66
Heidi and Harryhad been most of the way home when Clarissa had called them back to work. It was after ten at night. Last night they hadn’t made it home at all, catnapping in turns on the office floor as they’d fielded reports from various CIA agents and done as much investigation of their own as they could from their computers about who might have attacked both DC and the USSTheodore Roosevelt. Worse, they had depressingly little to show for it.
“We really need to get a life,” Heidi spoke up as they reentered their office in the basement of the CIA’s New Headquarters Building less than twenty minutes after they’d finally left it.
“Other than this one?” Harry dropped into his chair and began unlocking his computer systems. The screens lighting up one after another.
When had their office begun to smell of stale pizza and salty chips? When had it all begun to look so…mundane? It was a vast improvement over the nest she’d built in the corner of an abandoned warehouse back in her hacker days, but it felt as if it was compressing down on her.
“Yes, other than this life.”
Rather than a Red Bull, she grabbed a water bottle from the small fridge. Her security badge, granting her Top Secret access, flapped and fluttered on its neck lanyard.
She punched in Clarissa’s number from memory on the CIA’s secure phone by her desk.
“Seriously, Harry.”
He stopped and looked at her while the satellite tracked down Clarissa so her phone began to ring. “Okay,” and he turned back to his computers.
Harry was always open to what was needed, but his nature was more head down than hers, though she’d never really noted it before. But he was right. For the moment they had access to some of the world’s most powerful computers—legally. This wasn’t a bad gig at all. But it was aging out fast.
“Harry?” Clarissa answered the phone.
“Heidi. With Harry.”
“Good. I want to you to trace all actions relating to a satellite.”
Heidi and Harry frowned at each other. “Are you sure you don’t want the NRO? We don’t do anything with actual satellite control.”
“Call whoever you fucking have to. Wake them up. Call your pal Jeremy, I think he’s in the Situation Room. I don’t care. I want to know who hacked the Defender II.They fired it yesterday at 6:04 a.m. Chinese time over the South China Sea.”
“Got it.” Defender had been the name of President Eisenhower’s failed attempt to create a nuclear weapon emplacement in space over Russia. Heidi really hoped this wasn’t related to that.
There was a long pause, then Clarissa spoke softly. “The Defender II is one of ours.” Then she hung up.
Again they looked at each other.
Harry brought up an image, one they’d been looking at yesterday. An aircraft carrier. On fire. The time stamp had been 0615 as it came into the surveillance satellite’s view.
“Oh shit.”