Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

Chapter 61

Sunday, 13 March 2022 – 9:00 p.m. MST

Daniel restlessly awaited their arrival at the Scottsdale airport. The last hour of the flight had seemed longer than the first twenty-two. Just as the plane touched down, a network alert appeared in his visual field. He studied through the information. Someone had launched a probe against his network. He traced back all paths of the probe.

“It seems we have a little problem,” he said to Sireesha.

“Sorry?” she asked. She had been so deep in thought that she had heard the sounds, but not the words that Daniel had spoken.

“Someone has started probing our network.”

“Oh,” she replied. With a network as large and diverse as hers, there was always someone probing her systems. Typically it turned out to be kids with too much time and a few easily-downloaded scripts.

“This is an interesting probe,” Daniel continued.

“Why?”

“It’s coming from Q-Morrow.”

“From inside?”

“Yes,” he replied. “It seems to be originating from inside. It’s not a bad probe either, not a script. It looks custom and focused to our network.”

Sireesha thought for a moment. She could find no logical reason that Quinn would have for probing her systems. She assumed that he would focus on the messenger just as they were, since it would provide the quickest solution to the problem across both networks.

“Why would he do this?” she asked.

Daniel had already considered the same question. “I don’t think it’s him. He would know not to probe our network this way. There’s no reason for it. I think someone else inside is...”

“Trying to investigate the network,” Sireesha interjected.

“Yes. Perhaps Quinn asked for help, or perhaps just some unlucky hack stumbled onto the message.” Daniel continued watching the probe information scroll through his visual field.

“We have to contain the futurestream,” Sireesha ordered.

“I’ll be happy to take care of it. I need to get out anyway,” Daniel responded. He felt invigorated. He had not been excited about the prospect of just sitting in a hotel room waiting for morning. This would provide him with a diversion and some exercise. “I’ve got to change,” he finished.

When Daniel reemerged, his tattoos had begun to appear. He had packed his duffle and was loading his weapon.

“I love this gun,” he said. “Actually, to call it a gun is an insult to its genius. We need to have more of these made.”

Sireesha shook her head. “Don’t get too excited. You can’t just walk into Q-Morrow and start shooting people.”

“Why not?” Daniel chided.

“Be serious.”

“Who built the security system for the Q-Morrow campus?” he asked.

“You did – but they would have changed all the security protocols by now.”

“But who left a back door in the security system for the Q-Morrow campus?” he winked. There were few things that really excited Daniel. The thought of breaking into one of the most secure technical facilities in the country was one of them. He had become almost giddy, if he could ever be considered giddy.

“Okay – but it has to be clean. Completely clean. We cannot afford any mistakes or our entire future will collapse,” she warned.

“Did I mention we need more of these?” he asked as he snapped the ammunition clip into his weapon.

“Clean,” Sireesha repeated.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be invisible.”

When the plane landed, Sireesha arranged for a car and a Volak. She made one last plea for Daniel to work quickly and cleanly as he sped off toward Tempe.

The traffic on the southbound Pima freeway was unusually heavy for a Sunday evening, but Daniel weaved through it with ease. He ignored the occasional angry horn as he cut through the vehicles and transitioned onto the Red Mountain freeway toward Q-Morrow headquarters. It was a perfectly clear night. The high-rise tower of Q-Morrow had become the most prominent landmark in the area. Daniel still had a great respect for what they had accomplished in Tempe. It had changed their world.

Just to the north of the Q-Morrow campus stretched the normally-dry Salt River. Just north of that was the Papago Park and golf course. Daniel decided to walk from Papago to ensure that the bike was not seen near Q-Morrow. He walked over the Salt River on a pedestrian bridge that Quinn had funded to improve relations with the city during the formative years of his company.

Once he was close enough to the tower, Daniel accessed the latent security code override that he had left himself. He used his implants to simulate the security identification of a mid-level employee then he walked through the main doors and through the atrium. Human security guards had been replaced by a complex set of internal protocols and surveillance. In most cases it would be impossible for a person to walk in from the street on a Sunday night, but Daniel knew almost everything about the security system. He would never appear on a single frame of surveillance video. He would not raise a single alert level. He would be invisible.

After passing through the atrium, Daniel scanned for active employees in the building. One in particular stood out. Bryan Skaggs, a senior-level network and security administrator.

Daniel perused the access restrictions for the floor on which Bryan worked. He found that the cleaning company had semi-restricted access to that floor, so he quickly updated his identification signature to match that of the cleaning company employees and stepped into the elevator. He approached the door and knocked.

“Cleaning crew,” he called.

“Come back later,” Bryan yelled back.

“Sorry?”

Bryan huffed as he hoisted himself out of the chair. He started shouting as he threw open the door. “I said later...” He stopped short. Daniel stood in the doorway. His tattoos were fully opaque and he held a weapon forward.

“Sit down,” Daniel ordered.

“What? How did you...? The security scanners...?” Bryan stuttered as he fell back in his chair.

“I assume you’re responsible for the probe of the Naidu network?” Daniel asked.

Bryan shook his head. He glanced at the viewscreens. “What are you talking about?”

Daniel maintained his focus. He had already scanned the internal network. He knew that the probe had originated from Bryan’s terminal and he knew that Bryan had information about the futurestream.

“You did a terrible job covering your tracks,” Daniel chided.

Bryan barked out a stream of obscenities.

“You know, I have always found that a hacker’s skill and his arrogance are inversely proportional. Based on this brief meeting, I’d say you’re one of the worst hackers I have ever met.”

Another tirade of obscenities and insults erupted as Bryan struggled to lift himself out of his chair. “You’ll never get out of here,” he yelled. “I’ll have you fried for this.”

Daniel squeezed the trigger. Bryan felt a quick flash of pain on the left side of his chest. It felt like a small electrical shock.

“Actually, you are the one who will never get out of here,” Daniel replied. “He held the weapon up.”

“What was that?” Bryan suddenly felt like a weight was being pressed on his chest. He struggled for breath.

“Something I came up with a few months ago,” Daniel replied.

“You’ll never get out...” Bryan struggled to repeat. “They’ll find you ... murderer...”

“You weren’t murdered. You died of a heart attack. And based on your girth and overall appearance, I must say that nobody is going to question that.” Daniel looked around the room.

Bryan felt blackness closing in around him. His anger and his stubbornness allowed him one more word, “autopsy.”

“Ah yes,” Daniel smiled. “Therein is the true genius of this weapon. You were just assaulted by hundreds of carbon microdarts containing just enough genetic material to destroy the tissue surrounding their impact. In this case I chose your heart. An autopsy may reveal some unusual patterns of cellular failure, but the microdarts are nearly undetectable. In any case, I can’t imagine any coroner is actually going to recommend an autopsy when he finds you here, dead of heart failure.”

Bryan stared in horror as the last bit of light washed from his view. He heard Daniel’s last comment.

“Nobody hacks my network.”