Zero Day_ A Novel - Mark Russinovich [89]
They ate and sipped coffee in silence for a few moments longer, then Daryl said, “Do you think our Dragon Lady is your IT manager?”
“I’m curious myself. I’ll know in a bit. I haven’t been in touch with her since we messaged last night.”
“Let me know anything she’s learned.”
Jeff nodded as he took a bite. He glanced up and his eyes fell on a couple spreading a blanket in the morning sun. The air was cooler but still more summer than fall. Scattered about were other couples and individuals out walking, talking on cell phones, listening to iPods, tossing Frisbees. He wondered for a moment how different their lives would be in two weeks if he and Daryl failed. Would the machinery of this great city grind to a halt? Would the power grid collapse? He could scarcely imagine every catastrophe that was possible.
Returning his attention to Daryl, Jeff asked, “Why are you back in the city?” He’d been idly wondering about that since hearing from her. “I thought you had an important government agency to run?”
“I’m following up on something here.” Putting down her fork, she added, “And I wanted to see you.” Realizing how that sounded, she tacked on, “For a reason.”
“Other than my good looks, you mean?” Jeff said, with a grin before realizing he was actually flirting with her. He’d always found women so complicated, far more complex than the most difficult computer problem. Even gentle Cynthia had thrown him for a loop every so often. But Daryl, he was finding, wasn’t all that difficult. Her mind worked very much like his did, and she was no more geared toward failure than he was. They were on the exact same wavelength, in his view. He was completely comfortable with her. Sure, she was drop-dead gorgeous, but since she didn’t make much of her looks, Jeff realized he hadn’t either. Now, though, with the sun highlighting her golden blond hair and a smidgen of tomato sauce accentuating her full lips, her beauty was hard to ignore.
She smiled. “That, too. But there’s something we need to do that you won’t want to.”
“So you figured to pitch it to my face?” He pushed aside his unexpectedly amorous train of thought, wondering what she was up to.
Daryl hesitated, and for a moment Jeff felt a chill as the warm feeling he’d had vanished. “Fly to D.C. and meet with George Carlton. I’ll go with you,” she added hastily, taking that moment to touch him briefly on the arm.
Jeff felt a tight grip on his throat. “You’re not serious, are you?” His voice sounded foreign even to him.
Daryl pursed her lips. “I am.” She leaned forward and spoke quietly. “Nearly all the triggers are date-related, and we’re ten days out from the event. And we’ve got zilch. I’ve sent so many messages, made so many calls, cornered so many people, I’ve worn out my welcome. There is nowhere else I can go at this point so it has to be him. Carlton is the chief of counter cyberterrorism at DHS. If he wants to, he can wield a lot of clout. I’m being ignored and the security vendors are way behind the curve on this one. If he can get even one of them moving, we can spare a lot of people a lot of damage.”
Jeff’s face turned rigid. “There’s nothing I can say to him that you can’t.” The very thought of seeing Carlton face-to-face caused Jeff’s bile to rise. “And he’s not going to listen to me. We’ve a track record in that regard, you’ll recall.”
“I know you don’t believe this, but I think George respects your work,” Daryl argued, looking intent. “I’ve sensed it in how he’s mentioned your name the time or two it came up. I personally think he feels badly about not listening to you.”
Jeff gritted his teeth as he spoke, trying to hold back his anger. “‘Feels badly’? He damn well should. A lot of people died because of him.”
“Maybe. But things were so bad in those days, I doubt he could have stopped what happened. Really, Jeff. He