Interlude – Enter the HackerVery early that next morning...
Iris was awakened by someone tapping on her shoulder. Her eyes felt glued shut. What time was it?
“Mom?”
Iris opened one eye and glanced at the alarm clock near her bed.
Two-forty-six. What in the world was Marcus doing up at this time of the morning? Motherly instinct began to kick in and she was instantly worried.
“What's...wrong, honey?”
“I need you to come see something,” the teenager blurted out. “It's very important.”
Iris was not in the mood for this. “Marc, I just got to sleep an hour ago. Your dad has been sick all night. Can't this wait until daylight?”
“I kind of doubt it.”
“What is it that it can't possibly wait a few hours?”
“I managed to hack into the Warehouse's computer system.”
Iris's eyes shot open.
Now she was wide awake.
A short while later...
“I can't hardly believe what I'm seeing.”
Financial records, contact lists, confidential e-mails—everything about the Outstanding Citizens' Warehouse Corp. was there, plain as day. Iris and Holly watched, mouths agape, as the details of the entire operation were laid bare before their eyes.
“H...how did you do this?” Holly asked. “We tried for decades to access their system, and even our best hacker couldn't get past the firewall.”
“That's because no one at the department could hold a candle to their own computer mastermind,” Marcus explained. “I have to admit, I'm stunned by the complexity of his coding.”
“Who was it?”
He turned around to look at Iris, the expression on his face deadpan. “Mom...it was my other grandfather. Cycl0n3.”
Iris couldn't keep herself from gasping. Her father-in-law had always been enigmatic, and Timothy had told her how distant he was when he was growing up. But a criminal? She never could have imagined that. As she stared at the computer screen, though, the evidence was there. Instantly her heart went out to her husband. Poor Timothy...
Holly shook her head. “Hank always had his suspicions, but try as we did none of us could ever find enough evidence to prove it.” She laughed. “And now a fourteen-year-old has blown the case wide open. I am very, very impressed!”
“What I still don't understand is how,” Iris started. “Marcus, how did you do this? Their firewall system has seemed unbreakable.”
“Conventionally, it probably still is unbreakable. What their firewall does is identify the intruding IP address, install a rootkit on the offending computer, and terminate the connection. The rootkit automatically sabotages any further attempts to access the database and redirects the computer to a donut shop.”
“A
donut shop?”
“You know, that whole stereotype about cops and donuts? Apparently my grandfather had a sense of humor.”
Iris laughed. That would explain why she kept seeing the Simkin Donuts website on her supervisor's browser. So Blair
wasn't obsessed with donuts after all.
“I used a workaround,” Marcus continued. “See, I have access to...a special server that is quite a distance away from Sunset Valley. I used it to route my communication to the OCWC mainframe, therefore it didn't even register an IP address at all. There were still a few hoops that I had to jump through to get this far, but that one was by far the biggest hurdle.”
Iris was dumbfounded.
“Can...you copy this onto a jump drive?”
“Already done. Three jump drives, actually, just in case one should get lost.” He handed a trio of data drives to his mother with a grin. “You may be a bit surprised by some of the stuff you'll find in there. Like
who had been funneling money from the family corporate accounts.”
This piqued Iris's interest. “I'm almost afraid to ask.”
“It was really interesting, actually. The Organization seems to have experienced a power vacuum after the death of Nick Alto...” His voice trailed off. He looked at his great-aunt apologetically. “I'm...sorry. I hope I didn't offend you.”
“Not at all,” Holly sighed. “I knew of my father's involvement in all of this, so anything that you tell me will not come as a shock.”
“It might, actually. The Organization was leaderless for a while and was having a hard time procuring funds. It would seem that Mr. Alto was also their primary benefactor, so when both he and his wife died their bank accounts suffered tremendously.” He hesitated. “There apparently was some talk about getting those funds back. The de-facto leader sent several e-mails to his underlings asking how feasible it was to...attack Mr. Alto's...heir.”
“...attack?”
“...yeah.”
Holly stood in stunned silence.
“The Organization ultimately came to the conclusion that it would be too challenging and too risky to attempt anything against the family, given aunt Holly's ties to law enforcement, so they searched for other means of making their illicit money.” Marcus opened one of the files and pointed at the screen. “It took them a while, but they found a new ally, one who was just as willing to work with them and just as able to tap into large amounts of money.”
Iris squinted a bit to read the words. It appeared to be a series of e-mails:
--
Dear Sir,
The nightly transfer of §200 from each business account is a good place to start. If this avoids detection in the first three months, increase to §300. Your dividend will be 10%, as discussed. Rest assured, we will be monitoring all activity very closely and can mobilize “protection” as needed.
Your cooperation has been a great benefit to all parties involved.
Regards,
X.C.---END---“X.C...that's Xander Clavell,” Holly pointed out what was already on Iris's mind. “He has been a person of interest for decades.”
“Exactly. Now, the other party didn't leave a name or initials and used an anonymous e-mail account, but the e-mail itself was tracked to an IP address at the corporate towers.” He cracked a smile. “Let's just say that great-grandpa Geoffrey did a very wise thing by leaving the business to you and Dad.”
Iris quirked an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Because when Dad took over as CEO, the man who was responsible for funneling the money to the Warehouse was no longer in power and no longer had easy access to the accounts.” Marcus opened a separate window and began typing something.
“Look at the next e-mail string, Mom. This one is much more recent. It's time/date stamped to two years ago, shortly after Dad's promotion. Xander must have retired or something, because the initials are different.”
--
Hello,
Darn it, darn it, DARN it! Business is back in family hands and I've been demoted. Account access is restricted from my level and all outside transactions have been put to a halt by the the new CEO. What's worse, he actually pays attention.
Any idea what to do next? I'm stumped.
Regards,
Your friend.--
Dear Sir,
Your situation is a troubling one and may terminate our relationship unless means can be found to circumvent the problem. If
needs must we can have our...I.T. Department hack into the accounts. All that he would need would be a domain name and password.
We eagerly await your response,
S.A.--
Hello again,
I have access to a single account, one that could be tapped without much suspicion. Problem is that I am now being watched. Any way you can “deal” with this new problem? That red-head is a pain in the butt.
Regards,
Your friend.--
Dear Sir,
Good news on the account.
That you are being watched is of no consequence to us.
S.A.---END---Iris froze. “The former CEO was the one responsible.”
“Isn't that...?”
“VJ Alvi.”
At that moment they heard footsteps coming up the stairs and a very exhausted looking Timothy emerged. His appearance was haggard and he was much more pale than usual. It was painfully obvious that he still wasn't feeling well.
“Wha...what's going on?”
Iris smiled. “Our son just cracked the case of who was embezzling funds from the Company before you took over. How are you feeling?”
“You probably don't wanna know,” came her husband's lethargic reply. “Mouth is dry, thought I'd try some ginger ale...and we don't have any in our fridge.” Timothy stopped short. “Wait...Marcus found what?”
“VJ Alvi has ties with the Warehouse and was embezzling company funds to their benefit,” Marcus answered. “I found the e-mails to prove it.”
“Hmph, should have known,” Timothy grunted. “Good, I've been looking for a reason to take him out of management. Today ought to be interesting.”
“You probably won't even need to do that, hon. Once I get this evidence to Maddie in the lab we'll have more than enough for a search warrant on his work computer and most likely an arrest.” Iris cast a sideways glance at her husband. “You
can't tell me you're actually thinking about going into the office today. Not in your condition.”
“Got shareholder meetings to plan and proposals to consider, especially now that I'm losing a VP. Too busy to be...sick.”
Two seconds later Timothy clapped one hand over his mouth and disappeared into the bathroom.
Holly just shook her head. “He works too hard.”
“Tell me about it.” Iris huffed. “I'd better get these drives down to the precinct. The sooner we can analyze that database, the better. I really want to know who exactly this “S.A.” person is.” She placed a hand on her son's shoulder and smiled. “Marc, you are amazing. I still don't know exactly how you did it, but you have done Sunset Valley a great service.”
Marcus sort of half smiled. “I may be kicked off of that server permanently for what I did. I don't know...but even if I am it was completely worth it.”
“You know,” Holly began, “your skills would be very useful in law enforcement. Have you considered maybe joining the force when you graduate?”
“Nah, too many rules and regulations. I'd be too restricted in what I can and cannot do.” He thought for a few moments. “Maybe an independent investigator though. Sort of like those old black and white films with the fedora-wearing detectives, solving cases on the fly and only barely within the limits of the law.”
Iris had to laugh at this. Her son was way too into those old film noir movies for his own good. “I'll see you later. Try to get some sleep or you'll be completely toast at school.”
“Yeah, I guess I probably should.”
As Iris turned to leave she heard a plaintive whimper coming from the direction of the bathroom. Her heart immediately went out to her ill husband and she made a mental note to give him a back rub when she got home. “You okay in there?”
“Just dying...but otherwise fine,” came Timothy's weary reply.
“You still want to go to work today?”
“Ah...no.”
“Didn't think so.”
---
(A/N: Another chapter that pretty much wrote itself.
Thank for reading!)
