Cipher

by Robert Stohn

  “Okay. I will trust that you can provide me with this information,” said the Sheik as he sipped his tea from the white porcelain cup.

  “I assure you that I can provide you with that information. I will require a 10% deposit of the funds now, and the rest on delivery.”

  “I will require all of the names on the list,” said the Sheik. “And 10% will not be a problem.”

  Boris did the math in his head. Roughly 3400 names would be 3.4 billion US dollars. He gave a quick glance to Dmitry, and then smiled at the Sheik.

  “I will be more than happy to oblige. I’ll need three weeks to deliver the data. And I will only deliver it in person.”

  “I would expect nothing different,” said the Sheik.

  “Please, shall we have some fun now?” Boris snapped his fingers to call the girls back to the deck now that their work was complete. They happily clamored back upstairs to join the group.

  Chapter 6

  At a busy café in Istanbul Turkey on Bağdat Avenue, Jonathan Grace sat with Dr. Jennifer Cobalt. The street was packed with people. It was a weekend, and the roads and walkways were filled with pedestrians out for an evening stroll, window-shopping, or on their way to get a bite to eat. The rich aromas of lamb and chicken, along with Mediterranean spices, filled the air. Jonathan sat soaking it all in as he watched the people go by. Everything about that place was different. He looked at the people as they passed by and wondered what each of their stories was.

  “Thank you for the taking the time to meet with me Dr. Cobalt,” he said.

  “I don’t have much time, and please just call me Jennifer,” she replied. “What was so important that you wanted to speak to me about that you had to fly 5,000 miles to meet with me in person?”

  “It’s about your research,” Jonathan said as he took a sip of the tea in the thin slender curved transparent glass.

  “The advanced algorithms?” she asked, taking off her slender brown frames and placing them on the table. She sat back and crossed her legs and her arms. She was closing herself off to the world.

  “Yes.”

  “Who sent you?”

  “I can’t discuss that with you,” said Jonathan, taking another sip of the tea.

  “I knew I should have never gotten involved with that project. My friends and colleagues all warned me but I didn’t listen.”

  “Warned you about what?”

  “The project. It got out of hand. It got very out of hand,” she said silently as if someone was going to overhear their conversation.

  “I’m afraid I still don’t follow. I need some background information. Can you tell me more about it? I don’t have that much information to go on.” Jonathan couldn’t tell her the real reason he was there. He couldn’t tell her that he was on the hunt for the little USB cipher drive. He wasn’t about to blow his cover that quickly. But as he sat there staring at the woman in the early evening hours, he couldn’t help but notice just how striking she was. Her high cheekbones and slender flame, combined with her puffy lips and pale blue eyes, gave Jonathan that feeling in his stomach he felt when he was incredibly attracted to a woman. He tried to hide his clear interest in her from a sexual point of view.

  “I never wanted to get involved with that project. They approached me with helping them with some advanced algorithm computations for secure socket layers, or SSL, the standard data encryption method on the Internet.”

  “Who approached you?” Jonathan asked.

  “Advanced Biogenics. It’s a lab out of Arlington, Virginia. They’re on the leading edge of some of the most revolutionary research in the field of genetics and mathematics. As a Harvard Fellow, I thought it would be a great addition to my resume, and I was excited by the possibility of publishing a paper based on my research.”

  “Well, what happened? Why was it such a bad idea then?” Jonathan watched her cross her legs again. Her skinny jeans snapped fit to her elongated legs that Jonathan couldn’t keep his eyes off. She met his stare ogling her figure multiple times. He couldn’t help himself. Even though she looked closed off and her body language indicated she wasn’t telling the truth, he became infatuated with her as he sat there directly across the table. The glass tabletop made it easy enough for Jonathan to soak in every ounce of her body from the legs on up.

  “My eyes are up here, you know,” she replied back.

  “I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

  “It’s okay. I’m used to it by now. You can only imagine what I have to endure living here. I’m like a magnet for predators around here,” she said. She nodded at the street filled with people walking by, most of whom were devouring her with their eyes just as Jonathan had been doing.

  “I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t know… I mean… I don’t know what I want to say here. I’m not usually like this. Honestly.”

  “That’s okay. I get it. You’re a man. You can’t help yourself.” She uncrossed, then recrossed her legs, switching from the right to the left side as she leaned back into the chair.

  Jonathan cracked a half smile, but he didn’t feel comfortable with himself. He didn’t feel right for looking at her the way he was, but he couldn’t help himself. She was his ideal: smart, and sexy. Then again, she was probably every man’s ideal.

  “Anyhow,” she continued, disrupting his very sexual train of though, “The research was some of the most exciting stuff that I had ever worked on, until the parameters changed. The goals of the project changed from something so simple and innocent, to something much more complex and calculated.”

  “What do you mean? Calculated how?”

  “Well, it started harmless enough. The SSL research was merely an extension of my advanced algorithm ciphers that that have been the subject of my obsessive post-doctoral work for the past 5 years. But, it got so much more involved when they reclassified the project, and quarantined me at the lab. I had no life back then and I wasn’t allowed to leave. I was basically a slave to that lab.”

  “What happened with the research? How far did you get with it?”

  “Well, pretty far. It was revolutionary in fact. Within the first 6 months at the lab, I had created an advanced algorithm cipher that could penetrate any 1024-bit RSA key security level. I thought we were working on prevention of course, but my research made it possible for penetration into any system. I thought we were going to extend that research into advancing the RSA levels of security, but they wanted more from me.”

  “I did some research on the 1024-bit RSA key crack. I haven’t been able to find any information that shows it’s hackable. From current computing standards, it would take 7-months to brute force attack and crack a 1024-bit RSA key.” Jonathan looked at her with a puzzled expression. He knew there was a lot more to the whole story that he just wasn’t understanding or that she wasn’t telling him. So much of it was over his head, but he made it is duty to understand just what it all meant.

  “That’s what it used to be, until my advanced algorithm coupling mechanism. What used to take 7 months, could now be done in under 30 minutes. But there’s more.”

  “More?”

  “Yes,” she replied, “they wanted me to continue my research to extend my algorithms into breaking a 2048-bit RSA key, something that could break into the highest possible levels of security on the Web for years to come. That’s what they made me work on for a year in that lab.”

  “And? Did you actually do it? Did you figure it out?”

  “Yes, but I wasn’t allowed to leave the research facility until it was all completed. Don’t get me wrong, they paid me very well for the project, but I have nothing to show for it. I wasn’t allowed to publish any papers on the subject of my research and everything was kept very hush hush.”

  Jonathan looked on as she spoke. He paid careful attention to the words that were coming out of her mouth. In fact, he also paid very careful attention to her mouth as well. She could have been a model for all he knew. That’s how pretty she was, he thought
in his mind. Get a hold of yourself. Stop obsessing.

  “I have to tell you that it’s all very intriguing to me,” Jonathan replied, picking up the menu to look at what else the café offered.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re intrigued,” she said with an air of sarcasm. “Is that why we’re here? Because I intrigue you? Or is it the work that you’re intrigued with?”

  She had caught him off guard. He was never good around women, especially beautiful women. And, it had been so long since he had truly interacted with a beautiful woman like her. He had closed himself off for years after his wife passed. He didn’t quite know what to say, but he just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. “Both.”

  She smiled at that and almost laughed. Did she think he was funny or was she flirting with him? “I’m terrible at this. I’m usually not so clumsy with my words. Maybe I need a drink. Say, how come there’s no alcohol on this menu?”

  “You won’t find alcohol on most of these menus. Remember, this is primarily a Muslim country. If you want alcohol, we would probably have to go to a hookah lounge or a proper restaurant nearby. It’s just, these mainstream cafes won’t carry it here, and if you ask them, you’ll be insulting them.”

  So much was different in Turkey. Something that was so readily available in every corner store in the United States, couldn’t be purchased the same way. “What about bars and clubs? Does Istanbul have any of those?”

  “Of course it does. It’s just different when it comes to cafes here like this on a main boulevard like this one. A fancy restaurant here will have it and so will the hookah lounges, but not the cafes.”

  “Okay, makes sense I suppose,” he said.

  “It’s still readily available here. Just not exactly like it is in the states. Make sense?”

  “Yeah. That makes sense. What do you say we head to a hookah lounge, or possibly a bar? I’m always much better when I have a few drinks.” Of course, that was a lie. The last thing Jonathan needed to do was to have a drink. That was the last thing he ever needed to do.

  “I can’t tonight. How about tomorrow night? Saturday night.”

  “Okay, deal.”

  “How long are you here for?” she asked.

  “Until I can finish the job?”

  “What’s the job exactly then?” she asked, looking at him with a new sense of suspect.

  “I can’t really say exactly.” He was playing hard to get and it was annoying her just enough to be more curious.

  “Well, clearly it has something to do with my research. I have a few guesses.”

  “Yes, of course it has to do something with your research,” he said in response.

  “Okay, well I have to get going. I’ll see you tomorrow night,” she said.

  “See you then.”

  Chapter 7

  Somewhere along the French Riviera, off the coast of Monaco, Boris Medviek’s superyacht cut through the waters at full throttle. The powerful yet silent motors of the vessel raced through international waters, slicing through waves like a hot knife through butter. The sleek audacious piece of machinery vaulted forward with the ease of a gliding bird as it jettisoned its passengers and crew across the sea with careless intent. Boris walked out to the rear of the upper deck with a pair of binoculars and peered with a watchful eye out towards the shore. His constant paranoia since he had taken position of the USB cipher drive had increased at a rampant pace.

  “What do you think of all this, Dmitry?” he asked.

  They were standing in the twilight of the setting sun, and something just didn’t feel right to Boris. The plan felt too good to be true. He had accomplished so much but still felt so far away. He knew that uneasy feeling meant something bad was on the horizon. Anytime he felt that uneasiness on the inside, something was bound to go wrong. He figured it was just a matter of time. He tried to think about the severity of the situation. He tried to balance it all in his mind. He had a vision of what he wanted, but there was so much involved. So many people to appease were standing in his way. It wasn’t about the money any more. It hadn’t been about the money for a long time. It was about the rush of the heist. He wanted to make a name for himself. He wanted his name to be remembered forever.

  Dmitry looked out towards the coastal shores of Monaco. The yellow lights of the city at sunset reflected beautifully in the deep blue ocean waters of the Costa Azzura. “I think you and I have been talking about this day for a long time now,” said Dmitry. “This is going to change everything, you know? The supply of money will be endless. Just imagine what we can do with it,” he said.

  Boris held onto the chromed hand railing at the aft of the ship as he watched the ocean disappearing behind them, leaving a large ripple in its wake. He watched the dancing colors in the sky as the sun dipped behind the ocean in the distance. As they traveled west, he realized just how perfect it all was. He wanted to bottle up that moment in time and savior it forever.

  As he stood there watching the sun and talking to his comrade, Boris rolled up the sleeves to his white linen dress shirt. “Yes, brother, we can do very much with it,” he replied. “But think of the power this will give us. People will bow down to us. No one can stop us. Not even armies. Nothing. Do you realize that?”

  His younger brother Dmitry had envied him for a long time. He had always looked up to his older and smarter brother, and he realized just how much he had accomplished in such a short period of time. But, there was still so much that had to be done. He reveled in the power the cipher drive brought. Without it, he would be crippled, and he would do anything in his power to ensure no one else got their hands on it; anything.

  “What about the doctor? She knows too much,” Dmitry said. His sullen look struck a nerve with Boris. He knew that Dmitry was right. She was the only one who knew how the algorithms worked. She was the one who had devised them and that could replicate them again if she chose to. They needed to eliminate all of the variables in the equation. They couldn’t allow any stone to go unturned.

  “We don’t have to worry about the doctor," She’s not our problem. She doesn’t know about us, and she couldn’t replicate the black box without all the data from the lab. And, now that we all the data, the backups, and the hardware, no one can stand in our way.” Boris clearly wasn’t feeling the same way his brother was. He didn’t think that the doctor could interfere with their plans.

  “But, she’s a threat brother, I assure you. Weren’t you always the one to tell me that we should never underestimate people? We can’t underestimate the doctor. We have to make sure that we tie up all the loose ends. We can’t have extra baggage lying around out there. Even if she couldn’t recreate the cipher drive without another year of work, it’s her research that is the foundation for it. I think she’s a threat brother.”

  “What do you suggest we do?” asked Boris.

  They both stared out over the railing of the ship as they stood side by side, looking off into the distance. They soaked in the beauty of the region as the sun barely set along the horizon. “I think we should send Viktor to take care of our little problem. We can tell him to keep it clean and make it quick.”

  Boris looked at his comrade. He wasn’t quite sure that it was the right decision to do, but he didn’t want to appear weak. “Where is the doctor?” he asked.

  “Istanbul. They tell me she’s in Istanbul.”

  “Da. Okay. Make the call.”

  “Okay, done,” said Dmitry.

  Dmitry walked off, leaving Boris there alone in the growing dark blue hues of the evening sky. The wind rushed through his hair as the vessel continued cutting through the waters while the engine rumbled silently beneath him. He listened to the sounds of the waves as they were sliced by the bow of the ship and he closed his eyes.

  *****

  On a passenger ferry steaming across the Sea of Marmara just south of Istanbul, Turkey, Jonathan Grace checked his watch. It was 5:52pm. He stood in the center of the boat and stretched his head out to check t
he boat’s distance from the shore. Two hours and eight minutes before he met with Dr. Cobalt again. He watched as a thick flock of seagulls tracked the ferry as it glided its way across the shimmering ancient body of water. The thick black chain-link that separated the mid-section of the ferry from the water held back the troves of passengers waiting to disembark at their destinations.

  After a day of exploring and seeing the sights of Istanbul, he was relieved to make more progress with Dr. Cobalt. He was going to get the nerve to ask her about the cipher drive. She had to know something about its whereabouts. He tightly gripped the strap of his nylon backpack that was slung over his shoulder and pulled it closer to his chest. And as the sun kissed the top of a mosque far off in the distance, he prepared himself. He was ready. He knew what he was going to say and how he was going to say it. And all day and night, he couldn’t get that doctor out of his head. He couldn’t get her long slender legs and her striking features out of his mind. It was as if she was haunting him. Her beauty haunted him and gave him a feeling he hadn’t felt in years.

  He slipped his hand into his pocket and felt the silver USB stick Don Cicerone had given him as a reminder of what he had to do. He needed to remember why he was there in the first place. He couldn’t get caught up with this woman just because he thought she was beautiful. But, as he held the silver USB stick between his thumb and his index finger, he couldn’t help but think of her more. Why was he so drawn to her? What was it about her that was so intriguing? Surely, he wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to find out all that he could about that woman. But why?

  He had to think more clearly. He had to pull himself together. And as the boat neared the dock at his destination, he looked out over the side again to take in the sights. The people pushed in towards the exit as the boat docked, and Jonathan disembarked to a sea of taxis waiting along the avenue aside the docks. He hopped into a taxi and gave instructions to the cabbie that Dr. Cobalt had provided. She was at Istanbul University doing a lecture on Applied Mathematics, and he had agreed to meet up with her and drive to an area bar or lounge where they could continue their conversation over drinks.