81
“I’M VERY GLAD THAT YOU lived, Ms. Maxwell,” said Edgar with as much emotion as he was apt to show.
“I am too, Edgar, thanks. And you know you can call me Michelle.”
They were seated around the kitchen table at Edgar’s farmhouse.
“You figured this out before anyone,” said Sean. “And we told the president that. Don’t be surprised if you get a call.”
“I already did,” said Edgar. “He wanted me to come to the White House, but I told him I had to feed the chickens.”
Sean blanched. “Edgar, please tell me you did not tell the president of the United States that you couldn’t come to the White House because you had chickens to feed.”
“Actually, I didn’t.”
“Thank God for that.”
“I told his chief of staff, who I presume told the president.”
Sean wearily shook his head while Michelle bit her lip to keep from laughing.
“Chickens take a lot of time to care for properly, Sean,” explained Edgar. “It was just a question of timing. I’ll get by the White House at some point.”
Sean asked, “How did you track down what Grant had done?”
“It was more by chance than anything intentional. But your asking me to find Grant’s car by using the GPS chip in it made me think about things from that angle. Cars these days have a great deal of computer hardware and software to make them function the way people need them to. There’re approximately one hundred megabytes of binary code in high-end models that runs over fifty computer units. But this also allows hackers numerous points of entry. Telematics, Bluetooth, keyless entry, even tire sensors that utilize wireless connections. Or you can be hacked through your CD or DVD player. But most hackers will attack a vehicle through something called the On-Board Diagnostics port. It’s an access port where repair shops hook up their diagnostic computer to a car’s computer so they can talk to each other.”
“Sounds like a patient and his doctor,” said Sean. “Not a car.”
“We’ve apparently come a long way since the 1966 Mustang,” added Michelle. “I drove my brother’s hand-me-down in college. It had something called an eight-track player.”
Sean stared at her. “These are the moments where I realize how much older I am than you.”
She smiled sweetly. “You’re not in bad shape for a man of your advanced years.”
Sean turned to Edgar. “The FBI’s having their guys tear the Beast apart to see where the attack came from,” said Sean.
“It started with a commercial satellite that had once been leased to the government,” said Edgar. “They’re supposed to be scrubbed of any sensitive material once they’re no longer used by the government, but Grant apparently found some remnants. He used those remnants as a way to infiltrate the satellite that is devoted to the GPS navigation and control functions of the presidential limo. I’m betting that the FBI technicians will find malware placed on there that allowed Grant to remotely control all functions of the car.”
“I bet they will too,” said Michelle. “The car just started driving itself. The agent at the wheel could do nothing about it. It just happened. It changed course, accelerated, and into the water we went. And then the oxygen system didn’t work.”
“The malware I’m sure had a part in that,” noted Edgar.
Michelle said, “If they could hack the Beast, no car is safe.”
“Absolutely true,” said Edgar matter-of-factly. “It really does show the good and bad of technology. We rely on it at our peril.”
“We still haven’t determined who the leak was,” said Michelle. “Grant knew about Wingo’s classified mission in the Middle East. He had to get that from somewhere.”
“What about the president’s itinerary?” asked Edgar. “Grant knew precisely when he was going over the bridge.”
“It was public knowledge that the president was attending the event in Virginia that evening,” said Sean. “But he couldn’t have known when the motorcade was leaving the city. Although he could have had eyes on it.”
Michelle said, “But unless he had inside information he probably wouldn’t have known until that day about the event. It’s not like the schedule is heavily publicized. Or the route the motorcade would take. And he might have wanted several options to nail Cole and picked the best one.”
“Well, he might have gotten the president’s schedule from someone. But that someone probably would be different from the person who knew about the mission in Afghanistan.”
“My money is still on it being Dan Marshall,” said Michelle. “He’s Grant’s father-in-law. I’m not saying he knowingly did it. Grant had some access and he might have exploited that access. And if he’s good enough to hack the presidential satellite, then maybe he hacked Marshall’s computer at the Pentagon.”