Destiny

SEVENTY-THREE

The dead woman’s phone came to life in Marcus’s pocket with a soft buzzing. He stopped eating, his eyes meeting Alicia. He reached in his pocket, retrieving Taheera’s phone. “Alicia, I have to take this call.” He pressed the receive button. “This is Paul Marcus.”

“Mr. Marcus, I have spoken with my superiors. We are in a position to negotiate with you.” The man’s voice was even, unruffled. “What we don’t know is whether the Myrtus worm has infected our operating systems. If it hasn’t infiltrated our structures, how can we prevent it from happening? If someone has managed to penetrate security, is the worm in a sleeping stage? If it is, what can we do to prevent it from attacking?”

“Are all your enrichment plants on the same mainframe system?”

“No.”

“Which plant do you feel may be the most vulnerable?”

“Let me answer that question by simply saying that our facility at Natanz is where our top priority lies at the moment.”

“I’ll need defense firewall schematics of the plant’s operating systems. Deliver it to me on a hard drive. I’ll look under the hood for you. If I see something suspect, I’ll try to find out what it can or might do…and if possible, I’ll kill the worm.”

“How do we know that we can trust you?”

“You don’t, not any more than I can trust you. But at this point, two American lives — innocent lives are in the balance. A dead worm is a good trade for two lives.”

“Meet me tonight at the Le Square Trousseau Café at one Rue Antoine Vollon. Be there at seven o’clock. One thing, Mr. Marcus, I will be watched just like we’re watching you and the woman at the café where you two sit.”

Marcus moved his eyes without turning his head. The man continued. “If we feel there is a hint of surveillance, there is no deal…except you will then meet a fate that is very much worse than death. The woman will watch your death before it is her time, and we will kill the two you want released.”

“Listen to me. If there’s surveillance, I won’t know it; and it’ll be because the French government thinks I’m a suspect in the assassination of the Israeli prime minister. So your people can just deal with that since you probably caused this shit.”

“At this point, Mr. Marcus, I will ignore your condescending remarks.”

“I’ll be at the restaurant, and tomorrow I want to see your president call a news conference to announce the release of Brandi and Adam. Are we clear?”

“We will release one person first. The other shall be freed after you deliver your part of the contract.” The connection ended. Marcus looked at his watch: six hours remained before 7:00 p.m.

Alicia leaned closer to Marcus and lowered her voice. “Paul, who was that? What did he say to you?”

“I don’t know his real name. He’s Iranian. I’m meeting him tonight.”

“Why?”

“To do some work.”

“What kind of work?”

“To see if I can spot and kill something called Myrtus. It’s a covert malware worm that may be eating a hole into the operating system of Iran’s nuclear program. Israel, or maybe, we planted it there. I don’t know.”

“Paul, you’re not a field operative! If you’re caught and convicted of spying, you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison. You can’t risk that. The CIA suspects you’re working for Iran. This is all they need.”

“I’m not spying! I’m not compromising any U.S. interests or secrets—”

“You’d be helping Iran develop its nuclear program and that’s—”

“That’s what? I’m not going to help them develop their nuclear capacities. Look, Washington has stopped negotiating with Iran to free Brandi and Adam. It’s a damn international draw. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard will convict them of spying and sentence them to life or worse. You asked me to help you, to help them. Secretary Hanover’s efforts have died on the vine, and now Brandi and Adam will face an Iranian tribunal.”

Alicia’s eyes welled. “What can you do?”

“Run a diagnostics coding on the system that operates the Iranian nuclear facility at their Natanz plant. The Myrtus worm, if it’s in their system, should be able to digitally fingerprint any computer that it can infiltrate. By fingerprint, I mean it can differentiate the machines it weaves through, looking for the machine it will eventually destroy. When it finds that specific computer, the worm will lie dormant until a pre-programmed series of events occur within the computer. Then it will attack it with such strength it can destroy entire centrifuges.”

“How?”

“By causing the systems to implode, or eat itself, like an extreme cancer.”

“How does the worm know to attack?”

“Probably…it would recognize when a system is going into its final check stages or online operations.”

Alicia was silent for a half minute, her eyes watching the traffic outside the restaurant. Then she turned back to Marcus. “Does this mean Brandi and Adam will be coming home immediately?”

“The Iranians will announce the imminent release of either Brandi or Adam tomorrow. The person remaining will be freed when I find and destroy the worm.”

“Dear God! What if you can’t find it? What if you can’t destroy it?”

“I’ll do the best I can to infiltrate their system and locate the worm.”

“How do they know there’s even a worm in their system?”

“They suspect it. They know about Myrtus, a code name for the worm. Apparently their intel indicates one or some have been planted by subcontractors, maybe Russian, Chinese, German or Indian engineers hired to build the plants. Probably someone easily bought and paid for by the Mossad — the people who most likely did the work to develop the worm.”

“How do you know this?”

“That’s not important. What’s important is freeing Brandi and Adam.”

“When and where are you meeting this man?”

“Tonight, 7:00. The Le Square Trousseau Café.”

“I want to be there.”

“No! If they know you can’t identify them, you’ll be okay.”

“Listen to me! They don’t know who I am. My niece has a different name. I haven’t been listed in any news media as a relative. I need to be there. I’m coming.”