Free Sigma One by William Hutchison Page B

back to his place at the table and pull out his briefcase which was beside his chair. Slamming his briefcase on the table, he opened the case and pulled out his own viewgraphs which he held high in the air for all to see. The noise of the briefcase hitting the table caused Lassiter to momentarily stop his verbal attack on Radcliff.
    Walker looked directly at Lassiter. "I have proof, general! Here, in these charts is all the evidence you'll need. Now sit down and listen!"
    The general wasn't used to being addressed harshly, but before he could offer a reply, Radcliff cut him off.
    "Sit down, General! This is my meeting. When Agent Walker is through, you'll have time to make any remarks."
    The general begrudgingly sat down. He'd sure as hell make remarks he thought to himself.
    Walker then moved to the podium and put his first slide up. It was a picture of a young man in his early twenties. The man had curly brown hair, deep set brown eyes, a large straight Roman nose and a strong jawline. Except for the nose he was quite attractive and looked as if he
could have been a model for GQ magazine. He had that mysterious, emaciated appearance.
    Everyone in the room stared at the image on the screen.
    "This is Andre Kamarov, premier Soviet world chess master. He's beaten everyone he has ever played. He's the undefeated king of world chess." Walker announced.
    "In a recent exhibition in Montres1 last spring, Kamarov even defeated a Cray computer which the International Chess Federation programmed specially for the event. The program contained every winning move ever made since international chess has been played."
    Lassiter wasn't impressed. "So what, Walker! What's a lousy Soviet chess master got to do with why we're here?"
    Walker, unamused and unshaken, continued. "Simple,general. In the exhibition game, Kamarov got the computer in checkmate in exactly eight moves--taking only twenty minutes to defeat the world's most powerful computer. That's what!"
    "So?" Lassiter asked.
    "So? So?" Walker stumbled slightly over his words, not expecting such a blasé response. He then composed himself and put up the next slide and continued.
    "So, he did it by reading the program the ICS' put in, and then he reprogrammed it while he was playing, and he did it in real time simply by using his mind.” Then he added “simply by concentration. That's how he did it. Kamarov knew the moves the computer would make and he took advantage of this knowledge to stop any advances the computer might make before it made them. The Soviet's already have SIGMA ONE, and it's Kamarov whose discovered the secret and is their sole practitioner to date."
    The group then focused on the second slide. Even Lassiter was studying it. Lassiter apparently knew there would be no other way that Kamarov could have beaten the computer if what Walker said was true.
    The second slide showed a picture of a beautiful gray stone two story house. It was surrounded by trees and had a beautiful white fountain in front of it. A circular drive ran around the fountain from right to left in the picture and except for the barb wire fence which could barely be seen through the trees, the house appeared as if it were straight out of House and Gardens magazine. The lawn was mown immaculately and the crisscross lines from an obvious recent trimming brought further visions of a rich country estate which looked as if the house belonged on Long Island. The only thing missing from the tranquil scene was a beautiful Rolls Royce parked in the driveway.
    Walker began to describe the significance of the palatial estate home. "Shown here is the Soviets’ version of the RAND Corporation. It is located eighty miles outside Moscow and houses fifty eight of the Soviet's top scientists. Here is where the Soviets conceived of and then demonstrated their version of SIGMA ONE!"
    Lassiter didn't buy it. "That's a crock, Walker and you know it. We've had that location under surveillance for the last five years and