Auditory Viewpoint

by Lillian R. Melendez

  “You know, some idiots actually carry their social security cards in their wallets, and I don’t know what to do with those, which makes me an idiot too. I could make a fortune, but I’m not good with identity theft or hacking. I was unstoppable. I pickpocketed hundreds of people’s wallets; but then – through the many different kinds of technology being invented at an accelerating pace, and with so many video cameras everywhere to prevent terrorism – my job is more difficult than it used to be,” the inmate said.

  Eric had nothing to say to that. He turned around wishfully to see if Mr. Sanchez was in sight, but the FBI agent didn’t appear. Eric slowly hit his head on the cell bars again, while his temporary cellmate kept on talking.

  “I still can’t believe people carry so much cash on them even with credit cards in their wallets. That’s how I continue to make a good living. How did you get caught? I thought it was almost impossible to find you guys, since you do your job on the internet.”

  “I was arrested for a different reason: murder,” Eric answered.

  The man gulped in his throat. Eric took a look at him after noticing the remarkable silence from the talkative inmate, who quickly looked away.

  “I didn’t kill anyone,” Eric said.

  “Sure, sure. No one says you did,” the man said as he stuck his palms out.

  “I know everyone says that to cover up their crimes and deny them, but I did not murder anyone. A guy fell off a building, but I did not push him. I was attacked myself,” Eric said.

  “I saw that on television two days before I was arrested,” the other inmate said as he chuckled nervously. “Sure, I believe you.”

  Eric noticed the man’s look of disbelief. “Better yet, look at this!” He lifted up the side of his shirt, letting the cellmate view a large thick bandage on Eric’s ribcage. The man’s eyes widened.

  “You had a scuffle with him, and then you pushed him?”

  “No, no! I was in the crowd when he fell on the car. Someone ran up and stabbed me,” Eric explained.

  “Jeez, it could have been two dead people that day,” the other inmate replied.

  “I was arrested because I had some kind of connection.” Eric suddenly stopped talking. “I’m not saying anymore, you will probably twist my words to the cops.”

  “No, I won’t. I don’t know you,” his cellmate replied.

  They both stood silent for a minute.

  “Did you see the person who stabbed you?”

  “I did, but I could not describe the individual,” Eric replied.

  The inmate looked baffled, whereas Eric leaned against the cell bars and shook his head.

  “I don’t know how I can explain it.” Eric stood still for a moment while looking at the floor. He then looked up at his cellmate again. “First, I thought the person wore dark jeans and sneakers, and now I believe the person wore a red shirt and khaki colored pants. I was becoming slightly dizzy, and didn’t pay attention to whether it was a male or female. The bastard stabbed me, and I had to bail before I bled to death. I couldn’t give the cops a good description while I was in the hospital. If I gave them the wrong description, they wouldn’t trust me at all, and I could get into deeper trouble. Now that I am well enough to leave the hospital for this place,” Eric said bitterly, “I was hoping to clear my name. Till this day, I am uncertain, and that makes my head hurt.”

  There was silence between the two in the cell. The other inmate walked to the opposite side of the cell and spoke again. “Years ago, when I was in school taking tests and exams, which I failed at, two teachers I remember told me that the first answer that comes to mind is the right one, nine out of ten times. I believed them, but chose not to listen, and put down the second answer instead. I just did not want to listen to what they were telling me. I thought I knew more than them. Throughout school, I kept choosing the second answer to annoy them. They were right, but I was stuck in my ways. Who knows, maybe I would be doing something more constructive in my life than this.” The inmate, who now sat on the floor with his back against the rusty gray wall, began to close his eyes.

  Eric found the statement thought-provoking.

  “I better get some rest. I have a court appearance tomorrow,” the cellmate said.

  Several minutes later, multiple voices could be heard some distance away. Eric immediately looked through his cell bars, with Special Agent Sanchez approaching.

  “Our computer system crashed,” a uniformed officer said.

  “If the computers crashed, I’ll be alerting all officers,” Special Agent Sanchez replied.

  Eric recognized his voice. “Mr. Sanchez! Agent Sanchez!” he yelled while grabbing two of the cell bars, then pressing his head against them.

  “What is it?” Special Agent Sanchez said.

  “I just overheard that all computers in this building crashed. I can help,” Eric said.

  “Tell me what you know.”

  “I cannot tell you. I mean, I could but you wouldn’t understand. I’d have to fix the computers myself,” Eric replied.

  Special Agent Sanchez gave him a suspicious look.

  “Look at it in this way: For example, you install a security box for your house. If you press the wrong numbers, the sound alarm automatically goes off. In this case, if you load the wrong document file on a connected PC, the whole server system malfunctions and infects other client computers throughout your network. Gregory must have put about ten infected files days before he was murdered,” Eric responded.

  “Why would several files have viruses?” Sanchez asked after having listened attentively.

  “That particular batch of files holds valuable information. I don’t know yet; just release me and let me help you,” Eric pleaded.

  Special Agent Sanchez was taken aback by his statement, and quickly shook his head. “I cannot release you, Eric.”

  “But...”

  “Don’t try to change my mind,” Sanchez said and walked away.

  Eric softly hit his head against the cell bars again.

  In the office area, officers were moving back and forth like wild chickens without heads. All were nervous, some were cranky and frustrated, others stood facing their computers screens and tried helplessly to tap their keypads, all the while knowing that nothing would work to get the system back online. Special Agent Sanchez was speaking with Captain Steve Buchanan, the head of Mid-Town North Precinct, when his phone rang. He looked at the phone screen: ‘Blocked’.

  “Excuse me, I have to take this.” Special Agent Sanchez walked over to a quiet corner of the busy office.

  “Who’s speaking?” Sanchez said on his end of the line with a hurried voice.

  “Someone who decided to give you a gift of thanks,” Philip said on the other end.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I know you are investigating a fall from the Empire Hotel building, and that you are also wondering what is on the USB drive,” Philip said.

  “The USB drive?” Special Agent Sanchez quickly turned toward the infected computer.

  “Well, your important case files will be wiped out instantly,” Philip added.

  The FBI agent glanced at all the computers in the room.

  “The security team will have their work cut out for them. As for the two missing people...” Philip paused, and Sanchez listened intensely to hear the next sentence. “Best of luck with that one,” Philip said and hung up on his end.

  “Hello? Hello?”

  Special Agent Sanchez quickly hurried back to Captain Steve and found him speaking to Benjamin’s colleague, Colin, who had arrived at the police department a few minutes earlier. Captain Steve explained the issue, and Colin worked intensely with trying to restart a computer. Meanwhile, Sanchez and Captain Steve tried to make sense out of the mysterious phone conversation. Thirty-five minutes passed, and everyone became increasingly anxious. More criminals and suspects were coming in for a lineup. Special Agent Sanchez kept trying to dissect the stranger’s words on the phone.

&nbs
p; “How many minutes will it take, we have profiles of potential suspects waiting on a lineup, right?” Captain Steve asked Colin, who shook his head.

  “You won’t believe me if I tell you, but this will take hours.”

  “No!” Special Agent Sanchez said.

  Colin nodded. “Yes. It will be fixed, I can guarantee you, but I’m finding that the degree of damage the hackers have caused is greater than expected.”

  “Silly thing; a hacker who sits in one of the holding cells right now says he can fix our problem, since he was taught by his mentor and this infected USB drive actually belongs to his mentor,” Sanchez said.

  “This is good, actually,” Colin said. “Of course, it’s not good to release him; but if he knows more about this USB drive in some way, there’s a good chance things will move much faster.”

  “You’re telling us to release him?” Special Agent Sanchez said, surprised.

  “I don’t like the sound of this,” Captain Steve injected.

  “I’m not suggesting you should release a prisoner. What I am saying is that you have two choices. Let me fix it and wait, or have him come and try to fix it with me present.”

  Special Agent Sanchez and Captain Steve Buchanan both hesitated and looked at each other, speechless.

  “Trust me, I’m surprised about what is coming out of my mouth right now; but if you’re telling me that this USB drive was his mentor’s, then the risk is worthwhile taking. I will continue and not waste any more time while you both make your decision.”

  Special Agent Sanchez and Captain Steve both nodded their head.

  “I’ll release him for now,” Mr. Sanchez said.

  Five minutes later, Eric followed Special Agent Sanchez to the office. Cops and civilian workers crowded all around the desktop computers and laptops in the office.

  “Where’s the computer that has the infected USB drive?” Eric asked.

  “Follow me,” Special Agent Sanchez said. He took Eric to the main infected computer, which in turn infected the others. Eric touched the USB stick, which was still attached to the officer’s laptop, and sat down on a chair.

  “You do this correctly, and I will see about lessening your charges,” Sanchez said to him. Colin moved his chair a little to bring Eric nearer to the computer.

  “I guess I have to work with you,” Colin said as he stared at Eric typing on the computer.

  “I won’t bite,” Eric said as he focused on the computer screen.

  “I now believe the USB drive is what the killer was after. The person who fell from the building had it. Something on it is valuable. Whoever attacked me may have known that I know how to protect information from leaking out by putting worm viruses in it,” Eric said as other officers listened in.

  “This stick has many encrypted codes,” an officer said.

  Special Agent Sanchez hurriedly went over to Eric, who started to type on the computer.

  “What are you doing? Reformatting it?” Special Agent Henderson asked.

  “The security team is doing the same thing on their end,” Eric replied as he continued to type. “I need my laptop.”

  The officers looked at each other.

  “The unopened laptop. I need the laptop you took from me in the hospital,” Eric said in a quick manner.

  “An officer took the laptop and placed it in an evidence locker. I believe it’s the widescreen 15 inch notebook,” Special Agent Henderson said to an officer, who nodded and rushed out of the room.

  “Wouldn’t your computer crash too?” Henderson asked.

  “I am taking a risk. Your entire computer system crashed because it was connected to a server. My computer is connected by WI-FI,” Eric said.

  The same officer walked swiftly to Eric with his laptop.

  Eric turned around and pressed the power button. In seconds, the computer screen lit up. He inserted the USB flash drive and looked down the list.

  “I knew the guy. He taught me several tricks after I did some work for him. He trusted me; but for some reason, he didn’t want to tell me what was on this particular one. I honestly do not know why,” Eric said to the officers around him.

  Eric continued to look down the list of files. “If the USB drive ever got back into his hands, there’s a file that brings everything back to normal.”

  “You found this out after you made mistakes?” Special Agent Henderson said.

  “Yes, I had a file that mistakenly made my computer crash. I was a new hacker, and the man who fell to his death was my mentor. He created a file for me to be included with the list of files I had. That file is to restore my computer, and I would not lose anything. He knew I paid close attention, but he didn’t know that I would assume he’d do the same for his files. I did not think much of it until today.”

  Special Agent Henderson nodded. “You came at the right time.”

  Eric touched the USB drive affectionately. “Here we go.”

  More officers and civilian workers crowded around him.

  “When I heard the technical people would restore its settings, the word 'restore' stuck in my head and I started to remember,” Eric added.

  “If you know, why do you say it is a risk?” Special Agent Henderson asked.

  “Because out of the whole list, more than half of the files can crash the computer, and there is only one file that can restore it,” Eric said.

  “One more thing: Why are there regular file names rather than words cyber criminals would use?” Henderson asked.

  “Unique words will just make officers like you question what the device is really for. The hacker was smart. This USB stick so happened to get into an officer’s hands. Sir, there is no room for luck. Now let me see here.” Eric turned back to the computer. “One folder says ‘letters,’ and the other folders are listed as ‘memos’, ‘one note notebook’, ‘scanned documents’, ‘pictures’, ‘videos’, ‘music’, ‘birthdays’, ‘seminars’…” Eric examined up and down several times through until he discovered, at a second glance, a folder name that was questionable: ‘Public Documents.’ “This should be it.”

  “Everyone has this folder in their computers,” another officer said.

  “Yes, everyone except a hacker who keeps everything from the public,” Eric responded.

  Everyone in the room kept quiet. Eric focused intensely at the screen before him.

  “I hope this is it,” Special Agent Sanchez said in a low voice behind his hand that was over his mouth.

  “This folder is similar to what my mentor put on my computer and USB drive,” Eric said to the officers, and tilted his head closer to the screen.

  He opened the only file inside the folder, and a different encrypted code appeared on the screen. “I am spot on. It is this one!”

  “Now what?” Special Agent Sanchez said as he was a bit overwrought.

  “Now, I will transfer the USB drive into the original PC which it crashed,” Eric said.

  He inserted it and typed on the keyboard. After fifteen minutes, the computer was back up and running again. The police department logo appeared on the screen along with the desktop icons. Everyone started to clap.

  “Alright, alright, he’s still a criminal,” Special Agent Henderson reminded everyone in the room. They reacted by a cease in their applause and they began to talk amongst themselves.

  Eric remained intensely focused on the screen before him, as if no one else was in the room. “I am now by my computer to see if I can transfer the program to other computer department servers instead of putting the device on each PC, which will be accumulating time,” he said as he kept toying with the built-in mouse.

  “It’s fixed,” Eric said.

  “You did well, Eric. I still need to know what’s in the file,” Special Agent Sanchez said and turned to Special Agent Henderson. “Any news from Benjamin?”

  Special Agent Henderson turned his head while he continued to gaze at the computer screen.

  “As each hour goes by, I’m afraid things wi
ll get worse,” Sanchez said.

  Special Agent Henderson turned away from the computer. “I can leave a message.”

  “No, no, no. This case is getting cold. I wish I could tell you to spend time on other cases; but with a disabled woman out there, this case now warrants our undivided attention.”

  “So what do we do now?” Special Agent Henderson asked.

  “Excuse me,” Sanchez responded. “Hello?”

  “Special Agent Sanchez?” a woman’s voice said on the other end of the line.

  “Who’s speaking?”

  “Gloria Rank.”

  “Gloria!” Sanchez sounded shocked.

  There was an uneasy silence between the two.

  “Mr. Sanchez?” Gloria tried.

  “Where are you? And stay put…”

  “There is something going on, and I can help you.”

  “Rubbish! You’re blind and cannot help me,” Special Agent Sanchez said, now sounding agitated.

  She continued, undeterred. “There are eight hackers, which will be split into two groups. Each group will be in a different place. Around Harold Square, 34th Street and Penn station. I am going to try catching them.”

  “I don’t think so. And by the way, how are you going to find them?” Special Agent Sanchez asked.

  “The best way I know how; relying on my other senses,” Gloria replied.

  Sanchez shook his head, bewildered by her statement.

  “On what!? Tell us where you are and stay put. This is a dangerous game you’re playing, and...”

  “My sister's life is in danger, so what makes you think this is a game? I’m going to find these hackers and the killer among them, then notify you...”

  “Stop! You will get yourself killed.” He checked himself and tried to cool down. “Please stop what you’re doing and let us, the professionals, do our job.”

  “I need you and Mr. Henderson to cooperate with me.”

  “Gloria...”

  “Again, four hackers will be in Harold Square somewhere, lurking around in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Four more hackers will be inside Penn Station. Anna and Benjamin are with me. He’s helping me figure out step-by-step why the hackers are in these two locations and what they are planning to do.”