Antivirus (The Horde Series Book 1) by Michael Koogler Read Free Book Online Page A

sternly.
    “Drew Jackson,” Kat’s boss said smoothly, stepping forward. “President of FutureTek Enterprises here in Helena.”
    “What is your purpose for coming here, Mister Jackson?”
    “We came to check on Perry Edwards,” Drew answered worriedly. “He works for me. Is everything all right here?”
    The police officer stepped off the porch to stand before them. “Can I see some ID, Mister Jackson?” he asked, his tone all business.
    Jackson reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew his wallet, flipping it open and offering it to the police officer. “Driver’s license and business card,” he said and then motioned to Kat. “This is my lead program designer, Kathryn Hale. Perry didn’t come into work today and we were concerned about him.”
    “So you drove out here to check on him? The both of you?”
    “Yes,” Drew answered, looking sideways at Kat, then back to the officer. “Why? What happened?”
    “What made you think something was wrong in the first place, Mr. Jackson?” the officer went on, ignoring the question.
    “We’re dealing with a bit of a crisis, officer,” Jackson replied with a sigh. “It’s a long story.”
    “Try me.”
    “Well,” he began, “we’ve been working with a very new and relatively untested technology and we fear the Perry might have brought home a prototype model we have had locked up in storage. When he didn’t show up for work today, we thought it best to come out to his home and check up on him.”
    The officer was silent for several moments, before nodding his head. “That’s all I needed to hear,” he said finally. “Come with me, please.”
    He walked back into the house, followed closely by Jackson and Hale, who exchanged worried glances as they did. As they walked through the entryway, Kat caught a quick glimpse of Perry’s wife, Danielle, hunched over and crying at the kitchen table, flanked by a police officer and two other men in dark suits.
    “What’s going on here?” Kat asked the officer as he led them down the hallway and through a bedroom doorway.
    “You tell me,” he answered, stopping and indicating the room.
    Kat looked in and immediately shuddered, stifling the anguished cry that nearly erupted from her throat. The room was filled with computer and electronic equipment, books, design guides, and stacks and stacks of papers, much of it from FutureTek’s archives. A quick glance around and she knew immediately what had happened. Perry Edwards himself was sitting in his office chair, his head lolled back to the side, his eyes open but unseeing and his skin a pasty blue. The prototype was still hooked up to him and two separate computer monitors in front of him told the rest of the story.
    “How much?” she asked in a horrified whisper, staring at one monitor and not wanting to believe what she was seeing.
    “Solid nine figures,” came a voice from behind them, and she turned around to see one of the suited men looking at her, his features not at all unkind. He was middle-aged with salt and pepper hair and smooth features. He looked friendly enough, but there was a definite air of control about him—the air of someone who knew their job and did it well. “Deposited into a series of Cayman Island accounts about four hours ago.”
    “Oh, this cannot be happening,” Kat said desperately. “This has to be some kind of a mistake.”
    “Unfortunately, there’s no mistake,” the man said, pointing to the account listings on the right hand monitor. “My question is, what was Mister Edwards selling to an enemy of the state that was worth half a billion dollars?”
    “This is outrageous!” Drew suddenly stormed, his own face a mask of shock and betrayal. “Perry? A traitor? Who was he selling our technology to?”
    “Let’s just say that it isn’t someone we would want to be selling high-tech gizmos to,” the man said and then stuck out his hand. “Rick Alders. Homeland Security.” The CEO of FutureTek accepted his