Digital Fortress Chapter 29

put away unnerved from her encounter with Hale, Susan gazed out through the one-way glass of noe 3. The Crypto floor was empty. Hale was close again, engrossed. She wished he would consecrate.She wondered if she should look to Strathmore the commander could simply kick Hale out-after exclusively, it was Saturday. Susan knew, however, that if Hale got kicked out, he would like a shot buy the farm suspicious. Once dismissed, he probably would start calling other cryptographers asking what they thought was going on. Susan clear-cut it was better just to let Hale be. He would egress on his own soon enough.An splinterproof algorithm. She sighed, her thoughts returning to Digital Fortress. It amazed her that an algorithm like that could really be created-then again, the proof was right in that location in front of her TRANSLTR appeared useless against it.Susan thought of Strathmore, nobly bearing the weight of this ordeal on his shoulders, doing what was necessary, staying ser ene in the face of disaster.Susan virtuallytimes saw David in Strathmore. They had many of the same qualities-tenacity, dedication, intelligence. Sometimes Susan thought Strathmore would be lost without her the purity of her love for cryptography seemed to be an emotional lifeline to Strathmore, lifting him from the sea of churning authorities and reminding him of his early days as a code-breaker.Susan relied on Strathmore too he was her shelter in a world of power-hungry men, nurturing her career, protecting her, and, as he often joked, making all her dreams come true. There was several(prenominal) truth to that, she thought. As unintentional as it may use up been, the commander was the one whod do the call that brought David Becker to the NSA that fateful afternoon. Her mind reeled back to him, and her eyes fell instinctively to the pull-slide beside her keyboard. There was a small facsimile machine taped there.The fax had been there for seven months. It was the only code Sus an Fletcher had yet to break. It was from David. She read it for the five-hundredth time. enliven ACCEPT THIS HUMBLE FAXMY LOVE FOR YOU IS WITHOUT WAX.Hed send it to her after a minor tiff. Shed begged him for months to tell her what it meant, that he had refused. Without wax. It was Davids revenge. Susan had taught David a lot about code-breaking, and to keep him on his toes, she had taken to encoding all of her messages to him with some simple encryption scheme. Shopping lists, love notes-they were all encrypted. It was a game, and David had become quite a pricey cryptographer. then hed decided to return the favor. Hed started signing all his letters Without wax, David. Susan had over two dozen notes from David. They were all signed the same way. Without wax.Susan begged to know the hidden meaning, but David wasnt piffleing. Whenever she asked, he simply smiled and said, Youre the code-breaker.The NSAs head cryptographer had time-tested every involvement-substitutions, ciph er boxes, even anagrams. Shed run the letters without wax through her computer and asked for rearrangements of the letters into new phrases. exclusively shed gotten back was taxi hut wow. It appeared Ensei Tankado was not the only one who could write unbreakable codes.Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the pneumatic doors hissing open. Strathmore strode in.Susan, any word yet? Strathmore saw Greg Hale and stopped short. Well, favourable evening, Mr. Hale. He frowned, his eyes narrowing. On a Saturday, no less. To what do we owe the honor?Hale smiled innocently. dependable making sure I pull my weight.I see. Strathmore grunted, apparently weighing his options. After a moment, it seemed he too decided not to rock Hales boat. He turned coolly to Susan. Ms. Fletcher, could I speak to you for a moment? Outside?Susan hesitated. Ah yes, sir. She shot an uneasy glance at her monitor and then across the agency at Greg Hale. Just a minute.With a few quick keystrokes, she pulled up a program called ScreenLock. It was a solitude utility. Every terminal in Node 3 was equipped with it. Because the terminals stayed on around the clock, ScreenLock enabled cryptographers to leave their stations and know that nobody would tamper with their files. Susan entered her five-character privacy code, and her screen went black. It would remain that way until she returned and typed the proper sequence. then she slipped on her shoes and followed the commander out.What the hell is he doing here? Strathmore demanded as soon as he and Susan were outside Node 3.His usual, Susan replied. Nothing.Strathmore looked concerned. Has he said anything about TRANSLTR?No. But if he approachinges the Run-Monitor and sees it registering seventeen hours, hell have something to say all right.Strathmore considered it. Theres no reason hed access it.Susan eyed the commander. You want to send him home? No. Well let him be. Strathmore glanced over at the Sys-Sec office. Has Chartrukian left ye t?I dont know. I havent seen him.Jesus. Strathmore groaned. This is a circus. He ran a hand across the beard stubble that had darkened his face over the past thirty-six hours. whatever word yet on the tracer? I feel like Im sitting on my workforce up there.Not yet. Any word from David?Strathmore shook his head. I asked him not to call me until he has the ring.Susan looked surprised. why not? What if he needs help?Strathmore shrugged. I cant help him from here-hes on his own. Besides, Id rather not talk on unsecured lines just in case someones listening.Susans eyes widened in concern. Whats that supposed to mean?Strathmore immediately looked apologetic. He gave her a reassuring smile. Davids fine. Im just being careful.Thirty feet away from their conversation, hidden behind the one-way glass of Node 3, Greg Hale stood at Susans terminal. Her screen was black. Hale glanced out at the commander and Susan. and then he reached for his wallet. He extracted a small index card and read i t.Double-checking that Strathmore and Susan were silence talking, Hale carefully typed five keystrokes on Susans keyboard. A second later her monitor sprang to life.Bingo. He chuckled.Stealing the Node 3 privacy codes had been simple. In Node 3, every terminal had an identical detachable keyboard. Hale had simply taken his keyboard home one night and installed a chip that kept a record of every keystroke made on it. Then he had come in early, swapped his modified keyboard for someone elses, and waited. At the end of the day, he switched back and viewed the data recorded by the chip. Even though there were millions of keystrokes to sort through, finding the access code was simple the first thing a cryptographer did every morning was type the privacy code that unlocked his terminal. This, of course, made Hales job effortless-the privacy code always appeared as the first five characters on the list.It was ironic, Hale thought as he gazed at Susans monitor. Hed stolen the privacy code s just for kicks. He was blessed now hed done it the program on Susans screen looked significant.Hale puzzled over it for a moment. It was indite in obliviousness-not one of his specialties. Just by looking at it, though, Hale could tell one thing for certain-this was not a diagnostic. He could make sense of only two words. But they were enough.TRACER pryingTracer? he said aloud. Searching for what? Hale felt suddenly uneasy. He sat a moment studying Susans screen. Then he made his decision.Hale understood enough about the LIMBO programming language to know that it borrowed heavily from two other languages-C and Pascal-both of which he knew cold. Glancing up to check that Strathmore and Susan were still talking outside, Hale improvised. He entered a few modified Pascal commands and hit return. The tracers status window responded exactly as he had hoped.TRACER ABORT?He quickly typed YESARE YOU SURE? over again he typed YESAfter a moment the computer beeped.TRACER ABORTEDHale smi led. The terminal had just sent a message telling Susans tracer to self-destruct prematurely. Whatever she was looking for would have to wait.Mindful to leave no evidence, Hale expertly navigated his way into her system activity log and deleted all the commands hed just typed. Then he reentered Susans privacy code.The monitor went black.When Susan Fletcher returned to Node 3, Greg Hale was seated quietly at his terminal.