Back-Tracker

by Bob Blink

  “We can check his phone, and possibly this number of Rizzo’s” Laney said.

  “Wouldn’t you need warrants for that?” Jake asked. Warrants would announce what they were after.

  “There are ways of getting the information less openly. Besides, we don’t need it for the courts, only for our own understanding of what has happened.”

  Jake thought about it. It was unlikely that Graper would have called on his personal phone. He’d have some kind of disposable somewhere that he’d use. There was probably a safe hidden here somewhere, although they wouldn’t be able to get in it anyway.

  “Can you check whether Rizzo’s number has received any calls from this area?” Jake asked.

  “That’s possible as well,” Laney nodded.

  They searched the rest of the desk and the bedroom, but found nothing else of interest. They had found what Jake needed. Graper was the leak. Now he needed to discover if the man had taken the fateful step and contacted this Rizzo character. Jake would have to think how he’d go about discovering that.

  They turned out the light and listened at the door. Quietly they exited, noted that the television was still on in the closed bedroom. They silently exited the house, and Jake re-locked the sliding door. Despite the unexpected visitor, they had made it in and out undetected.

  Chapter 39

  “You two have a busy day ahead of you,” Carlson remarked after they had arrived at her office early and described what they had found the night before. “Don Graper is dirty. I can’t believe it. I’ll have to inform the Director, and his boss in Organized Crime as well.”

  “He’s been in place for a long time,” Jake noted. “There isn’t any need for you to act too swiftly. What we found isn’t proof, and I don’t want to force him into action until I’ve resolved my problem.”

  “What are you going to do about Graper?” Carlson asked.

  “As you pointed out, there’s a lot going on today. He’ll have to wait. Laney says he can institute a search of Rizzo’s phone number and see what, if any, contacts have come from this area. That will help us determine if Graper has contacted him. He’ll also check and see what calls Graper has made, although I doubt that will tell us anything. He has to be smart enough to use a phone we don’t know about.”

  Jake slid a thumb drive across the table to Carlson. “Here’s what I down-loaded from his computer. If you could have someone you trust sort through this and see if there is anything we can use, I’d appreciate it. I don’t have time myself at the moment, and knowing sooner rather than later might make a difference.”

  Carlson reached out and accepted the offered drive. Susan Carlson knew Jake was anxious to move forward on the matter. He finally had a thread that might resolve his personal problem, but sensed he knew more than anyone that he had to also follow through on the terrorist matter they were immersed in. Far too many lives were at stake.

  “Here’s the address where Varennikov lives,” she said. It was her turn to hand something to Jake. He accepted the address, but nodded without looking at it. He handed it to Laney. Jake already knew where it was.

  “We’ll skip the morning briefing and have a look,” he said.

  Both Laney and Carlson were a bit surprised. From what Jake had already said about the trip to Varennikov’s residence, they thought he’d back-tracked out of the visit and there wouldn’t be a need to go there today. She’d expected handing him the address would have been the trigger for him to explain what was learned there.

  “Okay,” she said. “But afterwards you need to come back here. I’ve arranged for the technician you requested coming to show you what we want to somehow put into Khabir’s computer.”

  “Good,” Jake said. “We better get going.” Then he smiled wryly. “We’re almost there, Susan,” he said reassuringly. “After today we’ll be closing in on this.”

  “I’m surprised we came here,” Laney said. “You said this didn’t go well.”

  “Susan was as well,” Jake agreed. “I thought it important for both of us to be familiar with the location. You’ve never been here before, correct?”

  “First time,” Laney agreed. “I guess that means that the location might be important later.”

  “I’m hoping,” Jake replied.

  “But we’re not going inside?”

  “No. Not this time. You were right that last time I back-tracked to essentially this time after we broke in. We are on the nominal track.”

  “What happened inside?”

  “Varennikov caught us. He came back while we were inside. I suspect we triggered an alarm he had placed somewhere. We never learned what tipped him off.”

  “I suspect there is more,” Laney asked looking intently at Jake.

  “It got messy,” Jake agreed.

  “Tell me,” Laney insisted.

  “He surprised us. He’s really very good. I’ve never encountered anyone like him. He got the drop on us, took our weapons. That’s when he got chatty. I think he was revealing information to see how much we knew. He thought it didn’t matter because he intended to kill us anyway. He would have, if it hadn’t been for my back-tracking ability.”

  “So you back-tracked at some point,” Laney said.

  “I jumped back to about a minute before he’d come in. I thought being warned he was coming we could capture him, then use what we’d learned to extract more information from him.”

  “I take it that didn’t go as planned.”

  Jake sighed. “Varennikov shot you. I had to shoot him. I was wounded as well.”

  “Shot me?” Laney asked, his eyes wide. “Where?”

  “Twice in the chest. I’m pretty sure it was fatal. You were still breathing when I back-tracked a second time, but it didn’t look good. Varennikov was dead also, and I wasn’t feeling very well. I had to back-track to a time before we’d entered the apartment. The bastard is fast and competent. Don’t forget that if you run up against him later.”

  “Shit!” Laney muttered uncomfortably, his hand absently rubbing his chest. “So what did you learn that was so important?”

  “He verified what we already know about Khabir being the man tracking the placement of the weapons. He also verified that he is the man who will nominally trigger their activation. What he told us that is important is that Widner has a back-up trigger capability on his yacht, and is supposed to activate the devices in parallel when the time comes. We’ll need to stop both of them. Even more important, the trigger date is three days from now.”

  Laney’s dark eyes grew wide. “I thought we still had ten days. That’s when the timers are set.”

  “The timers were always a failsafe. The actual plan is for a staged triggering of the devices for maximum effect, and that is planned for a couple of days from now. Our time has about run out.”

  “Even if we find the remaining canisters, I doubt there would be time to deactivate them all. There are too many out there from what you said.”

  “That’s why the return to Khabir’s place is so important. Once we plant that device in his computer, we’ll learn where they all are. Carlson will have to organize more teams, and their primary task will be to locate the devices, and then disable the radio links to them. That will render them relatively safe until they can be dealt with.”

  “The timers will still be running,” Laney pointed out.

  Jake nodded. “That’s true, but as you pointed out, we have more than a week before they trigger anything.”

  “Once we know where the devices are, we can go after these bastards,” Laney said. “No more of this holding back and watching.”

  “That will be the plan,” Jake agreed. “For now, however, we have to tell Carlson what we know, and get ready for tonight. Tonight is critical. It changes everything. Remember, I never learned last time around where all of the devices were located. I’m sure I wouldn’t recall every spot even if I had. Until we have that information, our hands are tied.”

  With that sobering thought, t
he two men drove back toward FBI headquarters to prepare for the mission later in the day.

  The technician worked for one of the clandestine services. Carlson had not said which one, but her contact had sent the technician to train them on how to install the special device she’d also brought. The woman, a petite Asian, also had brought a Toshiba laptop, the same model that Khabir was known to use.

  Carefully Jake removed the keyboard as the woman had shown them when she performed the same computer surgery a short time earlier. His finger felt fat and clumsy compared to the delicate touch her slender digits had demonstrated.

  “I brought three of the devices,” the technician explained as she watched Jake working with a critical eye. “Each of you should carry one, and the third we will consider expendable and damaged by the time you are finished training with it.”

  “What exactly does it do?” Carlson asked, looking at one of the tiny modules sealed in a clear electrostatic safe bag that she held in her hand.

  “It’s basically a parallel processor with its own memory and programming,” the tech explained. “It draws its power from the computer when we piggyback it onto the mother board. That’s why knowing the computer to be used is so important. We tailor the configuration to be a perfect match and to fit into the available space.”

  The tech paused while she pointed with a delicate finger where Jake still had to remove a catch.

  “You know how it is possible to infect a computer with malware or spyware to perform a specific task. Those programs run on the existing system and drive and have to hide within the existing architecture. The programs can be spotted and removed by a number of programs. That would be bad on two levels. Not only would the attempt to access the computer be lost, but the user would be alerted that someone had been at his equipment. Our device is unique. Unlike a normal infection, this device is self contained, and has been designed so that any system check or attempt to purge a virus will not be aware the device even exists.”

  “When the user accesses his computer, the software on our device is lurking in the background and watching. Every step is recorded in its independent memory. Any file accessed is copied. In the case of encrypted files, both the encrypted file, and the unlocked version is captured, as is the code used to perform the decryption. Once the user logs onto the internet, the stored information is multiplexed onto the link combined with data exchanges the user is engaged in. All of the stored data, suitably compressed, is routed to a special net address where we can recover it.”

  “This can’t be detected by a sophisticated user?” Carlson asked.

  “If someone were to disassemble their computer and knew what to look for, they might spot the device,” the tech admitted. “Also, if one knew precisely what to look for and how it operated, special programs could be created to detect its presence. There are very few who are that sophisticated, and we haven’t exactly advertised its existence.”

  “There,” Jake said with satisfaction as he removed the last barrier between himself and the spot on the motherboard where he was to place the device. Picking up the plastic bag, he let the tiny device drop into the palm of his hand, protected from damage by the special gloves he wore. He clipped the proper end over the integrated circuit as he’d been shown, and glanced at the tech for approval. He’d skipped only one step, and that was to place a drop of special adhesive in a certain spot before placing the device. That was because he would be removing it before re-assembly, so Laney could try his hand at the task.

  Once he received a nod from the tech, Jake pulled the device, and then put the parts back in the computer. Then he relaxed while Laney made his attempt.

  “Once more each,” the technician said later, after Laney had successfully finished. “I think you both have mastered the technique, but let’s be certain. It’ll be harder under pressure and with less comfortable conditions.”

  When the tech left some time later, she took the Toshiba and the extra device with her. She left two of the devices, small containers of the special adhesive, and a tiny pouch of tools they would use for the task.

  With her door closed, Carlson looked at the two men. “Widner moved the contraband he acquired from the Russian ship,” she said. “At least we believe he did. Two vans were loaded with large coolers from the ship earlier this morning. One was followed to a place in McLean, apparently yet another factory we didn’t know about. The other returned to the warehouse in Newport News. I have teams keeping an eye on both. We have no idea how long the McLean facility has been operating and whether it has placed canisters in unknown locations. Based on what Jake has told us about the schedule, we better hope your effort tonight goes as planned.”

  Carlson looked at Jake.

  “Do you know what they delivered?”

  “I forgot what it is called. It’s another nasty compound. Even if I knew, it wouldn’t help you much. Last time around someone concluded there wouldn’t be any time to get an antidote in sufficient quantities to matter much. We have to depend on preventing the release. If we pull this off like the last time, none of these devices will be triggered.”

  Late in the afternoon, Jake and Laney set off on the long drive back to Newport News. Once they arrived, they stopped for something to eat as they’d skipped lunch, and Jake indicated they wanted to make their move after dark.

  Khabir was staying in a two-story house in an older, but well maintained neighborhood. The house had a separate guest quarters in the back, which showed light from all of the windows.

  “Khabir works for Masud ibn Tahir al-Baghdadi, not Widner,” Jake reminded Laney. “He feels that Khabir needs to be protected, so a handful of the faithful have been placed here to guard the premises. We’ll have to move in such a way as to avoid alerting them.”

  “If they spot us?” Laney asked.

  “Trust me, these guys have no compunction about killing, but that’s a secondary concern. If they spot us, the mission is blown. We have to get in and out unobserved.”

  “How is this going to work? You said you had to back-track before.”

  “You have to follow my lead, no matter how strange it seems. I’m hoping to repeat the path and timing I used after the back-tracks to duplicate the final penetration I made.”

  “You lead, I’ll follow,” Laney whispered, even though they were still in the car more than a hundred yards down the street.

  “We’ll go in the front door,” Jake explained. “The back door is in full view of the guest cottage, and can’t be relied upon. Also, the guards are random, so we can’t count on a pattern. Understand?”

  Laney nodded slowly. Quietly they set off.

  They waited behind a large bush in the corner of the front yard. Laney watched as one of the guards Jake had mentioned made a pass by the front and circled around the side of the house. Laney expected Jake to move, but he remained in place. Less than five minutes later, a second guard appeared, coming the opposite direction. The man took his time, and glanced around the yard, but thankfully made no attempt to peer behind every bush.

  “That one surprised us last time,” Jake whispered when the man had moved on and was well out of earshot.

  The front door posed no problem, the old style lock opening easily to Jake’s tools. They stepped into a darkened family room, lit only by the light from the hallway and a room in the rear of the house. Laney could see the wide staircase that led upwards. Jake had told him that Abdul-Khabir and his lady friend would be up there. The guards apparently guarded the lower level, but left the couple alone for privacy.

  Jake led the way, but bypassed the stairs, heading deeper into the house and stepping into a closet in the hall. A moment later one of the guards came from the kitchen and made a circuit of the lower level. Had they attempted to go straight up, they would have been caught on the stairs. When the footsteps retreated, Jake opened the closest, and then led them upwards.

  Once they reached the upper level, they made their way toward the back of the house. Laney could
hear voices coming from beyond the open double doors of the room at the end of the hallway.

  Laney didn’t like what came next. Khabir and his lady friend were in the room. They were in bed, and from the sounds of things were playfully working their way toward the obvious activity. Unfortunately, the computer they sought was also in the room. Laney could only wonder how he and Jake had determined that the last time around.

  Quietly, they waited in the hallway outside the room, the chuckling and giggling faintly heard as they knelt on the carpet. Finally, there it was. The phone call that Jake had said was coming. It took several rings before Khabir responded to the landline phone and they heard his voice. That was their signal.

  Moving on hands and knees, Jake led the way into the room. Staying low, he crawled toward the bag that held the computer. Laney was not too far behind, and looked up to see that Khabir was lying across the girl, holding the phone at the length of its cord and facing directly away from them. The girl’s view in their direction was blocked by his body, and all Laney could see was some of her long blond hair.

  Smoothly, Jake extracted the Toshiba laptop and passed it back to Laney, who started backing out of the room. Jake propped the bag back in place in case Khabir happened to glance where he’d put the computer, then followed his friend back into the hall. Once they were clear, he pointed toward the opposite side of the house, and they moved carefully in that direction, finding another bedroom. They made sure the blinds were drawn so that light wouldn’t show, then closed the door and turned on the special flashlight they had brought. Fortunately the room was on the opposite side of the house from the guest house, further reducing the chance someone would spot the small amount of light that might leak out.

  Installation of the device went smoother than they had any right to expect. Jake placed the drop of adhesive and then carefully pressed the device into place. He had Laney check his installation, then carefully put the computer back together. He made no attempt to start it and check to see if it still functioned normally. They had specifically been cautioned against such an act. There could well be software that would warn Khabir that his computer had been activated in his absence, or software that would purge the system if an appropriate password weren’t provided in time.