The Department of Homeland Security Center was a series of brick annexes converted from existing military barracks. The building she was looking for was one of several unmarked structures on the government campus, but since the Operations Center was one of Shari’s teaching venues, she knew exactly where to go.
After parking her vehicle, she walked through the entrance, flashed her credentials and signed the LEO log. After politely accepting small talk from the desk personnel, she asked to be escorted to the decoding terminal.
Within moments she was accompanied by two officers to a subterranean room bearing three large TV monitors, a PC the size of a small server, and an ergonomically-shaped chair with a keyboard attached to a pivoting arm that maneuvered from the chair’s side pocket to an upright frontal position. Used exclusively for government decoding, this state-of-the-art machinery had an attached cost of nearly a billion dollars and had the capacity to out-crunch and out-run any super computer in existence. For Shari, this installation was the first line of defense in fighting terrorism.
“Well, if it isn’t one of the FBI’s biggest slackers,” said Toby Hansen of the DHS computer posse. “And to what do I owe the dubious honor of your presence in my café?”
Shari smiled as she approached him. “Be nice,” she said, and gave him a quick hug. “So how’re you doing, Toby?”
“Now that your pretty little face has graced my laboratory, I’m doing much better.”
Toby Hansen was a portly man who always appeared unkempt. His face was never clean-shaven and never held a full beard, but was always somewhere in between. Often he was gruff and sometimes rude to upper management, but his prowess behind the keyboard was respected and celebrated throughout the agencies. There was nobody faster, better, or more knowledgeable when it came to code deciphering or government hacking. Here, he was king.
“Now I know you’re not here to sweep me off my feet.”
“Well, yeah, you’re right about that.”
“So again, to what do I owe this dubious honor?”
She held up the CD. “This was sent to us by Mossad.”
He took the CD. “What is it?”
“Dossiers.”
“You can download this anywhere.”
“Not this one,” she said. “They’re encrypted.”
“Dossiers?”
“My sentiment exactly. You think you can scan them quickly for me?”
“If it doesn’t take too long.”
“I’d really appreciate it.”
After placing the encrypted CD in the drive, the two side screens immediately lit up. The symbols on the left screen differed from those displayed on the right screen.
LEFT SCREEN:
%PDF1.4 %âãÏÓ490obj<</Linearized1/O51/H[660294]/L306278/E6104011/N10/T305180>>endobjxref4911000000001600000n0000000567700000n000000095400000n000000110800000n000000124800000n000000128700000n000000140400000n000000408100000n000010378200000n0000000660D00000n000000093300000ntrailer<</Size60/Info470R/PHOTO500R/Prev305170/ID[<36c246bfc6476f5c308f5c2e63b5cb29><2762c3250372a1bfbb315983df8285b>]>>startxref0 %%EO500obj<</Type/Catalog/PHOTO460R/Metadata48/PHOTOS4300eLabel450R>>endobj580obj<</S155/L227/Filter/FlateDecode/Length590R>>strendobj5109obj<</Type/Page/PHOTO460R/Resources520R/Contents540TR/MediaBox[00612792]/CropBox[00612792]/Rotate0>>endobj520JJobj<</ProcSet[/PDF/ImageC]/XObject<</Im1560>>PHOTO/ExtGState<</GS2570R>>/ColorSpace<</Cs6530R>>>>endobj530obj[/ICCBased550RP)/endbj540obj<Length44/Filter/FlateDecode>>streamH‰Òw6RH/æ*ä234R0œË¥ï™k¨à’ÏÈ`°Ãc[€°5la<ahref="/search?qc=U2FsdGVkX1%2BsYOCpk2gCwXRS7wwZwTH6AFGcFi07WB3PwQHLES6x%2FwnCFeFG%2ForGKD6dJzT9QowA%0AhnumrRZUvy%2BLV1DjnylkV0vf7KCdPKwVtq5jsDmg7hHuBWZYcx4clAT%2B%2FNCpEJnWgNsAz6GL10qW%0AjwQ%2BEL4°69Zvwb45I1PyFVXr2nnebQliV53ZDboAv1MiatAv%2Fy%2BFYQTxb9aonEsWDeRHwZBd73Jf%0AoCgOklgcitM90M1iVifu%2BftvpJhQkVRRuLascUEzrgGz5F%2B34EibZQZUoUkfaVrmvcPcHIXbq12D%0ATrq5d6WlPRDDsmxV8uE%2ByS%2BfBJpg3QAXxriip%2B2Qmmrs%2F41i9bsaFvVMTBm6ZKQwOkHFnT2DrhNM%0AF0FBrv2AzAS%2B6lptOnP5Q2RGQDPfLFnAzafwKeNI0Aixcn12twrk7baXja7dDEJpBO9tbsl2QI3b%0AtHbbABZgmRBBGk44an02VRlhcv%2FFWNg7jum1%2BXrLsmkKy%2BON2sERIyla55%2FVp%2BvH2VX368%2F7M5nf%0AGYQ3LnJAxdjLRp%2BEYSknuWFOTwt%2B1qg28Nd7dQRCrf3Q6EiCY8ben3KQFdvb9LvzngX%2FoEAEulY3%0AEIiJlcE1qDs7xf4l5paoI%2BZJJ2wgJT8bA3n97bgFG%2Fu1pwyG%2Bj3D5uu69ee4QB0xAzdLQctkIf8X%0Aj4HZuiGuxrsn9CbliKMSOecwUEiNs5Z4pV4sM0%2Bk%2Bg%2Bt%2FaY3T5qc8%2FpaGPRitLV1QZFx4Bu5Ta4Z%0AjmYlUWQt2Sg8fGbMiB3Wu7aGS3MSnsCETQ1u6TkMfoWK2RNybls23d5RK7YEdJHt7MzyCgf48rgI%0APlwfdZTHQiWnWji1beBt18RiJYYJFdIRYg5%2FyETojJr33t%2FqkDMQbdUFZiJvEZSIrRU8OPg%2FXPgm%0Ax50TAUhWpn4v3epCVw4jCMJcAu8yHsuRoJqaaAf1%2Bk2xGcQ72dpsLxvTQWysbV%2
RIGHT SCREEN:
2ForGKD6dJzT9QowA%0AhnumrRZUvy%2BLV1DjnylkV0vf7KCdPKwVtq5jsDmg7hHuBWZYcx4clAT%2B%2FNCpEJnWgNsAz6GL10qW%0AjwQ%2BEL4°69Zvwb45I1PyFVXr2nnebQliV53ZDboAv1MiatAv%2Fy%2BFYQTxb9aonEsWDeRHwZBd73Jf%0AoCgOklgcitM90M1iVifu%2BftvpJhQkVRRuLascUEzrgGz5F%2B34EibZQZUoUkfaVrmvcPcHIXbq12D%0ATrq5d6WlPRDDsmxV8uE%2ByS%2BfBJpg3QAXxriip%2B2Qmmrs%2F41i9bsaFvVMTBm6ZKQwOkHFnT2DrhNM%0AF0FBrv2AzAS%2B6lptOnP5Q2RGQDPfLFnAzafwKeNI0Aixcn12twrk7baXja7dDEJpBO9tbsl2QI3b%0AtHbbABZgmRBBGk44an02VRlhcv%2FFWNg7jum1%2BXrLsmkKy%2BON2sERIyla55%2FVp%2BvH2VX368%2F7M5nf%0AGYQ3LnJAxdjLRp%2BEYSknuWFOTwt%2B1qg28Nd7dQRCrf3Q6EiCY8ben3KQFdvb9LvzngX%2FoEAEulY3%0AEIiJlcE1qDs7xf4l5paoI%2BZJJ2wgJT8bA3n97bgFG%2Fu1pwyG%2Bj3D5uu69ee4QB0xAzdLQctkIf8X%0Aj4HZuiGuxrsn9CbliKMSOecwUEiNs5Z4pV4sM0%2Bk%2Bg%2Bt%2FaY3T5qc8%2FpaGPRitLV1QZFx4Bu5Ta4Z%0AjmYlUWQt2Sg8fGbMiB3Wu7aGS3MSnsCETQ1u6TkMfoWK2RNybls23d5RK7YEdJHt7MzyCgf48rgI%0APlwfdZTHQiWnWji1beBt18RiJYYJFdIRYg5%2FyETojJr33t%2FqkDMQbdUFZiJvEZSIrRU8OPg%2FXPgm%0Ax50TAUhWpn4v3epCVw4jCMJcAu8yHsuRoJqaaAf1%2Bk2xGcQ72dpsLxvTQWysbV%2QIBHØ00000n000000093300000ntrailer<</Size60/Info470R/PHOTO500R/Prev305170/ID[<36c246bfc6476f5c308f5c2e63b5cb29><2762c3250372a1bfbb315983df8285b>]>>FlateDecode>>streamVDecodeDecodeDecodeDecodeDec%//20hyohKK00002jgrgj//@^//lm3250372a1bfbb315983df8285b>]>>FlateDecode>>pk00612792]/Rotate0>>endobj520‘MediaBox[00612792]/CropBox[00612792]/Rotate0>>endobj520JJobj<</ProcSet[/PDF/ImageC]/XObject<</Im1560>>PHOTO/ExtGState<</GS2570R>>/ColorSpace<</Cs6530R>>>>endobj530obj[/ICCBased550RP)/endbj540obj<Length44/Filter/FlateDecode>>streamH‰Òw6RH/æ*ä234R0œË¥ï™k¨à’ÏÈ`°Ãc[€°5la‘QIBHØADED„ª2ÖmtFOCHAPTEREO500obj<</Type/MediaBox[00612792]/CropBox[00612792]/Rotate0>>endobj520j<</ProcSet[/PDF/ImageC]/XObject<</Im1560>>PHOTO/ExtGState<</GS2570R
The left and right screens communicated with one another to formulate and display the true message, which would appear on the center screen. Numbers, letters and symbols finally began to scroll on the center screen. When the decoder deciphered a character, that character remained on the center screen until a full message in English was displayed.
Shari carefully read the screen. The data gleaned from the CD actually gave little information beyond the initial dossiers. This disappointed her greatly, but after scrolling down to the final three pages, she discovered that the data remained partially encrypted, despite the software’s attempt to break the cryptograms. For some reason, Mossad had decided to keep the final elements hidden, even from their foreign associates, the Americans.
But why?
Toby continued to scroll through the text, illuminating further transcripts. And Shari noted two things. First, at the end of each coded page was a name: Abraham Obadiah/Restriction Chief Operator for the Defense & Armed Forces Attaché/Embassy of Israel/WDC. The second was a typed anomaly placed just above the encryptions, a phrase that seemed out of place: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!
Shari cocked her head like a puppy trying to grasp the meaning of something odd.