by D. B. Goodin
“Thank you, but I think I want to return to work as soon as possible. I need to get my mind off it.”
“Take it easy, Nigel. Our primary concern is your safety.”
“It’s not like the work involves leaving the house. I will be fine.”
Nigel didn't really believe that, but he thought he sold it to Natasha. He needed the resources of Collective Systems for his private investigation.
Chapter 20
Alexei poured a glass of wine, then opened his nearly indestructible, military-grade laptop. His lifestyle warranted a more durable computer, since he was constantly breaking them. The thing was heavy and unattractive, but didn't get destroyed in remote areas of the world. It also featured a built-in wireless interface and satellite phone attachment.
Currently, he was in a villa off the coast of the Mediterranean. He had a breathtaking view of the moonlight dancing above the sea. Alexei loved the evenings here almost as much as the daylight hours. He loved how the moonlight reflected against the smooth domes and curves of the most unusual villa in which he was currently staying.
The villa was more of a compound than a single residence. Situated on top of a cliff, it was accessible only from a private road leading off a dead end or by helicopter. The helipad was connected to another estate a quarter of a mile down the coast but was accessible via tunnels that were hand carved out of the rock. The previous owner had created the entrance to maintain his privacy. Farther down, past the helipad, was a path that led to a boat dock.
To carve the rock, the previous owner had hired an army of laborers, masons, and craftsmen to create a tunnel that led to an existing cavern that was below the property. He also had several geologists on staff during the time of the villa's construction. He wanted to ensure that his privacy and security were maintained. The outcome worked well for Alexei.
The only problem with this location was it had significant connectivity issues. While it may have been fine for the corporate executives of the 1970s or ‘80s, it posed several challenges for the CEO of a modern technology company. He was obsessed with reactions and hated to miss out on the video aspect of a conference call.
As Alexei was contemplating, his red phone rang.
“Da?”
“Are you alone, Darling?” Natasha asked.
“I’m alone.”
“We need to talk. I have news I suspect you need confirmation of.”
“Can you call me on the secure video uplink?”
“Why?”
“Need to see if the connection is suitable for tomorrow’s meeting.”
The video connection with Natasha was a disaster. High latency made it impossible, even with audio-only capabilities.
Alexei massaged his temples as he thought about an alternative location. He picked up the phone and called Viktor.
"Privyet, Alexei. What can I do for you?"
"I need a new location with a sufficient internet connection for the meeting. It needs to be in the same city as the chateau."
"I'm on it. I will have a new location within the hour.”
Alexei called Natasha back.
“Well, that was painful,” Natasha said.
“Indeed. Viktor is working on the technical problems as we speak. What’s so urgent?”
“I met with our star intern this afternoon.”
Natasha relayed the entire conversation she had with Nigel. Alexei said nothing for a long time.
“You have just confirmed my suspicions,” Alexei said with disgust. “There have been only two interns that I have ever sponsored who have shown so much promise. Nigel is one of them. I believe you can guess the second student’s identity.”
“It breaks my heart. But yes.”
Alexei hung up the phone and continued to stare out the circular window in his office.
“What was so secretive that you couldn’t give me any details over the phone?” Agent Appleton demanded.
“I believe I have found a Milford connection to The Collective,” Mr. Henry said.
“Go on.”
“After decrypting the bit of ciphertext that you provided, the payload was a standard archived file,” Mr. Henry explained. “The files in the payload appeared to be random until I realized the magic numbers didn’t match the file types that I was seeing.”
“Magic number?”
“Oh, sorry. When I get excited, I get technical. Several images appeared in the archived file. They appeared to be random images at first, but the size of the disk seemed wrong. I checked the header, and it had the file signature of a memory capture file. I loaded the capture file into my memory analyzer program and was able to extract information out of it. Pieces of a conversation.”
“Did it list any specifics? Like names, codenames?”
“Dispatch, Rocky, and Ioann. The IP address originated from a mobile phone from the Milford area. The capture was too small to piece together more, but I’m able to give you enough information to work with the local cell provider to get additional information.”
“You’re brilliant!” Agent Appleton said.
Agent Appleton handed Mr. Henry another flash drive.
“The first fragment was a test. The remainder of the evidence should be on here.”
“I’ll get to work.”
Viktor found a nearby chateau with enough bandwidth to support a high-quality video conference. It was a short distance away and accessible via the catacombs between the chateau and the villa.
“Why do we need a high-definition video connection?” Viktor asked.
Alexei liked to view the expressions of people he was questioning. It often gave him clues as to if they were lying.
“To gain a better view of the team,” Alexei said. “Is it ready?”
“Da.”
Alexei started his end of the video conference and could see video feeds of everyone.
“Thank you for attending this emergency meeting of the principal members of The Collective. It is with a heavy heart that I bring to you the main order of business. It is rare that any member of The Collective fails, but we did fail to eliminate a target on the priority list.”
Alexei paused for emphasis.
“A hit was authorized that led Ioann, one of our elite operatives, to eliminate one of our own employees.”
Most members of The Collective had looks of utter shock. Alexei looked hard at each member for clues. All but Gregor had subtle signs of anger or contempt. Gregor’s reaction was indifference.
Those boys could have done great things together, Alexei thought.
“How did you learn of this treachery, Comrade?” Gregor asked.
“During our latest talent search, we found several promising young and talented penetration testers and machine learning enthusiasts.”
Alexei waited to see if any of what he said triggered a response. Gregor was unmoved.
“During a weekend session,” Alexei went on, “the interns developed a system to track certain unauthorized movements through the network. They utilized network flow data to capture this activity. After several days, we put together a model, and it pointed to a suspect with 99 percent accuracy.”
Finally, a response, Alexei thought when he saw Gregor flinch. Is that fear?
“With the help of outside experts, Viktor is in the process of verifying the findings. Soon we will find the betrayer and prove that technology can be effectively used on human behavior based on real evidence,” Alexei said excitedly.
Gregor couldn't believe his ears. Alexei trusted that tech to a bunch of interns?
Thanks to Mr. Henry, Agent Appleton was closer to The Collective than ever before. The clues found in the encrypted blob had led him to a vehicle owned by a local man named Rocco “Rocky” Surelli.
“Hello, Mr. Surelli. May I have a word?”
Rocky turned around to see a tall man in a suit holding an FBI badge.
“I have nothing to say,” Rocky said.
Agent Appleton produced a piece of paper and ha
nded it to Rocky.
“Let’s do it the hard way, then. This is a warrant that gives me legal authority to search your vehicle, phone, and anything else in your possession.”
Two Milford Police Department cruisers appeared right on cue, blocking Rocky’s car in.
“Surrender your phone, please.”
Rocky handed his phone to Agent Appleton. It was locked.
“Unlock it, please.”
“No. I know my rights.”
“‘Hard way,’ indeed,” Agent Appleton said. He waved the warrant in front of Rocky. “Okay, let’s talk about this downtown. This piece of paper also gives me the right to arrest your ass.”
Rocky fought as two Milford police officers took him into custody.
Unlike his phone, Mr. Surelli’s car was unlocked. During a search of the vehicle, Agent Appleton found and seized a laptop. Since it normally took days, if not weeks, to get a laptop analyzed by the FBI, Agent Appleton decided to enlist Mr. Henry’s help again.
Several hours later, Mr. Henry returned the laptop and a signed chain of custody form back to Agent Appleton.
"The laptop was encrypted, but I was able to retrieve the private key by performing a memory capture. The next step is to perform a full forensic analysis, which can take hours. Once this is done, special hardware and software are needed to determine what, if anything, is on that system," Mr. Henry said.
Agent Appleton didn't say anything for several moments.
"Can't I just view the files now that the laptop is unlocked?"
"Yes, but your evidence could potentially become spoiled by doing that!" Mr. Henry said in a cautious tone.
“Do you know anything about unlocking mobile devices?”
“Unfortunately, I do not, but I’m sure the FBI mobile lab can help you with that.”
Agent Appleton thanked Mr. Henry for his help yet again, then departed.
Agent Appleton called the incident commander on duty at the forensics lab near Washington, D.C.
“Hello, this is Agent John Appleton working out of Milford.”
“Watch Commander Davis. Do you have evidence to check in?”
“I do. Is there any possibility we can get a rush on processing evidence from a mobile device?”
“Do you have the code?”
“I do not, but I’m working under a clock.”
“Is there any way you can get your suspect to unlock the phone?”
“I already tried that.”
“Then, unfortunately, there is little I can do. You can send it in, but it will be a first-come, first-served basis.”
“Wait, I also have evidence on a laptop. Is there any way you can get evidence off that?”
“Yes, but I’m afraid we are in the same situation as the mobile phone. We are understaffed, and our caseload is high.”
Agent Appleton broke the connection and booted up the laptop. He quickly found a document related to burner phone bulk purchases. He also found a file with several links to Dark Web servers.
Several minutes later, Agent Appleton was able to secure a MORP connection to the Dark Web. He couldn’t understand what the links were by looking at the names of the links. They seemed like random gibberish. One feature he did notice was that each extension ended with “.un.”
Agent Appleton was just about to click on one of the links when he noticed a file called “ReadMe” on the desktop. He clicked on that file, and several links with descriptive text appeared. Then the screen went black.
As he checked the power connection to ensure that it was secure and connected to an outlet, he heard a distinctive beep which he recognized from when a system restarted.
“The computer probably just restarted after an update.”
A white progress bar appeared on the screen. He waited patiently for the bar to disappear.
It didn’t.
Approximately thirty minutes later, Agent Appleton returned to see: “No system or boot loader present.”
Nigel knew that Jet had an online persona in The Colossal Machine named JetaGirl because JetGirl was already taken.
Nigel opened the game client for The Colossal Machine.
Since they had connected in-game previously, looking for her shouldn’t have been difficult. Nigel appeared in his anteroom, a chamber where he could prepare for gameplay. Only players that had achieved certain social status were allowed anterooms.
Nigel checked his connection log; only four contacts appeared.
Jet - Offline 10 Hours
George - Offline 20 Days
Milo - Offline 23 Hours
Jake - Offline 13 Days
Nigel had hoped to catch Jet online. He decided to do the next best thing and send her an in-game message.
Dear Jet,
I wanted to properly thank you for saving my life. You risked yourself, your freedom, and your mobility to make sure that I survived the attack that has forever changed us. I regret any pain your brave actions caused you. My heart was broken when I saw you in the hospital. I didn’t want to disturb your slumber, so I left you.
When I returned, you were gone.
I wish I had stayed.
Yours Truly and Friend Forever,
Nigel
Chapter 21
Agent Appleton attempted to revive Rocky’s computer several times to no avail. He had no idea why the computer wasn’t rebooting. He reached for his phone and dialed.
“I thought you’d be contacting me again,” Mr. Henry said.
“Are you around tonight?”
“I have a class at the store from six to eight. After that, I’m free.”
“See you soon.”
Agent Appleton waited until the remaining students filed out before entering. Mr. Henry was sitting behind the counter, reading the newspaper.
“Let me guess, you accessed that computer but still need help?” Mr. Henry said.
Agent Appleton placed the computer on the counter and gave a brief explanation of the problem. Mr. Henry looked concerned; he flipped the Wi-Fi switch on the side of the computer as a precaution.
“I’m afraid the hard drive inside the computer has been wiped.”
“Can’t you get the information back?”
“Depending on the storage medium, we might be able to get some fragments.”
“What do you mean?”
“I suspect that a computer virus wiped out the computer. Based on your timeline, the hard drive was probably formatted in secure mode at least once. As the hard drive is formatted, each file is shredded; it often takes several passes before the data is unrecoverable.”
Agent Appleton felt relieved. At least he had a chance to set things straight.
“I need to get this checked back into inventory tomorrow. Is that enough time?” Agent Appleton asked.
“Only if we work all night!”
“What can I do to help?”
“I think you helped enough, but you can wait here.”
Mr. Henry left the room with the computer. I’m racking up quite a few favors, Agent Appleton thought.
Several hours later, Mr. Henry came out with a grim look on his face.
“The good news is that the hard drive was small, so I was able to create a ‘bit’ image. The bad news is that the drive is based on solid state technology.”
“Why is that bad?” Agent Appleton asked.
Mr. Henry gave Agent Appleton a stern look.
“Unlike a traditional hard disk, solid state technology has built-in cleanup mechanisms. When something like a file is deleted, the drive will need to erase it before storing anything else.”
“How much data can you retrieve from the drive? Can you get it to boot?” Agent Appleton had some technical training, but he really didn’t have a head for all of the jargon.
“I was able to restore much of the basic file structure, but the boot areas are unrecoverable.”
Assignments from Collective Systems resumed. Nigel started to get a little worried; his access to Collective Sys
tems resources was only possible during assignment windows. Nigel was learning that interns didn’t enjoy the same privileges as full employees. Figures.
Nigel received some assignments from Collective Systems and two text messages at the same time, one from Milo and one from an unknown number. Nigel prioritized the texts before the assignments so the countdown didn’t start.
Nigel opened the message from Milo first.
“Hey, Nige, how you doing? My sister Cassidy will be texting you soon. Her number is 555-3627. She won’t tell me why she needs to talk, but I think she has a message from Jet. Not sure if you know this, but they have been friends for a couple of years now.”
Sure enough, the unknown number matched Cassidy’s.
“Hello, Nigel, you don’t know me well, but we’ve met a couple of times when you were visiting Milo. We have a mutual friend, Josephine. She asked me to contact you since her father made her block all communication to your number. Jet is in the middle of packing. Her father is moving her out of the state. I will be meeting her tonight. She asked if I could contact you on her behalf.”
Why does her father hate me? Nigel wondered.
While he pondered, Cassidy sent another message.
“So here is the plan. I’m going to Jet’s house to say goodbye. We will have a short window for a video call on my phone. You will have five minutes to say goodbye. Please reply as soon as you get this text.”
Nigel replied to Cassidy, saying that he would settle for a video call if that was the only way he could say goodbye. Several minutes later, Cassidy sent another text.
“We’re all set. Can you talk now?”
Nigel glanced at his watch. He still had several minutes of grace time left before he had to accept or deny the assignment.
“Sure, I can talk now,” Nigel replied.
Nigel’s phone rang with the video call tone.
“Hello!?!”
Ahh, I sound weak and vulnerable! Nigel thought.