The Special Agent Jana Baker Spy-Thriller Series

Virus of Destruction

18

Virus of Destruction

Office of the CEO.

Jeffrey sat in a chair in front of Rune Dima’s desk and smiled.

“It’s in place,” he said. “The software build containing the virus was uploaded to the cloud environment servers an hour ago. It will take a little while to filter down to all the customer’s systems. An admin at each location will need to first log in to their environment. After that, the virus acts like a Trojan horse. We’ll have complete autonomy at that point.”

“Brilliant work, Jeffrey, really. You might be a cocky son of a b***h, but I have to hand it to you, this is going to be unbelievable.”

“Cocky? Oh, come on, cousin. I’m not cocky, I’m confident.”

Rune shook his head and laughed. “You think you’re Allah’s gift to women, right? You’re cocky.”

Jeffrey joined in laughing. “Well, women do adore me.”

“I think I’m going to puke,” Rune said as he looked out the wall of windows toward an approaching thunderstorm. “What’s the update on our investments? Are all the funds in place?”

“Cousin, how you doubt me. Yes, all the funds have been dispersed to banks across the globe. And eighty percent of our planned transactions have already been executed. We now own more oil futures contracts than the Saudi government.”

Rune leaned forward in his chair. “How about our paper trail? After we carry out the attack, will there be any way for authorities to track this back to us?”

“You underestimate me, cousin,” Jeffrey said as he stood and walked to the bank of windows. “We’ve set up so many shell corporations and offshore accounts, they’ll never weave their way through.”

Rune leveled a stern gaze. “Is that right? Then what happened to John Cameron?”

“John Cam . . . oh, you mean the Securities and Exchange Commission investigator that had a recent car accident on the turnpike?” Jeffrey said through a grin. “Is that the John Cameron you mean?”

“You killed him, didn’t you?”

“Accidents happen, cousin. And what more fitting end to an investigator that had gotten too nosy. He was a liability.”

“I knew it,” Rune said as he squared off in front of Jeffrey. “You were careless, weren’t you? The SEC had gotten suspicious. I told you to spread out your stock transactions so you wouldn’t raise attention. But you wouldn’t listen.”

“The purchases had to be made,” Jeffrey snapped. “I told that little b***h to spread her buys across the different institutional accounts slowly. But when I looked at her transactions, she had placed too many buy orders with the same institution in a row. When I confronted her about it, she started asking questions. Kept spouting off about how this purchasing practice was highly unusual.”

“Is Jana Baker the only one involved in the actual transactions?”

“Yes, of course. Do you think I’m stupid?”

“So,” Rune said, “the intern starts making purchases at the same institution too many times in a row and that causes a red flag to trip at the SEC. So now the Securities and Exchange Commission puts eyes on us and that puts the entire jihad in jeopardy. Why were you not monitoring her more closely? Why were you not auditing her buys two or three times a day, for that matter? In fact, what makes you think we can trust her at all? What if she is working with the SEC on this? Did you ever think of that?”

Jeffrey poked a sharp finger into his cousin’s shoulder. “You hired the little cunt. You hired her and knew what we had planned. Is she working with the SEC, you ask? Not a chance. I had been watching the SEC investigator, even listening in on his office phone calls. I had him tailed. He had no contact with Jana Baker or anyone else in this company. As you well know, we have a contact inside the walls of the SEC, and he was most effective in helping me. John Cameron was the only person in the entire organization that had suspicions about Petrolsoft and now he is dead.”

“So you’ve tied off all the loose ends? Is that what you are saying?”

“Rune, you know as well as I do that no matter what intern we hired, that person would have too much information. When we flip the switch and this operation swings into full gear, she is our one remaining liability. Are all the loose ends tied off? No, not yet.”

“So you intend to kill her?”

Jeffrey smirked. “Of course, what did you think we were going to do? Just walk out of the office and let federal authorities find her and use her as a material witness against our cause? No, she cannot survive.”

“You are a coldhearted son of a b***h, Jeffrey. Do you know that? When do you intend to do it?”

“We still have twenty percent of our investments to make. It’s a full-time job, and she’s gotten good at it. Besides, I have other plans for her.”

“Other plans?” Rune said as he crossed his arms. “And what might those be?”

“She has taken a bit of a liking to me. I have invited her up to my apartment. You know, for cocktails?”

“Cocktails? You make me sick, you know that?”

“Rune, you have become too Americanized. You have lost your path from the old ways. If you and I had stayed in our homeland of Syria, you would not be speaking like this. You would be patting me on the back and laughing at the way I intend to use her. A woman, just a woman. Women are meant for one thing cousin, and you and I know what that is. It is just that you have forgotten.”

“Don’t tell me I’ve become Americanized.” He spat the words like venom. “I am a jihadist, and a jihadist to the core. But I am more focused than you are. I am focused on targets, governments, institutions, or people that represent all that is evil and wrong with this filthy Christian nation. You, however, believe anyone in your sight is fair game, collateral damage no matter whether they were part of our target or not. I can see the lust in your eyes. Drug her, rape her, kill her, then dispose of the body. Am I right? You know what I am starting to wonder, Jeffrey? Whether it is you that is the liability.”

Jeffrey jammed his hands into Rune and shoved him back. “Don’t get cocky with me, cousin. Al-Jawary will be none too pleased to find you are growing beyond his control, growing beyond my control. I’d hate for an accident to happen to you.”

Rune started to launch at him, but stopped himself short. “You just get the job done, Jeffrey. Finish all of our financial transactions, tie off all the loose ends. But do it in such a way that no one knows. Now get out of my office.”