Alex Thompson believes that she has finally found the peace she’s been searching for.  Having left the U.S. Special Forces and settled in San Francisco, she has a job she loves.  Surrounded by children, this year she planned for things to be different.  But, as the bullets fly on an empty San Francisco street, everything changes.  Trying to uncover the reason behind an ex-boyfriend’s murder, Alex finds her caught up in the something that threatens not only her life but also the safety of the two people she has come to love.

Xian Liu is a global figure in the business world. A self-made man born in the southern countryside of China, he fought his way up from the streets of Hong Kong to become one of the leaders of East International, the world’s leading technology conglomerate. Still recovering from the death of his young wife, he turned to work instead of comforting his young son, Chou. Thrown together with Alex in a fight against an unknown enemy, Xian is about to rediscover the meaning of family and love only to find that everything he wants could disappear due to one man’s genius and another man’s vengeance.

 

Prologue

Be careful what you wish for…

Cold filtered air circulated around the African-American man sitting hunched over the flat screen monitor.

You might just get it…  Brian Scott tried to shut out the ghost of his mother’s voice as he stared at the numerical lines racing across the screen.  Sounds of keys tapping echoed over the backdrop of network servers, super computers, and telecom lines in the temperature-controlled room.  Isolated from the outside world, the main vault lay hidden beneath quarter of a mile underneath the earth.  Secured by concrete, steel, and level five security codes, it was the most protected area in the company.

He sat in the middle of the room, his Armani suit and Italian loafers covered by white surgical scrubs and plastic shoe covers.  Brian’s brown skin was a stark contrast to the whiteness of the mask partially covering his face.  His closely shaven head glistened under the florescent lighting.

Latex covered fingers impatiently tapped against the desk while he watched the calculation percentage slowly advance towards one hundred.  Beads of sweat gathered on his brow as the blue status line inched across the screen.

“Damn,” he muttered glancing at the platinum timepiece on his wrist.

The blinking lights of the rack servers continued to flash in asynchronous timing, unchanging and unaware of his tension.  As the load finished, Brian began furiously typing as the still video monitor snapped digital pictures of the room.  Slipping a disc out of his pocket, he inserted it into the computer and waited as the lasers began to burn the completed program.

Calmly pocketing the CD-ROM after the recording cycle ended, he made sure to delete all the records of his test session.  Taking a deep breath, he stood, strode over to the doorway, and then swiped his card to exit the room.  The door slid back revealing a small antechamber with another sealed steel door.

Brian waited until the opening behind him had closed before taking off the protective clothing and tossing it into the disposal chute.  After picking up his briefcase, he slid the ID card through the security reader, punched in the alphanumeric code and waited as the door began to cycle through its unlocking procedures.  Stepping out of the vault, he waved at a passing group of technicians.

“Is everything okay, Mr. Scott?”

He kept his expression relaxed as he turned to face Karl.  The balding Chief Manager of the Server Operations Unit looked up at him with an expression of half worry and half arrogance.  Recruited from M.I.T., Karl’s expertise in the realm of mathematics, computer science and engineering made him an expert in microchips and computer programming.  His life revolved around numbers and statistics, performance and his machines.

“Everything’s great, Karl,” he patted him on his shoulder.  “I just wanted to have a look at your new set-up.  I’m impressed with the number of E-10k servers you got in there.  The computing power alone is incredible.”  Brian stroked the man’s ego.

“I’m working with the other data centers around the world to create a link that could help us increase not only the processing speed but also allow for faster tracking, retrieval and storage.  Once that connection is made we’ll have one of the most powerful supercomputer networks in the world,” Karl bragged.

“Of course, you’re doing excellent work.  I’ll be sure to mention it in the board meeting this afternoon.”

Just as the manager began to open his mouth, the chirp of Brian’s handheld computer cut him off.

“Excuse me; I guess time just got away from me.  I’ve got to get to that meeting.”

He smiled at Karl and waved at the other scientists as he walked down the wide hall.

Entering into the transport area, he stepped into the waiting underground elevator to take him back to the head office.  In the semi-darkness of the tunnel, he stared out the window at the passing blue lights trying to focus on what was to come.  The enormity of his actions had yet to sink in.

 

My God I might actually pull this off.  He smiled automatically at the executive assistant as she personally escorted him into the boardroom.  Brian Scott had finally made it into the Big Leagues.  Yet, the smile which curved his lips had strings of bitter irony.  The release of this new technology was what he had fought long and hard for and now was about to throw it all away.  Brian never felt so free.  He pulled out his computer and began to input the location keys.  Hoping the backup would never be needed, he added an extra more personal note to the message.  One that if all went as expected, Alex would never read.

Taking care to extend the antenna, Brian hit the power button on his mobile phone.  Hitting the send key, he watched as the computer signaled its connection to the Internet and the completion of the upload of data to his personal web server.  Just as the connection ended, the double doors to the boardroom opened.  He barely spared a glance as members of the board and executives from across the firm entered the room.

He straightened his tie, then carefully shut his briefcase and placed it on the floor before turning to greet the CFO.

“Brian, I can’t wait to hear what you have to say about our new initiative.  I’ve been hearing rumors, you know.”

The game had started, he thought relaxing his taunt muscles.  “Well I’m here to give you the facts, sir.”  Brian smiled and began to execute the first play.

“Good, my boy.”

The CFO too busy thinking of the potential rise in stock price as soon as the press got wind of the meeting, didn’t notice the tightening of Brian’s grip on the seat after the man had patted him on the shoulder.  Brian smiled again; it was a grin that never reached his eyes.  He moved to the front of the room and stood by the window.  As the meeting participants mixed their drinks, he stared out at the city below.

Even when the sound of their voices began to fade to a murmur, Brian continued looking out the window.  He loved San Francisco with a passion; he’d grown up here and had planned to raise his own family somewhere on The Hill.  Yet, now, after all this time he would have to leave.  Letting the tension build in the nervous silence, he turned.  The sun had burned off the fog over the bay.  Its bright light bathed the room while leaving Brian in its shadow.  He looked into their eyes, making sure he had their complete attention.

“Gentleman, let me begin by thanking you for your patience and trust.  I realize that this has been a tense time for our company and the entire technology industry.  Things are in a state of flux right now and the competition is snapping at our heels.  The Internet has taken us to new heights in terms of revenue source and decreased expense, but we know that all good things must come to an end.”

Brian enjoyed watching the CFO’s cocky grin freeze on his face, the corners of his mouth tightened as he gripped the Monte Blanc pen in his left hand.

“The technology industry is under assault on both fronts.  On software side, Microsoft is fighting possible antitrust legislation in Europe.  On the hardware side, semiconductor manufacturers have been placed on a watch list as a national security concern.  The birth of the online age is upon us, and even in its infancy, there are abundant security fears.  You all saw how quickly corporations flee once a web host’s security is compromised.

“Hackers no longer need to break into a company’s Internet site to cripple it.  All they have to do is bombard the servers with useless data, fake emails, shadow traffic and it will bring the site to its knees.  What does that mean to corporations?”  He paused holding up one finger.  “Fact: if the consumer cannot transact his business when he or she wants to they’ll go somewhere else.

“If a customer places a transaction and it doesn’t complete, then we are liable.  The risks of Cyber computing are escalating.  As technology increases so will the threat of a security breach via external or internal channels.  Once a machine is linked with others, no matter where that data resides the entire system is vulnerable.”

Brian paused to take a sip of ice water from the glass in front of him before sparing a glance at his audience.  He had them in the palm of his hand.  “Members of the board, the United States government has its best and brightest working around the clock to secure its military and financial data.  They believe that the creation of the closed loop insular communications link is their only solution.  However, I’m here to tell you that not only is that impossible, but a mistake.

“In tomorrow morning’s Wall Street Journal, you will learn that the CIA’s computer system has recently been the target of a moderately successful infiltration attempt.  The CIA has access to the most powerful electronic defense systems, influence, and resources, yet they were infiltrated.  What does that say to our clients who trust us to keep criminals away from their internal information or secure transactions?  How do we instill trust in our clients?  What do we say?”

Brian hit the moment in full stride.  Taking two steps away from the window, he placed his hands on the back of the chair.  He let the tension build to its highest peak before putting them out of their misery.  Giving a practiced smile he continued, “We tell them that we have an active artificial intelligence security system, created to not only defend against intrusion but to seek and destroy the software of the intruder.”

It has been proven and documented by numerous studies that hackers always return to the scene of their crime.  The high felt by the hacker when he breaks through a firewall is the same as a drug abuser and the humiliation of not being able to get into the system is unparalleled.”

He waved his hand in a fluid motion, while lowering his voice.  “As they say try…try…try again.  I was given the task of finding a way to make our company internally and externally secure.  I not only felt the need to accomplish my task, but also to take it to another level.  A level unmatched by our competition.  We will not only be able to offer our corporate and government clients a safe web transaction hosting and information database service but we will issue a guarantee.  We will promise that if anyone comes after their information we will go after them and wipe them out.”  Brian picked up a sheet of white paper and balled it up in his hands.

“This new technology will not only seek the machine that is trying to hack into the system, but it will also destroy their system with a very powerful strain of the Melissa virus.  There is no place on the web or in the world, he can hide.  The program will use the intruder’s own code to track back and destroy him.  The virus is programmed to emulate and return to the source of the attack where it will infect the microprocessor, wipe the hard drive, and cripple the machine while recording the system registration information for our records.  Not only will be protecting our corporate clients, but we’ll be in the enviable position to aid the government in updating its threat assessment technology.”

The applause filled the boardroom.  Brain raised his hands indicating that he had yet to finish.  “This is a war and we will win.  The tests for the program were completed last week and were a hundred percent success.  Gentlemen, we will not beat the industry.  We will recreate it in our own image.”

Brain took his seat and leaned back in the leather chair.  He suppressed the urge to laugh as he watched an executive stand and address the room.  “Members of the Board, I think I speak for all of us when I say that Brian has done an excellent job.”

Brian shook his head.  If only you knew.

 

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