Calculated Extortion Read online

  Scarlett raised an eyebrow. “You are going to go home tonight, right, Jordan?”

  Jordan laughed. “On a case like this? No promises.”

  Eight

  Several miles from the FBI Chicago field office, a hacker opened a door to check the hallway before getting to work. She’d already unleashed three successful attacks, but the rules of the game required that she keep hacking until she got caught or she couldn’t find any more ways in. She’d been sloppy in covering up her location for the first hack, but each subsequent time, she’d been just a little more careful. The “money” she demanded went to the dummy account Martín suggested in his instructions, and he did a great job acting like he was genuinely afraid in his replies to her company phone. He was a good guy, totally having fun with the task at hand, even though she was just an intern. Of course, he could just appreciate her offbeat sense of humor. Footsteps nearby warned her that her time was almost up. She needed just one more minute…and it was done. The footsteps got closer and she shut down the visitor’s workstation before throwing her laptop bag over her shoulder. And people assumed her internship was all busy work.

  Emma placed a hand on the exit door, heart pounding. She’d been eager to prove herself here, so much so that her task actually made her feel like she was doing something wrong, instead of helping. She jumped at Barbara’s voice right behind her. “Emma, honey, what are you doing here so late?” Barbara rested a motherly hand on her shoulder. “Your parents will be worried sick.”

  Emma gave a soft smile to the woman who was more like family to her than a friend. There were a lot of things going wrong in her life, but the people and work of the charity kept her going. She couldn’t cure cancer, but she could use the determination that had gotten her through chemo to help other people. She was under strict instructions to keep the ransomware simulation confidential, and truthfully, it had been fun to play along. Fortunately, there was no surveillance camera over the visitor’s computer or someone might have caught her in real life. That would be more embarrassing then getting caught virtually. “Hi, Miss Barb. I’m actually just leaving.”

  Barbara smiled. “Not only are you our most loyal volunteer, I can say with confidence you are the most meticulous. If the way you manage our website is any indication, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the software field. I think you have a bright future ahead of you, Emma.”

  Tears came to Emma’s eyes. During her treatment, she studied and coded whenever she had the energy, even from her hospital bed. Getting lost in the numbers had kept her alive. And now, it was finally doing someone some good.

  “Gotcha.” Mike grinned at the message that greeted him when he arrived at work the following morning. Score one for the good guys. They’d finally plugged their hole, and not a minute too soon. Martín Vásquez received another threatening text message last night. Per Jordan’s instructions, he logged in, confirmed the system was still up and running, and called the FBI instead of paying off his hacker.

  Given the positive progress, Mike decided he had a little time to spend in the gym before the day really got started. The FBI allocated work time for keeping in shape, due to the strict physical requirements of an agent’s job. If he was going to spend more time in the office, he could at least take advantage of the facilities. He’d started with free weights and was getting ready to hit the treadmills when he saw a small woman with curly red hair beating the bejesus out of a punching dummy. He chuckled. Maybe there was a reason they got along. His time working undercover had taught him flexibility and he diverted from his planned activity to satisfy his curiosity. Mike slipped off his shoes before walking on the mat. To his surprise, Scarlett turned from the punching dummy and greeted him with a wide smile. She tossed him a set of protective gear, and he accepted the unspoken challenge.

  Once again, Mike Moretti surprised her. Instead of treating her with kid gloves, he met Scarlett kick for kick, his strength an even match for her speed. A quick tap to the pad on his arms with her toes and the game was on.

  “Where’d you learn how to do this?” Mike asked, ducking away from her foot and nearly catching it before she pulled it away. She bounced on her toes as they circled one another.

  “Where do you think? The dojo.”

  “Why?”

  “Why not?” While they didn’t experience the same level of danger as field agents, analysts didn’t always just sit in the office. Like everything else in her life, Scarlett had come into her career prepared for anything that might get thrown at her. Figuratively or literally.

  Mike grinned and tried to close in on her, but she ducked away. “Fair enough. You must have heard the good news or you wouldn’t be taking it so easy on me. You find out anything else out about the case?” Scarlett paused a second too long and Mike tapped her on the stomach with a controlled side kick.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s not fighting fair.”

  “It wasn’t unfair. Plus, it was a light tap.”

  “How sweet. My hero,” Scarlett said, batting her eyelashes. However, she didn’t quite manage to keep the smile off her face. He was a smartass but he wasn’t a jerk. She kept her weight on the balls of her feet and delivered some punches and elbows to the air around Mike’s chest. She hadn’t had this much fun working out in a long time. “Jordan said he wanted to talk in person. I set up a meeting for an hour from now.” When Mike paused to process the information, Scarlett took a swipe at Mike’s stomach. He grabbed her hand to stop it, just as she’d hoped he would, and she whirled into him, throwing her weight into his stomach and staying low, sweeping his feet with her legs. He landed on the soft mat with a huge grin.

  “Now, Dr. Callahan. That wasn’t fighting fair.”

  “Since you can hold your own, you can call me Scarlett. And I never promised to fight fair.” Scarlett grinned and offered a hand up, which Mike took. She often saw the worst side of human nature and was generally wary around new people. It was clear why Mike didn’t elicit that response. He had zero brain-to-mouth filter and he was a straight arrow. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have him on her team after all.

  Apparently, the special agent felt the same way about her. Mike gave her a fist bump when he got to his feet. “You’re alright, Scarlett. You’re alright.”

  Nine

  “Hey Grandma, can I get you another cup of tea?” Emma Moore leaned over to kiss her grandma’s cheek and pick up her empty cup. Even while her friends moved in a slow trickle into assisted living, Myrtle Moore had stayed independent, due in no small part to her keen intelligence and plain old stubbornness.

  “No, thank you, honey.” Myrtle patted her granddaughter’s hand. “How are your folks doing?”

  Emma looked at her hands. “They’re doing well.”

  “And your daddy? That boy sure carries a lot of worry around on his shoulders.”

  Emma swallowed. “He’s getting by. I wish it hadn’t…I wish I hadn’t…”

  “Oh, hush. Not a lick of this was your fault, and we couldn’t be prouder of you. With your heart and your strength, Miss Emma, you’ll move mountains. They’ll figure this out.” Grandma Myrtle gave her a wink and Emma’s smile faltered. “Honey, are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Just worried about Mom and Dad.” Emma kept it short. Her dad, the rock of their family, had been careful to hide their problems from the formidable Myrtle Moore. She’d give you her last penny and wouldn’t let you say a word about it while she starved to death with a smile on her face. Emma’s family was drowning in medical bills from her cancer treatment. Her dad had swallowed his pride and accepted a small amount of help from the hospital. Nothing made you feel poorer than accepting a handout. Especially when the handout hadn’t been enough. However, her Aunt Jen was an accountant and had recently stepped in to help her mother manage the bills. After a stressful few weeks, Aunt Jen announced that she’d figured it out and it was going to be okay. Her mom and dad weren’t fully convinced, and the stress of the situation hung in the area li
ke a heavy fog at home.

  Emma looked over at her grandma’s computer. It was a reminder of the good in the world. World Partners for Peace had sponsored her support group and provided her with personal necessities during her treatment. Working at World Partners had allowed her to give back, even just a little bit, for what she’d been given. Using her grandma’s computer to send the first message to Mr. Vásquez had been a risk to her credibility, but no one had figured her out. She’d have to write that one up for the security team. Martín Vásquez had a lot of confidence in his IT team but some of it was misplaced. Well, not all of it. They hadn’t left many holes for her to exploit. Since her last attack had been a dud, she needed to go home and do more research to see if she could pull some new tricks out of her hat. Her worry slipped away into a genuine smile. She gave her grandmother a hug goodbye and went back to home to try and hack World Partners for Peace one more time.

  As far FBI cybercrime analysts went, Jordan Sykes was a little unconventional. By the age of twenty-two, he had learned to code, finished college and formed his own software company. After less than a decade in the tech industry, he had all the money he could imagine needing for a lifetime. Good thing, because his FBI paycheck wasn’t quite as lucrative as the one from his last job. However, his job catching cybercriminals at the FBI was a lot more fun than convincing venture capitalists he knew what he was talking about. Especially on days like today.

  A check of his watch told him it was time to move along to the meeting he’d called in Scarlett’s office. Her office was large by Bureau standards, but it was more cramped than his at home. He scratched at his two days of beard growth and paused to put a reminder to shave on his phone. It would go off tomorrow morning before work, and with any luck, he’d be sleeping at home tonight.

  Alexis high-fived him on the way in and Scarlett gave him a quiet nod. She leaned against her desk but didn’t sit. Parker and Mike filled one of the small couches in Scarlett’s stylish make-shift sitting area. Scarlett had an eye for beautiful pieces. Since her work largely revolved around observing details, it didn’t come as a surprise she knew which items would work well together.

  When Jordan realized everyone was staring at him, he began. “So, I found something interesting.”

  Mike raised an eyebrow. “We assumed.”

  “I think what Mr. Personality is asking is, what did you find?” Alexis asked.

  “I figured out how they locked down the system. Once I spent some time with the records from the visitor’s computer, it was obvious. The reason I couldn’t figure out how they locked down the network is because it never happened.”

  Scarlett stood. “I’m sorry?”

  “It was beautifully fabricated.” Scarlett raised an eyebrow and Jordan continued. “Smoke and mirrors for the 21st century. Have you ever done the thing where you screenshot someone’s desktop and set it as their background to make it look like the files are still there but then hide them somewhere else? That way when they try and click on an icon, nothing opens?”

  “Jordan, I’m starting to think there is a reason we don’t let you out of the back room,” Alexis said.

  Jordan grinned. “Be nice to the software guy. I have plenty more tricks up my sleeve and that’s grade school stuff. But go with me on this. At my company, my software engineers did stuff like this to each other all the time. Some poor schmuck would leave his computer unlocked and the rest was history. Extremely low tech but remarkably effective to someone who’d never been a mark before.”

  Parker crossed his arms. “And this relates to the case?”

  “Yes,” Jordan said. “Our bad guy is using smoke and mirrors. Note that he only ever contacted the CEO directly. We couldn’t find evidence that he’d penetrated the entire network because he didn’t have to. It would have exposed him to unnecessary risk. We couldn’t find him because we were looking in the wrong place.”

  “I thought you found a security hole?” Scarlett said.

  “I found several. But our hacker didn’t use any of them. They did a neat trick where they set up phony screens and when our CEO was “locked out,” he believed the whole system was down. The text messages scared him into acting before checking with his team.”

  “But the money is real.” Parker said.

  “Very real,” Scarlett said. “We’ve confirmed that the transfers occurred.”

  Parker let out a low whistle. “Does that help us find our guy?”

  “It might,” Scarlett said. “Jordan, is it easier to hack into the CEO’s computer than it is the rest of the network?”

  Jordan paused for a moment, trying to translate his world into what the agents would consider plain English. “Not necessarily. It’s just a different location. But, if the hacker threatens to shut down the whole charity, I’m a lot more confident he can’t make good on it. Especially now that we’ve closed the gates, so to speak.”

  “How confident?”

  Jordan scratched his chin. “Nothing is 100 percent. But with that hole closed, I think we should see if Mr. Vásquez is willing to play chicken.”

  Mike tilted his head towards Scarlett. “You’re the one who’s good at figuring out what nutcases are going to do next. Should Martín Vásquez play chicken?”

  Scarlett raised an eyebrow. “Filter, Mike, filter.” Her tone was neutral but her eyes gave away her amusement.

  “I’m used to it,” Jordan chimed in. “Can’t you just run the financials on everyone at the charity?”

  Scarlett sat behind her desk and leaned back in her chair. “Not really. Probable cause and warrants get ugly if we look at everyone’s personal information. Especially if we’ve mitigated the immediate risk. We’re still trying to trace the money through the cryptocurrency site they used but they’ve covered their tracks pretty well. Did you guys learn anything more about the people you flagged?”

  “Nothing turned up in our searches. The IT guy seems clean, but he’s got the most to hide. I’d like some more time with him.” Parker scratched his chin.

  “I’d like to talk to Jen again,” Mike said. “I think she knows more than she’s letting on.”

  “Alex, your ladder climber?” Scarlett said.

  Alexis scrunched up her face. “Ah, I have no idea. Not a bad idea to talk to him. Can we get some interviews set up with them without spooking them?”

  Mike looked at Scarlett. “Crazypants expert—what do you think?”

  Scarlett shook her head at him. “I think crazypants is an assumption I’m unwilling to make at this time. Interviews, however, are a good idea. I’ll see if I can talk Martín into it. And I’ll see if he’s willing to push back harder on our hacker if they try again.”

  “Still think Martín isn’t a part of this?” Mike asked.

  “Probably not. But we’ll have him close by, just in case. Let’s get this one wrapped up, guys.”

  The team exited the small office and Mike leaned against the door while Scarlett made a phone call. Her tone was polite but urgent, and the following day’s interviews were set up within minutes.

  “Want to do anything else to spook our criminal?” Mike asked, and Scarlett steepled her hands, tapping her fingers together.

  “Good question. With the text message threats, we need to be careful about which buttons we push. We could set up some extra surveillance for the lobby if we’re sure they’re only using that computer or give Martín a script for the next time our hacker makes contact. Good idea, Mike.”

  “Yeah. Not sure if it’s a good idea to encourage you to mess with people’s minds.” Mike grinned.

  “Anything else, Mike?”

  “Nah.” He winked and she didn’t quite hide her smile as he left.

  Ten

  Emma hunched over her keyboard in the nearly-empty World Partner’s for Peace office. After her last failed attempt, she didn’t have many tricks left to get into Martín’s system without leaving tracks. Since it was her last planned strike, she’d decided to take a risk and enter the sys
tem through her work computer when there weren’t many people around. She had one last idea for bluffing him with a new login screen and error message. Her actions would be traceable by IT this time, so she’d saved this one for last. A few quick strokes of the keyboard and it was done. She sent out a text message and waited.

  Less than a minute later, her work cell phone pinged. Not this time. We know who you are. It had a creepy horror movie vibe and Emma laughed. At least they were having fun with it. She pulled up Martín’s number and thought carefully before typing back. Oh, you know who I am? I’m watching you right now. Pausing, she decided to add just a little more drama and chuckled. Not every intern was lucky enough to get to work so closely with the CEO, even via text message. This. Isn’t. Over. Only it was. Martín didn’t bite on the new login screen, which meant he knew it was a fake. And she couldn’t find another way in. Sighing, she pulled up her security report and added the last details. She saved the document but wanted to wait another day or two to perfect it before she sent the final version. It wasn’t every day she’d get this kind of opportunity, and she didn’t want to blow it. On top of being a smart guy, Martín was a good person. And apparently shared her wicked sense of humor. She shut down her system and went home. Well, check and mate. As she laid in bed that evening, she sent a quick message to her aunt.

  Can’t get in. Out of ideas. Hope it helped u.

  A few bubbles appeared while she waited.

  Good job, Em. Proud of you.

  Job well done, she laid her head back against the pillow and drifted off to sleep. It was safe to say her chemo brain had gone into full retreat. It was nice to get back to living her life where she’d left off.

  The following morning, Mike, Parker and Alexis bantered with one another while waiting for Scarlett. Their interviews at World Partners for Peace were scheduled for the mid-morning and they planned to travel as a group. Mike came up short when Scarlett arrived and handed them each a piece of paper detailing the latest threats.