Daemon

sales. The biggest market segment is young men aged eighteen to twenty-eight.’
    Fulbright nodded. ‘IT workers.’
    ‘Maybe.’ She turned to them both. ‘It could be any mid-to low-level employee. Not necessarily an IT staffer. Their efforts would be augmented by a massively parallel cyber organism that coordinates the efforts of thousands of other people – and it can pay.’
    The general tried to wrap his head around it. ‘But why would employees want to destroy their own company? It doesn’t make sense.’
    ‘There are always disgruntled or greedy people. The Daemon most likely deals them in.’
    The general had murder in his eyes. ‘These terrorists need to be found and shot.’
    ‘Careful. The Daemon has already destroyed two dozen companies that disobeyed its instructions. Among the currently infected are several multibillion-dollar corporations, representing a cross section of strategic industries – energy, finance, high-tech, biotech, media, manufacturing, food, transportation. The targets were obviously selected to maximize economic and social disruption in the event of their collapse.’
    The general was starting to see the big picture. ‘This is nodifferent from a strategic bombing campaign. This Daemon could gut the global economy. What are our options?’
    She sighed. ‘Before we knew the extent of the infection, we attempted to penetrate a couple of compromised networks. But our intrusion attempts were detected and the target networks – and thus, the companies themselves – were destroyed by the Daemon in retribution.
    ‘Wiretaps and surveillance of individual employees by the FBI resulted in similar retribution. Apparently, the Daemon does not hesitate to destroy the companies it has taken hostage. Further infiltration attempts have been put on hold until new strategies can be developed.’
    ‘Doctor, I repeat: what are our options?’
    Philips paused. ‘Right now we have only one: inform the public. Tell them what’s happening.’
    ‘That’s crazy talk. The stock market would crash.’
    Fulbright pointed them to a side conference room and spoke softly. ‘Please, let’s continue this discussion behind closed doors. Everyone here may be cleared top-secret, but they all have retirement funds.’
    They entered a small conference room, and the deputy director closed the door behind them.
    The general glared at Philips. ‘Doctor, what would informing the public accomplish other than to destroy the 401(k)s of millions of taxpayers?’
    ‘Right now Sobol has you exactly where he wants you. His Daemon can prey upon millions of unsuspecting people because we haven’t warned anyone. At some point the Daemon is going to show itself – and we’ll lose all credibility with the public. Look, announce its existence before you’re forced to, and we’ll have billions of allies to help us destroy it.’
    Fulbright shook his head. ‘It’s not that simple, Doctor. A news headline announcing that the Daemon exists might trigger a Daemon event – possibly the deletion of all data in these compromised networks. It could cause financial Armageddon.It could cripple the world economy and lead to widespread conflict – even thermonuclear war. We can’t risk that possibility.’
    Philips didn’t blink. ‘That’s an extreme conclusion.’
    ‘Extreme conclusions are what I’m paid to come to.’
    ‘Do you ever plan on telling the public?’
    ‘We’ll inform them after we’ve developed a countermeasure.’
    ‘But that might be never.’
    He didn’t say anything.
    ‘Sir?’
    ‘Yes, Doctor?’
    ‘If you don’t intend to announce the existence of the Daemon, then I hope you’re planning to intervene on behalf of Peter Sebeck.’
    The general looked to her. ‘The cop on death row?’
    ‘His appeals are moving through the federal courts unusually fast. He’s scheduled to die by lethal injection.’
    Fulbright didn’t respond immediately. ‘I’ll take that under advisement, Doctor.’
    ‘You could fake his execution—’
    ‘This might seem harsh, but Peter Sebeck must suffer the full penalty demanded by law – and the sooner the better. Faking his execution would risk tipping our hand to the Daemon.’
    ‘Sir, please—’
    ‘Philips, you yourself said that the Daemon has operatives in thousands of organizations. It could also have operatives in the penal system or law enforcement. So we must take the safe course. Sebeck is a casualty of this war, Doctor. You must put him