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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
  17. 14
  18. 15
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  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
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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
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
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  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. 51
  55. 52
  56. 53
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  76. 73
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  78. 75
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  80. 77
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  82. 79
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

Paul spun around to face the computer. His scalded thighs screamed with pain, but he ignored it. He set the half-empty cup down with his left hand and shook it off, then jammed the doughnut into his mouth with his right as he checked his screen.

The USB message read INSUFFICIENT STORAGE CAPACITY.

“Thit,” Paul breathed through his doughnut. His fingers flew again. The USB drive only had one gig of storage. He heard Bai’s softly padding feet running toward the door.

“Thit!” Paul trashed the CIA file just as Bai yanked the door open, wads of paper towels from the men’s restroom balled up in his fists.

“Here, Mr. Brown!”

Paul turned around, the doughnut still in his mouth. He pulled it out. “Thanks.” He took a bite of doughnut and started blotting the hot tea from his trousers. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Bai cast a glance at his empty laptop screen.

“Anything else, Mr. Brown?”

“No, thanks. This should do the trick. Sorry for the trouble.”

“No trouble, Mr. Brown. More tea?”

“Eh, no, thanks. I think I’ve worn enough tea this morning.”

“Yeah, lah.”

Paul was glad he’d dodged a bullet, but his plan was shot to hell.

How in the heck am I going to get around Dalfan security now?

30

Jack arrived at the second floor with Lian on his hip and processed through the security desk, where they were met by Dr. Chen Tao. A smile creased her round, pleasant face as she extended her right hand to Jack; her other hand held a tablet. Jack noticed a bulge in one of her jacket pockets.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ryan. Please, follow me.”

The third floor was divided into three sections separated by security glass and passcodes like the floor below, but this place looked like a Hollywood production studio—which essentially it was.

After leaving the security station, Dr. Tao led them through the central section with video-editing bays in the offices and software programming stations on the floor.

Jack passed a workstation where three earnest programmers argued passionately over the densely packed lines of code on the screen. Jack felt the energy in the room all around him, full of creative and brilliant young minds attacking problems he could barely understand.

Dr. Tao pointed out graphic designers, artists, mathematicians, software developers, and even a few physicists as they walked by. She asked Jack, “What do you know about VR—virtual reality?”

“It’s the next big thing in video gaming.”

“Why do you suppose that is?”

“Obviously because it makes games seem more realistic.”

“And it does. The challenge all VR programmers face is this: Is there a way to make virtual reality so realistic that it’s no longer possible to discriminate between the virtual and the real?”

Dr. Tao slid her pass card into the reader for the glass door leading to the rear section of the floor.