Read Online Take the Fourth by Jeffrey Walton - Free Book Online Page B

priority—“the” top priority. Everything is checked and checked again, then checked again. All software must be reviewed, line by line, by the best in the business . If a company didn’t supply the source code (the actual code written in a language understandable by humans) or the CIA would not be allowed to compile the code on their own, the software package was simply not permitted in house, even Microsoft had to go through this rigorous ordeal, no exceptions. The hardware side of things must also be checked and checked and checked again, from disk drives, to computer memory, to the keyboard and the mouse. A few years ago a company who shall remain nameless, supplied the CIA with replacement keyboards. The keyboards failed quite regularly and replacements were always supplied with a speedy smile. They failed due to planned obsolescent, in plain English, the return key was made with shoddy parts—on purpose. The keyboards were also made with a few added perks that went under the radar of the agency for over two years. They were made with a memory chip and a small processor that logged the first one hundred or so keystrokes each and every time the computer was turned on. In other words, the first thing most people do when turning on their computers in the morning… . they log on… . capturing their usernames and passwords. It wasn’t noticed until a devious little CIA techie was performing an April Fool’s joke. The joke was to place a music chip, like those contained in a greeting card, and hook it up to the caps lock key. Why the caps key lock? The caps lock key is linked to a small power supply in order to light up the small LED to notify the user that the caps lock is on (located on the top left-hand or right-hand of almost any keyboard). All the joker needed was to solder a few extra wires from this power supply to the music chip, when the caps lock key was pressed it supplied power to the LED and at the same time, the music chip, and music would begin to play. When the joke worked most people assumed the annoying little ditty came from their computers and not underneath their keyboard, driving them and their neighbors a little batty while trying to adjust their volume on their computers. On one particular early morning of April 1st a keyboard was opened and a little secret was revealed. That same caps lock key light was used to supply just enough power for a memory chip to capture the first one hundred or so keystrokes each and every time the computer was turned on. Then when the keyboards failed, the chips were swapped out with each new keyboard the CIA received. Ingenious. Needless to say, the ingenious company has since perished along with many of their employees. The former security officer was in a wee bit of hot water over that one but he managed to survive just long enough to open his golden parachute. The techie who discovered the device was given a small reprimand for his devious stunt but in the long run it was totally worth it; he was given a promotion and is now the security officer reporting directly to Jorja. If Jorja was ever to remain in her position and receive her chute, she would need help from people she trusted and the techie reporting directly to her she trusted with her life. She trusted Greg Manoski.
     
    Greg was plain and simple—a stereotypical nerd, aside from the fact he was trim even though he lives on junk food from the vending machines. He drinks the Dew like it was going out of style, dresses in grays and blacks, not for the slimming effect but because it was easy to look coordinated with minimal effort—learned that one from Albert E, has the driest of humor that even an Englishman would consider wet, occasionally has the same flair for the word fuck as the military, and could spout a quote from the popular Tracy Ullman spin-off quicker than two teenagers getting off in a backseat of dad’s car. If he wasn’t sleeping, he was in front of his array of computers pounding