April 6, 2:30 P.M. PST
The airport in Carlsbad, California
The jet lands and taxies to a cargo hanger. There are two young men standing next to a van waiting for the jet to come to a stop. As the team gets off the plane Brandon walks over to the two young men and shakes hands.
Lucy is right behind him. “Lucy I want you to meet Germ and Rabbit. Guys this is Lucy Chin, one of the worlds greatest geeks,” Brandon says as he makes the introductions.
“Hi Lucy and welcome to Carlsbad,” Germ says as they shake hands.
“Same her Lucy, good to meet you,” Rabbit says as he extends his hand.
“So what's the gig professor?” Germ asks.
“Yeah what's up?” Rabbit chimes in.
“We need to go over some hardware and see what it is made of. We have some real interesting stuff. We are also under the gun a bit,” Brandon explains.
“That's why you came to the best man,” Germ says enthusiastically. “Let's get it loaded.”
Germ and Rabbit unload the computers under Lucy’s careful supervision.
Major Andrews approaches Brandon, “How long are we going to be here professor?”
“At least a few days, maybe a week or so. It is going to take a while to go through this stuff. And we can all use a little rest at this point,” Brandon replies.
“Where are we staying?” Major Andrews continues.
“There is a good hotel right across from the beach in the village of Carlsbad. We will be comfortable there. We have arranged for the rooms.” Brandon explains.
“Works for me. I’m going surfing,” Major Andrews says cheerfully.
“What about transportation?” Spinx asks as a young woman drives up in an SUV. She gets out and runs up to Brandon and hugs him.
“Hey professor how's life baby?” Razer says as she plays with Brandon’s hair.
“Good enough Razer. Meet Spinx,” Brandon responds as the women shake hands.
Lucy and Lulu finish up with Germ and Rabbit. They say hi to Razer and immediately drive off to get the equipment unloaded.
Spinx takes over the introductions, “Lucy and Lulu Chin, meet Razer.”
The women greet each other. Razer looks at Lucy's T-shirt. “Cool, Planet Out,” Razer says as the women all laugh.
Razer continues, “We can all ride over in the red machine. Since we are in the village you will not need a car all of the time.”
“We put the bags in the van,” Lucy says. “Let's go, I am hungry, really hungry.”
“All aboard,” Razer announces.
The SUV heads to the coast highway, then turns north and drives along the ocean for a couple of miles into the village of Carlsbad. They turn onto the village streets and wind through town a few blocks and pull into the open overhead door of an old warehouse.
The van is in the warehouse and Razer pulls the red machine in behind the van. The overhead door closes.
“Let show you all around here, we can get your bags and then I will take you over to the Inn” Razer announces.
The warehouse is a large open space with big windows high up toward the ceiling. There is a set of stairs that leads up to a loft area. There are tables and workbenches everywhere with computers on them. There are a dozen large monitors mounted on the walls. Lights are suspended from the high ceiling.
Razer gives a quick tour. Germ and Rabbit unload the van and put the luggage into the red SUV.
“All aboard” Razer blares out.
“Is Blaster around?” Brandon asks.
“She will be here in a few hours. Come on and get settled in. I will let you know when she is back,” Razer responds. Brandon gets into the SUV. The overhead door opens and the SUV pulls out onto the street.
“I have the room keys and the information you will need,” Razer explains to the team.
“Kirkman will give you money to cover everything. I also think that it is time for Lulu to get some new clothes. Kirkman, give our lovely companions a big pile of money. Razer can you take them shopping tomorrow,” Brandon instructs his group.
Lucy perks up, “Tomorrow? What's this tomorrow stuff muffin?”
Razer rescues Brandon, “Hey girls let's drop the bags off. You all have rooms on the south side of the building and we can park on the street and get your stuff in quick. Then we will go spend some money.”
The group unloads the bags and put them in their rooms. Razer explains, “I was not sure how to handle the rooms so I got everybody their own.”
“Thanks it will work out fine,” Brandon replies.
“Yeah yeah professor you mean it is convenient to play musical beds and this group looks like they have already been making tunes,” Razer teases Brandon.
Lucy and Lulu come running down the stairs. Spinx follows. Kirkman comes down with a small bag. He opens it and starts passing out money.
“How about a thousand a piece?” Kirkman asks.
“Oh and that makes up for the low salary. Bullshit Kirkman $3,000 each we need some cool clothes and some shoes and some nice new panties,” Lucy says as she tries to rattle Kirkman.
“Do it and make sure Razer gets her cut. Have a nice time ladies!” Brandon says as he heads for his room.
Kirkman grumbles and passes out the money. The women jump into the red SUV and drive off. Kirkman and the Brandon go to their rooms.
Brandon showers and changes. He picks up the phone and calls Germ. “How is it going Germ?”
“We have it all set up and cracked the passwords. There is some weird shit on these things man,” Germ responds.
“I will be over in a few minutes,” Brandon says.
“Blaster is on her way to get you as we speak,” Germ says and hangs up.
There is a knock on the door. Brandon answers. It is Blaster. She jumps on him and wraps herself around him. “Welcome home babe.” She gives him a big kiss. “Lets go.”
“See my new Jeep. Cool huh?” Blaster says as they walk out the hotel room door.
“Yeah I like it,” Brandon says as they are driving back to the warehouse.
Blaster and the professor go into the warehouse. Germ is waiting “We created a network for these machines and they think they are back where they were born which appears to be Japan. Do we have Japanese language skills with us?”
“They will be back in a few hours,” Brandon affirms.
“Lucy and Lulu. Cool. I mean they are hot,” Germ replies.
“Yeah one is a hacker and the other is a terrorist,” Brandon says jokingly. “Give me a run down.”
“It looks like this,” Germ begins, “The network storage box has about 900 gigs of software, maps, charts, plans, and stuff from places all over the United States. Most of them appear to be from California, the bay area. There are also manuals for a wide variety of software packages. All kinds of stuff.”
“Yeah all kinds of stuff,” Rabbit adds. “Manufacturing control systems, transportation scheduling packages and a bunch of telecommunications grid maps for the bay area. What were they doing with stuff?”
“This group was probably just a collection agency,” Brandon summates. “But somebody is planning a big cyber attack.”
“You wrote it,” Germ says. “What was it called? Ground Zero San Francisco or something like that?”
Brandon nods yes.
The overhead door opens and the red machine pulls in. The girls get back from their shopping trip. They all jump out of the car wearing new clothes and carrying bags. They are excited.
“I hope you spent all of your money!” Brandon exclaims.
“Yes we did and we liked it!” Razer says excitedly.
“Double that!” Spinx adds.
“Yep!” Lucy adds. “Yo! And now I am hungry, really hungry!”
“I could do food,” Germ says.
“Food? Yeah food.” Rabbit questions.
“Let's walk down to Stanley’s,” Brandon suggests. “Where is Blaster?”
“I have been busy but I am ready to eat,” Blaster yells down from the loft.
“Should we call Kirkman and Andrews?” Spinx asks.
Everybody looks at each other and all say "no!" The group walks out the door of the warehouse.
April 6, 3:30 P.M. PST
Stanley’s Restaurant in Carlsbad, California
Stanley’s is a small restaurant in Carlsbad that Brandon has frequented for several years, when he uses the warehouse as a headquarters and project shop. The group sits around a large table drinking and telling stories. It was always story time at Stanley’s.
Spinx turns to Razer, “Tell me about your name.” This brought a round of laughs from Germ, Rabbit, and Blaster.
Razer smiles, “I am the master Razer of cyber space. I fight for truth, justice, and female dominance of the universe.” Another round of laughs.
Brandon looks around, “Sounds like a story to me.” Everyone applauds and demands a Razer story.
“Okay, one of my favorites,” Razer begins. “One time my cousin Judy and I had a cyber jerk on the hook.”
Lulu asks, “What is a cyber jerk?”
“A cyber jerk is a married person (male or female) who goes on the Internet looking for sex,” Razer continues. “They pretend to be single but they are just using the Internet to help them cheat. The guy was hot for Judy and wanted to meet her. They had been doing the usually sex chat on the Internet but he wanted more. We decided to track him down and found out he was a middle-aged bank executive with a wife and three kids. What a pig!”
Spinx laughs, “Yeah, a pig in a suit!”
“We kept him hooked for weeks,” Razer goes on. “Judy agreed to meet him for coffee. So we hacked his Web mail and sent his wife a note to meet him for coffee because he had great news. (He was expecting a promotion.) We arranged for coffee at his favorite coffee shop in San Jose.”
Blaster takes a drink of wine and says, “The Razer master rules.”
“His wife was to get there about 15 minutes after Judy arrived,” Razer explains, “He of course knew none of this. We printed out all of the chat sessions and put them in an envelope.”
“The smoking gun,” Spinx says. “Very cool.”
“He was panting at Judy like a dog in heat,” Razer continues. Judy was doing a number on this guy. He wanted to do it in his Mercedes. She just kept on roping him in. Then his wife walked up behind him. She was pissed. She must have been familiar with his behavior and his erection which was more than noticeable when he stood up.”
Blaster points her finger like a gun makes a little noise, “One more pig goes down.”
“I popped over and gave his wife the envelope,” Razer says laughing “and then I snapped a few photos and Judy and I left.”
“What happened after that?” Spinx asks.
Razer smiles, “Justice was served in the form of divorce papers. She took everything! And that was better than he deserved.”
The waiters start bringing food. “I am really hungry,” Lucy declares.
“Eat and drink,” Brandon proclaims, “We have lots of work to do tomorrow and we need to get an early start.”
“We could get started tonight,” Spinx suggests.
“I don't think so,” Blaster perks up. Everybody laughs and continues to eat. They feed each other and tell more stories.
Lucy and Lulu were sitting close. They would kiss each other every now and then. Rabbit and Germ had flanked Spinx and the three of them took turn putting their hands under the table. Every few minutes both of Spinx’s hands would disappear under the table as she teased Germ and Rabbit.
Razer and Blaster had flanked Brandon. Blaster puts her hand under the table to tease Brandon, “It looks likes things are shaping up here pretty well.”
Brandon looks at Razer and Blaster, “Would the two of you like to take a walk?’ Razer and Blaster both respond, “No, we would rather go have sex with you.”
On that note Lulu and Lucy could not wait any longer and take off to go back to the inn.
Spinx says, “Well, I could use a little exercise myself.”
Germ and Rabbit shakes their heads affirmatively. “Yes, exercise is good, a very good thing.“ Germ says.
“We will take you for a walk Spinx,” Rabbit says as they get up and leave Stanley’s “And we will show you some of our inventions.”
Brandon, Razer, and Blaster head back to the Inn.
April 7, 9:30 A.M. PST
The Warehouse in Carlsbad, California
Germ, Rabbit, Razer, Blaster, the professor, Lucy, Lulu, and Spinx were working on the computers that had been retrieved from the warehouse in Tokyo.
Brandon approaches, “Lulu I want you to see if you can find out the status of gang in Tokyo.”
Lucy volunteers to help Lulu. She looks at Lulu, “We both thought that getting you out of there was a bit too easy and we are concerned about other plots that might be brewing.” Lucy and Lulu sit at a desk toward a corner looking for information on the Internet.
Brandon approaches Germ, “We need an inventory of all of the files on these systems.”
“We have part of that done,” Germ reports as he hands Brandon a list. “We should have it all in another hour or so.”
“I will help you finish that up,” Razer volunteers.
“Blaster, can you give me a status check on your project?” Brandon inquires.
“After a bathroom stop I will,” Blaster says as she runs off.
“Spinx have you seen Andrews?” Brandon asks.
“He went surfing,” she responds. “Do you want me to go get him.”
“No I was just curious,” Brandon replies. “Have you seen Kirkman?
“He went for food and should be back in an hour or so,” Spinx reports. “Can you imagine that guy in a grocery store?” Spinx laughs.
“Are you ready to get started?” Brandon asks Spinx.
“Started on what?” She says.
“Hit the security newsgroups, web sites, newspapers, anything you can think of. I need any report of a big hack or take down in the last few weeks.” Brandon directs.
Spinx finds an available computer and goes to work. Brandon gets a list of the material on the computers from Germ.
“I am going to work on these cell phones,” Rabbit says as Brandon walks by.
Brandon sits down to read the list and make notes.
“I am ready professor?” Blaster reports.
They walk up stairs and go out on the roof as they sit down Brandon inquires, “How is going?”
“I am getting steady responses to the bait email. Looks like your new ex girl friend thinks that your old ex girl friend is on her way to D.C.” Blaster summarizes. “I did locate a couple that is driving from Seattle to the east. They are, or were the cover. If they have not already been found the FBI is probably looking for them.”
“We may need another diversion to slow them down,” Brandon informs Blaster.
“I can create anything we need,” Blaster says as they stand up to walk back in the warehouse. Blaster stops to hug Brandon as they walk arm in arm to the door Blaster says, “I missed you.”
Kirkman had arrived back and was putting food away in the kitchen. Everyone is working on a computer.
“Anyone hungry?” Kirkman asks. Everyone yells “Yes!”
Kirkman starts getting food out and setting it up on the counter. “Give me ten minutes!” he says.
Lucy yells out “Professor we have something!”
“What did you find?” Brandon inquires.
“As you and I suspected there was another plot,” Lucy reports. “The warehouse in Tokyo was burned down probably minutes after our plane took off. The Tokyo newspapers said that there were 14 people found dead. They specifically say that Lulu was among them.
They both look at Lulu who is clearly upset.
“Sorry Lulu,” Brandon says.
“So am I, but at least I am not dead,” Lulu says as she composes herself.
“Food!” Kirkman announces.
Various people move around and pick up food and go back to work.
“Here is the total inventory professor,” Razer says as she is passing out the printed sheets that describe all of the software that was found on the computers taken from the Tokyo warehouse. “Here is your copy Spinx.”
The professor looks over the updated list.
“Oh and we found one that everyone should read. The Sex Life of High-tech Tonya!” Blaster adds as she piles food on her plate. She laughs loudly and walks away.
“Germ, Razer, give me your take on this,” Brandon asks.
“They had tons of stuff. But not the common off the shelf garbage. Looks like they were trying to figure out to hack the FAA, some chemical plants or oil refineries, transportation management systems like buses and light rail, banks, credit card clearance systems,” Razer reports. “It is like they read your Ground Zero San Francisco attack scenario. Could that be the case?”
“There are some documents in Japanese, but I can't help you with those,” Germ adds. Lucy and Lulu pop up “Show us the way Germ.” Germ and Razer work with Lucy and Lulu to retrieve documents from the computers.
“There are hundreds of pages of stuff,” Lucy exclaims, “Let’s start with the small ones that could be notes or messages.”
“Professor, I think I have something,” Spinx reports. The professor walks over to Spinx. “The offices of a company in Chicago, MassRailSys, burned a week ago. The fire was blamed on a gas leak. The offices were totally destroyed and all of the computers in the office. There was an explosion and the fire spread quickly. There were two bodies found and they are believed to be two programmers that worked for the company.”
Brandon thinks for a moment, “Maybe they were employees, or maybe one of them was, and maybe neither of them was. See if you can find out where the software is used.”
“Worldwide,” Spinx responds.
“Let's narrow it down to U.S. cities,” Brandon requests.
Kirkman walks in carrying more food and drinks, “More food?” Everyone yells, yes!
“Professor I have something!” Lucy says. The professor walks over to where Lucy and Germ are working. Lulu and Razer join them.
“Here is a series of notes. It seems that one of the guys in Tokyo was meeting with two or three people pretty consistently,” Lucy continues. “There are some dates and times. We will write the names down.” Lucy gives the terminal to Lulu who starts writing the names down.
“There is a pattern,” Lucy continues. “They met twice a week it looks like. There are notes that say, “bring more disk.” There are also some that list ftp sites.”
Razer jumps up, “I will check those sites.” Germ joins her to help.
“Lucy, Lulu stay on it,” Brandon directs.
“Professor let's talk,” Rabbit says. “These cell phones have a variety of configurations. Some are designed to pick up signals from local area networks others are designed to transmit specific signals. One thing is for sure they are not your average walkie talkie.”
“Can the ones that transmit interfere with the controls of a passenger jet?” Brandon asks.
“That and anything else that is using wireless LAN technology,” Rabbit reports.
Kirkman bellows, “Food!”
“I found something else,” Spinx gets Brandon’s attention. “A programmer for another mass transit software company died in a flaming car crash three weeks ago in England. And the company's software is on our list.”
Various members of the group pick up food from Kirkman's buffet and return to work.
“Okay guys and girls I am going to get some sleep,” Kirkman declares. “I will see you in a few hours with more food of course. Any special request?”
Spinx puts in her order, “Croissants, almond croissants.”
Lucy pipes in “Spring rolls, soft, veggie.”
“Corn flakes,” Rabbit adds.
Lulu asks for raw tuna.
“Organic carrots for me,” Razer says.
Brandon requests Russian River wine, white.
“Ice cream, vanilla, French vanilla,” Blaster orders. “And some chocolate syrup. And some whipped cream. And some nuts. And some cherries and strawberries.”
“Power bars for me,” Germ says.
“You people are weird,” Kirkman says as he leaves for the store.
“Debrief in five minutes,” Brandon declares.
“And then do we get pizza, and wine, and maybe a little sex?” Spinx teases.
“Anything you all want,” Brandon says, “but first we need to figure this thing out.”
The group is sitting looking at the Brandon. “Put it together for me.” He requests.
“Well, who ever it is has plenty of software. They can hit about any major city and probably do some damage,” Germ concludes.
“They also have some pretty sophisticated toys. They could combine a cyber and physical attack and make September 11th look light weight,” Rabbit adds.
“They also probably have some passwords and authorized access capabilities from the two incidents I traced down and probably well beyond just that. Burglaries of technology companies often do not make it into the news,” Spinx says.
“She is right, the companies don't want to make the clients nervous,” Lucy agrees.
“I think the Tokyo gang were just researchers. They never really traveled far. All and all just a bunch of geek kids. Maybe one or two were moles for a terrorist group,” Lulu offers.
“Could also have been working for a government. The Israelis, Iranians, Iraqis, Russians. This does not have to be a rouge group,” Lulu continues.
“Okay whoever it is has good capability. We need to find out who. But we also need to find out when and where.” Brandon says. “And we don’t have much time.”
“Well if the ground zero scenario holds it is probably several groups working in concert,” Germ says.
“That does make a lot of sense. It would be hard for any one group to get enough talent to launch a major attack like ground zero. It is far more complex than suicide hits with jets or car bombs,” Spinx adds.
“We can narrow down the where easy enough. Let's assume that they will hit a mass transit city to take advantage of their new capabilities,” Rabbit speculates.
“Were you able to narrow that down Spinx?” Brandon asks.
“If we look at where both companies we think have gotten hit it comes down to four large cities. Chicago, New York, Atlanta, and San Francisco,” Spinx reports.
“Can you get those city maps on the big screen Razer?” Brandon asks.
“Coming up now,” Razer reports.
The group turns to look at the big screen. As Razer is bringing up the San Francisco map, she does a little dance and sings, “Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.”
Lucy and Brandon watch as Lulu has a momentary puzzled look then turns her attention to the map. Lucy Chin and the professor look at each other.
“Razer can you play that song?” Brandon asks.
“Sure. It sucks but I can retrieve it from somewhere give me a few seconds,” she responds.
Razer clicks around a few times and brings the music up through the warehouse sound system. Brandon and Lucy watch Lulu. She recognizes the song.
“Lulu have you heard this song before?” Lucy asks.
“Yes, this guy who was always surfing for software used to sing it. His English was bad but he knew the words,” Lulu answers.
“What was his name?” Brandon asks.
“I don't know his real name,” Lulu responds. “Everyone called him Hacker Head because he hacked so many computers.”
“Can I kill the song now?” Razer says insistently.
“Sure. Back to the maps,” Brandon gives Razer the go ahead.
“I am also thinking SF,” Rabbit says. “It is the perfect city for the attack because you can trap people in the city and let nature take its course.”
“Any dissenters?” Brandon asks.
“We still need to keep open minds and not ignore clues that point elsewhere,” Lucy points out.
Everybody agreed.
“Okay when?” Brandon asks. “Any ideas?”
“I think soon. Why else would the warehouse in Tokyo be burned down?” Lucy offers.
“And who burned it down? Do you think the Japanese government is involved in this in anyway?” Brandon asks Lucy.
The team is working. Kirkman comes in carrying bags. “Food in ten minutes”
“I need to get a hair cut,” Lulu says.
Rabbit looks at Lulu’s hair with curiosity, “Razer or Blaster can give you the 411 on that.”
Lulu looks puzzled, “What is the 411? What does that mean?”
“Information,” Rabbit responds, “Like when you dial information on the telephone to get a phone number you dial 411. Like if you have an emergency you dial 911. Of course 911 means September 11th now since the terrorist attacks.”
The lights go on for Lulu, “Professor!” Hacker head used to say 411 all of the time.”
“Lucy, work on this” Brandon says.
“Got it,” Lucy takes Lulu by the hand, “Let's take a little walk Lulu while I pick your brain.”
“Pick my brain?” Lulu Asks.
“That means talk,” Lucy says, “Let's go.”
Lucy and Lulu stop at Kirkman's buffet and grab so food and go outside.
“I have two more incidents involving tech companies. Both have customers in three of our five cities and SF is on the list of three,” Spinx reports.
“Professor, I found another series of messages that I need translated,” Razer reports.
“Lucy and Lulu will be back in a few minutes,” he responds.
Kirkman announces “Food is ready.” The group wanders over one by one and grabs something to eat.
Lucy and Lulu come back in.
“Razer needs some translation help,” Brandon says. “Lulu you can get started. Lucy what is up with 411?”
“Well it could be,” Lucy reports. “She said that Hacker Head used 411 in speech a lot. He always thought it was funny when he did.”
“Professor, some of these phones have a program module that turns them on automatically,” Rabbit says. “You see what happens, is that they go into sleep mode. Then they are programmed to turn on at a certain time or on a certain date.”
“What date and what time?” Brandon asks.
“Give me about five minutes on that one,” Rabbit responds.
“Well, I don't think we can get much more out of this stuff,” Germ reports. “There are a couple laptops that I am going to shake down a bit more.”
“Germ, can you get me video conferencing capabilities in here?” Brandon asks.
“We have it,” Germ reports
“Can you set it up where it looks like I am talking from London or someplace like that,” Brandon requests.
“No problem” Germ responds. “A friend of mine in the UK will let me bounce the signal through a few servers and it won't be traceable back here.”
“Blaster can you give me an update?” Brandon asks.
“It is going as planned. Are you ready for another diversion?” Blaster asks.
“Not yet,” Brandon responds. “But make sure we have some options.”
“How about a major drug bust?” Blaster teases. “Kiddie porn? Bank hack? I can get you all of those instantly.”
“I am so glad we are on the same side,” Brandon teases back.
“I have a jackpot,” Razer yells. “I found some ftp log files on one of these laptops. I am dumping it now.”
“Professor I think we have something,” Lucy reports. “We have found a reoccurring word. It may be a code or a project name.”
“What is it?” He asks.
“Exopaterra,” Lucy responds.
“Does this ring anybody's chimes?” Brandon asks.
Everybody shakes their heads no.
“411!” Rabbit yells out, “April 11! Without a doubt. These things are all set to go off on April 11. That is four days from now!”
Lucy says, “okay, I think we need to do a little more shopping today.”
“Kirkman did you hear that?” Brandon asks.
“Yeah I heard it,” Kirkman says. “Lets get all of our shopping in before the world ends. You girls are getting expensive.”
All the women laugh.
“Professor there was a report dated about nine weeks ago that the computer systems of the BART system crashed for the first time,” Spinx reports. “It took about 30 minutes to get the system back up. It happened late at night and thus no consequence.”
“And no coincidence either,” Brandon concludes. “Check out other cities to see if anything similar happened.”
“I did, I could not find anything,” Spinx reports.
“I found about a dozen ftp log files on one of the laptops” Razer follows up. “