Perilous Panacea Read Online Free PDF

plan involved getting men hired as drivers and guards for NNSA’s Transportation Division. Again, Hearn’s computer skills greased the skids, as he was able to devise appropriate backgrounds for each man to ensure they got the jobs. As part of the redesign of the Transportation Division, Hearn made sure he was on the hiring committee. In essence, he was the committee—he and the Department of Human Resources computer.
    Lormes—undoubtedly not his real name—was a burly, craggy-faced man in his late fifties, always in an expensive suit and tie. He spoke with a strong Russian accent. Meetings generally began with Lormes objecting to various aspects of Hearn’s plans and then listening to Hearn convince him it was the best way to proceed.
    Four months after Deby became Applenu, Hearn decided they should celebrate the successful completion of phase one of the project—bomb design, acquisition of manufacturing facilities, and planning for the hijacking. They sat across from each other at Morton’s Steakhouse in Arlington, Hearn cutting a slice of “double-cut” filet mignon, Applenu chewing a mouthful of porterhouse. Between bites, Hearn quietly brought him up to date and then surprised him. “Lormes has everything in place for the heist of the century. You’ll be manufacturing bombs in less than a month.”
    As they finished their meal, a young black man stopped at the table and spoke to Austin. “Steve, did you get hit yesterday? We were down all day.”
    “We weren’t affected,” Austin said. “We’ve worked hard on upgrading security.”
    “Maybe I’ll come over to your place and get a rundown on your procedures.”
    “Sure,” Austin said. “Call me next week.”
    After the man left, Austin turned to Applenu. “He’s head of computer security—system administrator—for all mainframe computers on Capitol Hill. I keep in touch with him and other system administrators around town. Did you hear about the cyber attack, as the media termed it? Computers crashed all over Washington.” He chuckled. “Ours didn’t. I had a call this afternoon from the system administrator over at FBI headquarters. He thanked me for the help I gave him on security programs for his system. It didn’t crash either. But then that was the plan.”
    “You were responsible for the cyber attack?”
    He laughed. “I made the plan, and Sherbani provided funds to subcontract the job to some people I know, some very smart people. Between us we figured out how to shut systems down all over the world. Last week we confined ourselves to Washington.”
    “Hackers? What’s this got to do with stealing the material?”
    “Only everything.” Another laugh. “It all goes down next week.”
    - - - - -
    Five days after the celebration, Applenu was at the bomb factory when he got a text message from Hearn telling him to check CNN shortly after 7:00 pm. He turned on the TV a few minutes before seven. At seven, “The Blitzer Report” began with a gray-bearded chap interviewing a senator about an energy bill being debated in the Senate. Three minutes later, Blitzer was interrupted by a graphic announcing breaking news, and a blonde bit of fluff, eyes wide, appeared on screen, speaking in an excited tone.
    “We’ve just been informed there’s been a massive internet interruption that is affecting computers and communications over a wide area of the United States. The first indication something was wrong appeared about ten minutes ago.” She paused, evidently listening to someone talking in her earphone. She resumed, “I’ve just been informed that some of CNN’s computers in our Washington, New York, and Atlanta studios have been affected, and…”
    Fascinated, Applenu watched for the next hour as Blitzer spoke with reporters in Washington, New York, and Atlanta about what was happening at their locations.
    The Washington reporter: “We just learned that communications in Europe are also affected. As I said earlier, we are having