Games of State - Tom Clancy [151]
As soon as Balloon's men were inside, they lined up at ease inside the front door. Ballon explained that if he found any material they wished to rmove, the men would be called to collect it and carry it to the van. Hood guessed that they'd done this so often in drills they could do it blindfolded. In the meantime, they were told to watch the exits and make sure no one left.
Ballon and his party continued into the factory. They crossed a hallway which, if this were a tour and he were a tourist, would have caused him to linger and stare at the spectacular arches and intricate tableaux carved in the stone.
Ballon's voice brought him back to the reason they were here.
"This way," the Colonel said softly but imperatively when they reached the end of the long corridor.
Ignoring the eyes of other guards who had also obviously been advised to let them pass, the quintet walked through a short passageway with small, barred windows to the door which led to the programming rooms of the Demain factory.
Hood hadn't expected to see employees wandering about at night. But there weren't even cleaning crews afoot. Just the occasional guard, who ignored them.
Despite the addition of lights, alarms, cameras, and modern flooring, the edifice retained its ancient character. That is, until a guard admitted them to the computer room.
The former dining hall had been turned into something which resembled the National Reconnaissance Office. The walls were white and the ceiling lined with recessed fluorescent lights. There were glass tables lined with at least three dozen computer terminals. A vacuum-formed plastic chair was attached to the floor at each station. The only difference between Demain and the NRO was, again, that there were no people. Dominique wasn't taking any chances. The warrant was due to expire in just over an hour. If no one were there to answer questions, it had to slow them down.
"This is some playroom," Stoll said as looked around.
Ballon said to him, "Start playing."
Stoll looked at Hood. Hood, nodded silently. Stoll took a breath and looked at Nancy. "Got a preference?" he asked.
"It doesn't really matter," she said. "They're all hooked to the same master computer."
Nodding, Stoll sat down at the nearest monitor, jacked his portable computer into the back of the computer, and powered up.
"They've probably dropped inhibitors into the system," Nancy said. "How do you plan to get past those to the master system? I can probably help you with a few, but it will take time."
"We don't need a lot of time," Stoll said. He slipped a diskette into his B drive and booted it. "I always carry the Bulldozer program I wrote. It starts with my fast-acting Handshake Locator, which works on finding the mathematical keys to undo encryption. It doesn't have to hit them exactly. If one-through-six and eight-through-ten don't work, it doesn't bother trying seven. Once Handshake learns some of the language, which only takes a few minutes, Bulldozer rolls in and searches for menus. Once I get those, I'm in. And while we look at the data here, I'll be dumping everything into Op-Center's computers."
Ballon squeezed Stoll's shoulder, shook his head, and put a finger to his lips.
Stoll drove his palm into his forehead. "Sorry," he said. "Loose lips sink chips."
Ballon nodded.
As Nancy gave Stoll some passwords to try, Hausen wandered over to Ballon.
"Colonel, what are we going to do about Dominique?"
"We wait."
"For what?" Hausen asked.
Ballon faced the German. He moved close to his ear. "For Dominique to get nervous. As I indicated to M. Stoll, Dominique is certainly observing us. Hopefully, we'll find something in the computer."
"And if we don't?"
Ballon