F Wilson - Fatal Error

"Where's Robby?" she said.

"Sound asleep at the hospital. You know how the painkillers knock him out. Why did you-?"

"I had to, Munir. I had to know. I had to make him tell me-myself."

Jack peeked in the back and saw the mystery man where he'd left him. No surprise there. He wasn't moving but he was breathing. A bloody mass of gauze swathed his right hand.

"He tell you who he is?"

"He said his name is James Valez."

Jack closed the door. "Why'd he do all this?"

She looked at her husband. "For a piece of computer code."

Munir looked stunned. "Code? What code? He never once mentioned anything about-" He stopped and frowned.

"What?"

"The other morning-what is today? I've lost track."

"Thursday."

"Then it was Tuesday morning. He made me admit a virus into both my computers. He said it was so he could track my emails, to make sure I wasn't communicating with the police."

"Did you let him?" Barbara said.

"Of course. I thought it strange at the time that he wanted the key to my encrypted files, but now it makes sense. He was going through all my files looking for this piece of code. But what-?"

Barbara sobbed. "Tuesday morning? That's when… even though you did what he asked, he still cut off Robby's finger."

Jack shook his head. "And told Munir he had to cut off one of his own. Even though he probably already had the code. Sick bastard."

Munir's expression remained incredulous. "But what do I have that he wants?"

"Something to do with the online game program you've been working on," she said.

He pressed his hands against the sides of his head. "The game? The MMO? What could he possibly-?"

"What's it do?" Jack said.

"It speeds up play. Russ and I-"

"Russ!" Barbara said. "He mentioned Russ!"

Jack shook his head. "I can't believe Russ would be involved in anything like this."

"He's not," Barbara said. "But Valez told me that Russ was shooting his mouth off about the wonders of this software."

"Then why didn't he go to Russ?"

Munir sighed. "Because I store all the code."

"But didn't he have a copy?"

Munir shook his head. "I have-or at least had-the more secure system. Russ calls me 'Mister Encryption.' But still…" He frowned. "He would have gone to Russ first."

Jack remembered something. "Maybe he did. Maybe he got in through the guy next door. Russ gets online by poaching his neighbor's Wi-Fi."

Munir closed his eyes as if in pain. "Oh, that makes it so easy. He found out Russ didn't have it, so he came after me."

"And he couldn't get into your system-"

"Even if he did, I use two-fifty-six-bit AES encryption."

"So he attacked you through your family and made it look like crazy racism when all he really wanted was a bit of code."

Munir turned to Barbara. "Did he say why?"

She shook her head.

"Or who he was working for?" Jack asked.

Another shake. "It was hard enough extracting what I did. Once I learned that it was neither random nor personal, but just for a chunk of innocent computer code, I… I was so sickened I couldn't bear to be near him anymore." She closed her eyes and tears squeezed between her lids as she sobbed. "He cut off my little boy's finger for a string of letters and numbers!"

Murnir threw his arms around her. "I'm so sorry."

As Jack gave them a moment, he thought about how it was pretty near a sure thing that certain strings of letters and numbers out there could change the world. But code for an online game? To use the online lingua franca: WTF?

"What happened to his hand?"

Still sobbing, Barbara reached into her coat pocket. She pulled out a clear plastic bag and handed it to him. Jack checked it out.

A human thumb.

Munir gasped.

Jack said, "What are you going to do with it?"

"See to it that he and it are never rejoined."

Jack pocketed it. "I'll take care of that."

He'd noticed a rat hole in the rear wall of the garage. Maybe he'd treat them to a midday snack.

"But we've a bigger problem: What do we do with the rest of him?"

Munir looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Might as well slap it on the table: "If I were in your shoes, I'd get rid of him as well."

Barbara's eyes widened. "You mean kill him?"

"Think about it. He knows who you are, knows where to find you. He snatched you and Robby once. What's going to keep him from doing it again? His plan was to kill you-"

"You don't know that," she said.

"Why else would he allow you to see his face? When I mentioned it to him yesterday he didn't deny it."

Barbara pressed herself against her husband. "You're talking cold-blooded murder."

"Sure sounds like it."

"No," Munir said, shaking his head. "I won't allow it. I… I can't."

" 'Allow'? I wasn't talking about Barbara doing it."

He looked confused. "No, I meant you. Monster that he is, I don't think I can be a party to something like that."

Now Jack saw the problem.

"Whoa. We've got our signals crossed here. I'm not a contract killer. I don't do that. Remember, I said, 'If I were in your shoes.' I'm talking about you offing him."

Their eyes widened simultaneously as they spoke in unison. "No!"

"Better give that a little more thought. He started cutting off your wife's nipple when the only thing he had against her was she married you. Now how do you think he feels about her?"

Munir swallowed. "There must be another way."

"Not that I can see. He's a ticking time bomb."

"The police… we can press charges."

"Sure, but that might not go the way you hope." He looked at Barbara. "He was wearing surgical gloves when I broke in-"

"He wore them the entire time."

Jack nodded. "No prints left behind. And he's set the real Hollander up as a fall guy. I'm pretty sure Hollander is dead, so he won't be able to deny his involvement."

"But we can all identify him."

"What about his thumb? How do you explain that? He's established reasonable doubt, while you've cut him up. In this system, with the kind of judges we have in this city, he could walk while Barbara ends up behind bars."

Murnir shook his head. "No, that can't happen."

"It damn well can. I'm not saying it will, but it can. You want to take that risk?"

Jack wouldn't. If this were personal-if Gia and Vicky were at risk-James Valez would not see sunset. Hell, he wouldn't see noon. But this wasn't personal. This was Munir and Barbara's problem. They had to make the choice and do the deed.

Munir seemed lost in thought.

Barbara said, "Oh, Munir… you can't be considering…"

He looked at her. "What do you say? He kidnapped you, he cut you, he hurt Robby in front of you. I will go along with whatever you choose."

She closed her eyes. "I've hurt him back. If he had a heart attack now I would not try to save him. The world would be a better place without him, but I don't want any more of his blood on my hands, and I don't want it on yours." She turned to Jack and shook her head. "No. We can't."

Jack sighed. "I didn't think you could."

He understood. They were regular citizens. They hadn't walked in Jack's shoes, or made the mistakes he'd made-like allowing a killer with a grudge to walk away. Someone had died because of that. He'd never make that mistake again.

"Then we'll have to let him go."

He could tell from their expressions they were frightened, and well they should be.

Munir tightened his arm around his wife. "What can we do to protect ourselves?"

"Arm yourselves and hire someone to teach you defensive tactics. Meanwhile, take off. I'll deal with him."

"How?"

"Let me worry about that. I'll be expecting the rest of my fee tomorrow."

Munir nodded. "Absolutely."

When they were gone, Jack climbed back into the back of the van. He'd noticed the door ajar earlier. He hoped Valez had heard his conversation with the Habibs. He lay there with his eyes closed. The bandage on his hand was completely red now.