'See? It's not just Andrew MacDonald. I ran the data again, the Agency system just does not make mistakes, no glitches, no anomalies, have ever been recorded. I mean ever!'

Grant watched as stream upon stream of data scrolled down the multiple screens.

'I ran a deep diagnostic and, guess what I found?'

'Look, Alan, it's getting very late, I'm a little frazzled, can I just have this in layperson's language, the point of, of all this? '

She gestured to the screen, and, for his sake, pulled a goofy face. 'Please, humour a dim old Agent? '

'I don't think you're dim…or old…' Alan blushed. 'Erm, anyway, McDonald's data looks like it's been falsified! Someone has managed to hack the System! '

Emma's heart sank.

'The 180 results have been altered. Very subtle programming, hidden deep, but there if you know what you're looking at. Quite a brilliant job, actually! '

She swallowed down her panic.

'What do you mean 'altered'?'

'That's the weird thing, the 180 was altered the day before, see, 179 if you please..erm take McDonald, his percentile was recorded at 91.2%. But, it was then altered, and here's the weird thing…not once but three times!'

Grant was taken back, what was Alan saying?

'Three? That's not possible, why would he…er why would anyone alter a record three times? '

'Yeah, as I said, weird! So, McDonald was at 99.8, lethal territory, System had him at a safe 91.2%, that's when you were deployed. '

'I count one…or am I being dim? '

'Here's the weird bit, I tracked back to the original DDV test, bagged and tagged through the Agency. McDonalds actual score was 90 dead! '

Grant was puzzled for real.

'So, whoever hacked us, firstly put him at dangerous levels, then brought him back down... and back up again.

Once the hacked result was discovered and the Agency alerted… and I'm still working on how that happened….the fake 99.8 had to be acted on!

Agent Grant, this guy, Andrew McDonald was never a threat, someone just wanted us to think he was, then hid it from us.

I have no clue why anyone would want to put someone innocent in danger of processing, only to change the records to make him safe, then change it back again, both records being fake…just doesn't make sense!

The anomaly repeats for over two hundred subjects. Erm, 11 of them have been processed, and if my data is correct, those poor kids were always Innocents! They never were a threat to anyone, just made to look that way.'

Grant felt sick. Felt relieved. Felt angry. A con, plain, and simple, the ultimate swindle!

Make concerned parents think their children are in danger, offer to help, wring every last penny out of them, and, if your scam was threatened, give the Agency the false results. Word spreads and, hey presto, more cash from terrified parents!

'The bastard! All those innocent people! All those lives ruined! Eleven Innocents murdered! '

'Agent Grant, Emma, the reason I called you first…erm, I don't know how to put this, but your son, Lucas? He's one of the anomalies, his original 180 test, 91.5%, totally normal, has been altered, too! '

Freewayriding

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