The Fall Of House Farouk

Chapter 3 : A Mysterious Hard Drive

The man standing at the doorway wore black and dark grey tactical clothing, just as Bruce and Isabella were. He is fairly built and shares a similar height with Bruce but has brown hair and black eyes. Bruce didn't know who he was but Isabella went up to him and he smiled at her. From their body language it is clear that the man and Isabella knew each other well. But Isabella's smile slowly disappeared as she folded her arms in disappointment and looked him in the eye. They begin to argue in Korean, and Isabella is clearly unhappy as indicated in her voice. "What were you thinking in punching my husband?" she barked. "Even though you're angry, that doesn't mean you can do that." 

"My emotions overwhelmed me after seeing him. After what happened to you in Maryland I was more than angry." the man objected. "If he wasn't willing to bring her in I would." 

"This is out of your hands Philip." Isabella said, completely unimpressed. "No matter how much I had respected you as my cousin-in-law there are lines you shouldn't cross." Realization dawned on Bruce, as he had never met Philip, the husband of Isabella's cousin Candice. Isabella had told him about her cousin-in-law's temperament, which she warned him about as well. Philip and Candice met while serving as agents of the Presidential Security Service, the Korean equivalent of the US Secret Service, she in charge of the president's security detail while he in charge of the First Lady's security detail. They dated after their duties were relieved following the change of hands in government, marrying four years later. 

Philip and Candice have five children during their marriage including a set of non-identical twins, their first two, and a set of identical twins, their third and fourth, followed by a singleton. It seems to Bruce, that Philip is rather protective of his wife's cousin, but they disagree on several issues. Philip's cheeks flushed red with half anger and half embarrassment and with one last look at Bruce, he quietly walked off. As Philip left Bruce walked up to Isabella, holding his wife's hand in his. "Don't let Philip's words get to you." she said. "He can be overprotective at times." 

"Don't worry." Bruce gave Isabella a reassuring smile. "I've been through some hard lumps to come to terms with it." he said, his gaze shifted a little. Isabella clasped her hand on top of his, her blue-gold eyes already knowing what he was thinking. 

"The AG told me that she won't be granted parole." Isabella told him in a whisper. 

"You know how severe the punishment can be when it comes to the attempted assassination of a government official." 

"I know." Isabella replied. 

"We should discuss what we know so far." Bruce suggested. Isabella nodded and taking her by the hand Bruce made his way to the glass table in the middle of the room. Christian greeted his cousin with a warm smile and tidied his notebook and papers. 

"How's the job? As MI6's new quartermaster?" she asked. 

"I'm definitely having fun." Christian replied. 

"I'm glad that he is enjoying his new job, even though it took me a month to discover this." Roland approached. The three of us sat by the table, just as Philip and Brian walked out, discussing something in a low voice. The two men sat by the table as well, just as Bruce held Isabella's hand beneath the table. "It appears that you have encountered obstacles on your way here." he said. "Any idea on who your assailants are?" 

"It was Russian." Baek said, plopping down onto the empty seat next to Bruce's. "They ambushed Isabella." Jun and Isabella noticed that Philip had his head down, pondering about something in his mind. 

"What's on your mind?" Bruce asked, throwing a glance at Philip. The temperature in the room continued to cool as both men exchanged cold glances. Jun and I looked at each other, as Philip is his brother-in-law because Candice is his older sister. Philip tore his gaze away from Bruce and retrieved a tablet from his backpack, activating it and scrolling through something displayed on the tablet screen. Bruce narrowed his eyes, clearly finding his match in the form of Philip. As Bruce had overheard the conversation between Philip and Isabella he knew that he was angry with him. 

"A few months ago, a suspicious amount of money was drained, from the twins' bank account in Germany." he said, handing the tablet over. "Interpol called, as the money has been withdrawn without their knowledge. We suspected that the money was stolen to be used to murder Suleiman Farouk." 

"Germany?" Bruce questioned. Philip said nothing and took out a hard drive from his backpack. 

"I found this in a Swiss Bank account owned by the deceased after tracking the money trail." he said, giving it to me. "You should be able to decode it."

"Any hint on what type of encryption are we talking about?" I asked. 

"Well... you and Chan can talk about that." Philip said, a small smile on his lips. "You both have seen the encryption cyphers before." With that in mind, Philip got up, retrieved his helmet, and climbed the stairs. "Careful Isabella." he added. "I fear that what you're up against involves some high-ranking individuals that we have no knowledge of it." 

"Got to go." Brian also picked up his helmet. "Good luck to both of you." he said. I looked at the hard drive, my head dipping low as I processed Philip's words. It might have been any type of encryption I have learned while working alongside my military colleagues in the cybersecurity division but since Philip hinted at Chan I realized that we should talk about the encryption program and probably, Aunt Adelaide would have to enter the equation as well to decrypt the hard drive and access whatever information that was concealed in this device and locked away in a Swiss Bank account.