by JC Ryan
“Raj? We may not need you to hack anything illegally after all. Sinclair has records.”
Sinclair decided not to ask.
~~~
Raj didn’t tell Daniel that he’d already contacted his network. There was no stopping them, but there wasn’t any need to stress Daniel about it. He did need to ask Roy about making a few extra Spyflies, though. That was the price. His fellow conspiracy investigators were as excited about the little gadgets as he was, especially when they heard that he’d caught some spies among the Rossler Foundation employees with it. He could hardly wait to tell them what he learned about Area 51.
However, since Sinclair did have records of which translators were working on what assignments, along with an idea of when, Raj went to work to merge the information, so that he could get an idea of how quickly the compromised data had gone out after translation. There was something odd about the whole operation. Raj knew that the fragments of information weren’t much good by themselves. What he needed to do was determine whether someone who didn’t know the library first-hand, nor the method by which he and Luke had decided to scramble it, could put it back together to get something useful.
To do that, he uploaded the fragments, the dates, the coded emails and an algorithm to a database management program and ran a report. The algorithm was the very one he and Luke had used to break the data up. When the report was finished, Raj had an idea of how the data was received; that is, in what order. Next, he replaced the algorithm with a randomizer. When that report had run, he compared the two. As far as he could see, the original algorithm had done a satisfactory job of assigning a random order of translation to the full data set. With a code number field attached, researchers at the Foundation could put it back together as easily as a paint-by-numbers artwork. Without that, data received at random over a period of weeks would be rather difficult to put together as a whole text.
He sent a quick instant message to Daniel to that effect. However, he cautioned, if the recipient had someone who was very clever at breaking codes, they could conceivably have hit on the same algorithm Raj had used to break it up. They could do the same thing he did to reverse the process.
While Raj was engaged in this process, the most deeply hidden of his underground contacts were busy on that list of names he’d provided. They took the challenge to ferret out every email account each person on the list had set up on their home computers, and hack into them to check for sent and received emails as far back as they were available. Raj was also interested in email accounts that seemed to have few sent and received emails, but a lengthy draft folder full of unsent messages. These, he believed, would reveal what was really happening.
The next day after his request for help went out to his network, an instant message from one of them came back. Coded to look like spam, it was an innocuous offer to meet ‘willing girls’ online. Raj took a moment to reflect on how much trouble his friend’s joke would be for him at home if Sushma ever saw it, before deleting it. He then activated a program that would conceal his IP address from the site he was about to visit, and another that would mask the location of the site from his computer’s logs. Failure to adhere to these protocols would get him kicked out of his group, and that was not an outcome he wanted, ever. They had been too useful to him on several occasions, and he to them.
Once he was in, Raj located the messages in his inbox. Along with several of the names he’d sent to this contact earlier in the day, were a list of email accounts with username and password attached. It would be up to him and Luke to take a look at them and see whether what they sought was among the messages or in the draft folder. Raj sent Luke a text, asking him to drop by.
A few minutes later, Luke strolled into Raj’s neat office. Not a paper out of place or a pen casually set down marred the perfection of Raj’s desktop. Not for the first time, Luke wondered if the man were actually a robot, but the pleased expression on his face answered that question.
“Luke, I have some news,” Raj began. A slight frown flickered before he smoothed his face to its usual neutral expression. “I trust you will not look for my sources, Luke.”
Luke was well aware of Raj’s peculiar hobby, and the nefarious connections he had because of it. If Daniel hadn’t personally vouched for the loyalty as well as the sanity of his friend, Luke would have had a serious problem with his appointment as IT department head when the Foundation was formed. By now, though, he was used to Raj’s paranoia, his secretiveness and his remarkable resourcefulness when it came to anything computer-related. He had a good idea that Raj had moved forward with the hacking project that Daniel had called off. He also trusted Raj to have covered his tracks so well that not even the CIA or NSA could discover the shenanigans.
“What have you got?” Luke asked, grinning slightly with the knowledge that it was probably something ill-gained but would help their present situation.
“Email accounts for a handful of the spies in our midst. Private, web-based and according to my source, full of unsent messages. I thought you’d like to help look them over.” Raj put his hand in his pocket and jingled some change, the only thing that revealed his discomfort with bringing Luke into his secret life, even though he trusted Luke and knew that Luke was already privy to much of it.
“I won’t ask where you got the information.”
“Thank you, Luke, my friend. Rest assured, it cannot come back to us.”
Luke believed it. He’d seen the results of Raj’s secretiveness before, and knew that whoever he used to get this stuff, they’d never been discovered, even by government agencies with unconscionable power and reach.
Raj was prepared with a printout of half of the names, and had set up a computer for Luke’s use at a small conference table in his office. Because the operation was sensitive, Luke closed and locked the door before he sat down to work. Raj was already into the first account, reading page after page of scientific data that seemed to start and stop with no logical order. It was certain that they’d discovered what went out - the verbatim translations that Raj had uploaded to his database once today already, and pretty much in the order that his reports indicated for this individual’s work. The first account Luke broke into had the same results. After a couple of hours, Luke decided they had enough to report to Daniel. They now knew how the science was being transmitted. Now to determine who was on the receiving end.
Whoever it was, the bad news was that they could have everything the Rossler Foundation had produced in the field of nanotechnology, as well as a few other items that no one wanted in the hands of terrorists. Even worse; it was complete. Gaps had been filled in that weren’t assigned to Middle Eastern translators.
~~~
The meeting with Daniel was top-secret. Raj was insistent that no one outside the core Rossler Foundation members attend; everyone else was a suspect. For once, Luke agreed with his paranoia. Luke went in person to speak with Daniel, and before he did, he made a thorough search of Daniel’s office for both conventional listening devices and for any of Roy’s Spyflies or other nanotech spy equipment. He all but whipped out a magnifying glass and combed every inch, every object on every bookshelf, and shut down every electronic device in the room.
Daniel looked on, speechless. Luke hadn’t made a sound, merely held up his hand in a Stop! gesture and begun his search. Daniel understood almost immediately that he was looking for bugs, so he knew better than to speak. Half an hour later, the office swept thoroughly, Luke spoke for the first time.
“Daniel, we may have a worse problem than we thought. We need to get a few key people up here, and then I’ll tell you what it is. Just old friends, buddy, someone on the team isn’t trustworthy.”
Daniel’s eyes widened, and then his lips thinned as he pressed them together. He nodded and picked up his personal cell phone. In short order, he had Raj, Sinclair and Sarah on their way to his office, at Luke’s request. It may be a little cramped, but holding the meeting here would save him the trouble of sweepi
ng another location for listening devices.
When everyone was assembled and had found seats, he addressed them, shocking everyone but Raj.
“We’ve made a preliminary breakthrough on what data has been compromised. I have promised Raj that we won’t pry into how we got this information. All you need to know is that we obtained user names and passwords for a number of anonymous email accounts. Data we found in the draft folders confirms that there has been a serious leak of sensitive 10th Cycle information almost from the beginning of the nanotech program. Furthermore, I have reason to believe that someone with knowledge of the full, unfragmented texts has gone rogue. Sinclair, I’ll ask you to read the compiled text of the draft messages and verify that to be the case. I have no doubt it’s true, though.”
In the pause that followed his words while Luke took a couple of steps to hand the printed report to Sinclair, questions from the rest of the group were tossed.
“What makes you think that?” from Daniel, who cast a worried look in Sarah’s direction as he spoke.
“But, that would mean…” from Sinclair, as he took the proffered report.
Over the cacophony sounded Sarah’s firm, clear lecturing voice. “There are only two other people who have the full translations, besides those of us here. Whom do we suspect?”
Luke was justifiably proud of his niece, not only her beauty and her accomplishments, but her keen mind was such a pleasure to know and love.
“You’ve hit the nail on the head, Sarah, and it’s the reason for this meeting. This is the way Raj and I see it. Only two scenarios fits the facts. One, the fragmented data went out to someone who was presumably unauthorized to receive it, hence the secrecy. However, because it was fragmented, the recipient may not have been able to put it all together in a comprehensible whole. Unfortunately, it’s the second that we think has happened, based on what we see in these emails. Fragmented as they are, there are pieces of information that tie the fragments together. We think the recipients have compromised one of the two other people on the security committee for nanotech. Both of those people have access to the compiled data. A third, less likely scenario is that the Foundation servers have been compromised. Raj, can you speak to that scenario?”
Luke sat down, his bombshell exploded, and listened as Raj explained why the third scenario was less likely, and what he was doing to verify one way or the other. The explanation was somewhat technical, but the bottom line was that Raj had run a diagnostics report on who had accessed what, both authorized and unauthorized. He’d found no unauthorized entry into sensitive areas. The conclusion was that it must be Karsten who was dirty, no matter how unlikely, since they’d previously cleared Roy with his own Spyfly.
“I feel terrible about it, Sarah. I thought we’d put in enough security measures to protect ourselves after the Misty and Carmen incidents,” he said, referring to spies in their midst during the first Antarctica expedition. “If we can’t do a better job than this, maybe it’s time to pack it in and turn the library over to government control.” Absently, he patted her hand with his other one, effectively keeping her close.
Sarah withdrew her hand. “Honey, we can’t do that! We always said it didn’t belong to the US alone. It belongs to the world.”
“Then let the world protect it. Sweetheart, I’m tired. Tired of being the constant center of the storm. Tired of wondering who will try to assassinate us next, or worse. Tired of worrying about you, and Nick, and everyone else, my hostages to fortune. When will the strife end?”
Sarah ran her eyes over her husband’s figure, uncharacteristically bent with concern. She put both her arms around him. “When we’ve used everything we can find in the library to stop war,” she said. She had never lost sight of the warning that Zebulon, the builder, had given in the greeting. It was imperative to eradicate war, or the cycle of cataclysmic destruction that had claimed all previous cycle’s civilizations would continue. She had a feeling that their own cycle was very near its crisis.
~~~
Raj heard the decision of the security committee for the nanotech program with concern. It didn’t make sense to him to eliminate one suspect at a time. Whether his liking for Roy clouded his judgment or for some other reason, the idea that he should investigate both of them immediately wouldn’t go away. Consequently, he installed keyboard capture programs on both their office computers, sent out an urgent request to his informant for any personal internet interaction he could find on either of them, and borrowed Luke’s Spyfly, saying his needed repair. Within the hour, Raj began receiving video of both Karsten and Roy in their offices. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough of the devices to deploy them in their homes, but if he saw nothing in the next day or so, he’d reassign these to the homes, though it would require putting someone undercover with a Wi-Fi connection near enough to monitor the feed.
Only half an hour later, at the end of the workday, he hit pay dirt. Movement on the monitor that displayed the feed from Karsten’s office caught his eye, and he turned to watch it, almost looking away when he saw it was just a visitor. The feed showed a woman entering Karsten’s office, and Karsten rising from his desk, walking to meet her near the door. What happened next snapped Raj’s brain into full attention, as the audio reached him.
“Darling, may I come to you tonight?” Raj did a double-take, and remotely adjusted the position of the Spyfly to see who the visitor was. Karsten’s wife was a blonde, but this woman had dark hair. When he had moved the camera to see her face, he realized it was Karsten’s program administrator, Alica. He watched the action on the monitor raptly.
Karsten had taken the woman in his arms and was attempting to kiss her, but she turned her head. He released her, but started to complain.
“Haven’t I given you everything you asked for?” he said, bitterness coloring his tone. Raj tilted his head. What had he discovered? An infidelity? A grasping mistress? Her answer shocked him even further.
“You’re holding back. My employers need information about triggers for the nanonukes. They are convinced that you have it. My life is in your hands, and you want to take me to bed? Fuck you. If you don’t give me the information they want, they’ll kill me and take your family. Do you want that, you miserable worm? I swear I will take you down with me.”
Raj’s mouth dropped. He hadn’t had much contact with Alica, but she’d always been soft-spoken though efficient, the perfect personality to go with her beauty. Self-effacing, even, as if she knew she must downplay her incredible looks to get along with other women and keep men from hounding her. Where had this gold-plated bitch come from? More to the point, who were her employers, and what was that about nanonukes?
On the monitor, Karsten had fallen to his knees and clasped Alica around the thighs, burying his face in her skirt. Raj couldn’t quite make out what he was saying, his words muffled by his position. He must have been begging for something, Raj figured. Alica spoke again.
“Get up. All right, you can come to my apartment. But you’d better have the information with you if you want anything from me. And if you don’t have it, maybe I should pay your wife a visit, tell her what you like in bed. Won’t she be shocked, the little hausfrau?”
Raj grabbed a scratch pad. He was all about technology, but sometimes just jotting something down on paper best served the purpose. He made some rapid notes to remind him what he needed to do about Alica. He’d just finished when Alica and Karsten left Karsten’s office and turned off the light, plunging the monitor into darkness.
His first call was to Sushma, telling her he was likely to have to pull an all-nighter, and apologizing for not being able to come home. If she got the idea that it had something to do with Area 51, it would be best for all concerned. Besides, she was used to that. No need to worry her with talk of nano-nukes. His next call was to Luke, who’d already left the building and was on his way home. Luke said he’d turn around and come immediately. “No,” he said, “don’t bother Daniel yet. Let’s see what we can
find out.”
While he waited for Luke to arrive, Raj checked the recording of the feed in Roy’s lab. Since it showed nothing except Roy tinkering with tiny objects on his work bench and occasionally humming off-key, Raj fast-forwarded until he caught another person in the room. Backing it up a few frames, he played it at normal speed. Alica again! Was she playing both of them? Raj listened intently as she spoke.
“Roy, Karsten needs the plans for the gadgets you’ve been making for the program archives. How soon can you get us those?” As Raj watched, she made no attempt to touch Roy, but she was standing very close to him by the time she finished speaking. On the screen, Roy edged away.
“P-plans? Uh, I, I haven’t actually d-drawn any p-plans. J-just p-p-put them t-together. Flying nicely … no plans. You want some? Ah, ah … I mean you want plans?” Raj found it almost painful to listen to, as Roy’s pathetic shyness around women caused him to stammer through the sentence.
“Well, could you please draw them? Karsten insists,” Alica said in the sweet tones that Raj had heard her always use before. What an actress! She turned a brilliant smile on the hapless Roy, who blushed brightly enough for the color-enhanced Spyfly camera to clearly pick it up.
“Sh-sure,” he answered. Don’t do it, Raj mentally commanded him, only to hear him continue. “It’ll t-take a few d-days.”
“As soon as you can, hon,” Alica said, now laying her hand on Roy’s arm. Raj was almost amused to see him flinch as if she’d burned him. Good man, delay.
After Alica left, Raj checked the timestamp and saw that the encounter with Roy preceded the one with Karsten. His attention hadn’t been on the monitors, knowing that the video was recording for later use. What had he been doing? Oh, yes, contacting the man he knew as Prairie Dog to hack into Karsten and Roy’s private emails. He’d better make contact again, even though PD would hate it, and give him a third name. Alica Cedric; that was her whole name. Or was it? At this point, Raj wouldn’t have been surprised to find that he was someone else himself. So much deception.
