Zero Day_ A Novel - Mark Russinovich [93]
And, of course, once the attack actually took place, making certain no one who mattered knew about Jeff’s report had been vital to Carlton’s continued career. Jeff had assisted him in that regard by resigning, rather than going to his superiors.
Not that his superiors would have wanted to know such a report even existed. Carlton was sure there had been others—the Company was, after all, a big operation, and its primary mission was gathering information—and they’d all vanished as quickly as had Jeff’s.
No, all in all, Carlton felt no guilt over his actions. The federal bureaucracy was what it was. He’d have been a fool to have done other than what he’d done. Which didn’t make this meeting any easier. He knew Jeff had lost his fiancée in the Towers, and he’d dealt with him enough in the aftermath to know how emotional he was on the subject. But he liked seeing Daryl and welcomed almost any opportunity to meet with her. In fact, the more seriously he considered divorce, the more often he found his fantasies turning to the Scandinavian beauty.
Carlton smiled at the couple waiting for him and extended his hand. “So good to see you, Daryl. You’re lovely as ever. And Jeff … What can I say? It’s been too long.”
Daryl rose and shook Carlton’s hand, while Jeff ignored the offer. Carlton looked at Daryl as if to say he understood. “This way, please. Can I get you anything?”
Carlton’s corner office was spacious and elegantly appointed. His recent improvement in fortune had let him indulge himself a bit. The Persian carpet was a case in point. He’d spent $30,000 on it, though he’d told staff it was a gift from his wife, who everyone assumed was rich, but it had the effect on visitors he’d sought and had become a symbol to him of the life he soon expected to be enjoying.
Just through his door Carlton hesitated, thinking about holding the meeting from behind his enormous desk. He decided to use the small, intimate, in-office conference table instead. “Nothing then?” he said as they took chairs around the table.
Daryl was stunning as always, dressed today in a trim business suit with a brightly colored floral scarf at her neck, which set off her skin tone to perfection. Jeff, as always, was dressed as in tan chinos, Rockports, a polo shirt, and navy travel blazer. He looked much older than the last time Carlton had seen him. Carlton wondered if time had been as hard on himself.
“I’m all ears,” Carlton said, beaming at Daryl.
“I’ll get right to it then,” Daryl said. “Time is valuable and we both appreciate your agreeing to meet on such short notice. On August eleventh, CISU estimates several hundred computers nationwide were immobilized by various types of malware. There were a number of deaths. You’ll recall the auto worker and hospital deaths I spoke to you about two weeks ago.”
“I do.” Carlton assumed his serious demeanor.
“There were more than one dozen others, all in hospitals. I sent you a list of the activities adversely affected.”
“Yes, some accounting records, software in hospitals, air-traffic-control problems in New Mexico, I think, and some dams. Are those are the ones you mean?”
Jeff felt his skin crawl from merely being in Carlton’s presence. Coming here was a mistake.
Daryl nodded to Carlton. “And it was Arizona, though that’s not important. My team has been following up and we have a much better picture of what took place. I’ve asked Jeff to come because he’s the most knowledgeable on the Superphreak virus. It caused the computers—”
“Excuse me? Superphreak?” A jolt such as he’d never experienced before shot through Carlton’s body.
“That’s right. Does that mean something to you?” Carlton struggled to regain his composure, then shook his head. “We’ve concluded that most, perhaps all of these viruses,” Daryl continued, “were at least in part the creation of a hacker with the cyber