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  Shit, I thought. Now what? Ever since the two federal agents had first confronted me we had been in a continuous crisis. I was getting a little tired of it.

  “Did she tell you what it’s about?” I asked, trying to think of what else could have happened. They had had almost a week to react to my disappearance, so it couldn’t be that. I wondered if they had found something else in the package of Kurt’s that had set them off.

  “Oh yeah,” he said, but with a wry smile. “It seems that Agent Williams, I guess that’s the name of the older one you described, pushed his way into her office a while ago. He told her a lot more than he probably should have.” Again he smiled. I wondered what he saw funny in all of this, but he continued before I could inquire. There was potentially even more damaging material hidden on the computer system the NSG had found, but Kurt had put me off on that, indicating it wouldn’t be an issue. “It seems he overstepped his authority. Used up a bunch a favors and forced a crash program to decode the files that they found on Morris’s computer system. Used up lots of computer time. Tied up their system for most of the time you’ve been gone. But I guess they finally broke it.”

  That didn’t sound good. I wondered again why Ed was smirking. I could tell he wanted me to ask him, so I did. “So?” I prompted.

  “I guess it used a very sophisticated algorithm for overall encryption. But even then they had meaningless garbage. They used one of the character frequency algorithms in addition to the main encryption. You know, the ones that look for the most frequent letters?” I could tell he was enjoying this. “They found an almost childish inversion program had been used for the second level of encryption.”

  “Inversion?” asked Naiya, who knew less than I did about codes.

  “It seems who ever did the coding used an algorithm on the text that mixed up the alphabet, before the main encryption was run. Take a letter, say “e” which is the fifth letter from the start of the alphabet. It was replaced with “v,” the fifth letter from the end of the alphabet. The entire text was scrambled this way.”

  “Since they figured this out, they have the clear text now,” I asked eager to get to the end of this.

  Ed nodded. Then he said. “Guess what they have?” But he couldn’t wait for me to guess. “They have the complete text of the last one hundred years of the National Geographic magazine. You know you can buy them on a single DVD, or maybe a couple of DVD’s, I forget. Kurt had someone just take the files, and code them up. It’s all a red herring. There’s nothing there.”

  I was stunned. So that was why Kurt hadn’t been concerned about the files, and why he had reacted with a secret smile when he heard someone had found them.

  “Here’s the best part,” said Ed, breaking into my thoughts. “This guy’s bosses found out about it and are pissed. Given what they found, and the simplistic coding mixed with the really sophisticated stuff, think it was someone playing a joke on them. As a result, they have totally disregarded anything about the old gun as being real as well. I mean, it was all pretty bizarre in their eyes from the start, and it came from the same source as the bogus files. The investigation has been halted, and the agent put on temporary leave, pending a review of his actions.”

  This might work out well. Maybe the whole thing would go away. “But what was he doing in Carol’s office if he is on suspension?”

  The man is crazy. He doesn’t know what is going on. But you are linked to it in his mind. And you disappeared on him as well. That makes another strike against him. He doesn’t have anyone else to target. He wanted to know where you were. He’s gonna be gunning for you!”

  Naiya looked at me and grinned. Officially we were in good shape, even if I was going to have to figure out what to do about this madman.

  Chapter 16

  Friday, 26 May 2006

  Seattle, Washington

  Sam was extremely disappointed in himself. He was professionally embarrassed as well. How had the bastard done it to him? He knew he hadn’t been seen. He was too good at what he did. He prided himself on never have been caught on a tail job. It’s why he made so much money as a free lancer after leaving his federal job. More than a dozen years experience on the government’s payroll and their training schools served him in good stead. His reputation had been the key to substantial fees. Always well earned, mind you.

  But not this time. This time Crampton had lulled him into being careless, he admitted to himself. All last weekend he had followed the man while he had gone from place to place. Doing a little shopping, playing some handball with a friend. Eating out with his boss. Wonder if his wife knew about that? His boss was quite the looker. According to his information, the wife had been out of town for a little over two weeks. No indication where she was, but that’s wasn’t his concern. He had been surprised about the dinner. His background checks showed both Crampton and his boss to be wealthy. Yet their dinner date was a trip to a rather modest pizza joint down by the university. Not even a name brand from one of the big chains. He had slipped in and watched them through the meal. Had to admit the pizza was good there. Lots of laughing and talking between the two during the course of their meal, but there had been too much background noise to hear anything from where he had to sit to remain unnoticed. They stayed an hour or so, finished a large pizza and two pitchers of beer. At the end he was forced to conclude that the meeting appeared like that of two friends, not lovers. Everything about the body language persuaded him there wasn’t any hanky-panky going on here. Afterward, she had dropped Crampton off at his place, and that was the last he had seen of him that night.

  There was more of the same the next day. Crampton acted as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Sam had followed his quarry out of town, only to find himself at the local shooting range. For a couple of hours Sam had watched Crampton fire round after round through a variety of handguns. Above average shot he concluded, especially with the .45 auto. Then back home. The bugs he had planted were all dead for some reason. He knew Crampton couldn’t have found them all, so how was he doing it? He could see him for a while through the small windows in the top of the garage door. Sam concluded he had been cleaning the guns he had recently fired at the range. Afterwards he went inside. Almost too quiet, but just about the time Sam thought that maybe he had slipped away again Crampton would move around, demonstrating he was still there. Maybe he had been reading?

  Then Monday morning, off to the office. Not the one he co-owned with his dinner date, but the one at Aero, where he did some kind of consulting. Drove in early, and parked his BMW in plain sight in outermost row of the underground parking area of the building. Made it easy for Sam to find a convenient place to watch for further movement of the vehicle. There was no chance of following inside. Too much security. Even if his credentials would allow him access, they indicated he was a federal officer. Although he was really only a ‘consultant’ for them, it might raise too much awareness. No, there was only the one exit.

  Of course, Crampton had never returned to his car. By noon Sam had become restless. They had not been able to bug the office, so he had no ears in the building. Then, Crampton didn’t come out for lunch. There really weren’t too many that left the facility for lunch, making it easy to scan the cars as they left. Sam guessed there was a good cafeteria inside. But Crampton didn’t go home that night either. By eight o’clock that night, he knew Crampton had ditched him. Now he had a pretty good idea how he had done it.

  “Bastard” he mumbled to himself, remembering the call he had had to make to Jeff explaining that he had lost his quarry.

  The next couple of days were horrible. He had to watch for Crampton’s return, which didn’t happen. Day after day the man simply didn’t show, his activities going unmonitored to the annoyance of Sam’s employer. The second night he left the stakeout at Aero and had broken into Crampton’s house again. There were no clues to his destination, but it was clear he hadn’t been back here. Frustrated, he had taken an unauthorized risk and managed to bre
ak into the consulting offices. They had some tricky security, but nothing he couldn’t handle. He had used his full bag of tricks, and left a variety of state-of-art devices scattered throughout the key offices and conference rooms. He tested them when he got back to his car. All were green. Somehow, however, when he checked the next morning, they were all dead. He could get no signal from any of them. It wasn’t possible they had found them already. Another failure. Another mystery.

  Something must have gone very wrong yesterday, he thought to himself. Agent Williams had called rather than Jeff who he usually dealt with. The man had seemed totally uptight. From the disjointed and fractured conversation, Sam gathered that somehow the important computer files they had retrieved had turned out to be a false lead once they had been decoded. It had caused Agent Williams a lot of trouble with his superiors. Now it seemed it was doubly important they find the missing Crampton.

  With no other leads, and no clever ideas on how to proceed, Sam was back here again, waiting and watching the X5, hoping for a bit of luck. Over the past few days he had drunk so much coffee he was sure his stomach would never be the same again. Discouraged, it was late afternoon and he was trying to think of any other action he could take. He had his contacts scanning all flights into the area for Crampton’s name. He realized that he could be coming by bus, train, boat, private car, or even private plane. The chances he would be flying in commercial air were slim and none. He stared at the taxi that had just stopped at the gate. He could tell there were two passengers inside, but without the binoculars he couldn’t tell any more. Twisting in his seat to retrieve the optics, he shifted to get a better position to look out the window. His breath caught as he recognized his prey in the back seat of the taxi.

  “At last,” he muttered quietly to himself. It took a minute before the other passenger turned her head so he could get a look at her as well. Another looker he thought. Then, a better look. He recognized her from pictures he had been given. His wife, he thought. Wherever he went, he came back with his wife. After the taxi made it’s way to the entrance, where Crampton and his wife exited and went inside, he made a quick call to Agent Cohen. Jeff had always been easier to deal with than the other had. Let him tell the boss.

  When the phone rang for the fourth time, Sam feared he might have to call Agent Williams after all. Finally there was a click, followed by Jeff’s voice. “They’re back,” he almost shouted before Jeff could say anything. “Both Crampton and his wife just showed up here at Aero-Technologies. They‘re in a taxi and are headed to his car now.” He stopped, realizing that was the end of his report. He knew nothing more. Not a lot for days of sitting in this damn car waiting.

  His instructions were completely obvious. “Follow them. Don’t lose them this time. I don’t care if they know you are there. I’ll try and get some support so you can double-team them. Keep me informed. Especially if they do something where you can’t be sure where they are going.” Jeff didn’t sound himself either. Perhaps he had caught some of the fallout from the screw up Agent Williams had been so upset about.

  “Okay,” he agreed. I’ll get back to you once I see where they seem to be headed.” No answer. Just a click as the cell phone on the other end clicked off. These people were becoming a pain to work for. If they didn’t pay so well. . . .

  More waiting. Finally, he saw them come out to the parked BMW. Crampton opened the door for his wife, then went around to the driver’s side and let himself in. A minute later, the car was headed towards the exit to the complex. It turned the expected direction towards the freeways. Sam fell in behind. Seemed like he had done this once before.

  Using a mix of freeway and surface streets, they made good time across town to the consulting offices of Epoch Engineering owned by Crampton and his boss. Sam parked across the street and watched as they drove into one of the temporary spaces in front of the building. At least he didn’t go up into the parking structure where it would be difficult to see him Sam thought. A minute later he saw Crampton and his wife disappear inside the building. “Conference time,” he said to himself. If only those damn bugs were working in there.

  Whatever they talked about took about an hour. The two reappeared, headed to the car, and drove to the highway where they merged with the evening traffic. This time it was almost straight home. Traffic was light tonight and they made good time. A quick stop was made at the convenience store for a few things, and then directly to the house. The garage door opened as they approached, the car slipped inside, and the door closed behind them. Sam parked across the street, half a block down.

  At least the bugs are in place inside the house this time, he thought to himself. He had just settled in with a clear signal, placing them in the kitchen area when suddenly the bug went dead. He quickly checked the others, only to find what he feared. All dead. How the hell?

  The weekend was more of the same. They either didn’t know he was following, or did a great job of pretending they didn’t. It was obvious they didn’t care. He knew he wasn’t going to learn anything, but he had to stay on their tail in any case. All he would need was another surprise where they disappeared on him again. The only interesting thing so far had been the sudden appearance of Agent Williams at Crampton’s front door. He went in, then stormed out less than ten minutes later. Whatever went on inside, he was pretty certain it hadn’t gone the way the agent wanted.

  Sunday Carol joined them. The threesome spent the afternoon together, ending the evening with a formal dinner in one of the nice places downtown. Sam waited in his car enjoying the street vendor hot dogs and coke he was able to get without leaving the scene. He couldn’t even get a beer. Three hours later they exited, and made their way home. Carol didn’t go in, but simply transferred to her car at the Crampton residence and left. He assumed she was going home, but watching her wasn’t his job.

  Monday morning Crampton drove back to the consulting offices. What a wasted weekend this had been.

  Chapter 17

  Monday, 29 May 2006

  Seattle, Washington

  “You’ll have it today,” I promised the president of Aero-Technologies. I was finishing up a call to smooth over my sudden absence the past week, and the fact we hadn’t yet delivered the key design information he was going to need to win the current proposal. It meant a lot of money for his growing company, and he had been more than a bit concerned. The fact I had left after the unexplained meeting with the agents had added to his fears. Oh, he had the story I had left with Doris, but I wasn’t sure how much of that he believed. I had given him a rather weak story to explain my failure to show up at the plant the previous week. It sounded a bit lame even to my ears, but now that I was back he was more interested in learning that I would be sending him the critical data today.

  “Yes, yes,” I further assured him. “The drawings as well as the analysis.” He wanted all the details. The Air Force wouldn’t be buying an unsupported design this time. He sought further guarantee the design was fully tested. He needn’t be worried on that account. It had proved itself. I guess given the date, it would prove itself admirably in a little altercation about seven years from now with the Chinese. A joint force of US, British, and Australian forces had to convince the Chinese that they really needed to keep their hands off of Taiwan. A couple of Aero’s designs, based on this new modification, would figure heavily in the successes of that little incident.

  I was finally able to get him off the phone with the promise that one of my assistants would be bringing everything to him before lunch. I further promised I would be there the following morning. Why not? I was pretty much restricted from any time-related activities for a little while longer.

  Reports from Mike indicated Kurt had recovered fully, and had been having a wonderful reunion with his daughter. They had the rest of the day before Mike would bring Kurt into Seattle to meet up with Dave for the trip to Los Angles. At least we had that much of an idea where we were headed. Naiya had wanted me to press Kurt for more information
so we knew exactly where the device was located, but I didn’t want to do anything at this point that would strain the relationship that was just forming between Kurt and myself. Besides, I trusted Kurt.

  Arranging the meeting between Kurt and his daughter had taken a bit of finesse. She shared the estate with the Kurt’s brother and sister, with whom she was in a constant battle over the direction to proceed. Finding the right time to approach her at all, then getting her away without interference from the rest of the family had seemed almost impossible. But Carol had sent Nora, one of the few lawyers from our inner circle. Posing as a lawyer for her father, who had some certified documents that she was supposed to deliver only to the daughter if she hadn’t heard from him for a specified time, she was able to get an audience.

  There was the expected initial distrust. Things had almost fallen apart when Nora first explained that her father was alive and wanted to see her. Only the pictures that we had taken just before he started treatment, and the note that Kurt had written back in 650 BC for me to give to his daughter prevented her from having Nora ejected. Several references in the note were things shared privately between the two of them. Somehow Nora had pulled it off. They left together in the daughter’s car with Mike following to ensure no one followed. It had taken almost two hours to drive to the country cabin where Kurt had been moved, with the daughter showing increasing doubts as they drove ever further from Seattle. But they had made it. She was by his bedside when he woke up after the first phase of the treatment. After that he was awake and mobile while the medicines completed the repairs.

  The morning had been spent planning for tomorrow’s trip to pick up the translator artifact. I wouldn’t be going, of course. I was pretty certain I was being followed. Especially after the brief and explosive meeting Saturday with Agent Williams. Even if it was really true their superiors had warned them off the case, I expected them to continue to keep an eye on me. So far I hadn’t spotted anyone following me. But let’s face it. I’m not trained to spot a professional. I simply had to assume someone was there, and just not give him anything. Both Naiya and Carol agreed the situation wouldn’t last much longer. A formal complaint had been filed with NSG against the agent this morning, and with what we knew of his situation, his superiors might even terminate him over the last incident.