Antivirus (The Horde Series Book 1)

by Michael Koogler

  Five minutes later, he followed her out, clad in old sweats and pressing a cold compress to his forehead. Two police officers were seated on the couch in his living room, his wife talking quietly with them. As he walked into the living room, they both stood, offering greetings and handshakes.

  “Officer Garrison,” the first officer introduced himself. “Are you all right, Mister Sherrard?”

  “Other than a splitting headache, I’m fine,” Jon answered grumpily.

  “Well, we won’t keep you long, Mister Sherrard,” Garrison said. “We just have a few questions we’d like to ask you.”

  “About what?” he pressed.

  “Mister Sherrard, you and your wife are familiar with the Edwards’, right? Perry and Bethany?”

  “Yeah,” he answered darkly, looking quickly at his wife. Her face was a mask and he knew she was very interested in how he answered the questions. “Perry was a friend of mind, but we’ve already been through this whole investigation thing with Agent Alders of Homeland Security and I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. I had no idea what Perry was up to.”

  “Well, Mister Sherrard,” the officer cut in politely. “While we are aware of the alleged actions of Mister Edwards, that’s a federal matter entirely and this isn’t about that, at least for the moment.”

  “Then what is it?” Jon asked in surprise, momentarily forgetting his aching head.

  “When was the last time either of you saw Bethany Edwards?” Garrison asked again, evading the direct question.

  “I was with her yesterday morning,” Jen answered, momentarily distracted from her husband. “Beth is having a hard time with what happened with Perry, so I was over there yesterday, trying to help her cope. Why?”

  “What about you, Mister Sherrard?” Garrison asked, again evading the question.

  Jon shook his head, acutely aware that his wife’s focus was back on him. “I have no idea, officer,” he answered, his patience waning. “Perry was my friend and he did some things he shouldn’t have done. It’s a little awkward right now for me to be making social calls to his recently widowed wife, if you know what I mean.”

  The officer peered a little closer at Jon Sherrard, again taking the conversation in a different direction, keeping the man off balance. “Did you cut yourself shaving this morning, Mister Sherrard?” he asked, noting the four small band aids adorning Jon’s face.

  “Did I what? What kind of question is that?” Jon demanded.

  Garrison shrugged. “Just a simple question,” he answered innocently enough.

  Jon shook his head again, wincing at the wave of pain that accompanied the movement. “While I don’t think it’s any of your business,” he said, reaching up and ripping off one of the band-aids to reveal the circular weal which was larger than before, “I didn’t cut myself shaving. As a matter of fact, I have no idea what this thing is and neither does my doctor. But if you have any suggestions on how to remove the parasite that caused it, I’m sure we’d be more than happy to hear them.”

  “Jon, it’s all right,” Jennifer soothed, inwardly glad at her husband’s outburst. It actually put her at ease, helping quell the growing suspicion that had been building in her for the past couple days.

  “No, it’s not all right,” he snapped back, uncaring now at who he was yelling at. “My head is killing me and I’ve got something inside of me and no one knows what the hell it is. Now, I’m playing twenty questions with the police. So either tell us what you came to tell us or get out of my house and let me go back to bed!”

  The police officers exchanged looks and Garrison spoke again. “I apologize if I’ve upset you, Mister Sherrard,” he said easily. “But the questions are just routine. You and your wife were here last night?”

  “Yes,” he snapped back. “We watched some TV and then went to bed. Why?”

  “All night?”

  “Yes! All night! Why?”

  “Bethany Edwards was found murdered in her home this morning,” Garrison answered, his eyes locked on Jon’s.

  Jen sucked in her breath in shock and Jon just stared as the officer continued. “The coroner estimates she was killed sometime last night or early this morning. We understand you and your wife were fairly close to the Edwards’, so we came here to ask some questions and maybe find out if you might know who would do something like that.”

  “How...how did she die?” he stammered as Jen held a hand to her mouth, her face ashen.

  “I’m not at liberty to say right now,” was the answer, “other than the fact that she was murdered. You don’t happen to know if Bethany Edwards had any enemies, do you?”

  Jon shook his head. “No,” he answered. “But I would guess Perry might have made a few if everything they’re saying about him is true.”

  “We’ve considered that, Mister Sherrard, and have alerted Agent Alders of Homeland Security to what has happened,” Garrison said as he stood up. His partner followed suit. “We’re sorry to have bothered you. You understand that our visit was just routine.”

  “Yeah, I understand,” he answered quietly, somewhat in shock about the whole thing.

  “An investigator will be taking over the case later today,” the officer went on. “So you may get a visit sometime soon concerning what happened. Can we count on your cooperation?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Jon answered absently.

  “Thank you,” he said. “We’re sorry for the loss of your friend, but rest assured we will find out who is responsible for this. We’ll let ourselves out.”

  Jon Sherrard barely heard them. He was thinking about bad dreams and suddenly, he was very much afraid.

  Chapter 14

  FutureTek Headquarters, Helena, Montana: Kat Hale sat at the conference table with her arms crossed, her forehead creased in a scowl. The meeting was not going well at all, and Drew Jackson was doing his best to appease the Systemtech representatives.

  “Look,” Drew was pleading. “All we’re asking for is some time. You have to understand the position we’re in.”

  “What I understand is that we have a deal in place,” Michael Monroe, Systemtech’s CFO said easily. “It is a deal that was entered into in good faith by both parties and you are attempting to back out of it.”

  “What about this don’t you understand?” Kat blurted out before Drew could answer. “We’ve got a dead employee, attempted industrial espionage, and we’re still trying to figure out what happened with Jon during the demonstration!”

  “Kat,” Drew warned, holding out a hand to stop her from making a bad situation infinitely worse.

  “No, Drew,” she said, slamming a hand down on the table in frustration. “This isn’t about the deal, and as far as I’m concerned, the deal shouldn’t even be affected! We will give you everything we have, Mister Monroe. You have to know this! But we can’t very well go against a Homeland Security directive!”

  “It sounds to me like you’re hiding something,” Dan Hyde spoke up, thoroughly enjoying the proceedings and watching the two FutureTek employees squirm. He had held reservations about the technology since day one, and even though Monroe still believed in the actual technology, Hyde was quite pleased that everything was unraveling as quickly as it was. If he was smart and played his cards right, not only could he end the whole embarrassing debacle, but he might be able to topple his boss, too.

  “We’re not hiding anything,” Drew said. “But Kathryn is right. Agent Alders’ directive is that nothing changes hands until they have completed their investigation. We simply cannot move forward on this.”

  “Yet, I’m not asking for the equipment,” Monroe countered smoothly. “The technical specifications of this technology are part of the deal and there should be no reason that we can’t have access to that.”

  “Are you serious?” Kat exclaimed. “The technical specs are the basis of their investigation. Perry sold the specs to an enemy of our country!”

  “Which is why we wish to have them now,” Monroe continued matter-of-fac
tly. “Every day we wait is time lost, and there’s no telling how long before this state-of-the-art technology is sitting on planning tables around the world. If we wait for our wonderful government to finish up with their investigation, it could be years before we have our hands on it. So you will find a way to get those specifications to me immediately.”

  “You can’t be…” Kat began, but Monroe held up a hand and silenced her.

  “Miss Hale,” he said, his calm demeanor replaced with a cold fury. “I have had just about enough of these proceedings. We have entered into an agreement to purchase this technology from your company and I mean to finalize that deal immediately.” He turned to Drew and glared at him. “If we do not have, at the bare minimum, the full range of technical specifications in our possession within forty-eight hours, I will see to it that our lawyers mire FutureTek and each individual employee in so much legal trouble that a cardboard box on a street corner will seem like the Taj Majal to you. Do I make myself clear on this?”

  Drew was pale, but Kat was defiant. “You can’t threaten us,” she snapped. “We have no choice but to follow Homeland Security’s directive here, Mister Monroe. You have to understand this.”

  “You and your company are in breach of contract, Mister Jackson, and you have forty-eight hours to remedy that,” Monroe continued, pointedly ignoring Kat. “If you do not, we will begin legal proceedings against you for breach of contract and lost revenue and I’m quite certain that our lawyers will have no problems whatsoever in being successful in the courtroom.” Monroe stood up. “This meeting is over,” he said, looking hard at Drew. “Forty-eight hours, Mister Jackson. Consider well the repercussions if you don’t meet that deadline.”

  With that, he and Hyde left the room.

  As they departed, Drew let himself fall into his chair with a beaten sigh. “Now what do I do?” he pleaded, putting a hand to his forehead.

  “You can’t cave into this, Drew,” Kat said, leaning forward. “Even they have to know that the investigation takes precedence.”

  “Yeah, but they want the specs right now and the argument is going to be that there’s no reason Alders has to know. It would be really easy to just give up the specs and tell Alders we had already given them to Monroe.”

  “Except that you haven’t volunteered that information to Alders yet,” she snapped. “There’s no way you skate around that.”

  “What worse, Kat? Dealing with Alders or dealing with Monroe and his company?”

  “Don’t cave on this,” she repeated, her face belying her struggle to maintain her composure.

  “That’s easy for you to say,” he went on. “It’s my ass on the line here, Kat. Not yours.”

  “It’s all of ours.”

  “I’m the one signing the checks,” he pointed out with a sigh. “They’re going to come after me.”

  “Call Alders, then,” Kat went on. “Tell him what Monroe is doing and see if there’s anything he can do to otherwise authorize the release of the technical specs, or at least get in touch with Systemtech and hold them off for a while. We’re not doing anything wrong here,” she went on.

  “That’s true, we aren’t,” he agreed and then abruptly stood, his face creasing into an angry frown. “If you’ll excuse me, Kat, I’ve got some work to do.”

  He turned to leave, but she stopped him. “What are you going to do, Drew?” she asked.

  He looked at her for a moment before answering. “What I’ve been doing,” he answered plainly and then turned and strode out of the room.

  As the door to the limousine slammed shut, Monroe continued the call he had begun as he and his security chief had exited the building. “Yes, his name is Rick Alders,” he was saying. “Homeland Security. He’s a Helena local. Get me a meeting with him immediately.” A pause. “I’m in Helena right now, so obviously today would be a good time,” he said sarcastically. Another pause, followed by a simple nod of his head and he ended the call.

  “You know this Alders isn’t going to give up the technical specs,” Hyde put in smugly from his seat across from his boss. The man would milk this for everything he could, and Monroe knew it. But Monroe also knew that, as much of a problem-child Hyde could be, he would be a bulldog if he turned him loose on FutureTek’s employees. Fortunately, he had every intention of doing just that.

  “Do we know anything more on the Edwards’ murder?” Monroe turned the conversation to a different aspect.

  “Just what we gleaned from the police reports. Perry died a couple days ago. Wife was taken out last night, shot in the head.”

  “Do you believe Mister Jackson’s story?”

  “What, that Perry is a traitor and Drew and his stooges know nothing about it?” Hyde scoffed. “Of course not. They might have Homeland Security fooled, but there’s no doubt that they’re playing both sides, hoping for a double hit on the tech.”

  “All the more reason for us to get our hands on it now.”

  “There are other ways,” Hyde offered slyly.

  “I assume you will exercise extreme caution?” Monroe said coldly, knowing exactly what Hyde was referring to.

  “Of course.”

  “Very good,” Monroe said. “I will work with Homeland Security as planned and make an attempt at greasing the right wheels. In the meantime, I need the specs immediately. When can you move?”

  “Tomorrow night,” Hyde said confidently. “I’ll have specialists flown into Spokane and drive in from there. I can have them here in twenty-four hours.”

  “See that it’s done tomorrow night, then.”

  “What about Jackson and his employees?” Hyde asked. “I’m guessing that some of them might be hanging around after hours. Their whole world is falling apart right now. They have to be desperate to save it.”

  “Eliminate them,” Monroe said casually. “I will not have our founding stake in a potential trillion dollar industry screwed up by a bunch of country hicks. Do what you have to do. Homeland Security will likely pin the blame on the foreign interest that killed Perry Edwards and his wife.”

  “It’s liable to get messy.”

  “There are plenty of players in this game to direct attention toward,” Monroe replied. “Perhaps Mister Sherrard himself goes off the deep end. It would certainly help Homeland Security wrap up their investigation into Mister Edwards once they learn that Mister Sherrard masterminded the entire thing.”

  “Understood, sir,” Hyde said with a smile as he pulled out his phone and sent a message. He had his team lined up and inbound before they reached their hotel.

  Chapter 15

  Davidson Residence, Helena, Montana: Marquis Chavandar sat in an easy chair, a pair of binoculars focused on the house across the street. He had been there for the better part of four hours and the owner of the house, an older gentleman by the name of Grant Davidson, had been dead almost that long.

  The Venezuelan had watched the two police officers show up at Jon Sherrard’s house just a short time ago and now he was watching them leave. Not very long for a visit, Chavandar thought. Then again, he knew their visit did not involve the technology he had been sent to retrieve, as that would be in Homeland Security’s ballpark. He wondered if their visit might involve the murder of Edwards’ wife the night before, since his contact had told him the two couples were close.

  He again pondered Sherrard’s involvement in everything and briefly considered a straight-forward approach by simply kidnapping the man and torturing him for the information. However, he still didn’t know how deep Sherrard was involved with Perry Edwards, and it might be better to simply wait and see if the man gave himself away.

  From the table beside the chair where he was sitting, Chavandar picked up the can of Coke with a rubber glove-covered hand and took a drink while watching the police cruiser pull away from the curb. He would continue to watch the house until nightfall and then dispose of the old man’s body. He might get another couple of days use out of the house if no one came poking around. By the time t
hey would find the house owner’s body in the back of a stolen van at the airport and trace it back to here, he would be long gone.

  He watched for another hour and, seeing no more movement or activity at the Sherrard house, he took a break from his surveillance to go deal with things upstairs. Mister Davidson, the owner of the house, was dead in his bed, the pillow still pressed over his head where Chavandar had smothered him. He was an old man, probably in his late 70s and he likely never knew what had happened as the assassin had arrived before the man had even awakened that morning. From the bathroom, Chavandar tore down the shower curtain and laid it out on the bedroom floor. He bundled the body up in the soiled blankets from the bed and then laid the bundle on the shower curtain. With duct tape he had found in the kitchen, he wrapped the dead man in the shower curtain and then wrapped him up tightly with the tape, sealing down the edges of the curtain from end to end. Wrapped up the way it was, it would take a while for the smell of decomposition to alert someone.

  Leaving the body where it was—he would move it that evening when he took it out to dispose of it—he went back downstairs and took another look out the window. There was no change in the scenery, so he went to the kitchen and helped himself to bread and lunchmeat from the refrigerator and made himself a sandwich. A couple minutes later, he settled himself back into the easy chair with his lunch and took up the surveillance again.

  When Jon Sherrard finally stepped out onto his porch in the middle of the afternoon, Marquis Chavandar knew exactly why the police had been there in the morning.

  Chapter 16

  National Security Agency Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland: “We’ve got a hit,” Lieutenant Danielle Martz said, tossing a sheaf of papers down on the desk in front of Major Thomas Bolson. It was yet another report in a long line of reports they had run across while searching day and night for any and all information they could find on their wayward program.

  “Anything worth pursuing?” Bolson asked, looking weary and skeptical. At this point, everything they had come across had proven worthless in their search, and he was dog-tired.