SAMANTHA GROVES POV
"We need to get a bank account." Sam said while painting Han's nails the horrendous pink color she loves so much. Despite being friends for over three years, she still couldn't figure out why Hanna had a preference for such a loud color. When she's presenting herself to others, she would wear muted colors, but when they're alone, she would take every opportunity to wear pink. She couldn't help but think that perhaps Hanna wore it just to annoy her, though she doesn't have any evidence to back up such a nefarious claim.
"We do, but we need identities, false identities. Although we've been doing illicit activities, we never had any contacts with criminals." Peering up to look at Han, who seems contemplative, and she continues. "Usually criminals get it from other criminals, but we aren't one, are we?" Han finished with a smirk. Another quirk of her friend is that she would never admit that they're criminals. Sam hasn't turned nine yet and together they've probably broken several dozen federal laws. She shook her head at that thought and focus on what Han is implying.
"What do we need to make a phantom?" Said Sam as she grins at the prospect of doing something challenging. "Just a driving license and a social security number? So, we have to gain access to the DMV and… what agency handles social security?" Sam asked Han, who's grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"It's the Social Security Agency that handles SSN, and don't forget, we need a birth certificate to get a SSN. That's handled by the state health department." Said Han.
She felt dumb for forgetting something simple as that, anyway she shouldn't dwell on it. "So we have to gain access to those three places. Do we know where they are?" Said Sam. Han nods but seems to be deep in thought before answering. "While we are at it, we should look into gaining access to the IRS, Texas state tax office and maybe the State secretary office."
That left Sam wondering why Han wants to complicate things. She usually has an angle for most things she does unless it's something impulsive, which is a rare thing for her to do. Unless. "You want to open a business?" Said Sam. A sudden movement of the hand she's painting surprised her, making sure the bottle of nail polish doesn't fall. Han grabs Sam's shoulder and starting to shake her, who gave a glare in response. "Tsk. I haven't finished your nails, and it hasn't dry yet." Said Sam, cutting Han off before she can say anything and quickly closes the bottle.
With Han being this excited, she completely ignored her and said. "Yes! Why stop at just false identities and just one bank account. When we can aim big and create a network of identities and shell companies!"
What the hell is a shell company. A shell is to protect a creature, or does she mean a hollow shell. Wait, an empty company to protect the owner? The owners of the company would be their phantoms, so Han is suggesting adding an extra layer of protection. For someone energetic and loves bright colors, she really doesn't want to be seen. "Can I finish painting your nails and don't move around so much. Unlike you, I don't want to be covered in pink." Said Sam, letting out a small sigh. At least Han has the decency to look sheepish as she stops shaking her and lets go of her shoulder. "I think I get what a shell company does, but why do we need one? We just need a bank account to easily buy stuff, no need for such overkill." Said Sam, continuing painting Han's nails.
"There's no kill like overkill." Han said with a grin. Han's been saying more cheesy lines recently. She shouldn't have given her more opportunity, need to stop it before it gets out of hand. "In all seriousness, it's not a bad thing to do. We don't have to set it up yet. But since we're planning to infect multiple agencies and departments, why not add three more?" Said Han.
That idea has merit, but they better start small first. "Okay, let's tackle the challenge in front of us first." Said Sam, taking a moment to think of the things they need to do and continues. "The DPS/DMV and Health Department is in Kingsville; we always pass by it to get to our ballet classes. So those won't be an issue. Do you know where the SSA at?" Looking up only to see Han just shrugged and said. "It's probably in Corpus Christi."
Well, that sucks. Getting to that city is a chore. "Okay, your nails are done. Please wait a few minutes. We don't want to repeat what happened last time." Sam said while giving Han a look, who only smirk in response. "How do we get gain access to the SSA? Because it's going to take us hours to bike there." Sam asked.
Han mindlessly drums her fingers on the bed and said. "We can infect some brand-new MS-DOS disks and mail it to the SSA. Since gaining access to USPS, we can make it as if the disk came directly from Microsoft and hope someone doesn't think twice and just use it." Well, that's a long shot if she ever heard of one. Too many uncontrollable variables needed to go correctly just for the plan to succeed, but she can't think of a better plan.
"Alright, we do that." Said Sam. She can't help but feel something missing. Then it came to her. "Don't we need a picture of the person we're making for the driving license?" The look of surprised on Han means she must have forgotten about that as well. "I don't think a software exists to do picture compositing. Meaning we have to create one ourselves." Said Han while slowly becoming excited at that notion.
Creating a software to edit raster graphics, Han never aims small. They need to get a slide scanner to copy a photograph they want to manipulate, that shouldn't be a problem the problem is. "It'll take us some time to program this." She said. She can feel the excitement flowing out of Han. "Don't doubt our skills, Sam! The year is still young and I bet we can program it within two months!" Han said as she wave her hand around like a chicken trying to fly. She couldn't help but giggle at her friend's playful antics and getting caught up in her enthusiasm.
They continued discussing their image editing software, outlining their goals and limitations. They jotted down all the features they wanted to incorporate in their book of software ideas. Han, being the perfectionist, often went overboard with wanting to add too many features, especially those that would make the software highly optimized and efficient. Sam had to step in occasionally to keep things in check. Over the years, they had developed a structured approach to managing their software development. They would begin by identifying the goals and features they wanted to implement, then creating a plan and setting a deadline. They would then implement the plan and upon reaching the deadline, they would review and assess their progress. They would look for ways to improve their plan and repeat the process until they completed the software.
"Come on, let me paint your nails." Said Han while waving that abhorrent bottle of pink nail color. "No." Said Sam deadpanning, which cause Han to pout and said. "Oh, come on Sam. You always pick black; you need more color in your life! People might think you're an emo or something." She has enough color in her life by proximity with Han and what the hell is an emo? She can't think of anything what that even means, so she ignores it and categorizes it as just one of her friend's quirks. "I like black. Not everyone wants that nasty thing on themselves." Said Sam defensively. "Fine, sourpuss." Han said with an eye roll.
"Why don't we divide and conquer?" Han suggested as she applied paint to her nails. She must have been referring to the DMV and Health Department tasks, which caused Sam to pause. They had never worked independently before. Sam could see the benefits of tackling both targets at the same time, but the thought of working alone made her uneasy. Han must have sensed her mood as she stops painting and grabs her hand in encouragement, then said. "I've said it a million times Sam, you're a natural at this. It's going to be fine." Han is going to smudge the paint. Sam let out a soft breath, calming herself. It's irrational to worry about something she can manage.
Sam smiles at Han and nods at the gesture. "Okay. I'll take the DMV and you'll take the Health Department?" Said Sam. Han grins at the response and says. "We'll go next Sunday; we can causally scope out the places before and after ballet." She couldn't help but think this would be easy. "We can start programing the editor tomorrow, then get DOS on Monday and ship them by Wednesday." Said Sam.
Han nods her head in agreement with the plan and said. "We might need to get out earlier than usual on Sunday, just in case we need more time in those locations." Han pauses to look Sam in the eye and continued. "We might have to stay in your house." Dread builds up in Sam. She knows what Han is implying. Her mother wouldn't care if they left in the middle of the night, but her fear came from her mother's reaction to Han. They've never met before, and what if mom see through Han's mask and wouldn't let her hang out with Han anymore? Mom can be rather erratic but perceptive. She can't have that happen; she must think of a way to avoid that encounter.
An idea came to her. It might not be the most comfortable solution, but the benefits outweigh the cons. "What if we stay at that vacant house in Kingsville? That way we can save on travel time." Said Sam, hoping Han would agree. "Ugh… That would suck though. That place must not have running water or electricity now and it would be dusty." Han paused; she must have seen the look Sam is giving to her and continued. "Fine, we do that, but we need to bring supplies there throughout the week." The weight that formed in her heart lifted by that; Han can be really considerate if she wanted to.
The week flew by in the blink of an eye. Initial progress of their software is going along smoothly and if it goes on for the entire development, they might beat the two-month target. However, they still need to find a name for their software. Han been throwing around suggestions such as GlamourGoo, ArtisticAberration, Pic-a-doodle or MugshotGenie. Obviously, Sam shot down all of those terrible suggestions. Getting their hands on new DOS diskettes and sending it to SSA only took them a few hours of work. All they have to do is periodically check if they can log into the system.
So here they are in an empty house, laying on the floor with their sleeping bags. The sound of sneezing broke the silence of the night, Sam feels bad for putting her friend into this situation. She knew Han had allergies, but didn't expect she would sneeze so much from the dust. "When we get everything set up, I'm going to buy us a clubhouse." Han's voice was muffled by the tissues she constantly has on her face.
A clubhouse? Does she mean. "A safe house? We're going to need to take a lot of money from ATMs just to get enough money." Sam said skeptically. "Yeah, a club safe house." Said Han while using her fingers to quote 'safe' and she continued. "I'm sure we can think of something to get the money, we…" Han's sentence was cut short by a large sneeze. "Are you sure you don't want me to open the windows?" Han shook her head at Sam's suggestion.
Han then got out of her sleeping bag and said. "I'm going to appropriate some antihistamines and azatadine." Sam quickly opens her sleeping bag but was stopped by Han. "No, it's fine, you can go to sleep first." Sam nods and settles back into her sleeping bag. As she lays there, she couldn't help but think about the idea of a safe house. It would really be nice to have their own place. It would open up a lot of possibilities. Feeling tired, she closed her eyes and drifting off to sleep, not noticing Han came back not long after that.
As the clock struck 4:30 am, Sam and Han parted ways, each heading to their designated target. Sam tried to steady her nerves by taking deep, long breaths as she made her way to her location. She approaches the side maintenance door and start picking the lock. Despite being dark, it took her less than a minute to unlock both keyways. The years of practice and advice from Han came in handy. She quickly made her way quiet as a mouse towards the office area. From the days of scouting out the building, she knows security had mainly stayed at the front of the building.
As she crept deeper into the building, Sam remained as cautious as possible. When she saw something that caught her eye she pauses, the crime record division. Her heart constricts at the possibility of finding answers. It's so tempting to go in there. But she reminded herself that she was on a tight schedule and needed to focus on her task at hand. Perhaps if she worked quickly, she would have time to check out the records later.
The driver license division is small, it only has six computers. She quickly turns on all of them. Good thing she brought a lot of diskettes with their malware. Since their post office adventure, they have upgraded their malware, adding the ability to jump to any connected computer even if it's connected through the phone, as well as the ability to remote update. To top it off, they had also added the ability for self-encryption using Han's custom-made cipher, which she had awfully named SassySalsa. Though Sam found the name ridiculous, Han insisted it was her baby, and she gets to name it.
She rummages through the desks, searching for any useful information as she waits for the transfer to complete. Despite her efforts, she finds nothing of value. Maybe she would find more luck in the department's head office. Once the transfer is done, she discovers that the computers are connected to a central database in Austin, but it requires a password to log in, causing her disappointment.
Not that it matters if she has the password as soon as someone logs into that database, their malware would infect that computer as well. Looking at her watch, it's 5:18 am. They planned to meet back at that house by 6 am, please at how fast she completed her task. She quickly turns off all the computers. Just as she about the leave the room, she hears footsteps. No one should be here. Maybe it's the guard going to the bathroom. Her heart rises quickly as the footsteps grow louder. She guesses going to the department head office is out of the question now; she does the does the breathing technique Han taught her to regulate her heart rate.
Her pulse quickly stabilized as the footsteps became quieter. Taking this opportunity, she made her way out. She quickly made her way back to the crime record division, she miss this chance. Turning on two computers and start infecting one while she looks for the information she wants. Entering 'Elizabeth Groves' into the computerized criminal history program, it spat out the record for her mother. There were a couple of DUI charges, an assault charge when she was 19. Mom beat up a guy who's 10 years older than her? Way to go mom. But these weren't the information she wanted. Feeling down at the results, she turns off the computers. Maybe she needs to check the records in the police department in Bishop.
Sam successfully made her way out of the building without any issues. When she arrived at the house, Han was already there. "Did you encounter any problems?" Sam asked, trying to shake off her feeling of dissatisfaction. "Nah, just swiped these Twinkies from the security guard. Want one?" Han offered, holding up a Twinkie. Sam's mood lifted as she took a bite of the snack. They chatted about their respective tasks as they ate together. Afterwards, Han suggested they celebrate with pancakes, to which Sam rolled her eyes at her friend's love for sweets.
Two months have passed since they begin this big adventure. Much has happened in that time. They completed their image editor in seven weeks and named it ImageForge, much to Han's dismay; she was adamant that Fotofunster was a better name. Sam was incredibly proud of their software, never did she thought manipulating an image could be this easy, but Han wasn't satisfied she insist it could be better and faster. Sam could only smack her with a pillow in response. With the aid of a slide scanner that Han 'liberated', they make pictures for their phantoms by compositing multiple images of people they got from the Kodak shop.
Getting the SSN on the other hand was a bit little complicated. They've been checking every day for two weeks if they gained access, but to no avail, which frustrated Han to a point that she planned to go there herself without telling Sam. She only knew about it on the day before Han went to the SSA with Mrs. Frey, who was going to replace her social security card, which mysteriously disappeared. Han was confident that she wouldn't get caught despite never done anything such as this during working hours. Thankfully, Han returns safely, but it didn't stop Sam from worrying for her the entire day.
With their malware successfully implanted in all three departments/agencies, they were now able to begin constructing their phantoms. The only roadblock were names. Han struggled with finding suitable names and suggested building a software to randomly generate them, but the thought of manually inputting names into a database for the software to use was unappealing. Sam suggested using the names of mathematicians or computer scientists, like Han's last alias, but changing the first name. Han was initially reluctant to do that because of her rule of not doing things in patterns but relent and stating only nerds would even notice. The tone of tone comment confuses Sam. Does Han not realize how big of a nerd she was?
With their new identities in hand, Han and Sam made their way out of the post office after ballet class, after retrieving their phantom driver's licenses. "Hello Evelyn Germain." Said Han while looking at the brand-new driving license. Sam looks at hers and sees the fake photograph with the name Sophia Lovelace. "We can finally open a bank account." Said Sam, who couldn't help but smile, elated that their months of hard work had finally come to fruition.
Sam felt Han's arm wrap around her shoulders. "This is just the beginning, Sam! We're going to make more!" Han said directly into her right ear, by this point of their friendship it doesn't even hurt anymore.
HANNA FREY POV
A week have pass since they opened their bank accounts, making sure to not raise suspicion they don't put over ten thousand dollars into their accounts. "Time for us to go forward with the next phase of our adventure." Hanna said as she combs Sam's hair. "I guess it has something to do with shell companies and us learning COBOL?" Said Sam, who's reading Structured COBOL Programming.
"Absolutely." Said Han as she wonders what braid should do for Sam. "We are going to redistribute wealth from everyone and give it to us." Said Han. Maybe a French braid? But that's too normal. Sam tried to look at her but Hanna flick at her, so she doesn't move. "Won't that raise alarm bells? Unless…" Sam paused. She can't see her face, but she assumes it's that small frown she does when she thinks. "Unless you want to somehow take such a small amount of money from everyone that the bank doesn't notice." Bingo, hole in one. Maybe she could do space buns. It would be extremely cute on her, but Hanna doesn't think Sam would appreciate it.
"Yep, we're going to make a program that will skim a fraction of a penny from every transaction of the bank branch we're going to infect." Said Hanna. A variation of a crown braid would be perfect on her blonde head. Sam won't protest it and it would look nice. "That's ingenious, but we need to make the program to send a random number of digits to our accounts to avoid detection and I guess shell companies have something to do with the money as well?" Sam said in an ever more excited voice.
Sam keeps proving that she's the best accomplice she could ask for. Hanna made a sound of agreement and said. "Those shell companies will be offshore accounts to help us disappear the money we get." Sam tilted her head and said. "You still haven't explained to me how these shell companies are organized." That's true. She must have forgotten about that detail. She probably needs to start from the beginning and about money laundering.
"Okay, I think I get it. We're going to make a paper trail so convoluted that spans multiple jurisdictions just so we can buy a house that we technically won't own." Said Sam after thirty minutes of listening, now with a pretty crown braid that looks perfect on her. Han nods and said. "More than just a house, Sam. We can buy anything we want. Come on, it's your turn to braid my hair." As Sam combs her hair, Hanna continues. "We already have ten identities we can use to set up the companies and accounts. We just need to get lawyers to be our representative in those countries."
"That's going to take a lot of money. We should set up the companies and build our software at the same time." Said Sam as she braids her hair. Hanna shrugs and said. "Money isn't an issue; it just takes time." She wonders what braid Sam would do. "The bank would be really hard for us to sneak into." Said Han, trying to think of a way to break into it. "Why not break into the branch manager's house, I'm sure their computer has access to the branch system or the mainframe. They might even leave a username and password for us to use." Said Sam.
That surprised Hanna. She did not expect such a bold plan from her. Breaking into a manager's house is so much easier compared to a bank. "We can scout out the bank and find out who's our mark next time we're in Kingsville." Said Hanna. With that figured out, she now thinks of the software that they're going to make. "The software needs an algorithm to pick what transaction it wants to skim money from." Said Sam, as if she was reading her mind. What she says is true. If they just take from it all, it might raise the alarm even if it's a miniscule amount of money.
"Hmm… We need to make it a fast and simple pseudo-random number generator." She pauses to think of a solution, but she keeps falling back to the same thing. Just as she is about to continue, Sam interrupts her. "Are you going to use the XOR function again?" Sam said mindlessly, it made Hanna sheepish. Is she becoming predictable, or does Sam just know her all too well, so she said. "Yeah, I'm going to use it, but I'll spice it up by making it non-linear!" Sam gave an encouraging hum and said. "Well, you can start doing that now, but we can't start programing our software without knowing the bank's system."
Hanna looks at her braid after Sam finishes. It's a beautiful double dutch braid updo. "Anyway, we have a lot of time to burn while waiting for the offshore accounts to be set up. We can start with breaking and entering during school time." She said with an appreciative smile for the lovely braid, but Sam might have misread because she's giving her a devious smirk.
They spent two weeks observing their mark. He lives in Kingsville alone in the affluent part of the town. He's single and is in a relationship with some irrelevant broad. All in all, an easy target.
"I think we should name it Moolah Monster." Hanna said into her headset that's connected to her walkie talkie as she enters the empty house. "What happen to 'use only in emergencies' Su?" replied Sam, probably rolling her eyes at the same time. While Hanna has the fun task of B&E, Sam is on overwatch duty.
"Oh, come on Root. It's fine." Said Hanna as she was confident that the happy gift they sent to the bank would distract their mark the entire day. "No." Said Sam. Even with the inferior quality (for Hanna's standards) walkie talkie, Sam sounds drained. It must really bore her looking at nothing interesting. Hanna observes the home she is in looks nice enough for a single male. Has a good kitchen, she gives him that, would be such a sad accident if something were to happen to the gas line.
"Don't lie to yourself. You know, it's an amazing name." Hanna said as she made her way upstairs. She did not expect to see so many family pictures. He must have such a loving family. "It's a horrible name Su, pick another one." Said Sam. Hanna couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. Sam never appreciates her naming creativity. For a single dude, he sure owns a big house. What's the purpose of having four bedrooms? "Okay, how about Wealth Warlock? Because it's basically magic." Said Hanna as she enters the last room that had the computer. She quickly ransacks the room for information while waiting for the computer to turn on.
"How about NetLoot?" Said Sam. That's actually a good name, but a bit on the nose for her taste. Ah found the login credentials, it was hiding at the back of the drawer. What a stupid man can't even remember such a simple password. "Found the pizza and coughing now. Is LedgerBiter good?" Said Hanna as she uploads their malware into the bank system after gaining access to it. They really need to find a name for the malware they keep updating.
"That's better, but no. 3+4?" Sam replied. It's going to be a few minutes for the transfer to finish. "Soon, TransactAberration?" Said Han as a suggestion, but she particularly doesn't like it. Looking around the room for anything interesting to pass the time, she saw a box on the shelf. "AccountAberration?" Said Sam while Hanna opens the box finding a Sig Sauer pistol. It's so tempting to borrow this gun, but it would reveal someone been in this house other than the idiot, she can't have that. If only there's a way to temper with the ammo. A beep announced that the transfer was complete. "I guess that's a good name." Hanna said lamentably, still believing Moolah Monster would be perfect and continue. "Food's done and going to the toilet."
While going down the stairs, she couldn't help but give some of the picture frames a little tilting, that would confuse the idiot. She stops by the kitchen to grab some snacks and left the house like a ghost.
She met up with Sam down the road with their bikes. "Jobs done." Said Hanna while grinning wildly and asked. "Want a Hershey bar?" Sam raised her eyebrows but took the bar anyway. "Thanks. Let's go, we can finally start making AccountAberration." Sam said with a victorious smirk, which Hanna could only groan.
Waiting to gain access to the bank system and mainframe was the correct decision, as it allowed them to better design AA, such as the ability to spread to other bank branches' mainframes and command it remotely. But it still took them an additional three months to complete the software.
It's the middle of the night both of them are looking at the monitor, after two weeks of grueling testing their software to find any faults. "Do we deploy it now?" Said Sam, who's sitting beside her with bags under her eyes. They know their current target is bigger than anything they've done before. Both of them know the consequences if AA gets detected. There was an odd ugly feeling in her when she thinks what would happen to Sam if they're caught, but she does try to live without regrets.
"Do you want the pleasure of deploying it?" Said Hanna, smiling reassuringly at Sam, who nods and types in the command to upload it. "So, what now?" Sam said after releasing a breath she was holding. "Wait and start creating the software to do the wire transfers to the shell companies." Hanna said with a shrug and yawn as she stands up to go to bed.
"How long do you think it will fill the account to nine thousand dollars?" Sam asked tiredly as she joins Hanna on the bed. "Hmmm… Could be 1 weeks or 2 weeks depending on how nice AA's allocations are." Hanna speculated and continues. "Let's focus on something we can affect, like our next software." That program would be less complicated compared to AA, but it will have to interface with a lot of banks. Can't have recurring transfers between the same accounts, so she needs to create an algorithm for that. She should try something else other than XOR or it's variants. Improving the middle square method would be easy, maybe modifying with Weyl Sequence like she did with AA's algorithm.
"Have you thought of a name yet?" Said Sam, breaking Hanna's train of thought. Glancing at Sam, she saw her eyes were still open wide. "How about Bucks Bureaucrats?" Hanna throwing it out there without thinking, knowing it would be shot down but received a laugh. "I like it. We're using that." Sam said mirthfully, as if any tension that was built up in her went away.
It shocked Hanna at how easy that was. She couldn't help but ask. "You never agree on the first suggestion. Have you finally seen the light of my genius?" She received a pillow to the face. "You still suck at naming things, but Bucks Bureaucrats is amazing. I just can't stop imagining that some beaver in suits moving money for us." Sam said with a little chuckle. Huh, she did not think of beavers when she came up with that name.
They spent the next nine days completely focus on programming Bucks Bureaucrats, which they affectionately call bucky. While programming bucky, Hanna felt like she's missing something. "We forgot to check on the account." Hanna said as she stops typing to look at Sam, who looks back with wide eyes and let out a soft oh.
She quickly saves her progress and connects into the bank system to check. She felt Sam getting close to her while they wait for the connection. They quickly access their account and saw the amount '$9374'. She heard Sam gasp in her ear. Looking at the last transaction, her heart was beating fast. She pointed it out to Sam, it was 4 days ago. "Oh god! Holy mother of shit." Sam exclaimed. Hanna couldn't contain her glee at how successful AA was. Seven months of work paid off, she grabs Sam in a hug and both of them began jumping in joy.
They stopped jumping like idiots after a while, both out of breath but couldn't stop smiling. "You know you shouldn't say the lord's name in vain." Hanna said, looking directly into Sam's eyes. "Han, you don't even believe in god." Sam deadpans and rolls her eyes. That asshat is the closest thing to a god from what she knows, but she won't acknowledge it as one. If Sam rolled her eyes harder, her soul might have left her body, which causes Hanna to smirk harder and said. "Also, you shouldn't swear." Honestly, where does she get such a potty mouth? Not from Hanna, that's for sure. Sam let out a groan then playfully shoves Hanna, the smile never leaving Sam, and said. "Let's continue working on bucky. Someone needs to waddle our money away."