by D. B. Goodin
Seconds later, Jet appeared. Her pink streaks were gone. Her face looked off; Nigel couldn’t place the expression. The camera on the phone panned, and he was able to see most of her body now. Cassidy must be controlling the phone.
“As you can see, I’m pretty messed up right now,” Jet said. “I haven't been able to get on a computer to find you in-game, and my father is so angry. He blames you for the attack for some reason. I tried talking him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen. I hope you don’t mind that Cassidy is here with me.”
“No! Not at all. I’m glad that someone is there,” Nigel said.
That’s not want I wanted to say. Nige, you are so stupid, Nigel thought.
Jet didn’t seem to notice his awkward word choice. She winced and changed positions slightly, as if it was painful to even have this conversation.
Better make your next words count, Dummy!
“Jet, I sent you this in an in-game message, but I want to say it in person. You are the most selfless person I have ever known. I just hope I can repay you someday. It is my deepest desire to see you again under different circumstances. I hope your father realizes how important you are. You are so very important to me.”
Nigel wanted to say more, but the words seemed stuck in his throat. His eyes were getting blurry. Nigel wiped the tears from his eyes.
Jet abruptly took the phone from Cassidy with her good arm. Her expression changed; she looked as if someone hit her hard from behind. She pulled the phone close, and the image blurred. Did she kiss the phone? Nigel was perplexed as he mulled this over.
“I will get in touch when I can. Stay safe, my love,” Jet said, then disconnected.
Nigel stared at his phone in stunned silence.
Nigel’s phone alarm sounded. He realized that he only had two minutes before the grace period for accepting the assignments was ending. He opened the app, then accepted the assignment without looking.
Nigel’s chest felt tight; he longed to have even one more minute with Jet.
As Nigel’s mind began to clear, he read the assignment description—and wished he had read it before accepting it:
Greetings Nigel,
I hope this finds you well.
Collective Systems is pleased to offer you the following assignment.
Title: Recon Mission
Need reconnaissance performed on a local target. The proprietor of Better Buy Computers is a person of interest for The Collective. Please provide information on his daily routine. This individual has served in both the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Proceed with caution.
Nigel was stunned. Mr. Henry?
Nigel received two more alerts on his phone, both from the Collective Systems app.
“RECALL FAILED: Recon Mission.”
“Assignment sent in error, automation failed, please manually delete messages from app.”
Nigel performed the requested actions, then tapped the verify button.
“APP VERIFICATION IN PROGRESS. DO NOT TURN OFF.”
Several minutes later, he was able to access the app normally. The assignment was gone.
What just happened?
Nigel was confounded; not only did he receive conflicting information about an assignment, but the nature of the assignment seemed very illegal. Nigel was determined to get to the bottom of this. He picked up the phone and dialed Natasha.
“I’m so sorry,” Natasha said when she picked up. ”You received the wrong assignment. Sometimes the automated system gets garbled and sends the wrong information.”
Nigel frowned.
“That is only partially why I called. The assignment described my friend, Mr. Henry, in detail, and it wanted me to eavesdrop on his business. I didn’t sign up to be a snitch.”
“Clearly, you’re upset. I will get to the bottom of this mix-up and call you back soon.”
Natasha attempted to contact Alexei, but his assistant informed her that he was unavailable. She contacted Viktor instead.
“There is a problem with assignments that are being sent to interns. Something is wrong. Dispatch is redacting, canceling, or amending assignments.”
The Collective’s systems had worked for years without so much as a hiccup. Viktor suspected that Gregor was behind this somehow.
Based on the security access data, the interns produced a model where Gregor was in the 99th percentile as being a person of interest in the database hack.
Viktor picked up the phone and called the Cray Group, an independent research firm that specialized in big data analysis.
“Hello, I’m making an inquiry of a big data report that I requested over a week ago.”
“Please hold, Sir.”
Viktor checked the time in California where the group was based. It was well within business hours, so he felt confident.
“Viktor?”
“I’m here.”
“Hello, I’m Dr. Anderson. I’m in charge of the group that is doing the analysis.”
“Why is it taking so long to get the results?”
“We are actually finishing your report now, but it will be several more days until it’s completed.”
“Is the analysis part done?”
“Yes. It just takes time for a writer to finish the report. I wouldn’t consider it complete until that happens.”
“Doctor, I need the data. You need to send me an unofficial report, no matter how crude it looks. Immediately.”
“That’s not our policy!”
“I don’t care about your policy. My boss is looking to eliminate an ongoing threat.”
“I see. Hold, please.”
After several more minutes, the doctor finally agreed to send an unofficial report to Viktor by the end of his day. That would be very late for Viktor, but he had little choice. He would wait.
Agent Appleton’s phone rang a little after 2 a.m.
“This better be good.”
“I figured out the rest of the encryption from the data you provided, and it is all accessible,” Mr. Henry said.
“I thought you said that the encryption was unbreakable.”
“Takes time, but it is not impossible. Turns out the author wrote his own encryption routines, which is frankly the only reason I was able to crack it at all.”
“Did you find anything useful?”
“I haven’t looked at it. I wanted to give you the honors.”
Agent Appleton made it to Mr. Henry’s house shortly after sunrise. Mr. Henry opened the door as soon as Agent Appleton got out of his car.
“I went through the data while you were en route and found Rocky has several connections to the IP addresses you supplied. I was able to access a backup of his phone and was able to harvest several contacts.”
Mr. Henry led Agent Appleton into his kitchen, where he gestured to a partial diagram on a whiteboard. In the center, a town graphic appeared with lines pointing to names such as Natasha, Nigel, and Tage.
“Who are these people?”
“They have the most contact with our buddy, Rocky.”
Agent Appleton made a sketch of Mr. Henry’s whiteboard.
“Milford seems to be the epicenter of all activity. Nigel is linked to several of the IP addresses that I gave you, while Rocky has physical links,” Agent Appleton said. “But what does it mean?”
The deputy director’s deadline was fast approaching and Agent Appleton had little to show for it. Agent Appleton’s new plan was simple: offer Rocky a deal in exchange for key information and testimony. Nigel didn’t seem to be important, but Agent Appleton would put that theory to the test if he didn’t get results.
Back at home, Agent Appleton entered in all relevant data that Mr. Henry gathered from his decryption efforts. The FBI crimes database provided relevant police reports or other interesting information based on name, location, and other identifying markers. The more information that Agent Appleton provided, the more possible matches he would get from the database.
Other recoverable information found on the laptop led Agent Appleton to an app on Rocky’s phone. Although encryption was used, an additional IP address found in the logs revealed another point of entry for The Collective’s infrastructure. Agent Appleton was able to make additional correlations using an FBI database and found several that led to Nigel Watson. This was the evidence that he needed to implicate and create a connection to Rocky.
Time to pay Nigel a visit.
Late that evening, Viktor received the unofficial report from the Cray Group. Alexei asked Viktor to call once he had time to analyze the results. Viktor didn’t understand any of the machine learning or quantifiable analysis used in the report, but he did understand language that made someone guilty. The Cray Group wholeheartedly agreed with the interns.
“What did you find out?” Alexei asked over the phone.
“The group you recommended agreed with our interns. Gregor is guilty. Gregor’s IP was captured several times before and after intrusion attempts. Our party boy is getting sloppy,” Viktor said.
“Burn him, but don’t eliminate him. I want to teach him a lesson. Also, give our interns a congratulatory bonus.”
“It will be done.”
Agent Appleton traced the app IP address to an address on 302 Sycamore Lane in Milford—Ellen’s house, as suspected. There were several Wi-Fi signals emanating from the home; however, one was unusually strong. No other house in the area had Wi-Fi signals nearly as strong.
He stepped onto the porch and rang the bell. This was going to be an interesting conversation.
Ellen Watson answered the door.
“Hello, Agent. Come inside. Do you have news on the hackers?” Ellen asked in a hopeful voice.
“No, I’m here to see your son, Nigel,” Agent Appleton said.
“Nigel? What could you possibly want with him?”
“All I can tell you is that he is a person of interest in an ongoing investigation.”
“Nige, come down here, please,” Ellen yelled.
A few minutes later, Nigel appeared.
“Agent Appleton has a few questions to ask you,” Ellen said.
“Do you work for Collective Systems?” Agent Appleton asked.
Ellen interrupted. “Yes, he got a paid internship there. It was a godsend since I was left with little money when I got hacked.”
Agent Appleton nodded. “What do you do for Collective Systems?”
Nigel described his position as a Level Five intern. He recounted the weekend at Tage Manor as well as some of the assignments, but omitted the mix-up with Mr. Henry’s assignment.
“How do you get these assignments?”
Nigel demonstrated the app.
Agent Appleton said nothing for almost a minute. He could see that Nigel was visibly nervous.
“Nigel Watson, you are under arrest for crimes related to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.”
“What the hell?!” Ellen said.
Ellen stood between Nigel and Agent Appleton.
“We have evidence that Nigel has knowingly committed crimes while working for an organization known as The Collective.”
“You mean Collective Systems?” Nigel asked. “I told you, I have an internship there.”
“You really think you’re working for a legitimate company?” Agent Appleton asked. He decided to hear Nigel out.
Nigel told him everything that he had been involved with through the past several weeks, including the hacking, exploitation, and reconnaissance efforts to get Jake’s account unlocked.
“I have your IP address associated with systems belonging to a criminal organization known as The Collective. Their front is a gaming company called Pretzelverse Games.”
“That doesn’t make sense. I have only played games produced by Pretzelverse Games, not developed for them. The company I intern for is Collective Systems; it’s not a criminal organization.”
“What specific work have you done?”
“Most of it was debugging existing programs that didn’t work, or writing code to integrate machine learning algorithms.”
Nigel also showed Agent Appleton his computer and VPN software that he used to connect to Collective Systems, Inc. The VPN software had the company’s logo on it.
“How do you communicate with your contacts at Collective Systems?”
Nigel showed Agent Appleton the app’s messaging feature and shared Natasha’s contact information.
“I need to see your completed assignments.”
“The links to complete the assignments expire after a period of time, so I can’t show you. My VPN software only works when I have an active assignment.”
Agent Appleton considered for a very long time, then made a phone call on the porch. Several minutes later, he reentered the house with officers from the Milford Police Department. Nigel was handcuffed and read his Miranda rights.
“Wait! You’re not taking my boy.” Ellen stood in front of the arresting officers.
“Please move, Ma’am.” Agent Appleton pulled Ellen away. The officers removed Nigel.
Chapter 22
Gregor received a code from dispatch that instructed him to call the head of The Collective. Gregor established the secure link, then dialed Alexei’s private line.
“Greetings, Gregor,” Alexei said.
“Why have you summoned me? I’m running point on a very sensitive mission.”
“Is that the second attempt at Nigel’s life?” Alexei said in a matter-of-fact tone. Gregor said nothing. “I also need you to put a stop to this. I will not tolerate betrayal.”
“I have not betrayed you. My actions have only increased the security of The Collective,” Gregor said.
“No, your actions have only succeeded in doing harm to The Collective,” Alexei said.
“The real threat was Rocky, who allowed his laptop to be found and used by the FBI to confirm The Collective’s existence. He probably spilled his guts to the American authorities.”
“Yes, it was unfortunate that Rocky got picked up, but he didn’t betray The Collective,” Alexei said. “An operative will meet you at your designated safe house in Minsk to relieve you of your access codes and company-owned equipment.”
“Before you send the operative, please consider my point of view. Can we discuss in person?” Gregor said.
Alexei didn’t immediately respond.
“Gregor, you have been like a son to me. I will give you one chance to explain yourself. Instructions will follow,” Alexei said as he hung up.
Hopefully, that bought some time, Gregor thought.
As the sun rose in Chechnya, Gregor perched at his computer like a vulture waiting for something to die. During the evening, he transferred one hundred million in Digibit to several unmarked wallets located in several regions across the world.
Gregor planned to be in the wind within the hour. “It’s done,” Gregor said to himself. He added his laptop to his go bag. As soon as it was zipped, he noticed Natasha.
“Hello, Love!” Natasha said.
“Are you here to burn me?”
“That depends!”
“On what?”
“Show me the proof that your second attempt to kill Nigel is called off.”
“Why is this kid so important?”
“Alexei hoped you and Nigel would work together, as brothers.”
Gregor produced the chat logs that confirmed that the hit
was redacted. Natasha looked them over.
“You involved Black Iris?”
“Yes, they run the Dark Web forums that make it possible for these things to happen. They have a great reputation.”
Natasha didn’t like this; it didn’t feel right.
“Sorry, my darling, but examples must be made.”
She pulled the trigger. A small dart pierced the skin on Gregor’s neck. He tried reaching for the dart, but everything went dark very fast.
Nigel was thrown into a small holding room, followed by Agent Appleton.
“Have a seat, Nigel.”
Nigel sat in one of the chairs that were next to a table. He looked into the mirror that hung on the opposite wall. He saw a vulnerable and scared kid. Not the confident young man he felt like while with his friends.
Agent Appleton opened a folder and put several pictures on the table.
“I need you to identify these criminals for me.”
Agent Appleton pointed to a picture of a very large man with a bald head who didn’t seem to have a neck. He looked like a bouncer.
“I don’t know him.”
Agent Appleton pointed at a picture of a woman with mean and unforgiving eyes and striking black hair.
“She looks familiar, but I don’t know her.”
“Well, that’s strange,” Agent Appleton said. “You were seen with both of these people at the same time.”
“What? That isn’t possible. I don’t know these people.”
Agent Appleton produced another higher quality photo with Nigel getting in a car with Natasha. Rocky was holding the door open.
“They don’t look like the people in the previous photos,” Nigel said.
Agent Appleton gathered the photos and left the room.
Cassidy was in her room preparing for midterm exams when she received the next wave of text messages.
“The Mensch is Down, please respond.”
Cassidy opened her drawer where she kept her important papers. The envelope labeled “Mensch” was opened. Her heart skipped a beat when she pulled out the folder that contained Nigel’s picture. She flipped the picture and texted back the code on the back of the picture. As she waited for a response, she could hardly believe that Nigel was the Mensch. That title was reserved for the intern of the decade.