Found another new access code for the Wildfire intranet… and this one unlocks the file on Dr. Stone himself:

JEST OR ENEMY

Most of this information was already available on his website, but it’s interesting all the same. It’s also interesting that the government knew about the ill will between Stone and Keene, though I’m not sure why they’d make a specific note of that in the Wildfire files. Unless, of course, Keene is also involved in this somehow.

Based on this access code, it also seems clear that the personnel files, at least, are protected with anagrams… so the next thing is to figure out possible access codes for the file on Tsi Chou, the only remaining scientist on the team. Suggestions?

Looks like those of you who said that CANYON EAGLE was chosen as an anagram for Angela Noyce were right. I didn’t know what else to do, so I’ve been trying random rearrangements of the letters in the names of the other scientists on the Wildfire team, and just came across another working access code for the Wildfire:

LEBANON CHARTER

This time it’s for Dr. Barton. She looks about the same as she did in the article announcing her departure from the CDC a few years ago, but it also says that she still has a husband and two children residing in San Francisco.

For their sake and ours, I hope she knows what she’s doing.

Several of you sent in similar translations of the Chinese article from the Wildfire Intranet, and I’m grateful for the help. For anyone who didn’t see it yet, this was the original article:

The most detailed translation I’ve received is this one, from “Dawn P”:

 
FAMOUS MICROBIOLOGIST FROM CHINA ESCAPES TO AMERICA

According to a high-ranking source in the government, Chou Si’s escape to America is likely to have connections with the case of an outbreak of smallpox in the region around Shanghai that occurred a few years ago. The outbreak claimed the lives of over a hundred people before the government could implement prevention measures and eradicate the disease.

 
So Chou was doing classified work with the Chinese military on biological weapons, biodefense, or both, until he defected. Not certain how old this article is, but I’m guessing it can’t be older than 1994, if Chou didn’t graduate from Oxford until 2003. And given his credentials, he must have been pretty appealing for inclusion on the Wildfire team.

When I never heard back from Jack Nash, I assumed it was because he was too busy to bother answering me. But I also realized that I haven’t seen or heard anything about him since then, and he’s not the type to just stop in the middle of an investigation, which has had me wondering if he might have seen more than he was supposed to.

I guess Frohz3n has been wondering the same thing, because he just sent me an email explaining that he has been monitoring transmissions from Nash’s cell phone since his first report about the Utah National Guard.

That’s how he ended up hearing this:

According to Frohz3n, that’s the last call that Nash made on his phone… and while I’m not sure exactly when he made it, Frohz3n implied that it was at least a few days ago. It sounds like they took his phone, because the call disconnected just after he addressed someone - General Michaelson, I think? - by name.

Amazingly, there’s more. Nash also used his phone to send a series of digital photos just before he made that call, which Frohz3n was also able to intercept:

(view larger)

Nash was onto something, I’m sure of it. And the photos seem to prove that there was an unexpected attack on one of the military installations outside of Piedmont. But if the military is there to help contain whatever happened - and I’m almost certain they are - then what reason would anyone have to attack them?

This still makes no sense.

It seems like every hour that passes brings more questions than answers. Another reader, identifying herself as Isadora, sent me another access code for the Wildfire intranet:

4 8 15 16 23 42

But even though this one unlocks a file, I’m still at a loss… The unlocked document is listed as “WFSD: NEWSFILE TC-4815162342″, but it’s in a foreign language that I can’t read.

I’m guessing TC stands for Tsi Chou, the remaining scientist on the Wildfire team?

I’m assuming that this is Chinese. If necessary, someone in the Foreign Languages department might be willing to help me translate it, but I realized that one of you might know how to read Chinese, or know someone else who does.

This article could be useful, or it could turn out to be nothing… but with this much at stake, it’s important to follow every possible clue, wherever it might lead.