Hacked Off!
By
Pamela Ebel
July
4, 2019
The
Embarcadero, Pier 23 Parking Lot
San Francisco 5:00 a.m.
Alexi
Gorev had never considered himself in danger because of his job as a computer
hacker for the Russian cybergroup Evil Corp. So, he was completely surprised
when the darts hit him.
As
Gorev’s breathing stopped a gloved hand reached down, removed the darts from
his chest and arm and walked quietly from the garage.
July
4, 2019
Cerberus
Cyber Security, Market Street
San
Francisco 6:30 a.m.
“Good
morning, Ms. Vale. You are in earlier than usual I see. Think that is going to
get you moved up in the pecking order maybe? Think the boss might show up this
early and realize you need a better office? A better view? Something better
than what I have just because you’re a woman and have a law degree?”
Steve
Laxle glared at Claudia Vale as he stood at her office door. He had opposed her
hiring based on his belief that women couldn’t do the type of security work
Cerberus engaged in as one of the FBI’s private sector partners.
“Good
morning, Steve. I am just about to get into the assignment on the latest hack
of bank accounts over in Marin County. I wanted a little quiet time to assess
the chatter we picked up between the Kremlin and their main hacking unit in
Evil Corp.”
“Who
gave you that assignment? I sure as hell didn’t. I was planning on starting on
it tomorrow.”
“I
got a call from Special Agent Bricker over at FBI headquarters yesterday. You
had already left for the day. He told me to get on the assignment as soon as
they started to send the encrypted messages over. I started last night, I had
some personal business I had to take care of earlier this morning. When it was
finished, I came here to keep working on the assignment.”
“Personal
business before 6:00 a.m.? Really? We will just see about this. Hold off on any
more work until I speak with Bricker.”
As
Laxle stormed out Claudia turned and picked up the photo of her aunt Paula who
had died of a heart attack when her entire savings had been stolen in a local
hacking scheme a few months earlier.
After
four months of law enforcement officials at all levels failing to capture or
get any leads on the hackers, Claudia had used her security clearance to do
some sleuthing of her own, finding an ‘off the grid money mule operation’
skimming thousands from their employers in the Russian government. She had
approached Laxle with great expectations and excitement.
“Steve,
I think I have a lead on some local hackers who might be responsible for that
bank account hack back in January. I put together a brief for you.”
She
had placed her information on his desk.
“Ms.
Vale, just because you have a last name like the reporter that had Batman all a
flutter, doesn’t make you a crime fighter in the real world. I have bigger
issues.”
He
had pushed the brief back to her, turned to his computer, ending the
conversation. So, she had returned to her office and clicked into the Russian
chatter about missing money and dug deeper.
Finally,
two weeks ago she had discovered the identities of the four men responsible for
the hack. She tried again.
“Steve,
I think I have narrowed down the list of Russian Nationals on the January hack.
Should we send this over to Bricker? He’s been looking for the connection.”
“It’s
like I keep telling you MS, VALE! I decide what we send and when we send it
over to the FBI.”
Realizing
her situation Claudia had returned to her office and planted anonymous
information into the FBI’s data system to indicate that Evil Corp. had received
orders from the Kremlin to eliminate the ‘off-grid skimmers’ in the usual
manner. As she knew they would, the Bureau assumed that meant using some type
of poison. Then she waited for their call.
Laxle
appeared at her office door again. “Bricker says you told him you didn’t know
where I was yesterday when he called. I told everyone I was calling it a day.”
“I
didn’t think you wanted me telling the head of the local Bureau office that you
had gone home for the day at 2:30 in the afternoon, Steve.”
Claudia
attempted to look contrite as he stomped out. She rose to make sure he was gone
and closed her door. Sitting back down, she touched her aunt’s photo as she
picked up the phone and made a dinner reservation.
“Pay
Back Time, Aunt Paula!”
July
4, 2019
Cliff
House Restaurant
San
Francisco 6:00 p.m.
Kori
Litov sipped his vodka martini at the Cliff House bar and listened as a local
newscaster reported on another citizen death from an apparent overdose of some
form of barbiturate. The reporter stood in front of the Pier 23 Parking Lot.
“The still unidentified man was found by a
cleaning crew in that parking garage this morning about 6:00 a.m. The coroner
on scene said that man had a couple of needle marks.”
Litov
thought of calling his friend and co-worker Alexi Gorev, who parked his car in
that garage, to see if he knew the guy, but decided another martini and then a
walk down on the Seal Rocks would be more fun. He was also distracted by the
lovely black-haired beauty that he had been visiting with.
“I
love your accent. Where did you say you were from?”
She
smiled at Litov, who was feeling the effects of the third martini.
“I
didn’t say. But I am from Moscow.”
“OOH!
A Russian! I have always wanted to meet a real Russian.”
She
smiled slowly. “It’s stuffy in here. How about a walk on Seal Rocks?”
“My
favorite place here in this city! Yes! Let us walk!”
Litov
walked unsteadily onto the slippery rocks as the waves crashed up toward him
Between
the wind and the barking of the seals he didn’t hear the footsteps behind him
and didn’t feel the sharp jab of the dart into his arm.
July
6, 2019
The
Haight Apartments
San
Francisco 7:30 p.m.
Maxsim
Turashev and Igor Kaspersky sat in their apartment drinking shots of vodka and
listening to the news reports that two Russian Nationals had been found dead
two days before. The Coroner had released the cause of death of both men as an
overdose of barbiturates, delivered into the skin tissue.
“I
think someone has found our ‘Money Mule’ Igor. You know that Litov and Gorev
didn’t use drugs. Our government uses poisons to get rid of people. The Kremlin
knows everything going on here through Evil Corp. We’ve worked for the cartel
for three years with no trouble until you started shifting funds into the
hidden money laundering account.”
“We
don’t know what our friends did in their spare time. Maybe they used the extra
money for drugs, or women, or whatever. But one thing we can’t do is look
worried or do anything different in case we are being watched. If someone asks,
we didn’t know anything about anything. Do you understand?”
“Yeah!
But look, we have a big bank roll now. It’s about $500,000 each! Let’s head to
the island. We could live nice. When the heat is over, maybe we could relocate
somewhere else and start ‘money mule’ again. Right now, I don’t think it’s safe
to keep going.”
“You
are such a worrier. We’re just two more young bachelor geeks working in Silicon
Valley. If we try to leave, they will know we did something wrong. Besides, the hacking is easy. Americans are so
gullible. They believe anything if you are polite and smile while you pick
their pockets and computers.”
Igor
poured another shot of vodka and stared out the window as their new neighbor
walked up the stairs to the apartments. He smiled as he remembered how scared
and upset she had been when he ran the hacking program that shut down her home
lap top.
“I
mean really, where else would we find such gullible people like this woman next
door? After I froze her computer, she fell for the line about accessing her
debit card to protect the funds we hadn’t really ‘taken’. We got a nice $12,000
from her and didn’t have to leave the apartment. We can ride the hidden mule a
bit more. We just have to act natural.”
Claudia Vale entered the apartment she had
rented next to the remaining two hackers responsible for the theft of her
aunt’s savings account. The apartment had become available when she sent the
previous occupant an anonymous tip that his ex-wife had discovered his address
and was planning to serve him with suit for back child support.
She
had used an alias and a black wig and glasses to disguise her blond hair when
renting the apartment and then let the Russians hack her computer to make sure
she had the right actors. After making a quick visit to the area around the
Sather Gates in Berkley, Claudia set her final plan in motion.
Now,
hearing the remaining Russians’ laughter, she took the bottle of Mamont Vodka
and two shot glasses out of the freezer and placed them in a liquor store paper
bag, freshened her lipstick, checked to be sure the hall was clear and knocked
on their door.
“Ms.
Smith, what a surprise!”
Maxsim
offered his best ‘fox in the hen house’ smile.
“We
haven’t been properly introduced yet. I’m Julie Smith. The manager said my
neighbors were from Russia and I wanted to give you a gift to start what I hope
will be a long, fruitful friendship.”
She
took the bottle and shot glasses out of the bag and held them up.
“Mamont!
We have not seen that here in the states. What a great gift. Please come in and
have a toast with us.”
Maxsim
grabbed the bottle and glasses and stepped aside to let her enter the
apartment. She watched as Igor took the bottle, placed it on the dining table
and pulled the cork out.
“I’m
afraid I can’t join you in a toast tonight. I have an ear infection and
antibiotics and alcohol don’t mix. But I will be done with the prescription
tomorrow. Perhaps I can return to toast then?”
Igor
was already pouring the vodka into two extra-large shot glasses.
“That
would be wonderful. If there is any left!”
She
slipped her hand into the paper bag and waited as the two men lifted their
glasses.
“Za
Zda ro’ vye! To Your Health!”
They shouted loudly and downed the vodka. They
both took another shot, then began to cough and choke. As the three-minute mark
approached Maxsim and Igor had fallen to the floor in respiratory distress. In
fifteen minutes the two men lie silently side by side.
Claudia
removed her hand from the bag, picked up the vodka bottle and shot glasses and
slipped them into it. They joined the empty vial of barbiturates she had
purchased easily from a vendor at the Sather Gates. She reached into her pocket
and pulled out a
mini-bottle of champagne and raised it over them.
“To
Your Health Indeed!”
She
drank quickly and placed that bottle in the paper bag, opened the door, checked
to be sure there was no one in the hall and took the elevator to the empty
lobby. At the corner of Haight and Ashbury she dropped the bag into an
incinerator the Italian restaurant operated 24/7 and watched as everything
melted and disappeared into the pile of ashes. The tranquilizer gun now slept
with the fish at the bottom of the bay.
Back
at her building Claudia noted that the neighbors’ place was deathly quiet. She
packed her computer and the few belongings she had brought in a carpet bag,
swept the apartment clean, as the FBI had trained her to do, and exited the
deserted lobby. She stepped into an alley and removed the wig and glasses,
placed them in a bag, and stopped at the incinerator one more time.
She
caught a bus to her car and returned to her office at Cerberus. She emailed FBI
Special Agent Bricker the information she had uncovered on the hidden “money
mule” hacking operation, (leaving out the names of the four Russians) and
included a copy of her original report. She imagined Steve explaining how he
had failed to follow up.
She
returned to her own apartment. Sitting at her desk Claudia smiled, as she read
the framed quote on the wall above it:
Vengeance must be Profound and Absolute!
In
her bedroom, Claudia Vale turned off the lights and slept well for the first
time in ages.
