The Secret of Secrets: A Novel
by Dan Brown
Contents
Chapter 11
Overview
Jonas Faukman discovers that Katherine Solomon’s “SUM” partition has been completely wiped, and even PRH’s off-site backup returns PARTITION NOT FOUND, suggesting a sophisticated breach aimed at total erasure. As panic spreads, technician Alex Conan escalates the incident as unprecedented and severe. In London, Mr. Finch—tracking Brigita Gessner’s disappearance and Solomon’s unexpected move in Prague—uses his autonomous authority to trigger a covert response, ordering: Execute now.
Summary
In New York, editor Jonas Faukman rushes to access Katherine Solomon’s private SVW partition, “SUM,” terrified that an unknown outsider has breached it. He expects a standard login prompt, but instead the system emits three beeps and shows a red error: PARTITION NOT FOUND.
Faukman tries again and then turns to the young data technician, Alex Conan, who takes over the keyboard and repeats the attempts with the same result. Alex concludes the intruder likely “purged” the partition to cover tracks—meaning Katherine’s research and manuscript drafts were deleted.
Alex reassures Faukman that PRH has redundant systems and an off-site backup in a Maryland distribution warehouse, and he tries to access and migrate the remote partition. The backup produces the same error—PARTITION NOT FOUND—implying the data has been erased from both primary and redundant servers.
Shaken, Alex leaves to investigate from his own terminal, calling it an unprecedented, serious breach. Faukman, numb and desperate, shouts after him that Katherine entrusted him with a year of work.
Meanwhile in London, Mr. Finch monitors the situation: neuroscientist Brigita Gessner sent him a troubling message about Solomon’s manuscript and then went silent, and Katherine Solomon has taken an unexpected action in Prague that Finch deems impossible to ignore. Given his superiors’ demand for plausible deniability and his unilateral authority, Finch acts immediately, sending an order into the field—“Execute now.”—which is confirmed by his contacts in Prague and New York City.
Who Appears
- Jonas FaukmanEditor who discovers Katherine’s “SUM” partition and backups have been erased.
- Alex ConanPRH data technician who confirms the purge and escalates the breach investigation.
- Mr. FinchCovert operator in London who orders an immediate field action: “Execute now.”
- Katherine SolomonAuthor whose manuscript files are wiped; her unexpected Prague action triggers Finch’s response.
- Brigita GessnerNeuroscientist who sent Finch a troubling message, then vanished into radio silence.