by Rahul Badami
Baldev said, “Uh, we have an appointment with Mr. Liu. Thank you for asking.”
He moved forward past the smiling employee. Roshan and Hitesh took their cue and followed Baldev to the elevators. Roshan didn’t look back. He didn’t want to appear suspicious. They kept walking till they reached the elevators.
Once they reached the elevators, Roshan stole a glance back. The lady was speaking with another customer who had just entered the bank. Baldev exhaled watching the scene.
“That was close.”
Roshan looked at him and whispered. “Who is Mr. Liu?”
Baldev shrugged. “Who knows? It’s a common Chinese name. There’s bound to be a Liu in the building.”
Half a dozen people were already waiting at the elevator. When the elevator came, they squeezed in the back. Most of the people in the elevator were customers. At each floor, some of the customers filed out. At the fourth floor, the elevator emptied and they were the only ones left.
Roshan’s heart thudded in his chest. The anxiety and excitement of the mission was slowly taking over him, alerting his senses. He looked at Hitesh. Hitesh’s face had turned pale. He wasn’t taking it well. Baldev leaned towards him and whispered, “Focus on why you are on the mission; not on what could happen.”
Hitesh nodded and gave a small smile. He then took his laptop bag and rummaged through it, focusing back on his role in the op. He was about to pull out the tablet, but Baldev placed his hand on Hitesh’s arm.
“Not in here. Later.”
Hitesh zipped up the bag and slung it over his back. Roshan whispered to Baldev, “What if there are guards at the entrance to the server room?”
“Then we will just have to make sure they keep their mouths shut.”
Roshan looked at the floor counter. They were already at the thirtieth floor. With each passing floor, his heart-rate kept spiking up. As the lift approached the fortieth floor, he felt his heart was about to explode. He flexed his fingers readying himself for imminent combat.
The lift dinged loudly as it stopped on the fortieth floor. Baldev cursed. “If there are any guards, they will know we are here. Roshan put on your ID card. Hitesh and I will also do the same. We will scoot directly to the datacenter.”
They hurriedly pulled out the ID cards from their pocket and donned it prominently around their neck. A moment later, the lift door swung slowly open. Baldev walked out followed by Hitesh and Roshan. Roshan took in his surroundings. They were in a broad corridor. Right in front of them was a broad steel door with a prominent display that said: Authorised Personnel only. Their destination was here.
The datacenter.
But it wasn’t the surroundings he first noticed. To the right of them, fifteen feet away sat a guard behind a desk. The guard looked up at them as they came out of the lift.
He would be a problem.
Baldev immediately took control of the situation. “What do you mean the server is down?” He yelled at Roshan and Hitesh. “Every second is critical. I want everything fixed ASAP.”
“Sir.” The guard said.
The team ignored the guard and strode rapidly to the door of the datacenter.
“Sir, you need to sign here before you enter.” The guard waved a book at them.
Baldev continued yelling, “I am losing millions here. I want a solution right now.”
“Yes sir.” Roshan placed his card on the access panel. The access panel glowed green. Almost there.
“Stop.” The guard got up from his desk and was making his way towards them.
Got to hurry. Roshan pushed the door and almost sprinted inside. They had to get inside before the guard could get wise to their deception. Apparently, Baldev and Hitesh had the same thought. The two of them hurried after him and Baldev pushed the door shut on the bewildered guard’s face.
“This place is dark. Where are the lights?” Roshan groped around in the semi-darkness. The place was sparsely illuminated by the light coming from the tinted full-length glass windows at one end of the large room. He found the switch and the place was bathed in bright white light.
“Alright, time to get busy–” Baldev was about to say more when the door made a metallic click and then swung open.
The guard was in the doorway, the notebook in his hand. Roshan immediately realized their oversight. They had closed the door but the guard could just swipe his own card to reopen it. The guard glanced at them for a moment and then his eyes widened. “You are not from IT.”
Before the three of them could do anything, the guard dropped his baton and bolted. A few seconds later, a deafening siren pierced Roshan’s eardrum. He raced out to the doorway. He saw the guard step away from the desk and flee towards the fire exit.
The guard had made a split second decision when he realized they were outsiders. He’d known it would be three against one fight and done the smart thing. He had hit the alarm on his desk and fled away knowing that other guards would be able to provide support.
Hitesh came to his side. “We need to escape.”
“No, we don’t.” Baldev surveyed the deserted corridor. “Roshan, hold the door open.”
Roshan held the steel door of the datacenter open wondering what Baldev was about to do. Baldev gripped the access panel in his massive palm and gave a sharp tug. The access panel ripped off its socket, and wires lay dangling. Baldev took out a knife and sliced through the wires. Now no one could access the datacenter from the outside.
Baldev chucked the access panel card reader inside the datacenter. “Now, no one will be able to come inside. This should give us some time.”
“No.” Hitesh shook his head. “We will get trapped in there.”
Baldev grabbed Hitesh’s hand and pulled him inside the datacenter. “Come. We have a mission to complete.”
Roshan picked up the guard’s fallen baton and slammed the metal door shut behind him. Now they would have some privacy.
Roshan looked at the datacenter. It was huge. Rows upon rows of servers were racked side by side. He glanced up and saw a camera next to the door that tracked people who entered and exited the room. He reached up and smashed the camera with the baton. Now, no one would know why they were here. He looked around to see if there were any other cameras. There were none. The job done, he walked down to the aisle where Baldev and Hitesh sat huddled together between one of the rows. Hitesh had his tablet out and had connected it to one of the servers. Roshan looked at the tablet screen. It was running some kind of program.
Hitesh glanced at him. “I now have access to the network logs. It will take me a few minutes to locate the computer that accessed the Aadhaar server.”
Roshan looked at the progress bar. It was at thirty-five percent. He spoke to Baldev. “They will soon be here. With the access panel destroyed, I’m hoping it should give us some time.”
Baldev nodded. “That should hold them for a few minutes. Hitesh will find the target computer by then. I have a plan, but first we’ll do a little reconnaissance.” He stood up. “I’ll check out the southern end. You check out the northern end.”
Roshan looked around as he made his way through the rows of servers. He evaluated their possibilities. By the time Hitesh finished his work, there would be a welcome party ready to apprehend them outside the datacenter. That eliminated the option of going the same way they had come through. It meant that they had to look for an unconventional exit from the room. He scanned the room. There were concrete walls on three sides and a floor to ceiling glass wall on the fourth side. He sprinted towards the glass and peered beyond. He could see the cars and pedestrians on the road far below. They had brought rope, but he wasn’t sure if it would be long enough for the height they were on to rappel down. Moreover, they would be in full sight of everyone. He looked around the room searching for ways to get out. It was a concrete jail. No way to escape. A sick feeling of dread filled him.
We are screwed.
A loud thud. It unnerved him and he jolted out of his reverie. Another thud. Roshan’s eyes
shot up to the door of the datacenter. They are here. The men outside had discovered the broken access panel and were now trying to force their way in. He raced to where Hitesh was sitting. Baldev was already with him giving him instructions.
“What do you mean you can’t find the computer that did the cyberattack?”
The pounding on the door was getting louder.
Hitesh’s eyes were frantic as he typed rapidly on the tablet. “I found the computer, but it’s not on the network.”
“What do you mean it’s not on the network?”
“It means it’s not online. The asset inventory confirms the computer exists, but a scan of the computers connected to the network gateway doesn’t show this particular computer.”
Baldev rolled his eyes. “Speak in English.”
“The computer appears to be shut down. It was last online some six hours ago. It means I cannot access the hacking details unless I find the computer in this building and manually turn it on. There are forty floors in this building and eight thousand computers.”
“You mean we have no chance of finding this computer?”
Hitesh looked at the door. The pounding was now relentless, echoing loudly within the closed room. “No, and we have run out of time.”
CHAPTER 16
Wei Chen slammed his fist on the emergency button.
An ear-splitting alarm screeched through the floor and the guards around him looked up startled. That should alert them. He knew the training would take over and they would immediately respond to the emergency in a few seconds. He pressed a button next to a speakerphone in front of him and spoke.
“Fortieth floor. Three hostiles. Move it.”
His voice echoed in the large room they were in. Wei was the Security-in-Chief for the Plaza Tower. His office was located in the basement. A dozen men immediately made for the door. Wei looked back at the screen that displayed the feed from multiple cameras. He hit rewind on the video and took a look again. The three employees had ignored the security guard and entered into the datacenter. The guard had opened the datacenter and then ran off. He had been nonplussed till he saw the guard hit the alarm button for the floor. It was only when he saw the alert button blink on his screen that he realized the three men weren’t employees but imposters. He had immediately sounded the alarm for his team and addressed his men.
Something felt off about the whole episode. Wei decided to re-watch the feed. It didn’t take him long to figure it out. He watched in horror as one of the strangers swiped an ID card on the access panel to the datacenter and the door opened. The datacenter required the highest level of access, but the intruders had no problem breaching it. Two of them went inside while the third destroyed the access panel. As he watched the door close, Wei realized the significance of what he had just seen. The datacenter! It contained all the information of Zontai Industries. Real estate deals, list of their clients, future projects and even the bank’s data worth millions. There was no doubt. The thieves were here to steal their customers’ account details. This was huge. I have to inform the boss.
Wei’s hands trembled as he dialled Zontai’s number. He wasn’t sure how Zontai would take the news.
Zontai picked up immediately. “Yes?”
“Sir, Wei here. We just had a breach in HQ. Three intruders got into our datacenter.”
“What?”
“Yes, sir, my team are on the way to catch them. They are in the datacenter and cannot escape.”
“Wait. You said three?”
“Yes sir,” Wei couldn’t understand why the number of intruders would be the first point Zontai would pick on. He had assumed that his boss would give him an earful for failing to protect the security of the building. “I’ll be calling the police after this.”
There was a long silence on the line.
“Sir…” Wei wondered if the line had gone dead.
“No.” Zontai’s tone was brusque. “Don’t call the police. Catch them and keep them incarcerated. I want to meet them.”
“But sir–”
“Do as I say. Our reputation is on the line. I don’t want anyone to know that Zontai Industries had a breach, especially the newsmakers or the police. Under no circumstances will you or your team talk about this to anyone. We need to keep this incident under wraps. Make sure you catch these men at any cost. Isolate them in the datacenter. They cannot be allowed out of the datacenter where other employees may see them. I don’t want a public spectacle in front of others. Call me as soon as you have them in custody.”
“Yes sir.”
Wei put down the phone with a confused look on his face. This was quite different from the standard procedure they’d developed. He could understand keeping quiet about the incident, but he couldn’t understand why Zontai wanted to personally meet the intruders. It was bewildering.
Wei couldn’t believe that a busy man like Zontai would bother to meet the offenders. There had to be something more to the story. He shrugged. He focused his energies on Zontai’s directive. He couldn’t fail. He glanced back at the CCTV feed. His men had reached the door and were making futile attempts to open the locked entrance. He made a wry face. The door was solid steel. There was no way his men could bludgeon their way in.
Wei walked over to a row of lockers and used a key to open his personal locker. Inside was a manual override key to the datacenter. Only three people in the building were aware of the manual override.
Five minutes later Wei reached the top floor. He saw his men making vain attempts to open the door. His second-in-command rushed towards him.
“Sir, we are unable to open the door. We may need a blowtorch to cut through the steel.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Wei flashed the manual override key.
“Oh!” The second-in-command’s eyes widened. “But I don’t understand, sir. How could they think of entering, when they know this is the sole entry in the datacenter? They have trapped themselves.”
Wei shrugged. “They are fools. Simple as that.”
Wei prised open a hidden panel and activated the manual override. A sharp click sounded and the door was unlocked. He pulled out the gun from his holster and addressed his men.
“Arms at the ready. After me.” Wei pushed open the door in a swift motion and dove in and rolled behind one of the racks, sweeping his gun in a wide arc looking for the target. It was quiet inside the datacenter. Only the dull humming of the air-conditioning unit spoke to him. He stood up and peered around the rack. The aisle was empty. He dashed to the next row of servers and peered around.
He found something odd.
Wei had been looking for the thieves. But it was not the thieves he saw. He now understood why the intruders hadn’t made a break for it when he entered the datacenter. The intruders were missing. And he was staring at where they had escaped from. He walked forward and looked at an open dark square in the ceiling.
They have escaped through the ventilation shaft!
The door to the ventilation shaft was lying on the floor. He looked at the dark recess of the shaft. It was wide enough for a man to pass through. His team followed behind him, all of them stared up at the ceiling.
“Where does this go?” Wei demanded to know.
One of the men replied in a hesitant voice. “Sir, it leads to the terrace.”
The terrace! The intruders might reach the terrace, but then what? It was impossible to escape from there. There was only one door to the terrace and the intruders couldn’t open it from the outside. The buildings around the Plaza Tower were separated by a wide road on all sides. If he was quick, the intruders would soon be caught.
“You two,” Wei motioned to two of his men. “One of you, stay here. The other will climb into the duct. The rest of you, follow me to the terrace.”
He watched as the men hoisted the guy to the duct entrance in the ceiling. The guy peered into the duct and gave a going-ahead signal to the team below. Then he disappeared into the shaft.
“Let’s
go.” Wei strode to the exit. The men in tow behind him. He raced to the fire escape and climbed up the stairs. He’d been on the terrace a few times before this. There was no place to hide on the terrace. It would be easy to mark out the thieves. At the top of the stairs, he stopped in front of the door to the terrace and nodded to his men. Their guns were ready. So was his. He pushed the door and sprinted forward in a low crouch, his gun in front of him. His eyes scanned the wide expanse of the terrace from left to right.
Nobody!
It was impossible. They should be here.
“There’s no one in here.” One of the men echoed his thoughts.
Anger surged through his body. “Where does the ventilation shaft exit?”
One of the men pointed to the far wall fifty metres away. Wei raced to the wall; he could already see the shaft exit. He kept sprinting; the square exit door on the shaft was now clearly visible. It reinforced what he had seen in the first glance.
A metallic grill was bolted onto the shaft exit. It was slightly rusted indicating it hadn’t been opened in a while. He tugged at the grill. It was rock solid. As he tugged on it for a second time, he heard the dull thunk of a footstep echoing through the shaft.
The thieves! They are still in the shaft.
Wei hurriedly waved his men over. He brought around his gun and pointed it at the shaft exit. The footsteps were getting louder. A man’s head bobbed into view.
“Freeze,” Wei yelled, his finger on the trigger.
One of the men flashed a light down the grill at the man’s face. Wei’s heart sank as he recognized the man. It was the man who had climbed up the shaft.
Wei screamed in impotent rage. “Where are they?”
CHAPTER 17
“All right. Let’s move.” Baldev whispered.
Roshan couldn’t see clearly. He was cramped tight between Hitesh and Baldev. They had squeezed behind one of the cooling units near the exit. Their hiding place was claustrophobic and dark. Baldev was at the open end of the narrow space and he was their lookout. Hitesh’s tablet was poking in his shoulder and he looked at Hitesh working on the tablet, the screen an inch from his face.