Page 141 of The Lazarus Protocol

“We have absolutely no way of identifying him,” Emanuela said. “No prints found in the house. No DNA.” She’d shared the police reports with him. “They have no way to trace the specific gun used to kill him.” She shrugged. “So what now?”

“Assuming there’s any credence to the idea that our system has a worm in it, some kind of AI that infiltrated the CIA network we use.”

Her contact at the NSA had assured her there was no way it could get into the wider network. With the way they siloed information, it was impossible to get everything.

However, the reality that they’d been attacked by an entity who seemed content to simply watch everything they were doing couldn’t be denied.

“There was nothing in the audit to indicate Simon had been working against us, or give a clue why he was killed.” She shrugged one shoulder. “It makes no sense.”

“The police investigation is going to go cold sooner or later.”

“We could loop in the FBI,” she said. “See what they can come up with?”

“Better to task a few of our agents with an internal investigation. But that seems far too much like admitting we can’t handle this ourselves.”

Not the first time she’d considered the hubris in his personality. For better or worse, it made him a decent division chief.

“Have you found any proof at all that there’s a worm in our system?” Emanuela sipped her drink. “Because even the threat of a breach has to be reported. We can’t simply ignore it and hope the problem goes away.”

“Do you have proof?” Kraus shrugged. “Perhaps it was simply a misdirect, designed to have us chasing our tails. Probably while Division Zero undertakes some mission they’d rather we didn’t know about.” He huffed. “I still think the killer could be one of them.”

Emanuela sighed. “Fine, I contacted a colleague in the NSA.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Why would you be sorry?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand. There’s a very real threat out there, Thomas. We’ve got a new Division Zero team to spool up for missions, and unnamed operatives wandering around murdering our staff! This is a serious problem. It should be a full-scale internal investigation. Why are you stonewalling⁠—”

He dropped his cup and reached for her, grabbing her neck with his bare hands.

Emanuela’s paper cup fell from her fingers. She clawed at his arms, his fingers. Gasping for breath and trying to think through the panic.

“I’m sorry that it came to this.” He spoke slowly, in a measured tone with zero emotion. As if her life and her death meant nothing to him. “I’m sorry that you couldn’t leave it alone.”

All she heard after that was the strangled cry from her lips. Thomas, how could you?

The door flung open so hard it hit the wall.

Thomas startled, reacting by moving back a fraction and loosening his grip, and Emanuela heard twin pops. Suppressed gunfire.

Her boss fell back, blood seeping across the front of his shirt as he hit the carpet.

Emanuela let out a choked cry, panic eclipsing everything.

The door swung shut, and she realized the shooter had closed her in here with him and the dead body. She would be next!

She scrambled back and tumbled off the bed onto the strip of carpet between it and the wall, crying out.

“You’re welcome.” The man stood by the TV, breathing hard. “We don’t have much time. I need to clean up, and you have to pull yourself together so you can leave calmly without drawing any attention to yourself.”

“Who…” She sat up. “Who are you?”

“So you can call the FBI about me, too?”

She gasped. “You were listening?”

“Enough to know Kraus didn’t like what he heard. He’s the one in the office who allowed the worm in, by the way. He’s the one under Earthnet’s thumb. Again, you’re welcome.” The shooter tucked the gun out of sight and flexed his fingers, wearing what looked like leather gloves.

He had light-brown hair, and pale skin. A prominent nose that had been broken before and set with a scar.