utside Node 3, Chartrukian looked desperate. He was trying toconvince Hale that TRANSLTR was in trouble. Susan raced by themwith only one thought in mind—to find Strathmore.

The panicked Sys-Sec grabbed Susan's arm as she passed."Ms. Fletcher! We have a virus! I'm positive! You haveto—"

Susan shook herself free and glared ferociously. "I thoughtthe commander told you to go home."

"But the Run-Monitor! It's registeringeighteen—"

"Commander Strathmore told you to go home!"

"FUCK STRATHMORE!" Chartrukian screamed, the wordsresounding throughout the dome.

A deep voice boomed from above. "Mr. Chartrukian?"

The three Crypto employees froze.

High above them, Strathmore stood at the railing outside hisoffice.

For a moment, the only sound inside the dome was the uneven humof the generators below. Susan tried desperately to catchStrathmore's eye. Commander! Hale is North Dakota!

But Strathmore was fixated on the young Sys-Sec. He descendedthe stairs without so much as a blink, keeping his eyes trained onChartrukian the whole way down. He made his way across the Cryptofloor and stopped six inches in front of the trembling technician."What did you say?"

"Sir," Chartrukian choked, "TRANSLTR's introuble."

"Commander?" Susan interjected. "If Icould—"

Strathmore waved her off. His eyes never left the Sys-Sec.

Phil blurted, "We have an infected file, sir. I'm sureof it!"

Strathmore's complexion turned a deep red. "Mr.Chartrukian, we've been through this. There is no fileinfecting TRANSLTR!"

"Yes, there is!" he cried. "And if it makes itsway to the main databank—"

"Where the hell is this infected file?" Strathmorebellowed. "Show it to me!"

Chartrukian hesitated. "I can't."

"Of course you can't! It doesn't exist!"

Susan said, "Commander, I must—"

Again Strathmore silenced her with an angry wave.

Susan eyed Hale nervously. He seemed smug and detached. Itmakes perfect sense, she thought. Hale wouldn't beworried about a virus; he knows what's really going on insideTRANSLTR.

Chartrukian was insistent. "The infected file exists, sir. But Gauntlet never picked it up."

"If Gauntlet never picked it up," Strathmore fumed,"then how the hell do you know it exists?"

Chartrukian suddenly sounded more confident. "Mutationstrings, sir. I ran a full analysis, and the probe turned upmutation strings!"

Susan now understood why the Sys-Sec was so concerned. Mutation strings, she mused. She knew mutation strings wereprogramming sequences that corrupted data in extremely complexways. They were very common in computer viruses, particularlyviruses that altered large blocks of data. Of course, Susan alsoknew from Tankado's E-mail that the mutation stringsChartrukian had seen were harmless—simply part of DigitalFortress.

The Sys-Sec went on. "When I first saw the strings, sir, Ithought Gauntlet's filters had failed. But then I ran sometests and found out…" He paused, looking suddenly uneasy."I found out that somebody manually bypassedGauntlet."

The statement met with a sudden hush. Strathmore's faceturned an even deeper shade of crimson. There was no doubt whomChartrukian was accusing; Strathmore's terminal was the onlyone in Crypto with clearance to bypass Gauntlet's filters.

When Strathmore spoke, his voice was like ice. "Mr.Chartrukian, not that it is any concern of yours, but Ibypassed Gauntlet." He went on, his temper hovering near theboiling point. "As I told you earlier, I'm running a veryadvanced diagnostic. The mutation strings you see in TRANSLTR arepart of that diagnostic; they are there because I put themthere. Gauntlet refused to let me load the file, so I bypassed itsfilters." Strathmore's eyes narrowed sharply atChartrukian. "Now, will there be anything else before yougo?"

In a flash, it all clicked for Susan. When Strathmore haddownloaded the encrypted Digital Fortress algorithm from theInternet and tried to run it through TRANSLTR, the mutation stringshad tripped Gauntlet's filters. Desperate to know whetherDigital Fortress was breakable, Strathmore decided to bypass thefilters.

Normally, bypassing Gauntlet was unthinkable. In this situation,however, there was no danger in sending Digital Fortress directlyinto TRANSLTR; the commander knew exactly what the file was andwhere it came from.

"With all due respect, sir," Chartrukian pressed,"I've never heard of a diagnostic that employsmutation—"

"Commander," Susan interjected, not able to waitanother moment. "I really need to—"

This time her words were cut short by the sharp ring ofStrathmore's cellular phone. The commander snatched up thereceiver. "What is it!" he barked. Then he fell silentand listened to the caller.

Susan forgot about Hale for an instant. She prayed the callerwas David. Tell me he's okay, she thought. Tell mehe found the ring! But Strathmore caught her eye and he gaveher a frown. It was not David.

Susan felt her breath grow short. All she wanted to know wasthat the man she loved was safe. Strathmore, Susan knew, wasimpatient for other reasons; if David took much longer, thecommander would have to send backup—NSA field agents. It was agamble he had hoped to avoid.

"Commander?" Chartrukian urged. "I really thinkwe should check—"

"Hold on," Strathmore said, apologizing to his caller.He covered his mouthpiece and leveled a fiery stare at his youngSys-Sec. "Mr. Chartrukian," he growled, "thisdiscussion is over. You are to leave Crypto. Now.That's an order."

Chartrukian stood stunned. "But, sir, mutationstr—"

"NOW!" Strathmore bellowed.

Chartrukian stared a moment, speechless. Then he stormed offtoward the Sys-Sec lab.

Strathmore turned and eyed Hale with a puzzled look. Susanunderstood the commander's mystification. Hale had beenquiet—too quiet. Hale knew very well there was no such thingas a diagnostic that used mutation strings, much less one thatcould keep TRANSLTR busy eighteen hours. And yet Hale hadn'tsaid a word. He appeared indifferent to the entire commotion.Strathmore was obviously wondering why. Susan had theanswer.

"Commander," she said insistently, "if I couldjust speak—"

"In a minute," he interjected, still eyeing Halequizzically. "I need to take this call." With that,Strathmore turned on his heel and headed for his office.

Susan opened her mouth, but the words stalled on the tip of hertongue. Hale is North Dakota! She stood rigid, unable tobreathe. She felt Hale staring at her. Susan turned. Hale steppedaside and swung his arm graciously toward the Node 3 door."After you, Sue."