Page 96 (1/2)

“Can I see it?” Torkan asked

Mallik handed the laptop over, and Torkan inspected it, turning it over slowly in his hands Then he stopped to look at one of the USB ports He took out a knife and pried out a tiny device embedded in the port

Mallik leaned forward and took it from Torkan “I’ve never seen one of these, only heard of them I think it’s called a barnacle How did you know?”

“Those menin the stairwell back at the party,” Torkan said “I suspected they had been in your office”

“But ould Carlton want to access my system? He must have known it was separate from my launch computer”

Torkan shrugged “Maybe he wanted to use the information he downloaded to blackmail you about Colossus”

“No, then he would iht tell us”

Torkan prepared to stand “Is that what you wanted to talk about?”

Mallik sighed “Unfortunately, no This is difficult because you are the only family I have left”

Torkan sat forward “It’s Rasul, isn’t it?” He hadn’t heard from his brother since the covert mission on the Triton Star

Mallik nodded “I got a phone call froovernment They’ve received inquiries fro the discussions, it was disclosed that Rasul was killed in the attack I’m very sorry”

Torkan slu back and forth as he processed what they had both feared

“How did he die?” Torkan finally asked

“I couldn’t get any details The A the attack on Diego Garcia”

“Who did it? Who killed my brother?”