DeathWeb (Fox Meridian Book 3) (29 page)

Fox considered the statement for a second. ‘Well, damn. I thought I’d just… pushed that aside. No problem. Just one of those things.’

‘You are quite resilient, Fox, but I don’t think you are quite
that
resilient.’

‘Apparently not. I’m going to have to go fuck a blonde guy now. Has to be done.’

Kit raised an eyebrow. ‘You are attempting to alleviate your discomfort with humour.’

‘Damn right.’ Fox sank the rest of her wine. ‘I’m going to bed. Could you get Belle to send me up a mild tranq? I doubt I’ll sleep otherwise. With a bit of luck, tomorrow we’ll have some results from Marie’s implant and I can concentrate on that.’

Kit gave a nod, her lips curling into a grin. ‘Should I begin compiling a list of potential blonde partners for you?’

Fox got to her feet. ‘Yeah, line them up outside the bedroom. I’ll hold auditions.’

7
^th
July.

‘We got nothing?’ Fox asked, not really believing it, but that was what Jackson seemed to be saying.

‘No, we got a lot of positive negatives,’ Jackson replied.

‘Poppa,’ Terri said, ‘even I think that sounds overly obtuse.’

‘Travis?’ Jackson said, indicating the man standing nearby looking pensive.

Travis was a computer nerd who Jackson seemed to entrust with a lot of work, which indicated to Fox that he was exceptionally confident in the man. If sheer geekiness was anything to go by, Travis had skill in spades. Short dark hair, slightly watery grey eyes, a long nose which begged for a pair of thick glasses, and a very slim build entirely lacking in muscle tone. He appeared to habitually wear a lab coat, and today it was over the top of a grey skinsuit which did absolutely nothing for him. You wondered on seeing him whether he had ever had a girlfriend.

‘We found nothing in Miss Shaftsbury’s email and direct messages. With the findings of the NAPA technicians, we can rule out viral infection, Trojans, and worms. We have managed, with some effort, to regain administrative control of Miss Shaftsbury’s implant. The LWOS system had managed to place itself in a position of being the sole administrative authority, which should be impossible. We managed to transfer the entire program out to an isolated test rig and we are still working on attempting to gain active control of the software. Miss Shaftsbury is safe from it, however.’

‘I gave Marie one of our latest VA programs,’ Terri put in. ‘She never wants to see LWOS ever again. I don’t think she even wants to download the LifeWear interface app at this point, but half her life is in there. I suggested, if she’s still reluctant, that she has Belle transfer the data she needs into her VA databases.’

‘Can’t say I blame her,’ Fox replied. ‘Mister Travis, to me it sounds like you’ve ruled out most of the potential ways her LWOS program could be compromised.’

‘Uh, just Travis, Miss Meridian. Everyone just calls me Travis. What we have not ruled out is a bug in the software or a direct hack. Given that this seems to be a specific attempt to attack Miss Shaftsbury, and the other victims, of course, a bug would not seem to meet the criteria.’

‘A vulnerability, however,’ Jackson said, ‘is another matter. More than that, in fact, given the way the software behaved. Someone has hacked Marie’s LWOS and caused it to, essentially, assume complete control of her implant. It could have done almost anything.’

‘Like masking her attacker from her vision field?’ Fox asked.

‘Not entirely impossible. Removing them entirely is unlikely, but presenting an image which does not appear threatening could be done.’

Fox pursed her lips. ‘It’s quite possible that he knew he’d been made as soon as I stopped Marie. Kit, were all the victims LWOS users with implants?’

‘All but one,’ Kit replied. ‘Patricia Randall had an inherited condition, a form of Cyber-Rejection Syndrome. She was unable to use an implant, but she was a heavy user of wearable computers.’

‘I can’t help but think that there’s a reason she was the first victim. Something about her or August.’

‘Mister August was on the board of LifeWeb at one time,’ Kit stated. ‘Perhaps there is a connection there.’

‘He was a non-executive board member,’ Jackson said. ‘I recall he resigned not long after the death of his granddaughter. It’s possible that someone was attempting to force that, but it seems a rather indirect route.’

‘Certainly does,’ Fox agreed, ‘but it’s interesting. Kit, get me another interview with August. If nothing else, he may be willing to provide some insight into the company.’

~~~

‘I’ve heard about the latest death, of course,’ August said as Fox settled into a seat in his office.

‘Yes,’ Fox said. ‘Our guy is back in New York and we’ve isolated part of his operating method. He hacks into the LWOS system on his victims’ implants. MarTech is working on trying to find out how. The killer went after a friend of mine. I happened to be out with her and that stopped him. And we got the hacked software to examine.’

‘A lucky break. LWOS, you say? Patricia did not use it, but she used LifeWear. I assume you know that I was on the board of LifeWeb?’

‘I did. It’s my main reason for coming to see you. What can you tell me about them?’

August sat back in his large chair. ‘A company bogged down by the vision of one man. Oh, they have a successful marketing policy. Like a number of companies before them, they had their users hooked on buying the latest LifeWear product as soon as it came out. There are a few advantages given the nature of implants and wearables. The LifeWear AI is more capable than the LWOS one, having a larger computer to execute on. However, R. A. Grant preferred to hobble LWOS in favour of wearable technology. He suffers from a similar problem to me. His body rejects implanted technologies more than most and he formed a prejudice against them.’

‘I understand he retired recently.’

‘He was being pushed into a position where he could do less damage to the future of the company prior to that. The official line was that he was moving to more of an advisory role. There was some worry over his removal and the stock prices. Personally, I felt he could not go fast enough, but Dandridge had something of an outdated sense of loyalty. Grant was not just hobbling LWOS: he was hobbling the company.’

‘When was this?’

‘Spring of fifty-six. I resigned the following January to concentrate on… other projects. I’m afraid that I cannot be much help with current developments in LifeWeb. Frankly, I lost all interest in everything except security and finding Patricia’s killer. You believe there may be a connection?’

‘I believe that there’s a reason that your granddaughter was selected as the first victim, and I believe that LifeWeb’s software has some form of vulnerability which allows the killer to assume control of LWOS. An insider might know that and you were on the board. You possibly know the killer, Mister August.’

‘If there is a vulnerability in that software, the board knew nothing of it while I was there. However… Look at R. A. Grant. Never liked the man. There was something… dark about him.’

‘Did he like you?’

‘I don’t think R. A. liked anyone, Miss Meridian, except Leonard Dandridge and
that
is only a possibility.’

~~~

‘Reginald Alan Grant,’ Kit said, ‘age sixty-four, no known relatives, no relationships since a single girlfriend in his twenties.’ Fox was sitting in the virtual murder room since Kit had already compiled a fair amount of information there regarding their current subject and was just adding to it now.

‘
No
personal relationships for forty years?’

‘Unless you count his personal assistant. Her name is Hannah. He apparently designed and wrote her software himself and had a custom, fully functional gynoid body constructed for her. There have been a number of rumours suggesting that his relationship with her is distinctly personal, but Mister Grant is a very private man. No one has ever encountered anything suggesting a physical relationship. Or no one has done so and told about it.’

Fox examined the images of the synthetically happy couple. Kit had a head and shoulders shot of Grant taken from a company web page, and there was an image of them together, taken by someone at a function. He looked fit, despite his age. Not a magnificent figure by any means, but well-proportioned with light muscle which looked natural. He was attractive, but not overly so. His short hair was black with a hint of grey at the temples. Someone had done a little rejuvenation work on him at some point. His face was aged, but not to the extent of sixty-four years of life. There was something about the blue eyes she did not like, but in a publicity shot it was hard to tell.

‘Yeah,’ Fox said, ‘that is a frame built for sex. If he’s not bumping hips with his gynoid, there’s something wrong with him or he prefers men, I guess, but then he’d have a male model.’

Hannah had the straight-faced look of a bored supermodel. Her skin was tanned, and long black hair fell to her very large breasts. Her waist was thinner than nature generally provided and her legs were long. She was beautiful, but it was all a little artificial. Her eyes were a little bigger than they should have been, and her wide mouth had deeply curved, deep red, pouting lips.

‘But probably a class three,’ Kit said. ‘She has the same flat expression in every picture I could find of her. Of course, Mister Grant’s range of expression seems somewhat limited if you take it from his public appearances, which are few. He is a technical genius of some renown, but unlike Mister Martins, he never appears to publicise LifeWeb’s products.’

‘Charities? Interests?’

‘He is not known to patronise any charities, though he is, as I said, a very private man and may make donations secretly. His only known interests are computers and sociology.’

‘Married to his job. Loves his work. And then they took it away from him. I bet he didn’t plan to retire this soon, if ever.’

‘He appears to have gone quietly,’ Kit replied. ‘There have been no indications that he wished to stay on. Not even rumours of displeasure.’

‘Yes, but he’s a very private man. Private men brood rather than shouting from the rooftops. Has Cant had any luck getting anything out of LifeWeb?’

‘If he has, he has not reported it to us.’

‘Okay, get me an appointment to see Captain Deveraux. Maybe some international pressure will make them wake up.’

~~~

‘How is our favourite redhead?’ Fox asked. She watched Sam standing there, fully dressed even at home and avoiding her eyes.

‘Worried. Scared. She’s sleeping in my bed tonight. I’ve got the couch.’

‘Well, that’s kind of stupid.’ His eyes flicked up and then down again and Fox sighed. ‘Look, either you’ll have sex again or not. I kind of doubt it because the pair of you are acting like guilty schoolkids. But if you’re worried about it, then it means you’re still interested and she’d have to be braindead
not
to be interested in you. She was before I started with her.’

‘But you did start with her. I wasn’t… No, I found her interesting, but I don’t…’

‘Get the urge for recreational copulation.’

Sam actually looked pensive. ‘I wouldn’t put it that way, perhaps, but yes.’

‘Now you’re thinking that may have been an unwise policy? For fuck’s sake, sit down. You’re making me tired just looking at you.’

Settling onto the sofa gave him some time to consider his answer, and she knew he was taking it. ‘It wasn’t a policy,’ Sam said. ‘It was an inclination. One I very nearly ignored on a number of occasions with you. The subliminals in the club pushed me over the edge, but I admit that I am not sorry for having sex with Marie and I would not mind doing it again. I
am
sorry it happened the way it did. I did not want to hurt you, Fox.’

‘We’d have broken up. Neither of us were in this for the long haul. I talked it out with Kit and she had an interesting theory about why I suddenly fell for a girl. I was Marie’s first girl, but I think she’d have figured out that it was just a phase. Experimenting.’

‘You don’t think you should ask
her
whether that’s how she feels?’

‘I will. I wanted to know whether you wanted to continue with her before I did.’

‘I don’t think it’s my decision to–’

Fox held up a hand. ‘I can get over this. It’ll be easier if she has someone to turn to, but you need to talk it over with her if you’re going to get serious.’

‘Talk it over?’

‘You’re a pro, Sam. She knows it, but I doubt she’s thought about it. Certainly not what it means in a relationship.’

Frowning, Sam nodded. ‘In truth, I’ve never thought about it either. I’ve not had a personal relationship in… Since I moved to New York anyway.’

It was Fox’s turn to frown. ‘Fuck, Sam. Even if it doesn’t work out with Marie, you need a hobby.’

8
^th
July.

‘Captain Deveraux is a blonde,’ Kit said as Fox rode the elevator up the New York Tower.

‘Yes, he is,’ Fox agreed.

‘And attractive. Fit. Firmly muscled. Very masculine with just a hint of femininity about his features. A rather sensuous mouth, I think.’

‘Maybe you should date him.’

‘I was more thinking of you, and dating is not required, just… ah yes, the phrase was wildass sex.’

‘You know, this is taking the term
personal
assistant to a whole new level.’

‘I offer a full-service, um, service. That sounded better before I said it.’

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. Deveraux was standing there, waiting for her, a smile on his sensuous lips. ‘We must stop meeting like this,’ he said.

‘French accent,’ Kit said, humour in her voice. ‘Good sense of humour…’

Fox felt like she was tensing her jaw as she thought, ‘Cut it out, Kit,’ at her PA. Aloud she said, ‘Captain, you didn’t have to come and meet me.’

‘You always bring me such interesting things, and I was not busy,’ Deveraux replied. He waved her along with him, turning to walk to his office.

‘This is the same case. We just have some new information which we were hoping you could help us with.’