"Promotion my ass. It's the only way I can not get a promotion." Tyrone added somberly, "and it may be my last case." "What do you mean?" Scott asked. "It's gotten outta hand, totally out of hand. We have to spend more time protecting the rights of the goddamned criminals than solving crimes. That's not what it should be about. At least not for me." "You're serious about this," Scott said rhetorically. "Hey, sooner or later I gotta call it quits," Ty replied soberly. "But this computer thing's gonna make my decision easier." "That's what I asked. How's the promotion?" "Let's just say, more of the same but different. Except the interagency crap is amazing. No one commits to anything, and everything needs study and nothing gets done." Tyrone sighed. He had been in Washington working with NIST, NSA, DoD and every other agency that thought it had a vested interest in computers and their protection. Their coordination with CERT and ECCO was a joke, even by government standards. At the end of the first quarter, the 49'ers were holding a solid 10 point lead. Scott grabbed a couple more beers and began tell- ing Tyrone about the incident at the Exchange. The New York Police had taken over the case, declaring sovereignty over Wall Street and its enclaves. "They don't know what they have, however," Scott said immodestly. "The talk was a small scale nuke . . ." "The DOE smashed that but fast," Scott interrupted. "What if I told you that it was only the computers that were attacked? That the deaths were merely incidental?" Tyrone groaned as the 49'ers fumbled the ball. "I'd listen," he said noncommittally. "It was a classified magnetic bomb. NSA calls them EMP-T." "Empty? The empty bomb?" Tyrone said skeptically. "Since when does NSA design bombs?" "Listen," said Scott trying to get Ty's attention away from the TV. "Have you ever heard of C-Cubed, or C3?" "No." He stared at the San Francisco defense being crushed. "Command, Control and Communications It's a special government program to deal with nuclear warfare." "Pleasant thought," said Tyrone. "Yeah, well, one result of a nuclear blast is a terrific release of electromagnetic energy. Enough to blow out communications and power lines for miles. That's one reason that silos are hardened - to keep the communications lines open to permit the President or whoever's still alive to shoot back." "Like I said," Tyrone shuddered, "pleasant thought." He stopped suddenly at turned to Scott. "So it was a baby nuke?" "No, it was EMP-T," Scott said in such a way to annoy Ty. "Electro Magnetic Pulse Transformer." The confusion on Tyrone's face was clear. "Ok, it's actually pretty simple. You know what interference sounds like on the radio or looks like on a TV?" "Sure. My cell phone snaps, crackles and pops all of the time."