Egress Point

Chapter 15

There were at least four different phones in the suite-- the closest one was on an antique desk by the window. Arebecca sat in the desk chair and pushed the "speaker" button. There was a pause and then.

"Hello?"Jenny said.

"Hi Jenny," Em said, pulling a chair over from the dining table. "How's things?"

"Em! It's good to hear your voice," Jenny said. "I'm so glad you're there."

"Well, I'm less happy about it. Patey's got a lot of explaining to do."

"I'm hoping he'll call me and explain too," Jenny said. She sounded tired.

Em spent a few minutes quizzing Jenny on Nick's plan. It was more complicated than Arebecca had thought. Data was being stolen from many places, and channeled into Paris. All kinds of data, credit cards, banking records, transaction records were routed into Bancaire Nationale's servers and then extracted. The bank was an "egress point" Jenny explained. But it was not the only one. There were more that were collecting stolen data and passing it on up the chain.

Nick had used weaknesses in Bancaire's security to allow him to trace the stolen data to Berlin. From Berlin he figured he'd find the hacker group behind the collection of the data and also from there he'd have access to the organised crime network run by Vadik.

Jenny was very worried. If Nick had been picked up by the Russian mafia, he was probably as good as dead. If he'd found the hackers, or vice versa, then he could be safe for the time being. Patey had arrived in Berlin and tracked Nick to a hotel. And then nothing. No word from Nick or Patey. And they were very good at communicating. Experts at keeping in touch.

The three women discussed their options. There really was no point staying in Paris. Jenny wanted to fly out to Berlin, but she was in the middle of exams and didn't know what good she could do. Nick and Patey knew much more than her about the whole operation. Arebecca and Em agreed that they would have to be very careful indeed.

By the time the call finished the first seeds of a plan were forming. It turned out that Jenny's help would be very useful indeed. They decided that the best way to get to Berlin would be by car, as then they would not need to risk being caught at an airport. She said she would get a package of ID documents, credit cards and phones to them in the morning, as early as she could. They could then hire a car from anywhere. She also gave the details of a secure FTP site that Em could access to see the files that Arebecca and Nick had been working on. Jenny ended the call, she needed to work on the package. And do some revision.

"Do you really think we'll be able to find them?" Arebecca asked with a yawn.

"Well, it seems that all we need to do is re-trace their steps and we'll be reunited. But I'd rather it was on our terms. If there's enough data in the FTP site, we should get a bit better idea about what's going on in Berlin. I'll have a look before I go to sleep tonight."

Arebecca slept well, in a four poster bed, and dreamed about their trip from England. This time though they were in a speed-boat being chased by jet-skis, not a slow, sickening ferry. And she was wearing a chic swimming costume and sunglasses. Anxiety had been overtaken by excitement, for a few hours at least.

They rose early to prepare for the day. The room rate included breakfast so they went down at 7am and ate well. Arebecca checked at reception for a package while they waited for after-breakfast coffee but there was nothing yet.

"Did you find anything in the files?" Arebecca asked.

"A few things, but nothing solid. It looks like the egress point in Bancaire Nationale was very well logically protected. It's not obvious how the data could be stolen remotely."

"The hackers had to get the data by hand from inside?"

"Yes. I think that's why Nick had you looking at the physical security. Trying to find a hole that the hackers could exploit. Only I don't think there were any."

"So does that mean that someone working for the bank must have been involved?" Arebecca stirred a silver teaspoon of sugar into her latte.

"Either an inside job, or someone that didn't know they were helping. What I can't work out is why the hackers would then take the data to Berlin. If it was me, I'd just stick it on a flash drive and mail it out of the country."

"What about the encryption? I read a whole load of procedures around the keys and strengths. Maybe they need the data in Berlin to unlock it."

Em paused on this. "You might have hit on something there. It would be worth trying to get an idea about where the data would be sent anyway. I think I saw a network diagram somewhere. If the decryption keys are well secured, then the only way to decrypt might be by using the hardware that the Bancaire Nationale uses."

"You think we can find out where that is?" Arebecca was pleased that she might be helping to find Nick.

"I want to look at the network diagram properly. Find out what sort of data gets sent where."

Em checked for the package on the way back up to the room and it still wasn't there. The concierge said he'd phone up to the room when it was delivered.

Back in the room they made sure they had everything they needed for the probable drive to Berlin. Em checked the route and it would take them about 12 hours with stops. Arebecca had passed her her driving test earlier in the year, as soon as she turned 17.

They had discussed the possibility of taking taxis between cities. It would be expensive and add time to the journey, but both agreed it would be safe enough. Stealing a car was possible too, but they didn't want to draw attention to themselves, which could happen if the owner reported it stolen.

The call came at 8. There was a ring that wasn't the phone, and eventually they worked out that it was a doorbell. Em opened the door and a porter was bearing their gift. It was about the size of a hardback book. The porter handed the package over and then stood there expectantly. Em looked at the porter and then back at Arebecca and then said, "Is there something else?"

Arebecca shook her head, cleared her throat and handed the porter a five euro note. He didn't look too happy. Arebecca shooed him away and closed the door.

They emptied the package onto the dining table. The bulk of the size was made up of two iPhones with chargers and a lot of cash. Thousands of euros in different sized notes. There were two passports accompanied by drivers licenses. Both British and both with Em's picture. Different names in each. There were also credit and debit cards for each of the names in the passports which the PINs stuck on with sticky notes. Another sticky notes said: didn't have any pictures of Arebecca.

"Wow," Arebecca said. " How did she get all of this so fast?"

"I don't know. They need a lot of this stuff to operate themselves. Phones and cash. And I'm guessing that they had my documents ready in case I joined them." Em thumbed through the passport.

"Is that actually you?" Arebecca was examining one of the drivers licences. "It looks a lot like you."

Em looked closely at the picture. "It is. It's the same picture as my own license. I've no idea how they got it."

The phone rang. Arebecca hit speaker again. It was Jenny.

"Did my package arrive?" she sounded agitated.

"Yes," said Arebecca. "Thanks."

"That's fine. We've always got cash around. The phones are clean and my number is in the contacts. The cards are pretty much limitless. But don't go crazy, the bank will not like it if you try and buy a yacht in a random country. I've also booked you both into the Hyatt under the name on one of the passports -- Wendy Turner."

"Will we be okay to hire a car using these?" Em asked.

"You should be. Wendy is over 25, and she's been driving since she was 17, so there shouldn't be any problem with the hire companies. I thought about having someone steal you a car, but I think it might be too risky. You're going to be on your own for a few hours, I've got a big exam today."

"We'll be driving for hours anyway," Arebecca said. "Good luck with your exam."

"Don't worry about me, go and get Patey and Nick back."