Digital Fortress

by Dan Brown

“I have no allegiance to Mr. Tankado. Mr. Tankado was foolish to trust me. The pass-key is worth hundreds of times what he is paying me to handle it for him.”

“You will receive both pass-keys,” the voice said. “Mr. Tankado’s and mine.”

“If Tankado were no longer a factor?” Numataka considered it. “Then you and I would have a deal.”

The skin on Tankado’s left hand showed traces of sunburn, everywhere except a narrow band of flesh around the smallest finger.

You can’t jump for the stars if your feet hurt,

The man calling himself North Dakota had an anonymous account, but Susan knew it would not remain anonymous for long. The tracer would pass through ARA, get forwarded to North Dakota, and then send information back containing the man’s real Internet address.