Jammer

Jammer – Appeared and was mentioned in many books in the series.

Glory in Death

The first mention was in Glory in Death when a woman was breaking into a house: “The security shield had been deactivated by a cheap jammer available at any electronic outlet.”

Ceremony in Death

Jamie Lingstrom used a modified game unit to create a jammer; he was able to get onto the grounds at Roarke’s Mansion, but was detected once on the property. He said it would read most systems, scan the chips, and run a cloning program. He blanked out the cameras from across the street - the jammer had a ten-yard range.

Vengeance in Death

The one Liam Calhoun used in Vengeance in Death to jam the garage camera was described as no more than six inches long, barely thicker than a ski pole. Roarke mentioned that his R&D department was developing a similar one (as it turned out, that one) for a contract with the government - a number of governments, as it happened. The Defense and Security Department was always looking for new toys such as this and they paid well. Down at Trident Security and Communications (Roarke’s gig) they’d been working on a jammer of that style and power for over a year and they projected they’d have a model under wraps within six months - four if they got lucky. The take from the industrial espionage people was that Brennen’s firm was the closest competition. At that point the prototype only hit the mark at extreme close range; the remote capability was giving them some grief since it still had some major power fluctuation. The ’link Calhoun used to contact Eve after he’d started on Patrick Murray was described as heavier, “loaded as it was with its maxi-battery and interfaced jammer.” McNab described the perpetrator (Calhoun) to Feeney, saying he had a high-end jammer among his toys.

Judgment in Death

When Eve was describing the security setup at the newly reopened Purgatory, Eve said, “He’ll (Max Ricker) insist on a scan, probably a jammer.” Roarke assured her “the system design will override anything he has.”

Loyalty in Death

After Eve and Peabody visited Monica Rowan in Maine in Loyalty in Death, Rowan slipped a small jammer out of a drawer and slid it onto the ’link before calling Cassandra to demand money. After Rowan was murdered, Maine law enforcement “found a slew of jammers and code-spanners in the kitchen.” McNab said she had a class-A jammer on her ’link.

Betrayal in Death

When Gerade and his gang of thieves were trying to steal from Magda Lane’s collection in Betrayal in Death, Feeney told Eve, “E-guy’s adjusting his jammer. It’s flipping through levels, backtracking.” Eve then had Feeney jam it, and Roarke told Mick, “I’d like to have a look at that jammer of yours”; Mick slipped it to him and then was stabbed stepping in front of Roarke to save his life.

Purity in Death

In Purity in Death, “Jamie was crouched between Feeney and McNab, showing off some handheld device. ‘It’ll read every system on the market and some that aren’t on it yet,’ he was saying. ‘Then it clones...’” At that point Roarke made his presence known and took the jammer for himself. Jamie said, “It was my prototype” and Roarke thought, “the royalties from it...would make the boy a very rich young man.” Later, Roarke picked Jamie’s pocket to get his other jammer and slipped him another with a few particular defects, like giving a quick, rather unpleasant little jolt when the cloning function began. Roarke used Jamie’s jammer to access Nick Greene’s hidden safe: “The display on the jammer began to flash, numbers zipping by in a blur. Then a series of them locked on. The safe hummed once, then clicked. ‘Abracadabra,’ Roarke stated, and opened it.”

Imitation in Death

Niles Renquist used a remote zap to jam the security at Lois Gregg’s building, but it was specifically jammed to shut down the security without shutting down anything else, like lights, climate control, home and personal electronics, except in Gregg’s apartment. He set it up so he could order lights on and they wouldn’t go on, and then say he was the workman there to fix the electronic malfunction. Eve pictured Renquist using the jammer that would disengage the camera’s so he could stroll into Katie Mitchell’s apartment building without leaving a trace.

Divided in Death

Reva Ewing went to Felicity Kade’s house armed with “two jammers, a beefed-up personal palm computer, an illegal police master code, and a stunner she intended to slap right against Blair’s cheating ball.” in Divided in Death “She keyed in the first jammer as she walked, knowing she’d have thirty seconds only once she’s locked it on the exterior panel. Numbers began to flash on her handheld, and her heart began to race as she counted off the time. Three seconds before the alarm was set to trip, the first code scanned onto her jammer.” She then used the second jammer on the voice box that was part of Kade’s security system. Feeney told Roarke to hit the jammer on his remote scanner for a minute so he could relay Eve’s fears to Roarke; she was worried Roarke would retaliate against the HSO members who watched her Dallas and did nothing. He then disengaged the jammer after they spoke.

Survivor in Death

Since there was no forced entry at the Swishers’ house, Eve determined that either somebody had their codes or a good jammer. The green light Nixie Swisher saw on the men was most likely the jammer - green for go since the security had been bypassed. Feeney figured a remote jammer was used with a secondary jam as the system had an auto backup. The entrance was ten minutes after the camera blanked, four minutes after the secondary jam.

Born in Death

Roarke used “a sleek little jammer” to shut down Madeline Bullock and Winfield Chase’s high-end security system in Born in Death. While he was bypassing the secondary alarm, Eve watched the time count down on a grid of the jammer, while a flashing series of others blurred by on another grid. They stopped, the jammer beeped, and the alarm was disabled.

Strangers in Death

Roarke was able to pin down the source of the illegal jammer that Ava Anders purchased anonymously for Suzanne Custer to use in Strangers in Death - he has an old acquaintance who “happens to specialize in electronics that aren’t legal in the strictest sense of the word.” After he sold Anders the jammer, he had an underling stake out the pickup location and follow her to the Anderses’ home.

Treachery in Death

In Treachery in Death, Jimmy K. “Smash” Rogan built one that Bruster “Skid” Lowe used to kill Charlie Ochi - he zapped him in the chest and Ochi died of a heart attack. Roarke activated a jammer just before he pulled up to Renee Oberman’s garage; it released the gate while briefly disabling the cam, thus allowing Roarke to disable her vehicle and the NYPSD to replace the vehicle, adding her signature agreeing to being monitored. Detective Freeman used a jammer at Angel’s Hospital on his way to Lilah Strong’s fake room, creating chaos to draw medicals away from the room he thought Strong was in.

New York to Dallas

In New York to Dallas, Isaac McQueen told Eve her com devices, including her ’link, wouldn’t work in his New York apartment because he had jammers activated. Roarke used a jammer to get them into McQueen’s Dallas apartment, saying he had several layers. McQueen used his jammer at the hotel Dallas and Roarke were staying in, thinking the master and print he’d taken from the guard would get him into their suite, but using it would trigger a record and alert. He used the jammer quickly, since anything over a ten second delay would trigger another alert and result in a standard check.

Concealed in Death

Quilla Magnum used a jammer in Concealed in Death, saying she paid one of the e-geeks to make her one.

Echoes in Death

Kyle Knightly used a jammer to enter Miko and Xavier Carver’s home in Echoes in Death.

Secrets in Death

In Secrets in Death, Larinda Mars had a jammer on her ’link, to block logging any tags.

• Other mentions

References: