A War Of Shadows by Jack L. Chalker

Author:Jack L. Chalker [Chalker, Jack L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-02-01T01:11:46+00:00

SIXTEEN

Jake Edelman checked the funny-looking greenish box that was now attached to his phone. It was a little larger than a cigar box. A three-pronged plug connected it to a nearby wall outlet, but the only sign of power was a dully-glowing red LED in the middle of the box's faceplate.

There was a recess in the top of the box containing a number of copper-clad conductors. From his pocket, Edelman removed what appeared to be a small pocket calculator with a series of copper bars on its back that corresponded to those in the recess atop the box. He placed it in the recess and pressed down, only to fume when it wouldn't go in.

Cursing, he glanced at his watch to see that it was approaching midnight. This thing had to be working by then. Finally he admitted defeat and buzzed for his secretary, an older woman named Maxine Bloom who'd been with him over ten years. She smiled that infuriating smile, grasped the calculator, turned it upside down, and put it in the recess. It snapped into place with a satisfying series of clicks.

He glowered at her to cover his embarrassment, sighed, cleared his throat, and nodded to her.

"You might as well be here anyway, Maxine," he said. "I can't take any notes or written records on this and I'll need a good backup memory."

She nodded and took a chair to one side of his desk. It wouldn't have made any difference if she'd been there or not, he knew. Maxine was the best spy any office ever had. He was just thankful she was on his side.

He looked at her. "You checked the bug detec-tor?" he asked.

She nodded. "Used the hand-held one, too. You know the department's computer missed two of them?" She didn't seem at all surprised. "The only leak's the phone, now—I guarantee it."

He shook his head in satisfaction. "The phone and box were installed and checked by the best,"

he said. "And then I uninstalled it and had Fred do a number on both. It's clean."

"Let's have at it, then," his secretary suggested.

He turned and stared carefully at the calculator. It really wasn't one, of course; the numbers were more on the order of a touch-tone phone faceplate, with an additional two rows of symbols. He held his breath nervously as he punched the laborious thirty-two digit combination of numbers and symbols that would connect him with the party he wanted. One mistake and it would clear. Three mistakes and, on the third clear, it would short out.

Despite his nervousness, he didn't make any mis-takes.

He put it on the speakerphone turned to low vol-ume, then set up an additional desktop debugger nearby that would let out a squeal if there were any last-minute attempts to eavesdrop. The debugger was the best there was; it was programmed to detect just about every known device except a person in the room or leaning against the door. He had other precautions against that old-fashioned kind of stuff. He was

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