Spyder Web

53

It was 5:00 P.M., the end of the business day, and the building’s professional tenants were leaving their offices for the weekend. Kang and his men were waiting quietly in Parnell’s office as the staff filed out. By 5:15, only Parnell, Roe, and the Chinese agents remained inside the suite. Parnell locked the doors and returned to his office.

‘Can we hear anything?’ Axton asked the sound engineer.

‘No, sir. I can’t filter them out from the noisemaker that Kang’s running. None of their speech is intelligible.’

‘Keep trying,’ Axton urged. ‘We need to know what’s going on in there, and I’m a terrible lip-reader.’

Inside Parnell’s office, the mood was tense. Only Kang appeared confident and unaffected by anticipation.

‘It’s time,’ Parnell announced.

Roe sat down at Parnell’s computer and accessed the communications program. After cruising through a few local computer networks, Roe logged into the Piccadilly Gardener’s server. Then she sat back and began to wait.

‘What is she doing, Parnell? Why did she stop?’

Roe answered Kang directly. ‘The final connection to Moy’s computer will be made through a remote system. I’m waiting for that connection to be made before I continue.’

Too bad the screen faces away from the window, Mosley thought as he watched through the binoculars. I’d love to see what Roe is doing.

‘Gatekeeper one, this is Looking Glass. Over,’ Mosley called out.

‘This is Gatekeeper one. Over, Looking Glass.’

‘Are you monitoring an outgoing signal?’

‘Yes, sir. We’ve got a clean signal from the Tea Party. They’re holding at a local server.’

‘Keep on it, Gatekeeper one,’ Mosley advised. ‘Looking Glass out.’ Mosley turned to Axton, who was talking with the sound engineers. ‘So far so good. Roe’s right where she’s supposed to be. It’s five-twenty now, so in five minutes, the Spyder should be going on-line.’

Grin watched the clock in Newton’s lab with Harbke and Ullrich, the second hand sweeping out each minute as it closed in on 12:25. Right on schedule, the Spyder logged on to the university network. Using separate lines, it burrowed two pathways out of Ann Arbor. The Spyder bounced through ten computer networks in each direction, crisscrossing the country before making its final connections.

Grin had brought in a large-screen color monitor, which he attached to the laptop so they could watch the action unfold. Harbke was on a conference call with Washington, relaying status reports to the staff there. At 12:27, the Spyder logged into the Moy Electronics Corporation. At 12:28, it passed through that system security and was poised to strike once Moy’s secure computer came on-line.

The Moy computer network appeared in a window on the right side of Grin’s large monitor. On the left side, contrasting the superb graphics and professional design of the Moy screen, was the bland text-based menu of the Piccadilly Gardener. After logging on to the server as user Woodrow, the Spyder requested a private chat session with user Iris.

Roe’s computer beeped as the server notified her that Woodrow was requesting a private chat session with Iris. She agreed to chat and a direct link was made to the Spyder.

‘I believe we’re ready for the codes,’ Parnell announced.

Kang retrieved the diskette from his inside coat pocket and handed it over, repeating Phillip Moy’s explanation on how the information was to be used. Parnell inserted the disk into a notebook computer on his desk and brought up the instructions. Roe issued a series of control codes that gave her direct access to Moy’s computer network. The chat screen disappeared and was replaced by a colorful display from Moy Electronics.

Mosley had Gatekeeper teams on both sides of the Atlantic reporting in on the link between Parnell’s office and the Moy network. ‘She’s connected to Chicago, Neville. All stations are reporting in.’

‘That’s it, you buggers. Take the bait,’ Axton whispered, urging the people across the park to commit their crime.

At 5:30 London time, Roe requested access to Moy Electronics’ secure computer. Normally, the network would issue a reply that the requested computer was unavailable, but today the network granted her request. She followed Phillip Moy’s instructions to the letter. The Moy computer responded favorably and granted her access to the cipher files.

‘We’re in,’ Roe announced. The relief in her voice was apparent. ‘Now I need that batch program.’

Parnell handed over the diskette and Roe executed the program. Within seconds, the Moy computer began disgorging millions of bytes of information across the electronic connection. The read-write optical disk drive attached to Parnell’s computer hummed as the platter inside reached the desired rate of revolution. Bit by bit, the semiconductor lasers modified the optical disk’s surface, inscribing the data flowing out of the computer in Chicago.

On monitors from Chicago to London, agents from three different governmental services watched as computer files detailing the latest United States ciphers passed illegally out of the country. More than one of those who were watching the transaction wondered, If protected files like Moy’s were so easy to obtain, how well defended were the rest of the nation’s secrets from brilliant, dedicated, and ruthless thieves?

Roe got up to stretch her legs and walked over to the window. The file transfer had been running for thirty minutes, no doubt slowed by some of the systems that they were using to hide their entry into the Moy network. From Parnell’s corner office, she looked down the river and over at the adjacent park. Across the Thames, a new office tower rose from the dilapidated warehouses of the old empire.

Kang joined Roe at the window. ‘It’s quite a view. On a clear day, you might even be able to see the Houses of Parliament.’ Kang waved his hand upriver.

‘Actually, it’s more to the left,’ Roe corrected him. ‘The Thames snakes around quite a bit down here, but its general direction is that way.’

Kang looked off into the distance, but the overcast haze blurred the horizon into a blotchy abstraction. A helicopter passed across his field of vision, drawing his attention as it moved along the skyline.

Unusual for it to be flying so low, he thought. Perhaps it is just riding beneath the low cloud cover.

He watched it circle the area again, making a low, lazy circle east of the building. He briefly considered what purpose the helicopter might serve, then dismissed it.

Parnell’s computer beeped; the transfer from Moy was complete. Roe returned to the computer and verified that the optical disk had recorded the ciphering information. All the files were there, as Moy had promised. Roe logged out of the Moy network and ordered the Spyder to sever its connections. Like a cascade of falling dominoes, the screens of those watching the file transfer went blank as the Spyder went off-line.

Parnell retrieved the optical disk and handed it to Kang. ‘Here is everything you requested.’

Kang inspected the sealed disk cartridge for a moment before sliding it into his coat pocket. ‘Thank you. Now I must make a phone call.’

Kang picked up the phone and dialed a local number. It rang only once before being answered. The guard who answered the phone didn’t speak, per Kang’s orders. In his native tongue, Kang spoke just one word to the man: ‘Go.’

No reply was required for the order. The guard cradled the handset and nodded to his compatriot. Each man pulled a silenced pistol from his shoulder holster and checked his weapon.