Griffin
One of the guys that was in the conference room yesterday meets me at the steel gate of the Jameson building. Kynan had not bothered to introduce me to anyone. By the glares I’d gotten from all the men in the room, I took it they didn’t really care to be introduced.
But this morning, Saint Bellinger seems amiable enough as he shakes my hand and introduces himself. Handing me a small fob with a digital passcode, he says, “That changes every four minutes, but it will get you through the gate here.”
I follow him through the underground garage to a heavy steel door where I watch in fascination as he unlocks the door with a retinal scan. I’d seen Kynan do it yesterday, but I didn’t feel comfortable remarking on it.
Not so right now.
I want to learn everything I can about this organization I’m going to be working with. “That’s pretty high speed,” I say off-handedly.
“You wouldn’t believe some of the things Bebe and Dozer have come up with for us,” he replies. “I’m not sure if they’ll add you to the retinal scan, but if not, someone will come let you in each morning when you arrive.”
“Dozer?” I ask, wondering who the other half of what must be a dynamic duo is.
We enter the bottom floor, which looks like nothing more than an abandoned warehouse with graffiti on the walls and litter strewn about. It’s a cover for what this building actually holds.
“You saw him yesterday,” Saint replies over his shoulder as we move to the freight elevator that will take us up. “Black guy… super good-looking, annoyingly smart, and very protective of Bebe. Don’t be surprised if he’s an ass to you today.”
“Duly noted,” I reply, and I have to wonder… why is he super protective of Bebe? I don’t like the surge of jealousy that rears its head over someone being close enough to be protective of her. I’d sort of assumed she was a loner given the things I’ve learned about her and her history.
We get off at the second floor, and Saint leads me to the same conference room we were in yesterday. He explains this floor holds the offices, conference rooms, and workstations. The third floor has a firing range and was previously where Bebe and Dozer developed their tech, but that’s been moved to a sub-basement level.
“And the fourth floor?” I ask, having noted just how tall the building was in my prior visits.
“Private quarters, communal living area,” he replies. “Bebe moved into one of the apartments this morning.”
“And Aaron and Gloria?”
He throws a genuine smile my way because he can hear the concern in my voice. “On a flight for California with two of our best agents, Jackson Gale and Ladd McDermott. They’ll be safe until we can handle this shit with Bogachev.”
We wind our way through a maze of desks, some manned with people diligently working at their computers. The conference room comes into view, and I can see Bebe, Kynan, and Dozer in there. Bebe’s huddled over a laptop, Kynan’s scrolling through his phone, and Dozer is pacing. They all look up when Saint opens the door and motions me in. He doesn’t stay, shutting it behind himself, presumably having more important things going on.
Kynan gives me a short smile, then nods toward the seat next to Bebe. First, I take the opportunity to introduce myself to the man sitting on her other side, who only stares impassively.
I move to him, holding my hand out. “Griffin Moore.”
Dozer looks down to my hand, then back to me, his jaw locked and his eyes clearly refusing to accept civility.
To my surprise, Bebe elbows him hard in the ribs.
“Goddamn it, Bebe,” Dozer grumbles, rubbing at his side.
“Be nice,” she warns him, then looks up from her computer to give me a smile.
Dozer reluctantly takes my hand and shakes it. “Dozer Burney.”
“Good to meet you,” I reply, then move past him to the seat on the other side of Bebe.
“Dozer is our master strategist,” Bebe advises me. “He’s smarter than most people on the planet, and Kynan stole him from NASA.”
Interesting. His brainpan alone makes him more compatible with someone like Bebe.
Moving to the head of the table, Kynan sits. “I sort of wanted to just brainstorm this morning. We need to figure out the best way to fake Bebe’s death in a way that’s convincing to Bogachev. We need to offer up proof so he buys it, then we need to figure out the best way to take him down.”
“I’ve been giving that a lot of thought,” Dozer says, leaning back casually in his chair, tapping his fingertips on the armrests. “We can build as much fake background on Bebe as we want, so why not give her an addiction like heroin? A few fake arrests for possession, then we set up a fake overdose. It fits with her story… years in prison, life destroyed. Why wouldn’t she be an addict? Griff can sell it to Bogachev as a low-risk murder so there won’t be the same suspicion as if he’d put a bullet in her head or something.”
We all look around the table at each other, searching for any issues with this idea. Kynan finally says, “I like it.”
“I’ll have our Pittsburgh field office coordinate with the local law enforcement in Cranberry. A fake news article on her death would be icing on the cake.”
Bebe sort of slumps in her chair, muttering, “Yeah… it’s just great. Aaron’s friends and their families are going to learn I’m a heroin addict who died an ugly death.”
“That will all be corrected once we get Bogachev in custody,” Kynan points out.
But I can’t stand the expression on Bebe’s face right now. “We don’t have to go that far with it. I can just take some pictures of you dead on a couch with a needle hanging out of your arm or something. Explain what I did to Bogachev. It should be enough.”
Bebe gives me a wan smile. “Then we can get down to the real work.”
“Except Bogachev is going to expect me back in New York as soon as I tell him Bebe’s dead.” I give my attention to Bebe. “How long do you think you’re going to need to work your magic?”
“Well, a lot of that is going to depend on the security he already has in place. He’s never going to fall for a phishing scam that would let us plant a virus through his email. Plus, I’m positive he has the absolute best anti-virus that’s out there on the hacking market plus double firewalls, etcetera. So our best move is to try to access his system remotely through his Wi-Fi and that’s going to take some modifications, depending on the type of router connection he has. This isn’t going to happen overnight, but I think with some hard work, trial and error, and really good decryption coding, maybe a week… two at the most. All you need is imaging of the data, right? Not the actual data itself.”
“Correct,” I say, but give a frustrated shake of my head. “But we’re going to have to figure out something, because I can’t stay gone for that long. He’ll want me back in New York ASAP.”
“Bebe doesn’t need your help doing this,” Dozer says, his eyes glinting with dislike. I have to wonder what it is I’ve done to garner this attitude from him. I feel like things are cool between me and Bebe, so they should be cool with him, right?
Unless… he has feelings for her and considers me a threat.
“He has to be here,” Kynan tells Dozer. “It’s his case so he has to be involved in all aspects for the information we get to have legal standing.”
Dozer mutters something under his breath and I hope to fuck he’s not going to be actively involved in the work Bebe and I will be doing together. There’s only so much of his glares and snark I’m going to take before I throat punch the fucker.
“Griffin and I actually talked about this a bit yesterday,” Kynan continues, looking directly at Bebe. “We need to buy him a few weeks’ time so Bogachev doesn’t expect him back in New York.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” she asks.
“Aaron,” I reply, which causes Bebe’s head to snap my way.
“Aaron?” she asks, her face awash with concern.
“Bogachev had asked me if I’d seen your kid and of course, I lied and said I hadn’t. But when I tell him you’re dead, I can say there’s evidence through your house your mom has Aaron somewhere, raising him away from you, but that y’all are still in close contact with each other. Just the hint to Bogachev you might have told someone else—namely Aaron and Gloria—about him will have him paranoid enough to send me to find them, too.”
Kynan stares in consideration, then turns his attention to Bebe. “What do you think?”
“Yeah,” she replies softly. “Bogachev is paranoid. It was always so difficult having a conversation with him. He’d watch you like a hawk. The slightest facial tick or change of expression, and he’d be doubting everything you’d just said. It won’t take much to get him to fall for that.”
Now… this surprises me. Normally hacking syndicates like this are nothing more than an extreme and far-reaching web of people who sit in the dark behind their computers and do the dirty work for the kingpin. Most never even know the real identity of who they work for.
“You’ve met Bogachev before?” I ask.
She nods stiffly, her gaze returning to her computer. “Yeah… a few times.”
My eyes cut quickly to Dozer, who doesn’t seem bothered by this information, then over to Kynan, who wears a slightly pained expression and I start to feel a sense of dread.
There’s no time to explore why I’m feeling this way, because Bebe brings her eyes to mine and they’re determined. “Bottom line… he’s paranoid, slightly mental, and dangerous. I think if you can throw him off your trail for a bit, we’ll hopefully be able to come up with something that will work, so this can all be over with sooner rather than later.”
“And you’re okay with me revealing Aaron to him?” I push. I won’t do this if she has any hesitation. We’ll just have to come up with something else.
Her expression is grim as she shakes her head. “No, I’m not exactly okay with that. But he could find that information out on his own if he wanted, and Aaron’s safe in California with good protection. I think the risk is low, as long as we can take him down.”
I nod in understanding, not exactly loving this idea, but knowing it’s our best. “Then let’s start brainstorming ideas.”
“Why won’t phishing work?” Dozer asks the room at large. “You have the capabilities to create something so realistic that it could fool him.”
“Possibly,” Bebe murmurs with a nod. “But unlikely. Plus, he’ll have the most sophisticated anti-virus software program. And I’m not talking about the stuff you buy legally. Black hats have far more sophisticated anti-virus and malware programs to protect against the very viruses and such they create.”
This would be true. “The software out there on the black market, created by hackers for hackers, is insanely good. Bogachev will have the best, which will ferret out anything that doesn’t come directly from a legit source.”
Dozer isn’t put off. “Then go to a legit source and send it from there. I’m sure the FBI has the power to command such stuff, right? Find out where he banks, go there, and have them send him a communication with a virus—”
I cut him off with a shake of my head. “Can’t involve privately held companies in a sting operation unless you have very convincing evidence that’s not circumstantial in nature. So far, everything we have on him is circumstantial.”
“His Wi-Fi is where we’ll need to concentrate,” Bebe murmurs, then immediately starts typing on her laptop. “It’s guaranteed Bogachev is going to have sophisticated cybersecurity, so maybe rather than hacking him directly, we hack the company that provides his router updates, then install a virus in a security patch.”
Dozer shakes his head. “But then you’re opening yourself up to criminal actions. That’s a hard no, Bebe. You should concentrate on perhaps building some type of jammer that will cause his network to go down temporarily, then maneuver something in that way.”
Kynan leans forward, putting his palms on the table. “I think it’s clear we’ve got our work cut out for us. Settle in, and I’ll have some coffee and food sent in. I’ve got some other things I need to take care of.”
He focuses on me. “When do you want to carry out Bebe’s fake death?”
“This weekend,” I say, glancing over to Bebe. She stares with those big blue eyes, completely unafraid of what she’s landed herself in the middle of. I suspect she’s been through so much that there’s not a lot left to fear except for the well-being of her child, and Aaron is safe for the time being. I look back to Kynan. “Bogachev was getting insistent I move on it, and I’ve got to keep him satisfied.”
Kynan nods. “I’m going to put a call into the Cranberry chief of police to see if we can set up a meeting. We should go there this afternoon to get them on board with this.”
“Sounds good,” I reply, feeling hopeful we can pull this off.
Kynan leaves the room, and Dozer leans forward past Bebe to address me. “So what’s the deal with your image, dude? The long hair, beard, tattoos?”
“Called a cover, dude,” I return dryly.
“Hmm…” he replies with a slight wrinkle of his nose, clearly conveying his distaste. The guy is clean-cut and impeccably dressed.
To my surprise, without looking up from her screen, Bebe says, “That worked out well for Griff’s cover with me. I’m a sucker for the long hair and tatts.”
I refuse to let my chest puff out, but I don’t hide my smirk from Dozer. She clearly prefers her men to look a certain way, and I’ve got the upper hand there.
Of course, the hair and beard were part of my cover. Bebe would probably flip out if she saw me with a haircut and my standard government black suit.
Maybe one day… when this is all over, she’ll have the opportunity to see that side of me. She’ll be able to choose whether that pushes her buttons, too.
One day, maybe.