Chapter 115
If the past two days had taught Etzy Millar anything, it was how to cope with fear. The hard-looking man who had just entered his hotel room caught him off guard, but the hacker had adapted to his new lifestyle quickly and immediately reached for the Beretta lying next to his computer. He leveled its sight at the intruder’s head. The man gave him a sideways glance before casually looking back toward the hallway he had entered from.
“Jesus, Trent, didn’t you show this kid how to turn off the safety?” Jack Turner asked.
“What?”
Millar quickly lowered the weapon when he heard Trent Turner’s voice. His look of fear turned to confusion.
Trent walked through the door and sized up both men. “Did I miss something?” he asked.
“Finger, is that you?” a female voice came through the computer.
Millar’s heart rate was returning to normal, and he said, “I’m working with Cyndi from The Shop.” He looked up at the older man with great concern. “I’m really sorry about that.”
Jack Turner smiled. “Not to worry, Etzy. You’re doing great. You’re handling yourself well. Just remember the safety next time.”
The hacker was confused.
“Nice work you’ve been doing. I’m impressed.” Jack offered a smile with a curt nod. “You know me as Heckler.”
Millar thought about their previous conversations and returned the smile. Jack Turner didn’t sound like the same person, but he was finding a lot of things weren’t what they first seemed.
Trent chimed in to answer the earlier question. “Yes, I’m here,” he said, directing his response to Millar’s computer.
“Great, we could use your help on this,” Grayson said. “Is that you, Jack?”
Etzy looked to Trent and was clearly concerned.
“Sure is, Cyn. I heard Chicago’s a great place for a weekend getaway.” He noticed Millar was uncomfortable and said, “Don’t worry, Etzy, I’ve been around too long. Everyone at The Shop knows I’m Heckler.” He pointed at Trent and added, “But they don’t know who he is, so we’ll have to keep that little secret between us.”
Everyone laughed.
“Did you have any luck with the Federal Reserve?” Trent asked.
“We do have one development,” Grayson replied. “After wading through the traffic logs, the team has managed to track communications from one of the known bots into the Fed. The strange thing is that the computer in question hasn’t made any contact with any of its financial systems as far as we can tell. Aside from its normal processing, the only other significant communication has been with its corporate phone system.” She paused so Trent could digest the information. “Quite a bit of traffic actually, and it didn’t use the TCP and UDP ports we expect for the VoIP phone system they use.” She sighed in frustration. “We’re still pulling down information, but since they don’t know we’re in there, we’ve had to throttle the bandwidth down so we don’t trip any alarms and risk being discovered. It will be a while yet before we’re finished downloading everything.”
“What about the accounts they have overseas?” Trent asked. “Have you been able to dig into that any deeper?”
“No luck so far. The banks we’ve examined look to be in good shape.”
He thought of something else. “What kind of phone system does the Fed have?”
“GoldenGate Systems,” she confirmed. “One of the best and most popular.”
Trent Turner rubbed the back of his neck as he considered a new angle and said, “I suspect that they might be hedging their bets with a combination of attack vectors.” The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. “We need to find out if any or all of the banks we’re plugged into are using a GoldenGate phone system. These people are smart, and it’s possible that they’re exploiting the phone systems and the DataBank financial software.”
“I think you might be onto something,” Grayson agreed.
“Can you pass along all of the Fed’s account numbers for the banks in Europe? I have a friend that I want to reach out to,” Trent explained. “It’s too early to call Europe right now, but he might be able to help us out with the intercept Tak had been working on. I think the program was called DEADPREZ.”
“Absolutely, if it’s ready it certainly couldn’t hurt,” Grayson said, reflecting on the possibility. They heard muted conversation in the background before she continued. “I just got word that the hacker who defected wants to come in as soon as possible.”
All three of them perked up.
“I’ll get him,” Jack said. “I can’t help with this computer geekery anyway. Cyn, just send the RV info to my phone and consider it done. Addy said we should have some help here soon.”
“I’ll send it directly,” she confirmed.
Jack Turner started for the door and said, “I’ll get changed, pick up some gear from my hotel room, grab the hacker and head back here.”
In the background Trent had booted up his laptop and pulled up the GPS tracking software. The operation had gotten more complicated now that Victoria Eden had been taken. He already had enough innocent blood on his hands and was concerned about what horrors might meet the violinist if he didn’t get to her soon. He navigated through a couple of screens and located the red dot.
“Let’s see where our Russian friend made off to so we can figure out our next move,” Trent said. “The heavies I had a run-in with were good. They might be holding her there.”
Jack Turner stopped at the door and turned to his nephew. “Who?”
Trent shared a look with Millar and said, “I’ll explain later. It’s a long story.”
Chapter 116
Bruce Campbell’s revelation was interrupted by his cell phone. He kept his stare trained on Melody Millar as he fished the device out of his pocket.
“Yeah?” he answered. He listened to the caller and nodded a few times in acknowledgment before responding. “Got it,” he said. “Twenty?” He listened intently to the caller. “Sounds good. I’ll let him know you’ll be there.”
Campbell smiled as he disconnected the call, his eyes never leaving the frightened teenager. The good news was welcome after his recent string of failures. He punched at the phone and lifted it to his ear.
The call was answered on the first ring.
“Tell me something I want to hear,” Pavel Kozlov said.
Campbell jutted his jaw out confidently before answering. “They’ll be at the gate soon, an hour tops.”
“Good. You’ve come through,” Kozlov said, sounding surprised. “We’ll have the men keep an eye on the monitors so they can tend to the gate.”
“There will be twenty of them,” Campbell said.
“Splendid. How many have you worked with?”
“Most,” he confirmed as he snuck a glance at the FBI agent. “There are some ex-Delta, Rangers, Marines. They’ve all worked the bodyguard circuit for Active Armor,” he said, indicating the firm that had once employed him. “I’m sure the guys I don’t know can handle themselves, or they wouldn’t be there.” Campbell needed to spell out the terms he’d agreed to for his boss. “They’re expecting cash. Upfront,” he explained.
“Of course. I’ll take care of that directly.”
“Jim Stratton will collect. He said he’s going to bring some radios for your men so everyone can stay on the same page.” He shifted nervously before adding, “It’s in your best interest to let him run the show. His men trust him, and yours can too.”