The Illuminati (28 page)

Siever left Wells and went to the office at the end of the hall. “Yes,” he growled into the phone. “What is it, Fred?”

“Hold on,” Fred Lively said as he handed the phone to Cal Rutland. Lively had never been so afraid in his life. Rutland was as angry as anyone had ever seen him. Lively had called to tell Siever about capturing Wells, and within five minutes he was facing an enraged Rutland. Rutland's eyes told what his words did not; he was ready and willing to kill.

Lively had not even considered that the White House phones might be monitored; he wished he had because when Rutland found out what he and Siever were doing with Wells, he was fit to be tied. Lively had lied his way out of it by saying he thought Siever had White House approval for arresting Wells and the girl. He had placed the call to Siever immediately.

“Siever, you idiot!” Rutland said angrily. “What are you doing with Wells?”

“I had him brought back to Washington, just as you wanted,” Siever replied defensively.

“I didn't want him arrested, you imbecile. He is the only person who can make the system work. Do you think he'll be productive if you alienate him?”

“I've got the girl too,” Siever said confidently.“He'll give me the codes.”

“And just what will you do with them? Put Rhinehart onto programming the system? You really are an idiot, Siever. You get Wells over here immediately, and I want the girl brought here too. Where is she?”

“She's still out in Sacramento,” Siever said. He was trying to find a way to salvage his pride, but he kept remembering how he had been treated earlier. The fear rose like bile in his throat. “I'll get him out right away,” he said contritely as he hung up the phone and walked back to the agent who had brought Wells in. “Let him go,” Siever said in a defeated tone. “He's to be taken directly to the White House.”

As soon as Rutland hung up, he placed another call to the head of the White House secret service.“He's at Andrews,”Rutland said coldly.“Do it!”

The director of the internal secret police force then placed a call to one of his agents at Andrews. “It's a go,” he said. “Implement immediately.”

A small cylinder was attached to the rear compartment air conditioning system of Siever's limousine. On the way back from Andrews the cylinder released a small amount of odorless gas into the passenger compartment, and Russell Siever suffered what would be diagnosed as a fatal brain hemorrhage. The driver didn't notice that his passenger had a problem until he reached the White House entrance. In the chaos of a country gone mad, hardly anyone would notice that the secretary of the treasury had died of natural causes, or that his wife, Elisa, had been appointed the interim secretary—until Congress reconvened.

Five minutes after Siever had left the room, one of the agents answered the call and removed Jeff's handcuffs. He was told there was a limousine waiting to take him to the White House. No one said another word. When Jeff asked the driver a question, he simply responded, “I don't know, sir. I was just told to take you to Mr. Rutland's office.”

Upon arriving at the White House, Jeff was met by one of the president's security guards.“Mr. Rutland's waiting for you, sir,” the guard said politely. Jeff had the feeling he wasn't free to refuse the offer.

“Come in,” Rutland said in a surprisingly pleasant manner. Pointing to a chair beside his desk, Rutland got up and walked around the desk, extending his hand to Wells.

Jeff reluctantly shook Rutland's hand and realized that it was the first time the other man had ever offered his hand. He was still a little confused about his release, but he assumed Rutland must have engineered it.

“I'm really sorry about what happened, Jeff,” Rutland said in what seemed to be a genuinely concerned tone.

“Where is Karen?” Jeff asked brusquely.

“She's on her way here now. That idiot Siever just overreacted,” Rutland said as he sat down in the chair beside Jeff. “He thought you spiked the system and then ran. So he called out the FBI.”

Jeff thought to himself,
Those guys weren't FBI. More like CIA or something. Or KGB
. “What now?” Jeff asked.

“We want you back on Data-Net. I promise you, you won't have Siever breathing down your neck again.”

“I've got some questions,” Jeff said stubbornly, “and I won't work on the system again until I get some answers.” Jeff thought he saw a flash of anger in Rutland's eyes, and then nothing. He knew he was playing a very dangerous game by confronting Rutland. He didn't know exactly what was going on in the White House, but with the country in economic and political chaos, three Supreme Court justices dead, and the president assassinated, he had no illusions that this was a game to them.

“Ask away,”Rutland said calmly. “If I can answer your questions, I will.”

“Why did someone attempt to put a patch in the Data-Net to keep twenty million people from using the system?”

“Well, first, the patch was attempted by one of Siever's cronies—a Dr. Rhinehart.”

“Jack Rhinehart of Cal Tech?” Jeff asked in surprise.

“Yes. Siever hired him as a consultant, then tried to use him to change the system.”

“Why?” Jeff asked, now very curious. He knew Rhinehart had no love for him. He also knew he was not astute enough to modify the system, at least not until Jeff developed the database manager he was working on. Then just about any competent programmer would be able to make the system changes.

“We need a large potential base of users that can be excluded when we go worldwide,” Rutland lied. “These will be the citizens of nations that refuse to eliminate all their currency. We can't operate with some half in and half out. It would undermine the integrity of the system.”

Immediately, Jeff knew that Rutland was lying. He had dumped the DVD-II files and printed out some of the names and addresses. They were all American citizens, widely scattered, and certainly not from any nonconforming countries. He also realized that Rutland didn't know that he knew.

“That sounds logical,” Jeff agreed. “I changed the access code to the system so no one could mess with it while I was gone. I took Karen to see her father in California. I felt like we needed to get away for a little while. The next thing I knew, we were under arrest.”

“Like I said, it was that idiot Siever. He's caught up in cloak and dagger stuff. It's probably a side effect of all the riots and killings. Try to understand, Jeff,” Rutland said as he tried his big brother act. “We have billions invested in the Data-Net system now. We can't afford to have any glitches at this point. I promise you that no one else will try to modify the system until you say it's fully operational. I have already sent Dr. Rhinehart back to Cal Tech. But we would like to have you train an assistant. After all, what would happen if you got hit by a truck?” Rutland tried his best to chuckle, but it came out more like a grunt.

“I'll fix the system,” Jeff said as politely as he could muster. “I just wanted to be sure that it wasn't being used as a political weapon. A cash-less system like the Data-Net could make life pretty difficult for a lot of people. Do you have anyone in mind as an assistant?”

“We have contacted Dr. Kim Loathe has agreed to work with you. In fact, he is excited about the prospect.”

“Dr. Loo!” Jeff said with genuine respect.“He is a great computer scientist.” Then he suddenly felt a pang of fear inside. He had assumed he would be able to delay and stall the changes, but not with Dr. Loo. He was the one scientist who could grasp the concept of Jeff's Data-Net system.
Is Loo a part of whatever is going on?
Jeff wondered. He knew he would have to install the files and the people involved would just have to take their chances. At least he had given them a few days respite. Maybe he could stall for a few more days.
Perhaps
, he thought with a spark of an idea brewing,
I can even give them a warning
.

It was nearly two days before Jeff completed the necessary changes to the system. All that was lacking was his system code to be input. But Karen still had not shown up, so he called Rutland to check on her arrival.

“I'm sorry, Jeff,” Rutland said in response to his question. “We've had some difficulty in arranging her transportation back to Washington. Have you made the changes to the system?”

Jeff knew Rutland was stalling. He was making his point very clear without saying so: Karen would return only when the changes had been made. He answered, “Yes, I have, but the suggestion by Dr. Loo has not been easy to implement. I wonder if it is really necessary?”

Dr. Loo had instructed Jeff to write a subroutine accessing an external data file where the names would be supplied later. It was clear that they did not want Jeff to know who, what, or how many were in that file. He didn't object too strenuously since he had copied the original file earlier.

“It's absolutely essential that you follow Dr. Loo's instructions to the letter,” Rutland said coldly. “He is operating under the direct orders of the president.”

“I thought
I
was the Data-Net director,” Jeff said in a voice meant to convey a bruised ego.

“Yes, you are,” Rutland said hurriedly. “You are in charge of the system, but Dr. Loo is in charge of operations. Once the system is fully functional, your genius will be needed on other projects.”

Jeff smiled at the strain he detected in Rutland's voice.
It must kill him to offer a compliment
, he mused. “The system will be operational shortly. I'd like to talk with Karen first, though. Her help would be invaluable to me. We have worked together on this project from the beginning.”

Rutland's temper flared. Was Wells threatening to halt the system unless his girlfriend appeared? He wasn't sure. Wells was an enigma to Rutland. He was difficult to read but also essential at this point, so he decided to give in a little. “I'm glad to say that she will be here this evening, Jeff. I just wanted it to be a surprise.” Rutland had decided that since the system was operating again, Dr. Loo knew the codes, and the master laptop was under daily lock and key, Karen Eison was no longer needed as a hostage.

For the past three days Karen had been kept in a room at Vanderberg Air Force Base. They had told her she was not under arrest, but it was also clear she wasn't free to leave either. She asked to call her father several times, but the impersonal security man responded,“Miss Eison, my orders are that you are not to have contact with anyone.”

“And just who gave those orders?” she demanded.

“I just follow instructions,” the guard said unemotionally.

Karen had little doubt that his attitude would have changed abruptly, and unpleasantly, if she had attempted to leave the room. Then suddenly that morning she was whisked out of the room, hustled into a waiting Air Force van, and put aboard an Air Force plane.

“Where are we going?” she asked the guard.