Shattered Lies (Web of Lies #3)(51)

“Sandra Cummings is dead.”

“What?” Birch asked, shocked. “How?”

“She hung herself with her bra,” Dalton told him along with what they had found out from Gene and Thurmond.

“Brandon Locke? Shit.” Birch shot up from where he was sitting and grimaced in pain. “When they mentioned private security, I thought it would be someone reputable. But Brandon Locke? He’d kill someone out walking their dog . . . and then kill the dog.”

“We want to go talk to him,” Jason said quietly from the corner of the room.

“Why would you do that?” Birch asked.

“I want to ask him to his face what’s going on,” Jason said, standing now. “I’m tired of hiding.”

Birch was quiet for a moment. “Alex,” Birch called out, turning to Alex instead of answering Jason, “what have you found out?”

Alex was bouncing even as he sat. His right leg bounced so hard the table was moving. “I’m telling you, dude. Mr. Dude? Sorry, President? Sir? Birch?”

“Birch. Go on,” Birch said with a faint smile.

“There’s chatter everywhere. London, Switzerland, Japan, all over the world, dude. I mean, Birch.”

“What kind of chatter?” Lizzy asked.

“The kind about terrorist attacks. And not the kind for the most human casualties, but the kind that can cripple a country. It’s lining up with the report Thurmond made on financial and energy targets. Furthermore, I traced Gene’s phone, and the lawyer who came to him is big-time bad news. The phone was a burner, so I hacked into the jail and found the security footage of the attorney’s visit. Dude kept his face away from the camera the entire time. Never got a shot of his face. So I traced the burner phone to a small DC electronics store. They don’t have any footage, but there is a traffic camera nearby, and I got an image. Stan Detrick.”

“Stan Detrick, himself?” Lizzy asked as everyone was quiet.

“Yup. I matched the custom watch he wears. It’s identical to the man who went into the electronics store and the man who met with Gene.”

“Who’s Stan Detrick?” Grant asked.

“He was the attorney general under President Pollock. Everyone knew he was corrupt. He used the power of the AG’s office to build his client list and then left the administration before he was caught doing anything illegal. His client list consisted of huge drug dealers like Manuel, corrupt CEOs, dirty politicians, hedge fund managers who were trading inside information—you name any defendant with $500 million or more to his or her name and Stan Detrick was their attorney,” Birch explained.

“And this is bad?” Grant asked, trying to understand.

“It’s bad in the sense Stan Detrick won’t talk. He’s been threatened with everything short of torture. He’s managed to wiggle out of it because he knows more people than I do. Cartels owe him, the mob owes him, politicians owe him—the list goes on and on,” Birch explained.

“So, torture him,” Valeria shrugged.

“I would have Sebastian talk to him, but I can’t trust him anymore,” Birch sighed as he sat back down.

“I, uh, have information on that as well,” Alex stuttered as his bouncing knee smacked into the table above it.

“Rock Star found it.” Alex turned pink. “She’s better at hacking private companies than I am.”

“I’m thinking we should invite her to the US. You two would make a great team,” Birch said kindly.

“What did she find?” Lizzy asked instead of letting Dalton get a teasing word in.

“That Bertie and Sebastian are in a technology race. A game-changing technology race,” Alex told them.

“What kind of technology?” Birch asked as everyone seemed to lean closer.

“Artificial intelligence software than can analyze every corner of every market and tell you what is likely to happen to every stock. Theoretically, it would be able to predict the stock market with amazing accuracy. Do you have any idea how much that would be worth?” Alex’s eyes had grown wide as he spoke.

“Billions.” Birch looked worriedly around the room. “Do you know what could happen with such autonomous software? It’s constantly learning, constantly evolving. If parameters aren’t put in place to keep it solely analyzing and predicting, then it could learn to manipulate variables to create its own desired outcome.”

“Not just that,” Valeria said, standing. “It could be sold to terrorists and turned into a market hacking tool that would do more damage than the aftermath of 9/11.”

“Who’s winning the race?” Humphrey asked as the room quieted down.

“Bertie Geofferies. According to the internal emails Rock Star was able to get to, they’ve completed the software and are ready to test it,” Alex answered.

“What are they waiting for? Why isn’t it being tested immediately?” Dalton leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on his knees. His brow creased in thought and Lizzy was pretty sure it was the same thought she had. He was waiting for something to happen.

“She couldn’t find the answer. Sebastian is close to testing as well, but he’s probably a week behind. That could be giving Geofferies time to test at the most optimal time or maybe Sebastian has thrown a wrench in it somehow,” Alex suggested.