Zero-G by Alton Gansky Page B

alterations in the drug composition used on the dermal patches that killed all but one of the Atlantis crew and nearly brought down MedSys.
    â€œAs you know, he set up a false ID, false bank accounts, false names, and more. What he did took a lot of planning, and unlike most people of his ilk, he planned a nearly foolproof escape plan.”
    â€œBut you kept telling us that you could find him.” Diane leaned forward.
    â€œIndeed, I did.” Garret adjusted his glasses. He knew he looked like a dot-com geek. He cultivated the image. Corporate security involved more electronic work than muscle these days. “I’m confident to the point of cocky and I’m highly motivated.”
    â€œFive million should be motivation for anyone,” she said. “You still must locate him — down to the address.”
    â€œI understand. We’ve been over this.” Garret regretted the words as soon as he spoke them.
    â€œAnd we’ll go over it every day if I so choose. One man almost ruined fifty years of pharmaceutical business.” Diane’s words were as hard as ice cubes. “My father put his life in this company and so have I. Millions of people are better off because of what we do here. I will not let one mistake doom us.”
    â€œWith all due respect, it’s more than one mistake. Your personnel department hired a man who used a false identity. A better background check might have saved you a lot of money.”
    â€œAll old news.” Linear’s jaw tightened. “You can be replaced.”
    â€œYup, you could do that.” Garret didn’t flinch. He never showed weakness. Bad for business. “In fact, feel free to do so.” He closed the laptop and rose. “If you want to bring in one of my competitors, then just tell me. I’ll disappear and let you explain to the new guy how you’ve covered up a crime committed on your premises, how that crime led to the death of some really good people who Americans consider heroes, and how you managed to cover it up. Oh, don’t forget to tell them the man responsible has been running free for the last year.”
    â€œYou want more money, is that it?” Diane’s frown deepened, something Garret thought was physically impossible.
    â€œNo. The retainer you pay every month is adequate and the five-million-dollar carrot you keep dangling keeps me interested.”
    â€œIt also keeps you from milking the 50K retainer we pay, not to mention the massive expenses.”
    â€œIf I could have nabbed this guy the first week, I would have. Now, do I leave or stay?”
    Silence hung heavy in the room. “Sit down, Mr. Alderman. We don’t want to bring in anyone else.” Diane leaned back. “It wouldn’t be prudent.”
    Garret returned to his seat and reopened the laptop. “I know it’s been a rough year for you. Frankly, it’s never taken me this long to pin anyone down. Your man is smart. Worse, he’s clever and apparently has monetary resources. No one can hide for long without a way of sustaining themselves.”
    Garret already knew a lot about his target. The man had been a troubled teenager but showed enough promise to make it into a four-year college, finishing in only two years. He had spent three years in the Navy before his superiors booted him out. Free of the military, he returned to school. Several misdemeanors later, he left with a BS degree in biochemistry.
    Alderman had yet to understand what drove the man. For years, he seemed a model citizen working at some of the best research facilities and companies in the country — not as a scientist, his credentials didn’t allow that, but as a master technician. He knew how to make the machinery and electronics do what was demanded of it.
    Something in the man drove him to do more, and that “more” puzzled Alderman. He had become a “biohacker” — a term that didn’t exist