Don parked Charlie behind the computer on the desk in the solarium, and made it a point to take a chair on the other side, where he couldn't see the screen. He watched Charlie awkwardly insert the DVD, then navigate the mouse.
"Are you sure you don't want me to do that?"
Charlie looked briefly over the monitor. "Not yet. It's just copying to the hard drive." He pulled the files over again and opened the top one. "If you had the clearance," he said, "I might tell you that this was one of the first official reactions to the 9-11 attacks. It was actually a joint effort with the military — Army special forces. A unit was created to enter both Irag and Afghanistan covertly. I'm not entirely sure what their missions entailed, but I can guess. This encryption was designed for their communications with each other. DOD jumped through all the hoops to ensure they could deny culpability if they ever needed to; I'm sure the unit had a field commander, but I think their authority ended in the field. They didn't answer to anybody." He glanced back at the screen. "65 percent. Anyway, they told us the unit was only commissioned for two years. We were assured that the encryption would be taken out of place then. One of the others on my team even put a bomb into the code."
"A what?"
"A bomb. Nuclear. It's a string of commands that causes the code to self-destruct, so that it can no longer be used. Every copy was supposed to have one."
"Then how was this guy still using his?"
"If you know it's there, and you can write or even edit code, it's not hard to take it out. I took it out of my copy. There are some very complex algorithims in this code. I thought I might need them later for some other project, I didn't want them to just disappear." He looked at the screen again. "80. It's a designer's thing, anyway, an ego thing, I guess. I have copies of things I did in third grade."
"Things you did in third grade are probably worth saving. But the DOD just let you guys each walk off with a copy?"
Charlie looked away. "Not exactly."
"You stole it? What, are you a pirate now?"
Charlie's voice took on a defensive edge. "You can't steal something that you created yourself, can you? They agreed to let us take the portion of the application we were responsible for. Stupid mistake. People assume a scientist doesn't have the same rationality as everyone else, they assumed that we weren't going to get together on the outside for a 'mix-and-match' party. We each ended up with a copy. We did that before we even left our hotels when it was over. To be fair, we probably wouldn't have done it, if they hadn't made us angry."
"Remind me to stop making you angry. What were you all angry about, anyway?"
Charlie looked at him incredulously. "Don. It was covert. That means the men — and possibly women — who were part of that unit would have no support or recognition from their country. It also means they didn't have to play by anybody's set of rules."
"And plowing two airliners into the Twin Towers deserves something better?"
"We had this discussion, already. If you only demand of yourself only the worst of what you've seen elsewhere, what's the point? And even if you believe that, what about the members of the unit? They were commissioned by the military and the DOD — didn't they deserve better than desertion two years into a three-year assignment? Their communication capabilities would self-destruct in two years, but we found out they were deployed for three. Not one of them was ever supposed to come back alive."
"They might as well not have. Someone here is trying to finish the job."
Charlie had the mouse again, clicked a few times. He stared, let go of the mouse and started grabbing the files again. "Where's that list of victims?" He found what he was looking for and looked back at the screen. "This guy. Reardon. He wasn't just in the Army, he was its contribution to the encryption team. It was because of him that we found out all we did. It was only due to his assurances to us that we didn't go to the press ourselves. He was supposed to serve on the unit, as well, and we made sure he knew how to edit the bomb out of the code once he got to the field. He said he could handle everything else. He was career military, he didn't even seem surprised. He was shipped out before we even got home from Washington." He looked at the file, again. "He was the first one killed. Seven months ago."
He put the list down and again lifted the computer print-out from the last victim's computer. His eyes flickered between in and the screen until he looked at Don. "I think you may need more names on your list."
"Vics? What do you mean?"
"This appears to be communication indicating that this guy noticed a pattern before you did. He'd done his research. He lists all the men on your list — by their code names, of course — and a few more. He's asking a superior officer in the unit for help, protection."
"Our computer experts said that was never e-mailed. He must have been interrupted while he was writing it."
Charlie looked at the bottom of the page. "Probably. It doesn't really end. I guess he had time to hit the 'save' button and close the program … must have gotten away from the computer or whoever killed him would have looked for something himself."
"We were kind-of surprised he didn't anyway. The computer was actually a desktop that was unplugged when we got there, all the peripherals — like the printer — were disconnected, and a new computer was still in the box on the floor. It looked like he was putting in a new system, and operating without one until he was finished."
Charlie nodded. "Must have looked that way to his attacker, too."
Don leaned forward in the chair. "Who are the other names? They're code-names as well? But not part of the unit?"
Charlie nodded again.
"How do you know?"
"I recognize some of them." He laid the print-out down and pointed. "This one, it's 'Bluebeard'; that was one of the guys on the encryption team. Same with 'Elephant Man'."
" 'Elephant Man'?"
"We picked our own names, the first day. We were still giddy with the intrigue of it all." Charlie lowered his finger on the page. "And this. It says, 'Big Brother' is still all right. Thinking of talking to him, warning.'" He looked back at Don. "This was definitely the darkest thing I had ever been involved in, I could tell that already. So that's the name I picked for myself, because you were an agent; I thought I could channel you, or something. I'm 'Big Brother'."
Don gaped at him. "Do … can you find out if Bluebeard and Elephant Man are still with us? Do you know their real names?"
Charlie shook his head sadly. "No. That was always part of the deal. I think they got us from as far apart from each other as they could — I've never run into any of them at any of the conferences I've attended."
He looked back at the print-out. "This is weird. It looks familiar, but not from our original encryption. I think I've used this, though. Just a couple of years ago." He used the mouse to close the open computer program. "I think we need to go back to the garage."
