My brother actually laughed at dinner and said, ‘I sold that useless laptop of yours for five hundred bucks. Finally got rid of your junk.’ My cousins cheered him on. Then he added, almost proudly, ‘Already handed it off to the buyer.’ I got up, stepped outside, and called my supervisor. By the time I made the report, the FBI cyber team was already tracking the device…

stolen from a federal employee’s residence. That device contains controlled access tied to classified Department of Defense systems.”

The words landed like dropped iron.

Derek laughed, hard and ugly. “No. No, that’s insane. It was a laptop.”

“Yes,” the agent said. “A classified government laptop.”

My mother finally found her voice. “Marcus works with computers.continue reading …