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“Vance,” Pennington replied. “Can I have someone get you something to drink? Coffee? Tea? Something stronger?”
“I’m fine,” Aidan assured him. “Although I am intrigued by the extent NanoUSA has gone to ensure its security. The grounds and the building are a veritable fortress.”
A hint of a smile touched Vance’s lips. “It’s the only way to ensure the level of secrecy we require.”
“Does that apply to the executives, as well? Do you also have to forfeit your cell phones at the door?”
“Absolutely.” Vance nodded. “The cell phones we use outside of this office complex are quarantined in a special facility. Phone calls and texts are forwarded to our red phones that are only used within this facility.” He held up his red phone for Aidan to see. “This way, we can stay in touch with the outside world, but because the devices are quarantined, any potential for hacking, spying, industrial espionage is eliminated.”
Aidan found himself fascinated. “How can you be so sure? There’s always the next virus or Trojan horse that someone manages to sneak by even the best of systems.”
“Very simple,” Vance replied. “We change the form of each type of communication and then change it back. Say, for example, that you receive a text message. Let’s assume that somehow, the text message had a nefarious payload along with it. The first step in the process would convert the text message into speech, preventing any payload from being delivered. In the second conversion step, the now audible words of the text message would be converted using a speech-to-text algorithm in a separate system. We do the same kind of conversion for phone calls, as well. The process is just reversed.”
A corner of Aidan’s mouth lifted. “Got it. It’s like having my Siri talk to your Siri.”
“Exactly. Photos and videos are handled in a similar but different fashion. Incoming images are displayed on a high-resolution LCD screen. In the second conversion, a high-resolution video camera aimed at the computer screen captures a still picture or video of the incoming visual information. In this way, the form of the picture remains the same, but the air gap isolation keeps any potential computer viruses from entering Nano. Soundtracks from videos are played through studio-quality speakers, where they’re picked up by the video camera during recording.”
“I’m impressed. And I don’t impress easily.” Aidan cleared his throat and got down to business. “We’re both busy men. I’ll get to the reason I’m here.”
“Please do.” Vance’s brows drew together and he sat back, inclining his head. “Your assistant at Heckman Flax said this meeting was of an urgent nature.”
“It is.” Aidan didn’t mince words. “But it has nothing to do with Heckman Flax.”
A start of surprise. “I don’t understand.”
“Let’s just say that I work independently of Heckman Flax, as well, with some very well-connected, one-of-a-kind professionals all over the world. Our job is to identify high-level crises and to stop them before they get out of hand.”
Pennington took a moment to digest all that. “Is Heckman Flax aware of this enormous additional job you have?”
“No. But now you are.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because you’re in the middle of a crisis that you’re completely unaware of. It involves the new manufacturing technology that NanoUSA is about to commercialize.”
Vance’s eyes narrowed. “And you want to hear all the details of the technology in order to fix my problem?”
“It’s not what I want that matters,” Aidan said. “It’s what others want—and what they’ll do to get it. We already have a significant amount of data. We need more.”
“What is it you think you know?”
Aidan relayed all the information John had debriefed him with.
With a dubious shake of his head, Vance rose. “None of that is news to us, Mr. Devereaux.” It didn’t go unnoticed by Aidan that Vance had reverted back to the formal address. “I’m surprised that you’d come all this way to ask something of me you know I can’t reveal. If you’re right and the Chinese are stepping up their game to try to obtain our technology, we’ll handle it on our own. Now, if there’s nothing else—”
“They’ve got your daughter.”
Vance froze. “Pardon me?”
“Lauren. She’s been kidnapped. The Chinese hired an Albanian crime group to take her—which they did four days ago. They’re going to offer you a trade—the technology for Lauren. And they’re going to kill her unless we act now to prevent it.”
Vance gripped the edge of his desk. “What proof do you have of this?”
Aidan went on to provide some of the intel Zermatt had gathered, including the unreported kidnapping outside Hofbräuhaus.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe this,” he added. “Have you noticed any change in Lauren’s behavior over the past couple of days?”
The expression on Vance’s face told Aidan he’d struck a nerve.
