“Network security.”
“Yes, now let me ask you a dumb question.”
“You sound like my dad,” I said, laughing.
He shook his head. “Anyway, since I am the head of network security at the bank, there is no one above me in terms of the job that I do. I am the lone wolf.”
“Nicely put, you know, with the beard and all.” I peppered in some sarcasm.
He chuckled at my remark.
“Now, the sole purpose of Wells Fargo hiring me was to prevent what happened with the old execs that ran the bank shortly after the Confinement. When I arrived, everything was as clean as a whistle. The execs were already gone. So I created a network that would allow me to monitor everything.”
“Everything?”
“Everything. What they wanted me to do was to make a system that it was impossible to commit grand larceny or launder money. I could have easily done just that. What I thought, though, was that in this kind of job market, if I made everything so perfect that my network could be secure indefinitely—they might get rid of me. Especially when they pay me a high salary compared to the rest of their staff, and I work from home. I am essential only if I can maintain my network without them learning how it operates. Once they figure out how it works, they could train some pushover fresh out of college who would do it for half the pay.”
“Continue.”
“So, what I did instead was I created a node system in the existing network.”
“A node as in, a sensor?”
“Precisely,” he responded. Excitement burned behind his eyes. “Any time an employee in my bank were to manually edit a report, move money from one account to another, etcetera, it is flagged and sent to my inbox. Then I can view the event from my computer. The employees don’t know this because I am the only person allowed to know. All I have to do is report to corporate if I see something suspicious.”
“All right, so when you arrived it was as clean as a whistle…and now?”
He grinned.
“In the past three months, I’ve been getting more things flagged to my inbox than in my one and a half years at the bank combined. Ironically, it coincided with the arrival of the new vice-president. The odd thing, though, is it was like he had done this before…like this wasn’t his first rodeo when it came to money laundering. The flags I received were mundane, similar to the things I would see an auditor mess up, or a teller screw up on a deposit. You see, what allows me to stay stealth is the district managers don’t tell any of the execs that I exist. When I go into the building, they think I am just basic IT support. The employees don’t realize I monitor the entire network and report to corporate. That was how they designed it to be, after losing one-hundred million dollars in a short period of time.”
“So, what have you found?” I asked.
He grabbed a folder, filled with papers that made it as thick as a textbook.
“I knew this guy was up to no good. This was something I had to go into the building for because the events that were in my inbox just didn’t add up. To me, it seemed like the VP had executed this well enough to where what the system saw was different from what was actually happening in day-to-day operations. So I scrounged the audit packs, the paperwork, it took me weeks. Then the truth began to reveal itself, and that was when I realized he wasn’t the only one in on it, the auditors were too. The reason why this guy is still here is because apparently he is ‘doing so much’ to help business. The accountants have now been posting false profits, making it appear like the bank is making more money than it actually is. They are making it seem like more money is coming in so they can steal some of the real money that is. If the Government were to audit us, we’d be fucked. Our internal auditors are turning a blind eye to it. I just wonder how much of a cut he is giving them.”
I was impressed by how extensive Grey’s research was.
“Dude, have you not reported it yet to corporate? Won’t you lose your job for not stopping it from occurring in the first place?”
His expression looked troubled as I said that. But, behind that veneer I sensed confidence. He had a plan.
“Yes, technically I would. It has taken me nearly a month to compile all of this evidence against him. I was going to report it to corporate on Friday, to give them the weekend to look over it. That is until you came to my door today.”
My brow furrowed in confusion.
“What does any of this have to do with me?”
Grey smiled. “Let me finish, Owen. You of all people should know I have a plan.”
He was right. In high school, I remembered the class discussions and debates. Grey was always a couple steps ahead of everybody. He was quiet…but his mind was loud.
“Enlighten me,” I replied.
“Remember the senior prank I did in high school?”
“Ah, the infamous Grey Maxwell’s gift. How could I forget?”
He laughed from me mentioning what it was called amongst our circle.
“I told you what I did to make that happen, right?”
“Well, at the time, you were more worried about being allowed to graduate than revealing your secret to your friends. You might have said something about it, but I forgot. I just remember being released from school shortly after we made it into homeroom.”
“I used to take that advanced computers class our senior year, and part of our training was learning how to clean out the computers in the office and accessing the registry. So what I did was put a key log on one of the administrator’s computers. All they had to do was enter their credentials, and all I had to do was open my email to retrieve it. So the night before the prank, I stayed at the school late to ‘work on a project’. I used the credentials to log in, and then I did a system-wide hack which created a glitch that nullified every username and password that was presently used.”
“And that’s why we had the day off.”
“Exactly,” he grinned. “Then I realized that when my computer teacher was questioned, he would point out to the administration that I was the brightest in the class…and if he were to look into the right computer, he would see where I set up the key log. I figured out a way to turn myself in and giving the administration the data in exchange for me being able to walk at graduation. I gave them the forged data on how it was an experiment to show that the school’s system was not secure. As upset as they were, they just gave me two weeks of suspension, as I’m sure you recall.”
I smirked from his statement. “I remember it quite well. You spent the last two weeks of the school year smoking weed and playing World of Warcraft.”
“The deed was well worth the punishment,” he replied with a wink.
“You cocky bastard…”
“Anyway, back then in high school I was decent at hacking, and not very well-versed in what it takes to write script and execute it properly. During college, I learned quite a bit more about software engineering in general, and the group of friends I hung out with were into hacking too. We were white-hats though—good hackers. We hacked and then revealed the information to the people we hacked in order to make their information more secure. Black hats are the famous hackers, the ones who hack into government websites, retail stores, banks…”
I glanced up at him with curiosity.
“Grey, you aren’t thinking of...”
“Yes, but just wait, it gets better. At Wells Fargo, my position gives me clearance to perform extensive background checks. Any kind of information I want, I can have. So I called the Wells Fargo in Baltimore and told the IT that I was doing some scheduled maintenance on their server. I faxed over my credentials, and I was in. Like I told you, I had a feeling the VP had done this before, because of the camouflaged flags I was getting to my inbox. Not just any thief can do that, it has to be a thief who has stolen before. I accessed a list that showed the accounts with the highest balances down to the lowest. After I scrolled past the multi-millionaires, I found it.
Grey paused. I held my hands out and shrugged, coaxing hi
m to respond.
“Fourteen accounts. Fourteen accounts with identical balances, and the serial numbers associated with the accounts are sequential, but all the names on the accounts are different. They have to be squatter accounts, people who are involved that hold the account in their name. It was like these fourteen people never went to the bank to begin with. Someone on the inside opened up the accounts and got the paperwork signed outside of work. Once I isolated the accounts, I looked into the balance history of them. That was when I discovered that seven of the accounts each had one-hundred thousand dollars in them from the day they were opened. The other seven, one by one each had one-hundred thousand dollars wired into them. The time between the first deposit of 100K in the eighth account and the last deposit in the fourteenth account of the same amount was—guess…”
“Three months?” I blurted.
“Three months. Exactly the amount of time the VP has been in charge at my bank. The icing on the cake is what I found earlier this week when I went to the bank in person. After crunching the numbers and working around the false profits, the amount that had been stolen was seven-hundred thousand dollars. The same amount that was split and wired into the remaining seven accounts in Baltimore.”
“No shit…” I mumbled. I was stunned at the level of corruption that was going on. His idea echoed in my mind like a bell being rung. “Grey, are you really thinking of taking it?”
He sat down on the edge of the bed beside me. He had his glasses on and many papers in his hands, it made him look like a professor. He was intelligent enough to be one.
“Owen, have you heard of Bitcoin?”
“Yes, I have. The feds hate it. It’s essentially a currency they can’t control. It’s decentralized.”
“You’re correct. So, think about this. If I were to hack the main server in Baltimore and get the needed credentials to those fourteen accounts, I could write a script that wipes out the money in each of the accounts and combines it all together. But then, where would we be able to hide 1.4 million dollars? The answer is Bitcoin. We could trade the 1.4 million to a Chinese bank and in exchange get Bitcoin. The great thing about the Coin is essentially it can be stored anywhere…like a flash drive, for example. We could sell the Coin on the Darknet, in increments, and only when we needed the funds on the go.”
“On the go?” I asked, confused. “I am the one on the run, not you.”
“Dude! Do you not realize the magnitude of what’s going on here?”
“Of course I do—”
“No, let me finish. We know the truth, Owen. We are right, and whoever created this lie is wrong. If we expose this and execute it properly, this is going to be the biggest government scandal in history. You are not going to make it on your own, not with just your street bike. They have too many eyes watching and too much power. I am going to help you, and if you don’t take my help, I can promise you that you won’t make it very far after you leave my house.”
His words sank in. The truth he had just spoken of was undeniable.
“Well, once you take the money, won’t they come after you too?”
“Not that it matters anyway, but that is the best part. Once those accounts are wiped out, what can the VP do? Nothing. He is a sitting duck. He can’t report to corporate the money was taken, because if he does, the crime he committed will be visible. If he doesn’t stay quiet, he will shoot himself in the foot. That is what will keep me off the radar. Plus, part of the script I’m going to write will make it seem like the money just vanished. I will leave no trace that I was ever there to begin with.”
“Goddamn man, you’re a fucking genius!”
He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and stood up.
“Why thank you, Owen, for complimenting me with such eloquent wording.”
“Smartass…” I mumbled.
“In the meantime, though, you’re going to need some cash.”
He walked around to the side of his bed and picked up the edge of the mattress. He pulled out a handgun and laid it in front of me. I stared at him in disbelief.
“You can’t be kidding me,” I said.
“Owen, you’re already a terrorist. What’s a little armed robbery gonna hurt?”
“My reputation! I’m not a real criminal, man.”
“But, you’re a politician,” Grey retorted with a sly smirk.
“Good one,” I quipped.
“Dude, regardless of what you do, you are the media’s bitch right now. They are going to tarnish you any way they can. Whoever is feeding them this false information knows they have the power. We have to shake them up a little bit, and prove to them that you aren’t just going to give up without a fight.”
I shook my head in agreement.
“You’re right, Grey. I think you’ve got a good plan.”
“It’s a damn good plan, at least for now. I know I can execute the script properly, too.”
“What a résumé you have, you went from hacking the school computers to hacking banks.”
“Progress is key,” he said and winked.
Grey sat down and started opening programs on his desktop. I carefully picked up the handgun and held it in my hand. The weight of it alone was formidable, and thoughts about robbing a bank tomorrow with it were even more nerve-wracking.
“All right Owen, I put some fresh sheets and pillows in our guest bedroom. It’s one door down.”
I gave him a peculiar look. “Are you trying to get rid of me already?”
“No, but with the kind of stress you’ve been under today, you should probably get some rest. You’ll need the energy for tomorrow.”
I felt a wave of anxiety as I imagined what the coming days might bring.
“You’re probably right,” I admitted.
“Plus, I highly doubt you would want to stay up all night and watch me write script.”
“You thought right,” I agreed. “You aren’t going to sleep? You’re crazy man.”
“Most people of my caliber would take a couple days to a week to encode a script as complex as this. We don’t have that kind of time. So, it’s not crazy, it’s necessary.”
“I’m glad you see it like that,” I said.
He glanced at me with a serious expression. “Owen, if you don’t want to rot in a federal prison for the rest of your life, every single thing you do from here on out has to be necessary.”
I nodded and let his comment settle.
“Also, if you don’t mind, can you make a pot of coffee before you hit the sack?”
I shot him a dramatic, exaggerated glare—as if his request was too difficult.
“Of course man, of course.”
- 5 -
I set my coffee on the faux wood of the table. Grey refilled my cup. The pouring sound, along with the bold aroma helped calm my nerves. Simple pleasures before a chaotic day. Grey sat down in front of me. I noticed he had dark circles under his eyes.
“Did you get any sleep?”
“No. I’ll sleep when it’s done.”
“How did everything turn out?”
He pressed his lips together and appeared nervous.
“The script looks great, but there is no way of being sure it will work until I hit enter. Once I’m remotely in their server, one incorrectly written command could mean a rejection—a failure in the execution of the script.”
It dawned on me why Grey had stayed up all night. This kind of hacking wasn’t to be taken lightly.
“We’ll see, I guess. I have faith in you, though. Any luck with the banks?”
He nodded.
“Since it was daytime there, I managed to find a Chinese bank willing to do the exchange into Bitcoin. They emailed me over the paperwork, and I signed it and sent it back. The account and routing numbers to the bank are embedded in the script. So the moment the money is taken from the VP’s accounts, it is immediately diverted into the Chinese bank. I have instructed them to send me an encrypted file with the Bitcoin. If everything goes smoot
h with the script, the last few steps will be an easy ride.”
“Then you can get some sleep.”
“Exactly,” Grey said with a smile.
“So, you’re sure there are no undercover officers at your bank?”
“I’m sure. We have paid security that comes to check the property in the evenings, and the only time they come in the daytime is to bring the biggest deposits. That’s why you need to leave soon—in the early morning activity is minimal.”
“Okay,” I answered, and took the final sip of my coffee.
He stood up and went upstairs. I looked at the empty mug in my hand and wished I didn’t have to leave at all…didn’t have to face my reality.
When Grey returned, I noticed he had something clenched in his fist. He walked around the dining room and went into the garage. He flicked on the light.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Hardly,” I replied.
I followed him into the garage. In the dim, yellow lighting, the exhaustion on Grey’s face was even more pronounced. I sat on my street bike and he stood beside me.
“Here you go, Owen,” Grey said as he opened my hand. He placed a flash drive in my palm, and I shoved it in my jacket pocket. “That is a ghost drive. If anyone were to stick that in a computer and tried to see what was on it, it appears as if it is empty.”
“Badass,” I said.
“Indeed, it is. You need to put the flash drive in the tower, or laptop, while the computer is still off. Once it turns on, in around two seconds press F2. On some machines, it may be F12. When it gives you the option of how to boot up, choose USB. It will prompt you to put in a password. This ghost drive essentially is an operating system you can plug in and use when you need to. It is how we’re going to communicate with each other.”
“So, how do we communicate? It’s not like I can login to Facebook and send you a message.”
He laughed loudly at my statement.
“No, that is the last thing you would want to do. There is a Bitmessage account already set up and accessible through this drive. Use the same password you used to get into the ghost drive to get into Bitmessage. It’s encrypted email, it circumvents the normal pathways on the web to avoid being monitored. It’s actually what Snowden used to leak some of his information.”
The Gambit Page 7
