Free The Zul Enigma by J M Leitch

‘to myself ?’
    ‘I
don’t want to. But what other choice do I have? It’s the only
explanation we’ve got.’
    Carlos paced up and
down. ‘The tag, my tag,’ he jerked the tag off his jacket pocket and skidded it
across the desk, ‘someone could have hacked into it, sí ?’
    ‘No. The tags include a
random encrypted password generator that’s synchronised with the authentication
computer at the other end. It changes every minute. It’s impossible to hack
into the tags.’
    ‘Then someone hacked
into the system… from outside.’
    ‘How? The whole of UNO
City’s protected by radio frequency shielding – a Faraday cage. It stops
external signals getting in and internal signals getting out and being
intercepted. In any case, the internal e-mail server’s records can’t be
interfered with. They confirm that the source location is within our virtual
private network and that the messages originated from terminal sessions your
tag was logged in to.’
    Carlos sat down. ‘So?
What next?’
    ‘I need information on
everyone who knows about the messages.’
    ‘There’s Drew –
you already know about him. He was at my apartment when the first video came in
last night, although he was in another room at the time. But this morning he
was sitting right next to me. He watched the whole thing. It’s all in the
Incident Reports. Then there’s Corrinne. I just told her. You and your
department. That’s it.’
    ‘And I’ll need to check
the CCTV records for last night. Your office, the corridor, the executive
bathroom.’
    ‘How long will that
take?’
    ‘Not long, but if I
don’t find anything…’
    ‘Which you won’t.’
    ‘Then I’ll have to pass
it over to ITU-T.’
    ‘ITU-T?’
    ‘The section of the
International Telecommunications Union that deals with all aspects of the UN’s
security for multimedia communications. They’ll study my report and supplement
it with their own investigation.’
    ‘Christ!’ Carlos slammed
his hands on the desk. ‘What are you trying to do to me? Hey? You want me
suspended?’ he waved his arms in the air, ‘arrested?’
    Hans dropped his head as
the colour in his face deepened. ‘Of course not. But right now there’s no other
explanation.’
    ‘The minute you leave my
office, I’m calling the Secretary-General. I want to be sure he hears this
story. All of it. From me.’
    CHAPTER 6
    When Carlos walked into the Chill Out Lounge, Drew was already there, sitting
in a big rattan armchair sipping a Mojito. Carlos ordered a drink for himself
and also sat down.
    ‘Did you see the latest
headlines?’ Drew asked. ‘You were right. There’s talk Russia’s going to
threaten turning off the gas supply to Europe. The Germans are going mental and
the EU’s in a complete panic. The Yanks are shit-scared NATO’s going to
collapse, leaving their arse well and truly exposed.’
    ‘Jesus!’
    ‘Any news on your
messages?’ Drew asked.
    Carlos shook his head.
‘Nothing. Still waiting for ITU-T to come back.’
    ‘What’s the boss say?’
    ‘I’m meeting him in New
York Saturday, on my way to see the Pentagon Monday.’
    ‘The Pentagon? I thought
you were sworn enemies.’
    ‘We are. I think they
want to negotiate concessions on use of the Space Elevator.’
    ‘By the look on your
face, that’s not going to happen.’
    Carlos took a swallow of
his drink. ‘No way! It goes against everything I believe in and everything OOSA
stands for.’
    ‘Rather you than me
– fighting the US military single-handed.’
    ‘Carlos!’ A man
approached with his hand extended. ‘Long time, no see. It’s Joseph. Joseph
Fisher. Remember me?’
    ‘What are you doing
here?’ Carlos asked, turning to Drew. ‘Did you set this up?’
    Drew grinned. ‘When I
found out Joe was in Vienna too, I thought I’d get him to join us.’ He reached
up to clap Joseph on the shoulder. ‘Glad you could make it mate. Pull up a
pew.’
    ‘It’s got to be what,
twelve, thirteen years?’