Agent Levi flicked open the case file on Regina Hawkes. Caught by the FBI’s Economic Espionage Unit, Regina had been employed by Promotivate, Inc. as a low-level programmatic technician for the Nyx Advertising Program. As far as the public knew, NAP was discontinued in the beta-testing stages, ostensibly due to running over-budget. Vague rumors had circled among Promotivate’s competitors that the project had actually been pulled due to the actions of the disgruntled employee he was about to interview. She was being head-hunted by both domestic and foreign agencies when the FBI had finally collected enough data to bring her in.

A guard came to the waiting room to escort him into the bowels of ADX Florence federal super-max prison, which Levi personally thought was a bit overkill. But he was there to find out precisely which foreign agencies she had been in contact with and what had been shared, not question the location of her imprisonment.

She waited alone, cuffed to the table, in the standard orange jumpsuit. Levi would have put the subject in her early forties, but her birthdate stated that she was 57. Her brown eyes were a little more sunken than in her photo, and her brown roots needed a touch-up, but prison was hard on everybody.

“Good afternoon, Regina. How are you?” Levi sat across from her, discreetly keeping the file’s contents out of her view. The woman was physically unremarkable, enough that she would have made an excellent under cover agent – her former employer had clearly underestimated her.

“I have had better days,” she quipped, leaning back in the small metal chair.

“Tell me a little about NAP and what you worked on.” Levi preferred to dive right in, which usually garnered surprise from his previous interviewees, but Regina remained impassive.

If she was annoyed by being asked a question she had answered repeatedly over several weeks, she didn’t show it. “The Nyx Advertising Project was touted as next-gen product placement to investors. Promotivate would have been able to directly transmit advertisements to the target audience into their minds while they slept. The big drawback to the project was that it would require installment of a brain chip, which means a partnership with Google, whose research is much further along in that type of hardware.”

“And what did you personally work on?”

“I was one of several programmers tasked with coding in the products themselves. The ‘several’ was the issue Promotivate had – I was classed as redundant and laid off.”

“You took issue with that.”

“Agent, I’m a 57 year old female programmer, less than 10 years from retirement and on the company’s pension. Despite several laws in place, ageism and sexism are still very much a problem in Corporate America,” Regina almost sounded amused by this, but there was an odd emptiness, a robotic quality to her voice and expressions.

“But you were head-hunted.”

“NAP was a closely guarded secret. After several months, and a bit of corporate espionage, I was head-hunted. Someone was finally smart enough to dig in to my background.”

“Neuroscience.”

“Yes, Agent.”

“Who did you speak with?”

“I’m not that easy, Agent. You need to wine-and-dine me first.” Again, as if she were reading a script, her tone lacked inflection. Levi wondered if there was more to her layoff than simple redundancy.

“Fair enough. You found something that would benefit the project though. A back-door, if you will.”

“You’re simplifying it a bit, but yes. The human mind can be manipulated with external factors. No need for a chip. Nothing confirmed, however.”

“Which you tried out on the beta-testing group.”

“No comment.”

“To remarkable failure.”

“Again, no comment.”

“Who are currently restrained in their hospital beds, trapped in their minds by a nightmare from which neurologists can’t awaken them from.” He tossed pictures of her victims, emaciated and straining against their bonds, across the table, seeing if he could evoke a reaction. Her eyes flicked to the photos, but she remained impassive.

“I do not know what you are referring to.”

“Agent. Please cease all further questions. My client has a right to an attorney, and she has been released on bail.” A faint Chinese accent underscored the new arrival’s statement.

“Bail? She doesn’t have bail.” Levi turned around to see a young man in an Armani suit striding up to him. The attorney handed him an updated court order. Bail for Regina Hawkes had been set for 50 million and promptly paid for by AdCorp. Levi pursed his lips – he knew a shell company when he saw one.

A guard followed the attorney in and released her from the hand cuffs. Finally, a small smile touched the probable traitor’s face. “I appreciate your time, Agent.” She peeked at her legal representative’s watch for the time. “And sleep well. I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.”