“I am so sorry to be late, my friend,” Almeida said. “I was detained at home and the traffic is just terrible.”
“Of course. I understand. I only just got here myself.”
Bandeira didn’t like depending on men like Almeida, men of privilege. They came from the highest ranks of Brazilian society, were intermarried with each other’s families, and were traditionally those who controlled the nation. That had changed in recent decades but such men were still important to someone like Bandeira who needed connections in such circles.
That was what irritated him. For all his wealth and power Bandeira would never be invited within that group. That was just one reason why he needed Almeida, why his involvement with Sonia was so reckless. Yes, he controlled the bank, but he still needed the father.
And just what game was she playing? He’d known women who enjoyed it rough. Typically they started fights knowing they would end in only one way. Over the years, he realized that these were not just women who came from violent childhoods but also women of social standing, women who had been pampered all their lives. Was he to believe that Sonia was one of them? You never knew with young women, not until it happened. He wondered sometimes if they knew. Had Sonia discovered this about herself only now? It would seem so, and if he was right, it opened up new opportunities for him with her, opportunities so much more reckless than what had gone before.
Almeida gestured for drinks; then the men ordered their meal. It had been Almeida who wanted to meet, so Bandeira waited, indicating by his silence that he intended to get to business. He had plans for later.
Almeida hesitated, then said, “I am concerned about the cash flow into the bank.”
Bandeira raised an eyebrow. “I thought banks liked money.”
Almeida smiled. “Oh we do, but lately it has been too much. It is getting difficult to manage without attracting attention. The Banco do Novo Brasil might be old and respected, but it is no longer a major bank in our nation.”
“It soon will be, Carlos. We’ve discussed my plans.”
“Oh yes, yes, I quite agree,” Almeida said eagerly. “But … too much, too fast is a problem, you understand?”
Bandeira pursed his lips. “I can see that.” The waiter set their drinks down, then drifted away. “How are the special accounts doing?”
The “special accounts” were those established for key politicians and government officials, all the corrupt elite who had to be taken care of. One of the reasons for acquiring control of the bank had been to give Bandeira a legitimate way of paying them off. Almeida’s principal service to him was to arrange this as routine business.
“There are no problems. It all goes smoothly.”
“Carlos, over the next week to ten days you will receive perhaps a billion U.S. dollars.” Almeida blanched. Bandeira held up his hand to stop him commenting. “I will be meeting with our friends before then, arranging special payments. I will give you the figures in a week. Move the money on to their outside accounts, you understand? Do not keep it in the bank.”
“I understand.” Almeida lifted his drink gulping down half before lowering the glass.
Bandeira smiled. “In this case the bank records are important to us so don’t work too hard at concealing them.”
“I … I thought…”
“Yes, usually. But this time I want my friends tied very closely to me. Don’t be concerned, Carlos, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance will receive a significant sum. All is well.”
“As you say.” Almeida ran his bare hand across the top of his head. He removed a handkerchief and wiped it unconsciously.
This was insurance. Almeida would bind the powerful in Brazil to Bandeira so completely, implicate them in Carnaval so thoroughly, if the necessity came they would save him in saving themselves. It was going to cost a great deal but it was worth it.
Business done, Bandeira turned to chat. “And how is your family?”
“Oh, that. It is why I was delayed coming. My daughter, Sonia—you’ve met her—she is having boyfriend trouble.”
“Young women always have trouble with their romantic life.”
“You are lucky to have a son. You have no idea what a curse it is to have so beautiful and willful a daughter. It is not like the old days when a father simply told his daughter what to do.”
“She told you about this trouble?”
“Nothing like that. You know women. I think she told my wife who became very upset.” Almeida leaned closer and lowered his voice. “I think he was physical with her. She is wearing too much makeup on her left cheek.”
“Ahh. He has no right. They are not married.”
“Exactly!” Almeida blinked quickly several times. “But since I’m not sure what happened, I don’t know what to do.” He clenched his jaw. “But if he really hurt her, that filho da puta will pay, I promise you!”
Bandeira suppressed a smile. He could not imagine Almeida doing anything in such a situation. “These young people, they are always having troubles like this. We spoil them.”
“Yes, I know. I know.” Almeida picked up his glass.
“Who is she seeing? Do you know?”
“I’ve never met him. I asked once, just showing interest, and she glared at me. I asked my wife and she said nothing.”
“Difficult.”
“Yes, it is very hard.” The man uncharacteristically finished his drink. “I’ve been thinking,” Almeida said, “and want to make a suggestion. An idea I have to bring us closer together, bind our relationship and solve this problem I have.”
“Yes?”
“You find my daughter attractive. I’m sure you do. She is lovely. Perhaps you could spend some time with her. It would be a great favor to me as it would get her away from this vile man who abuses her. Perhaps, if you think it would be an agreeable match, you would do me the honor of considering marrying her.”
Bandeira was stunned.
“Ah, there they are.” Almeida rose to attract the attention of his wife and Sonia as they entered the dining room. His wife wore a fixed smile on her face, as plastic as that on a mannequin. Sonia, dressed in something light and sunny, kept her eyes down, looking up just once, her eyes passing across Bandeira’s face without expression. For all anyone watching could know, this was the first time they’d ever seen each other.
Bandeira carefully watched as she sat. Then, for the briefest of moments, she caught his eye with a sly, hungry gaze.
44
WEST 109TH STREET
MANHATTAN VALLEY
NEW YORK CITY
12:58 P.M.
Daryl grimaced at the sight of the hotel where Frank and Jeff were staying. She looked carefully about the lobby as she entered and decided it was safe enough. The unshaven desk clerk eyed her as she went straight to the elevator but said nothing. She punched the button for the fifth floor, then stepped through the opening doors. The elevator swayed slightly as it rose, strange metallic sounds coming from above and below, echoing in the shaft.
The car stopped and the doors slowly parted. Daryl found the door and rapped lightly. A moment later Frank opened it half an inch, then pulled the door wide and greeted her with a smile.
“Good to see you,” he said, hugging her. “Come on in. Come on in.”
A bachelor’s effort had been made to clean the place, but it was obvious two men had been sharing the cramped room. The trash basket was filled to overflow with a pizza box and take-out containers. Papers on the dresser had been neatly stacked, sort of. Jeff was seated beside his laptop in the room’s only chair. There were white bandages on his head. He stood and smiled lightly.
“Hello, Daryl.” He didn’t approach her. She nodded in reply.
Frank closed the door behind her. Daryl moved to the first bed and sat. “Little short of sitting space, I see.”
“Yes,” Frank answered. “It’s turn-of-the-last-century modern. Hope you didn’t have any trouble getting here.”
She shook her head. “No
. I took three cabs, traveled back and forth on the subway for an hour, then had a coffee for a bit before coming. That’s as good as I can do it. The area’s not as bad as its reputation, though a bit dodgy.” She took in the faded wallpaper. “This place is kind of a dump.”
“Manhattan. Gotta love it. They take cash, gladly.” Frank looked at Jeff as if giving him a prompt.
“Thanks for coming, Daryl,” Jeff said. “We both appreciate it very much.”
“How’s the head?” Frank had assured her it was nothing serious, though it certainly looked serious to her untrained eye. Jeff was pale, seemed weak to her, appearing as if he’d been sick for a long time. The change was remarkable from when she’d last seen him. He’d lost at least ten pounds.
“It’s been better. Still aches a bit but nothing I can’t handle. The swelling’s gone down, but I’ve still got a pretty good knot. I’ll ditch the bandage before we go out. It’ll be fine.”
“You’ve not seen a doctor?”
“Not since the hospital, no. Frank’s been my primary care physician.” He said the last with a small smile.
Frank shrugged. “What can I say? Emergency field medical management, EFM as we called it for short. The training came back.” He sat on the other bed, creating a conversation triangle for them.
Daryl reached into her purse and withdrew a white packet she handed to Frank. “Fifteen thousand dollars. You didn’t say anything but if you’re going to be fugitives, it’s better not to do it on a credit card. You can pay me back when this mess is over.”
“Thank you. This is very kind. You can never have too much in a situation like this.” Frank placed the packet on the dresser. “What have you found?”
“I have an answer for those numbers. A lot of them track to banks. I think they’re part of the routing protocol for moving the captured money.”
“What banks?” Jeff asked.
“They’re everywhere. Cayman Islands, Latvia, Costa Rica, Belgium, Switzerland. There are a lot more. Many of them right here in the U.S.”
“The U.S.?” Jeff said.
“Just touching points I’d guess,” Frank answered. “And the other numbers?”
“I’m still working on that. At least one of them is in Connecticut. I think it’s all part of the same money distribution and vanishing operation. I don’t know if I can run any of the money trails down to a final source, and if I do, if I’ll be able penetrate the shell corporations that will be set up. My guess is I can’t, not anytime soon, and not without a lot of help.” She paused. “What have you got?”
Frank looked to Jeff who cleared his throat. “As you know, the code is designed to exploit its favored position within the Exchange’s trading platform. It loots money from specifically defined trades from carefully defined entities. You’ve confirmed what we suspected, which is that the money then goes offshore as soon as it’s generated.” Daryl nodded. “We’ve reached the conclusion that there is at least one inside player. There is definitely someone responsible for the core trading system involved.”
“Maybe there is more than one employee involved,” Daryl suggested.
“We don’t rule out the possibility, but the more there are, the greater the security risk,” Frank said. “It seems more likely there is just a single conduit within the Exchange, someone well placed. We aren’t ruling out the existence of an extra hand or two, just think it unlikely.”
Daryl nodded. “Maybe someone penetrated from outside, and there is no insider.”
“We’ve considered that,” Frank said. “But with the single exception of the rootkit the rogue code is too smoothly integrated to the trading functions to be accomplished by outsiders. Someone in the know is doing it. Now, it’s possible it’s a former employee, or perhaps someone who worked on the system as a contractor. We’ve not dismissed the possibility they set up a backdoor they’re accessing. The stock exchange has undergone many changes these last few years with the creation of the super hubs and the merging of various international trading networks. A lot of people have worked on these projects during that time and one, or some of them, could be responsible. That would be a job for the SEC or the Exchange’s security team to undertake. But we think it’s someone still there.
“Now the kernel of the trading platform is very sophisticated, very smooth. The code is altered periodically and the rogue code has to be modified with every update of the trading platform’s operating system. They do that almost seamlessly. It’s difficult to plant anything without attracting the attention of the automatic security audit monitoring. We think that’s what the rootkit was about. Someone got a little sloppy and didn’t want to put in the time to properly integrate the malware within the system. He took the easy way. It’s worked so far with the automated system but it was always vulnerable to being discovered by people like us who’d look for something like that.”
“So there is definitely an outside group involved,” Daryl said.
“Exactly,” Frank agreed. “Someone, somewhere else, is writing the code and keeping it on point.”
“Any hints?” she asked.
“More than a hint. We’ve got a location. The company is called Companhia Cero. It’s located in São Paulo.”
“Brazil? The bank data has two or three Brazilian banks in it.”
“That’s to be expected,” Frank said. “Any international laundering operation is bound to touch Brazil at some point, even land there eventually. It’s tolerant of white-collar criminals so it’s a likely end point for people doing something like this.”
“So you two think that it’s being run out of Brazil?” Daryl asked.
“We don’t know,” Jeff said. “We just know that’s where the New York code is originating. Whether or not it’s the origin point we can’t say, but someone in São Paulo probably knows the answer. The indicators point there.”
“All right. Look, you two have been working with the IT team. You must have met most, even all, of those with the kind of in-house access you suspect is necessary for this operation. Anybody come to mind?”
Frank made a face. “We’ve kicked it around a bit but to be honest we had our noses to the grindstone when we were there. No one was to know about the penetration test, so we made a point not to mingle much. If we’re right, and one or more of them is involved, maybe we spoke to them but it’s more likely we just passed them in the hallway.”
“Any hints? Brazilians?” She grinned at how obvious that would be.
“No,” Jeff said. “You, Frank?”
“No. Not that I know of. There were some Asians, a guy from Italy or Portugal if I got that right, an Aussie. The rest were all native-born Americans from what I could see.”
“Anybody can be a crook.”
“You got that right,” Frank agreed.
“As Frank mentioned,” Jeff said, “they’ve been regularly modifying and updating their code. There’s been a sharp increase since we went on the run. That suggests to us they’re in a hurry to do something, definitely something big.”
“Like what?”
“We don’t know. Perhaps you can figure that out.”
Daryl paused, then said, “Maybe it’s time to go to the SEC with what we have.”
“There’s a warrant out for our arrest,” Frank said. “They’ll be eager to lock us up. It’ll take days to even get access to someone who’ll listen and there’s no guarantee it will do any good.”
Daryl blanched at the news. “You can try the NYPD, FBI, some other agency.” Her voice faltered just a bit.
“We’ve talked about that but it works out the same way unfortunately.”
“How about sending what we’ve detected to the SEC through back channels, maybe find a source who’ll listen.”
“Yeah, that’s a possibility,” Frank said, “but in the end, it comes down to the same thing: two suspects pointing the guilty finger at someone else. It’s the same ol’ same ol’ as far as the SEC’s concerned.”
“This is absurd!”
Daryl blurted. “Hasn’t anyone done a background check on you two? If you were crooked, it would have shown up years ago. Frank, you’ve been an operative, for God’s sake. Jeff, just look at all you’ve done for this country these last years. I just can’t believe someone can so easily frame you. It’s just not right!”
“We both appreciate that,” Frank said. “But I really think we need to pin this down ourselves.”
Daryl wiped a wet eye carefully so her mascara wouldn’t run. “What’s that mean?”
“We need to find the source,” Jeff said, “get access to the computers and original code. If we’re lucky, we’ll locate a body and get him to squeal. Is that still the word?” He looked at each of them in turn.
“You mean tell what he or she knows,” Frank said.
“Okay, I can see that,” Daryl said. “But how does that work?”
“We think whoever is doing this in São Paulo is a good starting point,” Jeff said.
“They might be the origin or they might be a conduit,” Frank explained. “We can’t tell, but if someone working there doesn’t know anything, which we think is highly unlikely, they should lead us to someone who does. We find that someone and suddenly we’ve got credibility, then all the rest we’ve come up with falls into place. With a bit of luck we can grab some computers as well. That would ice it.”
“What if this magic person doesn’t want to talk?”
“Daryl, Daryl,” Frank said. “There are ways.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I promise, no marks of any kind, but by the time I’m finished they’ll squeal like a greased pig.” He looked at Jeff. “Squeal I think is the right word.”
“This sounds dangerous,” Daryl said.
“Staying here is dangerous,” Frank said. “The local cops dropped off a flier downstairs earlier today with our photos on it. I was concerned it was them when you knocked. The clerk made a point to show me one. I slipped him a hundred, but that won’t hold him long. We’ve got to move now.”
Rogue Code Page 23