MINUTES LATER, FLOYD KENAGAN and Gregory Evans arrived at the White House. An uncomfortable atmosphere surrounded them right at the gate, when they were greeted by two security guards, one of them accompanied by a very unfriendly dog. Even though they knew it was Floyd Kenagan, the men did not make things easy. Only after thorough checks of their identities and belongings, following an extremely strict protocol, were the gates opened and the two were allowed to enter with their car.
They crossed the gardens and left the car in the appropriate place. Upon arriving at the building, as soon as they entered the lobby, they noticed the tense atmosphere in which the place was. The reception, although polite, was not very warm on the part of the security guards and employees who looked worried. Their weapons were left at the reception, where they passed through a metal detector, and with each new group of security guards they encountered, their credentials had to be checked again. A real siege of surveillance that left Greg extremely curious about the seriousness of what he would find.
Guided by a team of four armed and rigid men, they were led through the corridors. Floyd was respected and known there for the position he held and walked more comfortably, but Greg was very uncomfortable with the agents who held his arm the entire way, guiding him with small pushes towards the desired destination.
Finally, they arrived at President Kenan's office. He was sitting on a sofa, far from his desk, where the computer was visible.
— Good morning, Mr. President," Floyd said politely.
— Good morning, Floyd. Finally, you're here. I was waiting for you with some anxiety," Kenan replied, standing up and greeting them.
— This is Agent Gregory Evans, one of my best investigators — Floyd introduced him. — The agent responsible for discovering the identities of the suspects in the last attack and for solving the Fischer case, I might add.
— One of the? — I thought I would bring the best... — Kenan asked with a smile on his face, knowing him better than anyone else.
This man has already saved my life...
Upon hearing this, Gregory's heart raced.
— Excuse me, Sir, this just means that in the FBI the top is not a place occupied by just one name. — Floyd Kenagan recovered. — He was responsible for much of the progress we have made in the investigations into the recent attacks.
— I see... The Fischer case, huh? — Kenan said, admiring the achievement cited as the young agent's resume, an old FBI case. — I do not doubt his competence, I owe him my life, I just wanted to make sure that due care will be taken throughout this investigation.
Kenan kept his gaze fixed on Greg and extended his hand to shake his.
— Agent Gregory Evans, New York Criminal Investigation Division — Greg said, without the slightest nervousness about greeting the President.
— Gentlemen — Kenan said, pointing to the burned computer. — Things have gotten worse since I requested this investigation, as you can see.
They both looked at the device adorned with black stains and melting marks.
— What happened to the computer? — Floyd asked.
— For a moment I thought it was a bomb attack," Kenan said, snorting in dissatisfaction.
Greg approached the device and saw that it was completely burned, but there were no traces of any type of corrosive or explosive material.
— How did it happen? — he asked the President.
— Well — Kenan said. — I turned it on this morning and before I started using it, images appeared on the screen, some words too. When the display ended, everything started to blink and it burned out...
— So the lights blinked before they burned out? Total overload of the components," he said as he moved it around. "Extremely professional service.
— What do you mean? — Kenan asked. "It wasn't manual work?
— What do you mean?" — Not necessarily. The attack could have been carried out by a remote user, disabling the controller that regulates the battery and component charge, or some type of virus was implanted in the system to complete the task at a certain time. It overloads each component of the computer and burns them one by one, until nothing is left unharmed.
— But we will not abandon any possibility. We must be sure that there was no invasion of the premises. — Floyd said cautiously.
— Yes, every type of risk must be investigated. — Kenan agreed, surprised by the quick diagnosis made by Gregory Evans. — You will work with Tyson Galloway, the White House security officer. He will provide you with all the support necessary for the investigation. As you must already know, and this is an order, no information is to be disclosed to anyone. Restrict all dialogue to Mr. Tyson and me.
— Yes, sir. — Floyd said, with Greg's agreement.
Kenan left. He needed to get ready, as he had some commitments to fulfill that day. Floyd would accompany him on his outings, managing the FBI's operations. For now, he wanted to see how Greg would manage the investigation.