The Solomon Scroll

CHAPTER 27

The next morning Elizabeth got a call from security at the entrance to the compound.

"Ma'am, I have someone here who says he's from Langley and that DCO Munroe sent him over. Should I let him in?"

"He has identification?"

"Yes ma'am, CIA."

"Send him in."

Elizabeth went to the front door and waited. A white Ford pulled up and parked. The man who got out was slight and round shouldered, with curly black hair and glasses. He wore a rumpled blue suit and a tie with a tiny knot that looked like it would have been the height of fashion in 1950. He reached inside the car and took out a brown leather case. As he stepped onto the porch Elizabeth opened the door for him.

"Are you Director Harker? I'm Joe Eggleston. The DCO said you need some help with computers?"

"What did he tell you about us?"

Elizabeth led Eggleston inside and closed the door. They went into her office.

"Not much. Only that I should get over here and help you any way I can. He said everything you do is classified. I have the clearance to look at whatever you've got."

"Good. You'll be filling in for my deputy until she returns."

Eggleston walked over to a laptop sitting on Elizabeth's desk.

"Is this what's giving you trouble?"

"Not exactly," Elizabeth said. "Come with me."

She took Eggleston downstairs. The muffled sounds of gunshots came from behind the closed door of the indoor range. Eggleston looked surprised.

"You have a shooting range?"

"Among other things. This way."

She led him past the ops center and the swimming pool to the computer room.

In an earlier life, the computer room had been a hardened magazine for Nike missiles. Now it housed a row of Cray computers and the communications gear that let Elizabeth communicate with her team in the field. A console with three monitors sat at one end of the room, next to the Cray XT Stephanie called Freddie. An empty coffee mug with a wolf on it sat on the console. The room smelled faintly of ozone. It was cold.

Eggleston shivered.

"This is what you'll be working with."

"Whoa," he said. "Not a laptop."

"No."

"I'll need the password."

"I thought you might. I talked to Stephanie earlier. Look on the bottom of the mug."

Eggleston walked to the console and picked up the cup. He turned it over. Taped to the bottom was a small piece of white paper with a long string of characters and numbers.

"There are some files you can't access that are eyes only for myself and Stephanie. What I need you to do is begin searching for pieces of information and people I want to know more about."

"I can be up and running pretty quick," Eggleston said.

"Take your time. Stephanie has got this set up exactly the way she wants it, so please don't change anything. I think you'll find you don't need to. She's very thorough."

"If she set this up and programmed it, I want to meet this lady," Eggleston said.

He ran his fingers along the edge of the console and looked at the computers.

Elizabeth saw that he was hooked. It was the kind of look she'd seen Stephanie get from time to time, as if she was in the presence of an all-knowing entity that could tell her anything she wanted to know.

"Take a day to get familiar with everything. Do you think you can run the communications gear?"

Eggleston looked at the array. "No problem. I've had a radio license since I was eleven. This is nice stuff. It will be easy to work with."

"Excellent."

Eggleston gestured at the console. "What would you like me to do first?"

"There was a recent theft and murder at the British Museum. I want you to access the CCTV recordings at the museum and cross-reference them with our database of known undesirables. It's possible someone we recognize will turn up. Can you handle that?"

"Hack into the British Museum?"

"Yes."

"What about legal issues?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, accessing confidential information in another country."

"Are you sure you work at Langley?" Elizabeth said.

"Just asking," Eggleston said.

"There's a coffee maker over there. The bathroom is in the ops center."

"Ops center?"

"The big room we passed near the pool. If you run into any of the others on the team, introduce yourself. Any other questions?"

"I don't think so. If I come up with something, I'll ask."

"Then I'll leave you to it."

Back upstairs, Elizabeth poured a cup of coffee and sat down at her desk. She missed Stephanie. Eggleston would have to do until Steph came back. At least he seemed to know what he was doing.

By late afternoon, he'd proved it.