Web of Deceit

by Susan Sleeman

  Sulyard suddenly ended his conversation with Kait and Nina and clapped his hands. He made eye contact with Sam. “Briefing starts in five. If your people are here, great. If not, we’ll start without them.”

  Sam lifted his shoulders in a whatever-you-say shrug, but the man’s dictatorial behavior put Sam on edge. The guy looked as haughty as he sounded. He wore a crisp white shirt, power tie, and a Brooks Brothers suit that would cost at least a week’s salary for Sam. Sulyard’s black wingtips were polished to a sheen, his head shaved, his blue eyes icy, and his expression self-important.

  He pivoted toward the door where Sam’s co-workers made a noisy entrance. Lieutenant Vance, along with long-term detectives Frank Yates, George Adams, and Olivia Lee, plus criminalist Dane, stepped into the room and headed straight for Sam, completely ignoring Sulyard. He didn’t seem too happy about the snub, but he’d have to deal. Vance was a force to be reckoned with, too.

  Vance perused the whiteboard then tipped his head at it. “They fill you in on any details yet?”

  “Just that Kozlov was a hacker who Rhodes killed to take over his business.”

  Yates hitched his pants up on his beer belly and looked around the room. “I don’t like this.”

  Vance’s high forehead furrowed, accentuating lines and creases earned on the job. “Meaning what, exactly?”

  “Meaning all this hacking business.” Yates mocked a shudder. “Give me a real case where I can see the evidence and talk to real people. Not this shadowy online stuff without a face.”

  Vance looked at the board again and stroked his perfectly trimmed mustache. “Granted, we’re behind the eight ball here, but let’s gather as much information as possible this morning, and take it back to our tech department. I have them on standby for the assist.” Vance plastered a fake smile on his face. “I’ll say hello to Sulyard, and then we’ll get started.”

  Sam knew that would take a few minutes, so he made himself comfortable in a thickly padded chair, and the rest of his team joined him.

  Adams, looking uneasy and out of place, planted his elbows on the table. “Never worked a serial case before.”

  “This isn’t your typical serial case,” Sam said.

  “Right, this guy’s got some nerve,” Yates jumped in. “Never heard of a serial killer out and out giving his identity away.”

  Lee batted away a stray strand of hair that had escaped a clip. “Or it’s not him.”

  Sam shook his head. “It’s him.”

  “Maybe Rhodes is begging to get caught,” Dane suggested.

  “That’s a misconception many people have about serials,” Sam said. “It’s not like they want to get caught. They just figure that, after they get away with a few killings, they can’t be caught. That’s what causes them to get sloppy.”

  “Good.” Yates pounded a thick fist on the table. “That means Rhodes might have already gotten sloppy.”

  Dane pointed at the video screen still blue with Congdon’s message. “That from the virus he set off?”

  Sam nodded and ran down the timeline of events leading up to the blue screen for the others. “Anyone need further clarification before we begin?”

  “We’re good,” Adams said while Yates ground his teeth.

  A normal reaction for any murder investigation, but even more deserved when the killer committed some depraved act like cutting out a heart, and then threatened to commit another one. At least, a normal reaction for the homicide team.

  Not so normal for the geeks sitting across the table. The geek speak flying between them made Sam’s head feel like it might explode.

  “It’s showtime.” Yates leaned back in his chair and jabbed a thumb at their lieutenant.

  Vance, along with Kait, Nina, and Sulyard, crossed the room. Nina and Kait sat near the geek trio, and Vance took a seat next to Sam.

  Sulyard stood at the head of the table. “For those who don’t know, I’m Rolland Sulyard, one of the Assistant Special Agents in Charge of this office. Before I get to the other team introductions, I’d like to say a word.” He stood taller. “Law enforcement attracts individuals with strong personalities.”

  “Yeah, man,” Yates said plugging his nose. “Some stronger than others.”

  Sulyard frowned at Yates who clamped his mouth shut. “A strong personality is great for our line of work, but on a joint task force, it’s best if we all check our egos at the door. The only person who’ll be served by battles of will is Fenton Rhodes, and none of us want him to win.”

  Sulyard nodded at Vance who introduced their team. Sulyard followed suit, then spun and tapped a marker on Congdon’s whiteboard. “Vance will head up the local team, while I’ll take charge for the Bureau.”

  “Meaning what, exactly?” Yates asked skeptically.

  Sam wondered the same thing as it was odd for an ASAC or a lieutenant to take lead on an investigation when they had so many supervisory duties.

  “Meaning this case is top priority for both agencies, and Vance and I will lead the charge. That includes talking to the media. We can hope news of Rhodes’s trophy-taking doesn’t get out, but if it does, the media will beat down our door. All communications go through Vance or me. Is that clear?”

  The group nodded.

  “All data will be compiled in this office,” Sulyard went on. “Our analysts will review and collate the incoming information on a timely basis, then provide regular reports allowing us to assign leads. Which means, a daily report by all involved and any strong leads reported immediately.”

  Vance eyed Yates. “That includes you, Yates.”

  He grumbled his acknowledgement.

  “Additionally,” Sulyard said, “Murdock will serve as lead investigator on the murder, focusing on Rhodes with assistance provided by us when he requests it. Detective Lee will run a parallel murder investigation looking for any other possible suspects.”

  “Other suspects.” Kait’s eyes widened. “Fenton all but admitted he killed Congdon.”

  “Without a confession or hard evidence proving Rhodes’s guilt, we’d be negligent if we didn’t pursue all possibilities,” Vance said.

  “Please.” Kait fired a terse look at Vance. “I know how to run an investigation. I just hate to see any resources diverted to what is likely a dead end.”

  “Be that as it may, we will proceed as planned.” Sulyard eyed Kait, and Sam knew that, with her emotional attachment to Rhodes, she was treading on thin ice with her supervisor. “Moving on. The computers will remain our property and,” he nodded at Nina, “Agent Brandt will serve as the official case agent. She will coordinate our effort to track Rhodes’s online movements as well as find any connection between Congdon and Kozlov.”

  Sam saw Kait’s jaw clench. She obviously wasn’t pleased Sulyard had made Nina lead on this case, but Kait was too close to the situation to be in charge, and Sam agreed with Sulyard’s decision. He didn’t agree with the last statement though.

  “Excuse me,” he said. “But it seems to me, Congdon’s murder is all about revenging his wife’s death. His transmission made sure Kait would show up on scene, and the message on the blue screen of death proves he wants her to pay. And the MO for Congdon’s death has no correlation to Kozlov. Of course, I don’t pretend to understand Rhodes’s motives for killing Kozlov, so maybe you know something we don’t, and it’s not a waste of time and resources trying to connect Congdon to Kozlov.”

  “As I said earlier,”—Sulyard narrowed his eyes—“we need to explore every avenue.”

  “Plus, you have these computer nerds sitting around twiddling their thumbs anyway.” Yates’s tone was filled with sarcasm as he eyed the geeks. “Might as well give ’em something to do.”

  “I’m sure by the time this case wraps up, you’ll be most happy we’ve included our very qualified analysts in the inv
estigation.” A hint of Nina’s warm accent hid her displeasure with Yates, but Sam saw it in her eyes.

  Sam didn’t like Yates’s behavior either. For the most part, there was great cooperation between PPB and the local FBI office, but Yates was what they called an OG. Old guys often operate as they had in the past, carrying an antagonistic attitude toward the Bureau. Sam knew Vance had counseled Yates about it, and yet, he couldn’t leave the past in the past. If he didn’t have such a high closure rate on his homicide cases, Sam suspected Vance would let Yates go.

  Sulyard tapped a stack of folders. “Rhodes’s profile from our earlier case. Take one when you leave, but for now, Knight will provide a brief intro to Rhodes’s personality.”

  Kait sat up higher and seemed to organize her thoughts before starting. “Fenton’s meticulously clean. Cleans to clear his head. He claimed this tendency came from his time in the Navy, but I suspect it came from his childhood. His mother ran off when he was a preschooler, and his father was a taskmaster. He grew up in a working-class neighborhood. When I visited his father three years ago, I found their house rundown but spotless. Fenton joined the military right out of high school to get out from under his father’s control, and when I spoke to his father, he said he hadn’t heard from Fenton since he took off—and he wasn’t broken up about it.”

  “So he probably has daddy issues,” Yates mumbled, as if he were processing this bit of news.

  “Yes, but it doesn’t seem to control him. At least, not that he let on. Of course, he could have hidden it like everything else he kept from our family. He’s cunning and manipulative. That he hides very well. You know there’s something off about him, but you can’t put your finger on it. I chalked it up to just being odd.”

  Yates snorted. “Whatdcha expect? He’s a geek, after all.”

  The geek trio glared at Yates, but Kait continued. “He’s not odd in the way you seem to think of all of us.” She smiled at her fellow geeks. “In hindsight, I can see he was always acting, hiding his methodical and calculating personality under a charming, charismatic veneer and we couldn’t help but like him.”

  “So what motivates him?” Sam asked.

  “He likes to be in control and be the best at what he does. Has to win at everything. He also likes to live the good life. Designer clothes. Expensive restaurants and wines. That kind of thing. Like, if he owns the best, that means he is the best.” Kait paused and let her gaze move around the group. “In my opinion, there’s only one thing that keeps him going on a daily basis. Money, and he’ll never have enough. So I believe tracking his bot business is as viable a way to hunt him down as is pursuing the revenge aspect.”

  “See, that’s where you lost me,” Sam admitted. “The whole bot thingy. Street crimes I understand. Agent Knight explained bots to me, but I still don’t see how that translates into income.”

  Sulyard cast an appraising look at Sam and seemed to appreciate his honesty. His lieutenant, not so much. He just looked upset about being in fed territory where one of his men admitted ignorance on any subject.

  “It’s all a matter of numbers.” Sulyard planted his palms on the table, but kept his shoulders pinned back in way only a former military man would do. “Three years ago when we were set to arrest Rhodes, he controlled around a million computers and installed nearly thirty different malicious programs on them. The largest bot network by far. He used the bots in a variety of moneymaking schemes that included stealing accounts and passwords, and renting out the bots to other hackers to use in conducting spam and phishing campaigns.”

  Sam groaned. “If it’s not too much to ask, can you translate that into English, please? I mean, how’s it even possible to remotely control other people’s computers without their permission?”

  Nina opened her mouth to answer, but Sulyard nodded at Kait. “Knight, you’re the best one to communicate this in lay terms.”

  “Glad to.” Kait got up and took the marker from Sulyard as he sat. All eyes were on her, yet she seemed comfortable and relaxed as if she did this all the time. “With all the security breaches in retail stores and banks of late, you’ve all heard about hackers and know they illegally break into computer networks, right?”

  A murmur of agreement traveled around the table.

  “In the past, hackers set out to cause computers to crash. This was more of a malicious attack that caused companies and individuals money to rectify the problem, but that’s changed. Now, in addition to hacking these big companies, they also install software on the average Internet user’s computer without the owner’s knowledge, then they use the software to earn money.”

  “As Murdock asked, how is that even possible?” Yates sounded bored as he leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head.

  At the whiteboard, Kait drew a rudimentary sketch of a house with a front door standing open. “I’d like you to think of the Internet as a house. Houses contain valuables and people needing to be protected. Your computer’s the same. Passwords for financial accounts such as banks, credit cards, etcetera, are stored on your computer’s hard drive and need to be protected. So you have to lock down a computer just like you’d lock your house to keep others from breaking in and stealing the actual credit cards. As police officers, you’d never leave your door wide open, right?”

  She got a few half-hearted nods from Sam’s co-workers.

  “And if someone came to your door, you’d look out the peephole before you opened it.”

  Yates dropped his arms and started at Kait. “What’s that got to do with those bot things?”

  “If you’ll be patient, Detective, I’m getting to that.” Her soft tone mellowed Yates’s antagonistic look. “So there’s a stranger at your door. Before opening it, you’d ask a few questions to be sure it’s safe.”

  “Or I’d open it and be sure the dude sees my gun.” Yates elbowed his partner in the ribs, and Sam couldn’t help but feel sorry for Kait. Yates didn’t think highly of women in law enforcement, but Kait didn’t seem to notice. Or maybe she was used to this kind of heckling.

  She just smiled and waited until she had their attention again. “Okay, so maybe you wouldn’t check first, but say you have a teenaged daughter. Would you want her to open the door for anyone without asking a question?”

  Yates sobered. “Nah. Not with all the lowlifes out there.”

  “Exactly. The same thing is true of the Internet. There are a lot of lowlifes there, too, but they’re even more of a threat because you can’t see them. Every time you connect to the Internet, it’s like opening the door to allow all of them to access your computer.” She tapped her marker on the whiteboard. “In this example, we asked the person physically standing outside our house a question before opening the door. He wasn’t automatically allowed in. The door served as a wall between us, and, based on his answer, we decided if we wanted to open it. But the minute you connect to the Internet, a door to your computer flies open and, unless you put the right safety measures—firewalls, antivirus programs and the like—in place, others can access your computer. Just like an unprotected house is tempting to a thief, an unprotected computer is tempting to a hacker.”

  She paused and made eye contact with each of the PPB team members, ending with Sam. She lingered a fraction longer, and he caught the enthusiasm for her subject. She obviously loved her work. And she was good at it. Making something complicated easy to understand.

  “And from there, they can control it?” Sam asked.

  She nodded. “Gaining access to your computer allows them to download a program that works in the background, running undetected, but performs basic instructions that allow the hacker to earn money. There are many more ways for them to make money with your computer beyond what ASAC Sulyard said, but it’s not relevant at the moment so I won’t list them.”

  “So how do you stop them?” Lee asked.

&
nbsp; “If you have a firewall installed, it will block some of the hackers, but they know how to get around firewalls quite easily. You—”

  Yates snorted loudly. “I don’t buy it. My kids and I have been on the web for years, and nothing bad has happened to us.”

  Kait raised her eyebrow and settled a hand on her hip. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course, I’m sure. Our computers run just fine.”

  “But is the computer really fine, or have your kids allowed someone like Fenton Rhodes to take control of their machine?”

  Yates snapped his chair forward. “Hey, I’m not a complete computer novice like Sam here. I might be an OG, but I do all the things I’m supposed to do. I have one of those firewalls you mentioned and an antivirus program that I update regularly. And I do those dumb Windows updates, too. So I’m protected.”

  “Good.” Kait smiled. “That’s a great start. But what about thinking before clicking on a link on the Internet that downloads something to your machine? Or opening an attachment or link in an e-mail from someone you don’t know? Or, if you have a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, logging onto an unsecured network in a coffee shop? How about downloading pirated music or books? Have you or your kids done that?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe. I guess.”

  “And what about ensuring that your browser—Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.—is the current version? Do you update them regularly?”

  He scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I just get one set up the way I like it, and then they change it.”

  Mumbled agreement came from the PPB staff, bringing scathing stares from the geeks.

  “If you want your computer to be vulnerable to attack, keep using that old browser,” Kait went on despite the charged atmosphere in the room. “They have known security vulnerabilities that hackers love to exploit.”

  “That’s freakin’ impossible.” Yates’s voice erupted from his mouth. “I’d know if that was happening on my computer.”

  “Are you sure?”