Chapter 13

Lieutenant Slavens was seated at his desk, going over the reports from the early morning suicide he had been called out on. He had been at them for some time, when Detective Sgt. Jim Daniels came into the room and took a seat across from him without saying a word.

When Slavens finally looked up from his report Daniels was waiting patiently. Daniels was a large man of African American origins. Slavens knew that when working a case Daniels was just as patient and had a bulldog tenacity that kept him looking for answers long after other detectives had given up. This made him an excellent detective. It also made him a bit of a pain in the ass.

"What up, Jim?" Slavens asked.

"Well, Art," Daniels began, "I'm starting to dig in to this Jones woman's murder, and a since I know you're pretty close with this Al Green, I thought you might be able to help me out."

"OK, Jim, I'll help you in any way I can. What did you need to know?"

Daniel was a little uncomfortable, but doggedly kept on. "Well, there's something strange here. First Green's brother gets knocked off, then the Jones woman is butchered on his doorstep. It seems like too much of a coincidence that Green doesn't have something to do with it."

Art steepled his hands together and thought of how he should answer. "I've gotten to know Al Green pretty well over the last few days. I've never seen anyone as devastated as he was when he had to identify his brother's body. No, I don't see that there was any way that he was faking it. Let me tell you a little bit about why we think his brother was killed, and why he was beaten nearly to death himself."

Art went on to tell Daniels about the new process for creating polyhedrons that Sam had found. He told about the Japanese businessmen, who had tried to buy the processes or Sam's business, shortly before he was killed. He told about the veiled threat these businessmen had made, and how no one at the company they claimed they worked for would admit they worked there. He told of the Japanese men who had kidnapped Al, and beaten him, asking only for the processes for making polyhedrons.

When Slavens got to the car chase, Daniels broke in. "Yeah, I've heard some rumors about that. Were you able to identify the men in the Honda?"

Slavens shook his head. "They were pretty badly burned, but we did manage to get a couple of fingerprints. They didn't have a police record, and we can find no fingerprints on file that match them. No one has come forth to claim the bodies, and there have been no missing persons reports filed that could possibly be either of them."

"I did hear those guys were Japanese though. That's too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence, don't you think?"

Slavens ran the palm of his hand up over his forehead and back through his hair. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Then there's the Japanese guy who'd tried to break into Al Green's home. We have him in custody."

Daniels' face brightened. "Have you been able to get anything out of him?"

Again Slavens shook his head. "This guy hasn't uttered a sound sense I brought him in. We don't even know his name. We fingerprinted him, but nothing showed up. We've had him on 24-hour suicide watch, and as far as we can tell he's never said a word. He sits, staring at wall across from him for 18 hours a day. He eats if you bring food to him, and uses the toilet when he needs to, but that is all he has done since we've had him."

Daniels was leaning forward in his chair. "So now we have an American woman who works for a Japanese company, murdered and placed on Al Green's doorstep. Again, too much of a coincidence."

"That isn't all. I went out on a call this morning, for an apparent suicide. It turned out to be a Japanese guy, who just happens to be the Jones woman's boss."

It was apparent that Daniels was eager to do something. "I don't know about you, Lt. Slavens, but I think we should pay Mitsutronics a visit. I tried calling them earlier, but was told the company president is out of the country. They told me no one else there would be able to talk with us. I don't know who they think they are, but someone there is damned sure going to talk to me."

Slavens nodded, "I agree. Let's go over there and see if we can make life miserable for someone."

All signs of the dead body were gone when Al and Bonnie arrived back at the converted warehouse. When they opened the door, the first thing they heard was: "Hey boss, you have an urgent message waiting. Hey boss, you have an urgent message waiting. Hey boss, you have an urgent message waiting. "

Al turned of the warning message then checked his e-mail. He saw there was one there from Hak, so he contacted him immediately. When Hak came on the line, it was apparent he was excited.

>>Where have you been, man? I've got a million things to tell you. >>

>>I was out to breakfast with Linda. >> Al answered him.

>>Well, first off, let me tell you about the virus you sent me last night. You were right. It does prevent the encrypted files we found from being copied, but that is the least of it. >> There was a long hesitation as if Hak were waiting for Al to respond. When he didn't, Hak went on. >>If this virus is in a computer, and the computer is hooked to a modem, it's dog meat. >> Again he paused.

This time Al took the bait. >>OK, what do you mean dog meat? >>

>>If someone sends a code word over the modem, the computer goes into a self-destruct mode. At the stroke of midnight following receipt of the command, or the next time after that when the computer is turned on, it will erase all of the system files in the computer, then erase the file allocation tables on the hard drive. This leaves you with a computer with no operating system, and even if you loaded in a new operating system, it would not be able to find any of the files on the hard drive. It would take hours, maybe even days, to bring the computer back into complete operation. >>

Al was stunned. >>What's the code word? >>

>>GONNOSUKE. >>

>>Any idea what that means? >>

>>Not really. It isn't important really what the code word is. What it does is the important thing. Do you realize anyone with the code word could cripple anyone or everyone in the world just by sending that word to their computer? >>

Al was quiet for a minute, thinking about what Hak had told him. >>Yeah, I realize what it'll do, but why would a multi-national company like Mitsutronics want to do something like that? >>

Hak came back immediately. >>I'm not sure why, but I've got a good idea when. I tried to get you last night around 8:00 PM, but you didn't answer. >>

>>I was out with Bonnie. Why do you think you'll know when? >>

>>Well, man, I've been deciphering those other files, and there is one date that keeps coming up. There are projections of how many businesses and transportation companies, and the like will be owned by a certain date. Even banks and the like. >>

Al was beginning to get antsy waiting for Hak to get to the punch line, but he knew he couldn't rush him. >>OK, so what's the date? >>

>>August 6, 2045. Does that date mean anything to you, man? >>

Al thought for a minute, but couldn't come up with anything.

"Does August 6, 2045 mean anything to you, Bonnie?"

"Well, it is exactly 100 years after the bombing of Hiroshima. The first use of the atomic bomb. My father was a bit of a history buff, and he was especially interested in World War II," Bonnie answered.

Al passed the information on to Hak.

>>I'll buy that, man. These are Japanese. It is something they'll always remember. One other thing I found in the files was a list of American names. I recognized one of them and then started looking up the rest. They're all Senators or Congressmen. >>

>>This is very strange, Hak. Send me all the files you've managed to decrypt, and I'll have Linda take a look at them. Maybe she can make something of them. I think we may be on to something here about the hundredth anniversary of Hiroshima. >> Al was very thoughtful as he turned to Bonnie. They signed off and held each other for long minutes while they pondered what Hak had told them.

Linda had just arrived home her meeting with Al and Bonnie when her cell phone rang. She was surprised to hear Fred Nelson's voice on the other end of the line. "What can I do for you Fred?" she asked.

"Linda, I hate to bother you, but something has come up that I need to talk to you about. Could we meet somewhere?" he asked.

Linda let out a deep sigh. "Couldn't we just talk about it over the phone?"

"This is really important, Linda, and it really should be talked about in private."

Linda reluctantly agreed, and arranged to meet him in Sam's office at work in half an hour. She spent the entire drive to Modern Electronics wondering what Fred could want.

When she arrived, she went into Sam's office and took a seat in the leather executive chair behind his desk. It was her first time to be in Sam's office since he had been killed. She thought of the many times she had sat across from him and was nearly in tears when Fred tapped discreetly on the door and stuck his head in. She motioned him to one of the visitor chairs and waited while he made himself comfortable.

By the time Fred was seated, Linda had composed herself, and was all business. "OK, Fred, you wanted this meeting. What's it about?"

Fred told her about the loan from his former boss, and about their lunch meetings. He didn't leave anything out, and didn't even try to make himself look better. He told her about the money that was taken off of his debt when he dropped tidbits of information. He then told her about his meeting at noon with Haruki Nishino, and about the veiled threats Nishino had made.

Linda listened quietly until Fred stopped speaking. "Do you realize, Fred, that you are probably responsible for my husband's death?"

Fred looked as if he were going to break down in tears. "I hadn't really realized it until today, Linda. I'm feeling so guilty about it that I had come to you."

There was a sneer in her voice when she asked, "The fact that we're doing background checks and all this would have come out anyway, had nothing to do with it, right?"