"Once they get around to it, they'll commandeer every hacker in the country and at least stop the viruses. Or some of them. I think that we need to elicit their trust, and I can do that by giving them more than they give me."
"Can you do that?"
"Just watch. If they play their cards right, they can be heroes."
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Chapter 29 Monday, January 25 The White House
We had a pretty good handle on parts of it," said Marvin Jacobs glibly.
Phil Musgrave, Martin Royce, Henry Kennedy and Quinton Chambers joined Marvin in one of the private White House conference rooms at 5 A.M. Jacobs had called all members of the inner circle, personally, early that morning. He had received word that last evening's computer conversations between Scott Mason and the Spook had been intercepted and the preliminary analysis was ready.
Scott Mason's computer screens had been read by the NSA's remote electromagnetic receivers while he prepared his article for the following day. The actual article had also been transmitted to the White House, prior to publication, as agreed.
"And Mason seems to be living up to his part of the bargain,"
Jacobs continued. "He only edits out the bullshit, pardon my
French. Gives the public their money's worth."
"You said we were close. How close?" Musgrave tended to run these meetings; it was one of the perks of being the President's Number One.