‘Wowowwow! Someone is in an awesome mood today,’ joked Varun, as he pulled himself back. ‘There are CCTV cameras here, baby.’
‘Let’s go to the washroom. Come quick!’ Tanya got up.
‘People around, baby. Can’t you see?’
Tanya looked around. She could see some heads, above the workstation dividers.
‘Take me somewhere where there are no cameras.’ She thought for a second and added, ‘Your father’s room. Come let’s go. It’s got a wooden door. I saw it last time.’ She took his hand and pulled him towards Aditya’s room. There was no one on that floor. They hurried in. She kicked the door shut and locked it. Varun just looked around to make sure they were alone. When he turned back to Tanya, she had already taken off her top and was undoing the zipper of her skirt. Then she was all over him, her mouth, her lips, her hands. In no time, she had pushed him on to the lounge sofa and her hands were fumbling with his belt. The trousers came off, the shirt was ripped off and she was on top of him, riding him. Thankfully, there was no one on the floor. Varun was certain Tanya’s moans and groans could be heard all over the floor despite the wooden door.
When they were done, Varun got up. Tanya walked into Aditya’s private washroom. While Tanya was inside, Varun got a call from one of his tech guys.
‘Hold on, hold on, dude. We can fix this. In fact, you should be calling the gaming director for this.’
Tanya walked out of the washroom, smiling and looking pretty. Varun blew a kiss at her but continued talking.
A few moments later when she tugged at his shirtsleeve, Varun put the phone on mute, and said, ‘I’ll be back in ten minutes. Then we can leave.’ Tanya nodded. Varun walked out and headed down to his cabin.
He returned in a little less than an hour. An irritated Tanya was sitting at Aditya’s desk, surfing the net. ‘I’m going to become a bored housewife for sure,’ she grumbled to herself.
Just then he returned and announced, ‘I’m ready to go.’
‘Great. After tiring me like you did a while ago, if you don’t feed me, I’ll collapse any moment,’ she said, holding him by his arm as he led her out of the room.
84
Washington DC
Aditya was led into a room with one large window. In the middle of the room stood a rectangular table and three chairs—one on one side of the table and two on the other. He was made to sit on one chair and everyone exited the room.
For the next thirty minutes, he was alone, wondering what could have gone wrong. Why was he going through this? He tried to connect the dots to figure out who these people could be and why they were doing this.
The door opened with a bang and four men walked in. ‘Good morning, Mr Rao. You have no idea how excited I am to see you here,’ said the man in front. He had a huge smile on his face. Dressed in a grey suit and red tie, he looked a lot more intimidating than the day Aditya had met him in Mumbai.
‘Agent Scott? What’s going on? Why have I been brought here like a prisoner?’
‘Well, well, Mr Rao!’ Adrian walked towards him. ‘I’m surprised you don’t know why you are here.’ He placed a hand on Aditya’s shoulder and pushed him back in the chair. Gently. ‘Please make yourself comfortable. We have a long day ahead.’
‘What? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Where am I, Agent Scott?’
‘Hmm, Mr Rao, let me set some ground rules here. Today, I ask the questions and you give the answers. The day we came to your office, you were very nice to me. It is my turn to reciprocate.’
The sweat was now beginning to make it difficult for
Aditya to keep his eyes open. This was the first time he had been
in a situation like this. The world had only seen one side of him, that of a law-abiding citizen. Adrian pushed a box of tissues towards him.
‘Thank you,’ said Aditya and pulled out a couple to wipe his face.
‘You seem nervous, Mr Rao.’ Adrian was beginning to enjoy this. ‘However, given that this is the first question you asked me, I will answer. You are at the FBI office in Washington DC.’
‘FBI? Why?’ Aditya demanded.
‘Didn’t you hear me, Mr Rao? I ask the questions today. You will get your answer as we go along. But if we have your permission,
Mr Rao, can we begin our . . .’ and he paused, ‘. . . uh, our discussion?’
Aditya didn’t even respond. He looked the other way. ‘I want a lawyer.’
‘Request denied.’ Adrian was quick to respond.
‘You can’t deny me legal aid. It’s against the laws in your country.’
‘I know the laws of this country better than you, Mr Rao. If it comes to it, we will deal with it.’ This response scared Aditya. So did the look on Adrian’s face. The agents who came in with Adrian stood by the door. Adrian walked around the table and sat down on one of the chairs on the other side.
‘What do you know about bitcoins?’
‘Just as much as one could know from newspapers, magazines and web articles.’
‘Is that all?
‘Unless you know something else that I don’t.’
‘Do you own bitcoins?’
‘No, I don’t. But the last time I checked, owning bitcoins is not a crime. Or is it?’
‘No, not at all.’ Adrian was smirking. ‘It’s certainly not a crime.’ He reiterated, ‘So if I hear you correctly, you do not have any bitcoin holdings.’
‘No.’
‘Ever considered buying or dealing in bitcoins? Interesting, this business, eh?’
‘Never. For our gaming company Indiscape, we did consider accepting bitcoins as a means of payment from customers who play our games. But then, due to the enormous state of flux and the volatility of bitcoins, we did not implement that idea. That’s the closest we have ever come to bitcoins.’
‘Have you heard of Altoids?’
‘The mint?’
‘I am not particularly in the mood for a joke, Mr Rao.’
‘The only Altoids I have heard of is the mint, Agent Scott. What is so funny about that?’ Aditya was getting restless.
‘Cotton Trail? Does that ring a bell?’ Adrian carried on.
The door to the room opened and a fourth agent walked in. He looked at Adrian Scott and spoke. ‘Agent Scott, Dan Malloy wants to speak with you.’
‘Can you please inform him, politely, that I will be there in thirty minutes?’
85
Mumbai
The staff at Celini had cordoned off a private space for the two
of them. Tanya looked ravishing in a short red skirt and a matching top that she had bought from Zara a few days ago. Varun was
in smart office casuals. Checked shirt, corduroy jeans, Friday dressing.
Salads, pizza, red wine and tiramisu—this was staple diet for anyone who visited Celini. Tanya loved the pizzas there. In fact, she was the one who had picked the restaurant. The Italian wines they served there would make anyone a fan.
When the clock struck midnight, a clutch of musicians walked up to them and played ‘Happy Birthday’ on violins. A cake was brought in, and the staff stood around singing along with the music. Tanya was overwhelmed, and teary-eyed. Varun hugged her and wished her. ‘One thing I must do when I marry you is figure out a way to stop this constant flow of water!’ He joked as he kissed her.
They were there for the next three hours. Tanya was drunk by the time they left. She had no clue about what was going on. Varun held her close as he led her out to the car. Carefully, he seated her in the front seat of the Mercedes, fastened the seat belt and got into the driver’s seat. He drove straight to Tanya’s apartment complex and walked her up to her apartment. The moment he opened the door, Tanya pulled him towards her and kissed him. Varun kissed her back. She pulled him into the house. Varun kicked the door shut. Hurriedly, she unbuttoned his shirt. It surprised Varun that she was doing all that when she couldn’t even hold herself steady or walk straight! But all that didn’t matter. He led her to the
bedroom and dropped her on the bed. She didn’t even wait for him to join her, as she undressed herself. Varun went to the restroom; he was a bit drunk too, and wanted to wash some of it away before he got into bed.
By the time he got back, Tanya was fast asleep. He looked at her and smiled. She did look pretty. He walked out of the room, into the kitchen. He groped around in the cabinet, looking for something to eat. When he heard Tanya moaning in her sleep, he returned to her side. He slipped into bed silently and held her close.
His arms came around and hugged her from behind. His elbows rested on her waist and his palms cupped her breasts. She moaned as she brought up her hands and pulled him closer, begging him to hug her tighter. He moved closer. Her fingers tightened around his even as he gripped her breasts firmly. He could feel her nipples stiffen. She moved her hand a bit.
‘Ouch!’
He exclaimed and pulled his hands away. He brought his left hand up and looked at what had caused the momentary pain. There was a deep scratch on his index finger. Blood was oozing out. Wondering what had scratched him, he reached for Tanya’s hand. She had no clue what was going on. He turned her hand around and realized what had scratched him. It was the ring on her finger. He reached out for it. He knew Tanya was having some trouble removing it. He twisted it and off it came, almost effortlessly. He pulled it off but then, remembering how emotional she was about it, carefully slipped it back on to her finger.
Varun lay there for a while, eyes wide open. Sleep had deserted him. Thoughts of how the last few months had reshaped his life flashed in front of him. After a while, he suddenly got up as if he had remembered something. He wore his clothes and tiptoed out of the house and walked down the stairs. He didn’t want to wake Tanya up. He went down to the parking where his car was parked. From the boot, he pulled out a huge teddy bear. He had initially planned to give it to her on the morning of her birthday. He opened a small niche in the boot and took out a small back object which looked like a battery charger, covered in plastic. He locked the car and was back in the apartment in no time. Tanya was still fast asleep. Drunk. He walked up to her. Without waking her up, he carefully placed the bear next to her and brought her arms around it. She would wake up in the morning cuddling it. He placed the other object in her hand and walked to the kitchen. He was thirsty. He drank a glass of cold water and was wiping his hands when he heard a noise. He hurried back to the bedroom, tissue still in hand and saw that Tanya had turned over; the teddy was in her arms, but other object had fallen down. He walked around the bed, to the other side, tissue still in hand, picked it up and dumped it inside her cupboard. He undressed and slipped into bed with her. The blood had stopped oozing from the scratch on his finger.
The next morning, Tanya woke him. She had nuzzled up to him and was kissing him delicately on his lips, trying to wake him up. ‘I love you, Varun,’ she said as she sucked Varun’s bottom lip into her mouth. Varun smiled.
He wanted to tell her about how her ring had cut his finger but didn’t say anything. It was her birthday and he didn’t want an uncomfortable conversation.
86
Washington DC
‘So where were we, Mr Rao?’ asked Adrian, having dealt with the interruption. An evil smile played on his face. ‘Ah, bitcoins. We were discussing you and bitcoins.’ He paused for a second, evil smile intact. ‘Does Cotton Trail ring a bell, Mr Rao?’
‘No. I don’t know what you are talking about,’ Aditya responded.
‘Okay, for a minute, let’s assume you are speaking the truth.’
‘I am speaking the truth,’ thundered an irritated Aditya.
‘Fine, fine. We’ll take your word for it. Indiscape is your company, right?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘And you own 100 per cent of it.’
‘Actually 88.3 per cent. The balance is owned by some friends, investors and a few employees.’
‘Wonderful. This makes it easy.’ He looked up at Aditya and smiled. ‘Townsville?’
‘What about it?’
‘Very successful game, right? Climbing the charts all over, huh?’
‘Yes. It’s our game. That’s what brought me to the US. We won the award for the best gaming company in emerging markets.’
‘For the record, there is no such award.’
‘What?’ Aditya hollered. What was Adrian talking about? ‘I have an invite. They even sent me the ticket.’
‘The World Gaming Council meet is on but this award was added at our behest . . .’ and, smiling at Aditya, he added, ‘. . . on paper.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It won’t be announced at the meet. We had no other way of ensuring that you would come to the US. In India, you would have escaped, given that Indian technology laws are so frivolous and vague.’
‘You must be kidding!’
‘Does it look like I am?’
Aditya was really worked up by now. This was not a regular interrogation. They had planned it all. He had been tricked into coming to the US so he could be arrested here. But arrested for what?
‘But why? What have I done?’
‘We will figure that out Mr Rao. Townsville is the most popular game on social media, on smartphones, and in a standalone state. The world knows it. But there is something the world does not know. Something that only you know, Mr Rao.’
Aditya looked at him blankly.
‘Why did you do this, Mr Rao? Why? You put out a software update on your game?’ Adrian left the question hanging.
‘We did release a software update recently. It’s a routine process. What about it?’
‘Was it only a software update? Or something else?’
‘I can’t understand what you are getting at, Mr Scott. A software update is a software update. What else can it be?’
‘It can be malware too, can’t it?’
‘What?’ Aditya screamed. ‘Are you out of your mind?’
‘Well perhaps you might have a mind good enough to explain why the update contained a self-replicating virus, which spread to every single computer, smartphone and tablet that your customers played your game on.’
‘My company is one of the most honest you can find in the entire Indian subcontinent!’
‘Guess that’s why the guys behind the ATM heist chose your company to hack into. Or did you help them . . .? Anyway, we will come to that later. Your virus scanned millions of computers for bitcoins. When it found any, it identified the private key of the bitcoin wallet and transferred all the bitcoins to an unknown wallet. And that unknown wallet can only be yours, Mr Aditya Rao.’
‘Rubbish!’ Aditya hollered. ‘I’d rather die than do anything like that.’ People had called him names in the past, had been offended by many of his actions, but there was one thing which no one had ever dared to call him—a cheat.
‘Not only did your virus scan computers for bitcoin wallets, but it also made the computers and smartphones join a Ukraine-based network. Once connected to the network, the malware downloaded bitcoin mining software and ran that on the computer. Bitcoin mining is a computationally heavy process so what better than to combine the computing powers of a million smartphones and hundreds of thousands of laptops across the globe and get them to mine bitcoins for you. Brilliant, I must confess. How did you have the confidence that you won’t get caught?’
Aditya’s hands went up to his face. ‘No! No! You’ve made a mistake.’
‘This is what has happened, Mr Rao. Under your instructions. Using your password. From your network.’
‘Impossible!’
Adrian handed Aditya a piece of paper with an IP address on it. ‘Your game is hosted on the Ukrainian server and a few other mirror servers around the world. The software update, which included the malware, was uploaded from this IP address on to the Ukrainian server. The upload was authorized using your ID from this IP address.’
Aditya was shocked. His face turned red with anger and embarrassment.
‘Don’t pretend, M
r Rao. Let me put this on the record. I’m not talking to you here because of this malware. We checked it out. Your legal agreement—the terms and conditions that every gamer has to accept before he can play your game—covers you. It even says that any gains on account of this will be entirely yours.’
‘I don’t think we specifically put that in the T&C. Ours is a standard T&C that most gaming corporations the world over use.’
‘True. All you gaming companies fuck with five condoms. Right? Cover yourself for every breach. The legal terminology will let you escape there. But what’s more important, Mr Rao, is what you will tell us now. What is your role in Cotton Trail?’
‘I haven’t even heard of it, Agent Scott. When will you believe me?’
‘Are you one of the promoters of Cotton Trail?’
Aditya didn’t respond. He looked the other way.
‘Who is “Altoids”?’
‘How would I know?’ Aditya raised his voice.
‘You know damn well, Mr Rao.’
‘No, I don’t. How many times do you want me to tell you?’
‘Frosty?’
‘What Frosty?’
‘Who is Frosty, Mr Rao?’
‘I have no clue.’ Aditya was on the verge of breaking down.
‘Have you killed anyone, Mr Rao?’ Adrian thundered.
‘Never!’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Never more sure.’
‘Gillian Tan?’
‘Who is Gillian Tan?’
‘You murdered Senator Tan a few months ago!’ Adrian yelled at him, then whispered into his ears, ‘Did you enjoy the sound of the blast that killed him? Don’t you remember, Mr Rao?’
‘Enough!’ Aditya screamed as he got up from his chair.
‘Sit down or I will have to restrain you!’
The threat worked and Aditya sat back. ‘Agent Scott, I don’t know how to get you to believe me. The names you are dropping don’t mean anything to me. You are barking up the wrong tree.’
‘How is it then that the malware got uploaded from your ID?
God is a Gamer Page 21