by Finian Blake
“I was given that laptop by my former employer. It is an extremely capable machine.” William said hoping to distance himself from any irregularities with the computer. “They said that there were no hard feelings about me moving on to another employer.” Boris quickly removed the battery opening the bottom, starting to examine the mother board.
“Hello, here is a little hitch hiker,” Boris said to no one in particular pointing to one corner of the board. “This little beauty will copy and transmit the files of any computer that it is placed next to. Ted would you bring Paul and Felicia down here. I need to ask them some questions. William have you ever had this laptop near or next to any of the computers at Hall Shipbuilding?”
“Yes of course I have, I use it all the time in my daily routine.” William said being surprised by the question. “Is there a problem?”
“This cloning device will transmit the information from any computer that yours is placed next to. Right now it is searching for a link to Ardent Computers. Sit back and watch.”
Boris removed the mother board reinstalling it in one of the computers on his work bench. Boris’s fingers started to fly over the key board typing in commands.
“I am going to hack them while I download the ‘UNIVERSE’ to their computer. They have attacked us twice, so I have no problem doing this,” Boris said with a wolfish smile.
“The way that you said ‘UNIVERSE’ I assume that it is not just an expression.” William said nervously.
“The ‘UNIVERSE’ is our defense against clones. We have sixteen racks of servers loaded with all kinds of obsolete programing loaded on them. The first two server racks have obsolete mathematical equations from NASA on them and then the other fourteen servers have junk on them such as the phone book of every country in the world, the entire library of congress, and any other information that takes up drive space. You see your former boss Henry, has set a lock so that the computers cannot be disconnected until the transmission is complete. While that is happening I will be hacking Ardent. They have a mainframe, but this will keep them busy. Between the incoming and out-going lines their computer will be locked until I release it.”
“Ardent is pretty advanced, Henry Archer is a top man in his field,” William said nervously.
“I know he is among the top fifty in the world, but my hackers are so good that they were never discovered.” Boris’s hands were flying across the key board as he talked. “There are the Hall Shipbuilding files.” Boris sampled each file finding blue prints, schematics, and notes of corporate meetings. He found a file marked ‘fun and games’ opening it to find Paul and Felicia’s personal sex videos. He sampled two videos out of twenty just as they walked in with Ted, Cherry and Rhonda. Boris discretely blacked out the screen before they came with in eye sight.
Boris felt like a young man caught reading a porn magazine with his pants down. Paul walked up to Boris demanding, “What in the hell is the big deal?”
“Paul, it appears that your computer system has been cloned by Ardent Computers. They gave William a laptop which they allowed him to keep when he went to work for you. It was loaded with a computer chip that acts as a cloning device which will copy the files of any computer that it can connect to with all of the information being transmitted to Ardent Computers.”
“How bad was it,” Paul exclaimed.
“Well they copied your CFO’s report, business plan, engineering files, proposal files and I have just gotten to your ‘fun and games’ file.”
“Fuck,” Felicia screeched. “Did you open it?” Boris punched a key on his console opening up to an extremely intimate video file.
“I am afraid that I did,” Boris said trying his best to sound nonchalant. “I was trying to assess the scope of their invasion, which seems to be extensive.”
“Shit, shit, shit…” Felicia kept screeching while Paul maintained a stunned silence.
“There is something that I can do,” Boris said trying to sound hopeful.
“And how much would that something cost,” Paul asked since Felicia was still muttering, ‘shit’.
“I would do it for the pure pleasure of screwing with Ardent Computers,” Boris said brightly. “You see they have made a few overt moves against us. You would be supplying us with a means of screwing with them. We are currently sending them the ‘universe’ and while their system is distracted I can send a code that will find all of the files that your information is attached to and delete it with a shredder program which will make any salvage impossible.
“What do you mean the ‘universe’,” Felicia asked.
“I am sending them every bit of obsolete information that we could pack into sixteen server racks in English, Russian, German, Japanese and Chinese. I believe that should take a few days and while that is happening we will delete their files on your company and replace your ‘fun and games file’.” Boris was glowing with pride.
“You said replace,” Felicia said with interest.
“Yes, I said replace,’ Boris had a hard time suppressing his laughter. “I will send them every episode of the ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’ cartoon series. It is my signature.”
“Do it,” Paul and Felicia said in unison.
“Done,” Boris typed in the execute command after which he produced a business card, “If you are interested we provide computer security. We hold the highest security rating that the government offers, so there should not be a problem clearing us with any agency.”
“We will consider it.” Paul said waiting for the hard sell.
“Good,” Boris said motioning to the door, “I have missed too much of the party. We can rejoin my beautiful wives.”
“Why Rocky and Bullwinkle,” Felicia asked.
“My name is Boris Baronov,” he said pointing to the card, “the villain from the cartoon show. You know Boris and Natasha.”
“No,” Felicia said with a blank look.
“Well anyway, they will know who screwed with them and that is what I want,” Boris said with a smirk.
The party went well with everyone eating and drinking their fill getting quite loaded. Felicia met ‘Queen’ Tamar and was surprised to see Mary Lee.
“Tamar what is Mary Lee doing here.”
“Rampage Firearms is one of our larger accounts and nobody looks better holding a smoking gun than our Mary Lee.” Tamera led Felicia over to Mary Lee. “Mary Lee may I introduce Felicia Devon.”
“I have seen your ads for Rampage Firearms and those other companies. It seems that I can’t pick up a magazine without seeing your picture in it,” Felicia gushed.
“Yes, modeling has taken most of my time lately, and I haven’t had time for my primary occupation.” Mary Lee sighed.
“And what is your primary occupation,” Felicia asked.
“Until a year ago I was a financial analyst for Boris. Last year I made almost four million dollars modeling in the U.S and slightly less than that in the rest of the world.” Mary Lee said. “It was I that told Colleen and Susan to buy every share of your stock and Titan’s stock that became available.”
“You advised…,” Paul and Felicia blurted out.
“Why buy our stock and who in the hell are Colleen and Susan,” Paul finished for both of them.
Mary Lee looked at Rhonda in shock, “I thought that you already had your meeting. I am sorry!”
“No problem dear,” Rhonda said forcing a smile indicating a table just behind her. “Go get the others and we will have our meeting now.”
“Paul and Felicia, this has not been presented as I would have preferred. I have a proposal to make that I believe will interest both of you.” Rhonda found it impossible to hide her nervous tone.
“How dare…,” Felicia stopped talking as Paul rested his arm on her arm.
“My dear, I believe that in light of earlier events that we should at least listen to their proposal.”
“Thank you Paul,” Rhonda said grateful for the understanding.
“Initially we were
just going to take advantage of the drop in stock prices that would occur when it was announced that Titan Shipyards might not get the contract on those eight ships, so we bought up every share of stock that was out there when the Titan stock dropped below ten. Mary Lee did some research and found a great deal of interest on the market for a versatile turbine driven fast transport. Most of the transports out there cannot keep with the newer fleet types. She was also able to find that you have the designs and patents for the engines and impellers which became a design specification in the plans. We now hold 60% of the outstanding shares for Titan Shipyards and are prepared for a proxy fight.”
“What about all of our stock that you are holding,” Paul pressed.
“We found out that Wayne Haggard was planning on buying up your stock to get control of the patents and merge the two companies. We used our subsidiaries to keep your stock off of the market. There is not one available share out there.”
“How did you find out about all of the inside information for our company,” Paul and Felicia asked in unison.
“We hacked Ardent’s computers,” Mary Lee said over Rhonda’s shoulder. “They attacked us so we felt no reason not to hack them. Titan uses Ardent for their security and the entire plan is in their files. You have 40% of your stock and we hold 30%. I suggest that we merge the two companies and fire both Ardent Computers and Wayne Haggard. Wayne’s contract is up and he is exercising his stock option, so his golden parachute will not apply. We hold 60% of Titan’s stock and 30% percent of your stock, so we can do a stock swap of two old shares for one new share without losing control. I believe that would leave us with 67.5% of the new company.”
“It sounds like you have a lot of research, how far have you breached our system,” Paul asked.
“As I have said, we have pulled all of our information off of Ardent’s computer files that they have hacked from you,” Rhonda said. “Let me reassure you that we have never directly hacked your computers. Boris has erased all of that information from their system. They will have to re-hack your system if they want to access any of the data again. Our fee for that is the access that we have gained through William’s laptop.”
“And what about the future,” Paul asked.
“You may go with our service or not,” Boris said calmly. “We can guarantee that they will try again. If your computer people can do their jobs, please do it yourself.”
“We had not even detected their intrusion. I believe that Hall Shipbuilding will go with your services.”
“Great, you will get our guarantee of confidentiality along with the use of our mainframe, and the advanced autocad programs which include the hydrodynamic tank and wind tunnel simulators,” Boris said not trying to hide his pride. “We have refined the programs and they will compare nicely with a live tank test. The primary differences being that you can tweak the lines during the test, and you can zoom into a specific area of interest. Which means that you don’t have to rebuild the model every time?”
“I have heard about those programs, but the computer power necessary to run them is too expensive.” Felicia admitted with a tone of excitement creeping into her voice at the idea of using the advanced technology.
“Morris has used the program to test wind loads on some of his taller structures, but we have only been able to check our programs against existing tank studies, so we are eager to try them on live design problems. If you let us follow your projects we would allow you to use our programs in exchange for full access to a critical project such as this one.” Boris offered.
“How large are your computers,” Felicia asked not trying to hide her excitement.
“We have four large mainframe computers however two are spoken for by Uncle Sam, but one is more than we need to run the program,” Boris said confidently. “I could give you a quick tour of our computer floor before the meeting, so that you would know what we are talking about. We are preparing for the installation of two more large mainframes to handle the unanticipated demands on our service, and more as demand dictates.”
“As demand dictates, not as finance dictates,” Paul asked a half question driven by his business background.
“Technology keeps changing so we do not want to get equipment that is idle,” Boris said blandly. “We have the room and the money, but we will not spend it foolishly. Right now we provide security for hundreds of companies over seventy countries using over fifteen languages. We have twenty of the world’s best hackers working here plus a large number working remotely worldwide.”
“How do you get so many hackers to work with you,” Paul asked.
“We know what hackers want,” Boris said smoothly. “They are responding to the raw challenge and the availability of top notch equipment, but the real bonus is that they can do it legally since we are testing the security systems of the companies that we are contracted to.”
“What about the scientific programs that you offered Felicia,” Paul pressed.
“We allow our programmers to pursue their interests, and we had a load of dead time on a main frame, so it was suggested that that we lease out to the scientific community. Our people made a computerized ‘Hydrodynamic Tank’, but we can also measure the flow inside of pipes, and the air flow on the interior of turbines, tweaking the design as we go. We have the wave models for most of the dangerous bodies of water in the world and the same goes for air flow. We lease space to the top independent thinkers in exchange for the non-exclusive right to use their work.”
“Show me,” Felicia exclaimed dragging Boris toward the elevator forgetting that she did not know where she was going in her excitement.
“I am going to turn you over to one of our engineering people,” Boris laughed. “We encourage our people to stretch their imaginations. My specialty is computer design, Mary’s is finance, and Nikki her brother is special effects and production, while Tamar and Cherry have their fashion label. All of our interests overlap to make full use of our combined talents.” When Boris and Felicia disappeared into the elevator Paul turned to Cherry and Rhonda.
“Judging by your confidence I assume that you have the finances under control.”
“We can work the whole deal with cash on hand,” Rhonda said enjoying the look of surprise on Paul’s face. Paul looked at the silent Cherry who gave nothing away with her expression.
“Cherry do you always let Rhonda do your talking?” Paul bated her trying to get more information.
“Rhonda is the managing director and a partner. Having two people speaking only confuses things,” Cherry smiled sweetly. “Boris is a partner also and they about covered everything.”
“We generally agree on most issues,” Rhonda continued. “We need your cooperation to slam dunk this deal. Let me assure you that we plan to have your team manage the new company. We will ask for only one seat on the board. In any case we wish to dismiss the Titan senior board unless you have anybody in mind.”
“And what if we refuse,” Paul asked waiting for the strong arm.
“Then we will sell our 30% and you can deal with whoever picks it up, perhaps Titan Shipyards,” Rhonda said blandly. “I know that this is like getting hit with a bucket of ice water, but we had to act fast or right now you would be talking to Wayne Haggard. Our terms are extremely generous please present them to Felicia.”
“How long do we have to make up our mind,” Paul asked hesitantly.
“Your company is out of danger, since you hold 40% of the stock and we hold thirty percent. We would prefer to have a friendly association. Take your time however keep in mind that the longer you wait the more time that Wayne has to create a defense.”
“I need Felicia’s approval, but you may be reasonably assured of our support.” Paul coughed discretely. “Were you planning to do anything about Salvador Ardent?”
“We don’t generally act out of revenge, but I believe that Boris will be taking him to school soon.”
Salvador was having a few drinks in his office with Henry when a
red light started to blink next to a computer screen.
“Excellent,” Salvador beamed, “William McLeod flew Paul and Felicia over to the Four Diamonds computer center and he brought his laptop with your clone function. It looks like we will have all that they know in a few hours.”
“Four Diamonds,” Henry exclaimed sending a mouth full of his drink out of his nose, “that’s Boris. I thought that we were going to avoid a showdown with them.”
“I am hacking them. That bitch Rhonda cut us out of the NSA contract cold without even giving us a chance to bid on it.” The brooding in Salvador’s voice came through loud and clear. “I swear that bitch Rhonda blew Director Valiant for that one. I am using the clone on this exercise.”
“But you are going after Boris Baronov,” Henry said not trying to hide his distress.
“Fuck him, he is over rated anyway.” Salvador was so mad that he was spitting as he talked. “He thinks that he is some kind of a king shit. We have some ass kicking computers too. I for one am tired of tip toing around him.”
After a few hours of unrestricted gloating Henry clicked a mouse button, and a sample of the download popped up on the screen to reveal the complicated mathematical equations flying across the screen. “I guess that you bagged him this time. They must have a load of contracts.”
“Why do you say that,” Salvador asked.
“The lap top opens all of their unused communication channels for parallel downloads, so that we can get in and out. It’s been a few hours and Boris has not noticed a thing. Theoretically that is enough time to download a few server racks, something is wrong.” Henry typed in a few commands to monitor the system usage and a look of horror came across his face as he franticly started to type. “The reason that Boris didn’t try to stop us is that he is feeding us.” Henry pointed to one screen which was displaying Russian, another screen displaying Japanese, and another displaying Chinese.
“What the hell are they doing,” Salvador barked reflecting Henry’s panic.
