“M’Lady.”
“So, shall we share everything we know?”
“Yes. That’s the first reason I wanted to snag you out of the ether.”
“Okay. I’m etherless. You first.”
“The code you were chasing is a registered military code.”
“What? What do you mean, registered? It didn’t come up on any database.”
“It wouldn’t. There is a top secret-crypto level list of codes and algorithms used by deep secret units and projects, but we register them in case something like this happens.”
“Something like what?”
“In case a very bright and beautiful NSA analyst finds one and calls DIA in. You remember asking if this was us?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s how we answer the question before we go ballistic, or trigger anything ballistic or aerodynamic. That list lets us know we have met the enemy, and we is they, to quote Pogo.”
“Who’s Pogo?”
“Long story. A cartoon possum philosopher from years back. Point is, the list tells us whatever we found comes from our side.”
“So it’s—and thanks for the bright and beautiful compliment—it’s…”
“You’re welcome, and you are!” he smiled.
“I’m what?”
“Foxy… beautiful… alluring… bright and beautiful.”
“Mr. Bronson, are you flirting with me?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated, suppressing the smile she wanted to flash. “Okay.”
“It is?”
“Hey, flattery works. So the code is ours? It’s military? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I didn’t run that check until I got back to Boling.”
“Is that why you left so suddenly?”
“No. It was finding Lavi aboard that flight that triggered the recall.”
“Who?”
“That’s right… you probably don’t know.” He explained the presence of the former Israeli prime minister and the implications. “As soon as news broke of Lavi’s presence, my boss wanted me back to deal with the implications. He had no idea that what we were working on together at NSA might be related. I checked the secure database when I got back, and bingo. But, Jen, that’s why I’m worried. It’s on the registry, but even my boss couldn’t crack through the security level to find out which project or agency registered it. That level of security is about as high as it gets.”
“You mean, the White House?”
“Well, probably one or two steps lower. Four star general or secretary of defense levels. I asked my boss to get permission, and he refused. It spooked him. He told me to forget about it and go do something else. That’s when I left.”
“But, Will, jeez. This is saying that the United States has frozen the controls of a commercial airliner and I assume put everyone in peril.”
“They may have, but it gets worse, Jen.”
“Try me.”
He outlined the significance of an uninventoried cargo pod and the fact that fifteen minutes before he’d called, evidence emerged that Tehran had become aware of most of the story.
“Moishe Lavi’s still got too many confederates in Israel. We can’t be sure there’s not just enough nuclear material in that cargo pod to spur the Iranians to act.”
She sat back, studying his face again. “Wait… Lavi may be behind an attempt to frighten the Iranians, but you’re saying the signal that froze the aircraft’s controls came from us.”
“Yes.”
“Could someone on our side be setting up a war, then? In conjunction with Moishe Lavi?”
He snorted and looked forward, shaking his head before looking back. “If this is a purposeful act, and why wouldn’t it be with the intensity of the signal distribution you ferreted out, what would someone be trying to accomplish? Killing Lavi? They could do that with a sniper at Kennedy on arrival. Hell, half of Mossad wants him dead, the other half was nominating him as the Messiah. No, there has to be a point to it.”
“Will, first of all, how could mere radio signals lock up a civilian jetliner? Could someone have hacked into the computers?”
“We don’t know. I don’t know. The jet came out of Tel Aviv… maybe someone installed some strange equipment on the ground there or monkeyed with the computers or computer memory. Just… proceed from that assumption, that whatever has locked up their controls was triggered by those radio bursts and was purposeful.”
“You think someone in the military is sitting in a little cubicle somewhere programming that flight? Like a drone?”
“Maybe. Although they haven’t changed heading or climbed or descended yet, so I’m not sure there’s active control going on. But someone did this.”
“Would it benefit anyone on our side to start a nuclear war with Iran?”
“It might. It would be a surrogate war, Jen. The Israelis would fight it for us, and they wouldn’t let Iran clear leather, so to speak. The very second the mullahs light off a missile, they’ll be toast.”
“The glow-in-the-dark kind?” she asked quietly.
“Yep. Then all hell breaks loose, the Islamic world goes completely barking mad, Russia and China get involved in diplomatic opportunism, and it’s always possible the mullahs still get a death shot off at Israel. Have you been there, by the way?”
She nodded.
“It’s tiny. It wouldn’t take many split atoms to reprise the Holocaust.”
“Dear God. What can we do? Can we go pick up Seth and keep him safe and get his ideas?”
Will shook his head. “I’m not sure your man Seth isn’t part of this, whatever ‘this’ is.”
The answer seemed otherworldly, forcing a frightening image of Seth as something other than her trusted boss and confederate.
“Then… who do we tell, Will?”
“Until we know for sure what we’re dealing with, no one’s going to be spring-loaded to believe either or both of us. Even the CIA, who is nipping at DIA’s heels right now trying to find out what we know, hasn’t figured it out. Or at least that’s where I think they are. But, see, if this is something our military or any segment of it is doing, it’s a very deep, very dark secret, and we’ve already unraveled enough of it to be a very large threat.”
“And we can’t tell anyone? Not even the president?”
“Tell him what? That’s the problem. All we know for sure is where the transmission came from.”
‘But, that at least is a fact!”
“Yes, as is the fact that the code was registered. But what if some faction at the White House is also involved?”
She searched his face for a few seconds, feeling very helpless.
“You’re scaring me, Will. Seriously.”
“I’m not far behind. If I get us on a secure computer net, can you help find some answers?”
“Aha! I can see your thinking now. Jenny’s a cryptologist so she can naturally hack into any information.”
“I can hope, can’t I? What I was wondering was whether you might be able to decrypt the instructional code that the Pangia flight apparently uploaded.”
“I’d need a key of some sort. I tried every way from Sunday.”
“I may have one.”
“Where? How?”
“Just… trust me. If I can get you a key to the code, or any part of it…”
“Then maybe I can. But why?”
“Well…”
“Oh! Jeez! You want me to countermand whatever orders that transmission contained!”
“Precisely. I don’t know if it would work, but…”
She sighed deeply. “Yeah. Got it. But Will, I think you’re expecting too much of me. You’re not sitting next to Garcia from Criminal Minds!”
“I love her!”
She’s not real, Will. No one can dance over keys and pull up information that easily.”