To Russia With Love (Countermeasure Series) (6 page)

“C
ASSIE! CHOP, CHOP!” TREVOR YELLED from the office.

“Be right there!” Cassandra grabbed a towel, dried her face, and quickly ran a brush through her hair. “I can’t believe he let me sleep in!” she mumbled under her breath as she ran back into the bedroom and slipped into a lightweight dress. Feeling more awake, she hurried across hall to the office where Trevor was already hard at work.

It had been three days since the meeting with Paul Faber; Trevor had been up to his ears in infiltrations, research, and collection of data that would help them pinpoint the origin of the hack that resulted in the theft of MDS’s files. Trevor had scrutinized the contents of the disk received from Faber and they now understood the importance of the stolen data.

They had learned that the files in question were actually decryption software that could crack anything encoded with a certain algorithm by exploiting a secret vulnerability. The kicker was that the algorithm in question was the one used by most financial institutions around the world to process inter-bank fund transfers. That meant it allowed access to any bank’s system with the pressing of a few keys. The reach and repercussion of the usage of such software was astounding. It could bring the world financial market to its knees. It was the subject of nightmares for anyone in the software development field. Something so powerful could never be distributed at large.

The NSA itself would’ve loved to have developed such software, have full control of its reach. Instead, it had been the brainchild of a small company on the brink of stardom, and now most likely had fallen into very wrong hands.

Cassandra spotted the cup left by her computer the moment she walked through the door. The addictive aroma of coffee filled her senses and almost brought her to her knees. “Thank the Irish Gods!” Lifting the cup for a slow sip, she gazed at Trevor across their desks.

He raised an eyebrow. “Took you long enough.”

Cassandra flashed him a smile as she walked to his side of the office and dropped a kiss on his lips before sitting at her desk. “Hey, you’re the one who let me sleep in.” She pulled up her notes from the previous day. “So, where are we? Do you have anything new?”

Trevor frowned as he filtered through all the information they had collected about the job. Crossing his hands behind his head, he leaned back in his chair and began to outline what they knew. “Based on the information provided by Faber and George, the data was taken about two weeks ago. Whoever took it erased the data from the server. Thankfully, Faber had copies of the source stored off-site. We also know the potential of the program.”

Cassandra nodded in agreement. “Any crook in the world would love to get their hands on it.”

“The good thing is the development of the decryption software was not completed when they took it. Maybe they thought they could hire someone who could easily do that, making it functional in no time. Lucky for us, it isn’t that easy. I’ve analyzed the code. It requires someone with a high-level understanding of parallel computing—not a lot of programmers with that skill out there.”

Trevor watched as she scooted back from her desk, grabbed her cup, and sat on his desk facing him. He could see from the somber look in her eyes that she was deep in thought as she took a sip from her coffee before setting it aside.

“Okay. Who can we trust at this point? Faber is the original developer. We can assume he doesn’t want his creation in the hands of criminals, based on the results of the facial analysis. Devlin’s out, too. His company would be in financial ruin if the defrauded companies filed suit. Other than that, I don’t think we can be sure of anybody.” She captured his eyes with hers. “Trevor, we need to be sure what’s at stake here and who’s involved. We don’t want a surprise like France.”

Silence filled the air as they both contemplated those ramifications. Cassandra and Trevor had met betrayal and unforeseen circumstances on the first case they worked together. Knowing the players in this technological game of hide-and-seek had become a must. Neither wanted to have to go through the pain of seeing the other hurt—again.

Cassandra shook her head and continued, “Hey! What about the logs from the kernel-based keylogger software you installed on all the MDS computers? Did you check the new ones?

He had infiltrated MDS the day he received the details of the case from Faber and installed a keylogger, small programs that gained access and recorded any information typed on the keyboard, on all of MDS’s computers. The keylogger he had installed was virtually undetectable. It had recorded any input to those computers from the time of its implementation and generated a daily log with the captured data. Trevor never ceased to be amazed by Cassandra’s attention to detail. “Get out of my head. I was about to check last night’s reports.”

Her laughter wrapped around him like a warm blanket. He straightened in his chair and started typing commands to pull up the log files. Although they had full access to MDS’s network, which also gave them access to their email server, that wouldn’t be enough to track personal communications if the mole avoided using traceable means. “Everybody in IT can read emails. Whoever is involved will use something more inconspicuous, like instant messaging through social media sites. That’s why we needed to track keystrokes on every computer.” Smirking, he added, “They wouldn’t expect their own company to give an outsider root access to their entire network. So much for company privacy policies.”

Cassandra watched his fingers fly across the keyboard and chuckled. Trevor looked like a mad pianist, hitting keys, creating magic with his fingers. Under her watchful gaze, he remotely accessed each of the computers targeted and retrieved the logs.

“We have over fifty text files to go through. We can split them between us and be done in half the time.”

“Yes, sir!” Cassandra sat back at her desk, eyes glued to the screen, scanning the files for any subtle clue as to who the mole could be.

The keylogger files held details on the applications used, as well as the keystrokes used within each application, such as website URLs, email addresses, and the actual messages typed while using them. It even captured when the backspace had been pressed or letters deleted. Most of the communications were boring emails, some exchanged among the developers and others of a personal nature.

As he read the files, Trevor’s sense of humor was sparked by the odd things found in them. He shook his head at some of the content he came across.

Cassandra chuckled while studying her lot of files.

“Did you find amusing stuff in yours, too?”

“Sure did.” Cassandra’s eyes sparkled with a mix of humor and incredulity.

“Amazing that people still discuss personal things using company computers. They have no idea about what can be restored even from deleted files.” He continued with his perusal, scrolling rapidly through them, searching for any unusual communications via instant messaging between someone within the company and an outside recipient.

After several hours of reading mile-long logs, Cassandra’s eyes were starting to cross. She rubbed them as she twisted in her chair. “I need a break. My eyes feel like they want to pop out of my head.” Her stomach chose that moment to rumble. Trevor’s eyebrows rose, making her laugh. “I guess I’m hungry, too.” Standing, she stretched like a cat. “Heading downstairs to get us something. I’ll be right back.”

Trevor’s eyes trained on her retreating figure and his heart rolled in his chest.
That’s my wife
. He’d never been that lucky. Fate had had a great time mocking him in the past, taking from him the people he loved most—and yet, for once it had actually smiled on him. He sucked in a deep breath and got back to work.

*****

Down in the kitchen Cassandra pulled out everything to make quick sandwiches. She’d needed a break from the files and from the apprehension that had been assaulting her off and on since they had taken the case. The mindless task fit the bill. Trevor always mentioned his spidey senses tingled when something didn’t jive. She had her own type of sixth sense. The scar on her hip ached again, an indication that things would get a lot more interesting.

With a sense of accomplishment, she lifted the tray and walked back upstairs into the office. Trevor looked up when she entered and grinned at her when she handed him his plate and a pint of Guinness to chase the food down. “Brilliant, love. I’m famished.”

She took a bite from her own sandwich and relaxed back in her chair with her feet propped against her desk. “Did you find anything while I was downstairs?”

Cassandra watched Trevor bite down on his sandwich with gusto and nod in appreciation as he chewed. She couldn’t help but smile as he swallowed and chased it down with a big gulp of his beer. “That’s really good, love. It hit the spot.” Trevor tossed the last bite in his mouth and licked his fingers. “To answer your question, no, I haven’t. Nothing so far. I hope we can get through this process quickly so we can get to Prague and find out if Mucha has the information I need.”

Cassandra’s heart twisted in her chest when she saw sadness invade Trevor’s features. She immediately dropped her feet to the floor, set her plate aside, and made her way around the desks. His chair creaked under the weight of her hands as she turned it and leaned on its arms. “Patience, love.” She placed a soft kiss on his lips and gazed into his turbulent eyes. “We’ll find what we need. We
will
make the meeting in Prague, just as planned.”

Trevor exhaled harshly and scrubbed his fingers through his hair. He stared into Cassandra’s confident eyes and saw the rock-solid strength and determination that had grounded him in his pursuit of the truth. “I know. I just wish…never mind. Back to work. The faster we ID the mole the better. It’s a small company. If we’re really lucky, we’ll end up with only a few possible suspects.” As Cassandra straightened, Trevor trailed his fingers down her arm and gripped her hand, stopping her. “Thank you.” She smiled softly in silent acquiescence of the meaning behind his words.

Some time later, Trevor looked up from his screen, satisfaction glowing in his eyes. “I think I might have found something.” His voice held a rasp of excitement. “An employee accessed a number of sites with .
ru
, .
ua
and .
ge
extensions.”

Cassandra raised her eyebrows and whistled. “All former Soviet Union countries—Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia.”

“Yep. And everybody in this field knows how heavily tied to online fraud those counties are.”

Trevor stared pensively at his screen. “How about you do a full background check on this guy? His name is Andrey Tomlin. Check company records on him, too. Need to know if he’s a disgruntled employee or something. I’ll focus on finishing the last of the files.”

Cassandra nodded absently as she jotted his name in her notebook. Working side by side with her had proved to be interesting. He always looked forward to the thrill of having her around during the action. She was definitely a big asset, both behind the scenes and in the field. Cassandra’s frown and look of implacable determination as she focused on the background check amused him to no end.
Note to self: find ways to remove that frown from her face later.
While she continued her work, Trevor turned his attention to the remaining logs.

Cassandra was determined to find something that would establish a possible motive. Her fingers pounded a staccato rhythm across the keys as she initiated several financial and medical queries. Next, she opened Tomlin’s HR file. It contained some minor disciplinary actions for misuse of company credit cards.
So, Mr. Tomlin, do you have cash-flow issues?

A little while later, Cassandra eyed the clock on the computer and a wide smile filled her face as she glanced at Trevor. “Done. I packaged it nice and shiny for you. Saved it to the shared drive. He’s a suspicious little bugger, as you would say. He may have a love-hate relationship with money. Take a look.”

Trevor turned his attention to Mr. Tomlin and the background check she’d compiled. The more he read, the more he felt like there was a good chance they had found their mole. “This is good stuff. If this guy is into something, he has to be communicating with his contact from home as well as from work. He may have curtailed direct communication since the data was stolen. No major money transfers have hit his account yet. He could still be waiting for a payout. We need taps on this guy as soon as possible. I’ll get George’s take on it tomorrow.”

Cassandra nodded. “Between the two of you, no information will be missed.” Her muscles ached from the long hours hunched over her computer. She stood and stretched, turning her head to release the kink in her neck. “We’ve been at it for hours. Are we done for the day, Captain?”

Trevor flashed a wicked grin. “I guess we are done for the day,
a bhean.
” The Irish word for wife rolled smoothly off his tongue. He loved saying it. “Let’s shut it down.” He took her hand in his and led her into the hall. “We’ll talk to George tomorrow at the usual time. We can pass all of the details to him then.”

The dark curtain of night had descended upon them. The soft moonlight glimmer illuminated the room as Trevor guided Cassandra to their bed. “I can finally start working on getting that little frown off your face.” He chuckled at her puzzled silence and cupped her cheeks with his hands. “Don’t worry,
a ghrá
. I am sure you’ll approve and enjoy my methods.” Her sigh echoed in the room has he proceeded to show her.

Curious George