“Yes Ma’am.” Howard nodded instantly, his fingers tapping away.
The Interpol records were an open book to the computers buried throughout the Langley facility, and within thirty seconds they had the appropriate file up and on the screen.
“Anselm Gunnar, Agent, Interpol. Age, thirty three. Born in Stockholm. He’s their leading anti-terrorist investigator.” Howard replied, eyes flicking as he read the file.
Natalie nodded, reading over his shoulder, “It looks like him too. What does the computer say”
“One moment.” Howard tapped out a command, capturing the video file and sending it to the Facial Topography Comparison Programs.
The linked supercomputers almost instantly spat out the response.
“Ninety eight point three percent positive.”
Natalie grimaced, hesitating for a moment.
“Alright. Call him back.”
The device hummed again against the desk just a few moments later, and this time Anselm didn’t hesitate. He picked up the already open device and brought it up to his face again.
“I’m here.”
“Where is the owner of that Portable, Agent Gunnar,” The voice on the other side of the connection was tense and sharp.
Anselm hesitated a moment, then sighed. “He’s dead.”
The voice fell silent for a moment, leading Anselm to believe that the link had been cut again, but the voice came back, still hard, still sharp, but with more depth than Anselm usually heard over a digital line.
“How,” She asked.
“He was killed in an explosion while we were investigating an underground facility near here,” Anselm said, deciding that the truth was the best plan. “There was an incident. He saved my life.”
When there was another long silence, Anselm decided to ask a question.
“Are you Agent Corvine’s superior, Ma’am”
On the screen, the woman’s face hardened. “Agent Gunnar, you know a bit much for my preferences. I have a feeling that you’re leaving something out of your encounter with Agent Corvine.”
“So you are his superior.” Anselm said, eyes glinting slightly.
She ignored him, “What do you know about the situation Agent Corvine was investigating”
“Alright, I’ll play it your way,” Anselm told her, “He was looking into the activities of Raymond Gorra, AKA Abdallah Amir.”
“And you are aware of these activities”
She’s fishing for info.the question is, about what exactly, Anselm wondered.
Before he could say anything, though, Gwen was snarling over his shoulder.
“Aware! That freak has a goddamned bio-warfare lab right under our.!”
“Gwen!” Anselm cut her off, glaring over his shoulder.
“I see.” The voice on the other side sounded slightly amused. “As it turns out, Agent Gunnar.Inspector Dougal, that is precisely what Agent Corvine’s data indicates.”
“What data did he send out” Anselm asked quickly, “I’ve been compiling a list of the known terrorists here, it might let me figure out who’s doing what.”
“Send us the list,” The woman said, “We’ll determine that.”
Anselm chuckled dryly, “Fat chance lady. I hate to remind you, but we’re the ones on site.And, uh, Inspector Dougal and I have jurisdiction.”
“Inspector Dougal is a local police officer, Agent Gunnar. She isn’t qualified for this sort of operation, and neither, quite frankly are you. Your investigative talents are well noted, however this is no longer an investigation.”
“Says you.” Gwen muttered, annoyed.
“You know how this works,” Anslem said, shooting Gwen a quelling look, “You give a little, you get a little.”
“Agent Gunnar,” The voice said, then dropped off. When it came back, she was sighing. “Alright. We’ve been developing some simulations based on the data we received from Agent Corvine.Do you have access to a high speed connection”
Anselm raised an eyebrow, looking over at Gwen, who shrugged. “Of course. My home network is.”
“No. Your home system isn’t.secure.”
“Oh well then the station has.Wait.How do you know that!”
“The station has a link to the standard police networks, will that do” Anselm asked, ignoring Gwen’s outburst.
“It should.” The woman replied after a moment.
“Alright, Gwen” Anselm looked over, “Let’s go to the station.”
The connection closed and Natalie fell silent for a moment as she stared at the dark screen.
“Ma’am”
The technician waited a moment, growing slightly more anxious by the second, then braved her silence once more.
“Ma’am”
“What” She shook her head, looking down at the technician.
“What do you want me to do” The man asked nervously.
She sighed, pushing the death of her agent aside for the moment. “Agent Corvine was using the Consulate secured Portable Comp, right”
“Ah.Yes Ma’am.”
“Download its entire contents, including the `black box’ signals.”
Howard nodded, “Yes Ma’am.That.That’ll take some time.”
“I’m aware of that,” She replied, knowing that while the wireless networks that the portables connected through were quite fast, they were still nowhere near as fast as the trunk lines that interconnected the primary network nodes, and as technology had progressed the amount of data that even a small device like an off the shelf portable computer could accumulate was huge.
The Consulate’s portable wasn’t even remotely off the shelf.
“Let me know when the information is available,” She told the technician, turning to leave.
“Ma’am Where are you going”
Natalie looked back sharply, and the man flushed under her gaze. After a moment her eyes softened slightly, “I have to see a man about a star.”
“My network isn’t secure.” Gwen complained as they walked to the monorail, “what does that mean anyway”
“Probably that they hacked it and downloaded everything you had on your computer.” Anselm replied dryly.
“What!”
“Gwen,” Anselm shook his head, “That was the Deputy Director of Intelligence at the CIA. Natalie Cyr.”
Gwen fell silent as they boarded the monorail car, staring at Anselm for a long moment.
“What” He asked, checking his shirt.
“Are you kidding me!”
“Not at all,” Anselm smiled, “It took me a moment, but I recognized her. She took over the position last year actually, I attended a party she was at about six months ago, though we didn’t meet. Tough lady, or so they say.”
“The CIA just hacked into my computer!”
Anselm smirked, “Something on it you’d rather they not know about”
“Hell yes!” Gwen bristled, eyes flaring with an indignant light.
Anselm chuckled, though he admitted that it wasn’t likely to be funny in the slightest to Gwen. Personal computers were extremely private matters, and even the most scrupulous person was likely to have a few tidbits located on their home system that they’d rather no one know about. He didn’t know what Gwen’s particular thing was, but he had more than a few on his computer that he’d certainly rather no one ever see.
Which, come to think of it, brought up another likely issue.
“If it’s any consolation,” He said, grimacing as the thought struck him, “They’re probably doing the same to mine now, assuming they haven’t already.”
She glanced sidelong at him as the monorail sped along, “It’s not, but I suppose it’ll have to do.”
Anselm chuckled slightly, “Don’t worry too much about it. Truth is, your name has probably crossed some anonymous clerk’s desk a few thousand times over the run of your life. There are international signals intercepts that routinely check and analyze messages based on keywords.”