by Rahul Badami
“Not you, we. General Singh wants results at any cost. Time is running out. There is a ticking clock running. At the end of it, the database will be wiped out. The hackers want a billion dollars before the time runs out. Our job is to catch the hackers before that.”
“How much time do we have?”
“Thirty-six hours. Half of their deadline is already gone. We spent much of the time utilizing all our men and resources to pinpoint every single thing that could be traced to the Aadhaar cyber attack. This is how we found out about Jin Wang coming to Istanbul.”
“But aren’t we running out of time?”
“If we grab him today, all he has to do is spit out the decryption codes. And we will be done.”
“Sounds good.”
“Here. Sync your stopwatch to this time.” Manohar held out his watch.
Armaan tapped the buttons on his watch. His watch now showed the timer running, counting down to the moment when the database would be wiped out.
1:12:36:47
1:12:36:46
1:12:36:45
A sense of urgency swirled through him.
“Are you sure this Jin Wang is behind it?”
“We’re reasonably sure. All the evidence points to that direction.”
“What do we do now?” Armaan asked.
“Our sources have confirmed the hacker is meeting someone today near the Bosphorus Bridge at eight pm. When he comes, we will be ready for him.”
“Who is he meeting?”
“That’s what we have to find out. There could be a chance this unknown contact could be the puppeteer pulling the strings from the shadows.”
Armaan mulled over it. Hackers did stuff for money. If the hacker was meeting someone right after the cyberattack, there could be no doubt that the person would be the mastermind behind the whole situation. They had to account for this unknown person.
“We need to nab both of them.”
“Right. Here’s what we will do. Once the two men meet at the Bosphorus Bridge, we follow them and using an opportune moment, we will overpower them. A taser in an empty alleyway or a syringe in a crowd; it will depend on the situation. We will then take them to our safe house and then find out what the decryption codes are. Once we obtain the decryption codes, we’ll call Singh, give him the codes and reverse the damage that has been done.”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
“If we need to separate, we will stay in touch via satellite relay. Callsign Caracal.”
At fifteen minutes to eight pm, Manohar and Armaan positioned themselves in a café close to the Bosphorus Bridge from where they could discreetly observe everyone. The Bosphorus Bridge was a massive suspension bridge similar to the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. Bright LED lights flickered a multitude of colours on the tall suspensions that reflected on the dark waters of the river. At one and half kilometres long, it was one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. The bridge was the link between Asia and Europe. Right across the bridge, Armaan could see the European part of Turkey.
The night was cold and the wind whipped through his jacket causing him to flinch as it rippled through his shoulder wound. He hadn’t taken the painkillers since Zahedan. The effects were wearing off and the pain from the wound was starting to get intense. He ignored it. He wanted all his senses to be on the highest alert. Taking a painkiller could lead to dull reflexes. He would rest only after the mission ended. It was what he always told himself.
“There he is.” Manohar had spotted their target.
Armaan glanced sideways. He had been trained never to crane his neck, or act in an overt manner that would expose his intentions. He spotted the hacker. He was in a business suit with a briefcase. Armaan had pictured the hacker to be a bespectacled nerdy geek but the man was dressed like a CEO. Armaan looked at his watch. It was seven-fifty-five pm. Right on time.
The hacker stopped at the end of the bridge and looked up at the tall suspensions of the bridge admiring the sight. A moment later another businessman in a suit with a suitcase approached him. They spoke a few words. Armaan looked closely. His features weren’t distinguishable in the night. The two men walked off the bridge and joined the throng going to the Pasa Limani road right along the shores of the Bosphorus River.
“Let’s move,” Manohar said. They had already paid for their coffee. They got up and made their way to the street. They fell in line a dozen steps behind the hacker and his friend and surreptitiously followed them.
“Where are they going?” Armaan muttered under his breath. Manohar gestured him to slow down. The two men headed to a pier filled with boats. Some tourists were waiting in line to get into a boat.
“Oh, bother.” Manohar said. “I just realized where they are going.”
“Where?”
“Kız Kulesi.” Manohar pointed to a building in the middle of the river.
Armaan squinted his eyes in the distance and immediately recognized the famous landmark. We are screwed! It was the Maiden’s Tower. A three-storied tower set on an islet in the middle of the Bosphorus River. He was familiar with the place. It was accessible only via a boat. The tower had been converted into a bar and restaurant. It was quite famous with tourists who wanted a romantic dinner with a 360° view of the city.
Armaan pressed his lips tight, a frown formed on his face. A boat journey was a disaster for trailing someone. There was no way he could take the boat they would be going on without the two men noticing him. The problem would exacerbate when they would need to eavesdrop them in the restaurant, as well as return on the same boat as theirs. All kinds of flags would pop up in their minds.
“They will know right away we are following them.” Armaan blurted.
CHAPTER 10
Armaan stared at their targets. “What do we do now? We can’t trail them like this.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Manohar winked.
“You have a plan?” Armaan knew Manohar would have already war-gamed the entire scenario and gone over a dozen permutations and combinations.
“Yes. We split up. You go with them in one boat. I’ll arrive later on the next boat and will tail them back to the shore. That way they won’t suspect the same person is following them everywhere.”
“What about eavesdropping over them? The place is quite tiny and there’s hardly any place to hide. Won’t they notice me?”
“Here.” Manohar reached inside his pocket and handed him something. Armaan looked at it. It was a rectangular black device smaller than his fingernail. “It’s a microscopic bug. You can listen in on their conversation.”
Armaan looked at their targets. They had joined the other tourists waiting for a boat to arrive. He focused on their faces. One person had oriental features. He assumed him to be Jin Wang. The other person looked to be an Indian. There was something about him that seemed familiar.
“I’ve seen that man somewhere.” Armaan said. “I just can’t remember who he is.”
“Okay, let me know as soon as you remember. In the meanwhile, we have to do a role-playing game.”
“What do you have in mind?” Armaan asked.
Manohar led him to a tourist shop. There he bought two cameras.
“Take this.” Manohar handed one camera to him. He then picked up a colourful brochure from a set lying in the shop and handed it to Armaan. Armaan looked at the brochure. It displayed a picture of the Maiden’s Tower prominently on it. “Now you look like one of the tourists about to enjoy your trip to the tower.”
Armaan grinned. Manohar had thought of everything.
“I’ll stay out of their sight. You go with them. We will stay in touch via satellite relay.”
“Noted.” Armaan inserted a small earpiece into his ear. The earpiece was extremely small and fit snugly into his ear canal. The earpiece was undetectable and was in fact a secure communication relay that would allow them to communicate to each other from anywhere in the world.
Armaan strode out of the shop. The tar
gets were waiting in a queue for the boat that had just arrived. The boat was modern and huge with KizKulesi-3 written on it. It had an enclosed cabin for the passengers and could seat a dozen tourists. Armaan joined the queue and stepped onto the boat. He saw the two men sit near the cabin entrance. Armaan held his camera in front of his face as if he was clicking pictures and passed by them. It was best he covered his face so that they wouldn’t be able to recognize him later. He took a seat in the rear, away from their line of sight. From the glass windows of the boat cabin, he glanced at the shop he had just come out of. As promised, Manohar had kept out of sight.
Armaan’s eyes riveted on the man next to the Chinese hacker. He racked his brains trying to place the guy. He had probably seen him on some Wanted list. He was pretty sure he had gone over fifty thousand faces on numerous wanted lists over the years. Not just that, he had met thousands of people in various countries during his missions. With the scores of missions he had been on, they had turned into a blur of faces and places. He couldn’t remember anything more about the person.
Armaan shook his head. He would compartmentalize the information for the future. Right now, he had to focus on the mission. Trail the hacker, isolate him and extract him to a safe house. That was the only thing that mattered at the moment. Once the hacker was extracted, he would get the encryption kill codes and be able to end the crisis.
In less than five minutes, the boat reached the Maiden’s Tower. Armaan glanced at the three-storied tower. Up close it was huge. The base was almost hundred feet in diameter. Probably more. The tower tapered up to a circular viewing gallery at the top. All the tourists started to file out. Armaan stayed back and was one of the last persons off the boat as he trailed the culprits into the ground floor restaurant. They may have come here to eat and socialize, he deduced.
But the two men didn’t sit at any of the tables. They went through an arch that led to a winding staircase. They could be going to the bar on the top floor. He surreptitiously followed them in the throng of tourists. He kept an eye on the targets and avoided bumping into some tourists that had stopped on the first storey to take selfies against a wall portrait. The portrait showed a princess in a green gown distraught as she mourned over a handsome dead man. Armaan slowed down and watched the two men take the next flight of stairs on the circular staircase. On the second storey, some more tourists stopped to take in a portrait of a dead princess in a king’s arm as courtiers looked upon them. The two men had moved ahead. They were right on the edge of his vision before they would be blocked by the curving stairs. The crowd thinned a bit and Armaan speeded up his pursuit. On the next landing, Armaan encountered a wall portrait of a warrior on a horse eloping with a princess. One maiden in a tower, so many interpretations, Armaan mused.
But the two men climbed the circular stairs without even a glance around. There were only a handful of tourists left as they entered into the top-floor bar. Armaan looked around as he waited for the two men to take their seats. The place was half-full. The bar was round in shape and took up the entire floor. Its roof was the shape of a shallow cone depicting an ancient map of Turkey. Glass windows in mahogany frames all around displayed a breathtaking view of Istanbul. There were multiple doors out of the bar that led to a circular railing outside where one could observe the river and the city beyond. Armaan pulled out his camera and went to the railing outside. The railing was a little crowded with tourists engrossed in clicking selfies against the picturesque backdrop. The city sprawled out in front of him. He could see numerous landmarks, including the famous Hagia Sophia on the European side of the city. He observed the tourist boat he had been on making its way back to shore. Hopefully, Manohar would take that one.
Armaan pulled out the bug and made his way around the circular railing. He entered the bar through a door closest to where the two men were sitting. He imperceptibly placed his hand on one of the chairs and pressed the bug against the chair. The bug was designed to stick to any object. He smoothly passed by them, weaved his way between the tables and went outside through a door opposite to the one he had entered.
Armaan inhaled the salty moist air on the railing. The boat was making its way to the island again. “Caracal One, everything’s in place.” He whispered in his satellite radio.
“I’m on the way, Two. Switching to bug frequency.” Manohar replied.
Armaan also attuned his receiver to the frequency of the listening device. He heard the voices of the targets above the murmur of the other tourists. They were just discussing the menu. The real agenda of the meeting would come up later. A couple of minutes later he espied Manohar entering the bar. That was his cue to leave. He ignored Manohar as well as the two men and made his way downstairs. He exited from the ground floor restaurant and stepped onto the boat that was about to leave.
Three minutes later Armaan was on shore. He had listened to the conversation as best as he could manage with the boat bobbing up and down and the din of the tourists in the enclosed cabin. There had been very little of note so far. He made his way to a quiet place from where he could observe the pier. He listened intently hoping to catch in on a clue of the person who was with the Chinese hacker.
*
Mastaan liked the Maiden’s Tower. It was one of his favourite places in Istanbul. He especially liked the scenic view of the city it offered. Even the wine and food were decent enough. He glanced about. The place was half-full. He took a table near the staircase so that he could move out at a moment’s notice. He noticed that the Chinese hacker simply followed him oblivious to the beauty of the place. Mastaan knew what was on Jin Wang’s mind. Jin had made it clear when he had contacted Mastaan yesterday.
Mastaan took his chair at one side of the small and round wooden table and gestured Jin to take the opposite chair. The waiter handed them both a menu and left. Tourists thronged about drinking in the unique vista of the tower. He wasn’t worried about them being overheard. Firstly, the place was noisy, and secondly he would be conversing in Mandarin. He doubted that many in Turkey would understand Mandarin.
“Drinks are on me, Jin. You did a magnificent job. What do you prefer?”
“Just beer. And let’s get down to business, Mastaan.” Jin replied.
“Sure, sure.” Mastaan gestured to the waiter. “A Yeni Raki for me, and a Bira for my friend.”
The waiter nodded and in a minute returned with their drinks.
Mastaan waited as the waiter poured their drinks. Jin had contacted him yesterday and asked for money upfront. Mastaan had been incredulous. Jin should have asked for the money from Zontai. Not him. An advance had already been sent to Zontai. This should be Zontai’s problem, not his.
But it had become Mastaan’s problem the moment Jin had contacted him. And Mastaan had agreed because he was curious to know what was on Jin’s mind.
Mastaan watched Jin Wang. Jin seemed nervous and high strung. His eyes darted from side to side at the tourists around him. His brow was visibly moist. Mastaan suddenly understood. This man worked behind the scenes. An anonymous hacker protected by firewalls. Being out in the open was like being a fish out of water.
“Calm down, my friend.”
Jin focused his eyes on him. “Why did you tell me to come to Istanbul? Why didn’t you come to Urumqi?”
The waiter had already laid down their drinks and left. Mastaan quietly sipped his drink ignoring his question. He noted that Jin didn’t touch his beer. He needed to reassure the man first.
“You’ve done great work. I’m quite amazed at the skill with which you carried off the hack. Just brilliant.”
“Thank you, but your words aren’t enough. I need something more tangible. And again, why did you tell me to come here?”
Mastaan nodded. The man was not a fool. He wouldn’t be swayed by praise. “This is for your own safety. After the Aadhaar cyber hack, the Indians have started investigating. I want you to lie low for a while. It’s best you keep away from Urumqi. In fact, don’t even return to China. That�
�s why I called you to Istanbul. I didn’t deem it prudent to come to Urumqi.”
Jin nodded satisfied with the explanation. The nervous demeanour slowly evaporated. He took a sip of the beer. “Find a safe place for me then. If I get caught, it won’t take time for me to rat you out, Mastaan.”
A stab of anger pierced Mastaan’s heart, but he kept his face expressionless. The ungrateful wretch. He was trying to help him out and the man didn’t even have a spine in him. “Of course, Jin.” He replied smoothly.
“Also I want double.”
“Double?”
“Yes, double my money. Our agreement was that I would hack the server and export the data. I did that. Now you tell Zontai that you want the data decrypted. That was not part of our original deal.”
“I took a look at the data you sent and it’s all hashed. That’s not something I can work with. I need it in cleartext.”
Jin took another sip of his beer. “So why am I not being paid for this extra work?”
“You are being compensated adequately for your work.”
“I disagree. It’s taking me time to crack this stuff. Time that I was supposed to use for other lucrative assignments. Now you want me to remove the encryption too. That will cost more.”
Mastaan gazed at Jin. This guy is so arrogant. He wanted to limit the operation to a few people. But it seemed that Jin was fast turning into a liability. Maybe his own people could remove the encryption. They could be trusted to keep their mouths shut.
“Oh, sure. You’ll get your money.”
“Thank you.” The first flicker of a smile revealed itself on Jin’s face. He may not have expected to get his money so easily.
“Will the decryption be hard?”
Jin smirked. “It’s not hard. It just takes time.”
Mastaan nodded to himself. It meant that his team could also do it. It also meant that Jin was no longer needed. It was time to cut all ties with Jin. The hacking was the hardest thing and Jin had proven useful. But now he had overreached himself with his hubris.