Daniel Suarez - Daemon

Nathan Mantz came up to Sebeck as he and Ross took in the scene. “Hey, Pete. You’re just in time.”

“How’d it go at the permit office?”

Mantz shook his head. “No permit pulled for the winch housing. The gate was installed by a big GC named McKenser and Sons. Licensed, bonded, legit. Nothing in the permit applications about a winch. I put a call in to McKenser’s office, and they’re checking their records.”

Mantz looked to Ross. “You’re that computer guy the Feds were holding.” He extended his hand. “Detective Nathan Mantz.”

Ross shook his hand. “Jon Ross. I was cleared, by the way.”

Sebeck kept his eye on the crowd of agents in the distance. “Yeah, it turns out Mr. Ross here is quite an expert—on a few subjects. I brought him out to the canyon scene, and he shed some light on things. I’ve got important information for Decker.” Sebeck pointed to Decker, who was addressing the troops. “What are the Feds up to?”

“They’re preparing to search the house. FBI bomb squad and forensics teams came up from L.A. Decker’s treating this as a hazardous search.”

Ross nodded. “He’s right. It is.”

Mantz gave him a curious look.

Sebeck jerked a thumb at Ross. “He thinks it’s Sobol, not somebody at CyberStorm. Now he’s got me wondering.”

Mantz nodded, impressed. “Really?”

Sebeck tore a page out of his small notepad and handed it to Mantz. “Nathan, do me a favor; here’s the manufacturer and serial number on the winch assembly. When we get back to the station, check with the factory to see if they have a record of the wholesaler they shipped it to. Let’s find out what else was purchased.”

“No problem.” Mantz pocketed the piece of paper.

Sebeck walked toward the gathered officers. Ross and Mantz followed. They passed three FBI agents preparing a tracked bomb disposal robot. Ross took a keen interest, peering over their shoulders as they tested the video cameras with a large remote control.

They were having problems. The operator smacked the handheld controller. “Try channel four. Is the picture any clearer?”

Sebeck tugged Ross along.

Decker was still addressing the troops. “…papers, computers, electrical components, tools. Virtually everything should be considered dangerous until the bomb squad marks a room as clear. If you find a device—”

Decker leaned down as agent Straub said something to him. Decker looked up again at the crowd. “Hang on. Is anyone else having radio problems?”

Most of the officers held up their hands and voiced in the affirmative.

Sebeck noticed a man in his fifties and a woman in her forties standing among the FBI agents. The two civilians looked pensive. Sebeck turned to Mantz.

Mantz responded. “The caretaker and the security guard. Husband and wife. Sobol’s widow lives in Santa Barbara. They separated before his death. Get this: she told them she couldn’t live in the house because she heard voices. They’re tracking her down as we speak. I was hoping she’d be here….” Mantz pulled a folded magazine page out of his jacket pocket. He unfolded it to reveal a photo of a tanned and beautiful blonde wearing a string bikini and stretched out on the wet sand of a tropical beach. “The widow Sobol. Miss New Zealand, 2001.”

Sebeck grabbed the page. “Holy shit.”

Ross leaned in. “Wow.”

Mantz grabbed it back. “Show some respect. She’s in mourning.” He folded it and put it back into his jacket pocket. “Sobol may have died of cancer, but I still envy the bastard.”

Sebeck was already walking toward the crowd of agents and officers. He waded through them, headed directly for Assistant Chief Eichhorn.

“Hey, Chief.” Sebeck stepped aside and gestured toward Ross. “This is Jon Ross—the computer consultant from Alcyone.”

Chief Eichhorn nodded toward Ross. “One of the guys the Feds brought in.”

“They cleared him this morning. I was bringing him back to Woodland Hills, and I stopped by the Pavlos scene to get serial numbers. Mr. Ross detected a wireless device there. He has some pretty mind-blowing theories about how Sobol’s doing all this. I think Decker should talk to this guy.”

“Pete, the FBI brought experts in from L.A. and Washington.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know how many of them have spent serious time playing in Sobol’s games. Mr. Ross has.”

“I can’t vet Mr. Ross’s skills—no offense—can you, Pete?”

“Somebody technical should listen to him.”

Suddenly the FBI robot crew leader stepped between them and called up to Decker on the patio. “The robot’s a no-go, Neal. There’s signal interference. This guy probably has spread spectrum radio towers or something inside.”

Decker looked around. “Should we have the city cut power to the house?”

The lead operator conferred with the other two, then looked up to Decker. “The computer forensics team will want to keep the power on—otherwise they might lose computer memory evidence.”

Decker nodded vigorously. “Of course…I knew that.” He spoke softly with agents Straub and Knowles. After a moment he looked up again and announced, “Okay, we go to plan B. The bomb squad goes in with fiber optics. Guerner, get your crew ready.”

Three heavily padded men with high Kevlar collars, bulletproof helmets, and plastic toolboxes moved through the crowd. The officers made way for them.

Decker motioned with both arms. “Let’s move it back behind the vehicles, people!”

The crowd of officers moved back through the parked cars and gathered on the far side. Decker followed them.

Sebeck gave a look to Chief Eichhorn, then approached Decker. “Agent Decker, I’ve got important information from the canyon scene.“

“Let me resolve this first, Sergeant.” Decker tried his radio again and then conferred with the bomb squad.

Sebeck leaned on a nearby car hood and looked to Ross. “If Sobol is behind the murders, we should find some evidence of it here.”

Ross looked around. “Look, the FBI knows where to reach me, Sergeant. I really just want to get back to my hotel and salvage my client list.”

“Not until I get you in front of Decker.”

Agent Andrew Guerner was proud of his team. Rick Limon and Frank Chapman had served with him in the FBI Explosives Unit through four years and scores of bomb calls in the U.S. and abroad—real ones and hoaxes. Among them they had thirty-five years of experience. As a demining expert with the 101st Airborne, Guerner had extensive field experience in demolitions, booby traps, improvised explosive devices, and cell phone detonators. He’d cleared mines from Bosnia to Iraq and spent two years as an explosives instructor at Quantico. His companions had military experience with Special Forces and Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. It was a top-notch crew.

Decker’s briefing laid out the details of the two earlier killings—and that this Sobol guy was some kind of genius. Guerner clucked his tongue inside his helmet. He’d seen a lot of clever devices in his day. They were all sitting in his lab, defused.

He turned to his partners and nodded. Limon and Chapman nodded back. Far behind them, the gathered officers gave the thumbs-up sign. Guerner started by taking the fiber optic snake out and flipping up his visor. He looked for a gap wide enough to slip it under the mansion’s front door. It was a tight seal. Looked like an authentic Spanish mission door. Too bad.

He motioned to Limon, who leaned forward and drove a hole through it with a battery-powered drill.

Guerner fed the snake through the hole and put his eye to the lens. He turned the snake this way and that, examining every angle of the room beyond the door.