Kang indicate that he is highly intelligent, skillful, and ruthless. The British have attributed the deaths of several operatives, both in China and Hong Kong, directly to Kang Fa.’
Kilkenny sipped at his coffee again, still puzzling over why this man looked familiar. Once again, the steam from the coffee formed a light haze against his eyes. Kilkenny wiped the mist from his eyes and suddenly remembered. What he had thought was a shadowy illusion in the smoke and haze of the highway attack had been real. Kilkenny slammed his fist down on the table and brought the conference to a stunned halt.
Barnett glared over at the source of the disturbance. ‘Mr Kilkenny, do you have something to offer?’
‘Nolan,’Mosley whispered out in a low growl, ‘what the hell do you think you’re doing? This is the top brass here.’
Mosley’s reprimand and firm hand on his shoulder brought Kilkenny out of his anger and back to what was going on in the conference room.
‘I’m okay, Cal.’ Kilkenny stood at ease and faced Barnett. ‘Sir, I’d like to apologize to everyone for my outburst. It was unacceptable behavior on my part. I would like to add, however, that I have recently seen this man. He was there last Sunday, when I was attacked.’
‘You didn’t say anything about this before,’ Mosley said, questioning the revelation.
‘That’s because I didn’t believe what I’d seen was real. Right after I killed the assassin, I thought I saw a man standing in the road, glaring at me. The look of hate I saw in his eyes was something I’ve seen only once before. I didn’t mention it because I honestly thought I was hallucinating. My face was smeared with blood and sweat at the time, and, after he disappeared, I had more important things to worry about.’
‘You sure about this?’ Mosley asked.
‘Absolutely. That man was there.’
‘Cal, I’m inclined to believe him,’ Barnett announced from the podium. ‘For Kang Fa to be present during a killing is completely consistent with his psych profile. It is also very likely that Kang is responsible for the bodies you found in the burned-out van. This further confirms our theory that Kang, Parnell, and Roe are in control of the stolen Spyder. Parnell and Roe originally planned to use the Spyder for industrial espionage, but now we’ve finally discovered what Kang Fa has in mind.’
Barnett then described Kang Fa’s visit to Phillip Moy and the price that he had demanded for the release of Moy’s uncle. As with most computer crimes, this one still lacked the evidence needed to arrest anyone. Even Cole’s murder and the attack on Kilkenny lacked enough physical evidence to prove a conspiracy. The only crime they could prove was attempted extortion by Kang Fa, and his arrest now would endanger the life of Moy’s uncle.
‘Jackson, I appreciate how difficult an investigation like this is to pursue,’ the President’s national security adviser began,’but, other than a lot of theory and circumstantial evidence, we’ve got nothing we can use legally to shut these people down. This situation has to be terminated, and I am willing to run any suggestions you may have to reach that goal past the President for his approval.’
‘Thank you, Kyle, but I think I have a solution that is both legal and expedient.’
41
May 7
Kilkenny returned from Washington late on Thursday evening, after a day and a half of meetings with representatives from the agencies involved in Barnett’s sting operation. Iverson and Kilkenny were the prized speakers at these briefings, providing both theory and real-world experience in dealing with the Spyder.
Kilkenny’s wounds were healing quickly, and five days after the accident, the soreness had eased greatly. He was still worried about Kelsey, despite the favorable reports his father had passed on about her condition. He’d spoken with her only once while he was in Washington. The sound of her voice eased his concerns a little, but it did nothing for the anger he felt toward those responsible for her injuries. The people who did this to you, Kelsey, Nolan thought, are no better than those monsters I killed in Haiti.
Since his Mustang was impounded and undrivable, Kilkenny borrowed his father’s Explorer and returned to MARC. In the computer lab, he found Grin hard at work on deciphering the Spyder program.
‘Ahem.’ Kilkenny coughed over Grin’s shoulder. ‘Whatcha working on there, big guy?’
‘Geez, Nolan!’Grin yelped as he bolted up in his chair. ‘Don’t do that.’
‘Sorry, just an old habit, I guess.’
Grin’s anxious expression quickly melted back into an elfish smirk. ‘So how was your trip to Washington? Meet any powerful movers and shakers?’
‘Nothing quite so glorious.’ Kilkenny took a seat next to his friend. ‘The President was out of town and things were quiet on the Hill.’
‘Too bad. I hear those state dinners are real nice. What did you find out about our problem?’
‘There are some very dangerous people on the other end of this Spyder, people who don’t mind killing anyone who gets in their way.’
‘So when are they going to arrest the bad guys?’
‘As soon as they get enough evidence to hang ‘em. To paraphrase the head of the CIA, we have to catch these guys in the act to build any kind of case against them. That, my friend, is where you and I fit in.’
It wasn’t quite the answer Grin was hoping for, but it would do for the moment. ‘What’s the plan?’
‘Sit, wait, and watch the Spyder do its thing. Speaking of which, has there been any action since I left?’
Grin shook his head. ‘It’s taken a couple of peeks outside, but it’s not playing around like it used to. Maybe it’s pouting.’
‘I don’t think so.’ Kilkenny laughed.
An audible fast-paced beeping began to emanate from the laptop computer connected to the Spyder. Grin clicked a mouse button and brought the monitor out of its screen-saver mode to display the Spyder’s status.
‘What’s with the alarm?’ Kilkenny asked.
‘You like it?’ Grin asked proudly as he scanned the laptop computer’s report. ‘It’s my Spyder early warning system. I wrote a little piece of code that ties into the bypass you brought back from Chicago. Every time the Spyder goes to work, the program signals me that something’s happening. Looks like it works.’
On the laptop’s screen, a graphic depiction of the Spyder’s penetration began to unfold. The first box on the screen was labeled Spyder. A line ran from it that connected to a box labeled MARC-Cray. From there, the Spyder passed through several other systems as the route grew across the screen. Eventually, the Spyder passed through sixteen networks, creating an electronic maze that would be difficult, if not impossible, to trace without Iverson’s bypass.
Grin moved the cursor onto the last box in the series and double-clicked the mouse on it. The box expanded, filling the screen with what the Spyder was seeing and doing.
‘The bypass program not only does everything we were doing before,’ Grin said excitedly, ‘but also lets us see what’s going on inside the Spyder’s twisted little brain. Check this out.’
Grin clicked on one of the icons that ran across the top of the screen. The screen split into two windows: one that showed a server’s user screen and one that illustrated a graphic depiction of the Spyder’s internal program calls.
‘That looks like a debugging tool,’ Kilkenny surmised.
‘Right. It’s what Iverson used to check the Spyder program’s stability. Good piece of coding, too-I was impressed. This tool’s helping me quite a bit in deciphering what’s going on in there. Very radical stuff.’
‘I’m pleased that you’re enjoying yourself.’
The lab’s phone rang twice, indicating an outside call coming directly to the lab. ‘MARC computer lab.’
‘Nolan, Kathy Ullrich from the FBI. Is the Spyder on-line?’
‘Yes, it is. Oh, wait a minute, Kathy. Grin’s shaking his head. I guess it’s finished and has closed the connection. Let me put you on the speaker.’
‘Grin,’ Ullrich’s voice called out over the phone, ‘did you get a list of penetrated systems?’
‘Yes, and I’m printing it out right now. What do you want to know?’
