Both Dillon and Tatiana sensed this.
Dillon led Tatiana towards the pillar, keeping his voice low.
“Where the hell is the Priest when you want him?”
“I’ve sent three messages to his phone since we arrived here. None of them have been acknowledged.”
“Damn. Well we’d better take a look at this master control, then…”
Dillon knelt, and released the cover to the maintenance panel.
The multiple LED’s flickered at him. There was no visible countdown — but then, why should there be? Whoever set such a device working already knew the risk they were taking and the time they had to vacate the area.
Dillon analysed the master control keyboard. It wasn’t the usual, QWERTY layout; instead each letter had been substituted with a symbol. And the detonation of the nuclear device was handled by this processor. He scratched at his stubble.
“Shit.”
“What is it? And what are those strange symbols on the keyboard?”
“I’ve only ever seen symbols like these, once before. This is a Masonic Cipher. Also known as a Pigpen Cipher, because when the symbols are arranged in a coded message, they often look like the layout of a pigpen.”
“Masonic Ciphers — pigpens?”
Dillon studied the keyboard, and then looked up at Tatiana.
“A quick crash course in the Masonic Cipher, then. Firstly, you see these grids on the screen, looks like a game of Naughts and Crosses, doesn’t it. Well, everything revolves around the grids. It’s a variety of a substitution cipher — in each of the nine boxes is a symbol, which is a substitution for a letter. The trick is knowing what association a symbol has with a letter. You can create the code symbols in a way that makes it very easy to remember how to construct and re-create the key. Understand so far?” Tatiana nodded.
“But there’s one other major headache with this type of cipher. You can also use keywords within it, to further complicate matters. In this format, pairs of letters are typed or written into each location of the grid.”
“Whoever set this box of tricks up would have almost certainly had a keyword, followed by the remainder of the alphabet into the grids in letter pairs. He or she also knew that because of the rarity of this type of coded encryption — that it would be virtually impossible to de-cipher it in time.”
“How do you know about things like this, Dillon? I’ve always had my suspicion about you being a closet nerd.”
“Really?” Dillon continued to study the master control keyboard, consumed by the puzzle. The deepest recess of his mind stirring as he subconsciously rummaged around for answers. This cipher was incredibly complex. And Dillon knew it — maybe if he had three or four hours and a laptop with the latest code breaking software loaded, then he might have a slender chance.
But with the minutes counting down…
And worst of all…
Kirill knew it. Knew that they were completely shafted.
“Can the code be broken?”
“Every code can be broken, Tats. Given time… Unfortunately, time is not a luxury we have. What we need now is the Priest; he’s the only one who could remotely have any chance of cracking a Masonic Cipher.”
Dillon returned slowly, followed by Tatiana, to where Kirill was still crumpled on the floor. Standing over him, he glanced over at Tatiana. Both Tats and Kirill saw the look on his face: it was not a kindly look; it did not convey what could be termed as ‘friendly’.
He paced slowly up and down in front of Kirill.
Dillon lowered the muzzle of the Glock; pointing it straight at Kirill’s genitals.
“Dillon, this will gain you nothing.”
“Keep your sentiments to yourself. Firstly, think twice before speaking, just answer my questions and your little package down there will remain intact.”
Kirill met Dillon’s gaze.
“Why did you try to kill me?”
Kirill remained silent, and then said. “It’s extremely complicated.”
The Glock kicked in Dillon’s hand as the round was released, the bullet ripping through Kirill’s trouser material, missing flesh by a hairs width. Kirill grabbed at his genitals, a look of both disbelief and relief on his face. “Are you crazy?” Said Kirill hoarsely, his voice having risen an octave.
Dillon circled Kirill and stood behind him. Placing the barrel of the Glock just behind his left ear. “Wrong answer asshole. I repeat, why did you try to kill me?”
“You were in the wrong place at the wrong time; things moved too quickly and we needed to take out the opposition before they realised they werethe opposition.” He slowly turned his head, meeting Dillon’s gaze. “You see Dillon, in the scheme of things. You were considered to be the most dangerous of all. This is why you were placed at the very top of the hit-list.”
“Considered dangerous by who?”
“By anyone who has ever come into contact with you.” Kirill tried to shift his weight, groaning with the severe pain as he did so. He continued, “But most of all, by myself and my new associates.”
“So you are no longer working for the British Government? Why would you do this?”
“The British Government?” Kirill laughed, a laugh laced with pain. “The British Government? You dumb bastard, the only thing this has to do with that particular institution is how pathetically weak the honourable members have become… Sycophantic, general-public asslicking-weaklings, each time a new lot get in, they have the power to make good on all of those broken promises ever made by their predecessors. And yet they choose not to — ever wondered why?” He laughed again, grimacing.
Dillon’s face had gone pale. He ran his free hand through his hair, cast a quick glance at Tatiana, and then prodded Kirill with the muzzle of the Glock.
“Who are you working for?”
“For the greater good. And myself, of course.”
“And the virus programme? Chimera? Where does that fit into all of this?”
“The virus programme,” said Kirill thickly. His head was tilted to one side, his eyes no longer meeting Dillon’s piercing gaze. “Chimera. It is the ultimate seek-retrieve-destroy programme. Incredibly powerful — it can invade any computer, without a trace. It uses broadband connections, Wi-Fi connections and moves from one computer to another with lightning speed. It extracts information within a nanosecond and then on exit, leaves the hardrive with a little present that I call, a sleeper. A little sting in the tail, so to speak. The sleeper can be activated at any time and remains under our total control, one stroke of the keyboard and we shut down every computer that Chimera has invaded. Permanently.”
“You’re not working alone, Kirill,” said Dillon softly. “Who else is involved?”
“Ramus. Whom, MI6, the CIA and, the KGB, have in the past attempted to assassinate, without success.” The name sprang to Kirill’s lips and he smiled, smiled inside; he remembered. Ramus was supposed to have sorted Dillon out.
So sort this out, you fucker, he thought.
“Ramus is the one ordering the killing and total destruction of the Scorpion network. He’s the one who controls the Assassins and sent them after you…” Kirill met Dillon’s gaze. “Surely you can see, Mr Dillon, I am just an innocent party to all of this.”
He smiled, and his teeth were stained with tobacco and blood.
“Where do we find this Ramus?”
“You could try and find Ramus, but you’ll not succeed. He remains constantly mobile.”Kirill laughed a nasty laugh.