"What kind of causes?"
"All kinds of things, but it's fantastic for disease research. In one of our projects, we're examining millions of tissue-sample images and comparing them with cancer-patient diagnoses and disease progressions. It might help detect cancers earlier and maybe even help cure some types. It's also useful for comparing DNA strands with certain traits and diseases."
"So you deal mostly with health-care projects?"
"Not at all. Jonesy is also helping to develop alternate-energy sources. Another project will combat global warming. And by analyzing meteorological patterns over the last fifty years, we'll be able to forecast the weather with more accuracy than ever before. These are projects that might take years with a traditional mainframe computer, but with the help of your kid's Play-Station computing cycles, it might only take a few months in our system."
"Who chooses the projects?"
"Rachel. And only Rachel. It was part of her deal. The university isn't as interested in the good works projects as it is in Rachel's software. It could revolutionize computing."
"But haven't people been doing this already?"
"Not this well. There have always been several weak links in the chain, and Rachel has come up with solutions for almost all of them. Complicated problems need to be divided up, distributed to thousands of computers, then recombined. It's a tough thing to do."
"Unless you're Rachel Kirby, I guess."
Val shrugged. "She'd say it's tough, too. But her solutions are brilliant. Her software detects the computing potential of each of the thousands of systems and adjusts for the amount and complexity of calculations parsed out to them."
"Why the government clearance?"
"Rachel was forced to accept a government project from the NSA. They needed the computing time."
"Couldn't they commandeer it?"
"Yes, but they didn't want to go through regular channels. Jonesy had the power and privacy."
"What kind of power?"
"Right now, I'd say we control more computer power cycles than the government computer systems in all of Western Europe combined."
"My God." Finley and Gonzalez looked at each other in surprise. Finley asked, "And Rachel Kirby is head of this program?"
"She is the program. She persuaded the university to let her run the lab when she heard it was being donated. They get the praise and prestige, and she does the work. She goes out and gets contributions to fuel the computer. Every medical and scientific organization in the world would give their eyeteeth to be accepted by Rachel. She only accepts ten a year."
"Including a government think tank from the NSA."
"She had no choice. They were pressuring the university, and we have to have Jonesy."
"And possibly the shooter could have been someone who didn't want this government project to succeed?"
"Maybe. You could say that about most of the projects. Someone always has an axe to grind or a slight to avenge." Simon said impatiently, "You can tell your captain that. Now, will you get them to let me see her?"
Finley hesitated, then turned on his heel. "I'll do what I can."
TWO
"Rachel."
Simon. Rachel forced herself to lift her lids. "I didn't think that detective would get you in. The doctor just gave me a shot… " She didn't know how long she could keep awake. She had to be quick. "Allie. Make sure she's okay… "
"I'll go there right after I leave here." He took her hand. "It's going to be fine, Rachel. Val and I are handling everything."
"That's… scary."
He grinned. "I thought that would jar you out of that bed. I told you I believe in incentives."
"The leak… "
"See? Your curiosity probably kept you alive. If I'd told you right away about the relay, that would—"
"Simon."
His smile faded. "I found a discrepancy from the flow in the Galveston relay. It was very cleverly camouflaged, and I almost had to stumble on it before I noticed. Whoever is siphoning off our cycles is damn sharp."
"I knew that before. I made it impossible for any hacker to get into Jonesy. Did you pinpoint the entry?"
"One of them."
"One of them?"
"I think he has other backdoors he's made in the system."
"No way."
"I saw traces."
Rachel sighed wearily. "Dammit, it will take time to fix this. I'd better go to Las Vegas."
"You're not really going to see Demanski, are you?"
"There's no other way. He's sitting on a massive amount of unused computing power. That could really help us until we get our own system back to a hundred percent."
"You don't pick easy marks. I heard he managed to even make the Mafia back down once. Why him?"
"He has his Las Vegas casinos, three on the Riviera, one in Australia, and one in Macao. Besides, he has enough clout with the locals in Las Vegas to bring a bonanza of computer cycles to us if he only lifts his finger. I need those cycles." Her lips tightened. "That damn leak is crippling me. I have to get a new influx."
"You sound like a vampire after fresh blood. You'd better be careful Demanski doesn't decide to sink his teeth into you. I don't think he's one of the businessmen you can charm or browbeat into giving you what you want."
She scowled. "I don't use either of those methods. I just figure out how to make a donor feel it's to his advantage to do it. Demanski is difficult, but I'll work it out." Her smile had a touch of the tiger. "I've been waiting to tap him for a long time."
"That sounds a little personal. Have you met him before?"
"Once. When I was nineteen. He tossed me out of one of his casinos."
"Why?"
"I'd just taught myself card counting, and I was too good at it. He saw to it that I was banned from every casino on the strip."
Simon chuckled. "And now you want to get a little of your own back."
"Maybe. Or maybe he's just an excellent prospect to give us what we need." She shook her head. "If I can figure out one final piece to the puzzle of how to do it."
"Don't think about it to night." He squeezed her hand. "Go to sleep. I'll go check on Allie, then go back to Galveston." He started to turn away. "I'll have more for you when you wake up tomorrow."
"Wait. Could you trace where our computer cycles went?"
"Yes. He was evidently in a hurry and wasn't meticulous about covering his tracks. You're not going to like it."
"Where?"
"Egypt."
"Hell's bells. The Middle East. That's all I need. If a terrorist organization is using our system to develop a new superweapon or to crack into classified databases… "
"Look on the bright side. It's Egypt, not Iran. Jonesy may not be supplying the brainpower for the development of another nuclear state."
"But someone could still use it to infiltrate and shut down power grids around the world. You know how powerful Jonesy's become."
"That's not the bright side." He moved toward the door. "And when you get out of here, we'll find a way to close all his backdoors and kick him out. Now if you want to worry about something, Norton called and said he was jumping on a flight from Washington. He was disturbed that you were shot. I think he's afraid it may interfere with his project."