Beethoven Virus Ch. 01

I asked "Any chance of installing a clean system we can upload backed up files to, and get the Hospital back going again?"

"No sir." said Mary. "Not anytime soon, anyway. If even one piece of infected equipment is connected to the system, it'll just re-infect the cleaned out system. And we're nowhere near to a solution that can neutralize the virus."

Myron added "And we're just beginning to be at a place where we can start fighting the thing. And it's... it's a real son of a bitch..."

I said "What kind of timeframe are we talking about for getting this under control? Or is it too much, and we'll have to pay the ransom?"

Mary said "Sir, you will never hear me say the words 'we can't do that'. But you will hear me say the words 'we could use some help'. Sir, we need some serious help if we're going to beat this thing within days. Otherwise, it could be... weeks."

"Okay, then, I'll get you some help." I said. "In the meantime, I think you're doing well, if this is what I think it is that we're up against. Y'all carry on, and I'll be back later..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"I think I have something for you." Jack Muscone said when I came out of the I.T. Room. "Let's go down to the waiting room." We went to the waiting room that was across from the Nurses Station.

Once there, Jack started: "Here's what I found out from Dwight Stevens: there were six Agents that did the audit of the Hospital back in February. Four FDA Agents and two DEA Agents, four men and two women. One of the DEA Agents was one of the women." He handed me his laptop, and I perused the data.

"Amelia Sedgwick." I said, seeing a women with very plain features, not unattractive but not beautiful like Joanne Warner. She had light brown hair that looked thin and wispy when tied in a ponytail behind her head, like her official photo was. My description of her, fair or not, would be 'mousy'.

Jack said "One of the FDA Agents, a guy named Tom Frady, and Ms. Sedgwick here, accessed the patient computer files, to check and make sure their data was being entered properly, as well as their prescription data; and also to check on the records of the Schedule II through V narcotics, making sure they were being properly logged in and handled. The other four Agents did not access the computers, but concentrated on paper data."

I said "Sounds like two people we need to talk to. But why are we concentrating on Ms. Sedgwick, here?"

Jack said "She has a little brother, who is ten years old and very ill, in Midtown General. I think it's possible she's doing this to get him admitted into University Hospital."

"Let's go to the I.T. Room." I said. I led the way down to the I.T. Room. Myron and Mary were not pleased at all to see Jack Muscone, but I ignored them and came up to Marty Steen.

"Do you recognize this person?" I asked Marty, showing him the photo of Amelia Sedgwick, which had been expanded to fill the screen and hide her DEA data.

"Uh... yeah, she does look familiar." said Marty. I then showed the three Hospital employees in the room her photo.

"Oh yeah." said one of the techs, a young woman that I would imagine would get along very well with Mary Milton. "She was in here a few weeks ago. She was part of that FDA team that was auditing our pharmacy and our prescription drug distribution."

"Did she do anything like use a jump drive to download data?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said the woman. "I watched her carefully, and she just downloaded the orders of Schedule II and III pharmaceuticals. Nothing else happened, no alerts for viruses or anything, when she plugged the jump drive in."

"No, there wouldn't be any warnings." I said. "Jack, let's bring Amelia Sedgwick in and talk to her..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As luck would have it (not really), DEA Special Agent Amelia Sedgwick was in our Town & County, at the Federal Building. So was DEA SSA Dwight Stevens. Jack Muscone had him escort her to the Hospital, ostensibly to assist with the pharmaceutical issues. DEA Agent Sedgwick went along very willingly.

At the entrance from the lobby to the hallway, they were checking in when they looked up to see themselves surrounded by TCPD Officers. Your Iron Crowbar was facing them. Your Iron Wolf had come up behind Amelia, as did Detective Joanne Warner. The Chief had not been happy with me when I called for Teresa to be a part of this, but after I explained my reasons he begrudgingly acquiesced.

"Amelia Sedgwick?" I asked. When she nodded, I said "Please allow Commander Croyle to relieve you of your service weapon. Just slowly raise your hands... that's right..."

Amelia complied, and just looked right into my eyes with a 'knowing' look as Teresa took the DEA Agent's powerful handgun, pushed the button that allowed the magazine to drop in the evidence bag below it, then cleared the weapon by pulling back the slide twice. There was no round chambered. Teresa put the handgun in the evidence bag, then thoroughly frisked Agent Sedgwick for other weapons, finding none.

"Come with me, please, Ms. Sedgwick." I said. She followed me and Jack Muscone into the Records Department and into an office that had a desk, with Teresa and two Uniformed Officers following behind us. Chairs had been brought in, and two TCPD videocameras were set up to record the interview.

I sat down behind the desk (facing the door we had entered). "Have a seat, Agent Sedgwick." I said. "I'm going to read you your rights."

"I know the rights." Amelia Sedgwick said as soon as I started reading from the card. "And I know why you've brought me in here. I knew that you, Commander Troy, would be smart enough to track me down. And here we are."

"Do you want legal representation?" I asked, keeping things legally tidy and tight.

"No, that won't be necessary. They'd just get in the way." Amelia said. Then she looked squarely at me and said "You've brought me in here because you believe I had something to do with this virus. Well, Commander, you are right. I am the one who infected the Hospital's systems with the virus."

"Okay." I said. I looked up and said "Everyone not named 'Commander', please leave the room, and watch on the videocameras's feeds."

"But sir..." Joanne started, but I held up my hand and then pointed at the door. She got the hint and left. Jack Muscone and Dwight Stevens also went out after I glared at them for a long second. Only Teresa and I were left in the room with Amelia.

"So you just walked in, when you had to know we were onto you and would arrest you." I said.

"It was the only way to deliver the ransom." Amelia said. "The emails are down and the wifi is out."

"True." I said. "This is Commander Teresa Croyle. She is also a Hospital Board Member, and the Chairwoman of the Teresa Croyle Foundation. And I suspect you'll need to be talking to her, because your ransom is going to involve getting your brother admitted into University Hospital's program for children with rare diseases."

"Not much gets past you, Commander." DEA Agent Sedgwick said. "And I'm very sorry to have had to do this to get my brother the help he needs. He's going to die soon, and I'm desperate. He has a liver disease, very similar to what a boy in the Hospital now has, and what Amy Croyle died of when the liver for her transplant was stolen."

I felt as much as saw Teresa react to that. I said "So why didn't you just apply to have your brother admitted the normal way?"

"I did." said Amelia. "The Hospital rejected him. They said my insurance, BigBenefitInsurance, had denied coverage because the procedure was experimental."

"That...that's not right." Teresa said. She turned to me and said "Sir, you know we admit patients without regard for their insurance status." Amelia looked shocked.

I said to Amelia "You wouldn't happen to have a copy of that rejection letter, would you?"

"Yes, I have the email." Amelia replied, her voice a bit shaky. She took out her cellphone and brought up an email, and showed it to me. "Just read, don't touch the cellphone... yet."

I read the email. It was dated March 5th of this year, and said that David B. Palmer of BigBenefitInsurance had denied the request to cover Amelia's brother's expenses. Just a form letter. Not a shred of human compassion in it, at all.

"May I see that?" Teresa said. Amelia let her read it, and let Teresa scroll it up and down. Teresa then said "Sir, I'm questioning if it's even from the Hospital. The metadata codes don't match."

The metadata codes are that jumble of information that are usually hidden unless one specifically unhides it. Teresa had done that, and she knew what the Hospital's codes should be.

"Hmm, a strangeness." I said. "In fact, I'll bet that once this gets cleared up, we'll find that the Hospital did accept Amelia's brother, and they're still wondering why he hasn't shown up yet. Okay, Amelia, so why all this? And what do you want?"

Amelia said "You were right: I just want my brother admitted and treated. I just want him to have a chance to live, and this is the only chance he has left. And in return for the passphrase to unlock the files and take down the virus, I want immunity from prosecution, or something so that I can be with my brother while he's being treated."

Teresa said "It's no problem getting your brother admitted. We'd do that anyway."

"Really?" Amelia asked, tears springing to her eyes.

"Of course." said Teresa. "That's what we're here for."

I said "Here's what we can do. I don't think I can give you immunity; there are going to have to be some consequences for your actions. But I can offer a plea deal, where you'll be ankle monitored and in a halfway house while your brother is being treated here at the Hospital."

I continued: "I have a lot of questions for you, and you'll have to answer them truthfully, but right now we need to get this Hospital back up and running, and get our children the care they need."

The tears began flowing from Amelia's eyes and down her cheeks. "Thank you." she said. "I was running out of hope..."

"That is the one thing we should never run out of, as long as we're alive." I said. "Teresa..."

"I'm on it." Teresa said. "Where is your brother now, Ms. Sedgwick?"

"Southport Hospital." Amelia said. "His name is Bobby. Bobby Sedgwick."

Teresa said to me: "I'll call down to get him life-flighted up here."

I said "Check with Midtown General, too. They're going to life-flight that liver for Tommy's surgery when the Court allows the donor's breathing machine to be turned off and he dies. You could kill two birds with one stone, and really shove it in BigBenefitInsurance's face at the same time."

"Wilco." Teresa said. She looked up at the camera and said "Detective Warner, I need you in here, please. And bring in two plea deal forms." Within seconds, Joanne arrived, and stayed so that Teresa could leave the room. The plea deal form arrived a few minutes later. I wrote two copies in basic pen-and-ink, and Amelia and I signed them.

"Okay," I said, "I'm going to have to cuff your hands in front of you. Let's go to the I.T. Room, so you can unlock the files." Joanne Warner affixed the cuffs, and we guided Amelia Sedgwick down the hall to the I.T. room...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

9:30am, Tuesday, March 30th. Everyone in the I.T. Room was shocked to see a handcuffed DEA Agent being brought into the room, and in handcuffs.

"This is Amelia Sedgwick." I said to everyone. "She is the one who uploaded the virus, and she has agreed to put in the passphrase to unlock the files."

"Have a seat right there." Mary Milton said, indicating the station next to one of the University's techs. She brought up the access screen to the Hospital's system. A black screen came up, with white letters asking for the passphrase. Amelia brought up the passphrase keys on her cellphone, and began typing them in: 'asdf'... 'jkl;'... 'qwerty'... 'zyxwvut'... 'killthewabbit'... 'elmerjfudd'... 'wileecoyote'... '12345'.

Nothing happened.

"Oh no." Amelia said. She re-typed in the phrases, to no avail. "Noooo... no... no... no..." She began crying. "Noooo... my brother will die now..."

"Look!" Mary said "A video just started up."

We all looked at the screen. The static and noise that I associated with the Slender Man video games started up, then coalesced into a fuzzy black-and-white image of what looked like a man in a Darth Vader face mask, but a black skull cap instead of the Vader helmet, and all black clothing.

"Agent Sedgwick is a fool." the voice said in a metallically disguised voice. "Do you really think I would allow you to unlock your files for nothing? Nooo, Iron Crowbar. You are going to pay. The ransom price is one hundred million dollars. But not just any old hundred million."

"I am disgusted... DISGUSTED!... that Teresa Croyle was bequeathed a hundred million dollars, and she just gave it away like it was nothing." the voice intoned, and the voice-altering device did not hide the intensity of his hatred-filled passion. "And now I am going to punish her for that. The money that she does not deserve... will be MINE!"

"You will liquidate the Croyle Foundation Trust, and you will transfer every dime of it to the account I've set up in the Cayman Islands. After I transfer the money out of there, to someplace you can never find nor touch it, I will send the passphrase that will unlock your files and activate the code to destroy the virus."

The voice went on: "If you try to trick me, and have the FBI put in a different hundred million than the Trust's money, you will not get the passphrase. If you ever try to reconstitute the Croyle Trust, I'll reactivate the virus and utterly destroy your systems. I mean for Teresa Croyle's trust to be utterly destroyed!"

"You cannot stop me. You cannot defeat the virus. There is nothing you can do, Donald Troy. Nothing. May God damn you to Hell, Iron Crowbar!..."

And with that, the screen faded to black...

To be continued.