Technosis: The Kensington Virus by Morgan Bell

because after we find this guy we’re going to need Rosen to help us take him.”
    ∞
    After the briefing Lieutenant Marshall took Dr. Baxter by the elbow. “What was that all about? ‘After we find this guy?’”
    Jamie looked at him confused, “We are going to find him.”
    “Look, I know you were civilian side just four months ago. So maybe you don’t understand how things work. But you don’t expand your objective when a superior officer gives you a mission. Our mission is to find out who this guy is,” Lieutenant Marshall told him.
    “You were asking a whole lot of questions during the briefing,” Jamie pointed out.
    “Yes.”
    “So I have to believe you understand exactly what we are up against. We don’t have time to worry about missions and procedures. We do this, then they do that. We have to get to the source of this thing, find out what the hell it really is and shut it the fuck down,” Jamie insisted, his face red, his eyes narrowing.
    “You are only here because you are some sort of freak,” Lieutenant Marshall said, poking Jamie in the chest. “When this is over, you’re out of here and on doing whatever the fuck it was you were doing before this all started. But some of us have careers to think about.”
    “If we don’t get this done and done fast, you won’t have to worry about your career, because you’ll be standing in a corner, foaming at the mouth and sending hate texts, messages and posts to your nearest and dearest.”
    Lieutenant Marshall was speechless, and Jamie stormed off.
    “What was that all about?” Rosen asked Jamie when he caught up with him.
    “The little know it all prick wants to make sure we keep our objectives ‘reasonable’, as if that matters at this point,” Jamie fumed.
    “Yes, about this ‘we,’ I hear you asked for me to be on the task force?” Rosen said.
    “Do you have a problem with that?” Jamie asked.
    “No, I appreciate it. But, what am I supposed to do?” he asked.
    “You’re going to help us find this guy and, if necessary, you’re going to use extreme measures to get him back to the fort in one piece.”

CHAPTER 8
    DETROIT OUTBREAK
    “I would say that it’s reasonable to assume our unsub is no older than 30,” FBI profiler Dennis Drake said. He clicked through his posted profile information. “We can surmise this based on the average age of the team that worked on the graphosocial virus and the elapsed time frame. Cyber Ops, like Silicon Valley before it, finds the youngest and brightest, then rides them hard and puts them away wet.”
    “While we’ve had some blow outs from this.” Dennis said.
    “Blow outs?” Lieutenant Marshall asked.
    “Bright bulbs burn twice as bright, but half as long. When they go, they don’t just have a midlife crisis or whine to their honey. They destroy things in a big way. Walk onto secured sites armed, destroy databases, you name it, we’ve been through it. But we know how to manage blow outs. This guy, this one is different. He showed up with an agenda, played his role perfectly and disappeared without a trace. Which tells me there had to be something earlier. Something big that took him past the basic boundary.”
    “Boundary?” Marshall asked.
    “Killing and destroying are experiences that someone normally leads up to. Usually there is an initial event. If they get through that first event without consequences, or minimal consequences, they will then move forward and plan for something bigger,” Dennis explained.
    “Based on what we’ve managed to piece together,” CIA profiler Angie Ganos said, “we are looking for some sort of tech related killing in the subject’s teen years.”
    “Well, Dr. Baxter, what would you suggest we do at this point?” Marshall asked, smiling at Jamie.
    Jamie was silent for a moment. “We know that the data files related to our subject are gone and memory is missing regarding this person as well. Our best option would be a database cross reference;