richest families, to be precise. Most importantly, the killer knew how to remove the electronic bracelet. Someone had to have trained him to do it. The removal technology was classified so all the technicians capable of doing it could easily be checked. But to check it, you had to contact Memoria's research center whose staff were directly interested in doctoring the data.
When the killer had left Kathleen's apartment with her purse , he hadn't found the hard disk inside. What he had found was the post office receipt, a nd not straight away but after Frank's arrest. Otherwise, what had been the point in risking their butts at the post office? This was the only explanation Frank and Max c ould come up with to explain away the assault on the post office a mere two hours after Frank's escape from the police station.
"They basically followed in my wake," Frank concluded staring at the notes.
The coach nodded.
"Yes, you.. .. or we, rather, were going head- to - head until now . But I'm afraid they' ll be gaining ground before long . Let's assume that the data on the hard disk has something to do with th is Vaccination thing . Then if it turned out to cause physical or mental damage, Gautier must have demand ed they went public about it. And they refused her demand causing the DC talks to collapse."
"Then what's the point in going public about it tomorrow?" Frank threw the pen onto the desk. "All this media-summoning, migrant- cajoling presentation?"
" They need to remain one step ahead. To shut Gautier up and appease the public. They're too scared that we can h ack the files and t hey have no way of knowing if Kathleen told you why she'd copied them to begin with." Max reached under Frank's ar m and pulled out a sheet where they 'd listed all the events of the past few days.
"Look," he took the pen and circled an item on the list. "You were taken to the station for questioning. Immediately they attacked it."
"Th e y must have thou ght," Frank started, "that I knew what was going on. They thought I would te stify against them."
"Exactly. They also thought you had the hard disk. So they wanted to get rid of the eyewitness and remove the device." He pulled the laptop closer and tapped "Memoria board of directors" into the search engine.
Frank exploded.
" So now I'm a terrorist acting on his own ? It's not what they said before! Can't anyone see they're lying? How could I trash th e station on my own? Even a child can see that I couldn't turn the city into a battlefield all alone . Besides, di dn't you just say that th ree hundred thousand migrants are a force to be reckoned with? All these war-mongering alerts of yours, and now you're backpedalling?"
"Relax," Max gave him a cold stare. "I may be mistaken. Kathleen's killers could have another agenda for all that I know."
"Yeah, right, but how about Memoria? And the President? They don't even try to hide their contempt for the migrants. The authorities can barely stand them. Surely every one can put two and two together ... "
"You're forgetting our civic duty. Most eyewitnesses to yesterday's carnage must have already visited Memoria branches and had their horrible memories erased. Why should they carry around thoughts of gunfire and dead bodies on the streets? I'm more than sure they were very nicely asked to do so. I'm al so sure that the media have refuted their earlier stories under the pretext of not wanting to hurt people's sensibilities. You are the scape goat because they hope to catch you pretty soon. Now that they've prejudiced everyone against you, they just sit and wait till you give yourself up ."
Max turned the screen to ward Frank. He saw several mug shots and brief resumes of a couple of dozen Memoria executives. They hadn't removed Kathleen's file yet, listing her as their research manager.
"The fact that the President called you a terrorist acting on his own means that those who put a hit out on Kathleen have government connections and media control.
When the killer had left Kathleen's apartment with her purse , he hadn't found the hard disk inside. What he had found was the post office receipt, a nd not straight away but after Frank's arrest. Otherwise, what had been the point in risking their butts at the post office? This was the only explanation Frank and Max c ould come up with to explain away the assault on the post office a mere two hours after Frank's escape from the police station.
"They basically followed in my wake," Frank concluded staring at the notes.
The coach nodded.
"Yes, you.. .. or we, rather, were going head- to - head until now . But I'm afraid they' ll be gaining ground before long . Let's assume that the data on the hard disk has something to do with th is Vaccination thing . Then if it turned out to cause physical or mental damage, Gautier must have demand ed they went public about it. And they refused her demand causing the DC talks to collapse."
"Then what's the point in going public about it tomorrow?" Frank threw the pen onto the desk. "All this media-summoning, migrant- cajoling presentation?"
" They need to remain one step ahead. To shut Gautier up and appease the public. They're too scared that we can h ack the files and t hey have no way of knowing if Kathleen told you why she'd copied them to begin with." Max reached under Frank's ar m and pulled out a sheet where they 'd listed all the events of the past few days.
"Look," he took the pen and circled an item on the list. "You were taken to the station for questioning. Immediately they attacked it."
"Th e y must have thou ght," Frank started, "that I knew what was going on. They thought I would te stify against them."
"Exactly. They also thought you had the hard disk. So they wanted to get rid of the eyewitness and remove the device." He pulled the laptop closer and tapped "Memoria board of directors" into the search engine.
Frank exploded.
" So now I'm a terrorist acting on his own ? It's not what they said before! Can't anyone see they're lying? How could I trash th e station on my own? Even a child can see that I couldn't turn the city into a battlefield all alone . Besides, di dn't you just say that th ree hundred thousand migrants are a force to be reckoned with? All these war-mongering alerts of yours, and now you're backpedalling?"
"Relax," Max gave him a cold stare. "I may be mistaken. Kathleen's killers could have another agenda for all that I know."
"Yeah, right, but how about Memoria? And the President? They don't even try to hide their contempt for the migrants. The authorities can barely stand them. Surely every one can put two and two together ... "
"You're forgetting our civic duty. Most eyewitnesses to yesterday's carnage must have already visited Memoria branches and had their horrible memories erased. Why should they carry around thoughts of gunfire and dead bodies on the streets? I'm more than sure they were very nicely asked to do so. I'm al so sure that the media have refuted their earlier stories under the pretext of not wanting to hurt people's sensibilities. You are the scape goat because they hope to catch you pretty soon. Now that they've prejudiced everyone against you, they just sit and wait till you give yourself up ."
Max turned the screen to ward Frank. He saw several mug shots and brief resumes of a couple of dozen Memoria executives. They hadn't removed Kathleen's file yet, listing her as their research manager.
"The fact that the President called you a terrorist acting on his own means that those who put a hit out on Kathleen have government connections and media control.
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