Decency (54 page)
“Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, there are some specific matters that I want to put before you.
“First, I have ordered the Attorney General to withdraw from representing Dr. Cochran and Mr. Fitzgerald in your case. If you choose to maintain your lawsuit, the United States government will not oppose it in any way.
“Second, as we say in the military we take care of our own and, on my watch, we mean it. Your daughter was one of our own. The Speaker and these Senators are here to assure you that a private bill will be passed by the Congress compensating you for your loss.
“Third, I have ordered that no psychological evaluation can be requested by anyone other than the head of the agency nor can any be used for adverse action unless it was performed by a practitioner independent of the agency.
“Fourth, the Congress will designate the NSA headquarters building as the ‘Samantha Pierce Federal Building.’ Appropriate recognition will be given to her actions and permanently affixed to the front of that building. Every person who ever walks through its doors will know the sacrifice she made for the country and its inspiration to us all.
“Lastly, with your consent, I intend to designate her gravesite as a National Monument to be preserved in perpetuity.
“These matters may require you to consult with your counsel and I am not asking you to respond to them now. I want you to know the depth of feeling that all of us have for your daughter and that we share your sense of tragedy at her loss.”
The Pierce’s looked at each other, a little overwhelmed. However, no hint of acceptance surfaced. No words passed between them. None appeared necessary.
Harlan turned again to the President. “Mr. President, we thank you for recognizing our daughter’s contribution. We will cherish your words as long as we live…but, sir, we don’t want the taxpayers’ money.”
“Mr. Pierce, I told our other guests here that your generous heart would lead you that way. I’m afraid I must insist that you at least accept compensation for the expenses of your case and some amount in addition, if for no other reason than you will probably have an economic burden associated with people visiting your daughter’s grave.
“It will be known throughout the world that your daughter was solely responsible for saving this country from increasingly grave national security damage. For some time to come, there will be plenty of distractions from your farming. You should not bear the brunt of it. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, please, let us take care of our own.”
Tears have begun to well in Kathy’s eyes and she said, “Thank you, Mr. President, we will be grateful for that and all that you have done.”
“There is one more thing. Kelly Hawkins, it should go without saying, but you did one fine job here. All of us here believe that Tom is very, very proud of you right now and we deeply wish he could be here with you to tell you himself.”
Harlan and Kathy turned to Kelly, their faces shocked pale.
…she did so much for us…
Kelly whispered, “He was my husband.”
Both Kathy and Harlan leaned close to her.
Kathy said, “We’re so sorry. If we had only known…”
Now it was Kelly’s turn to fight the lump in the throat. She nodded, then turned back to President Martin.
“I appreciate that Mr. President, very much. And I’m certain the country would be proud of you, as well, if they could know what you’ve done here.”
The phone rang.
…what now…
“Yancey.”
“Captain Yancey, this is Tish Nolan, Chief Carlson’s secretary. He wants to see you immediately.”
“Well, I was just…”
“Captain, he said ‘now.’”
…must be bad…
“Okay, the elevator will take me a couple minutes.”
Yancey pulled on his sport coat, tightened the knot in his tie and straightened it.
…please God, not this week…just one more week and I’ll get another paycheck…
Tish spied him approaching, rose and motioned him to go straight in.
“Chief, you wanted me?”
“Close the door George.”
…no, please…
“I just got a fax, original to follow, for you.”
…maybe just some clown complaining …?
The fax read,
THE WHITE HOUSE
Dear Captain Yancey,
I have written to Chief Carlson and asked him to give you this letter.
You are absolved of suspicion in the Samantha Pierce case. An outlaw FBI agent impersonated you and forged your signature.
I am very deeply sorry for the effect this had on you, your family, and your career. I invite both you and Chief Carlson to consult with the Attorney General to secure the evidence of your innocence and to determine appropriate recompense.
I look forward to the bright future that is rightfully yours.
Sincerely,
Claxton Martin
Yancey could not believe his eyes. Tension and worry that built up for months slipped away. He felt like he was rising from the grave. It was too much. He sagged in the chair, put his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his hands.
The Chief came around and placed both hands on the sobbing officer’s head, and said, “I need you back to work sometime tomorrow.” Then the Chief left the office and closed the door behind him.
Immediately following his meeting with the Pierces, the President joined the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and Horton in the Situation Room.
“Can we bring it up on the display, Craig?”
“Yes, sir, but only in graphic form. If we put up imagery from the visible spectrum or even IR or radar you won’t see anything change. The graphic will show the deactivation of each machine as it occurs in geographic layout.”
“Bring it up.”
Horton keyed the display. The map of the boundaries of China appeared on the screen. Three dots appeared in the right center, in the vicinity of Beijing. Each was labeled with the name of the facility where a supercomputer sold to China under conditions that the machine not be used for other than specified purposes was located.
“Each spot represents a machine location. Once you give the order, the NSA’s sensors will pick up the initiation of the process. Each of the dots will turn from green to yellow. As the deactivation program completes its run in each machine, that unit will no longer function. The NSA sensors will confirm the completion and the corresponding dot will turn red.”
“How long does the process take?”
“Approximately fifteen seconds.”
“Can the machine be reconstituted or repaired?”
“Parts of it can. However the logic control function cannot be. The best way to think of it is that each machine is thousands of logic nodes all connected together, sort of like a network of personal computers. The deactivation is essentially a logic virus. It is embedded in the heart of the chips that run the CPU’s, and eradicates the logic. What you have left over is the same as if each of the personal computers in the network has experienced the same virus on their CPU. All of them will no longer be able to talk to each other or, for that matter, function as a computer. You would still have the bus, the I/O controller, the monitor, and the like that you could salvage. But you would not be able to use the CPU.”
Each of the participants glanced at the other to field any remaining questions. There were none. The decision to deactivate for fraudulent violation of the contract was already made.
The President turned to the Secretary of Defense.
“Take them down.”
The Defense Secretary keyed the deactivation control from a hand held computer. The four returned their gaze to the display. There was a six second satellite transmission delay. Then all three dots blinked yellow. Fifteen seconds later, all three turned red.
Horton reported.
“One billion eight hundred thirty seven million dollars worth of computers, paid for in cash American, just died.”
The President stood up and said, “We are adjourned. Let’s go see the Chinese reaction.”
General Zhou entered the Director’s office and presented a note.
Director,
The supercomputers have been destroyed, apparently by the Americans. Without them, we cannot track the incoming information from the intercept devices. Purchasing replacements, for which the sources are many, will take approximately six months.
However, your stratagem of sacrificing Fitzgerald and drawing the Americans to him by placing two personnel from Long Beach in the open worked brilliantly. It prevented the Americans from discovering our most valuable resources. They do not even suspect Cochran and apparently view his actions as mere stupidity for which they may not even prosecute him. He has already begun to assume his new identity. Fitzgerald, of course, knew nothing of his work for us and cannot reveal him to the Americans. We should be able to trade a few detained American travelers for the two personnel from Long Beach in short order.
All in all, two steps forward. One step back.
In her old office, Kelly and Bonnie collected and sorted the things that would be hand-carried to the new office down the street from those to be boxed and moved by contractors.