Suddenly, without warning, the German's body arched,stiffened, and almost immediately collapsed on top of her. That's all? she thought, surprised and relieved.

She tried to slide out from under him. "Darling," shewhispered huskily. "Let me get on top." But the man didnot move. She reached up and pushed at his ma.s.sive shoulders."Darling, I ... I can't breathe!"

She beganfeeling faint. She felt her ribs cracking."Despiertate!" Her fingers instinctivelystarted pulling at his matted hair. Wake up!

It was then that she felt the warm sticky liquid. It was mattedin his hair-flowing onto her cheeks, into her mouth. It wa.s.salty. She twisted wildly beneath him. Above her, a strange shaftof light illuminated the German's contorted face. The bullethole in his temple was gushing blood all over her. She tried toscream, but there was no air left in her lungs. He was crushingher. Delirious, she clawed toward the shaft of light coming fromthe doorway. She saw a hand. A gun with a silencer. A flash oflight. And then nothing.

CHAPTER 40

Outside Node 3, Chartrukian looked desperate. He was trying toconvince Hale that TRANSLTR was in trouble. Susan raced by themwith only one thought in mind-to find Strathmore.

The panicked Sys-Sec grabbed Susan's arm as she pa.s.sed."Ms. Fletcher! We have a virus! I'm positive! You haveto-"

Susan shook herself free and glared ferociously. "I thoughtthe commander told you to go home."

"But the Run-Monitor! It's registeringeighteen-"

"Commander Strathmore told you to go home!"

"f.u.c.k STRATHMORE!" Chartrukian screamed, the wordsresounding throughout the dome.

A deep voice boomed from above. "Mr. Chartrukian?"

The three Crypto employees froze.

High above them, Strathmore stood at the railing outside hisoffice.

For a moment, the only sound inside the dome was the uneven humof the generators below. Susan tried desperately to catchStrathmore's eye. Commander! Hale is North Dakota! But Strathmore was fixated on the young Sys-Sec. He descendedthe stairs without so much as a blink, keeping his eyes trained onChartrukian the whole way down. He made his way across the Cryptofloor and stopped six inches in front of the trembling technician."What did you say?"

"Sir," Chartrukian choked, "TRANSLTR's introuble."

"Commander?" Susan interjected. "If Icould-"

Strathmore waved her off. His eyes never left the Sys-Sec.

Phil blurted, "We have an infected file, sir. I'm sureof it!"

Strathmore's complexion turned a deep red. "Mr.Chartrukian, we've been through this. There is no fileinfecting TRANSLTR!"

"Yes, there is!" he cried. "And if it makes itsway to the main databank-"

"Where the h.e.l.l is this infected file?" Strathmorebellowed. "Show it to me!"

Chartrukian hesitated. "I can't."

"Of course you can't! It doesn't exist!"

Susan said, "Commander, I must-"

Again Strathmore silenced her with an angry wave.

Susan eyed Hale nervously. He seemed smug and detached. Itmakes perfect sense, she thought. Hale wouldn't beworried about a virus; he knows what's really going on insideTRANSLTR.

Chartrukian was insistent. "The infected file exists, sir. But Gauntlet never picked it up."

"If Gauntlet never picked it up," Strathmore fumed,"then how the h.e.l.l do you know it exists?"

Chartrukian suddenly sounded more confident. "Mutationstrings, sir. I ran a full a.n.a.lysis, and the probe turned upmutation strings!"

Susan now understood why the Sys-Sec was so concerned. Mutation strings, she mused. She knew mutation strings wereprogramming sequences that corrupted data in extremely complexways. They were very common in computer viruses, particularlyviruses that altered large blocks of data. Of course, Susan alsoknew from Tankado's E-mail that the mutation stringsChartrukian had seen were harmless- simply part of DigitalFortress. The Sys-Sec went on. "When I first saw the strings, sir, Ithought Gauntlet's filters had failed. But then I ran sometests and found out ..." He paused, looking suddenly uneasy."I found out that somebody manually bypa.s.sedGauntlet."

The statement met with a sudden hush. Strathmore's faceturned an even deeper shade of crimson. There was no doubt whomChartrukian was accusing; Strathmore's terminal was the onlyone in Crypto with clearance to bypa.s.s Gauntlet's filters.

When Strathmore spoke, his voice was like ice. "Mr.Chartrukian, not that it is any concern of yours, but Ibypa.s.sed Gauntlet." He went on, his temper hovering near theboiling point. "As I told you earlier, I'm running a veryadvanced diagnostic. The mutation strings you see in TRANSLTR arepart of that diagnostic; they are there because I put themthere. Gauntlet refused to let me load the file, so I bypa.s.sed itsfilters." Strathmore's eyes narrowed sharply atChartrukian. "Now, will there be anything else before yougo?"

In a flash, it all clicked for Susan. When Strathmore haddownloaded the encrypted Digital Fortress algorithm from theInternet and tried to run it through TRANSLTR, the mutation stringshad tripped Gauntlet's filters. Desperate to know whetherDigital Fortress was breakable, Strathmore decided to bypa.s.s thefilters.

Normally, bypa.s.sing Gauntlet was unthinkable. In this situation,however, there was no danger in sending Digital Fortress directlyinto TRANSLTR; the commander knew exactly what the file was andwhere it came from.

"With all due respect, sir," Chartrukian pressed,"I've never heard of a diagnostic that employs.m.u.tation-"

"Commander," Susan interjected, not able to waitanother moment. "I really need to- "

This time her words were cut short by the sharp ring ofStrathmore's cellular phone.

The commander s.n.a.t.c.hed up thereceiver. "What is it!" he barked. Then he fell silentand listened to the caller.

Susan forgot about Hale for an instant. She prayed the callerwas David. Tell me he's okay, she thought. Tell mehe found the ring! But Strathmore caught her eye and he gaveher a frown. It was not David.

Susan felt her breath grow short. All she wanted to know wasthat the man she loved was safe. Strathmore, Susan knew, wasimpatient for other reasons; if David took much longer, thecommander would have to send backup-NSA field agents. It was agamble he had hoped to avoid.

"Commander?" Chartrukian urged. "I really thinkwe should check-"

"Hold on," Strathmore said, apologizing to his caller.He covered his mouthpiece and leveled a fiery stare at his youngSys-Sec. "Mr. Chartrukian," he growled, "thisdiscussion is over. You are to leave Crypto. Now.That's an order." Chartrukian stood stunned. "But, sir, mutationstr-"

"NOW!" Strathmore bellowed.

Chartrukian stared a moment, speechless. Then he stormed offtoward the Sys-Sec lab.

Strathmore turned and eyed Hale with a puzzled look. Susanunderstood the commander's mystification. Hale had beenquiet-too quiet. Hale knew very well there was no such thingas a diagnostic that used mutation strings, much less one thatcould keep TRANSLTR busy eighteen hours. And yet Hale hadn'tsaid a word. He appeared indifferent to the entire commotion.Strathmore was obviously wondering why. Susan had theanswer.

"Commander," she said insistently, "if I couldjust speak-"

"In a minute," he interjected, still eyeing Halequizzically. "I need to take this call."

With that,Strathmore turned on his heel and headed for his office.

Susan opened her mouth, but the words stalled on the tip of hertongue. Hale is North Dakota! She stood rigid, unable tobreathe. She felt Hale staring at her. Susan turned.

Hale steppedaside and swung his arm graciously toward the Node 3 door."After you, Sue."

CHAPTER 41

In a linen closet on the third floor of the Alfonso XIII, a maidlay unconscious on the floor. The man with wire-rim gla.s.ses wasreplacing a hotel master key in her pocket.

He had not sensed herscream when he struck her, but he had no way of knowing forsure-he had been deaf since he was twelve.

He reached to the battery pack on his belt with a certain kindof reverence; a gift from a client, the machine had given him newlife. He could now receive his contracts anywhere in the world. Allcommunications arrived instantaneously and untraceably.

He was eager as he touched the switch. His gla.s.ses flickered tolife. Once again his fingers carved into the empty air and beganclicking together. As always, he had recorded the names of hisvictims-a simple matter of searching a wallet or purse.

Thecontacts on his fingers connected, and the letters appeared in thelens of his gla.s.ses like ghosts in the air.

SUBJECT: ROCIO EVA GRANADA-TERMINATED SUBJECT: HANS HUBER-TERMINATED Three stories below David Becker paid his tab and wanderedacross the lobby, his half-finished drink in hand. He headed towardthe hotel's open terrace for some fresh air. In andout, he mused. Things hadn't panned out quite as heexpected. He had a decision to make. Should he just give up and goback to the airport? A matter of national security. He sworeunder his breath. So why the h.e.l.l had they sent aschoolteacher?

Becker moved out of sight of the bartender and dumped theremaining drink in a potted jasmine. The vodka had made himlight-headed. Cheapest drunk in history, Susan often calledhim. After refilling the heavy crystal gla.s.s from a water fountain,Becker took a long swallow.

He stretched a few times trying to shake off the light haze thathad settled over him.

Then he set down his gla.s.s and walked acrossthe lobby.

As he pa.s.sed the elevator, the doors slid opened. There was aman inside. All Becker saw were thick wire-rim gla.s.ses. The manraised a handkerchief to blow his nose.

Becker smiled politely andmoved on ... out into the stifling Sevillian night.

CHAPTER 42

Inside Node 3, Susan caught herself pacing frantically. Shewished she'd exposed Hale when she'd had the chance.

Hale sat at his terminal. "Stress is a killer, Sue.Something you want to get off your chest?"

Susan forced herself to sit. She had thought Strathmore would beoff the phone by now and return to speak to her, but he was nowhereto be seen. Susan tried to keep calm.

She gazed at her computerscreen. The tracer was still running-for the second time.

Itwas immaterial now. Susan knew whose address it would return:

Susan gazed up toward Strathmore's workstation and knew shecouldn't wait any longer. It was time to interrupt thecommander's phone call. She stood and headed for the door. Hale seemed suddenly uneasy, apparently noticing Susan'sodd behavior. He strode quickly across the room and beat her to thedoor. He folded his arms and blocked her exit.

"Tell me what's going on," he demanded."There's something going on here today.

What isit?"

"Let me out," Susan said as evenly as possible,feeling a sudden twinge of danger.

"Come on," Hale pressed. "Strathmore practicallyfired Chartrukian for doing his job.

What's going on insideTRANSLTR? We don't have any diagnostics that run eighteenhours. That's bulls.h.i.t, and you know it. Tell me what'sgoing on."

Susan's eyes narrowed. You know d.a.m.n well what'sgoing on! "Back off, Greg," she demanded. "Ineed to use the bathroom."

Hale smirked. He waited a long moment and then stepped aside."Sorry Sue. Just flirting."

Susan pushed by him and left Node 3. As she pa.s.sed the gla.s.swall, she sensed Hale's eyes boring into her from the otherside.

Reluctantly, she circled toward the bathrooms. She would have tomake a detour before visiting the Commander. Greg Hale couldsuspect nothing.

CHAPTER 43

A jaunty forty-five, Chad Brinkerhoff was well-pressed,well-groomed, and well- informed. His summer-weight suit, like histan skin, showed not a wrinkle or hint of wear. His hair was thick,sandy blond, and most importantly-all his own. His eyes were abrilliant blue-subtly enhanced by the miracle of tintedcontact lenses.

He surveyed the wood-paneled office around him and knew he hadrisen as far as he would rise in the NSA. He was on the ninthfloor-Mahogany Row. Office 9A197.

The Directorial Suite.

It was a Sat.u.r.day night, and Mahogany Row was all but deserted,its executives long gone-off enjoying whatever pastimesinfluential men enjoyed in their leisure.