Zero Option by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

“It’s Mr. Beringer, Senator. He insists on seeing you. He says it’s extremely urgent.”

Eric Stahl placed his book on the small table beside his leather armchair and took a sip from the wineglass in his hand.

Was it too much to ask? Just a few stolen moments of escape from the business of the day?

“Show him in.”

His butler withdrew and closed the door to the study. Stahl stood, stretched lazily and waited until there was a tap on the door.

“Come in.”

Lewis Beringer was in his early thirties, lean and with a slight stoop that had developed from years hunched over computer keyboards. Beringer worked on Stahl’s behalf within the Zero project as a computer programmer. In the past he had extracted a number of files and data that had given Stahl his background knowledge on the Zero project. He was a careful man, not given to showing much enthusiasm, even when he achieved something worthwhile. This day, however, he appeared excited. Only someone who knew him well would be able to recognize excitement in Lewis Beringer. Stahl was one of the few. The moment Beringer entered the study, Stahl realized the man was almost drooling. Stahl tried to imagine what would have the power to generate such a reaction in Beringer. For a moment he wondered if Beringer had suddenly discovered women and had lost his virginity. He dismissed the thought instantly. Beringer would go through life not even noticing the opposite sex. His passion, his obsession, was his computers. Nothing else mattered to the lonely individual who spent his free time doing exactly what he did during working hours.

“What can I do for you, Lewis? Make it brief because I have a great deal to do this evening.”

Beringer cleared his throat. He moved farther into the study, awkwardly peering around the room, as if he expected to see someone in the corner with a recorder and camera.

“You’re safe here, for God’s sake. This is my home, Lewis. I don’t believe it’s bugged.”

“Well, these days you can never be sure, Senator,” Beringer said. “Only the other da—”

He cut himself off when he recognized the impatient expression on Stahl’s face.

“Do you recall instructing me to maintain a round-the-clock check on all of Saul Kaplan’s stored data relating to the Zero project, Senator?”

“Yes. Cut to the chase, Lewis.”

“Two days ago I picked up a data stream buried in some of Kaplan’s files. They were ones I’d managed to rescue after the attack on the Zero facility. There was a program that had been installed during the creation of the Zero concept. It was intended to back up and store files if a major purge of the system occurred. It came into operation automatically when the facility was hit and the computer banks started to disintegrate. The files were badly corrupted, and I didn’t think I’d get much from them. But while I was digging, I came across this hidden file. It had been buried so deep in the data stream there didn’t appear to be any damage to it.

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.