Page 40 of Fox in Plain Sight

“I don’t think so. I was able to figure out that Sheppard used a second login at the CIA. The only thing is, I can’t find it.”

“I don’t get it.”

“It’s not easy to explain, but I’ve found digital fingerprints of somebody accessing certain files, but I can’t trace who. In the end it always loops back to Sheppard’s old login, and that’s been disabled long ago.”

“A ghost login,” Michelle said.

Nick whirled his head to her. “You know what I mean?”

She nodded eagerly. “I’ve heard of something like it.” She looked at Yankee. “I was a hacker. Anyway, I’ve heard of ghost logins being set up by members of Anonymous to mirror a real login. But when somebody comes across it and tries to trace it, it always leads back to the real login, the one the person was shadowing or mirroring. It’s impossible to trace or find. It’s not hackable.” She locked eyes with Nick. “Was that what you were looking for when you hacked into those servers?”

He nodded. “I was trying to get into the system administrator’s logs to search for the login.”

“If it’s a ghost login, that wouldn’t have helped you. It’s not in the logs.”

“Shit!” Nick shoved a hand through his hair and tossed a regretful look at his fellow Stargate agent. “Then I have no way of getting at Sheppard’s files either. Sorry. That’s a dead end.”

“You say it’s a login, right?” Yankee asked.

Nick nodded. “Yeah.”

“Before Echo died, he gave me a bracelet for safekeeping. Hidden inside it, I found two strings of names and numbers, all jumbled up. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but he said to find you, Fox, because you would know what to do with it.” Yankee reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet and removed a strip of paper from it. He handed it to Nick. “That’s it.”

Nick looked at it. Michelle reached for his hand and pulled the piece of paper closer to her face. Nick exchanged a look with her. “What do you think?”

“It’s got the right length. All logins have a minimum of ten digits. Same with the passwords.”

“Can we give it a try?” Yankee asked, sounding hopeful now.

“We sure can,” Nick said, bracing one hand on his thigh. “Only thing is, if this is the ghost login, then the only place it will work from is from inside CIA headquarters.” He’d known all along that once he found Sheppard’s second login, he would have to get into Langley to execute the rest of his plan behind the CIA’s firewalls.

“Are you telling us that we need to break into Langley?”

“I wouldn’t call it breaking in…”

Yankee tilted his head, giving him a doubtful look. “What would you call it then? A suicide mission?”

“It won’t be a suicide mission,” Nick assured him. “I have a way in. I’ve got Sheppard’s access card.”

Yankee’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Well, not his actual card, but all the data that I can imprint onto a blank card to get me into Langley.”

“That’s stupid,” Yankee interrupted. “And I’ll tell you why: the CIA would have deactivated Sheppard’s access after his death.”

Nick grinned. “Yeah, they would have, but they couldn’t, because miraculously, right after Sheppard’s murder, somebody moved his access credentials to a hidden archive.”

Yankee’s chin dropped. “You?”

“Yours truly. Without the system administrators knowing where the data was stored, they couldn’t deactivate it. Sheppard’s access card is still there. And only I know where the credentials are hidden. All I need to do is hack in, pull down the data, alter it, and transfer it to a new card. Simple as that.”

“When you say alter it, what exactly do you mean by that?” Yankee asked curiously.

Nick motioned to his face. “I’m gonna have to replace Sheppard’s photo on file with mine.”

Yankee scratched his neck. “And you’re sure you can hack into their servers?”

Nick looked at Michelle who sat next to him in stunned silence. “Considering the one person who would have been able to stop me is now on our side, I don’t see a problem.” He squeezed her hand. “Right?”

“Piece of cake,” Michelle confirmed and looked at the other Stargate agent. “Besides, I’ll give him a hand.”

“Well, then, I guess we only have to discuss what you’ll do once you’re inside Langley. What do you need me to do?” Yankee asked. “I’m afraid I’m not a computer expert, but I can have your back.” He put his hand on his gun, stroking it.

“I’m afraid your little friend there will have to stay home for this mission,” Nick said, grinning. “But you can do something else for me. You can be my eyes and ears while I’m inside.”

Nick exchanged a look with Michelle, who nodded instantly, understanding what he meant.

“I can tap into the infrared security system so we can watch any movements,” Michelle confirmed.

Nick nodded. “Let’s set it up.”