“Isn’t that what I just said?” Nick snapped.
She swivelled in the chair and stared at him silently for a moment before turning back to the screen. Her fingers darted over the trackpad as she studied each of the images I had captured. “It’s basically eBay for hitmen.”
“Yeah,” Nick replied, “except here the lowest price wins. And people pay using Bitcoin.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Do you have the site address and login details, Alex?”
“You’re not seriously going to log on, are you?” Nick spluttered. “Talk about playing with fire.”
“Well, I’m not about to use this piece of crap—no offence, Alex. I’ve got a bootable Linux distribution on a DVD. I’ll download Tor and have a look with my machine.”
“I only understood about every third word,” I said. “What’s wrong with my laptop?”
Val sighed. “Apart from the fact your antique is probably riddled with malware, it also uses an unsupported—and that means insecure—operating system. On top of that, it’s as slow as hell. By using a DVD, we can guarantee there aren’t any modifications or hidden software programs installed. It’s like starting from a fresh installation each time.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I don’t think it’s worth the risk,” Nick said.
“How many times have you logged into this site?” Val asked. “I’m willing to bet you’ve never taken the precautions I’ve just suggested.”
“That may be true, but I didn’t have half the British police force and a pack of assassins hunting me at the time. What are you hoping to find out?”
“We won’t know until we look, will we?”
Nick turned away. “Tell me if you discover anything interesting. I’ll leave you geeks to it. If you need me, I’ll be in the lounge.”
Val shrugged. “Suit yourself.” She rose to her feet and opened the top drawer in an oak cabinet. After rummaging around for a few seconds, she triumphantly held up a silver coloured disk marked with illegible black writing. “Here we are.”
She returned to the table, carrying the DVD together with a pen and paper. Turning her attention to my laptop, she copied down the site details.
“Wouldn’t it be quicker to use a USB stick?” I asked.
She laughed. “Not a chance. I don’t want to transfer across whatever nasties are lurking on your hard disk.” When she had finished, she shut down my computer. “Could you turn the router back on, please?”
When I returned, she opened the lid of her machine and pressed the power button. Her finger tapped the side, and a tray popped open. She inserted the DVD then pushed it home. Moments later, the screen displayed two large buttons, Try Ubuntu and Install Ubuntu. She selected the first option.
Several minutes passed as a series of boxes filled with indecipherable text. Occasionally, she clicked a button or typed in some data. Eventually, the display showed a number of icons on a colourful background.
“Right, I’ll set up Tor and then we’re good to go.”
Val’s fingers whirled over the keyboard until the stylised image of the globe signalled installation was complete. She squinted at the paper, carefully transposing the contents to the screen.
“Let’s see if this works,” she said, tapping the return key with a flourish. The bland dialogue box appeared. “So far, so good.”
She entered the login details and clicked the OK button. I held my breath as the egg timer cursor rotated. Several seconds passed, and the display updated. To my surprise, the window displayed the by now familiar layout. The All Jobs tab contained two entries. Both postcodes began with RG.
My face and ears tingled. A wave of dizziness swept over me.
Val sensed my discomfort. She turned sideways and studied me. “Are you alright?”
When I didn’t reply, she placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry. This must bring back bad memories. I should have been more sensitive. If you like, you can sit with John. I’ll give you a shout when I’ve had a poke around.”
“No, it’s okay,” I replied, forcing the words out through numb lips. “I’d rather stay here and watch.”
“Well, if you’re sure.” She opened each of the jobs and studied the information. According to the first description, the contract required the termination of an unsuspecting target. The second indicated that the proposed victim employed protection services. That probably explained the disparity between the bid prices of six thousand and eleven thousand five hundred pounds, respectively.
As before, the tabs titled Your Current Jobs and Your Completed Jobs were empty. Val clicked the final option, Create a Job. Her eyes widened as she took in the meaning. “Does this mean somebody can just order a person’s death at the click of a button?”
I nodded. “That’s what it looks like. Add some funds and select your target. It’s as easy as that.”
“How do people join the site?”
“I don’t know. My brother-in-law sent me the login details. You’d have to ask Nick how he received his.”
“Oh, I intend to.” She sat, staring at the screen. “This is incredible. I’ve heard stories about this sort of thing on the dark web, but I never thought they could be true.”
“People can also place protection jobs. Without Nick’s help, I would definitely be dead.” I neglected to tell her he had originally bid on a termination contract. “How does this change anything, though?”
Val placed a hand on her cheek. “I’m not sure. Let me have a think about it. There must be a way to use this information to get you out of this mess.”
Chapter 43
I followed Val back into the lounge. Nick was sitting on the sofa watching a quiz show. He made a point of keeping his eyes fixed on the screen as we entered.
“I have a few questions,” Val said.
Still, Nick refused to acknowledge us.
“How did you obtain your login to the site?” she asked.
Finally, Nick picked up the remote control and switched off the television. He turned slowly towards Val and studied her for a moment before speaking. “Are you positive you want to get involved in this?”
Her eyes narrowed. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be asking.”
Nick sighed. “Just for the record, I still think it’s a bad idea, but if you’re sure. An old army friend introduced me. The system works on personal recommendation. The person doing the recommending is personally liable. And by that, I don’t mean financially. It was made clear, if something goes wrong, they’ll find themselves on the receiving end of a contract.”
“How do you get the username and password to access the site?”
“After somebody puts forward your name, you create a user account on Bitmessage. The proposer sends your identity to the people who run the system. If they approve your application, they send you the page address and login details.”
Val frowned in concentration as she took in the information. “From what you’ve just said, you have no idea who is behind it all?”
“That’s the whole point. In theory, every member only knows the person who proposed them and anybody they introduced.”
“Have you put forward any candidates?”
Nick scratched the back of his head. “No. I didn’t want to take the risk—apart from which, I don’t trust anyone enough to discuss it with … present company excepted.”
“How do people get the rights to place a job?”
“I’m not sure, but I’d guess it was by the same system. My account doesn’t give me that option.”
A thoughtful expression settled on Val’s face. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke again. “Alex can access the jobs placed by other members, but it looks like he also has the ability to post his own contracts. Why would that be?”
Nick leaned forwards. “That’s a good point, but the bigger question is how his brother-in-law set that up … unless he’s the one behind the site.”
“He runs a web design company,” I said. “If I had
to hazard a guess, I reckon he designed the system. Perhaps somebody employed him to create it.”
“That still doesn’t explain why he sent you the details,” Nick said. “What I don’t understand is how he thought that would help you.”
Thoughts rattled around inside my head as I wracked my brains for answers. Nick made a good point. Why did Jamie send me the information to access the site? He had already warned me that dangerous people were trying to hunt me down. He didn’t need to show me details of the page to convince me. And why give me the option to place a job? Unless …
“Maybe he sent me his own username and password,” I said. “If he was developing the website, he would have to test the process of both placing and accepting contracts.”
“That’s possible,” Val agreed, “but I don’t see how it helps us. You can’t hide forever, Alex. We need to come up with a way of ending this.”
“The protection contract ends at midnight,” Nick said.
“Thanks for the reminder,” she snapped. “We were already aware of that. Just as long as you get your money.”
“I’ve got to pay the bills.”
Val snorted in disgust. “Yeah, don’t worry about anybody else. You might as well leave now. I’m sure we’ll survive for the rest of the day.”
I slumped on the sofa beside Nick. “Will you both please stop arguing? I can only see one solution; I’ll hand myself in and take my chances. I’ll keep you out of it as much as possible. Drop me off somewhere tomorrow morning, and I’ll contact them from my mobile.”
Val folded her arms. “You can’t do that. You have a price on your head, and there’s good evidence the police are involved.”
“The deadline for the contract to kill me is midnight. Perhaps they’ll call it off.”
“He’s got a point,” Nick said.
Val’s gaze alternated between the pair of us. “I’m not sure which is worse; one of you wants to give up, the other doesn’t care. If you decide you want to live past tonight, Alex, I’ll help you out in whatever way I can. But you have to work with me. If you change your mind, you’ll find me in the kitchen.”
She spun on her heel and strode through the doorway.
Nick and I sat side by side, both of us looking shamefaced. Val’s tirade made me feel like a naughty schoolboy. I pushed myself out of the seat.
“Good luck,” Nick muttered.
I followed the sound of clanking pans. At first, I couldn’t see Val. As I moved further into the room, I spotted her crouching beside an open cupboard beneath the sink.
I spoke to her back. “I’m sorry, Val. Of course, I’d rather not give up, but there’s no obvious solution to my problem. The last thing I want is to put you in danger. This is my mess, and I need to sort it out.”
She straightened up, holding a pan in her hand. “Doesn’t it make you angry that somebody has killed your mother and the whole world is accusing you of her murder? And what about the other people who have died? Don’t they deserve justice? If you aren’t going to do it for yourself, you should do it for them.”
“You’re right,” I said, “but where do we start?”
“We can work it out together.” She moved to the table and gestured to a chair. I dropped into a seat opposite her.
“Your brother-in-law told you that you couldn’t trust the police, didn’t he?”
I nodded. “It seems a good bet to assume the two men who paid me a visit are involved.”
“The main problem as I see it is that we can’t tell how far the corruption extends.”
My thoughts turned to the policewoman I had spoken to at the start, Susie Mayhew. Thinking back to our initial conversation, I couldn’t believe she was implicated. But was I prepared to bet my life on it? Perhaps the fact that I found her attractive was clouding my judgement. “There was a sergeant I talked to. My gut feeling is she’s alright.”
“We don’t know how high up this goes. She could be clean, but it’s possible somebody higher up is pulling the strings. A sergeant probably hasn’t got the authority to keep you safe if one of her superiors is involved.”
“What about MI5 or MI6?”
Val smiled. “MI6 are overseas. I guess MI5 is an option. It may be worth looking into.”
“What other alternatives are there?”
“There’s always the press, I suppose. Actually, that might not be a bad idea.”
“How does that help me?” I asked. “I’ll still have to deal with the police at some stage.”
“As I see it, the biggest problem is keeping you safe while you’re in custody. Once the story is out in the open, they would have to take your protection seriously. That gives us the opportunity to prove your innocence.”
“Only if Nick—I mean John—testifies,” I said, “and there doesn’t seem to be much chance of that.”
“We’ll worry about that when the time comes.”
“Can we trust the journalists though? What’s to stop them from turning me in?”
Val steepled her fingers. “From what little I know, they have a code of conduct. If they went running to the police whenever they got wind of something illegal, nobody would ever talk to them, and they’d lose all their sources. It’s definitely another option.”
“How would we make contact?”
“I’m not sure. I’d have to do some research. When a big case like this comes up, I bet they’re swamped with all sorts of calls from cranks and weirdos.”
We both fell silent as we pondered the options.
Eventually, Val pushed her chair back and stood. “I’ll look into it after we’ve eaten. I was only going to put some chicken in a pan and throw in a readymade sauce.”
“Let me do it,” I replied. “One of the benefits of being single is that I’ve learned to cook for myself. I think I can manage.”
“Thanks. The chicken pieces are in the fridge. Fry them then add the contents of the jar. I left it by the cooker. Rice is in the cupboard. Just add water and boil for ten minutes.”
I paused at the door and turned back. She flashed me a cheerful grin. “Don’t worry, Alex. We’ll find a way out of this.”
Chapter 44
The aroma of sweet and sour sauce permeated the kitchen. A sheen of condensation coated the windows. I drained the rice and left it steaming by the sink as I went to fetch the other two. Nick grunted from his position on the sofa where he was still watching the television. Val hunched over the laptop in the dining room.
“Have you come up with anything?” I said to her back.
She gave a slight start. “I was so engrossed I didn’t hear you behind me. Yeah, I’ve got the outline of an idea. Why don’t we talk about it while we eat?”
She lowered the screen, and I followed her through the lounge. The clink of cutlery came through the doorway. Nick had laid the small table for three. He took his seat in silence while Val and I dished out the food.
She smiled as she placed the plates before us and sat. “This is great. You two should come to stay more often.”
Her good humour failed to dislodge the tension between the pair. We ate for a while without speaking.
“What’s the big plan?” I asked.
Val rested her fork on the plate. “It’s like we discussed. We’ll call a newspaper. There’s a fair chance they won’t believe us. If they need proof, we could send a photograph.”
“You can use my camera if you want,” Nick said. They were the first words he had spoken in the last hour.
“Thanks,” Val and I replied in unison.
“What happens after that?” I asked.
“We show them the website and the screenshots you took of the job to kill you,” Val replied. “It would be better still if you talked to them, John. I’m sure they would guarantee your anonymity.”
“Not a chance,” Nick said. “Even if they keep my name out of it, it wouldn’t take much for the people behind the site to put it all together. Then I’ll be the one on the receiving end of a contract.”
>
“But once the press become involved, the whole thing will come crashing down.”
Nick scowled at her. “I’m sorry, but I’m not prepared to risk it.”
“Alright,” I said, keen to change the subject. “What happens after that?”
A frown worked its way onto Val’s forehead. All of a sudden, she looked less certain of herself. “That’s the part that still needs some work. Hopefully we can expose the two corrupt policemen. Until we meet the journalists, I’m not sure how we’d do that.”
“Wait. Did you say meet them?”
“I don’t see any alternative. However this goes down, I’m guessing the press will want to talk to you face to face.”
“Okay,” I said, drawing out the last syllable. “At some stage of all this, I’m still going to have to hand myself in to the police.”
“That’s unavoidable,” Val replied, “but we need to ensure they keep you protected. Once everything is out in the open, they’ll be forced to take your protection seriously.”
“I’m not sure. A lot of things might yet go wrong. What if they arrest me before the story comes out? What if the journalists don’t believe me? There are too many unknowns.”
“Look, Alex, however you dress it up, this is a bad situation. There are risks whatever we do. We can’t change that. All we can do is to try to give you the best chance of getting through this in one piece. The more people who know about what’s going on, the greater your odds are of surviving.”
Her words rattled around inside my skull, but my brain refused to cooperate. I couldn’t hold on to any thought long enough to make sense of it. Maybe I was too close to the whole thing. At least somebody was fighting my corner.
“Alright,” I said. “I’ll go along with whatever you think is best. When are we going to do this?”
“I’ll phone in sick to work tomorrow. We’ll contact them in the morning.”
Nick folded his arms and leaned forwards. “Drive somewhere else with the mobile before dialling the number. You don’t know who could be tracking the call.”
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