Covert One 3 - The Paris Option Read Free Page B

wakes up. Even then it could be too late.”
    Jon felt a sudden anger. “He will come out of the coma.”
    “All right, Colonel. But when?” Klein took the pipe from his mouth and glared. “We've just had a nasty wake-up call that you need to know about. At 7:55 Washington time last night, Diego Garcia Island lost all communications with its aircraft. Every effort to revive them, or trace the source of the shutdown, failed. Then precisely five minutes later, communications were restored. There were no system malfunctions, no weather problems, no human error. Conclusion was it had to be the work of a computer hacker, but no footprints were found, and every expert short of heaven says no existing computer could've pulled it off without leaving a trace.”
    “Was there damage?”
    “To the systems, no. To our worry quotient, one hell of a lot.”
    “How does the timing compare to when the Pasteur was bombed?”
    Klein smiled grimly. “A couple of hours later.”
    “Could be a test of Chambord's prototype, if he had one. If someone stole it.”
    “No kidding. The way it stands, Chambord's lab is gone. He's dead or missing. And his work is destroyedhellip;or missing.”
    Jon nodded. “You're thinking the bomb was planted to hide his murder and the theft of his records and prototype.”
    “An operational DNA computer in the wrong hands is not a pretty picture.”
    “I was already planning to go to Paris, because of Marty.”
    “I thought so. It's a good cover. Besides, you'll have a better chance of recognizing a molecular computer than anyone else in Covert-One.” Klein raised his anxious gaze to stare out across the enormous prairie sky as if he could see ICBMs raining down. “You've got to find out whether Chambord's notes, reports, and data were destroyed, or whether they were stolen. Whether there really is a functional prototype out there somewhere. We'll work the usual way. I'll be your only contact. Night or day. Whatever you need from any part of the government or military on both sides of the pond, ask. But you must keep a lid on it, understand? We don't want any panic. Worse, we don't want an eager Second or Third World country cutting a unilateral deal with the bombers.”
    “Right.” Half the nonadvanced nations had little love for the United States. Neither did the various terrorists who increasingly targeted America and Americans. “When do I leave?”
    “Now,” Klein said. “I'll have other Covert-One experts on it, of course. They'll be following other leads, but you'll be the main thrust. The CIA and FBI have sent people out, too. And as for Zellerbach, remember I'm as concerned as you. We all hope he regains consciousness quickly. But there may be damn little time, and many, many other lives are at stake.”

Covert One 3 - The Paris Option

Chapter Two
    Paris, France
    It was the end of his shift and nearly six P.M. when Farouk al Hamid finally peeled off his uniform and left L'Hpital Europeacute;en Georges Pompidou through an employees' entrance. He had no reason to notice he was being followed as he walked along the busy boulevard Victor to the Massoud Cafeacute; tucked away on a side street.
    Worn out and depressed from his long day of mopping floors, carrying great hampers of soiled linen, and performing the myriad other back-breaking jobs of a hospital orderly, he took a seat at a table neither outside nor inside, but exactly where the series of front glass doors had been folded back and the fresh outside spring air mingled with the aromatic cooking odors of the kitchen.
    He glanced around once, then ignored his fellow Algerians, as well as the Moroccans and Saharans, who frequented the cafeacute;. Soon he was drinking his second glass of strong coffee and shooting disapproving glances at those who were indulging in wine. All alcohol was forbidden, which was a tenet of Islam ignored by too many of his fellow North Africans, who, once they were far from their homelands, felt they could