by Rahul Badami
The plane lifted off and Armaan watched the city of Zahedan shrink below him. Istanbul would be another mission where he would be away from his team. He hoped that they would be able to work together on a mission soon. Right now, the team was far away.
He wondered how his boys were doing on their mission.
CHAPTER 8
Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, China
“I am missing Armaan.” Roshan Gupta said.
Baldev Bakshi turned away from the panoramic landscape of Urumqi city and smiled at Roshan. “Me too.”
Baldev remembered the moment General Singh had assigned them the mission. The three of them had been in the General’s office at that time. Baldev had struggled to squeeze his massive six-and-a-half feet frame in the chair. The General had immediately dropped the bombshell about the hacking of the Aadhaar database. Baldev couldn’t even digest the news. Who, why and how were the questions that ran through his mind. Singh had explained the modus operandi and immediately commanded them to undertake a mission in China to find out the culprits responsible for hacking the Aadhaar database. They were to retrieve the decryption codes that would allow them to stop the database wipe out.
“Baldev, you will be leading this mission. Any questions?” The General had looked at the three of them.
Baldev had asked, “There’s only the three of us. Where is Armaan?”
“He’s been assigned to another mission.” The General didn’t provide any further details.
Baldev was surprised, but he didn’t question further. The General would have his reasons to send Armaan elsewhere. It also meant that this would be his first mission as a leader. He took a deep breath. “We’ll find the culprits responsible and get the decryption codes.”
“Excellent. The codename for this mission is ‘Operation Dragon Strike.’” The General had declared.
Now as he sat watching the skyline of Urumqi, he felt a pang of loneliness.
It was for the first time in years that Armaan wasn’t by his side. On their numerous missions together, Armaan had always been full of ideas; he always had a Plan B ready. Baldev was good at execution; eliminating threats, destroying terror cells and capturing high value targets. But he had never proactively planned ops like a leader. He had always left that to Armaan.
Now he would have to lead the team in this mission. Apprehension swirled in his gut. He hoped he would be able to accomplish his first mission as a leader successfully. The team depended on his decisions. He was reminded of Armaan’s Rule Number Nine: Leadership is a lonely job. You can consult all you want, but the final decision will be your responsibility. You cannot ask anyone to decide on your behalf. Your actions will affect not just you, but the team as well. You will have to live with the ramifications of every decision you take.
Right now, he didn’t feel like taking any decisions. He didn’t feel like he could ever give an order that could send his boys to their deaths. He wondered how Armaan was able to make quick decisions in the battle zone.
“It would have been wonderful if Armaan was here with us.” Baldev echoed his thoughts.
He glanced at the massive structure next to him. A nine-storied pagoda built in red brick hovered high above him. It was their rendezvous for today. Next to him, Hitesh Vohra was absorbed in his tablet instead of looking at the panoramic sight the park offered.
They were told to visit Hongshan Park where the local contact would meet them near the Zhen Long Ta pagoda. They had reached the pagoda and were now waiting for the contact. Baldev gazed in the distance. The park was located atop a hill and from here he could see the entire skyline of Urumqi with its high-rise buildings. The Urumqi River could be seen in the distance, snaking its way through the district and providing water to the oasis city. It was a picturesque view and many locals and tourists visited this spot to take in the breathtaking view of the sinking sun reflecting its final rays on the glass-walled skyscrapers.
“It’s the first time I am leading the team.” Baldev looked at the throng of people gathered around the pagoda, his eyes roving around searching for their contact. “I keep thinking how Armaan would have handled this mission.”
“I know you will do well.” Roshan encouraged his new leader.
“We will find out soon enough.”
Baldev looked at his watch. It was a few minutes to seven pm. Their contact should come any time now. The place was starting to get busier with a lot of tourists coming in to watch the sunset skyline.
Hitesh, the tech guy on their team finally looked up from his tablet, “I just found out we are two thousand five hundred kilometres from the sea in any direction. This place is the farthest land centre on earth.”
Roshan was intrigued. “Really. So which is the closest water body from here? The Arctic Ocean?
Hitesh smiled. “No, the Bay of Bengal.”
Baldev’s eyes flitted from person to person. The crowd had increased over the last few minutes. Kids were running around their parents, while parents told them not to wander to the edge of the hill; couples sat next to each other enjoying the sights in each other’s company, a group was practising Qigong in unison. His eyes stopped on a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. She had dark red hair that matched her dress and her facial features were a mix of European and oriental; she was what the locals called hunxue or mixed blood.
“Boys…” Baldev whispered. “I think I found our contact.”
Both Roshan and Hitesh looked up at his words and scanned the crowd. “Where?” Roshan asked unable to locate the contact.
“The lady in the red dress. She is looking from side to side, but she isn’t taking in the sights like other tourists. She is looking at the people around her.”
Roshan nodded. “You are right. I wonder when I would be able to accomplish counter-surveillance like you do.”
“Probably after dozens of such missions. It takes observation and experience.”
The lady’s eyes met theirs and she started walking towards them. Baldev looked around to see if anyone else was giving them undue attention, but the other visitors were enjoying themselves. He glanced at the people around the lady. All of them were busy admiring the view. No one gave her a second glance. She was alone, he surmised.
Venera Hoshur stopped in front of them and smiled, “You seem to be from India?” She spoke in Mandarin.
“Shi de.” Baldev replied in fluent accentless Mandarin, answering yes to her question. The team were all experts in multiple languages including Mandarin.
“I have heard the JEE is the hardest exam in the world.”
“I am not sure. Maybe a close second to the Gaokao exam.”
The coded sequence of the conversation completed, Baldev watched as she sat next to them.
“I was told you need access to the Plaza Tower.”
“Yes. I need to know everything about the Plaza Tower.”
The Plaza Tower was where the source computer of the cyber attack was traced to. Baldev and the team had been entrusted to locate the computer and thereby the hackers behind the cyber-attack. They would start their search in the most obvious place, the datacenter. Once they could figure out who the hackers were, they would be able to apprehend them and get the decryption codes to unlock the Aadhaar database.
“The Plaza Tower is the headquarters of Zontai Industries.” Venera explained. “It is one of the most famous corporations in Urumqi. Zontai Industries has stakes in almost every sector here. From oil and gas to banking to real estate, Zontai Industries owns it all. Thousands of employees work in the Plaza Tower. The first few floors are allotted for Zontai Bank. Similarly every few floors are assigned to various different businesses that come under the umbrella of Zontai Industries. There are forty stories in all.”
“How do we get in?” Baldev asked.
She pulled out an ID card. “I can help you with that. I work there in the IT department and have Administrator-level access to most of the areas. I can get you in.”
Baldev s
hook his head, “There is no need to involve yourself. We can get it done. Can you lend me your card for a moment?”
She looked at Baldev for a moment in mild surprise and then passed her card to him. Baldev handed the card over to Hitesh. “Do your magic.”
Hitesh placed it on the tablet screen. Baldev saw the screen detect it and run a scanning program. “It will take a few minutes to clone it.”
“Where is the datacenter located?” Baldev asked.
“On the fortieth floor. It is the topmost floor. Naturally I have access to the place.”
“How big is the datacenter?”
“Pretty big. It takes up the entire floor. There are rows of racks and tons of servers up there.”
“Does the access require fingerprints or iris scans?”
Venera chuckled, “No, it doesn’t. It uses the standard card access. We live far away from mainstream China and our technologies are still five-ten years behind what happens in Beijing and Shanghai.”
“What about three Indians entering the Plaza Tower? Would that be unusual from an appearance point of view?”
Venera waved her hand around at the tourists strolling around the place. “Look around you. Xinjiang has been at the crossroads of people and culture for centuries. From Turkish to Cantonese to South Asian descendants, we have all kinds of ethnicity in here. It’s a proverbial melting pot.”
Baldev turned to Hitesh, “How long will it take us in there?”
“Minimum ten minutes, maximum thirty.” Hitesh said. “The cloning is completed. I will make a copy for each of us.”
Baldev took the ID card from Hitesh and handed it back to her. “Here. Anything else I need to know?”
“You need to make a quick exit. If you trigger an alarm, the security guards would be onto you in a flash. And then you will have half of the Urumqi policemen after you.”
“Thanks for your advice. Stay away. You never met us.”
She nodded and left.
Baldev turned to Hitesh, “Find the schematics of the building and the datacenter. I need to know every inch of that place.”
“I’ll have that ready in a few hours.”
*
A few hours later, Baldev, Roshan and Hitesh were sitting in their hotel room. They had just finished a light dinner. Baldev hadn’t been keen on eating much; the nerves were beginning to take hold. Baldev had decided to INFIL the Plaza Tower first thing in the morning. It meant his nerves would be stretched taut till morning and maybe he wouldn’t even be able to sleep.
“Let’s go over the plan.” Baldev said.
Hitesh looked at his tablet screen. “The Plaza Tower is located in the Central Business District. This is the place from where the cyber attack took place. It has forty floors and is the headquarters of Zontai Industries. Here are the blueprints of the building.” Hitesh attached a mini-projector to the tablet and the far wall lit up magnifying the images that appeared on the tablet screen. “There are three entrances to the building. The main entrance, a service entrance and an executive entrance for the big shots. The basement has two floors for staff parking. The building has six public lifts, two service lifts and one private lift. Guards are stationed at the front entrance, the lobby and one at the entrance to each floor. Since this is a bank, it is normal for customers to visit the first four floors. The rest of the floors are for employees only.”
“What are our entry options?” Baldev asked.
“There are various ways we can get inside. The terrace, ventilation ducts, or one of the three entrances. The terrace is difficult, but not impossible. It is the quickest way to the top floor. There are two buildings adjacent to the Plaza Tower that are taller and we can use a harpoon gun and shimmy our way across the buildings. Ventilation ducts are also a good option, but I eliminated both of them because we have this.” Hitesh flashed the cloned ID cards.
“So you are saying we simply walk in with the ID cards? Then we can use the executive entrance the CEOs and VPs use.”
Hitesh shook his head. “That was the first thing I thought too. The executive entrance lift goes directly to the thirty-ninth floor. But since this is executive, and that means exclusive, the guards at the executive entrance will be familiar with everyone who uses it.”
Baldev frowned as he listened. “And given that this is a bank, the guards at the service entrance will also be wary of unknown strangers using the entrance.”
“Right. That’s why our most logical, yet illogical option is to go via the main entrance in full view of everyone. We can get in as a customer at the main entrance. The guards won’t stop us from entering.”
Baldev nodded. “Sounds good. We enter in as customers, use the lift to the fortieth floor, and use our ID cards to access the server room.”
Hitesh continued, “Now once we enter the datacenter room, I will get into the network and determine which computer was used for the attack. Once we identify that computer, I will remotely access its logs from the datacenter itself and then get the evidence we need as to the culprits behind it.”
“Can we find out the names involved from the logs?”
“Yes. When a person accesses a computer, he has to log in with a unique identity that is his personal username. For most companies, the person’s name is used as the username. All we need is a name, then we have got our hacker. And then we get the decryption codes.”
“Show me the layout of the datacenter.” Baldev said.
Hitesh swiped through the screens till he located it. “Here. It has racks of servers arranged in rows with aisles in between. There is only one entry in the datacenter. There is floor-to-ceiling window on one side that overlooks the road forty floors below.”
“What’s that?” Baldev leaned forward to take a better look. He stared at the schematics for a few seconds. “All right, I’ve figured out our exit plan.”
“Yes. Me too. We get in the datacenter as employees, do our stuff, and exit from the front gate as bank customers.”
CHAPTER 9
A few hours later, Armaan’s plane landed at the newly built Istanbul airport.
The place was huge. Armaan had previously disembarked on the now defunct Ataturk airport, but the new terminal was enormous in comparison to its predecessor. Armaan stepped out of the jet plane that had parked in a private hangar and made his way into the terminal. He saw multiple airline check-in counters with passengers queuing up with their suitcases waiting for their turn. Smartly dressed airline staff smiled at their passengers and wished them a happy journey. He walked past them and glanced at the signs hanging from the ceilings directing him to the exit gate. He strolled through baggage areas, restrooms, monitors displaying flight departures and arrival times, rent-a-car kiosks, duty free shops, lounges, and interminable acres of real estate before he spotted the exit. No wonder, this place was known as the largest terminal in the world.
Once outside, Armaan boarded a cab that took him to the city centre. He watched as the city came into view. The minarets and domes of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul’s most famous landmark donned the horizon. The massive structure never failed to impress Armaan. Originally constructed as a church, it was converted into a mosque in 1453 AD, and later into a museum in 1935 AD. Istanbul was a unique city in the sense that it lay right on the border between Asia and Europe with half of the city in Asia and the other half in Europe.
It was late afternoon and the sun was shimmering its reflection over the river. People milled about engrossed in their daily routine in the most populous city of Europe. The cab passed the Grand Bazaar and he could hear the shouts of vendors peddling their wares. The crowd of people was overflowing by the time the cab reached the city centre. A few moments later Armaan arrived at his destination; a non-descript building that was in reality a safe house where he was supposed to meet Manohar.
The thought of Manohar Dubey brought a smile to his face. He was five years his senior and had mentored him during his early years in the DIA. He had taught Armaan field operations stuff that w
asn’t mentioned in the training manual. His advice had always been sound and Armaan looked forward to meeting him.
A few minutes later, he was sitting in front of Manohar. It had been more than a year since they had last met. Their work led them to unexpected places and they rarely crossed paths if they were on a mission. This was a happy coincidence. After a few minutes of casual talk, they came down to business.
Manohar said, “The Aadhaar database was breached by cyber hackers. The database has been locked and the hackers are demanding a billion dollars in exchange for the decryption codes that will unlock the database. Within two days, the timer will run out and the database will be erased. If that happens, we will lose one of our most vital financial institutions. And it will have a cascading effect on our economy. And that is why our success on this mission is of utmost importance.”
Armaan’s eyes widened as he took in the information. The gall of these hackers. Did they really think they could get away with this? He would hunt them down and serve them justice. “Do we know who is behind this? If we find the culprits, we would be able to restore the database.”
“That’s what we are doing. We have been tracking a Chinese hacker by the name of Jin Wang. He is an infamous blackhat hacker suspected to be responsible for many high-profile cyberattacks. We believe he was behind the WannaCry Ransomware attack in 2017. Even the Chinese police are on the lookout for him. If there is anyone who could attempt an attack on the Aadhaar database with this level of sophistication, it has to be him. He’s in Istanbul at the moment.”
“Do you know where in Istanbul he is?”
“Yes, but our Government can’t do anything officially till we have concrete proof he is involved.” Manohar smiled, “And this is where we come into play.”
“You want me to force it out of him?”