connection with anyone we have on our radar.”
Farsi followed Harvey out of the
room, leaving Gerald Small alone with the boss.
“One thing puzzles me,” he said,
his eyes still on the short message Farrar had sent. “If he has his own
team, why isn’t he communicating with them through normal channels? Why
go through the trouble of setting up an untraceable website?”
Ellis hadn’t picked up on that
fact, but the more she thought about it, the more intriguing she found
it. “An outsider,” she said, and began pacing the room, throwing ideas
around in her mind. Why would he use an outside contractor? Whoever
it was, they were interested in some people originating from Malaysia, which
placed them in the same area as Timmy Hughes. And the fact that Hughes
was linked to Levine and Campbell meant that whoever had taken him out could
well be looking for them, too. It could of
course be a coincidence that Hughes was taken out by a professional just a few
days after contacting Levine, but the more she thought about it, the more
unlikely it seemed.
Ellis knew that in order to
confirm her suspicions, she had to discover who Farrar was in contact
with. “You said that whoever created the website covered their tracks:
does that make finding them impossible, or just very difficult?”
“As I said, I have someone
working on it. We might get lucky if the host has been careless, but at
this moment in time I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
It wasn’t what Ellis wanted to
hear, but she was determined to either verify the connection or dismiss it as
an avenue of investigation.
“How about gaining access to
Farrar’s files? Would you be able to do that undetected?”
Small thought about it for a moment,
not wanting to offer hope if there was none. He knew the network inside
out, but as several agencies had access to the core functionality a lot of it
was compartmentalised. Gaining access to a sub-net would be no easy task,
but as he’d never even explored the idea before, it didn’t mean it would be
impossible.
“I can try,” he said, the
excitement of the challenge plain to see.
“Go for it,” Ellis smiled.
Chapter
5
Tuesday
May 1st 2012
Ben Palmer’s Emirates flight
touched down at King Shaka International Airport just after five in the
afternoon. An hour later, he climbed into an airport taxi which ferried
him twenty-two miles to the Alteron hotel, a three-star establishment a couple
of miles from the container port. A larger, more opulent choice of
accommodation was available to him, but he preferred the low-key lifestyle
while working. His cover as a British businessman would probably stand up
to close scrutiny in one of the four- or five-star establishments dotted around
the city, but he much preferred to be off the radar.
The hotel had been booked in
advance, and after signing in at reception he took the stairs to the second
floor and found the single room was as pleasant as could be expected for the
price. He dropped his baggage on the bed and took a quick shower before
opening his laptop and logging in.
The first thing he did was to
visit the proxy server. As he was using the hotel’s internet connection,
he couldn’t be sure that they weren’t logging every website he visited.
To be on the safe side, he routed all requests through the proxy, so as far as
any snoopers were concerned he would only appear to have visited one website.
Once signed in, Palmer went
straight to his own website and composed a short email, which was encrypted and
sent to a friend named Carl Gordon. Palmer’s knowledge of computers was
limited to the end-user experience, while his profession required a deeper
understanding and ability. Knowing at an early stage that he wouldn’t be
able to learn enough to work alone, he had recruited a student a few years
earlier. He’d scoured the web for court schedules, looking for anyone
facing charges under the Computer Misuse Act
Farsi followed Harvey out of the
room, leaving Gerald Small alone with the boss.
“One thing puzzles me,” he said,
his eyes still on the short message Farrar had sent. “If he has his own
team, why isn’t he communicating with them through normal channels? Why
go through the trouble of setting up an untraceable website?”
Ellis hadn’t picked up on that
fact, but the more she thought about it, the more intriguing she found
it. “An outsider,” she said, and began pacing the room, throwing ideas
around in her mind. Why would he use an outside contractor? Whoever
it was, they were interested in some people originating from Malaysia, which
placed them in the same area as Timmy Hughes. And the fact that Hughes
was linked to Levine and Campbell meant that whoever had taken him out could
well be looking for them, too. It could of
course be a coincidence that Hughes was taken out by a professional just a few
days after contacting Levine, but the more she thought about it, the more
unlikely it seemed.
Ellis knew that in order to
confirm her suspicions, she had to discover who Farrar was in contact
with. “You said that whoever created the website covered their tracks:
does that make finding them impossible, or just very difficult?”
“As I said, I have someone
working on it. We might get lucky if the host has been careless, but at
this moment in time I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
It wasn’t what Ellis wanted to
hear, but she was determined to either verify the connection or dismiss it as
an avenue of investigation.
“How about gaining access to
Farrar’s files? Would you be able to do that undetected?”
Small thought about it for a moment,
not wanting to offer hope if there was none. He knew the network inside
out, but as several agencies had access to the core functionality a lot of it
was compartmentalised. Gaining access to a sub-net would be no easy task,
but as he’d never even explored the idea before, it didn’t mean it would be
impossible.
“I can try,” he said, the
excitement of the challenge plain to see.
“Go for it,” Ellis smiled.
Chapter
5
Tuesday
May 1st 2012
Ben Palmer’s Emirates flight
touched down at King Shaka International Airport just after five in the
afternoon. An hour later, he climbed into an airport taxi which ferried
him twenty-two miles to the Alteron hotel, a three-star establishment a couple
of miles from the container port. A larger, more opulent choice of
accommodation was available to him, but he preferred the low-key lifestyle
while working. His cover as a British businessman would probably stand up
to close scrutiny in one of the four- or five-star establishments dotted around
the city, but he much preferred to be off the radar.
The hotel had been booked in
advance, and after signing in at reception he took the stairs to the second
floor and found the single room was as pleasant as could be expected for the
price. He dropped his baggage on the bed and took a quick shower before
opening his laptop and logging in.
The first thing he did was to
visit the proxy server. As he was using the hotel’s internet connection,
he couldn’t be sure that they weren’t logging every website he visited.
To be on the safe side, he routed all requests through the proxy, so as far as
any snoopers were concerned he would only appear to have visited one website.
Once signed in, Palmer went
straight to his own website and composed a short email, which was encrypted and
sent to a friend named Carl Gordon. Palmer’s knowledge of computers was
limited to the end-user experience, while his profession required a deeper
understanding and ability. Knowing at an early stage that he wouldn’t be
able to learn enough to work alone, he had recruited a student a few years
earlier. He’d scoured the web for court schedules, looking for anyone
facing charges under the Computer Misuse Act
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