by Stuart Woods
“I look forward to personally meeting a large number of you in every corner of our country: urban, suburban, and rural.
“Finally, I have another announcement. A committee of twenty of our nation’s most prominent business, technology, and financial leaders have each contributed ten million dollars to my political action committee, which will allow me to wage the strongest possible campaign against my Democratic and Republican opponents. The list of those contributors is being released to the press as I speak.
“Thank you for your attention and, I hope, your support.”
* * *
• • •
BOB TURNED HIS ATTENTION to his computer monitors and found that whatever task they had undertaken had been completed while he slept. What the task was baffled him.
He got out of bed, showered, shaved, and dressed, then returned to his monitors. When he was satisfied that he had seen what he was looking for, he went downstairs to Stone Barrington’s office.
* * *
• • •
“YOU LOOK TIRED, Bob,” Stone said as Joan brought them coffee. “I hope you didn’t work all night.”
“No, I got a few hours of sleep, but my computers did not. I believe the Thomas installation completed its task of moving money into their own accounts and out into the accounts of their contributors, then out again into the Thomas PAC.”
“You believe that is what happened?”
“I still cannot prove my theory to the extent of duplicating it, but I feel stronger than ever that the theory is accurate. But there is something else very peculiar going on.”
Stone leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee. “Go ahead, tell me.”
“I’ve explained that I think the funds are being stolen from accounts around the world, then run through the Thomas systems.”
“Yes, I understand that,” Stone said.
“What’s peculiar is that the funds do not seem to exist before entering that system.”
Stone’s brow wrinkled. “If the funds don’t exist, then how can they be transferred, then spent?”
“I’ve misstated my theory,” Bob said. “What I mean is that the transaction is somehow wiped clean at the origination point.”
“How is that possible?”
“It’s ingenious, but not impossible. I believe they’re withdrawing huge sums of money, then erasing that fact from the accounts they took it from.”
“That’s a frightening supposition,” Stone said.
“It certainly scared me shitless,” Bob replied. “I went over all the transmissions that I recorded, and I have concluded that it really happened.”
“Are you going to be able to learn where the money was taken from?”
“I can only deduce,” Bob said.
“And what do you deduce?”
“There is a central banking account that receives and disburses funds from virtually every bank in the world. If I’m wiring you money, I first send an authorization to my bank. They verify the authorization, then they wire it to the central account, where it remains until it is withdrawn and wired to other accounts. First, your bank has to prove to them that the transfer is properly authorized, then the receiving bank makes an application to the central account to collect the funds, after having identified themselves properly, and the funds are sent to them. Those banks could wire the funds to other accounts in other banks, perhaps many of them.”
“So, where in this process do you think they are diverting the funds?”
“They aren’t diverting the funds, they’re just following the rules, but when the transaction is complete, they’re erasing all trace of it having happened and that they’ve digitally restored the funds.”
“How can they do that?” Stone asked.
“If I could tell you that, I would be living in the lap of luxury on a private island somewhere warm.”
“So how can we prove this?”
“Unless you can wring a confession from the people who wrote the code, it can’t be proven, only deduced.”
“Will you explain your theory to the Treasury and the FBI?”
“If I do, I’ll be arrested for cyber crimes.”
“Yes,” Stone said, “there is that.”
“I think it’s time for me to get out of town,” Bob said.
44
Stone and Dino met at P. J. Clarke’s for dinner.
Dino looked at him closely. “All right,” he said, “let’s have it.”
“Have what?”
“Whatever you’re going to ask me for.”
“You think that’s what this dinner is about?” Stone asked, sounding hurt.
“That’s what I think. Only this time, it’s bigger. It has to do with the Tommassini files, doesn’t it?”
“Before I tell you about this and ask your advice, I need to know that what I’m about to tell you stays between us.”
“Advice? That’s all you want?”
“That and your solemn promise that it stops here.”
“My ‘solemn promise’? Won’t a carefree promise do?”
“I want you to swear on whatever Catholic cops swear on—your mother’s grave or something.”
“How about my mother’s mortal soul?” Dino asked. “Will that do?”
“It would, if you had title to it, but I believe it’s in other hands.”
“You have my word,” Dino said. “That used to be good enough for you.”
“It still is. The reason I’m being so careful is that spreading this information puts another party in jeopardy.”
“Which other party?”
“A mutual acquaintance.”
“Well, that narrows it down to a few hundred people we both know.”
“I’m not going to mention his name, but you’ll know who I’m talking about.”
“So I won’t need to go through my Rolleiflex?”
“You mean Rolodex. A Rolleiflex is a camera.”
“No shit. You think I didn’t know that?”
“What, did you say Rolleiflex just to annoy me?”
“I would have, if I’d thought of it. C’mon, spit it out.”
“Our mutual acquaintance gained entrance into some offices on the ground floor of the H. Thomas building and discovered a huge computer installation that is unconnected to the banking firm.”
“So what are the Thomases doing with that? Sending out their Christmas cards?”
“No, they’re stealing tens of millions of dollars from the global banking industry and laundering it through Hank’s PAC.”
“From the global banking industry?”
“Yes.”
“The whole thing?”
“Sort of.” Stone took him, step by step, through Bob Cantor’s theory.
“That sounds impossible,” Dino said.
“It’s not impossible,” Stone replied. “Our acquaintance got into their system and copied what they were doing.”
“So, he can prove this?”
“That’s the impossible part,” Stone said. “He says it can only be deduced from the available evidence, not definitively proved. They’ve covered their tracks too well.”
“Well, that’s just swell. You’re reporting a crime of earth-shaking proportions, but you can’t prove they did it, or even that they thought about doing it.”
“What can be proved is that a list of twenty contributors received ten million dollars each, then contributed it to Hank’s PAC.”
Dino thought about that. “Why is it illegal for them to receive ten million dollars and then give it to a PAC?”
“It’s illegal if the reimbursements were stolen money.”
“But you can’t prove it was stolen.”
“No, but I’ll bet the FBI’s or the NSA’s computer geeks could figure it out, using t
he data our acquaintance copied.”
“And where is the data?”
“In a guest bedroom at my house.”
“Is Bob living in your house?”
“He was, sort of, for a while. He left all his equipment there.”
“So the NSA or some government agency should just send somebody over there to take a look at it?”
“I guess that’s how it has to start. The trouble is, if the feds get involved, it could take them years to get to the point where they could get an indictment, and by the time they fully understand what happened, Hank could be President of the United States, and those agencies would be working for him.”
“Somehow, that sounds familiar.”
“Well, yes.”
“Maybe we should start with something a little more modest, say tax evasion.”
“The money’s not going through Hank’s hands. It goes to the PAC, which doesn’t pay taxes.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the donors who received the funds have to pay taxes on them, right?”
“I see your point.”
“Then I’m sure the IRS would be interested in examining their records.”
“But, if they paid the taxes, we’re back where we started,” Stone pointed out.
“Yeah, but they’re not going to have done that.”
“Why not?”
“Well,” Dino said. “It sounds as though Hank persuaded them to contribute, because it wouldn’t actually cost them anything. It’s not their money in the first place.”
“You think they’re dumb enough to run ten mil through their bank accounts and not worry about the taxes?”
“I think at least some of them might just kind of overlook paying taxes,” Dino said.
“I think you could be right,” Stone said, “but the IRS would have to go through a whole investigation, and that would still eat up all the time before the election.”
“Here’s a thought,” Dino said. “We could forget about the criminal charges and just crucify them and Hank.”
“I trust you’re not speaking literally.”
“No, but the next best thing: we can crucify them in the New York Times, which is already on the case, right?”
Stone’s eyebrows went up. “This is why I came to you, Dino. I knew you’d come up with something sneaky, but effective.”
“Isn’t the Times waiting for something like this to come up?”
“Yes, they are, but they’re going to want proof, too.”
“Well, sure, but maybe Bob’s computers would be enough to convince them. After all, we don’t need proof beyond a reasonable doubt, just enough to get this on the front page of the Times. They’ve had a lot of experience with cooking people’s gooses.”
“They have,” Stone said. “And once they’ve exposed the scheme, the feds can step in and investigate, take as long as they like.”
“And Hank’s campaign sinks like a huge stone,” Dino said.
“Good,” Stone said. “I think I can choke down a steak now. I’ll call the Times people in the morning.”
“You’d better have Bob there to explain it to them,” Dino said.
“Ah, well . . .”
“You don’t want Bob there?”
“Bob has, uh, taken a vacation.”
“I believe the proper term is ‘taken a powder,’” Dino said.
“I’m afraid you’re right.”
45
Scott, Jeremy, and Jamie emerged into Stone’s house through the tunnel entrance, and they had another fellow with them who appeared to be a teenager.
“This is Huey Horowitz,” Scott said to Stone. “Huey is our director of digital services.”
Stone shook the young man’s hand, which felt more like that of a young girl. “Hello, Huey.” He refrained from asking his age.
“I’m nineteen,” Huey said. “I graduated from high school when I was eleven and from MIT, with a master’s, when I was fifteen.”
“Congratulations on both,” Stone said.
“You wanted me to look at some computers?”
“Come with me, all of you,” Stone said. He took them up to the third floor, to the guest room where Bob had been working. “All this was bought and installed by an acquaintance of mine,” Stone said, “who is probably almost as smart as Huey.”
That raised a giggle from Huey. “Do you have any idea what he was working on?”
“Before I tell you that,” Stone said, “I need a promise from each of you that his name will never be mentioned in the Times, nor will any references be made that might connect him to this work.”
“Is whatever he did legal?” Jeremy asked.
“Let’s just say that a court would have to determine that,” Stone replied.
“So it’s illegal?”
“I didn’t say that, and anyway, it’s irrelevant.”
“Okay, we agree to your terms,” Jeremy said.
“I’m all in,” Huey said. “What was he working on?”
“He discovered an enormous computer installation on the ground floor of the H. Thomas building downtown, what he called a semi-supercomputer, made up of fifty PCs all connected.”
“Cool,” Huey said.
“Stone,” Jamie interjected, “this is Bob, right? Not your Labrador retriever, the geek?”
“We can call him that for the sake of convenience,” Stone said.
“Why isn’t Bob here to tell us about this?” Scott asked.
“He felt a strong urge to be somewhere else,” Stone explained.
“Ah.”
Stone recited what Bob had told him and what he had repeated to Dino.
“Holy shit,” Jeremy said when Stone was done.
“I’ll say,” Huey echoed. “But we can’t prove where the money came from.”
“Why not?” Scott asked.
“Because the code these people wrote erased all trace of itself after the funds had been transferred.”
“Huey,” Jeremy said, “can you backtrack through all this and see if you can discover the source of the funds? We’ll give you whatever support you may need.”
“Well, one guy discovered this, so I can backtrack through the recordings he made and understand it, but I doubt very much if I’m going to be able to nail the source of the money.”
“As Bob likes to say, it can’t be proven,” Stone said, “but it can be deduced from the available information.”
“He’s right, I think,” Huey replied. “I’m going to need some time alone with this installation.”
“How much time?” Jeremy asked.
“All the time I need,” said Huey. He sat down at Bob’s desk. “I’ll get back to you.”
Dismissed, they all went down to Stone’s study.
Jeremy turned to Scott. “Can you write about this in a way that will allow us to expose these people, without claiming that we can prove it?”
“Jeremy,” Jamie interjected. “We write stories like that every day. Anyway, I’ll be doing the writing.”
“She’s right,” Scott said. “I’ll confine myself to editing and we’ll get a lawyer on it, too, so we’re sure of not stepping over a line.”
Huey appeared at the study door.
“Already?” Jeremy asked.
“I’m already finished,” Huey said, “and Bob was right about what he said. He’s set himself up as a system administrator of that system, but I don’t have the passwords. They’re going to be at least twenty digits and symbols, so I can’t crack them quickly. Can you get in touch with Bob, Stone, and ask him for them?”
“I’ll try,” Stone said. “Be right back.” He went down to his office and found the throwaway cell phone Bob had given him, then dialed Bob’s ow
n throwaway. To his surprise, Bob answered. “Speak your name,” he said.
“The Times people are here, and they brought a kid named Huey with them.”
“Huey Horowitz?” Bob asked.
“How’d you know?”
“The kid is famous, a prodigy.”
“He wants your sysop passwords.”
“Has he been into the bedroom where I was working?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a safe in the closet, like a hotel safe. The passwords are in there, and the safe combination is 7070.”
“Good. You okay?”
“I’m enjoying myself.”
“Huey may want to speak with you.”
“It would be an honor to hear from him.”
“I’ll give him this number.”
“Good. If I don’t answer immediately tell him to leave a message with a secure number I can use.”
“Will do.” Stone went back to the study and handed Huey a slip of paper and his throwaway cell. “There’s a safe in the closet. This is the combination. The passwords are in the safe. You can call Bob on this cell phone, but not on your own phone or one in my house or at the Times.”
“Cool,” Huey said, then went back upstairs.
“Bob knows who Huey is,” Stone said to the group, “and he’s impressed.”
“We’ve been talking,” Jeremy said. “I’m willing to print the story with what we know now, if we absolutely have to, but I want Huey to have a shot at determining the source of the funds first.”
“Actually,” Stone said, “Bob deduced the source: it’s this central clearinghouse. He just doesn’t know where the instructions came from.”
“Whatever,” Jeremy said. “I want Huey to have a shot.”
“Well, now we have Huey and Bob working together,” Stone replied. “That’s got to be a good thing.”
They had lunch and sent a ham and cheese sandwich up to Huey, since, apparently, that was all he ate.
* * *
• • •
LATE IN THE AFTERNOON, Huey came in and flopped down on a sofa in the study. “Okay, Bob and I have figured it out.”
“Tell us,” Jeremy said.
“The reason we can’t backtrack to the origin of the instructions to the central banking office is simple, really.”
