Rogue Angel - Polar Quest Part 27

She still had to get back to her shelter and read it over. At least she didn't have to rely on Thomson for access to it when Knightmare had come through in spades for her.

She returned to the fork. The cavern behind her seemed far away and as she walked, she realized it might be possible to do a controlled blast without damage to the other cavern.

But her instincts told her that the situation was very dangerous.

Suddenly she had the sensation of tripping and falling through the dark s.p.a.ce of the tunnel. She seemed to almost float in s.p.a.ce as she went almost horizontal.

And then she fell.

Hard.

She put her hands out in front of her, hoping to brace herself as she made impact with the ground, but part of her hand caught on an outcropping while the other sc.r.a.ped the ground. She landed awkwardly and her head snapped forward, smacking her forehead against the rocky ground.

Annja moaned. The blow to her head had been square on and she felt darkness rus.h.i.+ng at her as she lost consciousness.

THERE WERE SOUNDS from far off in the distance. But they were muted by the indescribable throbbing pain echoing through her skull. Annja raised a hand to her head and moaned. from far off in the distance. But they were muted by the indescribable throbbing pain echoing through her skull. Annja raised a hand to her head and moaned.

"Ugh."

"Well, well, look who decided to come back to the land of the living."

Annja opened her eyes and instantly regretted it. The light was bright and it hurt her head. "Lights," she groaned.

"Huh? Oh, sorry about that."

She felt the lights dim and then opened her eyes again. She was in her shelter and there was a bandage around her head. "What happened to me?"

Zach's face swam into view. "You took a header in the tunnel. Smacked yourself right unconscious by the way the doctors tell it. They said it would have been like taking a straight shot from a heavyweight boxer at close range."

Annja felt as if her stomach were rolling on a stormy ocean and she tried to swallow to settle it.

"Nauseous?" Zach asked.

"Yeah. Bad."

He nodded. "They said that would be the end result. It should pa.s.s pretty soon. They want you to rest, but I told them that there was no way you'd do that." He frowned. "You want to tell me what happened?"

Annja looked at him. "Do you know about the other cavern?"

"Where the other part of the team is? Sure."

"You know what they're doing down there?"

Zach smiled. "I've been kind of busy in our little rat hole. I've heard a few things, but nothing much. Why?"

"I saw them, Zach. They were boring holes and putting explosives into them. I think they want to blow up the mountain."

Zach smiled. "I heard they ran into a serious problem with the granite. One of them requested permission to blow an entrance. Apparently, they've got some type of scanning equipment that tells them there's a cavern on the other side of that wall. They want to get through."

"But isn't it dangerous?" Annja asked.

"Well, sure, they're explosives, after all. But it's being controlled. The colonel has some of his guys helping out."

Annja took a deep breath. Everything hurt. She was sure she'd hurt other parts of her body, as well as her head. "When are they blasting?"

"Tomorrow morning, first thing. Before anyone goes down."

"Oh."

Zach smiled. "Let me guess-you thought it was some grand conspiracy that would end up killing Dave and me?"

Annja smiled weakly. "Guilty."

Zach sighed. "When did you get so conspiracy crazy? I don't think I've ever seen you like this. It's kind of weird."

Annja frowned. "Let's just say that I've run into a lot of people lately who haven't been what they say they are."

"Everyone has secrets," Zach said. "That doesn't make them a.s.sa.s.sins or spooks or some shadowy government outfit bent on world domination."

Annja nodded. "You're right. I've been off base."

Zach smirked. "Tomorrow should be a good day. Once that blasting is done, we might get a glimpse at something new and exciting. I'm looking forward to it."

Annja nodded. "Okay."

"Look, I'm going to get some grub. You want me to bring you back something? I hear it's lasagna night."

Annja held up her hand. "Not sure I could stomach it right now. But thanks."

"Okay. Dave and I will be back later." He stood and walked to the door. "Get some rest, okay? I'll let the colonel know you're okay."

"Why?"

"He seemed concerned about you earlier when he heard about your fall. Guess he respects you a little bit more after your back-and-forth earlier. I get the feeling he might just show you that report, after all."

"Even without the perfume?" Annja smiled.

"Yeah, even without. Talk to you in a little while." Zach disappeared outside.

Annja watched him go. Her head throbbed. After all of this, she thought, and I nearly end up killing myself before I could figure this out. She sighed and closed her eyes.

There'd be time to deal with Thomson in the morning.

27.

"You're quite certain?"

The sergeant nodded. "We got confirmation midafternoon today of the security compromise."

Colonel Thomson frowned. "And you're certain it involved our communications network?"

"Without a doubt, sir. The initial hacker intrusion occurred on our Navstar satellite, which, as you know, is in a geosynchronous...o...b..t that takes it into our area of operations throughout the day, except for the blackout periods."

Thomson nodded. "How on earth did a hacker know we were even operating down here? It's not like we advertised our presence."

The sergeant shook his head. "I don't know, sir. It could have come from another source when we moved through McMurdo. That's the problem with having to filter through there. There are a lot of people around and one of them might have mentioned our presence to someone else who then took it upon themselves to hack into the system."

"But it's not that easy, is it?" the colonel asked.

The sergeant shrugged. "Sir, nowadays these kids can type a few words into a search engine and come up with our satellite networks, corresponding protocols and all that stuff. Frankly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner."

Thomson glanced at Garin. "Major, what do you make of all of this stuff? Is it a serious compromise? Should I be concerned?"

Garin shrugged. "I'm not sure yet, sir. I think we need to ascertain the extent of the compromise before we start pa.s.sing judgments."

"Agreed," Thomson said. He looked back at the sergeant. "So where did the hacker tap into us from?"

The sergeant looked uncomfortable. "Well, that's the problem, sir."

"Don't tell me there's a problem."

"I'm sorry, sir, but they used a sophisticated routing program that led our intercept teams all over the world. Mumbai, Tokyo, Wellington even."

"Wellington? You think it could be a compromise coming from New Zealand?" The colonel frowned. "If that's the case, it would make for a very bad diplomatic situation."

The sergeant shook his head. "I don't know that I believe it did come from New Zealand, sir. I think the hacker just wanted to make it look that way. But he wasn't on the line long enough for us to do a trace. He must have known we started the intercept program and at that point, he simply disconnected."

Thomson threw his hands in the air. "Great. Just great. So how in the h.e.l.l am I supposed to accurately judge whether or not this installation is under some sort of threat or if our information has been pilfered?"

The sergeant handed him a sheet of paper. "We were able to figure out what the hacker was after, sir."

Thomson s.n.a.t.c.hed the paper and started reading. After a moment, he glanced at the sergeant. "You're dismissed. Good work."

"Thank you, sir." The sergeant turned and left the shelter.

Thomson watched him go and then handed the sheet of paper to Garin. "Well, Major, what do you think of this?"

Garin read the report and his eyes gleamed. "I would say that it seems like someone has gone through an awful lot of trouble to acquire some of your files."

"One in particular," the colonel said.

"Yes, sir."

Thomson nodded. "Very well. If that's how this is going to play out, at least I know who I'm dealing with now."

"We don't know for a fact it was Miss Creed, sir."

"No, we don't. But I myself have never trusted coincidences. To me, there are none. Just indicators that behavioral patterns are being adhered to."

"We should have some more proof before we accuse her, sir. Otherwise she will make it something of a rallying cry and possibly damage your work here," Garin said.

The colonel nodded. "Then we'll need to find some proof, won't we?"

"How, sir?"

"I have some thoughts on that matter. I must admit I'm a bit surprised she pursued it like this."

"She's very resourceful, sir," Garin said. "And she doesn't seem like the kind of woman to take no for an answer."

"Apparently not," the colonel muttered. He glanced at his watch. "She should be asleep right now, no doubt sleeping off that mild concussion she acquired earlier this afternoon."

"You want me to go and get her?"

Thomson shook his head. "Not just yet. I want her awake and alert when she has to answer questions."

"Very good."

"However, I do want to talk to my administrative aide. Bring him to me, would you?"

Garin nodded and left the shelter. Thomson looked down at the paper and saw the name of the file that had been liberated from his computer. It had to be her, he thought. Who else would want something like that? Annja Creed had been asking for the report for the past day or so and suddenly the computers were hacked and that exact file copied from his hard drive and presumably accessed.

No, coincidences didn't exist except as a convenient excuse for people who weren't willing to face facts. Thomson had a mole in his camp and he aimed to get rid of her through any means necessary.

In the morning, he would see exactly what Annja Creed had to say about the hacker intrusion and subsequent file copying.

The door to his shelter reopened and Garin walked in behind a nervous-looking soldier. The corporal marched to the front of the colonel's desk and stood at attention.

"Sir."

"Stand at ease, Corporal," Thomson said.

Garin cleared his throat. "You want me to go now, sir?"

The colonel shook his head. "No, actually, I want you to stay and listen to this so we can plan our next move better." He eyed the corporal. "Do you know why you're here, son?"

"No, sir."

"Earlier today this base experienced what can best be described as a hacker intrusion into our secure communication networks. Specifically, our computers were hacked. Mine in particular."