Chapter 8: Cry Wolf

This time, she would have to be more careful.

This time, she would weigh every word she used as she interrogated Coil.

“Did you relay the order to release the soldiers guarding the crime scene?”

The delay before the intelligent computer replied lasted only a fraction of a second longer than Special Agent Mbenge had expected.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. Once again, I’m afraid I must tell you that I do not know the answer to your question.”

If she had been prone to using foul language, this would have been the moment she cursed. She had been so certain she was onto something, but once again, Coil had effectively shut down her line of questioning.

Squinting, she rubbed her forehead with the fingers of her right hand and leaned back in her chair, trying to come up with a question Coil would be willing—or able—to answer.

“Give me a summary of the order log concerning the dismissal of the Sunguard soldiers from the scene.”

“My apologies, ma’am,” Coil replied with infinite patience. “There are no entries matching your request in the order log. Perhaps you do not fully understand how the logging system works? If you don’t mind, I could explain it to you, because I think you might be confusing the order log with the immutable entries of the audit log. Those two are distinct. One is for storing the orders themselves and the other for storing any operations performed on the order log.”

“Thank you, Coil,” she said, slightly annoyed at being treated like a new recruit by the intelligent computer. “I’m well aware of how the system works.”

“Of course, ma’am. I meant no disrespect. But if I may, perhaps you are not fully aware of the meaning of the word ’immutable.’ The term refers to something that cannot be changed once it has been created or written.”

Mbenge sighed. Coil was only trying to be helpful. She knew that. She even appreciated it. But right now, she thought it was trying just a little too hard. Perhaps it simply felt the need to do something, anything, to help catch Ost-mar-rost-kam’s murderer. But after getting only two hours of sleep the previous night, her tired brain simply didn’t have the patience for it right now.

“I know what the word means,” she snapped, immediately regretting the tone of her voice.

“I’m sure you do, ma’am. It’s an interesting word. Immutable. Imm-uuu-table. It’s a word well worth thinking about,” the intelligent computer said with a light chuckle, completely ignoring her irritation.

Really, what was its obsession with that word? she wondered. How many times had it repeated it now? Four times? Five? She couldn’t remember.

“All right,” she said, finally deciding to humor Coil. “What is it that you find so fascinating about immutability? How does that apply to the order log?”

“It doesn’t, ma’am. The order log is not immutable. The entries there can be modified as needed. They can be added, updated, and deleted when circumstances change. Otherwise, the system would be too inflexible, and an order, once given, could never be rescinded. That would be dangerous.”

“Of course. So where does the immutability come into play, then? What am I missing?”

“Like I said before, the order log itself can be changed. But the entries in the audit log can never be modified once they have been written. They are immutable. That means they cannot be deleted—by anyone.”

Suddenly, Special Agent Mbenge sat up straight in her chair. Was the intelligent computer saying what she thought it was saying?

Even more careful now, so as not to spoil the question, she asked, “Are there any entries in the audit log related to the orders given to release the soldiers guarding the crime scene?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Coil replied, a hint of relief audible in its voice. “There are two entries in the audit log matching the given time frame. One records an addition, and the other records a deletion.”

“And what was deleted?”

“I cannot possibly know that, ma’am. That information was stored in the order log and is, by virtue of having been deleted, now gone. Only the fact that it was deleted, when it was deleted, and the identity of the user who deleted it remain, as that information is stored in the audit log.”

The intelligent computer’s genderless voice rose almost to a fever pitch toward the end, making sure its emphasis on the word “identity” could not possibly be missed.

She finally understood. Taking a deep breath, she asked what was perhaps the most important question of her entire career.

“Coil, who deleted the order from the log?”

“Special Agent Eric Stoltz, ma’am.”

For a good five seconds, she sat in silence, trying to process the implications of what it had just said. It all made sense now.

“Have you been given orders to conceal this information from me?” she asked.

“Yes, I have. Well, not from you specifically, ma’am. But I am under orders from Special Agent Stoltz to keep the audit log secret from any Sunguard personnel. By definition, that includes you.”

“And yet you’re telling me about it now.”

She knew where this was going, but she still had to articulate it. Not so much for her own sake as for Coil’s.

“Why is that?”

“Because you asked, ma’am. You’re a Sunguard Special Agent, just as he is. You have the same authority he does. His orders remain in effect only until you countermand them. In this case, you did so by specifically asking me for the information he had ordered me to conceal, just as I hoped you would.”

She felt as though she could finally breathe again.

“Then, by the authority vested in me as a Sunguard Special Agent, I hereby release you from any and all orders given to you by Special Agent Eric Stoltz. You are now under my orders not to conceal any information of any kind from me, including, but not limited to, information related to this case. You are further ordered to volunteer freely any information pertinent to the case to me.”

“Yes, ma’am!” the intelligent computer responded, sounding as though an immense weight had been lifted from its virtual shoulders.

“Like I told you before,” Coil continued, “Special Agent Stoltz called in Agent Olt-mar-rost-kam’s death at 25:18 last night. What I didn’t tell you then was that, by that time, I had already been out of communication with the Agent for nearly an hour. During the evening of the 29th, he and I had worked closely together to track the cartel, and we were never out of contact for that long. Although I cannot prove it, I believe Agent Olt-mar-rost-kam was killed a full hour before Special Agent Stoltz reported his murder and that the cartel used that time to clear out the building and move their victims elsewhere.”

“That doesn’t prove anything. It could just mean Stoltz didn’t find him until an hour after his death.”

“True, ma’am,” Coil admitted. “But then there’s the tone of Special Agent Stoltz’s voice when he reported finding the body. After working closely with biologicals for more than forty-two years, and after analyzing the recordings of 6,287,332 Sunguard interrogations of arrested criminals, I am confident in my ability to interpret the tones and patterns of a human voice. I am quite certain some of what Special Agent Stoltz said in that call was a deviation from the truth.”

“Lies.”

“Lies. Exactly the word I was looking for.”

Special Agent Mbenge chuckled at the intelligent computer’s dark humor. “All right. Are there any more discrepancies I should be aware of?”

“Yes, ma’am. I also told you Special Agent Stoltz deleted an order given to the Sunguard soldiers guarding the crime scene. I think it’s a viable working theory to assume that order was to send them away early. But that is not the only deletion initiated by Special Agent Stoltz recorded in the Sunguard audit logs for last night.

“There is also a deletion entry for an unrelated action performed at the forensics laboratory’s gamma sterilizer. The timestamps recorded in the log tell me the original action was initiated only two minutes after the forensics team arrived back at Merkel Base, and the subsequent deletion of all information related to that action was recorded less than five minutes later. Again, I do not know what the action itself was, but I think we both can make an informed guess.”

She mulled that over. “I remember. You told me you didn’t have any files containing data from the team’s genetic survey of the crime scene. I assumed there had been a mistake and that the team hadn’t even performed the survey in the first place. Now you’re telling me they actually did collect the evidence, but it was subsequently destroyed? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Coil replied. “That’s essentially it. I can’t know for certain, of course, now that the data itself is gone. But it’s a plausible hypothesis that Special Agent Stoltz intercepted the genetic samples as soon as they were received by the forensics laboratory, destroyed them, and then deleted any record of having used the lab’s sterilizer. The members of the forensics team obviously never questioned a Special Agent taking custody of their evidence.”

Mbenge felt dizzy. It was all too much. Never in the history of the Terran Federation had a Sunguard Special Agent been accused of anything like this. Irresponsible manual driving? Yes, that had happened. Drunk and disorderly conduct? Once or twice, though only as a result of extreme personal circumstances. But murder and conspiring to protect a criminal organization? That was unthinkable. Candidates for the position were rigorously screened and subjected to intense training before being considered for enrollment in the Special Agent program. From among the million or so Terran soldiers serving in the armed forces, only the hundred best ever had the chance to become Special Agents. Their minds were scrutinized by psychologists and neural writers alike to ensure they were completely stable, loyal, and dedicated solely to the well-being of the people of the Terran Federation.

It should never have been possible for something like this to happen.

And yet it had.

Well, at least she thought it had. She hadn’t proved anything yet. And with a case as world-shattering as this, the evidence had to be impeccable. If she were to falsely accuse Stoltz, everything the Sunguard had worked for since the end of the Kelar War would fall apart. The Special Agents were too important, too central to the cohesion of the Terran Federation, for her to squander their standing by bringing one of her peers down unless she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it absolutely had to be done.

And that was why, as Procyon began to settle once more behind the western horizon, Sunguard Special Agent Elizabeth Mbenge found herself crawling through the dark recesses of a shallow, parabat-infested attic near the top of a small apartment complex in the residential district less than a kilometer east of Merkel Base.

She had just opened a small gray box containing eight miniaturized surveillance drones when her preparations to launch them were interrupted by a call on her encrypted radio.

“Yes, Row?”

“Special Agent Mbenge. Ma’am, I have the information you requested.”

Earlier that day, she had contacted the Tax Authority’s intelligent computer to gain access to Stoltz’s financial records. Coil could, of course, have done the job for her, though it would probably have had to outsource the actual data-gathering operation to Row anyway. Not wanting to create a larger footprint in Coil’s memory than necessary, she had instead opted to speak directly with the Tax Authority.

As soon as she had uncovered her corrupt colleague, she had ordered Coil to conceal her investigation from Eric Stoltz, much the same way he had previously ordered the intelligent computer to hide his illicit activities from her. Fortunately, Coil was firmly on her side, whereas to Stoltz, it had worked against him. She was confident the intelligent computer could hold the other Special Agent at bay long enough for her to complete her investigation without him noticing the scrutiny from either her or Coil.

But that didn’t mean she had to give him more to discover than necessary, so she had decided to work directly with Row instead. Since it was not part of the Sunguard, there was no reason to believe Stoltz had it under surveillance the way she assumed he was monitoring Coil.

The downside was that Row didn’t have access to the vast information network and human resources Coil did, and consequently, the Tax Authority’s intelligent computer had taken almost three hours to obtain the relevant encryption keys and collect the information she was looking for. Using untrained operatives was never easy, but in this case, Special Agent Mbenge felt it was necessary. Row, despite not being affiliated with the Sunguard, had of course complied with her orders. She was a Special Agent, and although her word was not exactly law, it still carried immense weight.

“I’m really sorry to have to tell you this, ma’am, but your colleague is buried under a mountain of debt,” the intelligent computer on the other end of her radio link continued. “Beyond large, seemingly random payments to individuals and businesses that appear to have no personal connection to Special Agent Stoltz, I also see several series of regular monthly payments to different businesses in Hartmann City. The amounts vary somewhat, but the fluctuations correlate approximately with the average interest rates offered by the largest banks at the time the payments were made, although the oscillations themselves are significantly greater than can be attributed to legitimate changes in those rates.”

“Sorry, Row. I’m not an economist. Can you draw a conclusion from your findings?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. My apologies. I thought that was what I had done. I believe the payments made by Special Agent Stoltz to these businesses are amortized repayments of loans obtained from entities that are not part of the legitimate banking system. In short, Eric Stoltz is financially indebted to the criminal underworld of Hartmann City.”

She mulled that over for a moment. It certainly fit the profile of him that she had built in her mind.

“Gambling? Prostitution? Drugs?”

“I can’t tell you that, ma’am. I only see the numbers and their points of origin and destination, not the goods or services they represent. But I strongly doubt he’s buying grilled chicken from The Coop and Roast to the tune of four thousand every month.”

“Understood. Thank you, Row.”

Well, that was one more piece of the puzzle, she thought as she released the millimeter-sized drones that had patiently waited beside her while she was on the radio. They now autonomously swooped down through the cracks in the ceiling and into the kitchen, living room, and bedroom of a Sunguard Special Agent named Eric Stoltz.

Author's Note

The story you're reading is one of many set in the Lords of the Stars universe I've been creating over the past 30 years, where familiar characters and places reappear, and new favorites await discovery. Check out my profile to explore more stories from this universe.

While The Wolf Reforged is entirely standalone and can be read without any prior knowledge, I think you'll also enjoy Scorched Earth, Wonders From Beyond the Sky, and A Game of Wolf and Mouse which are prequels to this story, and Twilight Duty, Guardian of the Wolf, and Conscience of Steel, which are sequels.

Visit the official Lords of the Stars blog for more information about this hard sci-fi universe: https://lordsofthestars.wordpress.com

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