Quickly clipping the binoculars back to his belt, he hissed, “Let’s go!”
Leaving the dark shadows of the hedge, they charged across the brightly lit strip of ground they had to negotiate to reach the door. Within seconds, they had reached their destination.
“Kenneth!” Nick whispered with his heart pounding like a jackhammer.
Quickly, Kenneth pulled a plastic card from his pocket and inserted it in the card slot. They were rewarded with an almost inaudible clicking sound as the door unlocked and a green LED light flashed from where it was mounted atop the card slot.
As they were opening the door and filing in, a cold drizzle began to fall. Cursing, Nick quickly shut the door. They had taken turns for the past week observing the night security guards’ movements and routines. Without fail, he always began his patrol on the hour, every hour. Unhurried, the guard usually took his time casually strolling around the sprawling dealership as he inspected the cars, property, and buildings. This took him approximately a half hour to do before he returned to the safety and warmth of the guard shack to drink coffee. Like security guards everywhere, it was a predictable and boring routine, and Nick had no doubts the biggest problem faced by the guard was staying awake. However, the falling drizzle might force the guard to hurry his routine so as to get out of the wet weather faster. If so, that meant they would have less time to crack the safe in Carter’s office, retrieve the book, and leave before the guard came their way on his inspection routine.
Mark interrupted Nick’s thoughts as he hissed urgently in his ear, “Nick, we’ve got trouble!”
“What?”
“The code to turn off the alarm isn’t working! It’s still beeping!”
The panic in Mark’s voice was unmistakable as Nick hurried over to the keypad mounted on wall. A persistent beeping came from it as Patti tried repeatedly to punch in the number sequence that disarmed the alarm.
“They must have changed the code!” Nick whispered as he felt his own panic begin to rise within him. They had only seconds before the alarm went off!
“Move out of the way!” Kenneth ordered as he shouldered his way past Nick and Mark. Taking what looked to be a small flathead screwdriver from a tool pouch at his belt, he quickly popped the plastic cover off the keypad.
“Nick! Take your penlight and aim it at the keypad!” Kenneth ordered tersely.
While Nick fumbled to retrieve the penlight from his pocket and snap it on, Kenneth took two electrical leads with alligator clips at their ends, and as Nick flashed the penlight’s beam on the keypad, he clipped them precisely onto the junction of two electrical circuits within the keypad. Next, he quickly attached the electrical leads to a port contained on what looked to be an ordinary handheld calculator that he pulled from his pocket. The “calculator” had a red LED screen, which now had numbers that scrolled by at such an incredible speed that they appeared to be nothing more than blurs of reddish light.
Beep, beep, beep went the keypad.
“Most of these security alarms have a thirty-second window to arm or disarm,” Kenneth went on conversationally, as if they were discussing nothing more pressing than the weather, “and I’m going to estimate we lost at least ten to twelve seconds of that before I was able to intervene. Fortunately, I modified this calculator by adding a memory chip one-hundred-times more powerful than that contained in the most advanced calculators on the market. When combined with the decoding program I wrote and installed in this baby, it can do millions of calibrations and number combinations per second. It should be able to produce the correct code before the alarm goes off.” Even as Kenneth spoke, numbers were being produced in red glowing light on the calculator’s screen.
Beep, beep, beep.
Nick’s stomach was churning, and he had broken out in a cold sweat as he listened to the persistent beeping.
Beep, beep, beep.
More numbers were produced on Kenneth’s device.
Beep, beep, beep.
An itching feeling came from the small of Nick’s back, an itch that seemed to travel farther up his back with each beep produced by the keypad.
Beep, beep, beep.
Surely the thirty seconds have passed and our time is up! Nick thought desperately. Surely the alarm is going to go off, and we—
Suddenly, the beeping halted as the flow of numbers stopped and flashed on the LED screen. Kenneth had then quickly punched “enter,” and the keypad fell silent in mid beep.
Nick almost collapsed in relief, his breath coming in quick, ragged gasps as if he had just finished running a marathon.
“Good … good job, Kenneth!” he managed to whisper.
“Oh no problem!” Kenneth whispered back, his white teeth showing in the darkness as a grin split his black camo-smeared face. “I tried this on the security system at the store, and the most time it took to sequence the proper code was five seconds. Took a little longer here though … about six point seven seconds, I’d estimate. I’m going to have to make some adjustments, it seems.”
Nick gave a low snort of laughter. Only Kenneth could be standing in the dark interior of a building they had just entered illegally and be more worried about the operating speed in nanoseconds of his code-breaking device than the act itself.
Kenneth unclipped the leads from the keypad as Patti hugged him, and Mark gripped his shoulder in grateful congratulation. Once he had stowed everything in his pouch, they immediately made their way to Carter’s office, where they discovered another keypad was built directly into the door right above the doorknob.
Hesitating for only a few moments, Nick quickly began punching numbers on the keypad. This time, the combination worked, as the door lock clicked open. Wordlessly, they entered Carter’s office.
Sweeping his penlight around the room, Nick studied the office’s interior. An expensive, wide, wooden desk was directly in front of him, and a black, leather, high-back desk chair was centered behind it. A leather couch straddled the wall to Nick’s left, while two plush leather chairs were set before Carter’s desk. A bookcase filled with pictures, books, and other memorabilia ran along the wall to Nick’s right.
Finally, a stainless-steel frame containing a large aerial photograph of the Cannon car dealership was mounted on the wall behind Carter’s desk.
Making a beeline to the mounted photograph, Nick pulled gently on it. The frame swung silently open, revealing a safe built into the wall. The square gray metal facing of the safe had no combination dial mounted onto it and was flat and featureless, except for a chrome handle to pull open the safe door.
A computer rested on the right side of Carter’s desk. It was a flat screen monitor/tower combination, and Kenneth turned it on as he sat down in the leather chair behind the desk. As soon as the computer booted up, Kenneth entered Carter’s password. Fingers flying over the keyboard, he soon was studying a menu from a program that flashed onto the screen.
“Apparently, the safe can only be opened by a wireless command transmitted by Carter’s computer. I’ve read about these ‘smart’ safes, but this is the first one I’ve ever seen,” Kenneth commented thoughtfully. “There is no dial on the outside of the safe, because the locking and unlocking mechanism is built inside the safe’s door and responds only to the computer’s command. Also, the computer’s programming causes it to choose a new, random number combination daily. The safe’s ‘brain’ is mated to the same program, which, in turn, changes the combination to unlock the safe to the same number code selected by the computer.”
“That means,” Kenneth said, turning in the chair to face his friends, “the number combination Tellie gave us is useless. The combination has been changed!”
Nick shrugged and said, “So? What’s the problem? Just get the new combination from the computer and have it transmitted to the safe, unlock the safe’s door, and we can get what we came for. Simple!”
Kenneth rolled his eyes. He said, “You don’t understand, Nick! In order to access the new numeric combination,
I have to have Carter’s master password for this program. It’s not the same password we used to log in on Carter’s computer!”
A hushed silence fell over the darkened office.
“Can … can you get the password?” Nick finally asked.
Kenneth gave Nick a look as if his friend had just asked him if water was wet.
“Of course, I can!” he retorted, shaking his head.
Unzipping his coat, Kenneth pulled a small laptop from an inner pocket within and placed it on the desk. Flipping it open, he booted up the laptop. His fingers were a blur of motion as they played over the keyboard. Seconds later, he gave a satisfied grunt and sat back patiently while he studied the laptop’s screen.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Nick whispered, “What are you doing, Kenneth?”
Without taking his eyes off the screen, Kenneth replied, “I’m attempting to implant a ‘worm’ into the frequency the computer uses to communicate with the safe. If successful, the worm will travel along the frequency and embed itself in the computer’s programming. From there, the worm will search for Carter’s master password, and once we have that, we can access the changed code and open the safe. Normally, the antivirus software in Carter’s computer would detect the worm and quarantine it. However, I’ve designed my worm to elude most standard anti- virus software. Unless Carter has a specially designed antivirus program on his computer, by the time my worm is successfully quarantined, it will already have given us the password.”
Kenneth’s explanation was interrupted as Steve’s urgent voice suddenly sounded through the transmitter in Nick’s ear.
“Eagle, the security guard is headed your way! He’ll be there in just a few moments!”
Stunned, Nick hesitated for a few moments before reacting to the unwelcome news from Steve. Running out of the office, Nick dodged around several new car models displayed on the showroom floor before sprinting to an exterior window that faced the front of the dealership. Making sure he kept in the shadows, he peered cautiously around the window’s edge. Row after row of new cars, trucks, and SUVs for sale were arranged facing the road that approached the car dealership. Suddenly, Nick stiffened! Fifty yards away, the security guard was hurriedly making his way through the drizzle straight for the office complex they were in!
The others had followed Nick’s mad rush out of the office and were looking at him expectantly with equal amounts of curiosity and fear written across their faces. He was just about to open his mouth and tell them to run for it when Steve’s voice once again came over the transmitter.
“Eagle! Hold a second! I’m going to try something!”
Moments later, Nick saw the security guard pause, then stop and look over his shoulder. Turning completely around, the guard began running in the opposite direction. Nick faintly heard honking coming from the direction of the frontage road that ran parallel to the dealership. Straining to see, he peered through the window and was rewarded with the sight of Steve’s yellow GTO turning donuts on the road. Dark smoke rose from the squealing tires as Steve continued to honk and spin out.
Grinning, Nick turned back to the others and said, “Steve has diverted the security guard. We’ve got to work quickly! I don’t know how long he can keep it up. How much longer, Kenneth?”
“Anytime now,” Kenneth replied confidently. As if in response to Kenneth’s comment, a chime sounded from the laptop in Carter’s office.
Hurrying back to the office, Kenneth sat down at the laptop. A broad grin spread across his face. “Got it!” he quipped as he looked up at the others.
Fingers once again a blur as they played across the laptop’s keyboard, Kenneth finally stopped, his forefinger poised above the “enter” key.
“Password acquired, and the safe should be opening … now!” Kenneth stated as he pressed the enter key.
An almost inaudible click came from safe. Nick hurried over to the safe and grasped the safe’s handle. Pulling, the safe’s door swung open easily on its oiled hinges. Snapping on the penlight, Nick swung the beam inside the safe. Stacks of bundled cash were interspersed with other documents that Nick pushed impatiently aside. He gave a whoop of excitement as his hand closed on a thin, gray book. Pulling it out, he flashed the penlight on the book and saw he held The Book of Lost Treasures in his hand!
“We got what we came for!” Nick whispered in delight to the others. “Let’s go!”
“Wait a minute! I’ve got one more job to do!” Kenneth stated emphatically.
Puzzled, Nick looked over at Kenneth before saying urgently, “We’ve got to go! The security guard will be back anytime now!”
“No! You said Tellie told you Carter had some incriminating financial information that he kept on his computer. If we can get that information, we can use it against Carter in case he tries to get the book back!”
“What good will that do us if we are caught red-handed in Carter’s office?” Nick demanded.
“Look, I don’t know if any of you has thought this out, but I have!” Kenneth said with his chin thrust out stubbornly. “You know how Carter is! So we get the book back! So what? Carter will do everything in his power to get it back! This includes doing to us as bad or worse what he did to Tellie! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder the rest of my life. If we can get the goods on Carter, we’re safe, and we’re home free! He wouldn’t dare touch any of us if we have evidence of illegal financial doings by him!”
Nick thought for just a moment before realizing that Kenneth was right. Carter would stop at nothing to get the book back if for no other reason than to assuage his ego over being outfoxed by people he believed beneath him—especially Nick!
“How much time will it take to retrieve the information?” he hissed tersely.
“Just a few minutes, that’s all I need!”
“Okay. A few minutes are all you have! However, Mark is going to keep a lookout by the window. The second that security guard turns around and steps one foot in the direction of this building, we’re leaving! Understood?”
Grinning, Kenneth gave Nick an informal salute. Then he pulled out a lanyard hanging from his neck. A flash drive hung from the lanyard, and Kenneth quickly popped it off and inserted it into a port on Carter’s computer.
Humming happily to himself, he got down to the serious business of downloading Carter’s secret financial information onto the flash drive.
As Mark took up a position by the window, Nick whispered into the mic, telling Steve what they were up to and asking him to continue to keep the security guard occupied as long as possible. Then he returned his attention back to Carter’s office. Closing the safe’s door, Nick used a handkerchief to wipe it down thoroughly to remove any incriminating fingerprints. Pushing the picture frame shut over the safe, Nick wiped it down thoroughly also. We should have worn gloves, he thought. He made sure every surface that might possibly contain their fingerprints was wiped clean.
Just as Nick finished wiping off the door handle, Kenneth raised both arms over his head, a look of triumph on his face.
“Done! I’ve downloaded every dirty little detail! It’s encrypted, just like Tellie said it was, but once I get it home, I’ll have the information extracted within an hour!”
Relief washed over Nick’s face. Immediately, he spoke into the mic and said, “Zeppelin, we’re out of here!”
Hoping that the security guard hadn’t called the cops on Steve, he motioned urgently to the others that they were leaving. Waiting impatiently while Kenneth removed the flash drive from Carter’s computer and popped it back on the lanyard, he tapped his foot until Kenneth turned off the computer. Snapping the laptop shut, Kenneth returned it to the inside of his coat, while Nick wiped down the keyboard on Carter’s computer.
As soon as everyone had filed out of the room, Nick took one last look before shutting the door. Hurriedly, they made their way through the office complex before reaching the door that they had initially used to enter the
building. Nick took the binoculars clipped to his belt and looked through an adjacent window at the camera on the light pole panning the door’s exterior. When it began to pan away, he motioned the others, and they quietly opened the door before sprinting for the shadows of the holly hedge.
Nick was the last to leave, and as he firmly closed the door behind him and ran after the others, he was filled with a feeling of exultation.
They had done it!
They had recovered The Book of Lost Treasures!
Nick looked about the darkened basement. Taking the Coleman outdoor lantern he had bought, he turned on the gas and lit the wick. Quickly, it caught, and bright light filled the basement. Placing the lantern on an old suitcase resting on a moldering box of magazines, he got to work. He had flown back to Arlington by himself and had told none of the other club members what he was up to. He had one final important task to do before giving The Book of Lost Treasures back to Hank, and it was something he was unwilling to involve any other club members in. For all he knew, the Secret Service might still have Claire’s old home under surveillance and arrest anyone on the spot who might so much as set one foot on the property! If so, then he was determined only he would be arrested. Besides, Nick reasoned, he had started all this, and it was his responsibility to try and fix the problem he had caused.
Twenty minutes later, Nick had cleared a path from the boxes and other assorted junk so that an old wooden file cabinet was revealed. Breathing heavily, he stared at it. The file cabinet was scratched and scarred and leaning precariously against yet another stack of boxes. Nick knew it was the middle drawer in the file cabinet that contained what he sought, so without further ado, he pulled on the rusted metal handle screwed to the drawer. The wooden drawer was warped and resisted Nick’s initial pull until, grunting with effort, he was able to pull it open with a loud squeal of protest.
Looking inside, Nick quickly located a cardboard box of receipts. Praying that time and mildew hadn’t erased the writing on them, he began to thumb through them. Thankfully, most of the receipts looked legible, and as soon as Nick’s hand touched the first one, a bright light shone from The Book of Lost Treasures that he had placed beside him on one of the boxes he had moved. Smiling, he began to go through the receipts one by one.
The Treasure Hunt Club Page 28