What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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.

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.

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

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

Harry Palmer
Billion Dollar Brain by Len Deighton

for sloppyjoe's suggestions.