think I’m merely reading echoes of a downlinked satellite transmission. It’s still piggybacking on a legitimate signal, and whoever’s sending it is trying to hide it. But it may well be hemispheric in scope, or wider.”

“Then you’re looking for it in other areas of the globe I take it?” Bronson asked.

“Yes. It could be coming down from satellites all over the place, or just a couple. I’m not sure yet.”

“Show me everything you’ve got, if you will.”

Seth was nodding approval, and after all, she had called in DIA on Seth’s order. But as she began laying out the various papers and waveform tracings, she couldn’t shake the feeling that his question was more “tell me what you’ve discovered that you shouldn’t know” than an innocent search for new information.

After a fifteen-minute briefing, she couldn’t help herself.

“So, is this us? Did I catch something we’re doing… something I should totally forget? Do you have some little flashy thing that erases our short-term memories?”

Bronson chuckled as he glanced at Seth Zieglar, then returned a disturbingly intense gaze toward her. “I’m wearing a blue suit, Jenny… not black. And in a word, ‘no.’ We at DIA are equally puzzled and concerned. It’s not coming from our side, and I agree, it’s a programming order of some sort. That’s why I’d like to work with you, and my team at Boling Air Force Base to coordinate with us, depending on my interpretation. You okay with a team effort?”

“Sure.”

“Good. Because there are things going on out there… things that are classified with no need for you to know… that demand we quickly solve mysteries like this. Immediately if not sooner.”

She was watching his eyes intently, but his gaze was steady, open.

Smooth operator, she thought. Probably has a girl in every port… or office. Jenny pulled herself back to the moment and cleared her throat. “Wow. So this could be a threat?”

“It could. And as a bit of a backdoor measure of the seriousness, if you have anywhere you were planning to go or do this afternoon or evening, I’d like you to cancel.”

“And what if I have an important date?” she asked, smiling.

“Break it. You’re dating me tonight, so to speak.”

She felt a little ripple of surprise flitter up her spine before he continued with a broad smile. “Me and three others back at my office.”