Involuntary Control (Gray Spear Society) Read Free Page A

just one of several suspicious transfers in the last week. Tell us who is paying you, and why."
    The blood drained from Kaitlin's face.
    "I strongly suggest you answer the question immediately," he added in stern tone.
    She abruptly sat down on the arm of a couch and stared into space. Her body was shaking.
    "We know you work for White Flame Technology, and they do a lot of classified research. You're looking at federal charges of espionage, at a minimum. If you start cooperating now, you might avoid life in prison."
    She put her face in her hands and cried. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I needed the money. My father is sick and the hospital bills are piling up..."
    "I don't care. Who paid you?"
    "I don't know!" Tears flew out when she shook her head.
    "What do you mean?" he said.
    "We communicated through e-mail. He never told me his real name. I don't even know where he lives!"
    She made choking noises and wiped snot from her nose. Her eyes were red and puffy. He let her calm down a little before continuing.
    "Exactly what did you sell?" Aaron asked.
    "I don't know!"
    He snarled. "Stop jerking me around!"
    "It's true!" she said. "He gave me software to run inside the White Flame network, behind the firewall. The software stole the secrets, not me."
    "Let me get this straight. You ran malicious software on a classified computer system without even knowing what it did?"
    She nodded.
    "Unbelievable." He shook his head.
    "I have this!" She ran to a shelf and opened a tea pot shaped like a smiling, black cat. She took out a USB thumb drive the size of a postage stamp. "All the data is here. Every byte."
    He accepted the thumb drive from her. "Did you look at it?"
    "It's locked and encrypted. My computer won't open the files."
    Aaron knew enough about computer security to know that encryption was a problem. When used properly by an expert, it was effectively unbreakable.
    "So, you can't tell me what you stole or who you stole it for. Can you at least tell me how much you were paid in total?"
    "A hundred thousand dollars," she said softly.
    He hadn't expected such a big number. How much of that was stolen from bank accounts? "Let me see those e-mails."
    "You can't. They were deleted."
    "By you?" he said.
    "No, they vanished right after I read them. They didn't go into the recycle bin, either. I checked." She shrugged. "I think the guy hacked my computer to get rid of the evidence. That thumb drive is all I have."
    He gritted his teeth with frustration. "But you must remember the e-mails. Did he give any hints about his agenda?"
    "No." She shook her head. "He gave me all the money up front to prove he was real. It was so easy. I just had to stick a gadget into my computer at work."
    "Huh? He already paid you?" He stared at her in disbelief.
    "Every penny. I was about to start paying off hospital bills when you knocked on the door."
    He furrowed his brow. "That doesn't make any sense. You haven't delivered the goods yet. What are you supposed to do with this?" He held up the thumb drive.
    "A courier will pick it up tonight at nine."
    Aaron paced the room as he considered his options. His gaze settled on an antique porcelain doll under a glass bell jar. Ugly little thing, he thought.
    He gave the thumb drive back to Kaitlin. "You'll deliver this to the courier as planned. We'll be watching. I'm warning you, if you try to escape or screw this up, years will be added to your prison sentence. You'll come out an old woman, if you come out at all. Understand?"
    She nodded with wide open eyes.
    He looked at Norbert. "Let's go."
    The two men headed towards the car. Aaron glanced back and saw Kaitlin standing in the doorway with a very anxious expression.
    The evening air was so pleasant he didn't want to get into the car yet. He stood by the driver's door and spoke to Norbert. "There was a lot wrong with her story."
    "You think she was lying?" Norbert said.
    "No, I believe she told the truth as she knew it. She was too terrified to lie