Rogue Angel - Polar Quest Part 28

The corporal looked shocked. "How is that possible, sir?"

"Well, now, that's what we want to know. And that's why you're here, son. We've got a few questions for you, and you just be yourself and answer them honestly and I don't think we'll have any trouble. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

The colonel nodded. "Excellent. Now, where were you this morning?"

"After I ate breakfast I reported to work right away. I was sitting in the admin shelter, sir. I had some reports to file and some routine maintenance work to perform, but otherwise, the day was pretty boring, frankly, sir."

Thomson glanced at Garin, who was looking at the corporal. "And did you do anything out of the ordinary while you were there?"

"No, sir."

"What about visitors?" Garin asked.

The colonel nodded. "Yes, did anyone stop by to say h.e.l.lo? Any of your friends who were on duty at the same time?"

The corporal shrugged. "I don't have any friends, sir. I only just joined the outfit and haven't had much of a chance to meet folks yet."

Thomson smiled. "Well, I'm sure you'll fit in here just fine, son. Eventually people will get to know you."

"Visitors?" Garin repeated.

"Just one, sir."

"Annja Creed?"

The corporal nodded. "Yes, sir. She stopped by looking for you, sir."

"Me?" The colonel smiled. "And what did she want with me?"

"Said she needed to talk to you about something. I told her you might be at your shelter and that she could look in on you there."

Thomson nodded. "Very good, son. Did she ask about anything else?"

The corporal frowned. "Well, funny thing was when I got there, she was already there and she'd tried to get on one of the computer terminals. Said she was going to check her e-mail."

"E-mail?"

The corporal nodded. "She said she was lonely and hadn't heard from anyone back home in some time. I told her she wouldn't be able to access e-mail while she was here because of our strict comms guidelines and all."

"Did she understand that?"

"Oh, yeah, she took it real well. Seemed concerned that if word got out she was trying to access e-mail on the computers, that she might get in trouble."

"Really." Thomson frowned. "And after that, you said you sent her to see me at my shelter?"

"Yes, sir. I don't know if she ever went there or not, of course, because by that time I was already back working on what I needed to be working on."

Thomson nodded. "Of course you were. That's why I brought you in here-because I know what a hard worker you are."

"Was that the only visitor you had this morning?" Garin asked.

The corporal looked at him. "Aside from Miss Creed, there was just you, sir."

Thomson glanced at Garin. "You, Major?"

Garin smiled. "I stopped by to see if you were there. Remember, we were supposed to go down to the dig site together, which we eventually did, once I found you."

"Yes, of course." Thomson looked at the young soldier. "All right, Corporal, you can go now. But make sure you don't tell anyone about this. What we've shared with you here is cla.s.sified information and we don't need anyone finding out about it just yet. When the time comes to make judgments, then everyone can know. But for now..."

"I understand, sir."

The corporal turned and marched out of the shelter. Thomson looked at Garin. "So?"

Garin shrugged. "Seems like a few more dots got connected, sir. It's not conclusive, by any means, but it's leaning in that direction."

Thomson nodded. "I want more, Major. Find out from the communications people if there have been any calls made from this camp to the outside world."

"Phone calls, sir? I wasn't aware there was cell-phone coverage in this region."

"There isn't. But if someone has a sat phone, they can call out. And if they can call out of here, they can also access the Internet. And that might just lead us to our hacker."

Garin smiled. "I'll get started on it right away, sir." He turned to leave.

"Major?"

Garin turned. "Sir?"

"Find me something conclusive about this matter. I don't want to drag her in here tomorrow unless we're absolutely sure that she was behind the intrusion. The last thing any of us needs is bad publicity. For that matter, any publicity."

"I understand, sir."

Thomson watched him leave and then leaned back in his seat. The piece of paper on his desk lay there with the file name written in bold letters. How in the world could someone from across the world reach out and get access to the most secure communications networks the United States government could field?

It seemed impossible. And Thomson wasn't happy about the idea that a complete n.o.body could penetrate the secrecy of this mission. Given what was going on, he needed an absolute quarantine on all communications unless he approved them.

Yes, that was the answer.

He got up and pulled on his parka and hood before heading out into the snowy night. The wind stung his cheeks and he trudged toward the admin shelter. At the entrance, he pulled the door open and stomped inside.

The young corporal was still there, typing up a report. He snapped to attention until Colonel Thomson put him at ease.

"I need you to do something for me, Corporal."

"Yes, sir?"

"Because of the communications breach earlier today, I'm suspending any communications out of the camp unless they are routed through me first."

"Sir?"

"Yes, Corporal, you're understanding me correctly. We're going dark."

28.

Annja's head felt a lot better when she woke up the next morning. Concussions, she'd found, were never the same twice. And after more than her share of them, she was of the opinion that enduring them was probably the least favorite aspect of her life. Sitting up, Annja was prepared for the head rush, but had none. She smiled. Maybe her head was getting harder after all the knocks it had taken.

She glanced around the shelter, but Dave and Zach were still snoozing away in the dawn darkness.

Annja rolled out of bed and checked herself over. She felt a little weak, but chalked that up to the fact that she hadn't had much to eat in the past twenty-four hours. Plus, she suspected she was a little dehydrated from the low humidity in the region. She needed to get herself topped off with food and drink and then she'd be able to face the day.

She dressed quickly and wandered over to the mess hall. The cook was alone behind the counter and smiled as she came in. "What can I get you?"

Annja looked around. No one else was up yet apparently. "Am I the first one here?"

"Early bird catches the worm." He grinned. "I hear there were some serious talks going on last night into the wee hours. Probably folks are sleeping in a few extra minutes."

Annja nodded. "Can I get a ham-and-cheese omelet?"

"Sure thing. It's powdered eggs, though. We're out of fresh until we get a resupply."

"That's fine." Annja leaned against the makeshift counter. "How often do you get resupplied?"

"Well, up until the winter started, I would have said every week. But seeing how we only just arrived a few short days ago and the weather's already making it tough on us, I'd say we have about two more days on what we've got before we have to pack up and move on back to McMurdo."

"Two days?" Annja couldn't believe it.

"Uh-huh." He stirred the powdered eggs with water and then whisked the mix in a bowl before pouring it into a hot griddle. "You said ham and cheese, right?"

"Yes." Annja frowned. Two days wasn't a lot of time. "Will you all be bunking back in McMurdo until the weather clears, then?"

The cook shrugged. "Don't know. I'd imagine so, but you never can tell with the colonel. He's got this way of planning things out so no one else knows what the deal is but him."

"Has he always been like that?"

"Again, I don't know. I've only been in this unit for a month or so, ever since the last guy put in to get his separation papers. He wanted to start his own restaurant, I think the colonel said. Anyway, he tapped me and said to come on over. He's a real food lover, the colonel is. It always makes it nicer to be cooking for someone who loves to eat."

"I'm sure it does," Annja said.

The cook slid a spatula under the cooking mix and then flipped it over before adding the chopped bit of ham and the strands of grated cheese to the egg. Then he carefully folded it in two, and let it cook a few minutes more.

"You don't have any orange juice, do you?" Annja asked.

"Only from concentrate. But it's the good stuff. Doesn't taste like freezer burn. It's over there. I just made a fresh batch a few minutes before you arrived."

Annja helped herself to a tall gla.s.s and poured the orange juice into it. The cook slid her omelet onto a plate and handed it over. "There you go. Enjoy it."

Annja smiled. "Thanks. I will."

He pointed. "Got some pastries over there on the table. Not bad for doing it myself, but they could use more work." He shrugged. "I have to make do with what I've got."

"I'll give them a try," Annja said. She headed over to the long table and sat down. When she bit into the omelet, it tasted exactly as if it had been made with fresh eggs. The cheese melted slowly in her mouth and with the ham produced a great swirl of flavors. Annja's mouth watered and she suddenly realized how hungry she was.

At least until Garin showed up.

Rather than walk over to the cook, he headed right for Annja's table. He sat down across from her and grinned. "Early breakfast for you today, huh?"

"In case you didn't hear, I had a rough day yesterday."

Garin nodded. "I did hear that, yeah. How's your head feeling today?"

Annja chewed another forkful of the omelet. "Pretty good, actually. Not a hundred percent, but then again you never should expect that the day after. Feels sort of like a mild hangover," she said.

Garin nodded. "Good."

Annja frowned. "You're up early."

"I don't sleep all that much unless I've had one of my flesh benders and the exertion lulls me into a dreamy world of post-l.u.s.t headiness."

"Sometimes you're almost poetic with that stuff, you know that?" Annja said.

Garin leaned closer to Annja. "You're in trouble, sweetheart."

Annja leaned back. "First of all, don't call me sweetheart. I hate that. Secondly, why am I in trouble?"

Garin sighed. "It's not really the wisest thing you've ever done. I mean, did you honestly think they wouldn't find out?"

She knew he had to be talking about the hacker work Knightmare had done. Somehow they knew. Somehow they had traced it back to Annja. But how? Her mind raced at how they could know it was her.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Garin. And you're interrupting a perfectly good breakfast, I might add."

He laughed. "Thomson wants you hauled in for questioning. He seems mighty upset that someone actually hacked his computer, of all the ones here, and managed to get access to a specific file."

Annja looked him right in the eyes. "How in the world could I possibly manage to pull off something like that? I'm sitting here just like you. I don't have access to the Internet. I don't have e-mail. So how could I manage to do that?"

Garin shook his head. "I don't know. But you did. And it doesn't help your case that you were poking around in the admin shelter yesterday. That kid reported you to the colonel."

"It was an innocent occurrence. I went looking to use one of the terminals. Besides, he wasn't supposed to say anything."

Garin laughed louder. "Who do you think that kid's more scared of, you or the colonel? Of course he sold you out. G.o.d, Annja, don't be so naive."

Annja frowned. Her omelet was getting cold, so she plucked another forkful into her mouth. If the day was going to be as challenging as Garin seemed to be implying, she would at least need a solid meal in her stomach if she hoped to weather all the questions Thomson would lob at her.