by Sijal Aziz
Shonda made her way from behind the desk and guided Derek to the waiting room. She had an excellent body and was exquisitely dressed. Alexander Cooper must have been paying her well. Once they reached the waiting room, Shonda pointed to the sofa and said with a lovely smile, “Please make yourself comfortable while we check Mr. Cooper’s availability”
The waiting room was in a class of its own. It was done in white marbled floor and walls and had French windows that offered spectacular views. The furniture in the room was all done is pearl black. On one side of the room was a desk with coffee and different arrays of Danish pastries and donuts. Detective Derek walked over to the coffee stand and suddenly felt very hungry. He wondered how the secretaries kept their figures in such a shape with all this free delicious food lying around. He went back to his couch and started waiting.
After waiting there for 10 minutes Shonda appeared again, ““Mr. Cooper will see you now”
Derek followed Shonda to Alexander Cooper’s office. On the way over Derek eyed Shonda discreetly and thought that Cooper sure did know how to pick secretaries. Derek wondered if Cooper was sleeping with any one or all of them.
Once they reached the office Shonda opened the door for the detective with a smile and left.
Alexander Cooper’s huge office was done in high-end furniture. He was sitting behind a Parnian desk that must have cost a hundred thousand dollars at least. In front of the desk there were three chairs with a coffee table. There was a couch on the right side of the room.
The room itself was decorated in grey and white tone. The wall behind Alexander Cooper was all done in glass and the bright sun light was streaming through it. Alexander Cooper’s desk was empty except for his laptop and two phones.
Derek made his way to the desk. Alexander Cooper was on the phone, he hung up the phone and shook detective Derek’s hand, “I have been informed by Shonda that you are with the Metropolitan Police Department and need to ask me some questions about Ms. Hawkins, please take a seat”
Detective Derek took his seat and started, “I am conducting an investigation into Ms. Hawkins’s. As you may be aware that Ms. Hawkins is our prime suspect for the murder of Matthew Raymond, her boyfriend.
She has escaped while we were taking her to be interviewed and is now also a fugitive.
In order to establish where she may be hiding, I will need to ask you some questions and also need a list of Ms. Hawkins’ colleagues so that I can interview them as well. I am here under the notion that you will have no objection to this since the publicity that the case is attracting must be bad for you. If you however have any objection, I can get a court order and continue”
“Detective Markus, I have no objections to having anyone of my staff interviewed or to answering any of your questions. I want to put this issue to rest as soon as possible, as you have also mentioned, if it goes on any longer it can affect our reputation”, Alexander Cooper responded with his voice ringing with truth. He buzzed his intercom and asked his secretary to come inside.
Shonda appeared again.
“Shonda, detective Markus here needs a list of all the employees in Ms. Hawkins department. Please make sure you have the list ready before the detective leaves and hand it over to him at the reception”
“Of course, Mr. Cooper, “Shonda said and left.
“Please go on detective, I am due in another meeting in ten minutes”, Alexander Cooper said looking at his watch.
“This won’t take a lot of time. Can you please tell me what was it exactly that Ms. Hawkins did here? I mean what was her job task?”
Alexander Cooper shrugged, “Her job task? I thought she was being sought for murder?”
“Yes, we want to make a clear picture for my report on what her duties were as it will help us in locating her”
“Oh! Her job was to check for vulnerabilities in the softwares that we develop”
“Vulnerabilities?” Detective Derek asked.
“Sorry, let me explain”, Alexander Cooper went on “You may be aware that computers themselves are worthless to the general public unless they have softwares that allow people to interact with computers to get tasks done. These softwares are compiled through coding by the software firms.
There are some firms that make softwares for the mass public like Microsoft, Apple etc. and there are some firms that make bespoke softwares for companies that fit the companies’ needs and requirements.
Now these softwares are useless if someone can hack into them to get access to data and confidential records or simply to destroy the softwares or hardware.
For example, if someone can hack into a bank, they would not only be able to steal money but also data on all the customers of the bank. The personal data on people could be sold on the black market for millions of dollars.
That is where our firm comes in, we do not only make bespoke softwares but also test them through our vulnerability testing department for months until we can make sure they are impenetrable so that firms can have peace of mind when they order from us and their software cannot hacked or security breached. Ms. Hawkins worked in one of our vulnerability testing department, which does all of this”
Detective Derek was not into computers much. He only used the computer to type reports, access records, send emails and occasionally to do some case related research.
But he was fascinated with what Alexander Cooper was telling him. Beyond the world of physicality there existed a cyber world with billions of bits of information, which could be hacked without breaking into anyone’s home.
“Hmm. How do you hire your employees Mr. Cooper?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, does your firm carryout any background checks on your employees? Like to see if they have a police record. I mean you work with the government and surely you want to protect your company and not hire any felons who had been part of the prison system or had police records?”
Alexander Cooper didn’t see that coming, “Yes we do”
“So, explain something to me Mr. Cooper. Ms. Katherine Hawkins has a long rap sheet dating back to her college. Why did your firm hire her if you had done some background checks on her?”
Alexander Cooper had to think of something quickly. He had sent an assassin to murder Katherine Hawkins, but the stupid assassin had ended up murdering her boyfriend. So, when the police named Katherine Hawkins as their chief suspect, Alexander Cooper had to think of something quick and giving her a police record seemed right at the time.
He had never counted on her running away from police and ending up in this situation, where he had to answer stupid questions from this lowly detective. He had to be careful of how he handled it because he did not want to raise any suspicions.
“I will need to check that with my security department detective. We hire and fire so many people, sometimes things like this can happen.
However, I will be able to give you more information on that after talking with my security department. Now is there anything else you wanted to ask me?”, Alexander Cooper said looking at his wrist watch.
“I will just need a few more minutes of your time Mr. Cooper”, detective Derek carefully worded his next question so that he did not raise any alarms with Alexander Cooper in case he was somehow involved, “I have read from your firm’s profile online that your firm compiles software for top secret government departments like DARPA, NSA, Homeland Security etc. Did Ms. Hawkins work on developing or testing of anyone of these softwares including your drone policing software that your firm has just handed over to the government?”
For a moment, Detective Derek thought he saw a hint of worry on Alexander Cooper’s face but it went away as quickly as it had appeared and he responded coolly, “Yes, our firm does work with the government on a number of top secret projects including the drone policing software. Ms. Hawkins was not part of any testing or compilation of this software as she did not have the clearance to work on these.
However in the last week
of her employment here she had been assigned to a minor testing component of the drone policing software but she could only work on it for a few weeks before she murdered her boyfriend and escaped from your custody,” Alexander Cooper said and then added, “If there are no more questions, I have a meeting now?”
“I do not have any further questions at the moment. But I may need to talk with you again regarding Ms. Hawkins”, Derek said getting up from his seat.
He handed Alexander Cooper his card and said, “Meanwhile if you remember something important related to the case, please give me a call day or night”
“I will”
Detective Derek went to the reception where Shonda was waiting for him with a list. He took the list from Shonda and thanked her with a smile and started making his way out of the building. Under normal circumstances detective Derek would have asked Shonda on a date, but he could not mix business with pleasure in this case. Maybe another time, he thought.
Back at the station, Derek made his way to the Jeff Sanders or the IT guy as he was known around the station. This was the first time, Derek would be paying a visit to Jeff. Jeff had been working at the station for the past two years.
CHAPTER 12
Jeff Sanders was in early twenties.
He was thin and very pale. He seemed very disheveled in appearance.
“Jeff, I am detective Derek Markus with the Robbery and Homicide division and I need to ask you some computer software related questions”, Derek started.
Jeff stared at detective Markus from his desk and responded with a non- committing, “Sure”
Derek sat down.
“I want you to tell me everything you know about the drone policing software that everyone is talking about and what is a backdoor?”
Jeff’s eyes lit up at the question and in a moment, he transformed from the lazy guy slumped on a chair to an intelligent human being.
“Well as you may know, United States is under continuous terrorist threats from home and abroad. Everyday our various intelligence agencies thwart hundreds of terrorist attempts against our citizens. But sometimes this is not enough.
Sometimes the agencies are unable to stop a terrorist from mass shootings or are unable to stop a bomb blast as they cannot surveil everything at all the times. So, someone at the congress came up with the idea of monitoring and securing the streets with continuous monitoring.
The idea was further developed with the help of local police and other agencies and viola, now the government will be deploying armed drones not only to monitor and secure our streets from petty criminals but also to apprehend and shoot a terrorist or terrorists before he or they could carry out their plans.
The drones have had a very bad track record. Most of them either get hacked or their controllers lose track of them and they fall down”, Jeff looked at Detective Derek to make sure he was listening. Detective Derek was hanging on Jeff’s every word.
Jeff continued, “Now the congress, knowing the history of the drones, wanted to make sure that the weaponized drones do not fall into the wrong hands, so they made a committee of software firms across the United States and asked them to come up with an idea on how to make a foolproof fully functional drone software.
A number of firms responded but the most practical drone software was suggested by Kent and Cooper. Their suggestive program was torn apart by all the other firms, but they could not find any problem with its functionality. Kent and Cooper also provided government with a guarantee that their system was ‘unhackable’ and could not be penetrated”
Derek interrupted, “Now I am not a pro but even I know that there is nothing that is impossible. There is always a way”
Jeff did not like being interrupted but he carried on, “Well there are several steps that a software developer could take to make sure that their software is impenetrable like for example in the case of drone policing software instead of using the outdated login and password system the program uses real time biometrics in which a preauthorized user will be able to login through his finger print and retina scan.
The software has military grade encryption, meaning it has been encrypted twice. It is difficult to hack a single grade encryption and so far, double encryption has not been decrypted.
Then there is an added layer of IP control, meaning that the drones can only receive data from a single controller from a single physical address in a preauthorized building.
In other words, no one outside of the building can control the drones. This type of software has never been made before and I can assure you that it is pretty impenetrable as far as I know”, Jeff finished.
Derek was thoughtful for a moment, “Hmm. What about a backdoor in a software? What is a backdoor?”
Jeff shrugged, “Well a backdoor is exactly what it sounds like. It is a backdoor built into a software to allow access to it from another source.
For example, let’s suppose there is a building that is pretty secure. In order to enter it you need a pass and stuff. But if in that very building there is a backdoor that no one knows about. Once someone finds it or is someone has left it there, they could enter through it without the need for passes and security checks”
“Ok so let me get this straight, a backdoor would allow access to anyone who would know where it is?”
Jeff shifted in his chair and responded thoughtfully, “Well yes, disgruntled employees usually make backdoors to later control the softwares their firms had developed in order to extort money from the firms that buy these softwares or to gather personnel data on people using these softwares. That is why the Government of Untied States only does business with firms that have gone through strict governmental checks”
“So would a double encryption secure the backdoor as well?” Derek asked.
“Well no, the whole beauty of the backdoor is that anyone can use it without the need for any security clearance and do whatever they want”
Jeff was about to ask what it was all about, but Derek got up from the seat thanked Jeff and left.
Detective Derek went back to his seat digesting all the information that Jeff had provided him with. He did not have a lot to go on. Only a phone call from a probable murderer and a fugitive with four words “drone policing software” and “backdoor”.
Detective Derek wondered if he should hold another meeting with Alexander Cooper and confront him with the information he had, but then thought better of it. His gut was telling him that Hawkins case was bigger than just a murder case but why would Kent and Cooper be involved with something against the government and the American people.
As far as he could see there was no motive that the company could possibly have. It was an all-American company being run by an American citizen and money certainly was not a motive since Kent and Cooper was making billions of dollars in revenues.
But he did not want to overlook the Kent and Cooper connection in the case, so he decided to split the investigation and make it two pronged.
Detective Derek added Alexander Cooper as a person of interest in his investigation into Katherine Hawkins. Derek wrote down Alexander Cooper’s initials on a piece of paper and put it on the murder board as well. He would have loved to look at Alexander Cooper’s financials, but he knew he would not be issued a warrant with the information he currently had.
Next step was Kate’s past. Derek started with the case of Rita Gonzales. As per Katherine Hawkins file she had beaten her up for sleeping with her boyfriend, when she was a computer science student at Georgetown University. So, Derek headed straight to Georgetown University.
The visit to Georgetown University was uneventful. When Derek reached the University, he went straight to the students’ affairs department where he located Kate’s class through her yearbook. Upon inquiry about Katherine Hawkins and her anger management problems, he was signposted to student guidance counselor as she mostly dealt with problematic cases.
The student guidance counselor, Mrs. Sheila Perkins, had been with the univers
ity for the past 15 years. She had a nice disposition about her. She had deep grey eyes, that seemed to miss nothing. Derek was reminded of his principal in high school when he looked at her.
Detective Derek introduced himself to Mrs. Sheila Perkins.
“How may I assist you detective?” Mrs. Sheila Perkins said with a hint of curiosity.
“I am looking for information on one of students here, a Ms. Katherine Hawkins, who studied computer sciences here and graduated in 2015. She beat up her roommate pretty badly and must have been referred to you for counseling”
“Hmm. Class of 2015 you say. Quite a few students are referred to me each week. I cannot remember all of them. Do you happen to have a picture of the student in question?”
Derek showed Ms. Perkins the yearbook with Kate’s picture in it.
“Hmmm. I do remember Kate. I do not know who told you she beat up her roommate because she was a model student here. She, in fact worked as my admin assistance for three months and designed our database for maintaining records of all the students who sought guidance from me from time to time”
Detective Derek was taken aback by what Ms. Perkins had just said and he thought that maybe she was confusing Kate with someone else as it had been four years.
“Ms. Perkins are you sure you are not confusing Ms. Hawkins with another student. I have a police record here that shows that she beat up her roommate, another student by the name of Rita Gonzales, while she was here”
“That is Mrs. Perkins detective. I can assure you that my memory has not failed me, and I remember Kate quite clearly. If she had been involved with something like what you are suggesting she would definitely have been referred to me. She worked for me for three months and I never saw any hint of malevolent behavior. If you still want to verify, you can get her employment records from the Student Employment Department”, Mrs. Perkins added quite indignantly.
Derek thanked Mrs. Perkins and went straight to the Student Employment Department where he requested a copy of Katherine Hawkins employment records.