‘This is mad.’
‘No, it is completely sane, Major.’
‘You’re saying nobody’s noticed any of this?’
‘Buchan is isolated, as are the other chosen bases. The fact that the troops were pulling out gave the perfect cover for some excavation and building work. There was already a small underground chamber there, to protect the systems against nuclear attack. We disguised a building programme as a dismantling programme. The Scots are a wonderful nation, Major. They keep themselves to themselves, and so long as no one’s interfering with them, they’re happy to turn a blind eye to most things.’
Dreyfuss nodded. ‘But,’ he said, ‘you couldn’t hope to hide the construction work from the skies?’
‘Exactly. Which is where Zephyr came in. I must say, the generals proposed a simple but ingenious idea. Tap into the surveillance satellite, and you can transmit anything you like. So that’s what they did.’
‘But I was on the shuttle that launched the pirate satellite.’ It was a comment, nothing more. Dreyfuss was still looking for a chance to wrest the gun away from this insane man.
‘Indeed you were,’ Villiers said, smiling again. ‘There was little that could be done about that. The mission had been planned for ages. The US pull-out was supposed to be amicable. To have suddenly announced that a Briton was no longer to go up in the shuttle would have been more than a mite suspicious.’
‘More suspicious than blowing the shuttle up?’ Dreyfuss felt queasy now, thinking of how heartlessly the crew of Argos had been dispatched.
‘Yes.’ Villiers seemed surprised by the question. ‘I mean, shuttles do crash, don’t they? Anyway, the generals made Zephyr work for them, rather than against them, which is a brilliant strategy. Of course, having decided that a Briton must go up, COFFIN had to be sure that the least capable member of the shortlist was chosen.’ He was really enjoying himself now. He waved the gun across Dreyfuss’ body, then up and down from head to toes. ‘So there was the least risk of your seeing anything suspicious and reporting those suspicions back to Earth before the crash-landing. It all worked well enough, except that you survived the landing. At first, everyone thought you had amnesia, and decided to allow you a lease of life. And by the time General Esterhazy realised what a threat you really were, it was too late. You’d gone. And now here you are.’
‘Yes, here I am.’ Dreyfuss shook his head. ‘I still don’t understand, though. The ground crew, the technicians who worked on the Argos satellite, they must have known its purpose.’
‘Why should they?’ Villiers opened his arms for a second: not long enough for Dreyfuss to consider charging him, but enough to give him hope of a later opportunity. ‘They built to a military design. They didn’t need to know what that design’s intention ultimately was, and’ — Villiers stressed his final words — ‘they just followed orders, the way they’d been taught.’ He stared at the screens for a moment, then pointed to one. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘there’s your friend Hepton now. He’s in the control room.’
Dreyfuss looked. Hepton was seated at his console, unaware of the camera trained on his sector of the room.
‘Won’t be long now till Harry finds him,’ Villiers said. His face took on a glaze of sincerity. ‘But what you really must try to understand,’ he continued, ‘is that COFFIN is operating for the greater good. It’s defence we’re talking about.’
‘It’s more like murder we’re talking about,’ Dreyfuss growled.
Villiers’ gun hand twitched. ‘The greater good,’ he repeated, robotically. Dreyfuss remembered then what Parfit had said about Villiers: a cold-blooded killer with a history of instability. He tried to calm himself. The last thing he wanted to do right this second was die.
‘Well, if that’s what you believe,’ he said evenly.
‘We do, Major Dreyfuss. Believe me, we do.’ Villiers paused, seeming to drink in his own sense of power. ‘Any more questions?’ he asked. Dreyfuss shook his head. ‘Then if you’ll follow me, or rather, precede me through here...’ He lifted his left arm to unbolt another door.
Dreyfuss stood, taking a final look at the surveillance screen. He had no way of letting Hepton know Harry was on her way. ‘Where are we going?’ he asked.
‘I thought you wanted to find Miss Watson?’ said Villiers. ‘Besides, you haven’t seen half of what we’re doing here. Not nearly half.’
Then he pulled open the door to another world.
37
It had all gone smoothly at first. Hepton had done a spot of hacking in his time, and the process still intrigued and enthralled him. Once, he had found himself hacking into a company’s computer at the same time as another hacker. They had exchanged greetings before the other hacker identified himself as a member of the Chaos Club in West Germany; he was hacking from the Ruhr Valley into a computer system in Milton Keynes. Contact with the Chaos Club had taught Hepton much about hacking, and for a time he’d been hooked. But after a while, personnel records and medical files ceased to hold their one-time interest, and he’d given the sport up.
Like cycling, however, you never forgot the ‘how’. Having accessed the Zephyr onboard computer, he found that COFFIN 762 was the code to unlock the interface between the two satellites, or rather between their two computers. The code was simple enough: COFFIN hadn’t been expecting anyone to attempt an access, or to have the knowledge so to do. Otherwise they would not have been so unimaginative with the password, and they would surely have used a less simplistic numerical combination. Izzard’s black box had done its job, finding the number sequence in a space of minutes.
Nick Christopher was watching over Hepton’s shoulder, interested and excited but trying to look unimpressed so as not to draw undue attention to the console.
But meantime, Hepton was stuck. He’d got this far, but progressing any further seemed an impossibility, for there was a further code to be gleaned, and he had run out of ideas.
What is your name?
COFFIN
Thank you, COFFIN. Please wait.
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
What is your identifier number?
762
Identifier number accepted. Welcome to interphase control at 19:45 hours. You have fifteen minutes online remaining before engagement of protection circuitry. Do you wish to access:
1. Classification?
2. Interlock?
3. Transmission?
4. Quit?
Hepton wasn’t sure, but had taken a chance on Interlock, pressing the number 2 on his keyboard.
Interlock control required. State access password.
And that was where he had so far drawn the blank. He was in, but he wasn’t in. He could speak to the damned computer, but it wouldn’t do what he wanted until he’d found the password. COFFIN had already been used, so it wouldn’t be anything similar. He had an idea.
ZEPHYR
Incorrect password. Please try again.
He sat there staring at the screen. If not ZEPHYR, then what?