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“Because they don’t want to believe there’s more here than a simple hit-and-run. It’s a delicate situation. Allow me to explain. May I call you Abigail?”
“Please…everyone calls me Abby.”
“My name’s Michael.”
She nodded impatiently. “Delicate how, Michael?” Her voice rose on that last word as her composure slipped over the edge of the cliff.
“Like I said, your brother created a new kind of security protocol that’s quite unique. I believe he’s changed how all cellular and data networks will be designed and secured from now going forward. I also think he may have been harmed because of his work.”
“Harmed?” She shot a look at Shaun. “You’re using that word, too. Harmed is getting your arm broken, Mr. Donn—Michael. My brother was hit by a car going at least fifty miles an hour through a crosswalk in Dupont Circle. He was dead before he hit the pavement. Harmed is not the word I would choose to describe that, especially if, as you suggest, it was done deliberately.”
Donner had the grace to look embarrassed as she continued. “I don’t understand why you believe it was murder. Isn’t the product he created already in use? The design is out there and you have a patent, I’m sure? What reason would anyone have to hurt Jason over a product he’s already completed?”
Donner nodded. “While we’ve already rolled out the first generation of the product and it’s working quite well for our initial customer, it’s not entirely accurate to say that Jason’s work was done.”
“Why is that?”
Donner glanced at Shaun before answering. “We have another client who has asked for an exclusive contract for the first five years. Normally we wouldn’t award a relatively new technology with such potential to an exclusive customer, but this is a special case because of who the client is.”
“Well, who is it?” she asked.
Donner cut his eyes back toward Shaun then again to her. “The Department of Homeland Security. They want the exclusive in order to use Zip-Net for all their cellular communications security. It’s an amazing opportunity. It would fast-track this technology into the stratosphere. Millions of dollars are at stake. Company growth will skyrocket. Assembly line jobs will boom just to keep up with the demand. And as the cherry on top, our national security will be better served than ever before. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
She watched him as he talked and could see why he was considered to be so charismatic. Despite her confusion she felt pulled in by the force of his personality—his mannerisms, his gestures. Mentally she shook herself.
“Your brother was handling some debugging issues for the program the morning he died. You can imagine with an operation this large, it can get ‘glitchy’ at times, especially when it’s just going online. He was about to install upgrades to take care of that.”
“Sure.” Abby nodded. She didn’t have a lot of computer expertise but she knew how easy it was for her own PC to get “glitchy.”
“Up until then Jason hadn’t been sharing the software upgrade plans or file on the company network and frankly, I didn’t require him to. Industrial espionage is rampant in this industry and after checking to make sure he had firewalls in place on his home computer, we let him safekeep the information the best way he saw fit. The fewer people with access the better. I see now that was a huge error on my part. We never expected anyone to resort to murder.”
“But how can you be sure it was murder? The police seem convinced it was an accident.”
“If it was an accident that your brother died right before turning in the updates, that would be quite a coincidence—don’t you think? If we can’t make those upgrades, the government contract won’t go through. The consequences for not delivering the product would be catastrophic to Zip Tech and to this new protocol because of the blow it will be to our company’s credibility. Any ‘accidents’ at this time would make me suspicious, but then for you to be attacked at the funeral? Bullets aren’t an accident, Abby. Someone fired those shots on purpose.”
“And your competitors would kill me and my brother to see that technology fail?”
“Unfortunately, some would. We’re talking about a billion-dollar security industry that’s about to be turned on its ear.”
“I don’t understand.” But she did; she just didn’t want to believe it. Her stomach threatened to rebel and her skin grew clammy. Everything felt so surreal. Jason was a lovable, geeky guy, and this all sounded like something out of a spy novel. How did he turn into a target? How did she turn in to a target?
“The next generation of cell phone traffic will be carried exclusively over the internet. Security isn’t just one of the issues in cell phone communication, it’s the only issue. Your brother designed an exceptionally unique product with an unbreakable code that keeps cellular traffic completely confidential. Unhackable. Homeland Security is so confident in the technology that they are willing to contract exclusively with Zip Technologies for security services. But in order for that to happen, we need the upgrade file, and we need to find it fast. There’s an issue of a delivery deadline. We have four days to get the updates installed or this contract with Homeland Security is dead in the water.”
“What kind of updates are you talking about? It sounds like more of a major flaw in the system,” she observed.
Now it was Shaun glancing at Donner. The CEO nodded.
“The bugs in the system right now aren’t just glitches, they’re showstoppers,” Shaun explained. “We must find the fix Jason created the morning he died, going in through the back door.”
“What do you mean by back door?” she asked.
“’Tis technical.”
“Make me understand,” she argued.
“Many engineers put special signatures on their work. It used to be a vanity piece. Now it’s a way into the system they’ve created so they can tweak things if necessary without having to go through all the security after production. It’s a shortcut. We’ve got a major bug that needs modification and the only way to fix it is if we can have access to that ‘back door’ Jason created.”
“What kind of bugs are we talking about?” she asked.
“The kind that will make the system fail…catastrophically.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened as understanding dawned.
Donner spoke up. “Here’s where it gets tricky and highly confidential. Zip Tech is due to sign that contract with Homeland Security and pass over control of the system at midnight in four days’ time. Once we sign, we’ll no longer be able to modify the program, even through that back door. Zip Tech must have your brother’s security upgrades to make the changes beforehand—afterward, we won’t have access. Once DHS signs off on the contract, government engineers with the necessary security clearances take over and we step away. Without those upgrades from your brother, the DHS network will be vulnerable to hacking.”
He paused a moment, no doubt to let the implication sink in. A Homeland Security network that wasn’t secure.
“Why not just tell Homeland Security the truth?” she asked.
Donner stood. “Zip Tech can and will tell if we can’t get the updates in time. But once we do, the company loses everything. Not just a government contract. We’re ‘all in’ at this point. When negotiations began with Homeland Security about Zip-Net, our company made certain modifications to the design based on the government’s specifications. Based on those specifications, Zip-Net is no longer viable for anyone but that first client and Homeland Security unless other large companies with broad user bases also adopt the technology. Which is definitely what we’re hoping for, but it would take time.”
Donner stepped into the kitchen area and poured himself a glass of water as he continued. “In this industry, six months is like three years. We’d lose our market advantage completely. Not to mention our investors. If this contract doesn’t go through, the company is finished.”
“I know this is overwhelming and a lot to take in,” said Shaun. “But you deserve to know the truth about what happened to Jason—why he was killed. Why you could be next.”
“You’re saying my brother was murdered to stop this DHS contract from going through?”
Donner nodded. “People have died for less.”
Abby sighed. “That doesn’t explain why someone was shooting at me. I don’t have this upgrade file you’re speaking of.” She looked at Shaun as she spoke but he said nothing else. He just leaned against the living room side of the kitchen counter sipping his own bottled water.
“Are you sure about that?” asked Donner.
Chapter Four
“What do you mean?” asked Abby.
“I think you might know more than you realize,” said Donner.
She didn’t answer but her blood began to boil as he continued.
“You have access to all your brother’s papers and files in his home office at his condo. As his only relative, you’ll soon have access to his safety deposit box, as well.”
“Yes.” She tried to tamp down her temper and the growing disbelief that he could possibly be asking for this, today of all days. But a part of her was grateful for the anger that was snapping her out of the grief and overwhelming hopelessness of the situation. She put on her best Southern belle smile even as the acid in her stomach burned. “What do you really need, Michael?” she asked.
“Access to your brother’s laptop. The upgrade file must be there somewhere. Specifically we need the password. Our people have been at it for several days now and haven’t been able to come up with anything that works. His personal security system on the computer will erase all the data if we keep trying incorrect passwords.
“For everyone’s sake, we desperately need those upgrade plans. We’ve been through Jason’s files at Zip Tech’s offices but we can’t find the information we’re looking for anywhere. Once the product is complete, you’ll no longer be a target. Until then, we can protect you. But none of this can end until you help us find those upgrades.”
As he explained, the ugly truth became obvious. Zip Tech had already been in Jason’s condo looking for the file. Though he tried to twist things to sound as if this was all in her best interest, the man clearly had no qualms about blackmailing her to get what he needed.
“Surely he has a backup for all this valuable data? I mean otherwise couldn’t a competitor just type in the wrong password until they wiped the system?”
“Yes, I’m sure he did have a backup…somewhere. Unfortunately, we can’t find that, either. Believe me, our people have looked. That’s why we need your help.”
“So you’ve already been in his condo? Uninvited?” She smiled a particularly sugary grin and felt her blood pressure spike up a notch.
Michael smiled back, a sheepish quality to it that she knew was meant to be endearing. Under other circumstances, he might have been considered charming. He knew he’d been caught but he still didn’t realize how badly he’d screwed up.
Her literature students could have told Michael Donner that he was about to be pulverized. She might look and sound like a pushover, but she had a reputation as one of those professors you did not tick off unless you had a death wish for your GPA. And you did not lie to Abby Trevor under any circumstances. Grad students called her “the carnivorous steel magnolia.”
She’d fostered that notoriety in her teaching.
She could be a pit bull and once she was angry, even she knew it was a long, difficult road back into her good graces.
The way she saw it, Michael was all about Zip Technologies needing her brother’s upgrade file. Oh, he tried to frame it as a step for the greater good—even for her own protection—but she was smart enough to read between the lines. He cared much less for her safety than he did for the success of his company. If he was truly concerned about her, he would have come to her from the beginning instead of waiting for the attacks to start so he could hold her safety hostage against the guarantee of her cooperation. Additionally, the way his people had broken into Jason’s condo made her hopping mad and slightly ill at the same time.
Well, to hell with Donner. She didn’t care what happened with Zip Technologies’s contract with Homeland Security. As for her safety…well, that’s what the police were for. Whether or not they believed the hit-and-run that killed her brother was deliberate, surely they couldn’t claim the shots fired were accidental.
“He signed a waiver fo—”
Donner was talking but she didn’t let him finish.
“Tell me, did that agreement say you could waltz into his home and take anything you wanted whenever you wanted in the event of his death?” she asked.
Donner looked a bit taken aback at being interrupted. After all, he’d graced the covers of Forbes and Newsweek. She had a feeling he wasn’t used to women not falling all over him.
“Jason signed nondisclosure agreements and proprietary information clauses at Zip Tech.”
“But no agreements to allow you a search and seizure in his home after his death? You’re a high-tech company, not the Gestapo, but that’s what this feels like.”
“Ms. Trevor…Abby, I—”
She kept talking, just like she did in her lectures when a student tried to interrupt her before she was finished making her point.
“I’m distinctly uneasy with what you are asking and what you’ve already undertaken without permission. Until I speak with an attorney, I’m not comfortable with you or any other employees of Zip Technologies entering my brother’s home. I won’t press charges at this point—but do it again and I’ll have your people arrested.”
“I don’t understand, Abby. Someone was just shooting at you.”
“That’s right. And I have no idea who they were. It could have been your competition. Could have been you for all I know, trying to scare me into trusting you just to get into Jason’s condo. I do have a question though. If Jason was so valuable, why didn’t you have security with him while he was doing this upgrade work? You were awfully complacent to have such a valuable employee climbing in his car and driving away every night with the future of your company on his laptop in a briefcase. Seems you might have seen this coming. And if you couldn’t protect him, why should I believe you’ll be able to protect me? I’d be more comfortable with the authorities handling this. Why can’t we call the police about Jason?”
“I have,” said Donner as he came to sit across from her again. “They don’t think your brother’s accident was anything more than that.”
“But surely after today’s shooting in the cemetery, the police will reconsider?” She stared hard at them both, her anger still fizzing.
“Perhaps.” Donner didn’t sound very hopeful. “I’ve been dealing with a Detective Diaz. It might help if you spoke with him.”
“I’d very much like to do that, I’ll just get my phone. It’s in the bedroom.”
“Use mine,” offered Donner. “I have Detective Diaz’s direct number in my contacts.” He handed her his cell. “He’s the officer in charge of your brother’s case.”
“That’s not who I spoke to when I identified his body,” said Abby.
“There are many layers there at the department,” reassured Donner. “We’ll step outside, if you’d like some privacy.”
“No, I’ll go.” She stood and walked barefooted onto the balcony that overlooked the city.
AS SOON AS SHE WAS OUT OF earshot, Donner turned to Shaun. “You’re sure you’ve got this under control? She can’t be left alone.”
Shaun nodded. “Of course. Though I want to know what the devil happened in the cemetery. That was insanity.”
Donner shrugged. “I agree but I don’t know if even this will convince Diaz to investigate Jason’s death as anything more than an accident. I have no idea what he’ll say about this latest incident but it will definitely be better coming from her than me. He already thinks I control too much.”
Shaun raised an eyebrow. “You don’t say?”
Abigail returned from the balcony a few moments later, shaking her head in confusion. The angry look on her face told Shaun exactly how the conversation had gone.
“Diaz says there’s been quite a bit of recent gang-related activity in the area around the cemetery. He thinks that’s what happened and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s sending out an officer to investigate at the cemetery, but he doesn’t think the shooting is in any way related to Jason’s accident.”
She handed Donner’s phone back to him. “I don’t like this,” she mumbled.
Shaun started to say something but Donner spoke first, pushing the advantage like the business shark he was. “Will you let Zip Tech help? We can offer you protection that no one else can. And if you help us find the file, you can resolve the situation for all of us at the same time.”
“I don’t want to but I don’t see that I have much of a choice. Tell me why I should help you besides the fact that you’re offering protection as a kind of blackmail?” she asked. “If I can even locate the upgrades how do I know that will make the attacks end?”
Shaun spoke up. “There are no guarantees. But Abigail, I’m certain the shooting in the cemetery was related to your brother’s file. I’m also certain that someone has already searched your brother’s home without you knowing it.”
“Someone besides Zip Tech? Sounds like there should be a revolving door on Jason’s condo.” She sounded angry and he couldn’t blame her. She had to be scared and completely exhausted at this point.
Unfortunately that was exactly how he needed her. He didn’t want her thinking she could take care of herself alone. And since she didn’t appear to know anyone else in town, he had to make himself indispensable. Still, it was obvious she didn’t trust Donner and right now the jury was still out on how she felt about him. It wouldn’t be easy to bring her around—and would it actually pay off in the end?
The biggest question was did she even know her brother’s computer password?
Either way, she was clearly too upset with Donner right now to share any information she might have. Shaun signaled for his boss to leave, and Donner stood to walk out. He’d given his explanations, as unwelcome as they were, and was leaving Shaun to deal with the consequences. That was his job, after all.
“Abby, regardless of what you decide to do, I think it best if you let Shaun stay. He won’t let anything happen to you. This is what he does.”
Donner’s hand was on the doorknob but Shaun could tell Abigail wasn’t buying it. And Shaun was staying out of it until Michael Donner was on his way. He could tell she was on the verge of throwing something at his boss’s head whether Donner realized it or not.
“I didn’t ask for your help,” she said to Donner’s retreating back.
He was halfway out the door but snapped around to answer. “No, you didn’t. But I’m giving it anyway. Please, let Shaun look after you. No matter what you think of me, I’m not burying two Trevors in one week. I won’t be put in that position.” Then he was gone, closing the door behind him with a barely audible click.
She turned on Shaun as the door closed. “How long is this suite paid for?”
“It’s reserved for the entire week.”
“I’ll stay tonight. Alone. I don’t want you here. I’m fine by myself. I want Zip Tech out of my life.”
