Free No Way to Die by M. D. Grayson Page B

said.
    “Commercially,” he said, “the Starfire Protocol by itself would have some value, but probably not anything huge, at least if whoever used it was honest about it. It’s essentially meant to destroy security—not create it. As soon as people who were using asymmetrical key technology heard that Starfire was real and capable of rendering their encryption technology insecure, they’d want to stop using it and use something else, instead. This would eliminate the need for Starfire. But that leads to the other half of the puzzle. There are companies out there—I think ACS may be one of them—that are developing next-generation cryptography methods. You can bet that if Rasmussen knew how to make asymmetrical key technology obsolete, he had his company preparing a new system—one that would be immune to a Starfire Protocol attack. If such a new method were widely accepted, the financial implications would be staggering. They’d be sitting on a gold mine—maybe worth billions.”
    “Thus, the one-two,” I said.
    Kenny nodded.
    “Katherine said they got an offer for ten million for Starfire,” Toni said.
    “That’s interesting,” Kenny said. “That’s a drop in the bucket compared to what the successor technology might be worth. In its own right, I think Starfire has a good deal of interim value—especially if whoever has it doesn’t let it known that it’s being used. It would be perfect cloak-and-dagger spy stuff. Governments and militaries could use it to listen in on the other side. Criminals could use it to sneak into banks, credit card accounts—basically anything they wanted. Like I said, though, if word got out, its value would go down because people would stop using cryptology keys that were vulnerable to it.”
    This was mind-boggling stuff. It was quiet for a minute as people digested what Kenny had said.
    Finally, Doc broke the silence. “So does this mean that the guy was murdered?”
    “That’s a damn good question,” I said. “All the physical evidence says no, that he killed himself. But all the nonphysical stuff—his solid family life, strong financials, that sort of stuff; it all raises plenty of questions.”
    “Not to mention this little bit of news,” Toni said.
    “Indeed,” Richard said. “Perhaps we should be asking who’d want to murder Thomas Rasmussen? And why?”
    “Aside from the spectrum of usual suspects—spouse, friends, family members, and business associates—it’s starting to look like there could be an unknown contingent of
really
nasty folks who might like to get their hands on Starfire for nefarious purposes,” I said.
    “Or maybe even the next technology that Starfire ushers in when it renders the current stuff obsolete,” Kenny said.
    “I agree,” Richard said. “I think it’s unlikely that the members of the family-and-friends suspect club would be capable of manipulating physical evidence in such a manner as to make a murder look like a routine suicide, but I have to say, it doesn’t seem that such activities would be beyond the capabilities of the members of the second group Danny just mentioned.”
    “Do you know anyone—a doctor or maybe a retired medical examiner—whom we could consult with on this?” I asked Richard. “Someone who could give us some insight into the autopsy report?”
    “I do,” he said. “Carolyn Valeria. Carolyn’s a retired pathologist. She headed up the FBI crime lab forensic medicine division. I’ll talk to her and see if I can get her to help.”
    “Good,” I said.
    It was silent around the table for a second as we considered the ramifications of our discussion.
    “So, as investigators, we should start with the presumption that Rasmussen was murdered, and we’re trying to figure out how—aside from the obvious gunshot wound—and by whom. And we need to remember that the murderer could be very dangerous. It might not be a typical jealous spouse involved in a crime of passion.”
    “That’s