San Francisco Slaughter by Jack Badelaire

Author:Jack Badelaire [Badelaire, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Post Modern Pulp Books
Published: 2014-05-28T22:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Steiger explained the whole thing.

“Over the last two years, someone has been orchestrating attempts to compromise our security. Most of these have been tentative contacts with our engineers - women approaching them at bars, or guys talking to them at professional conferences. Nothing overly unusual there, but the engineers reported these people were all a little too interested in the projects they were working on. This especially surprised the men approached by women, because let’s face it - this work isn’t exactly exciting to your average lay person.

“We’ve also had six engineers experience break-ins where either nothing of value was stolen, or some token item was taken to cover the break-in. At least four others have suspected break-ins - papers not quite where they were left on desks, documents occasionally missing - but no signs of forced entry. These suspected incidents happened later than the burglaries, so we think whoever’s doing this has become a lot more cautious.”

“What are these people looking for?” Lynch asked.

“In a word, secrets,” Steiger said. “Most of our engineers have Top Secret clearance with the government, and everyone knows to avoid talking about their jobs outside of work, or to avoid bringing home classified documents. But mistakes happen - people get sloppy, or bring home something that isn’t classified, but reveals information to the right people. Finding a research paper on a very specific type of circuit in an engineer’s briefcase can give a lot of insight into the project he’s currently involved with.”

“So, what you’re talking about is industrial espionage,” Richard said.

Steiger nodded. “New companies are forming every day, and the competition for the most lucrative contracts is getting even more intense. Everyone wants an edge, and some are willing to go further than others in order to find it.”

“Have you gone to the police with any of this? The feds?” Lynch asked.

“We reported the break-ins, some of them for insurance purposes, but the rest we’ve kept quiet. Blake and I talked about it at some length, and we finally decided we needed to lure the culprit out into the open and discover who we’re up against.”

“Roth,” Richard said.

Steiger nodded. “We learned of his gambling problems a few months ago. At first, I was determined to fire him - Roth has Top Secret clearance, and the gambling was too much of a liability for us - but Roth was desperate to keep his job. It wasn’t just the paycheck, either; he really does love working here, the engineering, the problem solving. Some of these guys, we have to push ‘em out the door at night.”

“So you made him a deal,” Lynch said.

“We told Roth we’d square him with his debtors and get him some help for his problem - and make sure it stayed off the government’s radar so he could keep his clearance level - if he was willing to owe some money to some shady types, and offer them a prototype microprocessor if they could find a buyer. We figured if it worked, then great, but if not, we’d square his debts and move on.

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