State of Siege - Tom Clancy [35]
"He had to show a driver's license to the clerk," Rodgers said. Herbert nodded. "And it checked out with the Department of Motor Vehicles until we asked for his file. There wasn't one. A counterfeit license is pretty easy to get."
Rodgers nodded.
"There was triple security on board for this soiree," Herbert said. "I had a look at the comparable figures from last year's bash. The problem is, they were all concentrated pretty much at the three drive-through check-points and in the square north of the United Nations. These perps apparently blew their way through the concrete barrier using a rocket launcher, then drove across the courtyard and right into the damned.: building. Shot everyone they came up against before holing up inside the Security Council." "And there's been no word from them?" Rodgers asked. "Not a whisper," Herbert said. "I called Darrell over in Spain. He called someone at Interpol in Madrid who is close to people at UN security. They got in touch immediately. As soon as they hear anything about what's inside the van or the kind of weapons these guys used, we'll know." "What about the UN? Have they said anything about this publicly?" Rodgers asked Ann.
"Nothing," she told him. "No spokesperson has come out." "No statement to the press?"
Ann shook her head. "The UN Information Service is not a rapid-response force."
"The United Nations's not a rapid-response anything," Herbert said disgustedly. "The guy Darrell's friend at Interpol calledhe's a personal aide to a Colonel Rick Mott, who's the head of United Nations security. The aide said that they hadn't even collected the spent shells from outside the Security Council chamber yet, let alone checked them for fingerprints or provenance. And that was about thirty-five minutes after this whole thing started. They were just getting themselves organized to look at tapes from the security cameras and then go into a meeting with the secretary-general."
"They're good at meetings," Rodgers said. "What about other tapes?" he asked Ann. "The news services must've gone after every tourist on the street, trying to get video of the attack."
"Good idea," she said. "I'll have Mary make some calls, though at that hour, there probably weren't very many tourists out." Ann picked up the phone and asked her assistant to run a check of what the networks and cable news services might have collected. "You know," Coffey said, "I'm pretty sure the police have surveillance cameras on some streets in New
York. I'll call the city's district attorney and find out." The attorney reached inside his blue blazer and slipped out his digital pocket address book.
Rodgers was staring at the table. Both Ann and Coffey were on the phone. But not enough was happening. They needed to do more. "Matt," Rodgers said, "the attackers had to have accessed the DMV computer at some point to put the fake license in."
"That's a pretty easy hack," Stoll said.
"Fine. But is there any way we can track the hack backward to whoever did it?" Rodgers asked.
"No," said the portly Stoll. "A trace like that is something you have to set up. You wait until they strike and then follow the signal back. Even then, a good hacker can run the signal through terminals in other cities. Hell, he can bounce it off a couple of satellites if he wants. Besides, for all we know, these people had someone on the inside."
"That's true," Herbert said.
Rodgers continued to stare. He needed a history, a pattern, anything they could use to start building a profile. And he needed it fast.
"They've held these parties every year for five years," Herbert said. "Maybe someone cased the thing last year. We should probably have a look at the guest list, see if anyone-was Just then Rodgers's phone beeped. He grabbed it, wincing as he strained the bandages around his right side. "Rodgers here." "It's Paul,"