“I think I’ve heard of it. RSA or something?”

“Right. Now, the standard public key is typically a very large prime number hundreds of digits long that would take a hundred million PCs, working in parallel several thousand years, to figure out the two factors. However, while everyone knows the public key number, or at least your computer does, the only way to read what’s being sent is by unlocking the public key using the two private keys. Those keys are the two prime factors of the public key and only your computer software knows what they are. To use a simple example, the number fifty might be the public key and ten and five would be the private keys. If you know the numbers ten and five you can read the transmission.”

“Like the numbers that Viggie gave you?”

“Yes. With computers getting faster all the time and the practice of running hundreds of millions of computers in massive parallel assaults the encryption standards keep getting ratcheted upward. But, still, all you have to do is add a few more digits to the public key and the time required to break it goes up thousands, if not millions of years.”

“But your research might just throw a monkey wrench in all that.”

“The encryption community is betting on the fact that there is no shortcut to factoring because in 2,000 years of searching no one’s found one. And yet Viggie is able to do it from time to time. Can she do it for bigger numbers? If so, as I said, no electronic transmis-sion is safe and the world as we know it would be drastically different.”

“Back to typewriters, couriers and tin cans strung with wire?”

“It would shut down business and government; the poor consumer would have no idea how to function. And generals could no longer safely communicate with their armies. I doubt most people realize that as late as the Seventies, before public key cryptography was invented, private businesses and governments had to send thousands of couriers out constantly with new codebooks and passwords. No one wants to go back to those days.”

He said, “It’s incredible how our entire civilization is based on not being able to factor huge numbers quickly.”

“We made the bed, now we have to lie in it.”

“Obviously the public isn’t aware of any of this?”

“It would scare the public to death.”

“So do you think there’s a shortcut?”

“Viggie makes me think there might be one. But despite that, my biggest worry right now isn’t about numbers, it’s about Viggie. I can’t let anything happen to her.”

“You think someone knows Viggie might be the key to stopping the world in its tracks?”

“You said Len thought there were spies here. Her father knew about her ability and he’s dead. I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

Sean once more put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Nothing’s going to happen to her. The FBI and police are around; the place is crawling with guards.”

“That was true before Len was killed,” she pointed out.

“But now I’m on the case.”

“And how exactly do you propose to protect Viggie?”

“How many bedrooms do you have in your bungalow?”

“Four. Why?”

“One for Viggie, one for you and one for me and one left over.”

“You, moving in with me?”

“If I stay in the main house, there’s no way I could get to her in time in case something happened.”

“I’ll have to get Champ’s approval and talk to Viggie. I get off duty tomorrow around six in the evening. How about then?”

“Why don’t you just move into Viggie’s cottage?”

“There are too many reminders of Monk there for her. I thought taking her away from that would be best.”

“How will you explain it to Viggie?”

“I’ll think of something.”

Alicia walked off.

Sean stood staring after her when his cell phone buzzed. He looked at the number and groaned. It was Joan Dillinger. How was he going to explain taking on not one, but two new assignments? The answer was clear. He just wasn’t going to answer the damn phone.

He trudged back to his room and wondered how he was managing to dig the hole he was in ever deeper.

CHAPTER 31

WHEN HORATIO BARNES RETURNED to Linda Sue Buchanan’s house that evening her man, Daryl, didn’t look too happy about what his little lady was planning. He was a big, sloppy fellow, his greasy T-shirt stretched wide over both chest and belly. He held the baby in one beefy paw and a can of Michelob in the other.

Daryl bellowed, “You don’t even know this little dude, Lindy. He might be some damn sex rapist for all you know.”

“Well, if you think about it, most rapists are sex rapists,” Horatio said pleasantly. “In fact I’ve seen a few of them in prison.”

“See, what’d I tell you? Dude’s been in the joint,” Daryl declared.

“No, I consulted with several state prison systems to counsel inmates. But unlike my patients I could leave at the end of the day.”

Linda Sue checked her purse and pulled out her keys. “We’re going in separate cars, Daryl, and I got my Mace and this.” She held out a compact revolver.

Daryl looked relieved at the sight of the firearm. “Well if he tries anything you just shoot his ass.”

“That’s the plan,” Linda Sue said, matter-of-factly checking the ammo in her gun.

“Hold on a minute, folks,” Horatio said. “First, no one’s shooting anybody. And by the way do you have a permit for that thing?”

Daryl snorted. “Hell this is Tennessee, man, ain’t need no permit to carry a gun in good old Tennessee.”

“You might want to check that again,” Horatio said. “And I’m here only to talk to Linda Sue’s grandmother. I told her she could just give me the directions to the place and I’d go myself.”

Daryl whipped around to look at her. “Is that right? So why you going then?”

“I’m going so I get paid, you dumb-ass,” she snapped.

“I tell you what, I’ll give you the hundred dollars right now, and you can just hang here with your debonair man about town,” Horatio said while Daryl gave him a confused look.

“No way. My understanding was that a hundred bucks was the minimum and if the information Granny got is real good, it’d be worth more. Maybe a lot more.”

“Well, that wasn’t my understanding.”

“Do you want to go see Granny or not?”

“A hundred bucks! Damn!” Daryl said as the amount finally sank into his clouded head.

“Okay, you win. Let’s go,” Horatio said.

“Thought you’d see it my way,” Linda Sue said with a little smirk.

Daryl called after them from the porch. “Hey, Lindy, if you got to shoot him make damn sure you got the money first.”

“Well, if she shot me, she could take all my money since I’d hardly be in a position to object,” Horatio said helpfully.

“Hey, that’s right,” Daryl agreed excitedly. “Baby, you listening to this?”

Horatio held up a cautionary hand. “But then she’d have to spend the rest of her life in prison for murder and armed robbery. In fact, in good old Tennessee that might just get you the death penalty. And that might apply to accessories before the fact. I hope you recognize your role.”

Daryl simply stared at him, his mind unable to form a response.

Horatio turned to Linda Sue. “Make sure you don’t shoot yourself.”

“I’ve got the damn safety thingy on,” she snapped.

“That’d be quite a feat, since revolvers don’t have safeties.”

“Oh,” Linda Sue said.

“Yeah, oh.”