Chapter 5
"Morgan." Dom was sat behind his large desk positioned in front of a view of the Thames River. He was leaning back in his chair, surveying me as I walked in. His beady crocodile eyes bore into me making my stomach tighten. Stay calm, just stay calm. I repeated the mantra in my head as I took the seat opposite him.
"Thank you for meeting me, it was just a quick catch up really. See how you're getting on." I could smell a rat; he never caught up with anyone. "How long have you been with us now?"
"About four years" I replied cautiously. He nodded as if he knew the answer already; he had no fucking idea.
"Yes, that's right. You've become a valued member of the team." Yeah, something was definitely going on. He was talking in that way all bosses do when they are about to say something really crappy, but they don't want you to think its crappy.
"And this week you've proven yourself to be a talented photographer. I know we've been holding back on giving you any serious jobs here, but now you've shown what you're capable of I'd like to see you do more…heavy lifting as it were." He flashed a toothy grin at me, his eyes remained devoid of humour.
"Are you promoting me?" Being upfront was probably the best option, I didn't like people who didn't say what they meant and was reluctant to stay in here any longer than necessary. He leant forward clasping his hands together.
"In a way, I am. I want you to reach your full potential Morgan, but obviously I can't justify increasing your wage. Tough times and all." He stood up and came round to lean on the desk beside me. I felt like it was his intention to gain the high ground on me.
"However, I am willing to supplement your pay for certain…favours." Instinctively I recoiled from him, a look of outrage probably clear on my face. Dom laughed nastily at my expression.
"No no, my dear, I'm not that kind of man. I meant your skills with…computers shall we say." His eyes stared at me with an intensity I was becoming uncomfortable with. He lowered himself towards me and spoke in a low voice. "I'm not stupid, I know how you got that photo when no one else did." His breath was hot on my face. "Don't worry I'm not going to report you, yet. If anything I'm impressed, I need someone like you to help me…us get ahead in the industry. Paper is dying Morgan, and we need new innovative ways to keep people buying our stories."
My gut twisted, he was asking me to hack to get ahead. I couldn't believe it; he was almost admitting what Tobias had claimed. Almost. I still didn't know to what extent he would go and how much he knew about me. I paused for a moment as if thinking.
"You want me to help you with…IT problems?" I said pointedly and attempted to look him in the eye. His grin widened and a nasty glint entered his eye.
"Exactly Morgan…I knew we'd see eye to eye. You help me from time to time and I'll make sure your career flourishes. You decide to take your services…elsewhere, and I'll make sure the authorities know all about your little hobby. Capeesh?" He watched me darkly as I leveled my gaze at him properly. I didn't like being threatened.
"Capeesh Mr Johnson." He snapped back to a friendly expression and clapped me on the shoulder.
"Brilliant, I'll let you know when I need anything." He returned to his seat and waved his hand towards the door. "That'll be all."
My legs were numb as I got up and left him, hands shaking as I closed the door carefully behind me; not with fear, with anger. I looked to Tobias as I stood by my boss' door. He was watching me, naturally, probably wondering if I'd spilt the beans on our little plan. To the contrary, I had come up trumps. Dom had practically confessed and now I was raring to take the bastard down.
...
"Bollocks." I swore to myself as I sat cross-legged on my bed, staring at the blue glare of my laptop in front of me. It was some ungodly hour in the morning but I wasn't ready to quit yet. The most recent firewall I'd found had detected my attempts to by pass it and was flashing a warning at me aggressively. If I didn't already think that Dom was up to no good, the level of security on our intranet was giving me a good idea of what he was capable of.
So far I had bypassed three firewalls, and a secure shell authentication system. This guy really didn't want anyone getting the dirt on him. I was beginning to lose patience, firewalls weren't usually an issue for me but I was clearing getting tired. Having access to the intranet myself should have given me an advantage, but it seemed my boss didn't trust his own employees.
Pinching the bridge of my nose I closed my laptop down, removing my encrypted dongle and putting them to one side. If I didn't want to brute force this I was going to have to get a Trojan horse virus into the system. That was going to be a head ache, but the more challenging this was getting the more I wanted to see what he was hiding. Plus I wasn't keen on finding out what Tobias would do if I were no longer any use to him.
I collapsed backwards on my bed, and after settling my whirring brain I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
...
There were dark circles under my eyes the next day, and everyone sounded like they were speaking through a wall.
"I asked if you needed a drink." Tobias' voice brought me back to the living; he was staring down at me, a mixture of concern and mild annoyance on his face. I blinked up at him and nodded lethargically.
"Yeah, I'll go make it now." He raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Turning towards Andy he asked pleasantly, "How about you Andy?"
Andy looked taken aback by Tobias' question, he hadn't actually talked to Andy at all until now.
"Ummm..yeah sure. A tea, thanks Toby." I smirked as I walked with Tobias towards the kitchen.
"Thanks Toobbby." I elongated the word, my tiredness making me brave. He gave me a dark look as we rounded the corner out of site of the office.
"Don't" His voice was dangerously quiet. My smirk widened, we were in a public place right now and I was delirious.
"What? It's the shortened form of your 'name' isn't it?" His look darkened further, and I was reminded of how he'd looked in the dark room when I'd ousted him. The smirk disappeared.
I was suddenly aware of how alone we were in the kitchen, and I busied myself with making coffee. Tobias joined me, his face back to a neutral stance. This guy was a master of his emotions; I was almost envious.
"Have you made any progress?" His voice was low, making sure only I could hear.
"Some and some," I replied, rubbing my face. "It's like Fort Knox. He's definitely hiding something but I'm going to need to up my game."
"What do you need?" He was stirring Andy's tea methodically; it was a comical image seeing someone stir tea so seriously.
"I might need to get into our servers after hours. They're located downstairs behind reception." He turned his head and looked down at me.
"I can help."
"How?" I wasn't happy about breaking into my work in the middle of the night, but was unsure what he could do to assist me.
"Tell me what you need to do and I'll get access to the servers." I turned to face him head on now, double-checking we were still alone. We were.
"I'm sorry, did you just say you'd break in?" Putting down the teaspoon he faced me folding his arms.
"Yes, you don't look like the breaking and entering type. I can do the leg work if you give me whatever you want to put on the servers."
I stared at him, my brain racing through the proposition.
"I can put the virus on a USB drive, but getting it on the server may be complicated."
I could see his brain working too, as if deciding whether to say something. Eventually, he nodded, "You can talk me through it."
...
The virus had taken a bit of fine-tuning but I thought it should work. I had created a masterpiece in my opinion; a virus disguised as a friendly update patch that would break down the firewalls and give me a convenient gateway into the system.
I played with the USB drive nervously as I waited on the corner of a nearby street under the orange glow of a streetlight. It was close to my flat by still not making it obvious where I lived. My heart was beating a little too fast for my liking as Tobias' black Audi pulled up beside me. He lowered the window and looked at me, his face a picture of calm. How did he do it?
"Here," I said briskly, handing him the small drive. He was wearing the suit he had worn the other night, but his hands were covered in a pair of black leather gloves that I hadn't seen before. The realisation that this was completely normal for him dawned on me, and I swallowed nervously.
"Thanks," He said placing it carefully in an inside pocket of his jacket. He reached behind him and pulled out a small case, which he handed to me.
"Take this, set it up at home and wait for me to contact you."
I took the case numbly, nodding as he raised his window without a parting comment and drove off towards the office.
Opening it back at my flat, I looked down at its contents. Inside was an unmarked CD rom disc and a headset with a microphone. I took out the disc and placed it in my laptop, an installer opened up asking permission to access my computer. There was no name for the program, just a .exe file. I clicked 'Ok' having to trust that it wouldn't infect my computer.
As the progress bar filled steadily I examined the headset. It was fairly simple, similar to what you see people in call centers using. I plugged it into my laptop as the program finished installing. There was no thumbnail for the icon, I double clicked on it and a black window opened requesting a password. I looked in the case and saw a slip of paper with a jumble of numbers and letters, typing it in, the login screen vanished replaced with a video call window. There was nothing else on the screen, nothing to tell me who had made this program or what it was for.
I adjusted the headset and put it on; I guess this was how I was going to step him through this crazy endeavor. I would usually never condone this, but the easiest way to insert this virus on the system was to do it directly. There was too high a chance that doing it remotely through the Internet would get me caught. Although, this was officially breaking the law and I was feeling very uneasy about Tobias being involved.
The screen suddenly came to life snapping me out of my troubled thoughts. I was looking at the side entrance of my work, from about chest level, well Tobias' chest level to be more specific.
"Morgan, are you there?" Tobias' voice was so clear in my ears I jumped half expecting him to be stood behind me.
"Errrr, yeah. I'm here." I stammered back, moving the mic nearer to my face.
"Good." He was calm and efficient. I couldn't see his face but I could hear in his voice that this was what he was used to. Without another word he began to move forward, his movement were fluid as the camera remained steady. I breathed out trying to calm my nerves; I was jangling with adrenaline.
Before I knew it Tobias was into the building, I hadn't even seem him break the side door open. The security in my work wasn't high, but since my encounter with the intranet I wasn't presuming anything. He moved soundlessly down the dark corridor, I had given him a rough idea of where the servers were housed, but I would be guiding him when I could. It was eerie being so detached and yet so responsible for what was happening a few miles away.
He reached a junction in the corridor and paused. I quickly made a mental note of where he was and interjected, "Left here." With no acknowledgment that I had spoken he quietly slipped left down another access corridor. There was a security camera ahead, but before I could say anything he flattened himself against the wall and edged underneath it to avoid its gaze. A few paces on and the bright sweeping light of a security guard torch lit the floor. Quick as lightning Tobias ducked into a nearby doorway and hid in the shadows. I watched, heart in my mouth as the security guard oblivious to the intruder wandered past, torch pointed in front of him.
Tobias moved on coming to another junction, I didn't have to think too long this time, "Right." This time a set of double doors greeted him at the end of the corridor, an electrical warning label on them.
"This is it." I said quietly, although only he could here me. He was upon them before I could blink, god this guy was quick when he wanted to be. I stayed silent as he assessed the door, not wanting to disturb him. A small panel off to the side showed this door required a keycard. I cursed under my breath, then grimaced as I realised he could hear me.
"Do the security guards have access?" Fear spiked through me at the sudden loudness of his voice in my ears.
"Yes, they should do."
Without hesitation Tobias turned back the way he had come and crouched down low as he walked. Confusion clouded my thoughts until I saw the silhouette of the security guard that had passed early in front of him. My eyes widened as I watched him advance on the unaware man.
In one purposeful movement he pounced on the man, wrapping an arm round his neck. My heart stopped, as my vision was obscured by the poor security guard being strangled. I could hear his struggles, then after a second silence. Tobias released him and he slide to the floor.
"Is he dead?" I whispered in a strangled voice. He was already searching the guard for his keycard.
"No." I closed my eyes in relief and not for the first time wondered what I was getting myself into.
With key card in hand he grabbed an arm of the guard and dragged him into the very doorway he had hid in earlier. Without a backwards glance he returned to the server room doors, they opened with a muted beep as he swiped the card. The cooling fans of the server room sounded deafening after the silence of the corridor. Tobias slipped in and shut the door behind him.
"Ok, there should be large center console pretty much dead ahead of you." He walked forward slower now, giving me chance to take in the surroundings. The tall server towers flashed with a dazzling display of tiny lights. Wires and cables were everywhere, to most people it would be a daunting prospect, but this was what I knew.
"There, to your right." He turned slightly to face a particular tower, which housed an interface unit for technicians to access the main frame. Tobias stood in front of it, waiting patiently for my instructions. I took a steadying breath and focused on the task we were here to do.
"Switch on the interface, there should be a button at the bottom of the screen." He did as I said and the screen burst to life. The glare temporarily blinding me, then the familiar menu options of a main frame appeared.
"Using the touchscreen select 'Main System'" Step by step Tobias delved further into the system's menu. About 5 minutes into my instructions he reached a screen asking him to insert media.
"Brilliant. There should be a port at the back of this tower, put the drive into it." He moved round and found the port, swiftly inserting the USB drive with the virus into it.
"Is that it?" He asked calmly.
"Nearly, to make sure the virus gets into the system we need to trick the main frame into installing it on all drivers as an update. Go back to the main screen and select install." Tobias did as I asked, then waited as I collected my thoughts.
"There should be a red cable in the back of the interface that isn't connect to anything else." He held up the cable for me to see. "That's it, connect that to the Ethernet port to your top left." I waited for him to follow my instruction. "Okay, now once the interface has finished installing it should ask you to mark it as an update. Say yes and we're done."
The progress bar finished and the request box popped up, I silently punched the air as Tobias selected okay and the system sent my virus through the intranet.
We had done it, but now we needed to get out. Without needing any prompting Tobias retrieved the USB drive and quietly exited the server room. The silence of the corridor pressed in on my ears as he stealthily made his way back they way he had entered.
He was nearly at the door to the street when it opened letting in the orange glow of the streetlights outside. Tobias instantly flattened himself against the wall so the open door hid him. A heavily armed security guard walked in slowly. He was carrying a particularly nasty looking machine gun, something I hadn't seen too often in London. Why was a guy that looked like he'd stepped out of an action film wandering around my office at night?
Tobias was completely still, and I could have sworn he had stopped breathing. The guard advanced further into the corridor and the door began to shut behind him, exposing Tobias' hiding place. Without a sound he crept up behind the guard, but just as he was about knock him out the guard turned round gun raised.
I clutched my mouth, trying not to scream and distract Tobias. Before the guard could fire he grabbed the nozzle and shoved it back into its owner's face stunning him. There was a shocked look on the man's face before Tobias wrenched the gun from his grasp and used the butt of it to knock the guard unconscious. He fell to the floor with a thud.
Dumping the limp body with the other security guard, I noted how they would have quite a surprise tomorrow when they both woke up. Tobias strode out the door and into the street beyond. There was a moment of silence between us, and I noticed I was gripping the sides of my laptop, my knuckles white.
"It should be uploaded to the intranet in a few hours and I should be able to get in by tomorrow."
There was a pause before his voice came through into my head calm and stoic as always.
"Well done Morgan, I'll see you tomorrow."
Then the screen went black.