D.C. Dead (Stone Barrington 22)

The phone rang and Stone went to the desk to answer it. “Hello?”

“Mr. Barrington?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Charlotte Kirby.”

“Yes?”

“I thought of something else.”

“Yes?”

“Brix had another nickname for the March Hare. He used it only once.”

“Yes?”

“He called her ‘RoboCop.’ I’m afraid that’s all I have for you.”

“Thank you very much,” Stone said. He hung up and returned to the table.

“Who was that?” Dino asked.

“It was Joan,” he said.

“Your secretary Joan?” Holly asked.

“Right. Another brandy anyone?” Nobody wanted another. They repaired to their respective bedrooms.

39

TODD BACON WAS AT A TECHNICAL SERVICES MEETING AT THE Agency, where a schematic of a new cell phone was being displayed on a large screen as the designers presented it.

“Our phone,” the designer said, “operates perfectly as an Apple iPhone Five, except that it will also broadcast a message that has been composed on the phone’s keyboard, then automatically compress, encrypt, and transmit on a high radio frequency of our choosing. And, as you can see, the phone is indistinguishable from the Apple phone.”

Todd’s phone began to vibrate on his belt, but he ignored it. “That’s obvious,” he said, “but what about if you open the phone and expose the works? Is it indistinguishable then?”

“It is,” the man replied, “except that the battery is marginally smaller. We’ve added three new chips to the phone, but each looks exactly like the ones they replaced, even to the serial numbers.”

“And if you crack the parts?”

“All you’d see is circuits which, visually, are identical. What’s different is what the circuits are used for, and the software contained therein.”

Todd’s phone vibrated again. “So if an enemy tech is really good, is he going to be able to tell the difference between your phone and the original?”

“If he’s really, really good, he’ll notice some differences, but he’ll just think that Apple has made some changes, and if he cracks one of the three parts, the software will automatically be dumped.”

“So,” Todd said, “he’ll find an Apple phone with no software?”

“That’s better than leaving our software available for him to play with, isn’t it?”

“Yes, of course it is,” Todd said. “That will protecbt your software, but it’s not going to protect my operative. They’ll know immediately that he’s got a very sophisticated communications device that does not work like an Apple phone.”

“Well,” the man said, sounding exasperated, “what do you suggest?”

“What do I suggest?” Todd asked. “I’m not the designer here.”

The man gazed at the blowup of his design. “I suppose we could load the Apple software and our software on the same chip, and have only ours dumped.”