Electricity sparks through the agents. There are a few whoops, a few muttered oaths of surprise, one or two low whistles. Everyone knows what this means.
“Get it on disk,” O’Doul says instantly to Chan. “See if we can get any hits in the database.” To the other agents, O’Doul says, “Everybody get on it. I want to know if we’ve got something ASAP.”
In a daze, I copy the report to a thumb drive and hand it over to Chan. He bolts over to his computer station and proceeds to run a virus scan on the thumb drive. When that comes up clear, he uploads the report to the FBI’s system. The other agents head back to their computers as well, all thoughts of food abandoned.
This is big. Bigger than big. The footprint of S?ren’s malware can now be compared to a million different fragments of software gained from investigations into various computer crimes conducted by government agencies all over the world.
Whatever else S?ren has been up to, the FBI will now be able to discover.
Finally!
“What are the other reports?” asks Connor, still behind me. I turn and look up at him.
“All kinds of digital artifacts from his system. RAM data. Cross-drive analysis—”
“His location?”
There’s something scary in his eyes I’ve never seen before. Something deadly. It’s like I’m looking at another person. He’s wearing the flat, killer gaze of a jihadist.
“If we’re lucky…yes.”
“Thank you for your help, Miss West,” says O’Doul.
I glance at him and notice he’s sweating. His eyes are overly bright.
“Oh. You’re welcome. But we still have a lot of work—”
“Step aside.”
Caught off guard, I blink. “Excuse me?”
“The information on your system is crime scene evidence. Step aside, please.”
It takes a second for me to comprehend him. When I do, I jump to my feet, spin around, and hold my arms out in a protective stance.
“You’re not touching her!” I shout.
“Whoa, whoa,” says Ryan, confused. “Her who?”
“My computer!”
Connor is still wearing his serial killer look. He says calmly, “You must’ve known this would happen, Tabby.”
I look at him, my heart beating wildly in my chest. “Connor. No. Please. Tell him no.”
“It’s not his decision,” answers O’Doul. “And anyway, he’s right. Did you think we would just let you walk away with all this information? We’re the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miss West. You might play by your own rules, but so do we.” His smile is a little apologetic. “And our rules say that your system and everything on it now belongs to us. We’ll take it from here.”
I say vehemently, “Touch my computer and I’ll break your face!”
While O’Doul looks at the ceiling, Ryan tries to reason with me. “C’mon now, Tabby, it’s just a computer.”
“It’s my life!”
“Well that’s just pathetic,” says Rodriguez, smiling broadly at me from his chair across the room.
I snatch up a stapler someone has left on my desk and hurl it at him. It hits him square in the forehead.
He squawks, covers his face with his hands, jerks out of his chair, and promptly trips over his own feet. He crashes to the floor, howling. “You crazy bitch! I’m pressing charges!”
I’m so furious, I can’t even speak. I don’t know where to look or what to do. They’re going to confiscate my computer! I have half a mind to yank Connor’s gun from that stupid holster at his waist and start randomly shooting.
“Not sure you want to press charges against the person who just handed us the biggest score I’ve seen in my time on this job,” says Chan, staring in shock at his computer screen.
Everyone stops what they’re doing and looks at him.
O’Doul strides over to Chan’s workstation. “What’ve you got?”
Agent Chan says somberly, “Two dozen hits, sir. So far.”
“Show me.”
Agent Chan points at his monitor. “Shellshock, 2014. The huge slave botnet that took over the Department of Defense.” He scrolls through several more screens and stops to point out something else. “GhostClick, 2013. Millions of computers infected with a surveillance virus.” Another scroll, another point. “The attack on the Chinese central bank last year that put their economy into a tailspin and almost crashed their stock market.”
“Jesus,” mutters O’Doul. “We hit the mother lode.” He flicks me an inscrutable look.
“The hack on Heathrow airport in September that shut down air traffic control for four days. The Ukraine power grid attack last month. The list goes on.” Chan glances up at O’Doul and then over at me. “This guy’s everywhere.”
The room has gone silent. Even Rodriguez has stopped his bitching and is simply kneeling on the floor with his hand cradling his forehead, gaping at Agent Chan.
Into the stillness, Connor says, “Open the location file.”
I make a move to sit down at my workstation, but Connor moves faster than I do. He’s in front of me before I’ve taken two steps, holding out his hand to stop me. “Let Chan do it.”