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It was a quiet conference room. Nancy's description of events at The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank was a depressing picture. The best defenses meant nothing when put up against MEMOREX 333. He had all the techniques he needed.
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| Nancy: |
There's something else. I think I've got to put this on the table right now. It's clear to me we were manipulated into the situation at the bank. We were there to witness what happened. It was designed to show us what they can do.
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| Roger: |
I agree with you, Nancy. Giving us the security profile was just icing on the cake.
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| Warwick: |
Wait a minute. You're saying 'they' wanted us there. Are you implying that somebody is controlling 333?
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| Nancy: |
I'm convinced of it. And I also believe that whoever is controlling it has someone within your project team working for them. It's the only way they could have learned this much about 333's command and control definitions.
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| Warwick: |
Now you're out of line. You have no proof of that and we don't need a witch hunt going on here. It's bad enough being cooped up in here for this long without rumors of spies going around. My people are already on edge.
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| Roger: |
Pete, we just need to keep it in mind as a possibility.
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| Dunn: |
I agree with Warwick on this one. We can't let the conspiracy theories take our focus off MEMOREX. He's the weapon being used against us. Let's deactivate it before more damage is done and then track down the terrorists or whoever they are.
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Nancy and Roger looked at each other across the conference table. Roger saw that Dunn's directive left Nancy confused. Nancy saw that it left Roger suspicious, almost frightened. The telephone in front of Dunn rang.
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| Dunn: |
Yes? . . . Okay, pipe it in here. There's another news broadcast. It's coming up now.
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| Reporter: |
It was about an hour ago that we first learned of a massive computer system disruption here in San Francisco. The Federal Reserve Bank has been forced to shut down most of its primary systems and is currently working to bring secondary computers on-line. Bank officials immediately released a statement assuring the business community of the bank's stability.
Whatever the cause of these attacks, it does not appear that the threat has passed. The FBI has contacted several computer security experts from around the world and is planning an emergency meeting tomorrow in Washington. We can only hope that the team will figure out a way to end this wave of computer carnage. This is Howard Trent reporting from San Francisco.
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| Anchorman: |
Thank you, Howard. In what seems to be more bad news on this breaking story, CNN has obtained a document naming the New York branch of the Federal Reserve Bank as the next computer target. No monetary or political demands are made in the message and so no motive has yet become clear to us for these attacks. We go now to Dr. Benjamin Crutchfield of the Software Publishers Association for his comments on . . .
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Dunn clicked the news feed off and turned to look around the table's silent audience. It would have been nice to be able to say that the media attention was overblown and highly dramatized. Unfortunately, the disturbing thing about this newscast was that the truth had started to leak out. There was no longer any hope of keeping the whole thing quiet. It was only a matter of time before the Boreskovich project and the lab location were ferreted out of D.O.D. budget documents by media staffers. The front door would be mobbed by reporters in a couple hours. A staff technician broke the silence by knocking and entering to deliver a message to Pete Warwick.
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| Warwick: |
It's another message from 333. It says New York Federal Reserve Bank is next. No timing given, no status given, just the targeting.
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| Roger: |
CNN's document was authentic!? They had it before we did? This thing is spinning too fast.
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| Dunn: |
Warwick, somebody on your staff leaked that to the press. I want to know who!
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| Warwick: |
No one here has had time to leak this. It only arrived a minute ago.
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| Spike: |
Pete, I don't remember the New York Bank in the target profile data. Did we miss something?
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| Warwick: |
No, it would be impossible to miss. The only target was San Francisco.
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| Spike: |
Then someone else must be feeding 333 targeting commands. It would be too coincidental to have him randomly pick another Federal Reserve Bank.
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| Warwick: |
I agree, someone must be controlling him.
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| Spike: |
The good news is that he can be given commands. Maybe we can take control back.
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| Dunn: |
Let's get to work on that. We've got to focus our efforts on stopping him before anything happens to New York. If we do, we can still claim the document CNN got was a prank. I'm going to call New York and make sure they're taking this seriously.
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Malcolm Dunn was the first person out of the room. Everyone else was slow in moving. Enthusiasm was at a new low. Each attempt to stop MEMOREX 333 had been a dismal failure. They were losing hope and the stakes were getting higher. What could be worse? Roger and Nancy drifted to the side and talked to Spike on a small workstation monitor.
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| Nancy: |
Does anybody else feel weird about this?
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| Roger: |
Weird!? I'll tell you how I feel. I think Dunn is either stupid or intentionally blocking us from getting at the heart of the matter.
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| Spike: |
Why would Dunn have brought us into this if he didn't want help?
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| Roger: |
He may not have had any choice. Remember, Washington told him to get us. He may not have expected it. But I personally think we're here for another reason.
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| Nancy: |
What's that?
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| Roger: |
So he knows what we're doing.
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| Spike: |
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
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| Roger: |
Exactly.
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| Nancy: |
Roger, if you're going to be paranoid of everybody, it's going to make it hard to narrow down the bad guys. This morning it was Agent West, now it's Dunn. Are they all in it together? Maybe Boreskovich is working for the KGB and he's in on it too?
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| Roger: |
Here's the big problem. Dunn keeps us focused on one strategy at a time. No alternatives. Now we're supposed to figure out how to take command of 333. What if that doesn't work?
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| Spike: |
Remember Roger, that was my idea, not Dunn's.
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| Roger: |
It's a good idea, Spike, and maybe it will work. But why don't we work the other angle at the same time.
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| Nancy: |
Which angle?
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| Roger: |
The one you were going for, Nancy, until Dunn moved us away from it. The one that made his skin crawl. That's the one I want to work on. Let's find out who on Pete's team is working for the other side.
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