Conspiracy Theory Pt. 02

"For a start, this laptop is having to translate the information on the hard drive." Togusa replied. "Then you've got the problem that the information stored here is encrypted."

"Encrypted?" Yuriko asked. "You said that the Kyushu program could circumvent any encryption it encountered."

"Not exactly – it has to understand the encryption first before it can bypass it. It's never seen this sort of encryption before so it needs to get its head around it first." Togusa said as his fingers danced around the keyboard. "Once Kyushu understands it, then we're in business – it can extract the information we need and then remove all trace of its presence."

"We should have just taken the hard drive and made it look like a robbery." Yuriko mused as she pulled out a small short wave radio from the rucksack she had with her. "It's Yuriko, any sign of him yet?" Her question was in English.

"Nothing yet," the reply was slightly garbled. "What's the hold up?"

"Don't ask." She said. "We'll be down as soon as possible."

"Okay – keep the radio on just in case." The voice on the other end of the radio said.

"We're in!" Togusa cried out as Yuriko put the radio in her jacket pocket.

"Great." She said, feeling more comfortable talking in her native language. "How long will it take for Kyushu to complete the extraction?"

"Er, twenty seven minutes and fourteen seconds." Togusa said. Yuriko's expression spoke volumes. "Although I can speed that up by stripping out some of the user interface." His hands hovered over the keyboard, awaiting her orders.

"Do it – and hurry." Yuriko said as mounting unease started to swell in her stomach.

****

Bill Hamilton could feel his shoulders slumping as he crossed the street from the tube station to his hotel. Another wasted trip, he thought to himself as he dodged pedestrians while cradling the laptop case in his hands. Once he was in the relative safety of the hotel reception he retrieved his key card from reception and headed to the lift.

Once inside he thumbed the button for his floor and closed his eyes. This was the fourth presentation he had done to a government committee and each of them had given him the same response: very nice, but a little too audacious for our needs right now. However, today had yielded one potential lead as he found the business card of Robert Armstrong of the Department of Trade and Industry. Hamilton pondered on that thought as the elevator came to a stop.

The doors opened and Hamilton found himself confronted with two giggling Japanese tourists. They stepped aside and allowed him to exit before they got in the elevator, only allowing him time to say thank you before the steel doors slid shut. He shook his head and trudged to his room. As he opened the door he realised that if he hurried he could just make the train back to the Midlands without having to spend money he didn't have on another night in a hotel.

****

As the elevator began it's downward motion Togusa let out a huge sigh.

"That was him," He said, stating the obvious. "That really was him, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Yuriko answered as she plucked the radio from her pocket. "We're on our way – extraction in five minutes." She looked across at Togusa. "You said you could speed it up – we could have been compromised."

"I did speed it up – if I hadn't stripped out those parts we'd still be in there." The elevator reached the ground floor. They exited and made their way out of the hotel to where a familiar black Range Rover was waiting for them. Once they were inside the vehicle merged with the general flow of traffic.

"Success?" The driver – the only other occupant of the vehicle – asked.

"Pryke-san, big score!" Togusa said in broken English. The driver chuckled.

"What my colleague is trying to say," Yuriko translated. "Is that we have a copy of the program – well, as much as we could get under the circumstances."

"Okay then," the driver replied. "Let's get somewhere safe where we can take a look at it."

The Millennium Point Residential Complex

Broad Street, Birmingham 8:33 pm

Bill opened the door and picked up the post as he entered. He looked through it before he remembered to close the door. Two bills, and the rest junk. He walked into the living room, switched on the light and put the case and laptop down, then switched on his PC before hanging up his coat and grabbing a can from the fridge. He settled down to catch up on blogs and e-mails.

About half an hour later the doorknocker sounded. For the twentieth time he reminded himself to do something about getting the bell working again.

"Yes?" The caller was a woman his own age or a bit older. He was useless at that sort of thing.

"Mr Hamilton?"

"Yes," he agreed cautiously.

"Are you alone?" she asked surprisingly, and opened a small folder so he could see it. As far as he could tell it identified one Rachel Mitchell as being an officer of MI5. He didn't have a clue whether it was genuine or not, but it was certainly interesting.

"Yes," he said for the third time.

"In that case may I come in?" He stood back and she entered with a quiet 'thank you'. He pointed her through to the living room and then hurriedly cleared his coat out of the way so she could sit down.

She was wearing a business suit with the skirt just below the knee over a roll neck jumper. She wore matching shoes with a minimal heel. Her make-up was average and her hair curly. He had a feeling he might have seen her before but in many ways she looked so average that he couldn't be sure.

"So what can I do for you?" he asked.

"At the moment I am working with Sir Lucas Denby. Your 'Oracle' project may have some relevance to what we are doing. However we obviously didn't want to express that interest in a relatively open forum like the IDCES committee."

"I understand," he responded. He didn't, not really. But it certainly sounded more positive than anything else anyone connected to the government had said to him up until now.

"So I wonder if I could impose on you for a more detailed explanation of the features of your program. I am particularly interested in what you said about its ability to adapt to other programs, regardless of their architecture."

So she was MI5. "You're wanting it to poke around in other people's computers, aren't you?" his extrapolation of her words inwardly impressed her.

Rachel smiled. "Well it is one of the things we do in the interests of national security you understand, although the other aspects of the program looked useful as well."

"In that case," said Bill triumphantly, "you've definitely come to the right place!"

****

It had taken a while. But after the flow of words and demonstration had slowed a little he had remembered to offer her something. The hypnotic had gone into his can of beer while he was off getting her a coke and she had started to steer things in the direction she wanted. When she was certain she had the only copy of the full programme and the various passwords that were needed she used the new anaesthetic spray to make him unconscious.

Rachel used bandages to tie him to the chair so there would be no bruising. A quick check of the house revealed a dusty fondue set with a bottle of methylated spirits by it. She put it on the table in his living room. Then she piled papers by the computer. There were already a fair few fire risks scattered about the place. Anyone in his circle of friends would be able to testify to his untidiness in that regard. She poured about half the spirits on to the floor and towards the papers. Then she went through the house opening a few small windows.

One more check and then she set light to the papers. She watched while the flames took hold and then made her exit. She sat in her car down the road from his house and watched until smoke suddenly started billowing out. It rapidly increased and she could tell that it had taken hold. Hamilton was in the same room as the flammable material and the accelerant. According to her training he had virtually no chance of surviving such a situation. Rachel started the ignition and drove away.