522 – Bugs – Assassins, Inc.

The name Murder, Inc was already taken, so this time, the Bugs take on Assassins, Inc. – purveyors of overly-complicated, hi-tech death.  Simon and Eugene discuss Episode Synopsis Ros is attending a formal do on a ship with a friend.  At this event, a ruler in exile of Somewhereistan is murdered by a mosquito-like assassination drone.  Ros catches a glimpse of it, but it is stepped on before she can retrieve it, so she doesn’t even bother with the pieces. Meanwhile, Nick and Ed are on a job.  They are breaking into a corporation to steal intellectual property.  Of course, they don’t use the word, “steal,” because that’s an ugly words.  They are the side of justice and niceness because this intellectual property was bought out by another corporation.  The check bounced.  The corporation filed for bankruptcy.  Now, the original developer was neither paid, nor do they have their software.  It will take months if not years for it to be sorted out by the courts.  They successfully break into the system, steal the code, and wipe all traces of it from the computer.   So this isn’t breaking and entering, illegal hacking and theft, it’s justice!  And soon, they’ve turned it all over to the client, Irene.  Another job successfully accomplished! Meanwhile, Ros’ friend, who happens to be a British official working for an organization that tasked with preventing illegal export and use of UK-developed killing technologies, tells here about a group of people, the eponymous Assassins, Inc of the title, who have developed deadly technology, including these mosquito assassins that can be programmed to kill a specific person by their pheromones.  In fact, that’s their speciality: highly-selective killing devices. Luckily, the government seized all their intellectual assets.  Unluckily, they have been unable to get past the security system, and they’d like Ros’ help.  She brings in the boys, how are surprised to learn this is the very building and computer that they broke into. Irene shows up with her lawyer, and the boys know they’ve been had.  And Irene knows they know they’ve been had. The boys confess to Ros and her friend, and they are arrested, thrown in jail for 30 years, and the series ends abruptly. Oh, but wait, this 1995 and there are no laws on the books yet about cybercrime. And since the breaking and entering was in aid of hacking, which isn’t a crime, that’s all OK, too. Ros’ team, which I’m now going to call the Bugs because… I think that’s the name of their business, go on the offensive, starting with what they do best: surveillance.  They spot the chief political rival of the slain ruler-in-exile talking with a British admiral.  He happens the be the UK’s unofficial liaison to the government-in-exile. The rival is the man who hired Assassins, Inc to kill the leader.  Now, he’s used this meeting to grab a tape recording on the admiral’s voice, which the assassins use in another clever device, and bomb that explodes only when it hears a confirmed voice-print of the intended victim.  Nick tries to talk to the admiral, but he has no time for gimmicky amateurs, and brushes him off.  Moments later, he is dead, the victim of a targeted bomb. Ros plants a bug on Irene by getting her to eat it in her breakfast.  Irene discovers it before there’s any information compromised, but she’s impressed with their tech and lets them know, before she has it jammed.  It’s game on, though, and Irene has smart bombs planted in Ros and Nick’s apartments.  Ros escapes because she has an extension phone and Nick escapes because he has a fax machine. Ed; however, is targeted with something new and even more sinister.  Irene’s people have developed a virus that can be programmed to at any specific level of DNA matching.  It can target individual people, families or even entire ethic groups.  Ed is targeted with this new virus, and starts to die from it.  The paying client plans to use it to wipe out the entire royal family so that there are no legitimate political rivals to his government. Ros brings the bomb they retrieved from Nick’s to Irene’s office, and tell her that she’s reprogrammed it for her voice, and that if she speaks, she dies.  Locking everyone in, they convince Irene’s lawyer to reveal the cure, and then they leave them behind locked in with the bomb.  Nick rushes to stop the virus from being released, which he does, and Ros rushes to save Ed, which she does. Irene tells the lawyer he’s an idiot because the whole reprogrammed bomb thing was a bluff, just before she dies in the fiery explosion.  And Ros is arrested, thrown in jail for 30 years, and the series ends abruptly.  Oh, wait, this is 1995 and there are no laws on the books yet about murder.