Free Daemon by Daniel Suarez

Why are you guys doing this to me? I was trying to help Hadi.’
    ‘That doesn’t explain why you have a phony personal address.’
    Ross sighed. ‘I had the fake address because society requires everyone to have a permanent home address.’
    ‘Then why don’t you have one?’
    ‘Because I don’t need one.’
    Both agents were pacing again. The shorter one was thefirst to speak. ‘Single. No property. Do you pay all your taxes, Mr Ross?’
    ‘I’m a Delaware service corporation. I pay myself a reasonable salary, max out my 401(k), and take the remainder as corporate profits – minus travel and business expenses. And the corporation leases my car.’ He hesitated. ‘Look, I didn’t do anything wrong. I was trying to help my client.’
    The phone in the center of the table rang. The shorter agent grabbed it without saying a word. He listened. After a few moments he nodded slightly and looked at Ross with some surprise. ‘Understood.’ A pause. ‘Yes.’
    He hung up. ‘It looks like you’re off the hook, Mr Ross.’
    Neal Decker and three other FBI agents sat in the darkened training room of the Ventura County Sheriff’s headquarters intently watching a screen projection of Sobol’s MPEG video. Sebeck, Mantz, Burkow, and Ventura County’s assistant chief, Stan Eichhorn, watched alongside them. Aaron Larson ran the video off a laptop hooked to the department’s digital projector.
    Sobol’s grainy image glowed on-screen. ‘… I want to take this moment to wish you luck, Sergeant – because you’re going to need it.’
    The image froze, and Sobol’s audience whistled and broke out into raucous discussion. Larson brought up the lights, revealing Agent Decker staring intently at the blank screen. He finally came around and stepped to the front of the room.
    ‘Gentlemen, this changes things.’ Decker looked to Agent Straub. ‘When does the computer forensics team get in, Tom?’
    ‘They’re already en route from Oxnard Airport.’
    ‘Get them over to CyberStorm as soon as they arrive. Where are the Alcyone Insurance computers?’
    ‘Put on a plane to D.C. last night.’
    ‘Good. Hopefully they’ll get something off the drives. In the meantime, have the forensics team comb through the CyberStorm network. I want it sniffed for booby traps, andthen we need to shift our focus to Matthew Sobol.’ He pointed to the projector. ‘Get forensics a copy of this video file.’
    Larson perked up. ‘I burned copies onto CD. I can make more if you need them.’
    Decker held up his hands. ‘That brings up an important point. I want absolute secrecy concerning this case.’ He looked to the local police. ‘That means no talking to friends and relatives, and absolutely no talking to the media. We need to control what information gets out there.’
    Sebeck pointed at the screen. ‘Has anyone heard of this Sobol guy?’
    Decker didn’t say anything. He just fished through folders on a nearby tabletop and then slid a folder over to Sebeck. It was labeled Matthew Andrew Sobol.
    ‘What, you already knew about him?’
    ‘Died Thursday. We thought he might be another victim, but he died of brain cancer. He’s been ill for years. He was a company founder. Had access to everything. It all fits. Except for the motive.’
    Straub picked up from there. They were like an old married couple. ‘His assistant said Sobol suffered from dementia. He was paranoid and secretive. It got worse as his illness progressed. He finally had to stop working last year.’
    Sebeck flipped through the folder. It was filled with medical files and psychology reports. ‘Did he have the know-how to build that booby trap over at CyberStorm?’
    Decker and Straub exchanged knowing glances. Decker took the folder back. ‘Sobol scored 220 on an IQ test in 1993. The NSA tried to recruit him out of Stanford for his dissertation on polymorphic data encryption. Instead he started a game company and made millions by his early twenties. He was plenty