trathmore fingered the Berretta in his lap. Even with the rageboiling in his blood, he was programmed to think clearly. The factthat Greg Hale had dared lay a finger on Susan Fletcher sickenedhim, but the fact that it was his own fault made him even sicker;Susan going into Node 3 had been his idea. Strathmore knew enoughto compartmentalize his emotion—it could in no way affect hishandling of Digital Fortress. He was the deputy director of theNational Security Agency. And today his job was more critical thanit had ever been.

Strathmore slowed his breathing. "Susan." His voicewas efficient and unclouded. "Did you delete Hale'sE-mail?"

"No," she said, confused.

"Do you have the pass-key?"

She shook her head.

Strathmore frowned, chewing his lip. His mind was racing. He hada dilemma. He could easily enter his elevator password, and Susanwould be gone. But he needed her there. He needed her help to findHale's pass-key. Strathmore hadn't told her yet, butfinding that pass-key was far more than a matter of academicinterest—it was an absolute necessity. Strathmore suspected hecould run Susan's nonconformity search and find the pass-keyhimself, but he'd already encountered problems running hertracer. He was not about to risk it again.

"Susan." He sighed resolutely. "I'd like youto help me find Hale's pass-key."

"What!" Susan stood up, her eyes wild.

Strathmore fought off the urge to stand along with her. He knewa lot about negotiating—the position of power was alwaysseated. He hoped she would follow suit. She did not.

"Susan, sit down."

She ignored him.

"Sit down." It was an order.

Susan remained standing. "Commander, if you've stillgot some burning desire to check out Tankado's algorithm, youcan do it alone. I want out."

Strathmore hung his head and took a deep breath. It was clearshe would need an explanation. She deserves one, he thought.Strathmore made his decision—Susan Fletcher would hear it all.He prayed he wasn't making a mistake.

"Susan," he began, "it wasn't supposed tocome to this." He ran his hand across his scalp. "Thereare some things I haven't told you. Sometimes a man in myposition…" The commander wavered as if making a painfulconfession. "Sometimes a man in my position is forced to lieto the people he loves. Today was one of those days." He eyedher sadly. "What I'm about to tell you, I never plannedto have to say… to you… or to anyone."

Susan felt a chill. The commander had a deadly serious look onhis face. There was obviously some aspect of his agenda to whichshe was not privy. Susan sat down.

There was a long pause as Strathmore stared at the ceiling,gathering his thoughts. "Susan," he finally said, hisvoice frail. "I have no family." He returned his gaze toher. "I have no marriage to speak of. My life has been my lovefor this country. My life has been my work here at theNSA."

Susan listened in silence.

"As you may have guessed," he continued, "Iplanned to retire soon. But I wanted to retire with pride. I wantedto retire knowing that I'd truly made a difference."

"But you have made a difference," Susan heardherself say. "You built TRANSLTR."

Strathmore didn't seem to hear. "Over the past fewyears, our work here at the NSA has gotten harder and harder.We've faced enemies I never imagined would challenge us.I'm talking about our own citizens. The lawyers, the civilrights fanatics, the EFF—they've all played a part, butit's more than that. It's the people. They'velost faith. They've become paranoid. They suddenly see us as the enemy. People like you and me, people who truly havethe nation's best interests at heart, we find ourselves havingto fight for our right to serve our country. We're no longerpeacekeepers. We're eavesdroppers, peeping Toms, violators ofpeople's rights." Strathmore heaved a sigh."Unfortunately, there are naive people in the world, peoplewho can't imagine the horrors they'd face if wedidn't intervene. I truly believe it's up to us to savethem from their own ignorance."

Susan waited for his point.

The commander stared wearily at the floor and then looked up."Susan, hear me out," he said, smiling tenderly at her."You'll want to stop me, but hear me out. I've beendecrypting Tankado's E-mail for about two months now. As youcan imagine, I was shocked when I first read his messages to NorthDakota about an unbreakable algorithm called Digital Fortress. Ididn't believe it was possible. But every time I intercepted anew message, Tankado sounded more and more convincing. When I readthat he'd used mutation strings to write a rotating key-code,I realized he was light-years ahead of us; it was an approach noone here had never tried."

"Why would we?" Susan asked. "It barelymakes sense."

Strathmore stood up and started pacing, keeping one eye on thedoor. "A few weeks ago, when I heard about the DigitalFortress auction, I finally accepted the fact that Tankado wasserious. I knew if he sold his algorithm to a Japanese softwarecompany, we were sunk, so I tried to think of any way I could stophim. I considered having him killed, but with all the publicitysurrounding the algorithm and all his recent claims about TRANSLTR,we would be prime suspects. That's when it dawned on me."He turned to Susan. "I realized that Digital Fortress shouldnot be stopped."

Susan stared at him, apparently lost.

Strathmore went on. "I suddenly saw Digital Fortress as theopportunity of a lifetime. It hit me that with a few changes,Digital Fortress could work for us instead of againstus."

Susan had never heard anything so absurd. Digital Fortress wasan unbreakable algorithm; it would destroy them.

"If," Strathmore continued, "if I could just makea small modification in the algorithm… before it was released…" He gave her a cunning glint of the eye.

It took only an instant.

Strathmore saw the amazement register in Susan's eyes. Heexcitedly explained his plan. "If I could get the pass-key, Icould unlock our copy of Digital Fortress and insert amodification."

"A back door," Susan said, forgetting the Commanderhad ever lied to her. She felt a surge of anticipation. "Justlike Skipjack."

Strathmore nodded. "Then we could replace Tankado'sgive-away file on the Internet with our altered version.Because Digital Fortress is a Japanese algorithm, no one will eversuspect the NSA had any part in it. All we have to do is make theswitch."

Susan realized the plan was beyond ingenious. It was pure…Strathmore. He planned to facilitate the release of an algorithmthe NSA could break!

"Full access," Strathmore said. "Digital Fortresswill become the encryption standard overnight."

"Overnight?" Susan said. "How do you figure that? Even if Digital Fortress becomes available everywhere forfree, most computer users will stick with their old algorithms forconvenience. Why would they switch to Digital Fortress?"

Strathmore smiled. "Simple. We have a security leak. Thewhole world finds out about TRANSLTR."

Susan's jaw dropped.

"Quite simply, Susan, we let the truth hit the street. Wetell the world that the NSA has a computer that can break everyalgorithm except Digital Fortress."

Susan was amazed. "So everyone jumps ship to DigitalFortress… not knowing we can break it!"

Strathmore nodded. "Exactly." There was a longsilence. "I'm sorry I lied to you. Trying to rewriteDigital Fortress is a pretty big play, I didn't want youinvolved."

"I… understand," she replied slowly, stillreeling from the brilliance of it all. "You're not a badliar."

Strathmore chuckled. "Years of practice. Lying was the onlyway to keep you out of the loop."

Susan nodded. "And how big a loop is it?"

"You're looking at it."

Susan smiled for the first time in an hour. "I was afraidyou'd say that."

He shrugged. "Once Digital Fortress is in place, I'llbrief the director."

Susan was impressed. Strathmore's plan was a globalintelligence coup the magnitude of which had never before beenimagined. And he'd attempted it single-handedly. It lookedlike he might pull it off too. The pass-key was downstairs. Tankadowas dead. Tankado's partner had been located.

Susan paused.

Tankado is dead. That seemed very convenient. She thoughtof all the lies that Strathmore had told her and felt a suddenchill. She looked uneasily at the commander. "Did you killEnsei Tankado?"

Strathmore looked surprised. He shook his head. "Of coursenot. There was no need to kill Tankado. In fact, I'd prefer hewere alive. His death could cast suspicion on Digital Fortress. Iwanted this switch to go as smoothly and inconspicuously aspossible. The original plan was to make the switch and let Tankadosell his key."

Susan had to admit it made sense. Tankado would have no reasonto suspect the algorithm on the Internet was not the original.Nobody had access to it except himself and North Dakota. UnlessTankado went back and studied the programming after it wasreleased, he'd never know about the back door. He'dslaved over Digital Fortress for long enough that he'dprobably never want to see the programming again.

Susan let it all soak in. She suddenly understood thecommander's need for privacy in Crypto. The task at hand wastime-consuming and delicate—writing a concealed back door in acomplex algorithm and making an undetected Internet switch.Concealment was of paramount importance. The simple suggestion thatDigital Fortress was tainted could ruin the commander'splan.

Only now did she fully grasp why he had decided to let TRANSLTRkeep running. If Digital Fortress is going to be the NSA'snew baby, Strathmore wanted to be sure it was unbreakable!

"Still want out?" he asked.

Susan looked up. Somehow sitting there in the dark with thegreat Trevor Strathmore, her fears were swept away. RewritingDigital Fortress was a chance to make history—a chance to doincredible good—and Strathmore could use her help. Susanforced a reluctant smile. "What's our nextmove?"

Strathmore beamed. He reached over and put a hand on hershoulder. "Thanks." He smiled and then got down tobusiness. "We'll go downstairs together." He held uphis Berretta. "You'll search Hale's terminal.I'll cover you."

Susan bristled at the thought of going downstairs."Can't we wait for David to call with Tankado'scopy?"

Strathmore shook his head. "The sooner we make the switch,the better. We have no guarantees that David will even find theother copy. If by some fluke the ring falls into the wrong handsover there, I'd prefer we'd already made the algorithmswitch. That way, whoever ends up with the key will download our version of the algorithm." Strathmore fingered his gunand stood. "We need to go for Hale's key."

Susan fell silent. The commander had a point. They neededHale's pass-key. And they needed it now.

When Susan stood, her legs were jittery. She wished she'dhit Hale harder. She eyed Strathmore's weapon and suddenlyfelt queasy. "You'd actually shoot Greg Hale?"

"No." Strathmore frowned, striding to the door."But let's hope he doesn't knowthat."