Chapter 1 (Hughes)
This is Channel 11 News, and we are coming to you live from Downtown Richmond where Governor Valeri Parker has been murdered. The FBI says she was commuting into the city when her self-driving car exploded. Parker was pronounced dead at the scene and three other people that were nearby are being treated for minor injuries. The FBI believes Parker is the fourth victim in the continuing string of terrorist bombings, but would not provide any details regarding the investigation.
Special Agent Brandon Hughes waved at his smart board, cutting off the newsfeed. Leaning back in his chair, he ran his fingers through thinning dark hair. It was going to be another long day. Heck, no one had even taken credit for the attacks. Now, with four dead politicians, in four states, in four months, and zero leads, it had already been a long year.
There was a knock at his office door and Agent Natasha Moreno stepped inside. “Sir, I ran down that serial number we recovered.”
Hughes sat forward and folded his arms, planting his elbows on his desk. “Please tell me you found something.”
Moreno pursed her lips and swiped a finger across the screen of her phone, casting a webpage and a picture of a fragmented serial number to Hughes’s smartboard. “Well I tracked it down to a communications company called McClusky Inc. It’s a cheap transponder like the kind they use in delivery drones. They checked their records and found it had been sold and shipped to a local retailer here in Richmond.”
Hughes nodded, daring to hope. “Were you able to pull security footage of the buyer?”
Moreno bit her lower lip and from behind her back, pulled out a white cardboard box with red McClusky Inc branding.
Hughes glared at it as she set it on his desk, “What’s this?”
“It’s probably easier if you just open it.”
Opening the box revealed a brand new transponder, still sealed in its anti static plastic bag and prominently labeled TAN-1-441.
Hughes’ frustration gave way to confusion as he looked at the pictures on his smartboard and then back to the bagged unit in his hands. Still dissatisfied, he sat up and rummaged through the newest of the four Tupperware boxes on his desk, one for each bombing. He uncovered a plastic evidence bag containing the charred circuit board and read off the serial number. “TAN-1-441. I don’t get it, how is it possible to have duplicate numbers?”
Agent Moreno sighed. “Sir, do you ever listen to TeCH Talks?”
