Buzzworm (A Technology Thriller): Computer virus or serial killer? by Theo Cage Read Free Book Online Page B

look as guileless as possible.
    "I… can't believe that… "
    "The Beyonce thing? Hey. It's no big deal. I know you're the CIA. You got bigger fish to fry."
    "I don't have time for games, detective."
    "Too busy re-writing all those rule books?"
    Jo's complexion was turning pink. "The Washington Police tell us they're sending their best detective. You show up, take one look at the… "
    I pointed. "Crime scene?"
    "Yes. One look at the crime scene, and then you disappear for lunch. We have donuts in our cafeteria too, you know!"
    I squinted at her. "Ahhhh. A donut joke." I looked at my watch, a scratched Seiko that was a gift many years ago from my wife. "Usually it comes quicker though. Right after the introductions."
    She stared at me.
    "What was Frank working on?" I asked.
    "I told you, I can't say."
    "OK. Why not just give me a hint. Before anyone else shows up. I promise I won't phone the Post."
    She put both hands in the pockets of her lab coat. "Video. He built programs that manipulated video. I can’t say anymore and I don’t see how it’s relevant to his death."
    "Video’s of?"
    "Detective Hyde, imagine a foreign country is preparing an attack on one of the military installation owned by an ally. They think it only holds a few tanks, a few planes. No big problem for them. We take photos inside and then manipulate them so that it appears that the area is bristling with deadly technology. A dozen F-18's. A few bombers. We create a video out of the imagery. We send it out to the news media. They broadcast it. The enemy sees it. It cools their ardor for the attack."
    I was impressed. "But Frank's not the only guy who knows how to do this stuff. Hollywood is full of 'em."
    She closed her eyes — started to take a deep breath — and then winced. Her father may have been a country doctor, but it still hadn't prepared her for the smell of death in a small closed room. "He was one of the best, but you're right."
    "No motive there then? No international incident. But then, you guys have already figured that out."
    "Pardon?"
    "There was a murder at Langley. In '67. You didn't think we knew about it? You people were so deep into the cold-war thing then, you probably though it wasn't even necessary to call the good old Washington Police."
    She folded her arms. "I obviously wasn't here in '67. I wasn’t even born yet."
    "But you knew about it." She sat down in one of the computer chairs, swiveled back and forth for a moment. "So, what do you know about Frank?" I asked, pulling out my trusty no batteries required note pad again.
    She sounded weary. She was a classic A type, ready to wind down into tears, but working hard to hold it back. "He was a technoid. Built his own graphics stations. Wrote some of the first software we used for simulations back in the nineties. Quiet type. As you can see, a bit eccentric for the CIA. But some kind of genius. He kept to himself. And for all we can tell, he died because of a computer virus. I guess that's somehow appropriate."
    I stood back on my heels, stretching. It had been about twenty-four hours since I slept last. "Computer virus? Now I thought those things only messed up computers. You think they're going after people now, too?"
    She was searching for the height adjustment on the chair, her feet not quite touching the floor. "I don't know what to think. We've been sensitive to this virus business ever since a sixteen-year-old kid shut down the entire early-warning system in the late 90's. With a virus he wrote in his high school computer class."
    I moved around the room, expecting our forensic team to arrive at any minute. "Yeah. I heard about that one. I don't remember any bodies involved though."
    She took a deep breath. "We have what is supposed to be the most sophisticated computer firewall system in the world. A wall that stops everything. Nothing gets through… that is, until about two months ago. We've had dozens of hits since then."
    I looked up from my notes, so Jo