Cyber Countdown

by Terence Flynn

  “How are you feeling, Rick? Is your doctor taking care of you?”

  “She’s working tonight and I’m feeling much better. I have the radar and I’ll bring it to the house tomorrow morning. Can you tell the gate to let me in, or should I just show them my badge?”

  “Ann set up a gate card for you. The guards have seen enough FBI and police badges for a while. Don’t forget to bring the FBI analysis of the safe.”

  “I will, but I don’t think there’s anything useful.”

  The next morning, James was awakened by the doorbell. He opened the door for Rick, and noticed the falling snow.

  “Come in out of the snow, Rick. It looks like the weatherman may be right this time.”

  “Yeah, it looks that way. The weather report for this area is ten to twelve inches. I don’t think that rear-wheel drive rental is going to get me home.”

  “Pull it into the garage next to my SUV, which may be our only transportation.”

  James ate breakfast and reviewed the FBI report.

  “This report is useless, Rick. It’s only one page and basically concludes that the safe is a high-end house safe.”

  “Yeah, I know. The radar should give us more information.”

  “We’ll get to the radar later. Ann left me the key for Philip’s desk. Let’s go through it first.”

  James opened the desk, and he and Rick went through its contents. Rick found a jump drive in one of the desk drawers.

  “You continue to search the desk, Rick. I’ll plug the jump drive into my laptop to see if there’s anything interesting.”

  “The papers in the desk all appear to be old designs and ideas that your partner wanted to keep,” Rick said. “I haven’t seen anything that has a date newer than three years ago.”

  “Yeah, Philip kept everything. They’re probably just concepts that we never implemented. This jump drive only has a single folder listed as ‘Bedroom Safe,’ and it includes the design data, drawings, installation requirements, and warranty for the safe. There’s also a separate Word file titled ‘Safe Synchronization Code.’ The code has ten numerical digits.”

  “Maybe it’s a phone number.”

  “That’s what I’m thinking. I’m writing it down, Rick.”

  “I’m going to get the radar to scan the safe from below the master bedroom. I’ll also take some pictures.”

  “Good idea,” James said. “I’ll stay here and review the safe’s design data and drawings.”

  About fifteen minutes later, Rick came back upstairs to the bedroom.

  “I think you should see these pictures, James. The safe is embedded in a cement block and is installed on top of the main beam for the first floor. It’s located between two vertical posts in the wall between the kitchen and living room. I took pictures from every angle.”

  “Let’s load them onto my laptop,” James said, as he connected the USB cable. “Okay, they’re downloading.”

  “We also need to load the program from this disk,” Rick said. “It scales the pictures, provides length, height, and thickness, and can display everything in three dimensions.”

  “Okay, I’m loading the software, Rick. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

  “This software is amazing, James. I can see everything including their length, width, and depth by just moving the cursor.”

  “Yeah, I can see that. It looks like the safe is rectangular, about eighteen inches in length, twenty-two inches in width, and about thirty inches deep. There are two horizontal extensions that look like flanges that run the width of the safe on both sides.”

  “They’re not symmetrical, James. One extends out two inches from the body of the safe, while the other one extends sixteen inches. They’re both about three inches in height, and there are anchoring bolts on each side that connect it to the second floor main beam.”

  James moved the display cursor.

  “Look at these wires from the house circuits leading into the longer sixteen-inch flange, Rick. There must be something in the flange that requires power. I think that flange on the long side might be more than just a flange.”

  “What do you think is in there, James?”

  “It could be where the electronics that control the safe is located. The safe might have a microcomputer built into the long flange. It probably has Bluetooth capability to connect to the bedroom phone and possibly cellular network capability, like a tablet.”

  “So it can communicate with a cell phone or a computer?”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure it can, Rick. It might also record and send audit files on when it was opened and closed or if there were attempts that failed. It could’ve sent messages to Philip’s cell phone to alert him if it was opened. That’s how I’d design it.”

  James and Rick walked up to the master bedroom and removed the carpet and floor panel covering the safe. James called Ann on his cell phone. When she answered, he asked her for her combination, which he punched into the phone. He then put the house phone in the bedroom and his cell phone in speaker mode that allowed her to answer the security challenge. The safe unlocked. James thanked her.

  “I think we should measure the inside dimensions of the safe. Do you have a tape measure I can borrow, Rick?”

  “Yeah, it’s in my pocket. I thought we might need it.”

  “Okay, it looks like the inside dimensions are seventeen inches in length, twenty-one inches in width, and about twenty-four inches deep. I measured the safe walls as being a half-inch thick.”

  “That’s strange,” Rick said. “The length and width are what I anticipated based on external dimensions and wall thickness, but the depth isn’t. There must be another compartment below the bottom of the safe that is about five inches in depth.”

  James thought for a moment. “I’ll bet there’s an electric motor in the wider flange. It probably retracts the bottom of the safe and opens a bottom compartment. It’s probably controlled by the circuit board, which activates the motor after a second combination is entered. That’s why Philip didn’t need a duress code. All the important stuff is in a hidden compartment.”

  “I think your partner used that compartment for storing information that only he could access and his wife couldn’t.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure Philip designed it so that only his combination for the main safe would enable access to the hidden compartment by entering a second combination only he knew. He obviously did it for security reasons. I bet that safe synchronization code has something to do with the hidden compartment.”

  After breaking for lunch, James called Ann.

  “Hi, Ann, did you get Philip’s combination from the safe deposit box?”

  “Yes, I did. It’s right here, James.”

  James copied down the combination on the same paper that he’d written the safe synchronization code.

  “Thanks, Ann. I might need to call you back if I can’t answer the security challenge.”

  “I just had a thought,” Rick said. “What if the voice challenge has to be answered in Philip’s voice?”

  “I doubt that, Rick. Voice analysis is probably beyond the capabilities of the small microcomputer in the safe. Also, why would Philip leave his combination in the family safe deposit box if voice analysis was required? I know they were close, but I doubt either Jim or Ann could imitate Philip’s voice.”

  James relocked the safe. He then entered Philip’s combination and waited for the security question, which asked for Philip’s nickname in high school.

  “The Riddler,” James answered.

  James and Rick watched as the main compartment of the safe unlocked.

  “How’d you know the answer to that question, James?”

  “I gave Philip that nickname. He loved riddles, the more complex the better.”

  “Would Ann or Jim have known?”

  “Probably not. It was a private thing between the two of us in high school, years before he met Ann. He abandoned it in college. Philip didn’t want to be identified with a comic
book villain. That wouldn’t be good in our line of work.”

  “So what combination should we try first to open the bottom compartment?” Rick asked.

  “I’m entering the safe synchronization code. Let’s see what happens.”

  The hidden compartment didn’t open.

  “Well, that didn’t work, James. Try it again slowly, in case you made a mistake.”

  “Okay, Rick. I’m entering it again, very slowly.”

  “Nothing happened. I don’t think the synchronization code is the combination, James.”

  “You think?” James said, with sarcasm.

  Rick grinned and said, “Just trying to be helpful.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry. I think I know why it didn’t work. Synchronization usually refers to time. I think the synchronization code is a time code, Rick.”

  “You could be right, James. It’s the correct number of digits for seconds, minutes, hours, and years.”

  “I bet it’s based on the date and time the safe was installed. Ann told the FBI the safe was installed about eighteen months ago, that fits with the numbers in the synchronization code when converted to months, days, minutes, and seconds.”

  “How would that relate to the combination?”

  “Maybe the combination is the difference in time between the sychronization code and the current date as calculated by the processor in the safe. Try that, Rick. Use your calculator to determine the difference, based on the time from the atomic clock on the nightstand.”

  Rick calculated the time difference for ten seconds ahead and showed it to James.

  “Okay. I’ll count from five, four, three, two, one, now.”

  Again nothing happened.

  “Are you sure it’s correct, Rick?”

  “Yes, James, I checked it twice.”

  “What do you think we should try next?”

  “I don’t think it’s what but rather who, James. You’re the key.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Philip set this up for you in case something happened to him. It’s a puzzle he wants you to solve. You’re the only one who knew the answer to the challenge question. I think the synchronization time code is part of it. Philip knew the synchronization code could be found by anyone looking through his desk, so it’s probably something based on it. He wouldn’t hide the combination in plain sight.”

  “You’re right. That would be too easy. The synchronization code is probably part of a riddle. That’s what the challenge question was telling me. Philip is speaking to me from the grave.”

  “I agree. What’s he telling you, James?”

  “I’m not sure, but this is really fun. It’s like old times when Philip and I used to challenge each other with puzzles and riddles.”

  “I’m glad you’re having fun. Have you looked at the snow lately? If we don’t get out of here soon, we may be stuck here tonight.”

  “Don’t worry, Rick. My SUV will get us home.”

  “I hope so. I hate being trapped in an abandoned house when it’s snowing. Did you ever see The Shining?”

  “Relax and enjoy this, Rick. Give me some ideas.”

  “Well, if you believe you’re on the right track, then tell me this. How would Philip have expressed the combination differently than what we’ve already tried?”

  James thought for a minute or so and then looked at Rick with a huge Cheshire cat smile.

  “Rick, you’re a genius.”

  “Thank you. What’d I do?”

  “You framed the issue perfectly. The combination is made up of numbers, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s obvious.”

  “True, Rick. But numbers can be expressed in different numerical systems than the decimal system we use every day. What system have information technology types like Philip, you, and I used, other than decimal, which only has ten base numbers?”

  “Hexadecimal. It has sixteen base numbers and is used for identifying computer memory addresses. Do you think that’s it?”

  “I’m pretty certain not everyone is familiar with the hexadecimal system, Rick. Philip knew I was as familiar with it as he was.”

  “Yes, but it’s difficult to use since numbers above nine require letters. Why would he do that instead of some type of number substitution or transposition? Cryptographers use that all the time. With Philip’s background in cybersecurity, he’d have known that.”

  “Yes, but I worked with Philip for years. He knew I’d remember that he used this method before. He always hated the drudgery of having to change his network password every ninety days. All the employees would automatically get a warning beginning from ten days before the password expiration date. The password had to include numbers and letters and couldn’t be the same as the last five passwords that were used. Philip wrote a program that generated a password based on the numbers representing the date when the password was first used. The next password was based on the next expiration date and each new one thereafter. That met all the requirements except the need for having numbers and letters, so he decided to generate his passwords in hexadecimal.”

  “That’s clever. Hexadecimal uses zero through nine and then adds A through F to represent the six additional symbols. Any numbers larger than nine would usually include letters.”

  “Correct. In those rare cases when one didn’t, Philip would’ve substituted a letter other than A through F. That would meet all the password requirements. I think Philip took the time difference we tried previously and then converted it into hexadecimal.”

  “That would make sense, since it probably also meets the safe’s pass code requirements. The pass codes Ann and Philip used for opening the main part of the safe had numbers and letters. The requirements for the lower compartment must be the same.”

  “I’ve got an application on my laptop that converts base ten numbers to hexadecimal base sixteen, Rick. I’m going to convert the differences that fits with the numbers in the synchronization code when converted to months, days, minutes, and seconds.”

  James ran the calculations on his laptop.

  “Here we go. I calculated the combination for thirty seconds from now. Tell me when the clock reads 15:30:26, and I’ll enter it.”

  “Okay—five, four, three, two, one, now!”

  James entered the code, and the bottom of the safe began to retract.

  “It worked, Rick. It really worked.”

  “Yeah, and it looks like we hit pay dirt,” Rick said, as he pulled two large-clasp envelopes out of the safe.

  “I recognize Philip’s handwriting, Rick. One envelope is labeled ‘Backfire’ and the other one is labeled ‘Zeus.’”

  “Looks like this trip wasn’t a waste of time. I guess we have some homework to see what your partner thought was so important that he had to hide it in a safe that Sherlock Holmes couldn’t crack.”

  17

  Sun Yu was worried. He had just been called back to the embassy by the ambassador, who seemed upset. Sun was concerned that his absence could delay the documentary, which was going so well. He hoped he wasn’t being summoned to address some minor concern. Still, there was no way he could ignore the ambassador, so he immediately booked a flight to DC.

  The flight from Kennedy was crowded and unpleasant, which didn’t help Sun’s mood. He went immediately to the ambassador’s office and waited while the ambassador talked on the phone with Zhou Ming. Based on their conversation, Sun knew something had happened, and it wasn’t good.

  “Hello, Sun Yu the producer,” Ambassador Yang joked. “Your plan worked well and we did find Dimitri. Unfortunately, one of our agents was gravely injured and may not live. How long will it take you to wrap things up in New York?”

  “What happened? The last I heard, we’d tracked Dimitri to Florida.”

  “Yes, but he escaped after being surrounded by our people. This man is very resourceful and dangerous. One of our agents is now in critical condition in a hospital in Orlando. Apparently, Vasin was also injured during the f
ight, but got away without a trace. Someone is clearly helping him. Could he still be working for the US government?”

  “Dimitri Vasin worked for US Intelligence in the past, Ambassador. My information indicates that he’s now working for someone in the private sector for a lot more money. It could be possible that he still occasionally works as a freelance operative, but we’d have no way of verifying that.”

  “I plan to go to the White House to meet with the president and his chief of staff tomorrow morning and ask them that question. I’ll let them know that our agent was attacked by a former agent of the US government. If he doesn’t dispute it, I’ll ask him if Mr. Vasin is currently their agent.”

  “If he got away so easily, then he probably had help from someone he knows, Ambassador. Possibly in Brighton Beach, where we’re doing the documentary. He may have contacts with the Russian Mafia, and they could’ve provided such help. I suggest that I return to Brighton Beach and see if there’s any information I can find that might provide some clues. I might have to break into his house, Ambassador.”

  “Do whatever you have to, Sun, but don’t get caught.”

  “I’ll be careful.”

  Sun flew back to New York and visited the bar in Brighton Beach that evening. As he walked in, he saw the Chinese director of the documentary.

  “How did things go today?” Sun asked the director.

  “Not so well, Sun. None of the Russians we wanted to interview showed up.”

  “Have you seen Marat?”

  “No, I was told he’ll be here later.”

  Sun left and walked to Dimitri’s house. He checked the outside of the house and found no evidence of any security system, such as cameras or external speakers to sound an alarm. Finding nothing, he walked to the back of the house and down the cellar steps, where he was out of sight. He picked the lock and let himself in while using a small pen light to navigate up the stairs to the first floor.

  “I’m Putin,” said a voice in the dark. “Who are you?”

  Sun was rattled until he scanned the room with his flashlight and saw Putin in his cage. He snickered, and then continued to check the first floor, but found nothing of interest.