Scattered Graves

up all the refuse from
the pizza dinner and disposed of it.
Diane pulled up a chair and sat down beside Frank. ‘‘How are we doing?’’ she asked.
‘‘We’re just starting,’’ said Frank. ‘‘If it’s encrypted using a very long key, then we may not be able to
break it before the end of this century.’’
‘‘Well, how do hackers get in?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘How
do they break the encryption?’’
‘‘The best way is to not,’’ said David.
‘‘Is this Yoda talking?’’ said Diane.
David smiled. ‘‘No, it’s me. One of the drawbacks
with encryption is that it doesn’t work before the in
formation is encrypted.’’
‘‘No,’’ agreed Diane. ‘‘I can see how it wouldn’t.’’ ‘‘That’s the power of recruiting computer-savvy
people to work in businesses the way Jefferies did,’’
said Frank. ‘‘They have access to the information be
fore it is encrypted. They can install their own soft
    the information to a ware that steals and reroutes
    place of their choosing.’’
David nodded. ‘‘According
Jefferies placed people in banking, insurance, and gov
ernment agencies. It boggles the mind the amount of
information he had access to. At this point I don’t
know which would be more useful, a list of bank ac
count numbers or a list of people he had in place.’’ ‘‘One of the things the heads of these gangs do,’’
said Frank, ‘‘is recruit someone from a technical field
that is not computer science, like, say, engineering.
Give him advanced computer training and get him a
job, for example, in the aerospace industry. Install him
as a sleeper in a company, doing work not directly
connected with sensitive information. Put him some
place where he would never be suspected. Give him
time to work his way up to a spot where he can use
those advanced computer skills you gave him to steal
company secrets, financial data, personal data—a whole
range of possibilities. A high-placed sleeper can rob
the company’s databases and cover his tracks so no
one knows he’s the thief. I use him as an example. It
could just as easily be a Mata Hari.’’
‘‘It sounds very cold war,’’ said Diane.
‘‘It’s like that exactly,’’ said Frank. ‘‘They’ve adopted
old KGB tactics, and it works quite well.’’
to Sutton’s research, Diane was letting everything David and Frank were
telling her sink in. Suddenly, a red light on the wall
began flashing and issuing a low but penetrating
sound. They all looked at Diane.
‘‘Someone’s trying to break into the crime lab,’’
she said.

Chapter 36
    Diane looked at the computer. Neva was frozen over the case with a fingerprint card in her hand. Frank and David made eye contact with her, their faces creased in frowns. Izzy stood up behind her, ready to go.
    ‘‘The computer. I’ll bet someone’s after the com puter,’’ said Diane. ‘‘They don’t know it’s here. In case they figure it out, all of you stay here.’’
    She started for the door.
‘‘Don’t you need backup?’’ said Izzy.
‘‘I have backup. My entire security department
    should be on their way. I need all of you to stay here and protect the computer.’’
    Diane dashed out the doors, locking each one in turn behind her—her sitting room door, her office, Andie’s office. When she got to the hallway she could see her security personnel hurrying out of the secu rity office.
    ‘‘What’s going on?’’ she asked when she met up with Chanell, her chief of security.
‘‘The guards on the museum side of the crime lab don’t know anything. I haven’t been able to get Mickey, the outside guard, to answer,’’ she said.
There were two ways to get to the crime lab—from the museum side on the third floor, and from an eleva tor on the outside of the building. When she installed the crime lab, Diane had an elevator built on the out side of the museum that went directly to the third floor and opened into the crime lab. At ground level was a small room with an outside door that provided access to the elevator. That room always had a recep tionist and a guard on duty in the daytime and a guard at night. It was that room that apparently was compro mised.
Chanell sent two guards up to the third floor to reinforce the ones that were already there. Diane, Chanell, and two guards left the museum by the main front door and walked around the outside of the build ing toward the west wing.
It was already dark. The parking lot lights were on