Primal Deception

by Robin Mahle

  Aaron unplugged his computer seconds after it had turned black and the two sat motionless, waiting for something to happen.

  “Shit, shit, shit.” Aaron pushed away from his desk and looked at Lacy. “Okay, just relax. There’s no way they’ll be able to track down my IP address. I routed the connection through TOR and…”

  “And unless they’ve got someone who’s as smart as you are, then we’re in the clear,” Lacy replied.

  “Yeah, something like that.” He stood up. “I’ve planned for things like this. I’ve created protocols. Don’t worry, Lacy, this won’t be a problem.”

  “Then why don’t you sound convinced?”

  “You should go home. Let me do what needs to be done. If anything, no one could possibly know that you were here or that we know each other. You and the kids will be just fine.”

  Lacy regarded Aaron with trepidation. “I’ll touch base with Will and give him what we have on Sajwani.” She stood up to leave but stopped short. “Maybe you should stay with me until we’re in the clear. Like you said, no one knows that we’re friends. If they did find out where you live, there’s not a chance in hell they’d know you were with me.”

  “I—I don’t know, Lacy. The kids.”

  “Aaron, you’re just about the only person I can not only trust, but who knew me back in the day; who knew us back then. I need you right now and I need to keep you safe. You’ll sleep in the guest room; the kids won’t care one way or the other. I’ll explain to them that you’re one of Daddy’s friends. Look, it won’t be forever; just a few days until we know for sure if anyone’s tracked you down. This is because of me and I won’t abandon you.”

  ♦♦♦

  “Thanks for calling me back, Will. You’re on speaker and I have Aaron with me. We’re heading back to my house now.”

  “I got your message. You two all right?” Will replied.

  “We’re fine, for now. But we’re going to need your help.”

  “I’ll head over as soon as I can.”

  “Okay, see you soon.” She pressed the end call button.

  “We don’t have much to give him. I didn’t get that far,” Aaron said.

  “You got far enough with Sajwani and he needs to know there’s a chance they can track you down. That’ll have to do until we find another solution and make sure you’re safe.”

  The sun was setting behind the house when they arrived, casting a heavy shadow over the front yard and driveway.

  “I hadn’t realized it had gotten so late.” Lacy parked on the driveway. She still couldn’t bring herself to pull into the garage, next to Jay’s car. “The kids are probably worried.” She looked at Aaron. “I try not to be gone for too long. They get panicked very easily these days.”

  “I’m sure they do.”

  “Come on. Let’s get inside.” Lacy opened the front door and waited for Aaron to catch up. “Celeste? Celeste? I’m back.” She turned to Aaron. “She’s probably outside with the kids or something. I’ll show you to the guest room.”

  Aaron followed. “You know, before all this, I don’t think I’d been here for a few years. Probably since before Jackson came along.”

  “Really? It had been that long? We’d only just gotten the house then.” She flipped the light switch in the room. “This is it.”

  The room was elegant in décor; luxurious bedding, dark wood furnishings, polished with impeccable shine.

  “You have your own bathroom too.” She pointed in its direction. “Just over there.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a place so fancy.” Aaron turned to her. “Guess I should’ve gone into Jay’s line of work.”

  Lacy smiled. “He was a hell of a salesman, that’s for sure. And he knew his stuff. I’ll let you get settled in while I track down the kids.” She turned away and headed back down the corridor until reaching the staircase in the foyer. “Olivia? Jack?”

  With growing concern, Lacy continued to search the house until deciding to check out back and when she opened the French doors, there they were, running through a sprinkler.

  “You’re back?” Celeste rested in an Adirondack chair on the deck, watching the kids. “They were getting worried you weren’t home, so I decided to take their minds off of it.”

  “Thank you. This is perfect. It looks like they’re having a ball.” Lacy approached. “You always know just what to do.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that. But how are you anyway? I was expecting you a little bit sooner.”

  “I’m sorry, I got caught up. Listen, I’m having an old friend stay with us for a while. You remember Aaron Hunter? He was here a few days ago?”

  “Yes, of course. Well, that will be very nice.” She noted the time on her watch. “Oh, should I start preparing dinner?”

  “Actually, why don’t you just get the kids taken care of for tonight? Agent Caison will be stopping by soon too and, well, we’ll grab something later, if that’s all right.”

  “Certainly. But do you want to tell me what all of this is about? You’ve been in and out for the past few days. You still haven’t told me what happened with work and you’ve got that look in your eyes.”

  “Mommy!” Jackson trudged through the Kentucky Bluegrass, its lush green blades clinging to his skin. “You’re home!”

  A pleasant laughter sounded in her voice as she reached for him. “Oh, you’re soaking wet!”

  Not one to be left out, Olivia soon joined them. “Go get your suit on, Mom. Run through the sprinkler with us!”

  “I don’t think so, hon. Not this time. We’ve got company for a few days and I’m working on something just now.”

  Disappointment swept over her. “Okay.” Olivia turned away and walked back to the sprinkler.

  “Why don’t you catch up with your sister, Jack?”

  He immediately raced back.

  “Aaron’s getting settled now, so I’d better get back inside. Just let the kids stay out here as long as they want, if you’re okay with that. They need to burn off some energy.” Lacy returned inside where she found Aaron sitting in the living room. “Everything okay?”

  “Everything’s great. Thanks for letting me crash here for a while.”

  “I owe it to you for getting you involved in this mess.”

  “Technically, it was Jay, but I don’t hold either of you responsible.” He smiled. “It was my decision and I don’t regret it.”

  “Not yet.” The sound of an approaching car caught Lacy’s attention and she peered through the front window. “Looks like Will is here.”

  “I’m still not convinced he’s working in your best interest, Lacy. I know he’s helped you out, but…”

  “He’s with us, trust me.” She opened the door. “Will, please come in.”

  He entered and noticed Aaron’s approach. “Good to see you again, Mr. Hunter.”

  “It’s Aaron.” He shook his hand.

  “So, what happened today?”

  Lacy led the way into the kitchen and sat down at the dining table. “We ran into a snag earlier.” She looked at Aaron. “Want to explain?”

  “Long story short, we were able to get information on Ahsan Sajwani. He’s a consultant for Liwa Properties.”

  “That’s a good start,” Will added.

  “Deposits into Ballard’s records matched payments from Sajwani’s account. So, we know they’re connected. The problem came shortly after that.” He hesitated, but with reassurance from Lacy, went on. “My program was discovered, I believe, and I was kicked out of the system.”

  Will’s jaw clenched, immediately hardening his features. “Can they trace it back to you?”

  “It’s possible, if they’ve got the right people. Look, my code was solid, hidden beneath layers of other code, but I think I was exposed.”

  “I’ve insisted Aaron stay here with me until we figure out if he’s in any danger. I won’t let him risk any more than he already has.”<
br />
  “If they can locate you, how long would that take?” Will asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m going to lay low for a few days, see what happens. I hid my location well. It won’t be easy for them.”

  Will rubbed his face with his palms. “We don’t have days. There’s a shit load of pressure on the task force to bring this case to closure. We only need one person to leak to the public that the Army of Islam claimed responsibility. Once that happens, it won’t matter what we find.”

  “They’re still pushing that agenda?” Lacy asked.

  “I don’t have proof to suggest otherwise.” He looked at Aaron again. “I appreciate what you’ve done so far. Frankly, I think you made it farther than I believed you could. And I can start looking into Ahsan Sajwani now that we know he has ties to Liwa Properties. The fact that he’s doing work for them makes me think he was also working with Tom Neville, but I need to get more information. See what he’s been up to for the past year or so. Who knows? Maybe he’s tied to the terrorists?”

  “This doesn’t help Lacy and it doesn’t help Jay. If anything, it’ll do the exact opposite.” Aaron studied her for a moment before returning his attention to Will. “I can get back online, get an air-gapped computer, help you nail him down.”

  “There are still a few of us on the task force who think what State’s doing is bullshit. I can recruit their help too. What I’m equally interested in is who the hell gave Ballard the two mil. Who in Beijing was he working with? Sajwani’s a good lead and we can only hope he’ll get us a step closer to the money coming from China.”

  “I can be back online inside of twenty-four hours.”

  “From here?” Lacy asked.

  “No. It can’t be from here. I don’t want to risk your exposure,” Will said. “I know a place. A secure place. I’ll confirm its availability and let you know first thing in the morning where to go. I’ll open it up.”

  16

  The seventh-floor IT department was showered with early morning light, but only a handful of staff occupied the space that accommodated several otherwise empty cubicles. They’d been tasked with discovering not only the identity of the nefarious hacker, but also what information might have been compromised.

  “Mansur?” A young woman with strands of brown hair dangling from a bun high on her head shook his arm. “Mansur, wake up. We have it.”

  “What? What time is it?” He began to rouse. “How long have I been asleep?”

  “I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter. We have the files that were accessed without authorization.”

  Mansur sat up at his desk and searched for his glasses, which sat haphazardly on top of his head. “Let me see that.”

  She handed him the list. “We were able to reverse engineer the rootkit too.”

  This was of particular interest to Mansur as he captured her gaze. “You know who did this?”

  “Yes. With almost certainty.”

  “Who?”

  “Come with me. I’ll show you.” She turned from him but when no steps sounded behind her, she stopped. “Mansur? Please come quickly.”

  He adjusted his glasses and took the list with him, following her back to her cubicle. “It’s already morning?”

  “Yes. It’s five o’clock. We’ve been at this all night, but you’ll be happy with what we found.”

  She returned to her desk, where another colleague waited patiently. “He was asleep.” She gestured toward Mansur as though she were hitchhiking. “Show him what we found.”

  Mansur leaned in toward his colleague while he retrieved the much anticipated information. “The sooner we understand how it was this infiltrator accessed our systems, the sooner we’ll be able to correct the problem. But we need to get a location and management can then decide how to proceed.”

  “This is where the last exit node was located.” The young man at the desk turned the screen toward the others.

  “How does this help us?” Mansur returned upright and placed his hands on his hips. “This does nothing more than tell us where the last relay point was, not the location of the IP address.” He began to shake his head. “I can’t go to them with this. This is nothing.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought this would tell us what we needed to know.” The girl glanced at the list in Mansur’s hand and reached for it. “These files here were the ones accessed.”

  He began to peruse the list. “This will have to do for now. Just keep working on it.”

  ♦♦♦

  The padlock clicked open and Agent Caison removed the chain from the double doors of the apartment building. “This is the place.”

  “Well,” Aaron looked around as they stepped inside, “I guess it’s better to have an extra layer of protection.”

  “Speaking as a staff member—former staff member—of the FBI,” Lacy began, “I know it would be very difficult to track down your IP location, but you and I both know it’s not impossible.”

  “She’s right. Come in. I’ll show you around and we can get started.”

  Aaron continued inside. “How do you know about this place?”

  “About a year ago, an ISIS cell was discovered here and through a coordinated effort between the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the local FBI field office, we were able to track them down and put the kibosh on their plans. The property was seized by the FBI and left abandoned.”

  The building was all of three stories, dilapidated and filled with the scent of musty decay as it sat uncared-for in the elements. The first floor contained the manager’s apartment and was the largest of the ten-unit structure.

  “This is the best room in the house.” Will opened the door to a large open-space loft that would suit their needs. “I’ll just run back out to the car and grab the folding table and chairs.”

  “Let me give you a hand with that.” Aaron followed him back outside.

  Lacy stood in the middle of the room, staring at the water stains on the ceiling and wondering how she came to be here. In the past two weeks, she’d buried her husband, been put on indefinite leave, and was now operating covertly on a desperate mission to find the truth behind the attack and find out who was responsible for the death of her husband. And she’d dragged a few people along with her, one of whom could face suspension at best and termination at worst, and another who was risking everything to hack into a foreign bank’s security system. She didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry at the incongruity of the situation.

  The men returned with arms full of temporary furnishings in order to make the place usable in its most basic form. Aaron dropped the folding chairs to the ground and Will turned the table upside down to set it up.

  “It’s not the Ritz,” Will said.

  Lacy did have a growing concern that she hadn’t yet addressed and figured now was the best time, before they traveled too far down this path. “Will, does your boss know about this? SSA Mendez? Does he know what we’re doing here?”

  He looked at Lacy and then Aaron. “Let’s just say he’s letting me do my job to find out the truth.”

  Aaron nodded and finished setting up the folding chairs. “Let’s get started, then.”

  ♦♦♦

  Mansur stood in front of his superior while he studied the list of files that were accessed. “This is all we have at the moment, sir, but we are working on finding out who got into our system.”

  The man raised his stare to Mansur. “You’re sure these are the only files compromised?”

  Mansur nodded. “We have found no other concerns.”

  “Thank you. When you find out the rest, come see me as soon as possible.”

  “Of course. Thank you, sir.”

  The man watched Mansur leave his office and then picked up his desk phone. “Hello, Mr. Sajwani? Yes, sir, I have some information that might prove difficult for you to hear.”

  Sajwani listened as the bank’s head of IT explained how it was that his personal information,
including his banking details, had been accessed. “And you still aren’t aware of who obtained this information?”

  “No, sir, but I can guarantee we are working around the clock for answers.”

  Sajwani ended the call and dropped his cell into his pants pocket. “I have some distressing news.”

  Lei Jian eyed his partner. “And what might that be?”

  “Someone seems to be interested in what I do for a living and how I spend my money. The bank’s systems were accessed by an unidentified source and the only files that were opened were mine.”

  Jian glowered at the man who had relayed the news. “Leave this with me.”

  “Yes, sir.” Ahsan Sajwani took his leave.

  Jian made a call he hadn’t wanted to make. The line rang and was soon answered. “I need your help. We need to make a visit to Panama.” He waited while the person on the line considered his request. “Yes, it will have to be tomorrow.” Lei Jian wasn’t a man known for pleasantries; he ended the call after receiving the desired answer and peered through the window of his office.

  ♦♦♦

  “We know Sajwani made deposits into Ballard’s account,” Will began. “But I need to know why. What was he being paid for? Information? Same as Tom Neville? But that wouldn’t make sense because the two are essentially working for the same team.”

  “Until I can get back inside, I don’t know what to tell you.” Aaron looked at Lacy. “I’m working on it, but it takes time.”

  “Will understands that. He’s just thinking out loud.” She cast a brief glance to him. “Right?”

  “Yes. Sorry, but time is something that is in very short supply right now.”

  Aaron seemed to be feeling the pressure and spun around. “Let me ask you this, why the hell aren’t we looking into State? You mean to tell me someone up there doesn’t want the truth? That they just want it finished?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. The longer we drag this out, the worse it’ll look on them.”

  “On them, or on the administration?” Lacy asked.