Digital Fortress Part 47

"Outbound data!" a technician cried. "It's going fast!"

Everyone on the podium dove for the terminal at the sameinstant-a ma.s.s of outstretched hands. But through the crowd,Susan, like a shortstop stabbing a line drive, connected with hertarget. She typed the number 3. Everyone wheeled to the wallscreen.Above the chaos, it simply read.

ENTER Pa.s.s-KEY? 3 "Yes!" Fontaine commanded. "Do it now!"

Susan held her breath and lowered her finger on the ENTER key.The computer beeped once.

n.o.body moved.

Three agonizing seconds later, nothing had happened.

The sirens kept going. Five seconds. Six seconds.

"Outbound data!"

"No change!"

Suddenly Midge began pointing wildly to the screen above."Look!" On it, a message had materialized.

KILL CODE CONFIRMED.

"Upload the firewalls!" Jabba ordered.

But Sos.h.i.+ was a step ahead of him. She had already sent thecommand.

"Outbound interrupt!" a technician yelled.

"Tie-ins severed!"

On the VR overhead, the first of the five firewalls beganreappearing. The black lines attacking the core were instantlysevered.

"Reinstating!" Jabba cried. "The d.a.m.nthing's reinstating!"

There was a moment of tentative disbelief, as if at any instant,everything would fall apart. But then the second firewall beganreappearing ... and then the third. Moments later the entireseries of filters reappeared. The databank was secure.

The room erupted. Pandemonium. Technicians hugged, tossingcomputer printouts in the air in celebration. Sirens wound down.Brinkerhoff grabbed Midge and held on.

Sos.h.i.+ burst into tears.

"Jabba," Fontaine demanded. "How much did theyget?"

"Very little," Jabba said, studying his monitor."Very little. And nothing complete."

Fontaine nodded slowly, a wry smile forming in the corner of hismouth. He looked around for Susan Fletcher, but she was alreadywalking toward the front of the room.

On the wall before her, DavidBecker's face filled the screen.

"David?"

"Hey, gorgeous." He smiled.

"Come home," she said. "Come home, rightnow."

"Meet you at Stone Manor?" he asked.

She nodded, the tears welling. "Deal."

"Agent Smith?" Fontaine called.

Smith appeared onscreen behind Becker. "Yes, sir?"

"It appears Mr. Becker has a date. Could you see that hegets home immediately?" Smith nodded. "Our jet's in Malaga." Hepatted Becker on the back. "You're in for a treat,Professor. Ever flown in a Learjet 60?"

Becker chuckled. "Not since yesterday."

CHAPTER 128

When Susan awoke, the sun was s.h.i.+ning. the soft rays siftedthrough the curtains and filtered across her goosedown feather bed.She reached for David. Am I dreaming?

Her body remainedmotionless, spent, still dizzy from the night before.

"David?" She moaned.

There was no reply. She opened her eyes, her skin stilltingling. The mattress on the other side of the bed was cold. Davidwas gone.

I'm dreaming, Susan thought. She sat up. The roomwas Victorian, all lace and antiques-Stone Manor's finestsuite. Her overnight bag was in the middle of the hardwood floor .. . her lingerie on a Queen Anne chair beside the bed.

Had David really arrived? She had memories-his body againsthers, his waking her with soft kisses. Had she dreamed it all? Sheturned to the bedside table. There was an empty bottle ofchampagne, two gla.s.ses ... and a note.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Susan drew the comforter aroundher naked body and read the message.

Dearest Susan, I love you.

Without wax, David.

She beamed and pulled the note to her chest. It was David, allright. Without wax ... it was the one code she had yet tobreak.

Something stirred in the corner, and Susan looked up. On a plushdivan, basking in the morning sun, wrapped in thick bathrobe, DavidBecker sat quietly watching her. She reached out, beckoning him tocome to her.

"Without wax?" she cooed, taking him in her arms. "Without wax." He smiled.

She kissed him deeply. "Tell me what it means."

"No chance." He laughed. "A couple needssecrets-it keeps things interesting."

Susan smiled coyly. "Any more interesting than last nightand I'll never walk again."

David took her in his arms. He felt weightless. He had almostdied yesterday, and yet here he was, as alive as he had ever feltin his life.

Susan lay with her head on his chest, listening to the beat ofhis heart. She couldn't believe that she had thought he wasgone forever.

"David." She sighed, eyeing the note beside the table."Tell me about 'without wax.'

You know I hate codesI can't break."

David was silent.

"Tell me." Susan pouted. "Or you'll neverhave me again."

"Liar."

Susan hit him with a pillow. "Tell me! Now!"

But David knew he would never tell. The secret behind"without wax" was too sweet.

Its origins were ancient.During the Renaissance, Spanish sculptors who made mistakes whilecarving expensive marble often patched their flaws with cera-"wax."

A statue that had no flaws andrequired no patching was hailed as a "sculpture sincera" or a "sculpture without wax." The phraseeventually came to mean anything honest or true. The English word"sincere" evolved from the Spanish sincera- "without wax." David's secret code wasno great mystery-he was simply signing his letters"Sincerely." Somehow he suspected Susan would not beamused.

"You'll be pleased to know," David said,attempting to change the subject, "that during the flighthome, I called the president of the university."

Susan looked up, hopeful. "Tell me you resigned asdepartment chair."

David nodded. "I'll be back in the cla.s.sroom nextsemester."

She sighed in relief. "Right where you belonged in thefirst place."

David smiled softly. "Yeah, I guess Spain reminded mewhat's important."

"Back to breaking coeds' hearts?" Susan kissedhis cheek. "Well, at least you'll have time to help meedit my ma.n.u.script."

"Ma.n.u.script?" "Yes. I've decided to publish."

"Publish?" David looked doubtful. "Publish what?"

"Some ideas I have on variant filter protocols andquadratic residues."

He groaned. "Sounds like a real best-seller."

She laughed. "You'd be surprised."

David fished inside the pocket of his bathrobe and pulled out asmall object. "Close your eyes. I have something foryou."

Susan closed her eyes. "Let me guess-a gaudy gold ringwith Latin all over it?"

"No." David chuckled. "I had Fontaine return thatto Ensei Tankado's estate." He took Susan's hand andslipped something onto her finger.

"Liar." Susan laughed, opening her eyes. "Iknew-"

But Susan stopped short. The ring on her finger was notTankado's at all. It was a platinum setting that held aglittering diamond solitaire.

Susan gasped.

David looked her in the eye. "Will you marry me?"

Susan's breath caught in her throat. She looked at him andthen back to the ring. Her eyes suddenly welled up. "Oh, David... I don't know what to say."

"Say yes."

Susan turned away and didn't say a word.

David waited. "Susan Fletcher, I love you. Marryme."

Susan lifted her head. Her eyes were filled with tears."I'm sorry, David," she whispered. "I ... Ican't."

David stared in shock. He searched her eyes for the playfulglimmer he'd come to expect from her. It wasn't there."S-Susan," he stammered. "I-I don'tunderstand."

"I can't," she repeated. "I can't marryyou." She turned away. Her shoulders started trembling. Shecovered her face with her hands.

David was bewildered. "But, Susan ... I thought . .." He held her trembling shoulders and turned her body towardhim. It was then that he understood. Susan Fletcher was not cryingat all; she was in hysterics. "I won't marry you!" She laughed, attacking againwith the pillow. "Not until you explain 'withoutwax'! You're driving me crazy!"

Epilogue

They say in death, all things become clear. Tokugen Numataka nowknew it was true.

Standing over the casket in the Osaka customsoffice, he felt a bitter clarity he had never known. His religionspoke of circles, of the interconnectedness of life, but Numatakahad never had time for religion.

The customs officials had given him an envelope of adoptionpapers and birth records.

"You are this boy's only livingrelative," they had said. "We had a hard time findingyou."