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Authors: Fritz Galt
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Stacy and Chu knew each other personally or professionally?”
“We’re still working on that. I’ll let you know what our team finds out, but this calls for me to do a much deeper probe, involving discreet inquiries of real people.”
Jake knew that such an investigation was much more elaborate than simple computer searches. “It’s worth it,” he said. “Something caused Chu and Stacy to be on that path at the same time. Even if they simply worked together on the encryption contract, why the meeting on the bike path? Chu might have been trying to compromise her, or she may have been feeding him secrets. I don’t know which.”
“Neither do I,” Epstein said. “I’ve already authorized a full investigation. I want to turn Verisign inside out. The big unknown for me, though, is why the hell the Chinese might be sniffing around the A root server.”
Jake was already on that. He had determined sometime during the course of the previous rambunctious evening and night to head for the Department of Defense as soon as he woke up. Now he had some targeted questions to ask.
“I’m on the case,” Jake said. “I’ve got a contact at the Pentagon who can point me in the right direction.”
“Fine. Let’s keep each other informed.”
Jake hung up and began his shower, his mind fully engaged. He wasn’t dreaming about Stacy and he wasn’t reliving the glory with Amber. He had to look into more distant affairs.
Foreign affairs.
Chapter 13
It had rained during the night, causing backups on the Capital Beltway.
Behind the wheel, Jake reviewed his mission for the day.
Todd Williams at the White House had given him a number to call at the Pentagon. Jake had no illusion that the Pentagon contact had the answers he needed as to what Chinese programmers at Quantum might want with the A root server. But maybe the guy could point him to the right agency within the Department of Defense that could answer his questions.
A quick phone call had sent him heading to Fort Meade, halfway to Baltimore, to meet up with personnel at the Cyber Command Center.
The name “Cyber Command” sounded impressive. He imagined soldiers standing around a computer room in combat boots, ready to attack the next hacker they found.
The image couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
The Capital Beltway slowed down due to a chemical spill, giving Jake extra time to mull over the case.
Why had Stacy not been forthcoming? She had tried to remain an anonymous witness. Then, when found out, she only supplied evidence under questioning. And why didn’t she tell him about her link to Quantum?
What else was she hiding? Was she in any danger? Had she been threatened?
Maybe Michael Epstein’s protection was a good idea after all.
That brought him to the question of the hour. He was going to Fort Meade to find out exactly what the Quantum programmers were up to and to sound the alarm. If all went well, he could turn the case over to Cyber Command and they would take down the enemy before there was any damage to the internet.
The beltway was going nowhere, so he merged onto I-95 and was soon heading toward the Army base.
A simple sign directed him off the highway. It didn’t read “Fort Meade.” Rather, it read “NSA.”
He smiled. For years, the large eavesdropping National Security Agency was not officially recognized by the government. And the initials simply stood for “No Such Agency.”
After 9/11, however, the general public became aware of the agency’s existence, principally because of its intrusive reach into people’s email accounts and telephone communications.
But that didn’t concern him now. He wanted to meet the military standing behind the nation’s security.
Corporal Buck Jones worked as a public affairs specialist for the base. He stood in a green uniform waiting for Jake at the main gate. He signed Jake onto Fort Meade and then hopped into his personal pickup for Jake to follow.
Jake had never
“We’re still working on that. I’ll let you know what our team finds out, but this calls for me to do a much deeper probe, involving discreet inquiries of real people.”
Jake knew that such an investigation was much more elaborate than simple computer searches. “It’s worth it,” he said. “Something caused Chu and Stacy to be on that path at the same time. Even if they simply worked together on the encryption contract, why the meeting on the bike path? Chu might have been trying to compromise her, or she may have been feeding him secrets. I don’t know which.”
“Neither do I,” Epstein said. “I’ve already authorized a full investigation. I want to turn Verisign inside out. The big unknown for me, though, is why the hell the Chinese might be sniffing around the A root server.”
Jake was already on that. He had determined sometime during the course of the previous rambunctious evening and night to head for the Department of Defense as soon as he woke up. Now he had some targeted questions to ask.
“I’m on the case,” Jake said. “I’ve got a contact at the Pentagon who can point me in the right direction.”
“Fine. Let’s keep each other informed.”
Jake hung up and began his shower, his mind fully engaged. He wasn’t dreaming about Stacy and he wasn’t reliving the glory with Amber. He had to look into more distant affairs.
Foreign affairs.
Chapter 13
It had rained during the night, causing backups on the Capital Beltway.
Behind the wheel, Jake reviewed his mission for the day.
Todd Williams at the White House had given him a number to call at the Pentagon. Jake had no illusion that the Pentagon contact had the answers he needed as to what Chinese programmers at Quantum might want with the A root server. But maybe the guy could point him to the right agency within the Department of Defense that could answer his questions.
A quick phone call had sent him heading to Fort Meade, halfway to Baltimore, to meet up with personnel at the Cyber Command Center.
The name “Cyber Command” sounded impressive. He imagined soldiers standing around a computer room in combat boots, ready to attack the next hacker they found.
The image couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
The Capital Beltway slowed down due to a chemical spill, giving Jake extra time to mull over the case.
Why had Stacy not been forthcoming? She had tried to remain an anonymous witness. Then, when found out, she only supplied evidence under questioning. And why didn’t she tell him about her link to Quantum?
What else was she hiding? Was she in any danger? Had she been threatened?
Maybe Michael Epstein’s protection was a good idea after all.
That brought him to the question of the hour. He was going to Fort Meade to find out exactly what the Quantum programmers were up to and to sound the alarm. If all went well, he could turn the case over to Cyber Command and they would take down the enemy before there was any damage to the internet.
The beltway was going nowhere, so he merged onto I-95 and was soon heading toward the Army base.
A simple sign directed him off the highway. It didn’t read “Fort Meade.” Rather, it read “NSA.”
He smiled. For years, the large eavesdropping National Security Agency was not officially recognized by the government. And the initials simply stood for “No Such Agency.”
After 9/11, however, the general public became aware of the agency’s existence, principally because of its intrusive reach into people’s email accounts and telephone communications.
But that didn’t concern him now. He wanted to meet the military standing behind the nation’s security.
Corporal Buck Jones worked as a public affairs specialist for the base. He stood in a green uniform waiting for Jake at the main gate. He signed Jake onto Fort Meade and then hopped into his personal pickup for Jake to follow.
Jake had never
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