The Master Hacker

Chapter Five

“Did anything happen overnight to change what we learned yesterday?” Darque asked Penny as he entered her office.

“We really don’t know,” she said. “Not being able to hack into some of the North Korean and Chinese systems is really slowing down our efforts to find out what’s going on. Every now and then we pick up a little blurb that might mean something, but we can’t fit what we pick up into anything we know.”

“Anything we pick up concerning the incident will add to the bigger picture; it’ll just be one more piece of the puzzle,” Darque said.

“Well,” she said, “we did pick up one thing. Apparently, the Chinese are trying to locate a North Korean computer expert who worked in China, but there was no indication of why. It may or may not be something connected with the crash; we just can’t say one way or the other.”

“Keep digging. The downing didn’t go unnoticed, and others will be asking about it if explanations aren’t forthcoming on their own.”

When Yunshan looked up from his desk, he saw the same man who stood in front of him the day before.

“Well,” he said. “What have you found out?”

“The only person we can’t find who was working on the system was the person heading the project. A North Korean computer scientist named SunHee Nham.”

“What do we know about her?”

“She traveled extensively to attend computer courses around the world that dealt with theory and application. She developed the anti-missile system onboard the downed aircraft. It was reportedly the main feature of something called Project Tiger.”

The mention of the initiative immediately brought the committeeman to his feet.

“Where is this woman now? She needs to be questioned as soon as possible, and cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of our enemies.”

The man in front of the desk had no idea what Project Tiger was, but knew from the tone of his superior’s voice that he better find the missing woman … and quickly.

“What measures have been taken to locate this woman?”

“We were only able to identify her a short time ago, so … ”

“So, no steps have been taken to locate her?!” Yunshan yelled. “This woman can destroy us, and you’ve done nothing to find her?”

“I had no idea who she was,” the man stammered, “but I’ll find her no matter where she is.”

“You fool! She already has at least a three-day head start on you and could be anywhere in the world. How do you plan to find her?”

“I’ll have people start checking airports and train stations for any indication that she departed through one of them. I feel confident we can find her.”

Yunshan was silent and the man before him was beginning to wither under his superior’s gaze, but knew it was in his best interest to remain silent.

There was a sudden change in the sitting man’s expression, and he again addressed the person standing before him.

“If this woman was associated with the project you mentioned, we would have taken the precaution of having a tracking device embedded somewhere in her body so we could monitor her movements. I suggest you start there.”

“I’ll check with the responsible department immediately,” the man said, “but don’t worry. We’ll find her.”

“I hope you’re right,” Yunshan said. “Your life depends on it.”

SunHee was up early and anxious to get back on the road, but wasn’t looking forward to the day’s drive on I-95 playing bumper-tag and dodgem through the traffic jams that comprised much of the road system through Baltimore and the Northern loop around Washington, D.C. When she reached I-66, she planned to head west and stop overnight near Front Royal, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. She knew she would get more anxious to complete her trip the closer she got to her destination, but she also knew she needed to rest.

Although she had already repacked the few things she had removed from her luggage the previous night, the activity caused the arm she had operated on to ooze a small amount of blood through the bandage she had applied to the wound.

After rebadging her arm, she swallowed a few more pills to take care of the pain she knew would soon put in an appearance.

Once she had reloaded her car, she took the tracking device she had removed from her arm and slammed the car door on it several times before dropping it through a sewer grate.

It was time to begin the rest of her life, whatever that meant and wherever it took her, but it would be on a path she chose; not one chosen for her. With that thought in mind, she smiled, climbed back into the car, and headed back to I-95 to continue her journey.

“You got a minute?” asked Major Schilling, the head of the security force at the Cave, as he entered Darque’s office.

“For you, Bugs,” Darque smiled, “always.”

The officer had earned his nickname eating things in survival scenarios that most people wouldn’t even touch.

“As per the requirements of this organization, one of our personnel reported a contact with a foreign national from a Communist country to me. This happens every now and then, and the encounters usually turn out to be innocent, but knowing why you’re back from your period of rest and recreation, I wanted to make you aware of it.”

“OK,” said Darque. “What have you got?”

“A female translator, named Maria Soun, came to my office earlier today to report that her cousin recently arrived in the U.S. for a visit. She said the woman had previously attended different universities in this and other countries around the world to take computer courses to advance her education. Maria has no idea why her cousin is currently in the U.S., but thought it might be to attend another computer seminar. Apparently, her cousin called her home and talked to her father about paying them a visit, and Maria and her father are anxiously awaiting the woman’s arrival. Maria has only been working here for a year, and had no reporting requirement at her previous jobs, but mentioned having a cousin living in a Communist country on her security questionnaire when she applied for a job with us. She noted that her cousin’s name was SunHee Nham, and she had visited Maria and her father on three occasions over the past 10 years. I already ran her name through our files and found nothing derogatory on her.”

“If you think we should pursue this, why don’t you have her go to your office and Penny and I will meet you there.”

“Give me about 15 minutes,” Bugs said.

“Just out of curiosity, what country is her cousin from?” Darque asked.

“Funny you should ask,” said Bugs, grinning like a child with a new puppy. “She’s from North Korea, but does some kind of work with computers for China.”