An Enemy Intimate Enough to Touch |Year 2036: Lex|

“This is a disaster, Anneka. Beaten to the punch again. Our knowledge pool on V has expanded, but so have our losing chances. Firstly-”

“Shhh. Hold on.” I walk in front of the board of ideas. “When’d you last eat a hot meal and take a day of rest somewhere outside of this white walled room, Lex? This event has already happened. The urgency isn’t as present.”

“Ok. I’ll get something to eat, but everything I know tells me to get on this right away after.”

“Sounds good enough. That’s just like something you would say.”

I walk into my kitchen for the first time in a week and check the cabinets to see ramen soup cups. That’s technically warm.

“Not that.”

“OK.” I look inside the fridge and see four eggs and a bunch of sauce. “I’ll make some omelettes.”

“What about some carbs?”

“Want some, then make the oatmeal.”

I shake my head. “That combination sucks Lex.” I continue looking around his kitchen. “Fine.”

“Merry, merry Christmas, Anneka.”

I sit down and try to contain my quiet disgust and glare. “Yeah merry Christmas, one thing I am grateful for is a dinner of bland oatmeal and ketchup and omelettes.”

“It’s really not that bad. Especially the oatmeal. You’ve made the best plain oatmeal ever. I can really taste the water.”

“Hhmmh.” I spilled some red sauce and eggs off my spoon back onto my plate.

It is 7 PM when we enter the white room again.

“Let’s start here, Anneka. I think our perpetrator V is a male.”

“How do you know and why does it matter?”

“Reading into their actions too much isn’t productive. The main reason I have is my instinct. I think this information could help us look at our information from a different point of view in the future and stay consistent in our facts.”

“Note that if it leads nowhere, then we should be ready to discard it and go back.”

I nod. “Up next, Beninsprout only services products to South America and North America. It is a fair bet that V has been here for at least one point in time. I wonder if we can extend that and believe that he is still somewhere here.”

“Isn’t he smart enough to avoid these continents because it could be an obvious way point back to him?”

“Unlike before, the locations of South America and North America are not a limiting factor that could be used against V. This-”

That’s how it is. My thoughts intercept mid-sentence. “-Huge land mass could hardly be considered a clue. Unless we find a better starting point, we could bet that somewhere in V’s head, there is a reason that Beningsprout Corporation was targeted, so we can tie temporary geographic significance to that.”

I smile faintly at her words. “V is improving the virus over time, and we can infer the immediate and potential final target to be the brain and nervous system. Unlike last time, where it was random, this virus had an intentioned physical location. So combined V must have a dual or multiple purpose goal that can only be fulfilled by targeting Beninsprout Corporation and editing in a certain direction. The reason we can be sure that Beninsprout is of significant importance is because of the necessary effort to taint the water and what is becoming clear from this new information.” The pictures and pins on the wall are potently being put together. “V’s personal code must have a tenant not to harm people. In both cases, the virus is not suited to cause extensive illness and harm and the overall death count is near zero. He wouldn’t choose to attack a company for no reason. He must be getting closer to his goal because he is getting even more bold and illogical to our notions. If he doesn’t want to do harm, then why choose a virus? I can’t fathom how his final plan connects with needing to be a virus, choosing Beninsprout, and not inflicting traditional harm. Let’s think of why Beninsprout was chosen.”
“It is always a possibility that he was wronged by Beninsprout.” I look on the web for a short period. Meanwhile, Lex balances a pen evenly on the bridge of his nose like a seesaw. “Nothing fits. There are too many cases. Just about every type of person has been done wrong by this company.”

“It was wrong to discard traditional values earlier. While they are not his end goal, they could always be used to advance it. I think that it is 50% possible that he used this situation to benefit financially.”

“Why does he need money?”

“A multitude of reasons. If he is traveling from far away to the water source, it will be costly. If he is using new technology or creating his own technology, his capital needed to start would be immense. We deduced that he cannot be found by the public and has to work alone or in a small group, so he may have to source his own equipment. That may be his core tangible motivation for targeting Beninsprout.”

“Can we track the stock transactions back to him?” I shake my head. “No, they are anonymous and we don’t know what amount to look for.”

“I think we just need to get inside of his head further. I’ve already done so shallowly one day when I was at peak concentration and in tune with his thoughts in this quiet room. I used his own mind's sensibilities and habits to lay a trap. Humans have complementary traits. If you are outgoing, you are likely a more open personality type. Social behavior matches with openness. I think for V, we can assume that since he is young and brash, he will also be competitive. I made a second post about my findings public. It is very likely that he has seen it, given this post’s viral nature. He probably keeps up on that type of news. If he is the type of person I think he is then he will accept that he has opponents and he would be driven to beat us. In order to do that, he would be calculating and know the necessity of finding information on us to even out the information disadvantage. That post is his only entry point and I made sure he had a lead back to us. The site shows me as an anonymous user present at our company through an error in my bio. It also shows that I have multiple private posts. The site allows people from your same company to view your posts according to your settings. He knows the same and would know that the only way to see my posts is by getting company access.”

“You timed this post with our scheduled hiring season and this round we have online positions. He can apply even if he is not in North or South America. He would then apply with fake information as a precaution, but he still wouldn’t expect us to know that he is applying. Applying is what he would do because it is multitudes easier than hacking a national organization.”

“Yes, I think I found the suspect as well. Take a look.”

“Hmmm. The information is a bunch of gibberish. It says that it was a woman and that they are from New Jersey. Did the posts that he saw have any information?”

“No, just normal company communication messages and a red herring post I made.”

“Have you tried tracking his IP address?”

“Yeah I identified it to come from a region in Argentina, but besides that, I don’t know what to think.”

“How careful is he? Did he intentionally connect from there? Is a vpn in use?”

“It is impossible to connect to our company's messages on a vpn, Anneka.”

“So did he use a connection from Argentina on purpose or because that is where he actually is?”

“The problem is that it is a rural area. The area it gave could be off by 1000 or more kilometers even if we assume it is true. That’s why every ounce of information is needed.”

“We should assume that it is true, because I think this is the best we’ll get. We have no time to set any other traps and the act of creating new ones will alert him to our situation and intentions. ”

“So, we are gambling on this?”

“Yes, I am certain we are.”

“In this huge region, we should track lab and virus editing equipment. That should narrow our locations.” I marked it on the map with a red circle.

“That’s too obvious. What if he bought everything through undocumented means?”

“Undocumented equipment is so much more expensive. It would be easier to set up a fake company and use that as coverage to buy the equipment.”

I continue navigating on the laptop. “Ok, so there are six companies buying this equipment. How do we narrow them down?”

“Yeah, they all look real to me. It could be that he bought the equipment through a performing real company as an intermediary.

“I’m looking at the newest equipment bought after the crash of Beninsprout or slightly before and there is luckily only one choice. DCD Research.”

“Let’s look to see if any of their employees have specialized in viruses.” I stare in disbelief. “This company barely publishes anything. All their information is private.” I give Lex my laptop and we both try searching for anything for hours.

“Is he fortunate or intentional? Hello, Anneka.” I wave and see focus shutting me out.

“There is only one facility for DCD Research. The most anyone would travel to go to work one way every day by car is on average 30 minutes or less. He should live somewhere within that driving distance.”

“Nice.” I circle a new region in blue after calculating using road maps and road information. “V prioritizes human safety, so he would build his lab somewhere far away from densely populated areas in case of the worst case scenario. Any lab will also create hazardous waste. We should look for facilities that dispose of biowaste. Inputting those two parameters into consideration, there are two 5 km radius areas where he could be located. The forest or the mountains.”

“Let’s finally get professional and company help.” My call goes through.

“Hello? It is the day after Christmas at 5 PM. What do you want?” Maybe this isn’t for me. I passed the call with Dr. Aline to Lex.

“We have information on the recent Beninsprout controversy. While we've been figuring it out, we have been compiling a paper. If you check your inbox, it is sent.”

“I’ll read this later, Lex.”

“You’ve asked me months ago to go about the case with the Seattle strain in a different way. I have and this is the culmination.”

“Fine, I’ll read the abstract. … So, you think it is connected to Beninsprout. How interesting.”

We waited for two hours for her to read the paper and make a response.

“I can’t say I can attach my confidence onto every point, but this paper is more well-constructed, unlike your last presentation. Unlike last time, we also have an unsolved worldwide health controversy, so I will support you. That threat is apparent even without your potential threat. What is the final part of your plan?”

“We are going to meet this person and use all the information we have collected to convince them to change their ways or at least stop.”

“To do that, you would need a negotiator or criminal psychologist. I have someone in mind, Yama.”

“We don’t need a good negotiator, Dr. Aline. We need to protect the world and change this person instead.”

“I trust the person I suggested just as much as I’ve come to trust you. Meet him and then decide.”

We went to see Yama the next day.

“Hi, I’m Lex and this is Anneka.” I put my hand out and he leaves it hanging without even looking at it. My eyes turn to Dr. Aline.

“You may know Yama from your time studying at MRI. I’m pretty sure you may have graduated with a master’s degree at the same time. I’ve also given Yama the paper, so that we are all on the same page.”

“Lex and Anneka. The fact that this is the first time we meet is insulting.”

“Is it insulting, Yama? It is a big school, you know. Also, we are different majors.”

“Don’t talk like you care about our school at all. You have no MRI pride or respect. You both graduated with a master's in three years. Half of the normal time. It is like you didn’t even want to be there.”

What’s the point in acknowledging that? “With respect. Dr. Aline, I think we should just work without Yama. Lex and I have our own plan anyway.”

“I don’t think that would work. Yama is much more qualified than you are in this profession. His expertise will be important. It is final from me that he will be going.”

An affirmed smile takes over his face. “Hmm. See. It is obvious that I’m more qualified than you halfway partakers.”

“That being said, we'll go with Lex’s plan, because he has a better understanding of the criminal.”

His eyes widened. “What. This is an important mission. We can’t leave it to these good for nothings.”