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Back Point of Contact Save as PDF
Chapters (83)
  1. Cover
  2. ALSO BY TOM CLANCY
  3. PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
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  18. 15
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  20. 17
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  27. 24
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  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
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  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
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  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
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  55. 52
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  78. 75
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  82. 79
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

Singh zoomed out, clicked more icons, and the virtual camera lens zoomed back out so that the entire city could be seen again. The two men were just yellow and red dots. A moment later a red line and a yellow line sped away in different directions from the warehouse, snaking through the city streets. Both lines ultimately landed in two separate locations on either side of the city. It took less than a second for the Steady Stare software to accomplish the feat. Singh paused the program.

“Wow,” Jack said.

“I set a time limit of only two hours.”

“How far back can you go?”

Singh shrugged. “That depends completely on how much data you have stored. If a client keeps video records for a year, they could trace those two guys—or anybody else—for a year.”

“Storage is the key, isn’t it?” Jack said. “Depending on what you want to do with the data.”

“Storage is another profit center,” Lian interrupted. “Make sure you note that in your report.”

“I will.”

“Have you seen enough?” Lian asked.

Jack studied Singh’s face. Singh’s eyes locked with his. A silent invitation.

Jack shook his head at Lian. “I’m guessing there’s still more to all of this.”

“Maybe there is,” Lian said.

27

Paul and Bai grabbed two cups of steaming-hot tea and settled into their seats back in his small office. Bai was on Paul’s elbow, as usual, and intensely interested in Paul’s every keystroke. Paul spent the first thirty minutes doing another random survey of the various subledgers, especially accounts payable and accounts receivable.

He then turned his attention to the statement of financial position and pulled up the shareholders’ equity statements. After all, the overall purpose of this accounting exercise was to help assure both Dalfan and Marin Aerospace that the agreed-upon price for the stock purchase was a fair value for both parties. There were a few technical details and also terms in Mandarin script that Bai needed to clarify for him early on, but overall it was an uneventful exercise in due diligence as Paul plodded on, line after line, figure after figure.

Though initially attentive and alert, Bai’s focus began to wane. The young accountant began pecking away at his own laptop hardwired into Dalfan’s LAN. Paul couldn’t see Bai’s screen, but he could see the reflections of an intense video game playing on the lenses of the young man’s glasses.

What Bai couldn’t have suspected was that Paul was running a subroutine in his brain’s CPU while he was overtly working on his accounting assignment. Paul thought he might have found a way to override the encrypted electronic lock on the Dalfan computer he was using, but it would be a multistep process, and the first step in the process was wearing Bai down.

So far, so good.