Chapter 6 – Extraction
Notes: See Chapter 1.
[LONDON – 45 minutes later, inside Hartley House's server farm room]
Squeezed in between a phone switch box and an empty bookshelf, she finishes extracting data from the first group of offline servers. She taps the PDA/data-extractor screen with her stylus and runs an analysis to determine if the Master File is in the information collected so far. After 20 seconds the screen flashes "Data analysis of 5 servers complete…file not found in sample."
With a small sigh and a few more taps with her stylus, an updated floor plan of the room appears, with the locations of the 5 servers blacked out. She burrows a little farther back in her hiding place and waits for the next set of servers to go offline. She closes her eyes for a brief moment and listens to the low hum of computers overlaid with the slightly louder roar of air-conditioning units.
Rubbing a forearm with her free hand, she tells herself that if she's going to be in the room for much longer she'll probably end up using her earrings to keep herself warm. Shaking her head slightly, she thinks about Vaughn and Weiss sitting in the CIA van and wonders if the mood in the van is amicable, or still adversarial.
She knew when she came to the CIA office for debriefing after Taipei that something had changed between the two of them. Weiss had started calling her Agent Bristow again. She had thought nothing of it until she started noticing the dismay and discomfort on Vaughn's face whenever he was around to see Weiss address her in such a way.
It was like…Weiss was…what was the word Vaughn used before…Weiss was admonishing him for something he had done. And she had a very good hunch that it had something to do with her.
He probably thinks she was responsible for luring Vaughn to Taipei against his better judgment, she muses. And for making him do things that no regular CIA handler would do for his agent.
She concedes that perhaps, yes, they were skirting around the boundaries of protocol when she began disclosing her problems, her life with him. She had no one else to confide in and he had actually turned out to be a pretty good listener. But once they both learned what her mother did to his father, protocol became irrelevant. Under the circumstances, in her opinion, she and Vaughn were doing the best they could in order to do their jobs properly.
She hopes that Weiss can see that for himself on this operation. And maybe when all of this was over, she'd get him to call her Sydney again.
Her PDA/data-extractor screen flashes again, and she is brought back out of her thoughts. The next set of servers has gone offline. She listens for any sounds or voices—hearing none, she darts quickly out of her hiding place. Taking a hard left and she makes it for the door, the only way in and out of the room. Sidling up to the hinged side of the door (just in case someone came in), she points the device face side up at the first offline server and presses the up button. She repeats this another 6 times and then taps her stylus on the screen.
"Come on, come on," she whispers softly, watching the gadget furiously process all the data collected so far.
After 25 seconds, her prayers are answered. The screen flashes the results. "Data analysis of 7 servers complete…file found in sample. CRC file check good."
Within seconds she has the device in the backpack and the backpack strapped on. Reflexively patting her pockets to make sure she has everything, she leaves the room.
She walks as quickly and quietly down the corridor as she is capable--being extra attentive to make sure the security precautions she took to get in are still there. Once around a right corner, she pulls out a little small remote from her cargo pants pocket, and aims it at the video camera, mounted above the entrance to the server farm room. Pressing a button, she restores the live video feed of the camera without interruption (it had been looping a pre-recorded shot of the corridor, while she was inside the room).
A loud siren wails. The entire corridor is suddenly bathed in red light. Heart beating thunderously at the rapid change, she looks wildly around for an exit. She runs to the end of the hall and skids to a stop—she has to take either a left or right turn.
"Left, I have to go left to go out the way I came in," she whispers to herself. She turns to go left, but stops. She can hear faint voices coming from that way. She looks right, and closes her eyes, visualizing the map of Hartley House. She could go right and leave an alternate way, but it would take longer and put her at greater risk of being discovered.
The voices echoing from her left begin to get louder. Opening her eyes, she takes a deep breath.
And makes her decision…
Notes: See Chapter 1.
[LONDON – 45 minutes later, inside Hartley House's server farm room]
Squeezed in between a phone switch box and an empty bookshelf, she finishes extracting data from the first group of offline servers. She taps the PDA/data-extractor screen with her stylus and runs an analysis to determine if the Master File is in the information collected so far. After 20 seconds the screen flashes "Data analysis of 5 servers complete…file not found in sample."
With a small sigh and a few more taps with her stylus, an updated floor plan of the room appears, with the locations of the 5 servers blacked out. She burrows a little farther back in her hiding place and waits for the next set of servers to go offline. She closes her eyes for a brief moment and listens to the low hum of computers overlaid with the slightly louder roar of air-conditioning units.
Rubbing a forearm with her free hand, she tells herself that if she's going to be in the room for much longer she'll probably end up using her earrings to keep herself warm. Shaking her head slightly, she thinks about Vaughn and Weiss sitting in the CIA van and wonders if the mood in the van is amicable, or still adversarial.
She knew when she came to the CIA office for debriefing after Taipei that something had changed between the two of them. Weiss had started calling her Agent Bristow again. She had thought nothing of it until she started noticing the dismay and discomfort on Vaughn's face whenever he was around to see Weiss address her in such a way.
It was like…Weiss was…what was the word Vaughn used before…Weiss was admonishing him for something he had done. And she had a very good hunch that it had something to do with her.
He probably thinks she was responsible for luring Vaughn to Taipei against his better judgment, she muses. And for making him do things that no regular CIA handler would do for his agent.
She concedes that perhaps, yes, they were skirting around the boundaries of protocol when she began disclosing her problems, her life with him. She had no one else to confide in and he had actually turned out to be a pretty good listener. But once they both learned what her mother did to his father, protocol became irrelevant. Under the circumstances, in her opinion, she and Vaughn were doing the best they could in order to do their jobs properly.
She hopes that Weiss can see that for himself on this operation. And maybe when all of this was over, she'd get him to call her Sydney again.
Her PDA/data-extractor screen flashes again, and she is brought back out of her thoughts. The next set of servers has gone offline. She listens for any sounds or voices—hearing none, she darts quickly out of her hiding place. Taking a hard left and she makes it for the door, the only way in and out of the room. Sidling up to the hinged side of the door (just in case someone came in), she points the device face side up at the first offline server and presses the up button. She repeats this another 6 times and then taps her stylus on the screen.
"Come on, come on," she whispers softly, watching the gadget furiously process all the data collected so far.
After 25 seconds, her prayers are answered. The screen flashes the results. "Data analysis of 7 servers complete…file found in sample. CRC file check good."
Within seconds she has the device in the backpack and the backpack strapped on. Reflexively patting her pockets to make sure she has everything, she leaves the room.
She walks as quickly and quietly down the corridor as she is capable--being extra attentive to make sure the security precautions she took to get in are still there. Once around a right corner, she pulls out a little small remote from her cargo pants pocket, and aims it at the video camera, mounted above the entrance to the server farm room. Pressing a button, she restores the live video feed of the camera without interruption (it had been looping a pre-recorded shot of the corridor, while she was inside the room).
A loud siren wails. The entire corridor is suddenly bathed in red light. Heart beating thunderously at the rapid change, she looks wildly around for an exit. She runs to the end of the hall and skids to a stop—she has to take either a left or right turn.
"Left, I have to go left to go out the way I came in," she whispers to herself. She turns to go left, but stops. She can hear faint voices coming from that way. She looks right, and closes her eyes, visualizing the map of Hartley House. She could go right and leave an alternate way, but it would take longer and put her at greater risk of being discovered.
The voices echoing from her left begin to get louder. Opening her eyes, she takes a deep breath.
And makes her decision…