The Prometheus Deception by Robert Ludlum

Author:Robert Ludlum [Ludlum, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Published: 2011-01-05T19:00:00+00:00

"One hour, Mr. Lanchester. And I suggest you make not a single phone call about this between now and the time I arrive."

"Order an interception," one of the watchers said.

"The decision must be taken at a higher level," replied another, clearly his superior.

"Prometheus may prefer to continue gathering information on the target's activities, on how much the target knows."

"But if the two meet in a secure facility--what kind of penetration can we expect?"

"Good Christ, McCabe! Is there anywhere we can't penetrate? Relay the sound file. Prometheus will decide the course of action."

25B

CHAPTER

SEVER TEEn

The president's national security adviser sat across the burnished mahogany conference table from Bryson, tension creasing his high forehead.

For over twenty minutes Richard Lanchester had listened in rapt absorption to Bryson's account, nodding, taking notes, interrupting only for occasional clarifications. Every question he asked was not only pertinent but incisive, piercing through layers of ambiguity and confusion right to the crux of the issue. Bryson was impressed by the man, by his brilliance, his quick intelligence. He listened closely, concentrating deeply. Bryson spoke as he would debrief a handler or a case officer, just as he used to brief Waller after a field operation: calmly, objectively, coolly assessing probabilities while not injecting conjecture without basis. He tried to provide a context in which the revelations could be meaningfully placed.

It was difficult.

The two men sat in a special secure facility located within the NATO secretary general's command-and-control center, an acoustically insulated room-within-a-room known informally as the "bubble." Its walls and floor were actually one module separated from the surrounding concrete walls by foot-thick rubber blocks that kept all sound vibrations from emanating

2G1

ROBERT LUDLU111

outward. Technical surveillance countermeasures were employed daily to ensure that the bubble remained secure, free of any taps or listening devices. Security officers swept the room and its immediate environs daily. There were no windows, and thus no risk of laser or microwave bounces that could read the vibrations from human voices. Then there was an elaborate system of fall backs a spectral correlator was used at all times to detect surveillance using a spectrum analyzer, and an acoustic correlator used passive sound-pattern matching to automatically detect and classify any listening device. Finally, an acoustic noise generator was constantly on, generating an audio blanket of pink noise designed to defeat wired microphones inside walls, contact microphones, and any audio transmitters located in electrical outlets. Lanchester's insistence that they meet within the extraordinarily secure walls of the bubble was testimony to the seriousness with which he regarded Bryson's urgently imparted information.

Lanchester looked up, visibly shaken.

"What you're telling me is preposterous, the sheerest madness, yet somehow it has the ring of truth. I say that because bits and pieces of what you say precisely confirm what little I know."

"But you must know about the existence of the Directorate. You're chairman of PFIAB; I'd have thought you'd know all about it."

Lanchester removed his rimless spectacles, polished them thoughtfully with a handkerchief.

"The existence of the Directorate is one of the most closely held secrets in the government.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.