Read The Canton Connection for Free Online

each box. “Los Angeles, New York, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Palo Alto, Ashburn…”
    “Wait a second,” he said. “We have an A root server in Hong Kong? Last I checked, Hong Kong is part of China.”
    “We need people to access the internet quickly from anywhere in the world.”
    “But Hong Kong?”
    He could see a highly secure computer in Germany, or some bank vault in New York. But he just couldn’t see how the benefits outweighed the risks of an A root server in Hong Kong.
    “Remember,” she said, “the internet is an international, nongovernmental effort.”
    “But you said the Department of Commerce is responsible for the security of the A root server.”
    She nodded. “Some of the servers in the U.S. are at Commerce facilities. We used to run the servers in-house, but recently we’ve gone to more secure sites.”
    He looked at the last name she had written. “Where’s Ashburn?”
    “It’s a small, incorporated area near Dulles,” she said, referring to Washington’s major airport located in Northern Virginia.
    He had grown up in the area and still only vaguely remembered that there was such an incorporated area. “Do you work in Ashburn?” he asked.
    “No. At Verisign in Reston.”
    “How did Verisign get the job to handle the A and J root servers?”
    “We were selected by the IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, a department of ICANN.”
    The relationships between the nongovernmental organizations were murky to him. He would have to research that later. Once again, he became more suspicious the less he knew.
    Only then did he realize that he was studying Stacy with outward skepticism.
    “We have voiceprints that prove you were the witness who called 9-1-1 about Han Chu’s murder.”
    She sat down slowly. “I know. The police questioned me yesterday afternoon.”
    “How did you know Chu?”
    She stared back at him. “I didn’t. A man approached me when I was jogging on the bike path. I didn’t know it was Han Chu.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’d never seen him before in my life. He was just some nice, innocent-looking Chinese man trying to get my attention.”
    “Okay, you didn’t recognize him because you had never met him. But did you know of him?”
    “No.”
    “If he was a stranger, why was he trying to get your attention?”
    She shrugged.
    “Why did you go to his funeral?” he asked.
    She spoke under her breath. “I was curious.”
    “Why didn’t you give your name to the 9-1-1 operator?”
    She didn’t respond.
    She had phoned 9-1-1 to report the incident, but she was computer-savvy and wanted to remain anonymous. She had used a Voice over IP connection to make the call, eliminating any way she could be tracked down by authorities.
    “You didn’t want to give away your identity, so you used a computer to make the call.”
    She didn’t contradict him.
    “What I want to know is why. Why didn’t you want to be associated with the incident?”
    “It was horrendous,” she said.
    “Is it because the perpetrator saw you?” he pressed.
    “No. He didn’t see me.”
    “Did you recognize him?”
    “No.”
    “Can you describe him to me?” he said.
    At last her eyes met his. “Tall, lean, dark hair, young. He ran in from the bushes with a baseball bat. He wore a white shirt, dark tie and dark pants.”
    “Why did he kill Han Chu?”
    “I have no idea.” She buried her face in her hands. “I was out jogging. I saw this nice, middle-aged Chinese man approaching me from about twenty yards away. He smiled at me and motioned for me to stop and talk. A moment later, I saw this tall American-looking guy rush in from the side with a baseball bat. He called out something in Chinese, and I crouched behind some bushes. I saw the guy bash the Chinese guy over the head with the bat and knock him out cold and then drag him into the bushes. So I slipped away and ran home.” She swallowed hard. “That’s all I can say.”
    “Could you help a sketch artist create a facial