“A day, perhaps; two at the most. But it will take another several days to reroute the trains to their original destinations.”
Rutland knew that the temporary detention centers must be overflowing by now. Without the trains they would have to stop the arrests or risk attracting the media’s attention. “Do it!” Rutland commanded as he got up to leave. He was beginning to hate the Asian scientist who seemed indifferent to their problems.
Just as Rutland was about to walk out, Dr. Loo said, “You have an even bigger problem, Mr. Rutland.”
“What now?” Rutland growled at Loo, who still had his back to him.
“These errors are the result of Mr.Wells’ actions.”
“What?!?” Rutland snapped, stopping where he was. “That’s impossible. Wells is dead. He died in a plane crash.”
“He is the only person capable of making changes to the operating system. I can only make minor changes to his system. It is true genius,” Loo said admiringly. “I still do not fully understand its interactive nature. It is almost human in its ability to reprogram itself.”
“You must be wrong!” Rutland argued, his frustrations obvious. “How do you know it’s not just a flaw in your program?”
“Because I personally routed another train to one of the original locations. The system then selectively rerouted it to the most remote location possible. No, Mr. Rutland, this is not a system failure; it is a deliberate attempt to slow your detention down.”
Rutland felt like his head was going to explode. How could Wells be alive? It had to be Shepperd! He must have done a double switch if Wells wasn’t on that plane they shot down. That stupid Lively! he thought to himself. If he weren’t dead, I’d have him killed!
“What can you do to keep Wells out of the system?” he asked the much smaller man. Dr. Loo was not intimated by Rutland’s implied threat.
“Nothing,” he answered. “Absolutely nothing. That young man is the Michelangelo of computers. If he wants into the system, he can get in. Apparently he has built-in access codes that allow him to address the compiler directly. I really would like to know how he did it. The system never logs him in or out, and the system clock never shows his time use.”
“Can we turn the system off?” Rutland asked in frustration.
“Yes, if you’re willing to shut down the U.S. and European economies. We are totally committed to Data-Net for all transactions, including Mr.Wells’ expenditures.”
Rutland stormed out of Loo’s office and headed directly to his own office, where he made the call to Razzak. The secretary said he was in a meeting with President Alton. Rutland didn’t even bother to buzz the president’s office. He just walked over and announced to her secretary that he was going in. The flustered secretary was buzzing the president when Rutland opened the door.
“What is the meaning of this?” Razzak demanded as Rutland entered.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we have serious problems, and I knew you and the president would want to know immediately.”
“Speak,” Razzak said more softly.
“Wells is still alive. He has entered the system and rerouted all of our trains.”
“How is this possible?” Razzak screamed in a voice that was somehow not his own. “You said Wells was killed on the plane.”
“Apparently Shepperd tricked our men into believing he was on that plane. Dr. Loo is positive that Wells is using the Data-Net system even now.”
“Shut the system down!” Razzak commanded Rutland. “He will wreck our plans.”
“If we do that, sir, we will collapse the economies of our friends and make ourselves the laughing stock of the world.”
“You are correct,” Razzak said, taking a seat and glancing toward Kathy Alton. She appeared unflustered. What Razzak didn’t know was that Kathy Alton was reinforcing her calm with increasing doses of a white powder.
“What is your suggestion?” Razzak asked.
Rutland was somewhat surprised by the question. He was used to making decisions, but not when Razzak was around.
“I believe they are hiding in the Atlanta area,” Rutland said emphatically. “That is where the police last saw Elder and Shepperd. We can reasonably assume that Wells is somewhere in that vicinity also. I suggest that we pull several thousand of our best agents into the area and search every house if we have to. We have no idea what Wells has in mind for Data-Net.
I suspect he already has found a way to defeat our new ID system.”
“Is that possible?” Razzak asked sharply. “I thought Dr. Loo said it was undefeatable.” Only Razzak himself knew that the next step in the ID system was the inclusion of another number in the code. This number would be given only to those who swore allegiance to the Great Leader. Eventually all others would be prohibited from the system. Then, and only then, would the system be complete.
“Dr. Loo says Wells is capable of defeating it. Wells programmed in codes that allow him access to the main program from outside.”
“Your suggestion to ferret him out is excellent,” Razzak said, without visible emotion. “See that it is done.”
“I would like to oversee the search myself, if you will allow me.”
“Another excellent suggestion. Have the document drawn up, and the president will authorize it.”
Kathy Alton acknowledged the “suggestion” by a nod of her head.
28
COUNTERATTACK
Jeff Wells was hunched over his portable terminal, busily working inside the Data-Net program, establishing lines of credit for the five or six million families that John Elder estimated had been purged from the system. He checked his credit accumulator and found that it had developed a $20-billion surplus already. “Boy, it would be fun to spend that much money,” Jeff said teasingly to Karen. “The Congress had to be pretty creative to spend that much every day, huh?”
“A senator from the 1970s once commented, ‘A billion here, a billion there, and you’re talking about some real money.’ Are you sure all these transfers won’t be traceable?” she asked as she saw the account files being assembled.
“Positive,” he said, grinning. “My program is kind of like an Indian who walks backward and brushes away his tracks behind him.”
“Just be sure you don’t bump into a bear while you’re walking backward,” she said as she hugged him.
“Hello.What is this?” Jeff said as his screen flashed.
“What is that?” Karen asked, as she too noticed the flashing symbol.
“I put in a special feature a couple of days ago. Wanted to keep track of our friends at the White House, so I flagged their accounts to flash whenever they were used. President Alton’s account was just opened.”
“There’s nothing unusual about that,” Karen commented as Jeff punched the keys. “She probably has to pay bills like everyone else.”
“Except that her account was accessed from Cal Rutland’s terminal,”he said as the file began to print out.“He has been authorized to use a Defense Department jet tomorrow. Let’s see where he’s landing.”Wells punched up the access code for Andrews Air Force Base and checked the flight plan schedule.“Here it is. The flight plan is from Washington to Atlanta.”
Karen looked puzzled. “Rutland is coming to Atlanta? I wonder why?”
“I don’t know,” Jeff responded. “But we’d better let Shepperd know.”
Karen went out to find the agent who was working with Elder, planning trips to other cities. “Don, you’d better come and take a look. Jeff has found something peculiar.”
Wells quickly filled the agent in on what he had found. “Could be a normal business trip,” Shepperd said, “but of course I don’t believe it for a minute. If Rutland, Razzak’s main man, is leaving Washington, it’s serious business. And since we’re near Atlanta, I suspect we’re part of it. Can you dig up anything else, Jeff?”
“I’ll try,” Jeff responded, calling up the other White House access codes. “Look at this!”Wells shouted as the filed a
ppeared.
“What is all that?” Shepperd asked as the file filled the screen and scrolled past.
“These are all transactions made through the attorney general’s account today. They’re airline reservations, from all over the country.”
“Check the destinations,” Shepperd said hurriedly. The hair was tingling on the back of his neck. Something was definitely up.
Jeff instructed the program to verify destinations of the tickets purchased. The first twenty to fill the screen told the whole story: Atlanta, Georgia.
“They’re bringing in agents from around the country,” Shepperd warned. “They’re going to do a house-to-house search for us! Eventually they’ll pick up our trail. We need to warn the others and then clear out— fast!”
“Just a minute,” Jeff said calmly. “We’ve been on the run since the beginning. If we move, I may have a problem finding another mechanical phone relay system.”
“The next closest one is in Mississippi,” Shepperd said.
“And what about the risk of moving all of our people and supplies so quickly?” Elder said as he walked into the room from the porch, where he had been listening.
“What choice do we have?” Shepperd growled. “These are professionals. They will eventually locate this place.”
“Why don’t we scatter the troops?” Jeff said with a smirk on his face.
“What are you up to now?” Karen asked Jeff, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“One thing about a totally cash-less system,” Jeff said as he typed in more instructions, “is that it can work for either side. And we’re on the controlling side now.”He continued to type for several minutes before he halted.
“I have just canceled their reservations,” he said triumphantly. “I also invalidated all the codes in the attorney general’s office. Basically the government is locked out of Data-Net.”
“For how long?” Shepperd asked.
“It will probably take Dr. Loo and his team a day or two to figure out how to overcome the problem. I also instructed the system to override all flights to Atlanta. As of tomorrow at 4:00 A.M. the city of Atlanta has been removed from all flight reservations computers around the country. Oh yes, also at 6:00 A.M. the main computer at the Atlanta airport will shut down, wiping all of its memory banks when it does. The airport will be closed for a couple of days.”
“I’m glad you’re on our side now,” Shepperd said with a whistle.
“I always was,” Jeff said, smiling. “I just didn’t know which side was which for a while.”
Jeff Wells knew that he had a lot more in common with the people he was now helping than he did with any others he had been around. John Elder reminded him of his own father, who had always professed to being a Christian. In Jeff’s mind, it was a settled issue. Just as he had decided that fraternities were not for him, he decided that Christianity was.
“That will give us at least two days to relocate,” Shepperd explained to the group. “I suggest we start packing. We’ll move out two vehicles at a time, starting tomorrow morning. We’ll relocate to the base in Mississippi. Jeff, you and Karen will go in one van. John, you and four of the others will go in another. We’ll have clean vehicles ready along the way, if necessary.”
“I just wish I could see the look on those agents’ faces when they try to fly out tomorrow,” Jeff said, snorting. “And all those flights that were rerouted to accommodate them will be in limbo when the ticket agents discover that Atlanta is no longer on their computers.”
The whole group laughed as they envisioned the chaos that would greet the government agents the next morning.
“We need to get word to our people in Atlanta to move out as quickly as possible too,” Elder said to Shepperd. “They will bear the brunt for us otherwise.”
“Already in progress, Pastor,” Jeff commented. “I instructed the central AT&T office in Chicago to call all of our safe houses and leave the coded message we agreed on.”
“Obviously the system will then wipe its feet as it leaves. Right?” Shepperd asked.
“Right,” Jeff responded as he smiled at Karen. “And they will be toll-free calls, courtesy of Data-Net.”
“Jeff, can you change the records of anyone using the system?”
Shepperd asked as he sat down in the chair next to Wells.
“Sure,” Jeff said. “You name it and I can do it while I’m inside the compiler.”
“Can you give all the users a deficit balance in their accounts?”
“Sure,” he said. He suddenly caught on to Shepperd’s idea. “I can even have the government garnish their wages for the deficiencies and attach their properties.”
“Do it!” Shepperd exclaimed. “I think it’s time we took the battle to the enemy. By the time we get set up in Mississippi the average American ought to be pretty fed up with the new system.”
The next day was a tangle of confusion throughout the entire country. The FBI agents who arrived at the airports expecting to pick up their tickets to Atlanta discovered that, not only did they not have tickets, there were no scheduled flights to Atlanta—ever!
One of the agents was Carl Tooms, now little more than a prison guard since being banished to Arizona. When he had been sent to that God-forsaken part of the world, he had thought he would be in charge. Instead, he was now working for a woman from the attorney general’s office.
It wouldn’t be so bad if I was in charge, he thought. There are some good-lookin’ women in the camp. But he and the other men were under orders to leave them alone now. Other screwy orders had started coming in: The prisoners were to get more food; families were to be allowed to live together; and worst of all, they were strictly off limits to all government personnel. We might as well be running a Sunday school, Tooms thought disgustedly.
In the beginning, camp policy had been Tooms’ cup of tea. If one of the prisoners got himself killed, the guards just hauled him out in the middle of the night and buried him quietly. It had a great effect on the others; they lived in fear of the camp guards. But now, even some of the guards were protecting the prisoners. “It makes me sick,” Tooms had said at least a hundred times to anyone who would listen.
Eventually he had come to blame all his problems on Donald Shepperd. If Shepperd hadn’t raised such a stink about that broad in Chicago, I wouldn’t be here, he thought angrily. He had even heard rumors that Shepperd had turned traitor and was now working with the terrorists. When the call came in for agents to go to Atlanta, Tooms had volunteered. This would be his one chance to redeem himself and also pay Shepperd back. Maybe he could even get his own camp. The very thought of being in control of a camp excited him.
The next day he was up early; he wanted to be one of the first to Atlanta. He had heard that Rutland might even be coming to Atlanta. The others might fear him, Tooms thought, but he sounds like my kind of guy. Tooms parked his car in the airport parking lot and made his way toward the terminal building. He checked his bags at the curb after saying a few select words to the sky cap, who tried to insist there were no flights to Atlanta. “You just put them on that conveyer,” Tooms shouted at the older man, “and mark them ‘Atlanta’.”
“Let him try to find his own bags then,” the sky cap muttered under his breath as Tooms stormed away swearing.
“What do you mean you don’t have my reservation?” Tooms snarled at the ticket agent in the Tucson Airport. “I’m a government official. I have to get to Atlanta today.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but our records don’t show your reservations.”
Swearing loudly, Tooms said, “Then get me on the next available flight to Atlanta.”
“I’m sorry,” the frustrated ticket agent said, “but we don’t have any flights to Atlanta.”
“What do you mean, you don’t have any flights to Atlanta? You mean they’re all booked?”
“No, sir,” the frustrated agent replied. “Atlanta does not show on our destination schedule.”
“What?”
Tooms shouted, his red face revealing his highly elevated blood pressure. “Atlanta doesn’t show on your schedule? Atlanta is the hub of the entire East Coast. Thousands of flights go through there every day.”
“I am sorry, sir,” she said more forcefully. “I can only tell you what the computer tells me. There are no flights into Atlanta today. If you will leave your number, we’ll have someone call you when flights resume.”
Tooms offered a few more four-letter words and discovering his cell phone was low on battery, he headed off to find a phone to call the Atlanta director and apprise him of the situation. When he found the phones, there were lines waiting to use them. With no flights into Atlanta, he knew there had to be thousands of stranded passengers—a hundred and fifty were here in Tuscon, at least. He shoved his way to the front and flashed his credentials at a very frustrated woman who was trying to call her company in New York.
“I need to use that phone,” he commanded as the man in front of her hung up.
“You and a hundred other people,” she said angrily. “Just wait your turn.”
“Listen, lady. This is government business. Step aside.”With that he shoved her aside roughly.
Still fuming, she responded, “If you’re with the government, then you’re part of the problem. Idiot!”
Data-Net scanners had been installed at the entrance to every phone station. Verification of proper ID was required before any transaction could be completed, including long distance calls. Tooms ran his hand past the magnetic scanner before he placed his special government access card in the scanner’s card reader. As soon as the ID card was scanned, the alarm sounded. He and all the others standing there were startled by the sound.
“Somebody grab him,” the angry woman screamed. “He’s a terrorist or something.”
With that, several men pressed forward. Tooms reached inside his jacket for his gun and then realized he didn’t have it. Even government agents were prohibited from carrying firearms aboard planes. He had packed it in the suitcase he had checked earlier.
The crowd seized him and held him down until a security guard, who had seen the commotion and heard the alarm, took him away in handcuffs. Tooms was shouting a broad variety of obscenities as he was shoved into the airport security van.
The Illuminati Page 34
