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Back Below the Belt Save as PDF
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. BOOKS BY STUART WOODS
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
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  22. 18
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  25. 21
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  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
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  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. 49
  54. 50
  55. 51
  56. 52
  57. 53
  58. 54
  59. 55
  60. 56
  61. 57
  62. 58
  63. 59
  64. 60
  65. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  66. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  67. What’s next onyour reading list?

Then Ed Rawls said, “I think what Lance wants is to separate my head from the rest of my body.”

With that, Ed got up and walked out of the room. “You two have lunch,” he said over his shoulder. “I’ll order in.”

29

STONE AND LANCE RODE UPTOWN in one of the Agency’s omnipresent black SUVs, with inch-thick windows and Kevlar body lining, and neither had anything to say to the other on the way.

The vehicle pulled into the underground garage at a large town house in the East Sixties, and only when the heavy door had closed behind them did the attendants open the car’s doors for them.

Shortly, they were seated in the spacious dining room, which used much of the available space to separate the tables, allowing the members to converse in normal tones without being overheard by their fellows.

“Did you know,” Lance said, flapping out his huge linen napkin and arranging it in his lap, “that this room is equipped with a kind of electronic noise canceling that makes it impossible to know what is being said at neighboring tables?”

“I did not,” Stone replied, wrestling to tame his own napkin.

“And that is why I may speak frankly to you in the midst of our peers, if such exist.”

Stone laughed and ordered the gazpacho and the lobster salad.

“The same,” Lance said to the waiter. “And a bottle of the Meursault.” Then, when the man had retreated from their own little cone of silence, Lance began. “I saw a documentary film this morning that explains the malicious Stuxnet computer virus, of which you have no doubt heard.”

“I’ve read about it in the Times.”

“It is called Zero Days,” Lance said. “I recommend the film, so that I won’t have to explain it to you when next we meet. Suffice it to say that, after a thoroughgoing explanation of what it is and the almost unimaginable damage it could do to our moderately civilized world, if deployed in a cyberwar, it goes on to explain how very secret it has been kept by almost everyone who has any idea of its existence, because all of those people are so terrified by it.”

“Sounds like sci-fi,” Stone observed.

“It is sci-fi become hellishly real.”

“Why are you telling me about this? Does it have something to do with what is in Ed’s manuscript?”

“I am giving you an example of what the unintended consequences might be of making Ed’s personal knowledge and experience known. I have already told you how it could remove a person I consider to be an excellent President from public life, and preventing her brilliant mind from having any further effect on our history. What I’m telling you now is that there are almost certainly other things in that strong case you’re sitting on that could do untold damage to our government and, hence, to our lives.”