Cyber Styletto Chapter Two
Noon Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2013, Key West, Florida
Yvonne banked her corporate jet east, towards the Key West
runway. A line of dark clouds, heavy with moisture, loomed to the
southeast. Radar had it moving towards the islands, due in an hour
or so. It would be a race to pick up the server NetSys had shipped and
get back to her bungalow before the rains made it virtually impossible
to drive?having a place in the Keys had its disadvantages sometimes.
?Sorry, Red Bird.? It was Ralph in the tower. ?I?ve got two ahead
of you. GA to the south so I can get these folks in.?
?Listen, darling,? Yvonne said. ?This one?s urgent. Can you give
me priority??
?What?s up? In a hurry to get to Finnegan?s? I can?t be there ?til
later, you know.?
?I?ll see you then, but right now I?ve got a bit of a crisis.?
?Like what??
?Can?t tell you. Sorry.?
?Then I?m sorry too. Take it out and loop back in twenty.?
Yvonne pushed the twin throttles forward and the jet surged
towards the airport, passing within a quarter mile of a fifty-seater,
filled most likely with tourists, people who had a lot more time to
waste than she did. The pilot of the other jet banked hard to pull off
his glideslope. Yvonne heard him bellow into the radio, ?Tower, I?ve
got an unauthorized flight in close proximity. What the hell are you
doing down there??
?Yvonne!? Ralph screamed. ?I told you to go around.?
She ignored him and swooped the jet in hard, as though she were
landing on an aircraft carrier. As soon as it touched down she hit the
brakes and the reversers until the jet shuddered to a stop. Then she
turned the craft and taxied it right up to the terminal. Two security
cars, lights flashing, followed her in and pulled up next to the plane.
A small crowd gathered at the security checkpoint inside to watch
the officers escort her from the tarmac to inside.
Yvonne grinned as they led her past the onlookers. A middle-aged
man in shorts, a cabana shirt and a Detroit Tigers baseball cap
covering his graying hair pushed his way to the front of the group and
waved. ?Nice show, Yvonne,? he said.
?Sock! My old friend. Thanks for meeting me here. Can you do
me a small favor, darling??
?It?ll cost you.?
She stopped to chat. Instead of pushing her forward, the security
men allowed it, as though they were beginning to understand she was
no average scofflaw.
?Doesn?t it always?? she said. ?I?ll buy you a drink at Finnegan?s
tonight.?
?You know I come cheap, baby. What?s the favor??
?I?m in a bit of a hurry. Can you bring my car around?? She
tossed him the keys.
Sock took off his hat and scratched his head. ?Looks like you
might be awhile.?
?Five minutes,? she said. ?Meet you outside. And have the boys
take the jet to the hangar. I?ll make it two drinks.?
One of the officers nudged her towards a private room for
questioning. When they cleared the crowd, he asked, ?Sock??
?Dutch Sock Van Dorp,? she said. ?Second best pilot in the
state.? She didn?t have to tell them who was first.
The door to the little room clicked shut, and the second security
man pulled a metal chair out for her. ?Okay, miss??
?I won?t need it,? she said. ?And neither will you.? She sat on a
corner of the table and crossed her legs, making sure the curve of
her hip in the tight jeans was in the guard?s vision. She pulled a
leather cardholder from her jacket pocket and pulled out the first
card.
?CIA?? the first officer said. ?I wish you people would just let us
know you were coming. It would save a lot of hassle.?
?Yes, but if we tell you what we?re up to, we wouldn?t be a secret
organization anymore.? She slipped the card back into its place,
hiding similar identifications for the FBI, National Security Agency,
Homeland Security,MI6, NATO, and a few others that had come in
handy over the years.
The cop looked her over. ?So how does one get involved in the
secrets business?? he asked.
He was fairly cute. Muscular, at least. ?Stop by Finnegan?sWake
tonight after nine and maybe I?ll explain it.?
?The Irish place??
She winked at him. Clich�, she knew, but it rarely failed.
Minutes later, Yvonne walked out of the terminal, still holding
the stares of the security team and most of the crowd that had
watched her come in. The Porsche was parked at the end of the taxi
queue and Sock stood by the passenger door, twirling the keys around
his finger. A woman in a man?s shirt and jeans waved. ?Taxi,
Yvonne??
?Teivel! Would love to, but I stashed my car here when I left.
Have to make a quick getaway.?
?Finnegan?s, then? Tonight??
?Of course.?
She walked quickly down the line of cars to Sock. ?Looks like it?ll
be a full house tonight, darling.?
?Nice to see you can still mix pleasure with business,? he said,
tipping his cap like a chauffeur.
Yvonne started the Porsche and creeped it past the pedestrian
crosswalk. As soon as the tailpipe cleared the yellow line she floored
it, and was in fifth gear before the airport exit. The post office on
Whitehead should have the server by now, if the idiots at Network
Systems hadn?t tried to save a few dollars by sending it bulk rate.
Despite the rush to beat the storm, Yvonne had an urge to take the
long way to the PO. The daredevil flight hadn?t been enough of a
thrill, and she knew if she swung over to the Causeway she could hit
ninety if there wasn?t too much traffic and the police were taking
their usual afternoon siesta. But if she went that way, she?d want to
stop at her bungalow first, and that would mean she might not beat
the weather. The black horizon made the decision for her. It was
going to be a bad one.
At the Post Office her friend Thomas had the shipment waiting.
?I?ve already reserved a table at theWake for tonight,? he said as she
walked in.
?Wonderful! But you?d better make it two tables. Looks like we?re
going to have quite a group tonight.?
He abandoned his counter and the three other customers waiting
to be served to help her load the box into the passenger seat of the
car.
?Network Systems,? he said, reading the label. ?More computer
equipment??
?Special order.? She patted the box. ?With this one I?ll be able to
see inside your house when I email you.?
Thomas laughed and went back inside. Yvonne recalled the Scan-
U phone conference earlier at her Long Island condo?it might not
be too long before her statement became true.
Yvonne drove the few blocks back to her street, then through the
alley to her garage. The dark entry sometimes made her think of her
life as a superhero?s; she was Batgirl, only with less risk and more
friends. She?d only been on the ground less than an hour and already
had a crew lined up for the evening?s fun, including that hunky
security cop. Yet that reminded her of another similarity she had to
a brooding crime fighter?her life was never as happy as it should
have been. Despite the demands for her talents at work and her
presence at parties, memories of the Russian half of her family
helped keep happiness in check.
But no time to dwell on that. She brought the box upstairs and
unpacked the server, then hooked it to her system, and watched and
listened as it powered up. Typical Network Systems software?clunky,
but it got the job done. Nothing wrong at first glance.
A ripple of thunder echoed outside. The storm was almost over
the Keys. She was sorry to have scared those tourists back in the air
over the runway, but now she was glad she?d made the move. It
allowed her to be back here, dry and working. Those poor saps were
probably running for their motel rooms right about now. People who
sat back and let others have control of a situation were always taken
advantage of. She hadn?t let that happen in a long time, not since
Stokes and his team took her in. She needed a drink.
But it was only five. She?d be out later with the crowd at
Finnegan?s. Oh well, she?d just get an early start.
When she went down to the bar to mix a stinger, the storm hit
with full force. It wasn?t a hurricane, but it was in the ballpark. She
wouldn?t be surprised if the power went?
Sure enough, the lights in her bungalow flickered for a few
seconds, went out and then came back on as the auxiliary generator
in her garage sensed the outage and fired itself up. She had battery
backup, so the computer system was secure, but she thought she
heard the server reboot, and raced upstairs to check.
Everything looked the same, but something was working
differently. She could hear it in her cochlear implant. Good old Dr.
Malakhov. He had no idea his little sound amplifier would turn out
to be so useful. It was supposed to help her childhood hearing
problem, but it had done so much more. Yvonne pushed her drink to
the edge of the table, closed her eyes and focused. An array of
electrical impulses flooded her mind. She visualized an aurora of
color and wave patterns, each image corresponding to an activity
within the server. Yes, there was an anomaly. The patterns had shifted
since the power went out and the system rebooted. It was on the
motherboard. Something there that shouldn?t be. She found a
screwdriver. A closer inspection was in order.
She removed the server?s shell amid the noise and lightning
flashes of the storm overhead, then closed her eyes again. The
electronic signatures she received through the implant would lead to
the anomaly. She followed them. The signals were so close to the
originals it was difficult to maintain the trail, especially in the waterfall
of information her mind perceived. Even the lightning above was
working against her, adding its erratic signals to the ones she sought,
like AM radio interference.
Simplify, she thought. She snapped herself out of the trance and
turned off everything that didn?t have to be running?the monitors,
the ancillary computer systems, even her appliances?anything that
could produce a signal that would hinder the search.
She reached over and turned off her wireless devices, and turned
out the lights in her lab. It was like working in a medieval laboratory;
with the lightning overhead it was like something out of Frankenstein.
But now she could isolate the signal.
There, in the sector that governed the power supply?a tiny chip.
At first she thought it might be a redundancy, something added by
Network Systems to guard against one of their inevitable failures.
But no, this was not part of the original schematic. Someone had
added it after assembly?delicately soldered into the circuits?
someone who wanted to be able to gain access to the server
command sequence without going through the network interface,
who wanted to be able to get in and out undetected. Her joke at the
PO hadn?t been far from another truth?whoever had implanted this
chip would be able to access the very heart of the traffic system?s
controls.
She opened her eyes. There it was, plain as day, in the middle of
the motherboard. She wanted to touch it, to feel its energy. Perhaps
by doing so it would impart its secrets and point back to its origins.
But that would be stupid. She would have to figure this out the way
she always did, with tireless effort, chasing electrons around the globe,
and with the intuition born of a lifetime devoted to computer science.
She still loved the challenge of matching wits with unseen adversaries,
of deducing motives and methods, and figuring their next moves
before they did, even if she now had to do it for the government
instead of herself. The idea of this as a superhero?s life made her
laugh?she was Batgirl confined to an Aeron chair. The risks she took
on the job were virtual. Yes, she was on the wanted lists of some
foreign jurisdictions, but as long as she never visited them, her career
wasn?t any more dangerous than any corporate executive?s. No
wonder she couldn?t help racing her car and plane when she had the
opportunity.
Stokes would want to know what she?d found. Yvonne typed out
a secure message, asking him to initiate another Scan-U in the
morning. ?But not too early, darling,? she wrote. ?It may be a long
night.?
A good afternoon?s work. Yvonne reached for her stinger and
toasted herself in the dark. The last of the storm passed over, and a
ray of light shone through her window. Almost dusk. She could knock
off now and join the fun at the bar. Some of them were probably
there already, waiting for her. It was just a short walk to Finnegan?s,
so if she and the cop hit it off, it would be convenient to further
activities.
But why limit her options? She decided to call Colin Doherty,
that young stud pilot she?d met through Buck Ryan?s repo service.
She didn?t want to be alone tonight, and if he came down from the
northern Keys it would double her chances. Let them fight over her.
?Colin, darling. Feel like getting out to have some fun??
?Just say where and when, Yvonne.?
?Finnegan?s Wake. It?s a party.?
There was a pause on the other end. ?I?m ninety miles away, you
know. The weather?s still a bit rough for a motorcycle.?
?Afraid of a little rain??
?And fifty-mile-an-hour gusts.?
?I see. You?re finally settling down. I was wondering when that
would happen.?
?Damn it. The Ducati is gassed up. I?ll be there in two hours.
This better be worth it.?
?Have I ever disappointed you??
END Chapter Two
