Part 34 (1/2)

It was inconceivable. If the data was correct, Tankado and hispartner were the same person. Susan's thoughts weresuddenly disconnected. She wished the blaring horn would stop. Why doesn't Strathmore turn that d.a.m.n thing off?

Hale twisted on the floor, straining to see Susan. ”Whatdoes it say? Tell me!”

Susan blocked out Hale and the chaos around her. EnseiTankado is North Dakota... .

She reshuffled the pieces trying to make them fit. If Tankadowas North Dakota, then he was sending E-mail to himself . .. which meant North Dakota didn't exist.

Tankado'spartner was a hoax.

North Dakota is a ghost, she said to herself. Smokeand mirrors.

The ploy was a brilliant one. Apparently Strathmore had beenwatching only one side of a tennis match. Since the ball keptcoming back, he a.s.sumed there was someone on the other side of thenet. But Tankado had been playing against a wall. He had beenproclaiming the virtues of Digital Fortress in E-mail he'dsent to himself. He had written letters, sent them to an anonymousremailer, and a few hours later, the remailer had sent them rightback to him.

Now, Susan realized, it was all so obvious. Tankado had wanted the commander to snoop him ... he'd wantedhim to read the E-mail. Ensei Tankado had created an imaginaryinsurance policy without ever having to trust another soul with hispa.s.s-key. Of course, to make the whole farce seem authentic,Tankado had used a secret account ... just secret enough to allayany suspicions that the whole thing was a setup.

Tankado was hisown partner. North Dakota did not exist. Ensei Tankado was aone- man show.

A one-man show.

A terrifying thought gripped Susan. Tankado could have usedhis fake correspondence to convince Strathmore of just aboutanything.

She remembered her first reaction when Strathmore told her aboutthe unbreakable algorithm. She'd sworn it was impossible. Theunsettling potential of the situation settled hard in Susan'sstomach. What proof did they actually have that Tankado had really created Digital Fortress? Only a lot of hype in hisE-mail. And of course ...

TRANSLTR. The computer had been lockedin an endless loop for almost twenty hours. Susan knew, however,that there were other programs that could keep TRANSLTR busy thatlong, programs far easier to create than an unbreakablealgorithm.

Viruses.

The chill swept across her body.

But how could a virus get into TRANSLTR?

Like a voice from the grave, Phil Chartrukian gave the answer.Strathmore bypa.s.sed Gauntlet!

In a sickening revelation, Susan grasped the truth. Strathmorehad downloaded Tankado's Digital Fortress file and tried tosend it into TRANSLTR to break it. But Gauntlet had rejected thefile because it contained dangerous mutation strings.

NormallyStrathmore would have been concerned, but he had seenTankado's E-mail- Mutation strings are the trick!Convinced Digital Fortress was safe to load, Strathmore bypa.s.sedGauntlet's filters and sent the file into TRANSLTR.

Susan could barely speak. ”There is no DigitalFortress,” she choked as the sirens blared on. Slowly, weakly,she leaned against her terminal. Tankado had gone fis.h.i.+ng for fools... and the NSA had taken the bait.

Then, from upstairs, came a long cry of anguish. It wa.s.strathmore.

CHAPTER 86 Trevor Strathmore was hunched at his desk when Susan arrivedbreathless at his door.

His head was down, his sweaty headglistening in the light of his monitor. The horns on the sublevelsblared.

Susan raced over to his desk. ”Commander?”

Strathmore didn't move.

”Commander! We've got to shut down TRANSLTR!We've got a-”

”He got us,” Strathmore said without looking up.”Tankado fooled us all ...”

She could tell by the tone of his voice he understood. All ofTankado's hype about the unbreakable algorithm ...auctioning off the pa.s.s-key-it was all an act, a charade.Tankado had tricked the NSA into snooping his mail, tricked theminto believing he had a partner, and tricked them into downloadinga very dangerous file.

”The mutation strings-” Strathmore faltered.

”I know.”

The commander looked up slowly. ”The file I downloaded offthe Internet ... it was a ...”

Susan tried to stay calm. All the pieces in the game hads.h.i.+fted. There had never been any unbreakable algorithm-neverany Digital Fortress. The file Tankado had posted on the Internetwas an encrypted virus, probably sealed with some generic,ma.s.s- market encryption algorithm, strong enough to keep everyoneout of harm's way- everyone except the NSA. TRANSLTR hadcracked the protective seal and released the virus.

”The mutation strings,” the commander croaked.”Tankado said they were just part of the algorithm.”Strathmore collapsed back onto his desk.

Susan understood the commander's pain. He had beencompletely taken in. Tankado had never intended to let any computercompany buy his algorithm. There was no algorithm. The wholething was a charade. Digital Fortress was a ghost, a farce, a pieceof bait created to tempt the NSA. Every move Strathmore had made,Tankado had been behind the scenes, pulling the strings.

”I bypa.s.sed Gauntlet.” The commander groaned.

”You didn't know.”

Strathmore pounded his fist on his desk. ”I shouldhave known! His screen name, for Christ's sake! NDAKOTA! Lookat it!”

”What do you mean?” ”He's laughing at us! It's a G.o.dd.a.m.nanagram!”

Susan puzzled a moment. NDAKOTA is an anagram? Shepictured the letters and began reshuffling them in her mind. Ndakota ... Kado-tan ... Oktadan ... Tandoka .

. . Herknees went weak. Strathmore was right. It was as plain as day. Howcould they have missed it? North Dakota wasn't a reference tothe U.S. state at all-it was Tankado rubbing salt in thewound! He'd even sent the NSA a warning, a blatant clue thathe himself was NDAKOTA. The letters spelled TANKADO. But the bestcode- breakers in the world had missed it, just as he hadplanned.

”Tankado was mocking us,” Strathmore said.

”You've got to abort TRANSLTR,” Susandeclared.

Strathmore stared blankly at the wall.

”Commander. Shut it down! G.o.d only knows what's goingon in there!”

”I tried,” Strathmore whispered, sounding as faint a.s.she'd ever heard him.

”What do you mean you tried?”

Strathmore rotated his screen toward her. His monitor had dimmedto a strange shade of maroon. At the bottom, the dialogue boxshowed numerous attempts to shut down TRANSLTR. They were allfollowed by the same response: SORRY. UNABLE TO ABORT.