recorded it on the endpapers of each notebook.’
Kilkenny brought up a text file that displayed a complex mathematical formula, then turned the laptop to face Orlov and Zoshchenko. Both looked puzzled by what they saw.
‘In case you’re wondering, it’s an algorithm designed to run on a quantum computer.’
‘There’s no such thing,’ Zoshchenko said skeptically.
‘No, not yet there isn’t. Wolff’s math is valid, though difficult to replicate in conventional terms. When he encoded his notebooks, he used this algorithm and did the work in his head. I’ve rewritten the algorithm to run on a conventional computer.’
Orlov scowled, looking for some deception in what he plainly didn’t understand.
‘What about the key?’ Orlov asked. ‘Where is the ring?’
‘It’s safely waiting for its owner. You don’t need the ring anyway, only the inscription’ – Kilkenny opened a text file and showed them Wolff’s key – ‘which I’ve built into the decoding program.’
‘Cooper said you decoded some of the notebooks.’
‘Yes, I did,’ Kilkenny replied.
‘Show me.’
Kilkenny pulled six file folders from his briefcase and handed them to Orlov. ‘Here’s a few pages from the first notebook. Each folder contains a facsimile of the original notebook page, followed by our decoded version of the text.’
Orlov opened the first folder and saw a laser-printed version of a page from Wolff’s notebooks. Turning the page, he discovered Kilkenny’s plain-text version of Wolff’s research.
‘It’s in German?’ Orlov asked.
‘Wolff’s native tongue. We haven’t had time to translate very much of it, just enough to know that it’s not gibberish.’
‘What do you think, Oksanna?’ Orlov asked, handing the first folder over to her.
Zoshchenko studied the document, mentally translating from German to Russian. She spent ten silent minutes reading before she looked up from the page.
‘Victor, I have to admit I don’t understand this.’
‘Then this is a fraud?’
‘No, not necessarily,’ she replied. ‘It looks genuine, but the science is well beyond my ability. We need an expert in this field to make any meaningful determination.’
‘Avvakum?’
‘ Da. ’
Orlov thought for a moment. ‘Dmitri, have Avvakum brought here.’
Leskov nodded and issued the order into his lip mike. A few minutes later Leskov opened the door. A woman with long, wavy black hair entered Orlov’s office. Her clothes were rumpled, as if she’d slept in them. The dark circles beneath her eyes implied that, in recent days, she probably hadn’t slept at all.
‘Come here, Doctor,’ Orlov demanded.
Avvakum walked toward Orlov numbly. When she drew near, Orlov indicated that she was to sit in the chair to his right. Avvakum complied.
‘I would like your opinion on something, Doctor,’ Orlov said.
Orlov then handed Avvakum one of the folders. She opened it and looked at the first page.
‘This is a page from the notebooks,’ she said.
‘ Da. Look at the next page and tell me what you think.’
Avvakum turned to the next page and began to read. She said nothing, but Kilkenny read her body language. Her eyes widened slightly, as if the larger aperture would somehow allow more of what she saw to enter her mind more quickly.
‘ Boja moi,’ Avvakum said softly. ‘Is there more?’
‘Yes, there is,’ Orlov replied. ‘What do you think? Do you believe it to be the true text of the notebooks?’
‘ Da,’ Avvakum replied.
To Kilkenny, it was clear that reading the decoded page had brought some of the life back to this defeated woman.
‘Would you like to see how I did it?’ Kilkenny asked her directly.
‘Please,’ Avvakum replied.
Kilkenny showed her the original equation string, then briefly described how he and Grin reworked Wolff’s quantum algorithm so it could be run on a conventional computer.
‘How did you simulate the principle of superposition in your program?’ Avvakum asked.
‘We didn’t,’ Kilkenny admitted. ‘We avoided it altogether. We translated Wolff’s equation from a quantum language into something we could work with. It’s certainly not as pretty as his code, and probably not as fast, but it gets the job done.’
‘Can I see the rest?’ she asked.
Orlov handed her the remaining files, which she eagerly pored over.
‘Each page takes about half an hour to forty-five minutes to decode,’ Kilkenny explained, ‘depending on how much text there is on it.’
Orlov waited until Avvakum closed the sixth folder. ‘What is your opinion, Lara?’
‘These men can decode the notebooks.’
‘Thank you. That will be all,’ Orlov said. Then he looked over at Leskov. ‘Dmitri, please have the doctor escorted back to her lab.’
After Avvakum was gone, Cooper leaned back and crossed his legs. ‘Satisfied?’ he asked.
‘I am, Victor,’ Zoshchenko offered.
‘So am I.’ Orlov leaned to the side and pressed the REDIAL button on the phone. This time the deep-voiced man answered after only one ring. ‘Josef, release our guests.’
‘ Da, Victor Ivanovich,’ the man replied.
Orlov pressed the button that ended the call. ‘The women will be dropped off at a very public location within the hour.’
‘Good,’ Cooper replied. ‘Now, let’s work out the rest of this. In exchange for Kilkenny’s decoding program, we want not only the release of the two women but your word that this is where all this ends.’
‘What do you mean?’ Orlov asked.
‘I mean that your attacks are over. This shouldn’t be a tough point for you to agree to; you’ve already got everything you want.’
‘If your people watching Sandstrom have kept you up to date,’ Kilkenny added, ‘then you know that even if he survives, it’ll be a long time before he’ll be well enough to return to a laboratory again. There’s nobody else in the world right now even close to catching up with you.’
Orlov smiled with satisfaction at Cooper and Kilkenny’s appraisal of the situation.
‘When Kilkenny and I walk out of here, that’s the end of this whole affair. Agreed?’
Orlov thought about it for a moment, weighing it as he would any other decision. ‘Agreed.’
‘Great. Now, as a further sign of our good faith while we wait for the women to be released, I would like to offer Kilkenny’s services in decoding more of Wolff’s journal. If you like, he can instruct Doctor’ – Cooper hesitated, as if trying to recall a name – ‘Avvakum in how to use the program.’
‘That is acceptable,’ Orlov said. ‘Dmitri, have Kilkenny taken to Avvakum’s lab.’
58
Moscow, Russia
Kilkenny followed the lean, muscular man into the deeper recesses of the building. Temporary walls of unfinished gypsum board blocked off large portions of the facility that were still under renovation, and mirrored half
