ABANDONED. British science fiction/short story - started with a British special agent in London walking by River Thames on the way to meet his boss and read about a death in the newspaper; Spoilers ahead

[Jen]

The story started with a British special agent in London walking by River Thames on the way to meet his boss and read about a death in the newspaper. He then was told by the boss about the murder and asked to investigate. At the end, all the clues led him to the discovery of a machine/computer who has been issuing orders to people to execute/kill people. The agent pretended to be joining the computer but then keyed in a string of number he memorized and killed the computer. One detail I remembered is that the computer was angry and in disbelief that the agent was killing it and finally its speech slowed and its 'eye which was a beam of light dimmed. Then at the end, the agent met his boss again and said 'yes, sir' like when he talked to the computer.

I read the book in the 1980s. It is a very short book.

[sloppyjoe90]

Reminds me a tiny bit of Harry Palmer cold war stuff. Could it be the Billion Dollar Brain? I dont remember the Brain ( the computer) being killed ion the movie: maybe the novel differs.
Also, the red light, the slurring ... Hal 9000 dies like this in 2001.

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Jen (OP) was last active on the site in January 2019.

[SamSpayedPI]

Harry Palmer
Billion Dollar Brain by Len Deighton

for sloppyjoe's suggestions.