The Museum Job
The first job went very well. So far, they haven't traced me. I was keeping a close eye on the investigation. On TV and on the net – official servers included. I was right – it was a lucrative operation for both parties. Yes, they got 1.5 million dollars, but I got 150 thousand, which blew my mind. I wasn't a thief; but I hadn't put a finger on the money. The Rac'hkun-s gave it to me after it was theirs. Yes, I helped, but boy, that was a lot of money. I already replenished my electronics supply with parts that were missing – transistors and everything. I bought some games, but still, there was a lot of money left. School was going as usual. A few test, but nothing too hard. National exams were coming, so I didn't have so much time to correct and draw plans – or to build them. Tonight, though, I had some spare time, so I was building a new firmware for my digital receiver. I was planning to start building a 7.1 audio system that I've been studying and planning for a month now, and basically drooling over the paper, when I got an e-mail on my secondary address. I made a new one so that any suspect e-mails wouldn't be linked directly to me, but to Hakn Joyt, an ice-cream seller from Hawaii.
This time, it was a private collector. He had a team, but lacked a hacker, and they couldn't get any information or plans regarding the target. They were planning to rob a museum. Any information was top-secret.
"I don't think I can work without any data on the target. I will try to dig something up.", my reply stated.
It was hard to get used to. Talking to powerful people. The paranoia was a thing that never went away. You always had the feeling that someone will knock on your door and yell "Police!". Direct feeds from the police radio and video cameras within a mile radius were always open on my PC.
I started searching for information on that museum. It WAS top-secret. Hell, you could get info on the Pentagon more easily. I started scanning for IP addresses in its area. It was a dead end. The network went through relay zones and more and more security systems. It was too complicated.
Touché!
Two days of heavy scanning yelded no results. But on the third day, the museum ran out of luck. One of their neighbours had a wireless router. Using it, I found a relatively easy way in: through the air. It wasn't hard to get the employee's phone numbers. In about a week, my plan was ready. PCs from their network only went through one relay point and one security check before accessing the main server. I prepared my "custom" firmware for the servers and the phones.
'Everything is set. There's an abandoned Resistance tunnel from WW2 running under the museum. You can get in through there.'
'Thank you for your assistance. Your cut is 15%.' It was getting better and better. I loved a good challenge, and this was one. 'The heist will take place the day after tomorrow. You give the signal.' That was everything I needed to hear.
Unfortunately, we had some guests for dinner, and I wasn't excused from the table. I pre-rigged everything, and gave the signal, just as the guests arrived. I quickly checked everything and I ran to the table. A small earpiece would've warned me if something went wrong. Suddenly, while cutting a piece of meat, the earpiece started going 'Warning, unindexed presence detected.' This was bad.
I excused myself to the toilet and pulled out my netbook. It was connected to my main PC. This "unindexed presence" was something strange. It looked like a kind of security robot. Confused, I searched for that model, but I found nothing. It couldn't be. No reference to it anywhere. It had an obsolete form of short-range radio that could give me access to it. I had to tweak the security cameras to release an amplified and modified interference signal that should work… After more tweaks, I managed to extract its code.
It was obsolete, but powerful. It had all sorts of weapons on it. Tazer, mini-gun, grenade launcher… Wacky piece of equipment, it belonged on ACME's production lines. Anyway, it was dangerous. The short-rage radio signal explained why it didn't show up on my scans. I had to get out of the toilet, fast. The investigation could be postponed. I disabled it and drove it to the storage room it escaped from. I installed the firmware, leaving my card, "H", on every display.
I got scolded for staying to long in the bathroom, but everything went well. The money had been transferred, and his reputation pumped up.
Another successful hit from the mysterious "H"…