Chapter 9

Edward Brandt walked through the building, exchanging handshakes and warm welcomes from the other agents. Everyone seemed so excited to see him walk back through the entrance. More than a few agents have been under scrutiny within these walls. Not all get to put the past behind them. Perhaps the most important comment he received was about the return of his Corvette C4. Without the friendly fire of insults toward him regarding his wife’s car, things were starting to feel more normal. He blew kisses just to put some extra fun into the experience. He would have loved to shake every hand and see every familiar face in the office right then, but there was somewhere that he needed to be. Dan was very insistent on seeing him this morning.

Brandt was back to wearing his seemingly standard-issue bureau attire. Dark sports coat, slacks, and a white dress shirt with a tie. He still felt awkward in the suit, but it was too far back in his mind for concern. He made his way up to the second floor and along the hallway that featured portraits of FBI directors such as J. Edgar Hoover and James B. Comey. Approaching the assistant’s desk, the young woman had already picked up the phone to let her boss know that Agent Brandt had arrived.

“Send him in!” Dan called out after the first ring without picking up the handle.

The office had a little more character than previous visits from Brandt. The top drawer of a filing cabinet was open, and a few manila folders lay across Dan’s desk. Perhaps what seemed the most irregular and concerning was Dan fixated on looking outside through a raised slat of the blinds. It seemed very dramatic and not befitting his personality. What made things even more unusual was the unkept hair and wrinkled dress shirt that Dan had been wearing.

Has he been sleeping in his office? Brandt wondered to himself. “Did your wife throw you out of the house, sir?” The comment seemingly fell on deaf ears, with no other acknowledgement of Brandt’s presence or his comment.

“How are you today, Agent Brandt?”

The scenic image of Dan staring like a zombie out of a window that he never opens while asking that question was now burned and imprisoned in his mind. Well that just tipped the scales of creepy. Brandt figured it best to play along and see where all of this was going. “I’m doing well, sir, and Joyce sends her regards.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Yeah, why are you eerily staring outside while talking to me?”

“I was just contemplating our life, and coexistence with everything else on earth.”

“I never figured you for the spiritual type.”

“I’m not, but when the days are long, and the task is difficult, it doesn’t hurt to think. What about you? =Are you spiritual?”

“Me? No, I try to keep my feet as grounded as possible. If my mind is in the clouds, I’m not focused on the things that matter the most to me.”

“That sounds fair.” Dan released his finger from the slat on the window. “Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you, sir.”

They both sat down.

“The Science and Technology Branch sent over these files.” Dan pulled a folder from the stack and opened it. “Alexander Nikolaev,” he continued reading. “A Russian nationalist that claimed to have created the first sentient A.I. funded by the Russian government. He was only twenty-one years old. It’s said that the machine was designed with the full intent on causing destruction in the West. Our moles in the Russian government eventually caught wind of this and the CIA handled the scenario as to be expected.”

“That all seems fascinating, but where are you going with this? Wait, does this have anything to do with the gas prices? There was a cashier at the gas station the other night; he began spouting some nonsense about Russian hackers.”

“No, from what we can tell, it’s not Russian interference with our infrastructure. The problem is domestic.”

“What?”

Dan pulled another folder from the pile. He took his time for his eyes to meet with Brandt’s again. “Andrew Simmons, he’s your friend, right? What do you know of his hobbies? Tell me a little about him.”

Brandt felt his stomach sink, the room’s lights becoming dimmer. He was unsure whether to feel enraged about what was being implied or simply answer the query. He started out with the former.

“If you’re implying that Andrew is a terrorist or has intentions of causing havoc on our way of life, then with all due respect, you and your sources are out of your damn minds.”

“Relax. This is not what I think. And so far, this is entirely in house.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s been the responsibility of our Science and Technology Branch to monitor Andrew. The Assistant Director is not even involved.”

“Why is that?” Every word coming from Dan was making less sense to Brandt than before. He rubbed his face, trying to remove the obvious symptoms of anger and anxiety.

“First, I want you to tell me what you know about him. Please.” Dan was slowly becoming genuine; some would say sympathetic again. It was clear that much more was hidden behind his eyes, but that truth would only be revealed when his request was satisfied.

“I’ll just make this short and to the point because it looks like anything I tell you will already be in that file. I met Andrew in 2001, a few days after his parents died in the towers. I was still a rookie police officer back then. So, I received tasks nobody else wanted while the more experienced officers helped at ground zero. Delivering bad news to people that will never see their loved ones again. Then I did something that very few people in that situation would do. I took on the role of a big brother to him. He reminded me a lot of the situation I was in all those years ago when my own parents died. You looked after me, so I wanted to pay it forward.”

“I understand that this is very confusing, but I really need you to bear with me on this process. What of his hobbies?” A gentler side was starting to come out of Dan once more. Perhaps thinking back to when he helped Brandt softened him up a little, but he still had a job to do before he let Agent Brandt in the know.

“He’s a brilliant man. Self-educated. Programs phone applications for a living, if I’m not mistaken. Even though his trust fund pretty much takes care of him financially. Nowadays we play computer games almost every Thursday. He kicked my ass last week.” Brandt shook his head and let a smile loose from the corner of his mouth. Still in disbelief how Andrew had finally gotten the best of him.

“He never mentioned other project’s that he was working on?”

“We rarely discussed anything related to his work. I am pretty sure he understood that my smooth brain was not going to be able to handle all the techie stuff. It still seems like you are labeling him as a terrorist for some reason.”

“I can assure you that I am not. Look, the STB started monitoring Andrew he had purchased a quantum computer on the dark web a few years ago.”

“I’ll pretend like I know what that is and where that is, but okay.”

“Ugh, the dark web is a place very few people know how to access, much less navigate. Usually, you need to know someone who already has a link to the place you want to visit. Or just be skilled enough to decipher it yourself.”

“Fascinating and creepy.”

“You don’t know the half of it. Well, these quantum computers are rare, even more rare a few years back. Only a few companies were capable of producing one, and they weren’t even that great.”

“Are you saying that Andrew has a stolen computer?”

“No, but it’s possible. There was never any mention or report filed regarding a missing quantum computer. There’s nothing we can do about it if nobody wants to come forward.”

“If there doesn’t seem to be an issue, why this secret monitoring nonsense?”

“The STB thought it would be a good measure to monitor him because that computer has so much potential, they wanted to make sure that it was in safe hands.”

“You make it sound like some kind of bomb.”

“No, I don’t think they are capable of being bombs. But they have many applications in physics, the medical world, and even artificial intelligence.”

“Artificial intelligence? You mean like that Russian guy?”

“Yes, that’s one of the worries. But neither I nor the STB believes that Andrew had created one.”

“Well, I guess that’s a relief. If the movies would have you believe, those things are ruthless.”

“It would seem so. But it’s good to be cautious.”

“What do you need me to do, be the man inside? Find out what he is up to? I’m sure he’s not doing anything that would harm anyone.”

It pained Dan to come up with his next words. He feared Brandt’s reaction, but there was no going back now. “No, I need to you investigate Andrew’s murder.”

The look of unimaginable shock and horror overcame Brandt as he slumped down in his chair. The tears were welling up in his eyes, and his stomach wrenched in pain. What seemed like a million unanswered questions rattled in his swollen brain that he could not make out the words to ask.

“I know this information comes with deep sadness, and trust me, I wanted to let you know sooner. But it took a lot of convincing to have you assigned to his case.”

“Assigned to the case?” Brandt could barely speak the words.

“You may not want to see this, but I must show you anyways. This was captured from Andrew’s webcam at the time of death.” Dan swiveled the computer monitor on his desk toward Brandt and clicked the play button.

There was no audio to go along with the playing video. Static caused by the low light in the scene took away many features from the otherwise high-definition video. The moment of death was quite clear as the monitor lit up the front of Andrews’ face. It was an incredibly difficult thing for Brandt to watch. The execution-style of the murder engulfed him into rage deep within his body. Then, he noticed something else. Right before the footage ended, an arm clothed in black reached down and pressed something on the keyboard.

Brandt stared intently at the monitor. “Wait. I know when this happened. It was him! Andrew and I were in a game, and this person must have typed into the chat so that I would not be wise to what was happening.” An eerie chill came over him that he couldn’t shake off.

“I know it’s not much to go on, but your interactions with Andrew during his last moments give you special insight into this investigation.”

Brandt had already made up his mind before even watching the video. With or without permission, he was going to find this guy. He hadn’t concluded what he would do to him but determination and fury were in his eyes. “Let’s find this guy!”

“Alright then. Don’t worry too much about the techno jargon. The Science and Technology Branch should be able to fill in any of the blanks. They’ll likely still be at the residence doing whatever they do. Our purpose is to know who and why this happened to Andrew.”