Catalyst

by Steve Winshel

  “Morning, Dr. Barnes. Didn’t expect to see you back until next week.”

  He gave the guard a weary smile. “You should never be surprised, Jerry. No rest for the wicked.”

  In his office Josh connected his laptop to the network and closed the door. If his teams knew he was in town, they’d be all over him the entire day. He had blocked out his calendar so it looked like he was in meetings to anyone who checked his publicly available schedule on the company network. Josh started poking around the entire Minneapolis facility, using his computer like a hunting dog to sniff out prey. There were hundreds of servers, big computers storing all the data the company created every day, and there were tens of thousands of nooks and crannies where the designs for the Ventrica VII could be. He started with the obvious by doing a search of the network for the word “Ventrica” and then sifting through hundreds of results. Half an hour later, he identified one of the servers that probably had the designs. Knowing it would not work, he tried to access the server: denied. There was a list of people who were allowed access. Josh wasn’t one of them. If he tried to get on the list it would be unusual and draw attention. There was only one way to get the designs. He had to be someone else.

  Every time someone connected their computer to the network, a log was kept of exactly which machine was being used. You couldn’t hide that. Somewhere deep in the bowels of Cardient was a server that had written a line of text showing Josh’s computer logged on at that moment. It also kept track of exactly what servers he tried to access and, though Josh wasn’t sure, it might also keep track of every button press made on the keyboard. Most people didn’t know it, but employers could track every web site you visited, every email you typed, every instant message you sent. Josh had to be careful the logs of his activity didn’t show what he was trying to do.

  Even though the network now knew Josh’s computer was connected, it didn’t know who was using it. Anybody in the company could walk up to any computer and type in their unique user identification and password combination to log on. The computer would then give them all the rights and privileges accorded the owner of the password and ID. It was like going to a library and using a public computer to check your email – logging in gave you access to your stuff, but the computer belonged to someone else. That meant he could log in as someone else at the company, someone with access to the Ventrica design, and get the plans. The only problem was he didn’t have the password of anyone with access. He had to get it.

  He started with the manager he’d met with the other day. Knowing his username was easy; it was just his first initial and last name. But Josh didn’t know his password. Most people used something common, like their kid’s name or mother’s maiden name. If he could figure out Kenny’s favorite password, he’d be in. Josh reminded himself he used to be pretty good at this. He typed kmitchell for the username and then thought about the password. The manager had a daughter named Clarissa so he typed that in. Just as he hit the Enter button, Josh realized how stupid this was. The network kept track of every attempt to log in. He had just started an electronic trail of what he was trying to do. When Josh entered the building, that action was logged. A few minutes later his computer would be shown connecting to the network. Now it was showing someone trying to log in as Kenny Mitchell and giving the wrong password and he would have to make many mistakes while trying to come up with the right password. Any idiot could figure out he was trying to hack into Kenny’s account. He wasn’t thinking and he wasn’t being careful. Josh knew he was jeopardizing his sister’s life and his own. He sat back and took a few deep breaths. His foot tapped and he could feel it getting faster and faster as he threw out half his plan. Josh needed to get the password right the first time; he couldn’t run through a thousand possibilities. And he needed to do it from someone else’s computer, someone who had legitimate access to the plans.

  If he had enough time, Josh could set something up. He could get one of those tiny spy cameras and put it in someone’s office and watch what they typed when they logged in. But that would take a couple of days. He could hang around someone’s office who had access and when they went to the bathroom, pop in and use their computer – assuming they didn’t log out when they left or no one asked Josh why he was lounging outside their office trying to get them to drink a lot of coffee. Josh was losing confidence and the fear started to rise again.

  Then he had it. On the airplane, Josh frequently sat next to other businessmen. They did the same thing he did, working most of the flight. Even in first class the seats were close enough together that all you had to do was angle your eyes and you could read the computer screen next to you. Even easier if you were in the seat behind and across the aisle from them and assuming you still had pretty good eyesight. He had read many tidbits he knew weren’t meant for strangers on the plane. Financial analyses, product strategies, and the occasional email about an illicit affair or work-related misdeed. Josh had also seen many passwords typed in. It was like listening to someone on a public phone giving their credit card number to an operator; all you needed was a pen or good memory and you had everything you needed to rip them off. Passwords were a little harder because most people, even lousy typists, whipped them off pretty quickly. But if you paid close attention you’d have a good shot at getting it. Josh needed to be there when someone logged on, someone who wouldn’t think twice about doing it in front of him. He had to find out what time Kenny got in.

  It was still only 7:00 a.m. Josh called Kenny’s office and got voicemail. He hung up. The clock was ticking. Ten hours left, twelve if Helen gave him until five California time, since there was a two-hour difference between L.A. and Minneapolis. Worry was starting to seep in and blur Josh’s thinking. If he couldn’t get Kenny’s password, who else was there? He couldn’t randomly start showing up at offices of people he didn’t know. Josh looked at an internal web site with a directory of everyone at Cardient and sorted by project area. There were 376 names listed under the Ventrica VII project. He scanned the higher ups, the V.P.s and directors. A few names popped out, but none with whom he worked closely. Starting to panic, Josh tried a few but got voicemails. Slamming the phone down, he felt the walls closing in. He told himself he needed to calm down.

  Kenny’s office was two buildings over in the Cardient complex. Walking through the crisp September Minnesota air cleared his head. Kenny’s assistant always got in early. Today was no exception.

  “Hey, Janice, how are you?”

  “Morning, Josh. That’s twice in a couple of days I’ve gotten to see you. Did you bring flowers this time?”

  Janice liked to flirt and Josh liked to play along. Not the same as in the bar with Helen before she bared her teeth. It didn’t matter Janice was 20 years older and 40 pounds heavier than Josh. This time, though, he hoped to use it to get something he needed. Maybe she had Kenny’s password. It was against company rules to tell anyone your password, but lots of people did it. If your assistant could log in as you, then he or she could do some of the menial tasks you were supposed to but didn’t want to. Josh told her the lie he’d conjured on the walk over.

  “You’ll have to earn the flowers. Maybe a little candy, too, if you can help me out. Kenny was supposed to send me a timeline for the new staffing project but didn’t, and I’ve got a meeting at 8:00 and I absolutely, positively, must have it by then. Is there any way…?”

  Josh smiled his sweetest smile, which probably looked a little strained. She didn’t seem to mind.

  “Sure, dear, I’ll dig it up. What was it exactly?”

  He leaned in, part of his attempt to be charming, but better to see her keyboard when she started typing. “I’m pretty sure it’s on his secure drive, so you’ll probably have to log in as Kenny to get it.” Josh said it with a knowing look, since it was breaking policy by even suggesting that.

  A little wink by Janice. “You know I would NEVER use Kenny’s password!”

  She started typing and Josh looked at her screen to be rea
dy for when she got to the password part of the login, hoping he could memorize the sequence of letters and numbers as her fingers whipped over the keys. But it never came up.

  “No need anyway. I’ve got access to that folder for times just like these. Tell me the name of the file.”

  Josh’s disappointment was palpable. He came up with the name of some innocuous document and watched while she quickly found it and sent it via email.

  “Here, I’ll print it too.” A few seconds later, the printer in Kenny’s office whirred. Janice got up, unlocked the door to his office and retrieved the sheaf of papers, leaving the door open as she came back.

  “What time is Kenny coming in? I wanted to go over a few things with him.” Josh’s fingers strummed the counter on her cubicle.

  “He’s heading up to the lake with the kids tomorrow for the weekend to do some fishing, so he may take the day off.” The blood drained from Josh’s face and he felt lightheaded.

  “Are you sure? He won’t be in at all today?”

  Janice crinkled her eyes at him. “Are you okay? Is something the matter?”

  “No, no, I’m just a little jet-lagged. Too many plane trips.” Josh managed a weak smile, but she wasn’t convinced.

  “Well, I haven’t heard from him this morning, so he might be in later. Do you want me to tell him to buzz you?”

  “Thanks, Janice. Yes, please tell him to give me a ring right away.”

  He thanked her and turned to go when Kenny stepped off the elevator. The rush of relief Josh felt was a weight off his chest. A little too enthusiastically he said:

  “Hey, Kenny, I was just looking for you!”

  He came down the hall and shook Josh’s hand, briefcase in the other hand.

  “Hi, Josh. Still in town? I thought you swore never to be here on Fridays?”

  Kenny greeted Janice and invited Josh into his office. Perfect – the first thing he would do would be log in to his computer. Josh followed him in and started making up some baloney about wanting to follow up on their discussion from the other day. As Josh closed the door, he glanced at Janice who had a dubious expression on her face. Other than Josh’s strained behavior, the clock on the wall said five minutes to eight; she must have been thinking he was pretty nonchalant about this very important meeting he claimed to have in five minutes. Josh couldn’t worry about that now.

  Kenny offered him a seat and sat at his own desk. Josh stayed standing, pacing as though he only had a couple minutes to chat.

  “Don’t let me keep you from getting settled. This will just take a minute,” Josh said, hoping Kenny would start his routine instead of giving Josh his full attention. Out of habit, Kenny reached for the keyboard. Feeling like an incompetent spy, Josh flicked his eyes back and forth between Kenny’s face and his hands, trying to time the surreptitious looks at the keyboard for when Kenny looked away from Josh and at his screen. Josh could see Kenny was about to put in his password. Courtesy dictated you look away when someone was doing that. Screw courtesy. Josh pretended to find something interesting out the window but immediately looked back down. Kenny quickly typed his password. Josh got the first few strokes, they were h, m, 5, and the last two were y and t. But he missed a couple in between and almost groaned audibly. Kenny’s fingers had moved too fast and Josh wasn’t sure how many he had missed. Also, Kenny had used the Shift key at least once, so one or more of the letters was probably capitalized. It didn’t do any good to look at the screen; all you see were asterisks being typed. Josh almost asked Kenny to type it again. His thoughts were jumbled and it was only because of years of practice in the lingo of business-speak that he was able to maintain the conversation. Desperation was hitting Josh. With what he had seen, there were still thousands of possible combinations for Kenny’s password.

  “So you’re going for a little fishing this weekend? Can the Ventrica project afford to miss you for a few days?”

  Kenny moaned in mock dismay. “It’s only going to get worse as the launch date gets closer. I’m bringing plenty of work with me. I’ll be awake in the tent working by flashlight after the kids doze off.” He was still typing when his printer began to spit out pages. Josh saw the top page as it came out. It said: Ventrica VII Design Document Revision 7.3.4 Confidential – Authorized Personnel Only.

  He was printing it out. This is what Helen wanted, what Josh needed. That meant the computer was logged into the server right now. If Josh could get Kenny away from his desk, he could email a copy to himself.

  “I’ve got a meeting starting in a few minutes, Josh. Can we chat later by phone? I’m taking off before lunch after I print out a few things to bring with me this weekend. We’re leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow and I want to pack and get the kids ready.”

  There was a knock on the door. Two people were waiting, the meeting was in his office. No way Josh could get him out. And the design for the Ventrica was going into Kenny’s briefcase and to a remote lake in northern Minnesota. So was Josh’s best chance for saving his sister. He looked at the printer like it was a lifeline thrown from a boat to a drowning man, but the boat was slowly moving away. If he told Kenny what he needed and why, maybe Kenny would give it to him. Josh knew that was crazy. Even if he did, Helen would carry out her threat because people would know Josh had the design. There was nothing he could do right now. Josh left the office, thanking Kenny for the help, as his mind searched for an alternate path.

  Walking back to his own office Josh realized there was only one thing to do. He had to get the paper copy of the design from Kenny’s briefcase before he left for the weekend. But it couldn’t be at the office. It had to be at Kenny’s home. Josh was going to break into Kenny’s house in the middle of the night. It barely occurred to him this was ridiculous, something that happened only in novels or T.V. shows. There was no choice. He would break in, steal a few things like silver or whatever crap burglars took, and take the Ventrica design. As he thought about how to do it – break a window, jimmy a lock, knock on the front door – Josh saw the biggest flaw in his plan: if he stole the design, Kenny would know. Josh couldn’t just take it.

  The taste of blood brought him back to his senses. He had bitten through the inside of his lip. Goddamnit. He had to avoid panic. The answer was simple. Take a digital camera and snap pictures of every page. Josh could plug the camera right into his computer and email the pages to Helen. Kenny would never know anyone had the design, assuming he didn’t have a gun and shoot Josh as he rummaged through his house at two in the morning. Two days ago Josh wouldn’t have thought he’d have the balls to break into someone’s house. Now, that seemed the least of his worries.

  He would have to wait until everyone was asleep at Kenny’s house and hope there was no alarm. That meant not making the five o’clock deadline with Helen. But he would have the design by early the next morning. She would have to extend the deadline by just a few hours. Josh couldn’t imagine she wouldn’t – he was doing everything possible and it was in his reach. Racing back to his office, Josh composed the email in his head. At his desk he sent a note to the email address she had used to contact him the day before.

  Helen – I can get the design. But it has to be tonight. I will send it by 5:00 a.m. Please, for god’s sake, please give me until then. I swear I am doing everything possible. You’ll have what you want in a few hours. Tell me you won’t do anything until then. Please.

  Josh didn’t sign it –she would know it was him from the email address. Pressing the Send button, he found himself praying for the first time in years.

  Josh left the office, intent on how to commit a felony in a few hours. A list was forming in his mind: ski mask, duct tape, crowbar, gloves. He wasn’t sure what the standard equipment was for breaking and entering. He didn’t know where Kenny lived or the layout of his house. All he knew was that he would find a way to get the document.

  Chapter Twelve

  Back at the hotel Josh connected to the company network and looked up Kenny’s home address. I
t was close by, in a residential neighborhood Josh had driven through a couple of times. It was only 11:00 a.m. and he needed a look in the daylight to get ready for the night’s event. It took fifteen minutes to get there and he cruised the street, feeling like a second-rate criminal casing the joint. Kenny lived in a two-story ranch house that looked like it was probably a three-bedroom. That meant the master bedroom was upstairs and the den downstairs. Josh had to hope this was true. Parking across the street, he could see in the dining room. It didn’t look frequently used, so they probably spent most of their time in the kitchen or family room. That would make it harder to see where they were at night. He would just have to chance it. Looking at the yards of all the neighbors in sight, there was only one house with a sign on a small metal post telling the world this home was protected by A-1 Security: Armed Response. This wasn’t L.A. where those signs were as ubiquitous as mailboxes. Instead, there were larger signs at the corner of every street saying Neighborhood Watch! No armed security, but everyone kept an eye out for each other. Small comfort if you were the victim of a home invasion and your neighbors were all locked up in their living rooms watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire! instead of looking out for you. But it might give Josh an advantage. He pulled away, heading back to the hotel to plan exactly what he would need for tonight.

  His cell phone rang. The caller ID said the number was blocked. He answered. “This is Josh.”

  “Sweetie, I was so disappointed to get your email.”

  It felt like she was in the car with him. “Please, I’m telling you, I can get it. It’s all worked out. I have to wait until tonight, late. I swear to you, you’ll have it first thing in the morning.” There was silence on the line. Josh didn’t know if she was thinking it over, making him sweat, or plotting to ruin his life. Finally, she answered.