Terminal Connection (29 page)

Coda

J
an, restore my old virtual office.” The image before him wavered and then faded. High ceilings, dark oak floors, and bay windows replaced the crisscross of neon green lines and open expanse. Everything was as he remembered at the Gold Coast Bed n’ Breakfast.

The Franklin stove animated the room with flickering shadows and the snap of burning wood. The scent of fresh-cut pine filled the air. His gaze fell upon his favorite chair. It had been a long time.

Steve sat down and flicked off his slippers. He slid his hand along the red velvet arm, stopping at its polished oak trim, worn from eons of use.

Just over a year had elapsed since he last sat here. Tamara and Brooke had been with him then. His gaze drifted to the bay windows. Outside, cold fingers of fog stroked the tips of the pine forest. He could make out the trail that Brooke ran down to get to the beach. In his mind, he heard her laughter again and saw Tamara chasing after her, yelling Brooke’s name over the cry of seagulls. The memory was bittersweet.

Barking and wagging his tail, Charlie bounded in from the kitchen. Jumping into his lap, Charlie pressed forward to lick Steve’s face.

“Stop.” He smiled weakly and pushed Charlie down. The dog sat in his lap, staring up at him with anxious eyes.

“Charlie, open a window to Vinnie Russo’s promotion.”

Charlie barked and jumped out of his lap. A three-by-five-foot cherry wood frame materialized in front of Steve. Through the paging window, he saw the President standing behind a podium with a row of dignitaries flanking either side. Before the podium, a wall of reporters shouted questions. The President stepped aside and Vinnie came to the microphone. He raised his hands and the crowd settled down.

“It is with mixed emotions that I accept the role as Commander and Chief of the I2 Corp. My predecessor, Edward T. Davis gave his life, along with so many others, to defend our country and our way of life. I would like us to bow our heads in a moment of silence in remembrance of these brave men and women.
My friends
…”

My friends
. The words reverberated in Steve’s mind. That was Ron’s saying. The cadence and tone were exactly the same.

He remembered meeting Vinnie in the flesh at the crime scene. Had he ever seen Ron in the flesh? Searching his memory, he came up blank. Steve only knew Ron’s alias.

The last image of Ron returned to him; they had been in the dinosaur exhibit. Ron had told him something. Ron had repeated back Steve’s words. The words Steve had told him after the hackers had trashed the Nexus lobby: “An undetected virus is like a spy in an organization; once accepted as one of the fold, you cannot find him without making everyone a suspect.”

He juxtaposed two memories—his recent ride with Vinnie in Warscape and his ride with Ron through the asteroid belt. He shook his head. Their personalities seemed too far apart. Or were they? They were both cocky, war vets, and technophobic. How could he be sure?

Cocky and technophobic—a formula for mistakes
, Steve thought. Perhaps Ron had not cleaned every trace off the VR server when he left. “Charlie, enable speech mode. Can you recover any deleted files from Ron’s office?”

“No, he formatted the disk and destroyed the backups.”

“Did anything of Ron’s get recorded in the System Logs or Core Files on the VR server?”

“No.”

Steve sat back and studied the wisps of fog caressing the top of the bay window under the eaves. He heard Vinnie continuing his speech, the words drifting in from the paging window.

Ron had obviously cleaned everything off the VR server, but did he understand the big picture? Residuals would remain in memory on other systems as well. Every time he logged on, sent email, or entered VR, his signature and data spread throughout the network.

“Charlie, check for Web cookies, email server cache, anything on the other servers with Ron’s IP address.”

Charlie sat quietly for a second. “I found a remnant of a VR clip.”

He leaned forward, patting Charlie’s head. “Good boy! Display it and keep looking.”

A milky white cube materialized before him. It grew to fill the room, its glow chasing away the shadows. After a few seconds an edge of the cube lightened, becoming clear like water. The translucence quickly rippled across the cube until it was entirely clear. The surface settled and a picture came into focus. He saw Allison and himself in his virtual office. The image stung. He missed her. In the scene she laughed and met his gaze. It made him smile. He remembered. They had just discovered Syzygy. Someone had slipped her a bug and had been spying on them. What did she say? She had just come from the girl’s autopsy.

“Charlie, close the cube and restore the source of the cube.”

The cube shrank to a single card on the floor. He picked it up. It was a business card. It read: Vinnie Russo, DARPA Special Investigator.

He turned to Charlie and gestured with the card. “This came from Ron’s email account?”

“Yes.”

Steve slipped the card into his virtual pocket. “Have you found anything else?”

“Ron’s last email remains cached in memory on the server.”

“Show me.”

Before him, an etched cherry wood plaque materialized.

FINAL REPORT

FROM: Vinnie Russo

TO: CIA Director of Internal Operations

RE: Post Mortem of Operation Dragon Fire

A year ago, Ed Davis, the Assistant Secretary of Defense C4ISR, ordered Allison Lee of DARPA to incorporate the Nexus in Warscape, the flagship in the President’s plan to create I2 Corp; this would gut the CIA. Under the auspices of Operation Dragon Fire, I moved to discredit the Nexus.

I gave the PLA access to the Syzygy weapon through the Nexus site, but interference from the Chinese, the Nexus President, Austin
Wheeler, and from the Director of DARPA, Allison Hwang, delayed the alerting of the media until after the PLA attack. This resulted in incidental losses including: the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier
U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln
, the Sacramento Class Logistic Ship
U.S.S. Camiden
, Assistant Secretary of Defense C4ISR Ed Davis, and Pacific Admiral Commander in Chief Marshal Spurrier.

Although regrettable, these losses provided an unanticipated benefit. Through orchestrated field promotions, I will soon become head of I2 Corp. I can assure you that the President’s plan will not move forward. Operation Dragon Fire is a success.

Cordially Yours,

Vinnie Russo

Steve looked up. “This came from Ron’s account, too?”

“Yes.”

He turned back to the window and Vinnie’s speech. “Today I stand before you …”

Steve patted Charlie on the head. “Charlie, broadcast this email to everyone at that site except for the speaker.”

Through a portal Steve entered the chaos-filled the room. He stood at the end of a red carpet that separated two crowds of reporters before the podium where Vinnie, the President, and the Joint Chiefs stood. The reporters rose out of their seats and talked among themselves. A few shouted questions.

Up on stage Vinnie turned to the President giving him a bewildered look. The President leaned over and whispered something to him.

Vinnie held out his hands to the crowd. “Please, settle down everyone. It’s a prank. Nothing more.”

Steve patted his pocket and strode toward the stage. “No, it’s not a trick or a prank. Though, I wish it were.”

The crowd became quiet.

Vinnie stared down at him. “Steve? What on earth are you doing?”

“You forgot to clean the cache on the email server. I broadcasted the last email you sent.”

“Mr. Donovan what has gotten into you?” the President said.

Vinnie turned to the President. “He’s been through a lot. I’ll handle this.”

The President nodded. Vinnie stepped to the side of the stage.

The faces on stage looked down at Steve in disbelief.
I must look like a raving lunatic
. Spinning around, he searched for the secure room used to brief the President. All he saw was a sea of reporters with similar looks of sympathy. It had to be here.

“It’s okay, Steve.” Vinnie said.

Steve turned.

Vinnie had outstretched his hands. “No one will hurt you here. It’s over.” Vinnie stood next to the door.

“Ron, it’s not over! You’re not getting away with this!” Steve shouted. He walked over and opened the door, motioning Vinnie inside. Vinnie obliged and led the way in. Steve whispered a command before slamming the door closed behind them. Once inside, Vinnie turned and faced him.

“You know, I thought you were smarter than this. What kind of stunt was that, addressing me as Ron? Everyone knows I’m Vinnie. Who’s going to believe you now?”

“Why did you do it?”

Vinnie raised his hands. “What?”

“You let the PLA have Syzygy! They killed all those people!”

“But no one of any significance died.”

“Syzygy killed Brooke!”

Vinnie shook his head. “No, it didn’t. I did.”

“What?” Steve took a step toward him. Vinnie stepped aside, keeping a few feet between them.

“If you really must know, I killed Camille and Allison, too. Did you think it was random? Of course, I was surprised when the PLA tried to use Syzygy to kill me at the dinosaur exhibit. I guess I was a loose end, but thanks to you I’m still here.”

Steve took another step toward him. Vinnie withdrew the phaser. “That’s close enough.”

Steve stopped. “You can’t hurt me in here.”

“I know, but I can knock you off the Internet if you get too close.”

“Why did you kill my daughter and Allison?”

“For you, my friend. Don’t you remember? I told you in the lobby after the PLA trashed the site. Brooke has been an anchor for you ever since Tami …”

“Tamara.”

“Whatever. All I’m saying is when the wife died, Brooke slowed you down. You never wanted to play anymore. When was the last time we rode a missile like that or cruised through an asteroid belt? Certainly not while she was alive.” He laughed.

Steve bit his lip and swallowed his anger. “The email was right, wasn’t it?”

Vinnie shrugged. “I suppose.”

“So what now? Are you going to kill me too?”

A horrified look crossed Vinnie’s face. “God, no! What would make you think that?”

Steve fixed him with a
you’ve got to be joking
stare.

“Who reviewed the Nexus for Allison and saved your company? Who told you not to worry about Austin and got the funds back to you? I saved your dream twice! I’m your goddamned guardian angel!” Vinnie said.

“The company never meant anything to me!”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. You sacrificed everything and spent all your time and energy there. When the company came unglued, you did too. You tried to drink yourself to death.”

Steve shook his head.

“Steve, you are special to me. I do not work with, or for, very nice people. It can get lonely. You became my friend, even if you didn’t know it.” Vinnie winked. “Hell, if you knew me, we’d be the best of friends. But then, I’m a spy. I don’t even know myself at times.” He laughed. It sounded insane. Abruptly his expression became serious.

“This might be hard for you to understand, my friend, but despite all your faults, you’re honest, straightforward, and I trust you. You just can’t find that these days, not in my line of work.”

Steve slipped his hand in his suit.

Vinnie gripped the phaser. “Not so fast.”

He stared into Vinnie’s wild gaze. “Your card.”

“Huh?”

He withdrew Vinnie’s card and tossed it toward him. It drifted slowly through the air, fluttering slowly to the ground like a feather.

“What is it?”

A large cube appeared between them displaying the conference room with a speechless crowd and the President. They were staring into a cube showing Vinnie and Steve staring into a cube. Like a pair of mirrors, cubes nested inside each other into infinity.

Vinnie’s mouth went agape.

Steve walked over and opened the door. “I knew you felt safe in here. Austin had a secure office like this, but Allison used a paging window to break in. I took a gamble. I figured this
bug
you planted on her would do the same thing here. I guess I was right.”

Vinnie dropped the phaser. “I trusted you!”

Steve gazed into the brightly lit cube. After a few moments, without shifting his gaze, he said, “The light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, lest their deeds be exposed—John 3:18-19.”

Vinnie stared back, bewildered. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Ron, I’m sure where you’re going there will be plenty of time to figure that out.”

Charlie bounded through the door and jumped into Steve’s arms. Brushing the back of the dog’s neck, he turned, walked through the door, and entered the conference room.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dan Needles is a master of storytelling in the science fiction and urban fantasy genres; but his stories aren’t all fiction. His professional experience as an early enabler of the information age at the dawn of the dot com boom and his continued work with fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and secret military projects means that Needles places his characters in situations that read like fiction, but often exist in the reality of some of today’s top technological, and often secret, corporate and government projects.

Dan worked as a developer in the early 1990s at Oracle and VISA before founding his consulting firm, NMSGuru. He quickly learned that building the complexity necessary in such hi-tech environments required working with people, culture clashes, hidden agendas, and the drama of the human condition. His writing reflects this complexity, weaving the inexplicable wonders of new age technology with the relationships and conflicts of the people involved.

Dan is married to Allison and has three sons and a granddaughter.

If you enjoyed Terminal Connection, please consider leaving a review at
amazon.com

Like Dan’s
Facebook page

Follow Dan on
Goodreads