“I’m charmed, Kid. But you know I’m happily married.” he said dryly.
“They’re for your wife!”
“Well, I can ask her, but I think you’re a little young for her. She’d eat you up, Kid.” His eyebrows had ridden up his forehead, but I could see he was trying hard to suppress his laughter when seeing my reaction.
“Are you serious!? I wanted to thank her for gathering all those photos of me and Tess. I read online that this would be appropriate and...” I replied, desperate to explain myself.
“Relax, Kid!” he interrupted me, now visibly amused about how easily he got me rattled. “I’m just messing with you. She’ll love them.”
“Well ... Alright. I also wanted to ask for a favor.”
“What do you need?”
“I told the family I’d get a surveillance system for their and John’s house. I’ll pay for it! But I really don’t wanna install them myself. Could you send someone else?”
“There a professional reason for it or something private?”
“Private.” I replied after a short moment of hesitation.
“Alright.” he said, immediately accepting my request. “But only you and Chris are already familiar with the new system, and Chris is accompanying me today. If I send him to your house, you’ll have to switch with him.”
“That won’t be a problem, Boss. What kind of client? Do I need to go and get changed?”
“Yeah. You’ll probably need to go shopping, actually. Suit. Nothing fancy or too expensive, but this is a high profile client, and your current suit doesn’t sit right with the growth rate you’re displaying. Can you take care of it before this afternoon?”
“I think so. I’ll go right now and call you in about an hour?”
He agreed and I grabbed a handful of money from the safe before I jumped into my Jeep. The surveillance system for the houses had been plaguing me for the whole weekend. I had totally forgotten about it while I was engrossed in the renovation and decorations, but now that it was done, it weighed heavily on me. Whenever I thought about going back and meeting them again, I got this weird feeling in my gut that borderlined on nausea, and my mood dropped significantly. I really didn’t want to meet with them just yet.
I drove to the same shop Tess had shown me a year ago, hoping I won’t pick something ridiculous without her help. But it turned out that slim fit suits were still readily available and the tailor could make the adjustments in two hours, since he only had to slim the waists in the jackets and vests. I confirmed with Bill and, around Two PM, made my way back to the office armed with my laptop.
“So, where to, Boss?” I asked Bill.
“You’ll drive with Paul.” he answered, handing me the keys for one of the armored SUVs I hadn’t got to drive since he helped me with my license, and one of the surface tablets we used so the clients could see how professional we looked. “He’ll fill you in on the way. Just follow us.”
It was a half hour drive until we arrived in Memorial Village at around three PM. We parked in front of a house that looked like it would easily cost two or three million dollars if I wanted to buy it. I hated properties like those. The owners always insisted on installing IoT-shit, like door locks that automatically disengaged when the homeowner’s mobile connected via Bluetooth or, even worse, to the WiFi. Or Amazon’s Ring doorbells, even after those were big in the news for being hacked and turned into publicly accessible cameras. All that stuff was basically made to give comfort while only providing the illusion of security, and explaining that to the clients was always a massive pain in the ass. Even the old anecdote about the neighbor screaming at Alexa to open the garage door, so he could borrow some tools, rarely helped.
The client was a Mr. Miller, the husband of a former model turned ‘actress’. They were scared about a stalker that had already attempted to get into the building, but still couldn’t be identified. They both had seen him but weren’t successful in putting a name to the face. Maybe, I thought, this would make the discussion about actual security easier.
While Bill and his second in command rang the doorbell, Paul and I had already started walking around the perimeter with our tablets to work out the best angles for the new cameras, flood lights, and how to lay out the cable work. Then we joined Bill, and I had to instantly reassess my opinion of the woman who called us.
After hearing her career details from Paul, I had created the mental image of a woman clinging to former glory and, maybe, just looking for attention. But, while she was still quite the looker, it was the mixture of desperation and genuine fear in her face that made me instantly take this more seriously. I made a mental note to stop thinking in clichés, and reminded myself that most people who call Bill have a genuine reason to do so.
I shared our notes and ideas for the system’s setup with Bill’s tablet, and listened to their conversation while keeping to the background myself. I still noticed how Mrs. Miller gave me doubtful looks as Bill went over the notes.
“You don’t have any kind of surveillance active at the moment?” Bill asked in an astounded voice, after noticing that point in our annotations.
“No. There is very good security around here.” Mr. Miller answered. “Patrol cars arrive within two minutes of a call. We didn’t think we’d need it. We have an alarm system, of course, and motion activated lights in the driveway and porch ... but that’s it.”
“Yes, I see those listed. We can have the camera system and a few extra flood lights for the rest of the property installed by tomorrow. How about additional security? Have you heard back from the police yet?”
“No.” Mrs. Miller’s exasperated voice answered. “We couldn’t give them any pictures, and I didn’t recognize any of the photos they showed me. There was nothing they could do except send additional patrol cars into the area for a few days.”
“Wait! They...” I started confused, but held my words to first look at Bill, seeking permission to speak. I wasn’t in any way experienced in actual dealings with clients that weren’t about camera angles and Servers. When Bill nodded, I continued. “Did they actually tell you there was nothing else they could do?”
Mr. and Mrs. Miller exchanged a look before she answered.
“Yes. That’s why we called you.”
I walked over to Bill and whispered my idea to him. I couldn’t do it without his approval, since, if this worked, there was the possibility they wouldn’t need our surveillance system anymore. When he nodded, I spoke again.
“Do you have the exact date and time of his attempt to enter the house?” I asked, and Mrs. Miller scribbled it down on a little piece of paper. “Can you show me where he tried to enter?”
After exchanging another insecure look with her husband, she walked me to the huge patio door in the living room. Her husband and the others stayed seated at the big table in the dining area, so Bill could work out his proposal. Then she watched me as I got to work.
I pulled out my phone, opened the app to get information about the nearest cell towers, and made sure I was connected to the one with the strongest signal at that position. Then I opened a WiFi-hotspot on my phone for my laptop, and traced the packet route through the mobile network. I had ... heard ... that it was possible to gain remote access over a cell tower, and complete control over its Base Transceiver Station, if you bombarded its UDP service-ports with empty packets. You just needed to know how to reach those service ports. To my great relief, it worked perfectly and, after retrieving the access logs from the BTS, I moved back into the living room to sit on the sofa. As Mrs. Miller watched my fingers dance over the laptop’s keyboard to apply the filters to the log files, and the texts of my command prompt scroll over the display, she started talking to me.