Cipher (5 page)

Actually, Jonathan didn’t want to talk about that. He just
wanted to talk about her. He wanted to know everything about her he could
possibly find out. He was so intrigued by her. Her beauty. Her intellect. Everything
about her attracted him
;
everything about her sung to
his heart. “Two years ago, I lost my wife to cancer.”

“Oh. Oh my. I’m so… I’m… I’m
really sorry
.
That’s just terrible. How long were you… how long were the two of you?”

“It was hard,” he replied softly. “It was really hard. In
fact, it was the hardest thing I ever had to go through my entire life. I guess
you just don’t imagine how something like that could ever happen to you until
it does. It was as if she went from being completely fine, to crippled and
unable to care for herself within a three-month period. I lost her so fast. It
was almost as if, as soon as she found out bout it, she all but gave up. It was
as if she just threw in the towel and quit when the doctor gave us the bad
news. It was hard. You should have seen her. You should have seen the look on
her face when the doctor told us. It was as if she had seen a ghost; her own
ghost.”

Jennifer put her hand to her mouth. The news was heartbreaking.
She had never lost anyone close to her like that in her life. She wasn’t sure
what to say. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to respond. She looked into
his big brown eyes and admired his boyish good looks. “I’m so sorry… that
sounds… awful,” she added.

“It was awful. You couldn’t even imagine how bad something
like that could be until it happens to you. And seeing that cancer take hold
and suck the energy out of
someone
… you don’t realize
the power of it until you see it. It was awful. I can’t tell you just how awful
it was.”

She reached over and placed her hand on top of his. She
looked into his eyes. He had such big brown eyes; they were puppy-dog eyes.
And, she felt sorry for him. She utterly and truly felt sorrow deep down inside
for him. All she could do was look at him. She just continued to look at him
with sorrow in her eyes for him. “That makes me feel sick to my stomach.”

“You know? I’m sorry I’m bringing all of this sad stuff up.
We barely know each other and here I am pouring my heart out to you. I’m so
silly.”

“No. Please don’t say that,” she said. She threw him an
exaggerated frown and squeezed his hand.

“But really. What I really want to know more about
is
you. Tell me about you? Ever since I met you, I’ve just
wanted to know more about you. I know that sounds strange,” he said.

She smiled at him, and then turned her head towards the
ocean. She was distracted by something. It was as if something was bothering
her; something was eating away at her. Jonathan could see it in her eyes. There
was this emptiness and he related to that. He didn’t know exactly what it was.
He didn’t know exactly how to put his finger on it. Ever since he met her in
person, he could sense it.

“
Merhaba
,
hoşgeldiniz
,”
said a server who appeared before them. Jonathan smiled politely.

“
Merhaba
,” he said back.

“Ne
Içiyorsunuz
?” asked the
server.

Jonathan looked a little dumbfounded. The words were a
little beyond his comprehension of the Turkish language.

“What do you want to drink?” Jennifer asked with a wink.

“Oh, maybe a bottle of red wine? Do you like wine?” he asked
her.

“Yes,” she said. She turned her attention to the waiter and
did some ordering in Turkish. “I’ll order us some food too,” she told him. “They
usually bring out small plates here. Almost like a tapas style. You’ll love
it.”

“Great,” he said.

The wine and appetizers landed in front of them. The
assortment of cheese in small dishes, along with a variety of meats, and small
fried appetizers, looked delicious to him. Then came the fish. He ogled the
plate in front of him like a man who had just suffered through the perils of a
long and arduous famine.

“Wow,” Jonathan said.

“I just ordered some small starter plates, then a few main
course plates. Everything is delicious,” she added, dishing out some of the
food onto her own plate.
 

“It looks that way.” Jonathan virtually shoveled food into
his mouth. He certainly looked famished. He tried to eat slowly but he never
could. He always had a hard time savoring things like food. He seemed to rush
through life at such a breakneck pace. He knew he needed to slow down. He knew
that. But he never seemed to be able to do it. “This food… it’s… it’s
incredible. I’m sorry I’m eating like a pig.”

“No, it’s quite alright,” she said. “Please don’t apologize.
I’m glad that you’re enjoying it.”

“Yes, definitely. Thank you for bringing me here. I guess
there’s nothing like having a local take you to their favorite restaurant in
town is there?”

“No there probably isn’t,” she said, smiling at him as she
placed another morsel of food into her mouth.
 

“So, did you grow up here? What’s you’re connection to
Turkey?”

“Well, don’t you know?” she asked. “I mean
,
you tracked me down and all. I figured you would have known everything about
me,” she added.

“Well… no… I mean… I don’t,” he said, stumbling for words.
 

“Yes. To answer your question, I am from here,” she said. “I
moved to the states to attend university and get my doctorate degree. I’ve
lived there for 15 years and only recently took a small sabbatical back home
here, to Istanbul. My mom is starting to get to that age where I really need to
spend more time with her. I’ve always wanted her to come out to the states, but
it’s too late for that now. Her English isn’t very good so, all my immediate
family is here.”

“How about your husband?” Jonathan asked. He looked for a
ring but couldn’t find one so he knew she wasn’t married, but he was curious
about her past.

“I’m not currently married except to my work. It’s hard to
find the time to balance a relationship with my work schedule. It’s always so
taxing to be able to keep a social life, let alone have a husband in my line of
work.” She seemed distant as she said the
words,
as if
there was something she wasn’t telling him. He didn’t feel like she was lying
to him, but just that she was maybe leaving some things out.

“I don’t understand. How could someone as beautiful as you
have never been married before? That’s hard to believe.”

“Well, I didn’t say that I was never married, just that I’m
not married right now. I was married… yes… I was and I would rather not talk
about it,” she said as she scooped another morsel of food into her mouth.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you… I mean… I
understand that you don’t want to talk about it,” he said.

“No, that’s okay. Don’t apologize. I didn’t mean to come
across rude. I guess there’s just certain things that… I would rather not think
about right now,” she said.

“I understand. I guess I still can’t believe that you’re not
in a relationship or something. I’m sorry I’m probably just stumbling on my own
words. I feel silly.” Jonathan eyed a piece of fish on his plate, and placed it
in his mouth. It melted like butter and he had to close his eyes to finish
savoring it.

“No. It’s okay. But,
believe it or not
,
balancing a relationship with my kind of work is hard. People don’t seem to be
able to understand the passion that I have for my work. I’ve been called
everything from selfish, self-entitled, mean, and everything in between. It’s
really not
worth it for me. Relationships really haven’t
been worth my while. I guess if I had met ‘Mr. Right,” so-to-speak, maybe…
maybe things would have been different.”

Jonathan had a hard time believing that the stunning beauty
sitting before him wasn’t married or in a relationship. He realized there was
probably a lot there that he just wasn’t seeing because he was too blinded by
her beauty. He knew that it could get him into hot water, but he continued to
stare at her like a teenager with a crush. She could tell he was into her. She
could tell how much he was attracted to her, but she was used to that. She was
used to the unwanted advanced of men all her life.

“Tell me more about your work? I’m fascinated by it. Seeing
you there, teaching, at the university, was inspiring. I’ve never met someone
like you before. I guess that’s what it is,” he said. He raised his glass to
meet hers and stared straight into her pale blue eyes.
“Cheers,”
he added.

“Cheers,” she said.
“About my work?
I guess you already know a lot about it. I’m very much into applied mathematics
and advanced algorithms. I spent a couple of years in the lab in Virginia
working day and night, and I guess I got burnt out, which is why I came back here.”

“What exactly were you doing there?”

“I was working on a project, which I told you about, but it
got out of hand. Everything got out of hand. The pressure was unbearable, but
the pay was terrific. I was always married to my job, but this was extreme even
for my own standards. I was working day and night, and would only go home to
literally sleep. I woke back up the next day and did it all over again. It was
a never-ending cycle. I felt trapped. I’m so happy that’s over with for now.
Right now, all I want to do is just relax, spend time with family, and catch my
breath.”

It was the exact opposite of how Jonathan had been living
his life. He almost felt guilty for living in such utter disregard for others
and himself. He hadn’t worked hard at all; he was just on a downward spiral
that seemed to have no end in sight.

“How about you?” she asked.

“Me?”

“Yeah, what’s you’re deal? Why are you
really
here
? I know you didn’t come all the way over here just to track me down
just so that you could get to know me better.”

“Well… I’m looking for something?”

“Oh,” she said, but she didn’t look surprised.

“I’m looking for something you helped to create,” he said.
He took a big swig of his wine and poured himself another glass.

“And what’s that?”

“The cipher drive. I’m looking for the cipher drive. Jen
you’re in danger and I need to find the cipher drive.”

“Well… I don’t have it.”

“Who does?”

“I don’t know. It was taken from the lab in Virginia. All I
know is that they told me it was stolen from there after my work had been
completed
;
after I had already left the country. I’m
not about to go back now. It’s their problem. I did my job. I did the work that
they forced me to do.”

“Forced? Stolen? By who?” Jonathan wondered
if it was the Italians who stole it
. But, if they had stolen
it, then someone must have stolen it from them. He hated being in the dark
about the information. He hated not knowing what really was going on. He
realized he should have prepared better for the meeting. He should have asked
more questions and done more research. He started feeling stupid and sorry for
himself.

“I don’t know who stole it. I have no idea,” she said. “All
I know is that whoever has that cipher drive, if they know just how to use it,
it could be catastrophic.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, Jon – that cipher drive has an
advanced-algorithm deciphering system that can crack the most advanced RSA
secure server technology through brute force in under 30 minutes. Do you know
what that means? Could you imagine what someone could do with that technology?”

“Isn’t that what hackers can already do today?”

“No. It doesn’t work that way. Hackers usually use
sophisticated measures of phishing to gain employee access credentials to
servers. Then, they get in and do their best to do the most amount of damage as
quickly as possible, but once it’s discovered, the game is usually over. This
is different. This is a method of hacking using brute force attacks on secure
servers. It doesn’t matter if the hacker has credentials. As long as they have
an IP address for the machine, they can force their way inside. Normally, this
is not that easy, especially when you’re dealing with the ultra-secure servers
that are load-balanced to withstand brute-force attacks. This goes after the
secure layer, and it’s effective. It’s very effective. With that cipher drive,
and the right person operating it, you can hack anything. Any database in the
world can be broken into. Think about it – financial intuitions,
government institutions, the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, any Fortune 500 company,
anything Jon.”

Jonathan sat back in his chair as she spoke to him. He tried
to understand the gravity of what she was saying. No wonder the Italians wanted
to pay him a million dollars for that thing. They could use it to swipe
billions upon billions of dollars if they knew what they were doing. And he was
sure that was their intention. But knowing that now, Jonathan was at a loss for
what to do. Should he help the mob get the cipher drive back or not?

“That’s crazy. So you helped to build a device to hack any
computer system in the world?”

“Well, I didn’t know that’s what the intent was at first.
The initial specs of the project, like I had told you before, were to find the
vulnerabilities in the RSA-key at the 1024-bit level. But, when I did that and
we moved onto the 2048-bit level, I guess I had an assumption that’s what the
intent was.”

“And you didn’t say something? You didn’t do anything to
stop it? Why, if you knew, did you continue to help them?” Jonathan was
searching her eyes for an answer to the question. Why would she have gone along
with a project that she knew was bad? What was her motivation in it all? It
wasn’t adding up.