It had been Friday afternoon when they eventually left Oxford in the Mini for the drive to Robin’s home in Surrey for their second visit. No doubt about it - Robin needed a break.
There was never any question that they would not be welcome to stay again for the weekend at the old farmhouse. It didn’t matter a bit that Charles and Sally Bowman were coming to lunch on Sunday - the more the merrier. Robin’s mother, Gill, was sure that they would both like to see him again and meet his delightful partner - they always asked about the couple.
Gill had missed Robin since he had been at Oxford, even though he had been at boarding school before that. She supposed that was natural for a mother, but he got home less often now, and was always so busy, what with his studies and his computer work that seemed to be going so well. Not that she understood it, as she was the first to admit, but he must be clever to invent things that major companies wanted to buy from him. He had hinted that he was negotiating the sale of another of his inventions, and he didn’t even have a degree yet! She must remember to ask him about that, although she was sure that if she forgot, Denis would ask. Much more up his street! Besides, Robin had said that he wanted to spend a bit of time with Frank Tucker, fishing, if that could be arranged, so that would mean that she would be able to go to the shops with Marian. Perhaps they would go to Guildford, where there were some good shops and nice little places for a coffee and a chat. If they went early enough, they should be able to park all right.
She did so hope that things would keep going well for Robin. And in particular, she hoped that he would be able to hang on to that lovely girlfriend of his. Marian had been so good for him since they had met, and he had really come out of himself, somehow. He’d never been much interested in girls before, but it was plain that the couple adored one another and that Robin was blissfully happy in her company. He wasn’t the only one, either. Both Gill and Denis had immediately taken to the girl the first time they had met her. She was so easy to get on with, and had somehow - well, sort of fitted in with the family, from the moment they had met.
“I hope you won’t mind if I nip off for a bit of fishing with Padre Tucker,” Robin had said to Marian, as they headed for the M40.
“Of course I don’t mind,” replied Marian. “You really must relax a bit this weekend. You’ve been looking so tired, and there’s a lot of studying ahead of us - you must be fresh for that.”
“It will be nice to get out on the river for a bit, I must say. Fishing is always totally relaxing, I find. And there are a few things I need to chat to Frank about - the moral issues of what I’m trying to do, and all that sort of thing - so it won’t all be a waste of time!”
“And I’m quite sure your mother will see that I’m not left on my own, either!” said Marian. “She and I get on so well together, so perhaps I shall be able to help with some of the preparation for the lunch party on Sunday.”
“Knowing my mother, everything will be done!” said Robin. “She’ll probably be wanting to spirit you off somewhere, to get you to herself for a bit! But you’ll enjoy meeting the Bowmans. They’re old RAF friends of my father’s and they know Frank and Audrey Tucker, too. In fact, I had heard that Charles Bowman is being posted to Africa somewhere quite soon. I wonder if he’s going anywhere near where we plan to visit on our trip?”
“It would be nice to think that we knew somebody over there,” replied Marian. “Just in case!”
They turned on to the motorway, which, thankfully, was not too crowded.
“I hope we’ve made the right decision, coming by motorway this time instead of going cross-country,” said Robin, as he settled back for the drive. “The M25 has a ghastly reputation as the world’s biggest car park, but if it’s anything like clear, we should be home in an hour and a half, even in this old thing.”
“Just relax and take your time,” said Marian. “We’re not in a hurry, but you did insist on driving.”
“You can drive back,” said Robin.
“No problem,” she replied. “As a matter of interest, my dear, what are these burning ‘moral issues’ you’ve identified, that you want to discuss with the Padre?”
“Well,” he said, “to achieve what I want to achieve, I have to break the law up to a point, and you know that neither of us is happy about that. We have already effectively ‘stolen’ fifty pounds from various banks, just to prove that the second card worked. The fact that we’ve given it to charity doesn’t change the fact that we nicked it in the first place.”
“I suppose not,” agreed Marian.
“And if I can ever manage to get into the banking system by computer, rather than just with a plastic card, then the sums of money will be bigger still,” Robin went on.
“Well, I know we’ve already agreed that we shouldn’t in any way profit from the experimental side of your work, and I’m already keeping a detailed account of what we take out and what we do with it, so that anyone can check if they want to. I’m not really sure what more we can do at present.”
“Neither am I,” admitted Robin. “But we shall need to think of some way to get the money back where it belongs once this development work is over, and we have a viable system that works. And we will need to do that before I have developed and sold the security system which will prevent others from doing what we are doing.”
“Ah,” she said, “I see what you mean.”
“We’ll have a bit of money of our own to play with,” he said, “depending on what I get offered for my new piece of work.”
“I can’t wait to hear what they might say,” she said excitedly.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that they’ll want it,” said Robin. “If their main competitor has bought it, then they almost certainly will want the version that works on their system, just to keep up. I’m tempted, this time, to licence it and take the royalties, rather than cash, depending on what they offer. A bit of income might not be a bad idea, but we shall see.”
“You, know,” said Marian, “the more I think about it, the more I think you’re right to set up your own business, rather go into some stuffy advertising agency. You could, after all, always provide the advertising industry with a service as a consultant, if ever you had the time.”
“Well, as I’ve said, computer security systems, coding and encryption and that sort of work certainly interests me more now than it did, and more than computer graphics. There’s probably more money in it, too.”
“And I’d be more than happy to help you in your own business rather than go into charity work, if you think I could help,” said Marian. “It would be fun working together.”
“Yes, it would,” agreed Robin. “And you’d be tax-deductible!” he quipped.
“That’s the sort of thing I could do,” added Marian. “All the paper work, while you get on with the technical stuff.”
“Too soon to decide, yet, probably,” said Robin. “But it’s a nice idea if everything works out, and I really appreciate you offering like that. I actually have the germ of an idea for a business that we could set up to provide a service to all computer owners and users, from the private individual sitting at home, to the major business corporations.”
“That sounds exciting,” exclaimed his partner. “Tell me more!”
“Later!” he promised. “I need to give it a lot more thought first, and be sure nobody else is already doing it. Then, you’ll be the first to know, of course!”
He paused, as they untangled themselves from slow moving traffic near the approaches to Heathrow.
“The problem is that we shall need quite a bit of start-up capital to get going,” he said, as they accelerated again. “I’m tempted to go down the A30 from here, you know, and down the Blackwater Valley Road to Farnham. With all this traffic, and the Friday rush-hour as well, it could be an easier drive, even if it takes a bit longer.”
“We’re not in a hurry,” replied Marian. “If I were you, I’d take the easiest route - you’re supposed to be relaxing this weekend, remember? But you were talking about start-up capital - how much will you need?” she asked.
“I can’t work professionally with a laptop at home, and I shan’t have access to the University’s computer power any longer, so I shall need quite a bit of expensive equipment,” he replied. “And if Jim joins me, he’s got nothing to invest in the company, I should think, so I shall have to provide for him as well.”
“And we’ll need an office of some sort,” added Marian.
“Damn it, I hadn’t thought of that,” replied Robin, crossly. “I suppose we shall have to rent something, and that will be really expensive.”
“We’ll need a loan, or sponsorship or something,” said Marian. “Unless your current inventions raise enough?”
“I doubt that, very much. And another thing,” said Robin, getting even more worried, “we shall need quite a bit of cash behind us to test out phase three of my bank security project. Getting a few quid out of a hole-in-the-wall with a card is one thing, but it will be no good trying to test a system that breaks into the main computer at a bank just by moving a few bob about - that will require quite large sums to show that it works.”
“But if that system does work,” reasoned Marian, “surely you’ll be able to move money between the banks without actually needing your own, and that means that you will eventually be able to pay it back, doesn’t it?”
“In theory, you’re quite right,” he agreed, “but in practice that would arouse suspicion, and could easily lead the banks to trace the movements of cash back to us. Using our own money will attract no attention at all. So I would rather use our own money until such time as I know how to do it without being traced. I have some ideas about that, too, as a matter of interest, but it will take a lot of work and take time. And the longer it takes, the more chance there is that we shall be found out if we are using bank money rather than our own.”
“Oh, dear,” said Marian. “I begin to see why you need to talk things over with the Padre.”
“Now I seem to have more than ever to worry about,” joked Robin.
“Please don’t,” pleaded Marian. “Do try to forget it all this weekend, and relax properly.”
She leant across and put her hand on his knee.
“Not on the motorway, if you don’t mind!” said Robin.
***
When they eventually got to the farmhouse near Dunsfold, Robin’s mother was almost waiting at the door for them, having heard the car on the gravel drive, and made a great fuss of both of them. Robin’s trusty small black Labrador heard the commotion, too, and came tearing through the house from the kitchen, skidding on the polished wooden floor as he did so, ears back and tail wagging furiously. More fuss! Robin and Digger were devoted friends and both missed one another greatly when parted. Once together again, though, they were inseparable. By some sixth sense, Digger knew that Robin and Marian were inseparable as well, and had somehow managed to win Marian’s affections from their first meeting. Now, the three of them were constant companions when they were together, with Digger bustling about following them wherever they went, in eager anticipation either of a decent walk or having a fuss made of him by one or both of them.
Gill bustled them both inside, and closed the heavy oak front door behind them.
“I’ll get the kettle on while you take your bags upstairs,” she said. “Your father will be home soon, I hope,” she said to Robin, “but it takes him longer now he’s moved to Farnborough.”
Digger was made to sit at the foot of the stairs.
“Shan’t be long,” Marian said to him.
“I hope not,” said Gill, “I’ve made scones, and I’m dying to hear all your news!”
The three of them - well, four, actually, if you included Digger - were soon relaxing in front of the early-autumn log fire, flickering warmly in the old brick inglenook fireplace. Robin and Marian were on the leather sofa, facing the fire, while Gill, satisfied at last that they really didn’t want more tea or another piece of her fruit cake, settled in her armchair to one side. Digger had concluded long ago that another morsel of cake was out of the question, and had settled in front of his two favourite people, lying across their feet, dozing contentedly.
“It’s so nice to have you down for the weekend,” said Gill. “Denis and I have really been looking forward to seeing you both again.”
“It’s lovely to be here, too,” said Marian. “You always make me so welcome, and Robin especially needs the break. He has really been working far too hard these past weeks.”
“I’m sure you’ve been looking after him, though,” said Gill. “He always says he couldn’t manage without you. He really wasn’t getting on at all well in his flat at Oxford until you arrived on the scene, you know.”
Marian grinned. “He certainly wasn’t in very good shape when I first met him there, I must admit,” she said.
“Feeling very sorry for myself, I was,” agreed Robin.
“What’s caused you to work so hard, anyway?” asked his mother.
“I’ve been playing around with a few ideas for making a bit of money, as a matter of fact,” said Robin, “and what with that and studying, we’ve both been burning the midnight oil a bit.”
“We’ll soon have to concentrate on our finals, though,” said Marian, “and we haven’t really started any serious planning for our gap-year trip to Africa, either. We’ll have to start thinking about that soon, I suppose.”
“Well, it’s an odd coincidence,” said Robin’s mother, “but the people we have invited to lunch tomorrow - old RAF friends of ours - are going to Africa soon. He’s still serving, and he’s been posted to Zimbabwe as Defence AttachE, or something. You’ve met the Bowmans, haven’t you Robin?”
“A long time ago,” he replied. “We hadn’t actually planned to go to Zimbabwe on our trip, in view of what’s going on there, but it will be nice to know someone in Africa, in case we get stuck.”
There was the sound of a car on the gravel drive. Digger lifted his head, but decided not to get up, after all. Normally, he would have skidded off down the hall to greet his master, but not today - not with his best friend home for the weekend. He did, though, get to his feet when Denis came into the room, and ambled over for a pat on the head during all the hugging and kissing and hand shaking.
“You’re a fair weather friend, you are Digger,” said Denis. “Your dog normally just about knocks me off my feet when I get home, Robin.”
“I could probably rustle up some tea out of the pot, if you’d like a cup,” said Gill to Denis.
“Not likely,” he replied, looking at the old Grandfather clock in the corner. “It’s gin time! I’ll just nip upstairs to change, and then sort out a drink before dinner.”
“I’ve got a leg of lamb in the oven,” announced Gill. “I thought we could have it cold with some salad tomorrow - we won’t want too much, as we’re having a curry lunch on Sunday. I hope that sounds all right.”
“It sounds delicious,” said Marian. “Roast lamb is one of our favourites. It’ll be a rare treat for us.”
“By the way,” said Denis to Robin, “I’ve had a word with the Padre, and as it happens he’s on the river tomorrow, so will be delighted to meet you there. I wrote it down somewhere, but I think he said beat three, which means that you have half a mile on the Test as well as the end of the Anton. He said you knew where it was, and that he’d meet you on the river about ten-ish.”
“Sounds about right,” said Robin. “I’ve been looking forward to a relaxing few hours, and there are one or two things I need to talk to him about.”
“Well, we’re all out and about tomorrow,” went on Robin’s mother, “so I thought a salad would be easy, and I’ve done a hamper for your lunch, Robin - enough for Frank as well, who said he’d take some beer and a bottle of wine.”
“Oh!” said Robin. “It’s going to be one of those days, is it?”
“Don’t drink too much if you’re driving,” said Marian.
“I do wish you were coming, too,” he replied.
“So that I can drive, I suppose!” she laughed.
“Not at all. I just know you’d love it on the river, that’s all. One day I’ll get you hooked on the sport.”
“Well, I’m very glad you’re not hooked yet,” said Gill to Marian. “I rather hoped we could do a bit of shopping in Guildford, and have a chat over a coffee while we’re there.”
“And I’m on gardening duty here,” said Denis. “Someone has to cut the lawn to tart the place up a bit for Sunday. Now I really must go and change.”
He gave Marian a gentle squeeze on his way past. “It is nice to see you again,” he said. “And you stay where you are, Digger.”
As it happened, Digger had never intended to do anything else.
***
Gill and Marian had intended to set of early, so that they would have no problems with parking. Guildford was always a busy town, but especially so on a Saturday. It suited Robin, too, as he always liked to be on the river early if he could, to catch the morning hatch if there was to be one. He had slept like a log, what with all the stress of the past few weeks, and a good dinner with one of Denis’s better wines, but he was away from the house just after eight, hamper in the boot, and his rod and tackle on the back seat of the Mini. Denis was left to wash up after breakfast, a hurried affair of croissant and coffee, and then to mow the lawns. Digger had been hoping for a long walk with rabbits to chase, like the good old days, and was not too pleased to be left at home when everyone else was out and about. Later, perhaps, or tomorrow. He was actually well enough trained to be taken fishing sometimes, but Robin knew that there would be cows in the fields on this beat, and that would be tempting providence. Besides, he wanted to enjoy his fishing without having to worry about what his dog was up to.
When he got to Fullerton, he opened the gate of the field that bordered onto the river, and drove carefully across it so as not to damage his low-slung car on the deep potholes, which he knew lay under the long grass. He was relieved to see that the herd of cows which usually grazed there was way over the far side of the field under the shade of an old tree. He wasn’t sure he altogether trusted cows, although they appeared docile enough. Frank’s car was already parked there, so he quickly changed into his waders and put his rod together. Frank was not too far away, and, as Robin approached, he could see that there was already a decent sized brown trout lying in the wet grass.
Frank retrieved his fly quickly on seeing Robin approach, and walked towards him.
“Hope you don’t mind me starting before you got here,” he shouted. “Couldn’t resist trying a Grey Wulff at this chap” - he motioned towards the trout on the bank - “and he took it after only a couple of casts.”
They shook hands warmly. “So good of you to let me join you,” said Robin.
“Not at all,” replied the Padre. “It’s always nice to have your company on the river. There’s a flask of coffee in the car if you’d like one.”
“Not likely,” replied Robin. “I’ve got some catching up to do. I’ve brought lunch, as Mother said I would.”
“And I’ve brought the grog!” replied Frank. “I suggest we work the Anton here before lunch, and then try the Test over the road afterwards, if you want. It often fishes better in the afternoon than in the morning, for some reason.”
“Suits me fine,” replied Robin. “And there are a couple of things I want to talk over with you over lunch, if I may.”
“So I heard,” replied Frank Tucker. “I’ve guessed that you want me to arrange a wedding - is that right?”
Robin laughed. “Not yet,” he replied, “but perhaps sometime after we’ve graduated. No - I really have something of a moral dilemma I’d like your views about. But during lunch, if you don’t mind. Is that a trout or a grayling under the opposite bank down there?”
“Ah, I see it. Trout I think. Have a go, and I’ll go ahead of you up-stream. I shan’t spook the fish, if I can help it, and won’t cast a line until fifty yards or so beyond the bridge, so you can follow me up. I suggest we meet up for lunch about twelve thirty.”
Which is what they did.
Robin’s first cast landed a bit too close to the trout, and had soon drifted past it. Fortunately, it was not close enough to frighten it. He managed to put the second cast further upstream of the fish, and the current brought the fly nicely downstream, just to one side of it. The trout turned to watch the fly glide past, but made no attempt to take it. Robin’s third cast landed almost on top of the fish with a ‘plop’, which sent the trout shooting upstream, away from his lie and out of danger. Robin cursed quietly under his breath. Out of practice, he thought.
And so he worked his way upstream, sometimes casting at visible fish, at other times casting at likely spots where fish could be lying under the bank or on the edge of the weed bed. He occasionally caught sight of Frank, ahead of him, mostly stalking fish from the bank, whereas Robin preferred to wade.
By lunchtime, when they met up again at the cars, Robin had landed a nice brown trout of about a pound and a half, as well as a couple of small grayling which he had returned.
“I’ve had a few grayling as well,” said Frank, “but no more trout yet. The grayling can be a bit of a nuisance, darting out at your fly and frightening off any trout you may be trying for. But it’s all good sport.”
“And wonderfully relaxing,” said Robin, as he wrestled the hamper out of his boot. “You can’t really think about anything else while you’re fishing, can you? Just what I needed.”
“I hope your mother hasn’t gone mad as she usually does with a picnic,” said the Padre. “Packs so much food, there’s hardly any time left for fishing! Let’s have a drink - wine or beer?”
“A glass of wine would be nice, thanks,” replied Robin. “Now, what have we here!”
“Enough for us and all the swans and ducks on the river, by the look of it!” said Frank as he peered into the basket while struggling with the cork.
Before long, they were tucking in to chicken legs, sausages, and large chunks of Melton Mowbray pork pie, washed down with a glass of decent red wine.
“Now,” said Frank eventually. “If you don’t want me to fix a wedding, what do you want to chat about? Your mother will be disappointed, you know - she’s quite sure that’s what this is all about! She’s very fond of Marian, and from what she has told me, she thinks the girl would make you an excellent wife!”
Robin grinned. “All in good time,” he said. “We’ve got to graduate first, then have a break - a sort of gap year - then perhaps we’ll think about getting married.”
The Padre nodded. “Sounds very sensible to me,” he said. “And you will need to have some sort of future career planned out as well, I should think.”
“And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about, indirectly,” said Robin, as Frank topped up his glass. “As my parents may have told you, I’m a bit of a computer ‘geek’, as we are called! I’m studying computer science and plan to make my living working in computer development if I can. At first, I had thought that I would go into the advertising industry, as I’m very interested in computer graphics, and it’s quite amazing what you can do with them creatively in that area. But the more I’ve studied at Oxford, the more I’ve become interested in computer security systems, especially those used in the banking world. Credit and debit cards, for instance, have always seemed to me to be a particularly risky part of the banks’ activities, even after the introduction of the chip and PIN system. Getting access to the banks’ computer system and its cash simply by shoving a piece of plastic into a hole in the wall just doesn’t seem to me to be at all secure, so I set about trying to break down the system and its security safeguards.”
Robin went on to describe how he eventually managed to develop two cards, one of which allowed him to take money from other peoples’ accounts, while the other gave him direct access to the cash machine’s store of notes and allowed him to withdraw cash without debiting any individual’s account.
Frank listened intently to all this, without commenting or interrupting.
“Marian and I were able to test the first card simply by withdrawing cash from one another’s accounts. We haven’t taken money from the accounts of complete strangers, although I am quite sure we could if we tried, but we are determined not to profit directly from this potential fraud, but only from the development of security measures that can prevent it or circumvent it. But the problem is that, in order to develop counter-measures, one has to develop the potential fraud in the first place, just to prove, eventually, that the counter-measure is necessary. Otherwise, one would never sell it to the banks,”
Frank nodded.
“The second card I developed, however, allows me to take money direct from the bank. It circumvents the need to tap in a PIN number or any other kind of personal code or information about any individual. So, to test this system, we have had to take cash from the banks, although only small amounts - so far, a tenner a time from five different banks. Marian, bless her, is keeping meticulous records of every transaction we make, but we can’t just walk in to a bank and hand over a ten pound note we’ve just taken illegally from their machine outside. What we have done up to now is donate the money to charity, but that doesn’t alter the fact that it’s money which I’ve nicked.”
“And that’s your moral dilemma, is it?” asked Frank.
“That’s only part of it,” replied Robin. “It seems clear to me that, if you can get into a bank’s computer and take money from it illegally by using a card at their cash machines, then you should also be able to get into the system without a card, using a computer. In general terms, that sort of thing is called ‘hacking’ - that is, breaking into someone else’s computer without their help or knowledge, either out of curiosity, or deliberately to cause harm. It’s quite a popular hobby, but can be very serious. Last year, for instance, there were over fifty thousand attempts to break into the US Defence Department’s computer system, mostly by youngsters probably, but some of them undoubtedly hostile. So you can see that computer security is big business, and that’s the business I want to be in, I think. No doubt lots of people have tried to get into the computers run by the banking world, and I plan to join them. I’m quite sure that it must be possible to do it, and when I have, I can then develop a counter-measure that the banks, hopefully, will want to buy.”
The Padre frowned. “I had no real idea that this sort of thing went on, or the scale of it,” he said. “How sad that people with such obvious skills should deliberately mis-use them, rather than put them to good use for the benefit of their fellow men.”
“Sad indeed,” agreed Robin. “But this brings me to my real dilemma.”
He paused to gather his thoughts.
“Not worth taking dregs home,” said Frank, as he poured another glass of wine.
“The problem simply is this,” continued Robin. “I need to be able to find the system’s weakness in order to strengthen it, and I need to be able to demonstrate that the system is flawed. Otherwise, it will be like - well - like inventing a cure for which there is no known disease.”
“But you don’t know yet whether the system has that weakness,” said Frank.
“Not yet, although I’m almost sure it does. I suspected that the hole-in-the-wall machines were vulnerable, and I have been able to prove that they are. I’m sure, too, that the same flaw must permeate through the whole of the banking systems’ computer network. But if I find that weak point, I shall need to be able to move large sums of money about to prove it - and I simply don’t have large sums of money of my own to play with.”
“Why do you need large sums?” asked the Padre. “Surely, moving any sum would be enough to convince the banks that they needed to take action?”
“I doubt it,” replied Robin. “Taking a tenner here and there out of their cash machines wouldn’t be noticed, and neither will moving ten quid at a time through the computer network. I need to be able to shift sums of money large enough for them to sit up and take notice. But if I do that too soon, using their money, I shall not have had the time to write and develop a programme which will fix the problem, and that’s what I shall want them to buy. The only way to avoid them becoming suspicious is to use cash of my own, and I don’t have any.”
“What sort of sums are you talking about?” asked Frank.
“Tens of thousands, I should think,” replied Robin.
“I hope you’re not asking me for a loan,” said Frank, only half joking.
“No, of course not,” replied Robin with a grin. “But given that I have no choice but to use the banks’ money, I needed to talk it through with someone I could trust, and I rather wanted your view about the ethics of it, too.”
“But you will only need to use the banks’ money, or your own if you had it, if you succeed in finding this weakness which you believe exists in the banking system.”
“Absolutely,” replied Robin.
“I need to think about all this, young man,” said Frank, after a moment. “I certainly couldn’t condone theft for a moment, as you would expect, and I