“Hi George,” Janey answered. “What’s up?”
“Janey!” George responded excitedly. “Mike McKensey wants to meet with us as soon as possible. Can you and Miguel be here by 11?”
“Sure. Do you know what it’s about?”
“No. He wouldn’t say anything over the phone, but I think he has a lead.”
“We’ll be there.”
At 11am, Joyce led Mike McKensey into the Alcatraz conference room where Morris, George, Miguel, Sharon Katell, and Janey were anxiously waiting.
Seeing anticipation on all their faces, Mike decided to lower their expectations a bit.
“Guys, first of all good morning. Miguel and Janey, Sharon has kept me up to date on your progress and on the fact that you’re kind of stuck.
“I don’t have anything solid, but after my interviews of Jack Trageser, Richard Hatch, Brittany Spangler, and a few others, I may have a lead. It will be up to you to see if you can prove that my suspicions are correct.”
Just then, Janey’s phone played an unusual sound.
“Sorry everyone. I hate to interrupt, but I need to look at something.”
She opened her computer and typed furiously for a few moments.
“Again, I’m really sorry about this, but George could you check your email to see if you’ve received a message from the informant and whether he used y3pnzw5mp7uz as his name and email address?”
George looked puzzled. He excused himself and returned with his laptop.
“You’re right. There’s an email here from the informant and he did identify himself as y3pn whatever. How did you know?”
“My bot got a hit.”
Everyone turned towards Janey.
“Your bot got a hit?” Miguel queried, wide-eyed.
“Ah, yeah. A few months ago, I developed a bot to try to spot usage of the name generation, routing, and encryption software used by the killer and by the informant that was sending the messages to George. I just got a hit and I suspected he or she was emailing George.”
George opened the email and read it.
______________________________
From: y3pnzw5mp7uz
Date: January 29, 20XX 05:31 AM PDT
To: George Gray
Subject: Another Bad Guy for you
Greetings George,
I haven’t seen any articles about Marcus Jameson or Unbreakable so I suspect between the Sentinel and the FBI, you either aren’t going to publish anything or the FBI has a lid on you until they wrap up their case. That makes sense to me.
So, in the meantime, just so you’re not lacking for an interesting story to write, I thought I’d give you one more. You should be able to publish this one as soon as you verify my information.
Mary Canter runs playcardswithyourfriends.com. It looks innocuous enough. People sign up and can connect to other members to play a variety of card games online – Cribbage, Hearts, Bridge, and many more, even Go Fish. The site appears to make its money through advertising and Mary Canter has done quite well with it. But as you probably expect based on our history, there’s a darker side.
Based on profiles and playing patterns, the site targets specific individuals who appear to be addicted to risk. Selected players are contacted through the dark web through many layers of security to invite them into illegal illicit gambling activities. Many of these people have lost their life savings just from the gambling alone.
But what’s worse is that Mary Canter has connections into organized crime. The wealthier victims who pursue some of the more morally questionable games, including bets on life or death games, violent sexual games, and outcomes of criminal activities are blackmailed. And they pay.
Attached are files showing how one of my fictitious personas started on her legitimate site, was then recruited onto the dark web, and was finally blackmailed after it pursued some very nasty gambling activities. I have also attached contact information for one of the victims who was ruined.
Once again, this person would like to remain anonymous until Mary Canter and her associates are under arrest, but he will come forward with his story.
Have fun with this one George. I’ll be in touch.
y3pnzw5mp7uz
______________________________
After reading it, George turned to Morris and asked, “Can I show this to everyone? I know you wanted to keep Sharon out of the loop on the previous mogul the informant gave me, but since Janey and Miguel have cleared him of framing Mark, it shouldn’t matter, right?”
“Sorry George. The FBI has asked that no one know about that investigation. You understand the potential repercussions. Can you make a copy of the email and delete those unacceptable references?”
“Sure.”
When he was finished, George connected to the projector in the room and everyone read the redacted email. Then they all turned towards Janey who was so excited she could hardly stay in her seat.
“So Janey,” George began. “It’s great that you have a lead on the informant, but what does that have to do with Mark Johansen?”
“Miguel, could you look over my shoulder?”
Miguel positioned himself next to Janey as everyone else tried to stand behind her.
It wouldn’t have mattered. Janey’s fingers flew across the keyboard as window after window appeared and disappeared. No one, except Miguel, had the faintest idea what was going on.
When she finally stopped, she moved the current window to the side and set another next to it. Miguel whistled.
“Wow!” he exclaimed, clearly excited. “Janey, you’ve done it. Your bot’s info traversed exactly the same path as the one on Mark Jameson’s computer. It’s the same person. Whoever sent George this latest email framed Mark Johansen. Now we just have to find him or her and – oh. There’s still one problem. How did that person get the software that looks almost identical to the others we’ve seen?”
“I have an idea about that too,” Janey replied enigmatically.
“And, as I started to say when I walked in,” Mike McKensey interrupted. I have a pretty good idea who did it and quite frankly, this confirms it for me.”
10
Sharon Katell waited impatiently in the conference room reserved for attorney-client conversations. The guards led Mark into the room and left. Mark looked more relaxed and confident that he ever had, at least since his arrest.
“Mark!” Sharon exclaimed, pulling him close for a hug. “You look, well, great.”
“I feel good,” Mark replied. “Sam and I have had what I call breakthroughs but which she conservatively calls excellent progress. As rare as it is and as surprising as it sounds, I may be one of those rare lucky late-onset schizophrenia patients who can actually be cured.”
“I always thought of you as rare person, Mark,” Sharon joked.
“Well, it looks like I’m not the only one who seems remarkably happy. Good news I hope?”
“I think so. But first I have to ask you a couple of questions about Johatchen, particularly the early days.”
“Sure. What do you want to know?”
“First, keep in mind that my techie skills are limited to email and navigating browsers. I’ve seen VPNs and run anti-virus software on my computers, but I’ve left the details to my IT staff. So be gentle.
“Did Johatchen ever develop a Trojan that would snoop on a system and return confidential information via an untraceable path?”
“Ah, Sharon, how would you know about that?”
“Just tell me about it.”
“Well, as you know, Johatchen provides a suite of security software. Its job is to scan incoming information and protect outgoing information. We are also constantly scanning the system for viruses, Trojans, and malware.
“Most security software identifies and blocks existing, known attacks. Ours does too. But what differentiates us from most of our competitors is that our software looks for anomalies in the system. Not just bac
kground programs or zombies, but things that just aren’t right.
“Because we were hoping our software would spot new, unknown attacks, but had no real way to test it, since obviously, those attacks hadn’t happened yet, we split into two teams. I, along with a small part of our team, developed our own very nasty, virtually untraceable Trojan. We challenged our main development team to find it and remove it. It took quite a while, and quite frankly I had to give some hints, but eventually, they nailed it. It exists in our product today, which, all modesty aside, I think is the best security product suite on the market.”
Sharon nodded, deep in thought.
“Did you guys have any significant financial problems when you first started?”
“Of course. All startups have financial problems. Fortunately, I had Richard. He took care of making sure we had enough operating capital. And he did a great job. We wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for Richard’s astute financial management.
“That confirms my suspicions.”
“Okay. You’ve got me. Spill!”
11
“Mike! To what do I owe the pleasure? Did you finally figure out that Mark isn’t a serial killer? Did you find the real culprit?
“Yes. I think we have. What I don’t understand is how you could have done this to your best friend and business partner. You guys have been together for years.”
“What do you mean, how could I have done this? Aren’t you arresting Marcus Jameson for the murders?”
“Marcus Jameson is under indictment for a number of other crimes. But you should have been aware of that. After all, you’re the one who told George Gray about Jameson’s Trojan.”
“Okay. I admit it. I’m George Gray’s source. We’ve done some great work together. We’ve helped rid the Internet of a hate-mongering conspiracy theorist, a massive human trafficking organization, and a power-hungry corrupt blackmailer who was prepared to manipulate our financial and political system to his own ends. George is also starting to chase down a woman who ensnares people into sordid gambling ventures and then blackmails them. We’ve made the world a much better place. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes. There’s no doubt about it. You’ve done some great things. You’ve had a major impact. If I look at your career, you built a company that helps protect people and their information. You’ve been a huge success by any standard. And, you’ve paid back by going after these scumbags.
“What I don’t get is why you murdered these women and why you tried to frame Mark.”
“What makes you think I’m the murderer?
Mike handed Richard Hatch the search warrant he’d brought with him. Two officers came into the room and handcuffed Richard. Mike read him his rights.
“But no. It wasn’t me. It was Marcus Jameson. He hacked into Mark’s computer and tried to frame him. I’m the good guy in this story!”
Epilogue
“You write your life story by the choices you make. You never know if they have been a mistake.”
- Helen Mirren
1
The FBI raided the offices of Unbreakable Security Systems and Marcus Jameson was arrested and charged with extortion, money laundering, and securities fraud.
Because the Trojan was embedded in all of Unbreakable’s software, the company was enjoined from selling their products. The engineers scrambled to find a way to remove the Trojan from the software, but by the time they succeeded, the company was suffering. As news of their CEO’s arrest spread, and as customer support faltered, customers worldwide began to move to other security products. Within a year, Unbreakable was broken.
George Gray broke the story of Marcus Jameson’s arrest but made no mention of the Trojan. Instead, this story became one more example of corruption by some of the biggest names in high tech. With the subsequent arrest of Mary Canter and FBI seizure of playcardswithyourfriends.com, George became known as a crusader against Internet corruption. That, along with his continuing series on human trafficking made George one of the most well-known and respected journalists in the country. George wasn’t quite prepared to deal with his new-found notoriety.
He dropped by Morris’ office just before lunch as Morris had requested. They took the elevator to the lobby and began what George thought would be one of their standard walks. But when they turned south onto Kearney Street, George knew something was up.
They continued in silence until Morris directed them onto Claude Lane, home to one of San Francisco’s best French restaurants, Café Claude. Morris had brought George here on his first day at the Sentinel and he and Janey had joined Morris and his French wife Martine here for dinner once about a year before.
“Bonjour Monsieur Levinberg!”
“Bonjour Pierre, vous allez bien?” replied Morris in what to George sounded like perfect French.
“Oui. Tres bien, merci. Et vous, ça va?”
“Pas mal. Pas mal du tout.”
“Suivez-moi. Votre table est prête.”
Once seated, Pierre turned to George and, in perfect accent-less English, asked if he’d like anything to drink. George ordered sparking water and Morris nodded. Pierre suggested a bottle which they gladly accepted. He returned moments later and poured each a glass of crystal clear bubbling liquid.
“I’ll be back shortly to take your orders.”
Morris turned to George.
“Your work the last several months has been remarkable, George. You’ve had more earth-shaking stories in this short period than most reporters see in their entire careers. Not only have you helped identify individuals who were using the Internet for criminal purposes, you’re largely responsible for the arrest of two murderers. And to top it off, your series on human trafficking has brought us more readers and has saved countless people trapped in slavery. It really is quite remarkable.”
George couldn’t help blushing at the over-the-top praise.
“I couldn’t have done it without a lot of help. There was the informant, Mike McKensey, Miguel, Janey, and of course you and the staff who helped me with my research.”
“George, I appreciate the modesty, but realistically, none of this would have happened without you. You deserve the credit. And you need to know that upper management, including Sterling Rockwell, has commended you and recommended you for a promotion.”
“A promotion? What kind of promotion?”
“Well George, that’s kind of up to you. The first question I have to ask is do you have any interest in management? If not, do you have any interest in running a desk – having a group of reporters submitting their stories to you which you review, and then decide which get published?”
“Ah, I don’t know Morris. I had a few people working with me on the trafficking series, but a desk? That sounds like a lot of responsibility. Let me think about it.”
With a pause in the conversation, Morris nodded at Pierre who approached to take their order.
They decided to share the Moules a la Provencal, steamed mussels in a hard cider, olive, tomato, saffron stew as an appetizer. George ordered the Casserole de Champignon, which consisted of Farro, trumpet mushroom, kale and broccolini, while Morris chose the Confit de Canard, crispy duck with lentils.
The Moules arrived and Morris decided to change the subject.
“So how’s Janey doing? I understand she and Miguel put in some crazy hours solving the murder case. I mean, Miguel gets paid for this but Janey?”
“Don’t worry Morris. She said it was the most fun she’d had in years. She’s completely enthralled that she applied her skills to catch a serial murderer. She says it’s much more exciting than developing software.”
“Do you think she’d give up developing software?”
“Not likely. It looks like her company is about to go public. I’m sure she’ll be there for a while, but she might have a lot more time to pursue things like this.”
“Well, she’s certainly good at it.”
“She’s good at everything. How’s Martine?�
�
“Actually, she’s in France right now visiting family. I was hoping to go, but things got a bit crazy. She’s due back this weekend.”
They chatted for a few more minutes, finishing their appetizer. Pierre arrived with their main courses and wished them, “Bon continuation!”
Before taking a bite, George looked up at Morris.
“Morris, I really didn’t need to think about it. I love what I do and I just don’t see myself managing people or even leading a team at this point in my career. I hope you’re not too disappointed.”
“Not at all, George. Management was pushing me to make that offer. I want you to keep doing the magic that you do. Plus, I seem to be getting your wife in the bargain. The Sentinel couldn’t do better.
“So, given your decision, I can offer you a promotion to Senior Correspondent. Effective today, you’ve got a pretty substantial raise, and here. This is from Sterling Rockwell in appreciation of the work you’ve done.”
Morris handed George an envelope. George opened it and couldn’t believe his eyes. The check was huge.
“Morris, I don’t know what to say. Thanks!”
“George, you’re more than welcome. But now we should talk about your career a bit.”
“But I thought we’d agreed that I’d be continuing with what I’ve been doing.”
“Of course you will. At least here at the Sentinel. I’m talking about your novels.”
“Morris, you know very well that I’m not working on any novels.”
“George, you should be. I know you struggled with the Michael James story, but with all that’s happened, you have more than enough material for several novels. Don’t you?”
The Misogynist Page 23