The latest body had been found in a security vestibule-a tiny room controlling access to what the employees called a server farm. The small entry chamber reminded Sebeck of an air lock. The server farm was filled with rack-mounted servers-their LEDs flickering away in the semidarkness of emergency lights. Through the glass Sebeck could make out several employees moving about. They were still monitoring the machines.
It was hard to see them clearly because the vestibule windows were fogged with a yellowish film-residue from burning human fat. The victim had been electrocuted in dramatic fashion.
Sebeck stood in the dim glow of emergency lights alongside the building's chief operating engineer, CyberStorm's network services director, county paramedics, a city power company foreman, and the president and CEO of CyberStorm, Ken Kevault.
Kevault was in his late thirties, tall and lean with spiky hair. His black, short-sleeve silk shirt revealed death skull tattoos on his forearms, and he had the sort of deep tan and wrinkles one gets after years of surfing. He looked more like an aging rock star than a corporate executive. He hadn't said a word since they arrived.
Sebeck turned to the power and light foreman. "The primary power's been cut?"
The building engineer responded instead. "Yes, sir."
Sebeck turned to him. "Then those computers are running on backup power?"
"Right."
"Let's get that room evacuated."
"There's another exit like this one, but it could be just as dangerous. I told the techs to stay put for now."
Sebeck nodded. "Who can tell me what happened?"
The engineer and network services director looked to each other. The engineer already had the floor. "About a half hour ago, one of the CyberStorm guys was electrocuted going through the inner security door. I don't know how it's possible, but the techs said he was standing there with smoke coming off his shoulders for about thirty seconds before he keeled over. And there he is."
Kevault let out a hiss of disgust and shook his head ruefully.
Sebeck ignored him. "The CyberStorm guys? So you're not a CyberStorm employee?"
The engineer shook his head. "No, I work for the building owner."
"And who owns the building?"
Eyes shifted from person to person for a moment or two until Kevault spoke up. "It's part of a real estate investment trust, with a majority share held by CyberStorm."
Sebeck turned back to the engineer. "So you are a CyberStorm employee."
Kevault interposed again. "No, the trust is not the same legal entity as CyberStorm, and the trust outsources the engineering, security, and other building functions."
Sebeck could already imagine lawyers pointing fingers at each other for the next decade. "Forget that. Has anyone entered or left the scene since the incident?"
All the men shook their heads.
"Are there electrical blueprints for this entryway? Any recent unpermitted modifications I should know about?"
An edge crept into the lead engineer's voice. "We don't do unpermitted construction here. All this equipment was signed off on by the city and fire inspectors two years ago, and we have the occupancy permit to prove it."
The guy looked to be about fifty. A broad-shouldered Latino with a marine corps tattoo on his forearm. Sebeck figured this guy wasn't going to take any shit. He watched as the engineer moved to a flat-paneled workstation on a nearby desk and spun the panel to face them all. In a moment, the engineer brought up a 3-D map of their location. The map was a series of clean vector lines in primary colors.
The engineer tapped keys, highlighting a colored layer to emphasize each word. "Plumbing, HVAC, Fire/Safety, Electrical."
The image zoomed in. It was like a video game with transparent walls. They were now looking at a computer image of the vestibule, and Sebeck could see the yellow electrical lines running down through the door frame to the combination magstripe/keypad in the door's strike plate.
No wonder the engineer had an attitude. He had every damned screw modeled in 3-D.
"There's no power source in that wall sufficient to electrocute a man like that, and even if there was, the breakers should have tripped. There's a short somewhere. Probably to a trunk line. Maybe it electrified the door frame."
The power company guy leaned in. "What's going into the server farm? Three-phase 480?"
"Yeah, but it's coming up through the floor. There's a trunk line running through a vertical penetration. The decking was reinforced to hold the weight of the racks, and there's a fiber backbone-"
"Gentlemen." Sebeck stepped between them. "I need all nonemergency personnel evacuated from CyberStorm's office space. Nathan, I want an outer perimeter established at all stairwell and elevator entrances. We set up command and control in this area just outside the vestibule. I want interviews from everyone evacuated."
The network director turned to Sebeck. "We have five floors in this building. Is it really necessary to evacuate them all?"
"Two of your coworkers are dead today from unrelated 'accidents.' I find that an implausible coincidence."
The network director's face contorted. "Two?"
"That's correct. I'll let your illustrious leader fill you in."
The CyberStorm folks turned to the company president. Kevault was gnawing on his fingernails in irritation or concentration-it was hard to tell which. He finally spoke without looking at anybody. "Lamont, switch over to the mirror site. Then evacuate the office."
Sebeck leveled a gaze. "You'll evacuate the building now.If you have any illusions about who's in charge here, I can give you a time-out in the county lockup."
Kevault was about to speak but thought better of it. He just marched off down the hall. His people followed.
Sebeck nodded to Mantz, who pursued Kevault like a Rottweiler going after a toddler.
Sebeck grabbed the network services director, who was also leaving. "Not you. You're staying here."
Sebeck had seen his share of fatal accidents in fourteen years with the department, and he knew that workplace fatalities drew paperwork like blowflies to a corpse. OSHA inspectors, insurance investigators, reporters, lawyers, and building management-all were waiting in the wings. But for now, Sebeck posted deputies to keep nongovernmental and nonessential personnel out of his crime scene.
The main power was off, and they established radio communications to monitor a lockout on the DWP power vault.
After running a few tests with a voltmeter, the engineer and power company foreman determined that the door frames were not electrified. They instructed the data center employees to open the second exit and let the police and firemen in. They then evacuated the techs. The crime scene was now free of civilians.
Sebeck was surprised at how warm and stuffy the room had become. The AC hadn't been off all that long. He glanced around at the dozens of rack-mounted computers clicking away. That was a lot of BTUs. That's probably why they had an entry vestibule-to keep the cold air in. He turned to the engineer. "What are these machines for, anyway?"
"People playing games with each other over the Internet. My grandson plays."
Sebeck had heard of this sort of thing. He had no idea it involved so much hardware. It looked expensive.
They moved to the inner security door. The victim lay just beyond the glass, and they got their first good look at him. As a patrolman, Sebeck had seen the carnage of a hundred car wrecks, but the network director lost it and excused himself. As Sebeck suspected, the engineer wasn't much affected.