Chapter 24 Chapter Twenty-Four

"It's Sachs." There was the roar of a car engine outside the window, and then it fell silent again. Rhyme was talking to Tucker McDaniel and Ron Sellitto, who arrived not long ago, at exactly the same time, probably when Doctor Death was kicked out. Sachs would throw the "NYPD Official" stop sign over the dashboard and walk straight to the mansion.And indeed, after a while, the door opened, and there was the sound of her footsteps, for she had long legs, and her steps were wide, and because of the urgency of the matter, her steps were heavy on the floor. Sachs nodded to those present and took another second to examine Rhyme.Rhyme noticed the look on her face: warm and calm, the way people who are in a relationship with a severely handicapped person tend to look.She studied quadriplegia more attentively than Rhyme, and she was able to handle the errands that Rhyme's day-to-day "routine" entailed, occasionally doing it herself.Rhyme was embarrassed by this at first, but was left speechless when Sacks pointed out with humor (and perhaps a little flirtatiousness), "How is this any different from any other old couple, Rhyme?" Word. "That makes sense" was his only response.

That doesn't mean Sack's doting is any different than anyone else's, which, at times, makes Rhyme miserable.Rhyme glanced at Sachs again, then turned to the evidence chart. Sachs looked around, "Where's the trophy?" "As for the matter, there has been some misunderstanding." "What do you mean?" Rhyme explains Dr. Kopeski's bait and turn to Sachs. "No way!" Rhyme nodded. "No more trophies for paperweights." "You kicked him out?" "Tom did it. He did a great job. But I don't want to talk about it right now. We have work to do." He looked at Sachs' shoulder bag. "So what did we get?"

Sachs pulled out several files and said, "Got a list of people who had access to the password codes on Algonquin's computers. And their resumes and employee files." "Have you found a disgruntled employee? A mentally ill employee?" "not found." She gave more details of her meeting with Andy Jason: the records did not include any employees working in the steam pipe gallery in the area near the Fifty-seventh Street substation.There is no apparent terrorist threat, but someone is investigating the possibility. "I was talking to someone from the Algonquin Special Projects Department. That department basically does research on alternative energy sources. The man in charge is a nice guy called Charlie Somers. He described for me the kind of thing that could have an arc flashover mechanism. People. Senior electricians, military electricians, utility linemen or troubleshooters—”

"Troubleshooter, that's an apt description of your job," Sellitto commented. “The person who is actually troubleshooting is basically a foreman. You need to have hands-on experience to trigger those arc flashovers. Finding information on the Internet is not enough.” Rhyme nodded at the whiteboard, and Sachs wrote her summary."As far as hacking into computers, you need to have formal training, or a period of hands-on training. That's also highly technical," she added, explaining the SCADA and EMP programs that unknown suspects must be good at. She then recorded these details on a chart.

Sellitto asked, "How many people are on the list?" "More than forty." "Ouch!" McDaniel grumbled. Rhyme speculated that one of the names on the list might be the perpetrator, and perhaps Sachs or Sellitto could narrow the list down to a more reasonable number.But what he wants most right now is physical evidence.At present, physical evidence is very scarce, at least useful physical evidence is very rare. Almost twelve hours had passed since the attack, and they had made no progress, neither the man who had been at the café nor the other suspects. The lack of clues was discouraging, but even more troubling was a line on the unknown suspect's profiling form: Probably the same person stole seventy-five feet of Bennington cable and twelve split bolts.Premeditated for more attacks?

Is the murderer setting up some kind of mechanism at this moment?There was no warning of the bus attack.Perhaps this is his criminal modus operandi.The news network could report a story at any time that probably dozens of people died in the second arc flash explosion accident. Mel Cooper copied the list, and they divided the list into sections.Sacks, Pulaski, and Sellitto were in charge of one half, and McDaniel was in charge of the rest, followed by his federal agents.Sachs then went through the personnel files he had obtained at Algonquin, kept the files of those they selected, and gave the rest to McDaniel.

"Do you trust him, Somers?" asked Rhyme. "Trust. He's been investigated, no problem. Plus he gave me this." Sachs pulled out a small black electronic device and pointed to a wire next to Rhyme.She pressed the button and glanced at the display, "Well, two hundred and forty volts." "And me, Sachs? Am I fully charged?" Sachs laughed, pointed the instrument playfully at Rhyme, and then raised an eyebrow at him, which Rhyme thought was seductive.Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at the display before answering the call.After a brief conversation, she ended the call, "It's Bob Cavano, the vice president of operations. There is no evidence that an eco-terrorist group is threatening Algonquin, and there is no sign of an attack on their power plant. However, there was a report of an outsider breaking into one of Algonquin's main substations in Philadelphia. A white male in his forties entered the substation. No one knew who he was or what he was doing in the substation. There was no surveillance tape, The man left before police arrived. It happened last week."

Race, gender, age... "That's our perpetrator. But what exactly is he trying to do?" "There have been no other reports of intrusions into Algonquin corporate facilities." Were the perpetrators tasked with obtaining information about security measures within the grid and substations?Rhyme could only speculate, and put the matter aside for the time being. McDaniel answered the phone.He stared blankly at the physical evidence chart on the whiteboard, then hung up. "Technical communications team has another communication about the 'For Justice' terrorist group."

"What?" Rhyme asked eagerly. "No big news. But one interesting one: They're using some code words that used to describe weapons of mass destruction. 'Paper and supplies,' our algorithm isolated that." He also explained that underground sleeper groups often do this.France recently managed to thwart an attack when communications between known dangerous elements were picked up including "gateau", "farine" and "beurre".These three French words mean "cake", "flour" and "butter".In reality, they refer to the bomb and its components: dynamite and detonator.

"The Mossad reported that an organization's sleeper cell sometimes used 'office supplies' or 'party supplies' to represent missiles or high explosives. Now, we believe there are two other people involved in this matter besides Rahman. A male, a Women, this is what the computer is telling us." Rhyme asked, "Did you tell Fred?" "Good idea." McDaniel pulled out his BlackBerry and called through the speakerphone. "Fred, this is Tucker. This is the Rhyme family. Have you got any information?" "My informants are looking. Following up a few leads."

"Tracking? Is there no more specific news than this?" After a short pause, Delary said: "I have no other information. I haven't got it yet." "The technical communications team found something." He told the agents the code word and the possible involvement of a man and a woman. Dellray said he would report the situation to his contacts. McDaniel asked: "So he's willing to do things for what's in his budget?" "That's right." "I knew he would. Fred, these guys will take advantage of you if you don't stand your ground. That's what informants do." "Sometimes," Delary said grimly. "Keep in touch." McDaniel hung up the phone and stretched himself. "This damn cloud area. We can't get as much information as we want." Get as much as you want? Sellitto tapped the stack of Algonquin company employee files, "I'm going to the city center and let my men start investigating these people. Brother, tonight is going to be a long night." It was already eleven ten in the evening point. Indeed, Rhyme thought.The same goes for him.Especially now that he has nothing to do but wait. Oh, he hated the waiting. His eyes flicked to the whiteboard that recorded the small amount of physical evidence information, and he thought to himself: Our progress is so fucking slow. And what we're after is a perpetrator who strikes at the speed of light. unknown suspect profile --male —Aged in the forties —probably Caucasian - probably wearing glasses and a hat - may have short blond hair -Dark blue coveralls, similar to the overalls worn by workers at the Algonquin Company - Familiar with electrical systems - Boot prints show no medical condition affecting his posture or gait -- probably the same guy who stole 75 feet of Bennington cable and 12 split bolts.Premeditated for more attacks?Burglars used key to gain access to Algonquin company warehouse — Possibly an employee of, or associated with, an Algonquin employee — Terrorist contact?Relationship to Justice For (Unknown)?Terrorist group?Was someone named Raman involved?Encrypted messages mentioning funding distributions, personnel changes, and some "big event" - "Letters" system discovery: code words alluding to weapons, "paper and supplies" (guns, explosives?) - Perpetrators included both men and women - The perpetrator has studied SCADA (Supervision and Data Acquisition Program) and EMP (Energy Management Program).And Algonquin's Entor program.Both are Unix based systems - To create an arc flashover, probably worked or is currently a lineman, troubleshooter, licensed technician, generator builder, senior electrician, military, sixteen hours until Earth Day