Agent M: Testament (The Agent M Series Book 2) (32 page)

“I’m such an idiot.”

“It’s okay Shelly, really!” Defended Meryl. “What’s done is done. We can’t change the past. No use dwelling on it now. We’ll just move past this and pull off one hell of an operation and make the Director completely forget about what happened.”

Meryl was really strong. If Shelly had any doubts about her before they were instantly quelled after today. Not too many people can walk away from a beating like that with their head held high. It’s no wonder why the Director chose her for this operation.

“Are we, I mean, are you…  Okay?” She asked. “With everything? And me?”

“Absolutely,” Meryl smiled. “I won’t hold this against you. Especially since you’ll be paying for the next dinner.”

“Really?” Laughed Shelly.

Her companion’s humor was both uplifting and welcomed.

“No Korean this time?”

“Actually, I’m thinking Italian,” Meryl replied.

“I know just the place,” Shelly said,

“Oh no. Knowing my luck it will be filled with mobsters. I’m going with Yelp this time around.”

Agent Yuan couldn’t hold back her laughter even if she tried. Meryl’s reputation may not be as legendary as her partner in Los Angeles but her own story was certainly starting to grow here.

Shelly checked her watch.

“Well, it looks like it’s time to start our lessons. We’ll go over the basics again but if there’s anything else you’d like to know –”

“How do you say Stop thief!?”

“You’re pushing your luck,” smiled Shelly.

Meryl winked.

“It’s just my nature.”

March 26th, 2013 8:35AM

Los Angeles, CA

In all of his years of experience, Adrian Fischer had never met a teenager quite as tough as the kid sitting in the interrogation room. On the ride over he was completely silent. Not a single word of anger, despair, or fear passed through his mouth. It was like he didn’t even care that he could spend years and jail for what he pulled. At least, it didn’t appear that way. He may just be one damned good liar to boot.

The boy sat in the room in front of a large metal table. A closed laptop was lying dormant on top while a thick stack of papers stood idle in the unused chair nearby. The S.A.C. stood in silence for a few moments just as he was taught in training. Give the suspect a few moments to go through the hundreds, possibly thousands of scenarios in his head and they’ll drive themselves mad. Make them become their own worst enemy and they’ll say and do whatever it takes to stop it from continuing.

“Roberto Simmons was it?” Adrian asked going over the kid’s file in his hands.

Straight A student, top of his class, considered a genius among his peers. Too bad he was stuck in a poor school district or else the boy may have a chance of actually making something positive with himself. Bumming around the illegal territory of the Internet was not going to earn him favor with colleges but maybe, just maybe it could earn him a few points today.

“Yea puerco?” Roberto replied leaning back in the chair with both arms folded without a care in the world.

The humor in his tone notwithstanding, Adrian had been called a pig in seven languages already. This kid was not being cute or original.

“You’re in very big trouble young man, do you know how serious this is?”

The S.A.C. decided to play the fatherly card on this one. With the kid’s dad gone for over 10 years, it may strike enough of a nerve to get a decent reaction out of him

“Quit trying to act like my father bitch,” he insulted. “You ain’t got shit on me puerco.”

“Oh no?” Adrian said trying not to act too surprised.

He tapped the button on the conference receiver.

“Mark?”

“Yea boss?”

The analyst’s voice cam in loud and clear though he was sitting comfortably at his desk on the other side of the building.

“What have you found so far on our friend here?”

“According to my initial findings, he’s pretty transparent once you get to know him. Even easier since he keeps all of the details on his personal drives. Created his first virus when he was twelve, compromised a bunch of ATMs for Bank of America. Lot of similar things for the next year or so, then he moved onto bigger things like coordinated DDoS attacks from multiple infected machines just to slow down servers to get concert tickets. Oh, and it looks like he’s an avid gamer too. Hey, would you look at that. I thought I recognized your handle. You play on the Kato Clan server. I think totally shoved an RPG right up your –”

“That’s fine Mark,” cutting off the analyst before he dives into unnecessary territory. “Tell me something he wouldn’t think we’d know.”

“You mean that he can’t swim and that he fears other people will find out he can’t. Or that he has a certain, borderline stalking, infatuation with a Ms. Rebecca Montecito? Age seventeen, blonde, athletic, second team on the cheerleading squad, sits two seats ahead of him in English –”

“Enough whey!” The boy shouted.

He immediately placed all four chair legs back on the ground and slouched in his seat.

“That’s your button?”

Adrian shook his head in seemingly disbelief.

“Teenagers…”

The S.A.C. turned his attention back to the conference receiver.

“Email the photograph to me.”

“Already done boss.”

The image of Roberto’s apparent crush appeared on Adrian’s phone. She could be considered cute for her age but looked pretty average. Some men’s tastes are sometimes too ordinary sometimes. You never can tell what will get a man’s blood pumping. In Roberto’s case, it appeared to be low profile and attainable.

“If you don’t comply with us,” Adrian started.

He turned the phone towards the boy with her bright blonde smile staring back at him.

“I’ll forward your entire rap sheet to her and all of her friends with a picture of you in handcuffs being beaten by your mother with a spatula.”

“That’s your big threat?” Roberto laughed. “I can’t believe you dragged me all the way here for this?”

“You misunderstand me Mr. Simmons,” Adrian smirked. “The FBI doesn’t make threats. Threats are indicative of the potential to harm. We have no wish to harm you or those you love Mr. Simmons, however,” he tapped the conference button again, “When was this photo taken Mark?”

“About twenty minutes ago boss. During a break in between her classes.”

This did not seem to amuse Roberto in the slightest. It did strike a nerve though.

“You wouldn’t touch her. You’re cops. You’re supposed to be good and shit.”

“You’re right Roberto. We are the good guys.”

Adrian pulled himself back from the table and stared off into another direction with his back turned.

There was no way he was actually going to send all of those documents. It was against protocol. Fortunately, he didn’t say it to be threatening but merely open the door for a much bigger and imposing threat. This one he wouldn’t make on his own. This threat was all about implication.

“But we happen to know a lot of bad people. The kind of people that would do a lot of bad things to someone, let’s say, who had been skimming off the top of their accounts to line their own pockets.”

Adrian turned around to face the kid again. His expression was eerily calm.

“That photo you just saw was taken by one of our agents inside of the school. You know how long it would take to get an official U.C. officer in there? He just happened to be passing by. Now imagine how easy it would be for someone who doesn’t like you to do the same thing. You’ve been dealing with some very bad people lately. Some that would pay much more than our agents make in a year just to settle their debts,” Adrian declared.

Each of his words were chosen carefully and he could see they had their desired effect as the young man’s posture and facial expressions changed rapidly.

“I don’t like to be grim here Mr. Simmons but let’s just say the next digital photograph you see of her will probably be devoid of that smile you seem to love so much.”

They got him. The son of bitches got him. Roberto never liked to admit defeat. He may be bested on rare occasions but he lived to fight another day. Taking that knowledge of those minor setbacks enabled him to adapt and overcome his competition. No one has ever gotten the incredible D0c7oR pHr34K to submit. These boys should feel honored.

“Fine, fine,” he pleaded yet still sounding defiant. “But I have terms,” he boldly stated. “First I want protection for me, mi madre, and my school.”

Adrian almost wanted to raise an eyebrow and smirk at the brass this kid had. He decided it was best to belay those thoughts and keep an open mind to these terms posed by the child.

“Given the severity of the situation, that is possible. Next?”

“Second, I want a pass on all of that other bullshit you’ve got on me. Clean slate. I don’t want that following me around when I’m off in college.”

That surprised the S.A.C. to hear.

“You want to go to college?”

“Yea,” he replied, insulted that his words were not taken seriously. “You think I do all this shit for fun? I need cash puerco. My mom can’t be paying some Ivy League tuition on four dollars an hour.”

“Fair enough,” Adrian said. “What else?”

“I want you to write me a letter of recommendation.”

“Me?”

A puzzled Adrian stared back. This had to be the oddest request he had from a criminal on record.

“What would you want me to say?”

“Simple puerco. All you have to do is tell them how awesome I am with computers that you needed my assistance to solve a case and shit.”

The little son of a bitch began to grin that almost made the S.A.C. vomit.

“You know, just like now. I figure a recommendation from the FBI has got to put me at the top of the list for Harvard or M.I.T.”

“You have big aspirations young man,” Adrian complimented hoping he didn’t sound too friendly. “But what makes you think I’ll give you any of this stuff you’re asking for when I’ve got a team of analysts working on deciphering your code this very minute?”

“You called me down here remember? Either you get my help and we both win or I don’t tell you shit as you lock me up and throw away the key. That’s lose-lose. And I bet you don’t want to tell your boss you lost to a sixteen year old kid, do you puerco?”

This kid was brash alright but things went a lot better than Adrian expected. He wasn’t defiant or unruly like some of the other Internet terrorizers he’s had the pleasure of dealing with. Roberto knew exactly what he wanted and was willing to cooperate to get it. The stuff he was asking for was minor anyways. Some of it was even protocol. It’s not like Adrian wouldn’t give him most of these things. It all depended on how much the kid knew and how well he cooperated.

“Before we make a deal I need to know something first. What about us?” Asked the S.A.C. “What do we get?”

“If you ask me the right questions, maybe I’ll give you the right answers.”

The S.A.C. took some time to ponder the situation. It was a fair deal on paper but gaining results in this method didn’t sit well with Agent Fischer. He’d get this kid to talk and inevitably, he’d probably give him what he needed to feel safe and ensure his future away from a life in crime. However, there’s no way in hell Adrian would allow a compromise. He wouldn’t let the boy for think for one miniscule moment that he won. That was not Adrian’s style.

“You drive a hard bargain young man,” Adrian started. “But I’m afraid you forgot to take something else into account. You see, while I do have the power to give you anything and everything you’ve asked for, I’m not going to do that.”

Roberto scoffed and leaned back in his chair.

“¿Por qué puerco? I thought you needed my help?”

“Oh I’ll get the information I’m looking for, don’t you worry about that. But I’m not going to ask for even trade for it. You’re going to give it to me willingly.”

Laughs erupted in the interrogation room.

“’Esta’s loco Puero,” Roberto said between breaths. “Why the hell would I give you anything now?”

“You seem to forget your situation Mr. Simmons. That is my fault and I do apologize. I made it seem like I actually needed to offer you something in order to get what I want. Please forgive me, however…”

Adrian opened up the laptop next to Roberto. The screen kicked on with a photograph of an older gentleman next to a long list of data.

“I think you know this man. Charles Logan: billionaire, executive estate owner and operator of Utopia Hotel and Casino Inc. We’ve got him on multiple counts of tax fraud, hosting undocumented illegal gambling, life-endangerment, the list goes on but I won’t bore you with the details,” he paused for a moment. “Or maybe I should. After all, you’re an accessory now.”

“Say what?!” He shouted. “You can’t pin all that stuff to me! I had nothing to do with that shit.”

“Says who?” The S.A.C. smirked. “I’m sure Mr. Logan would love nothing more than a little leniency in his sentencing. You think he’s going to give throwing you under the bus a second thought?”

“Spare me puerco. Whether it’s for sixty days or sixty years, jail is still jail,” he threw his hands up without regard while saying, “I’m fucked either way.”

“You may be right, but that’s not the only thing you should be worried about.”

Adrian turned the laptop and input a new address into the field. This one was only accessible to FBI agents only. Once the results showed up, he turned it back to Roberto and continued.

“You see this? This is a list of all of the Most Wanted fugitives”

The young boy twitched. His throat dried instantaneously. Air ripped through the heavy breaths entering his lungs with incredible haste. Adrian could see it as clear as day. He’d finally found the chink in Roberto’s armor.

“I think you remember the story. It was national news at one point but let me refresh your memory. Back in October of 2010, the FBI started in secret their initiative to catch all of the men and women on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Teams of agents pooled together in a joint effort to hunt these people down. It was the single greatest operation pulled off in the Bureau’s history.”

Adrian took a deep breath and did his best to not sound too enthusiastic.

“At least, that’s the story we told the press anyways.”

Roberto remained firm but distance. His eyes gazed to the adjacent wall. Looking at the S.A.C. now may show signs of weakness. He had to remain firm. Unfortunately, this was all working according to Adrian’s well thought out plan. While this tactic may not have worked on some older, more experienced hackers, Roberto Simmons was a unique case. Adrian made sure to get as much dirt on the kid as possible and sifting through it this morning revealed a lovely chunk of gold Roberto himself may have even forgotten about.