DARKNET CORPORATION (22 page)

He pulled out his handgun, released the magazine to fall into his palm,
and checked the number of rounds visible through the perforations, slammed it
back into the gun and relocated it in its holster. Locking the car he walked
into the underground and melted away.

Chapter Twenty Five

Detective Chief Superintendent Cullen called with an update on their
search of Wood’s latest hideout in Ilford.

They found nothing.

They were sure he, or someone else, was living in the house, but there
was little evidence that would move them forward in locating him. They had
interviewed neighbours and confirmed that a man fitting Wood’s description had
been living there, although he was often away, ‘on
business’
.

They had a team combing through everything in the property for a lead.
Clearly Cullen did not want to be shown up by the MI6 officer, again.

“So whose property is it?
Woods?”
Bill asked.

“No. The owner is George Fortuna. Yes. You guessed it, its fake,” said
Cullen. “Wood isn’t even listed as a tenant, and all the council rates, power
bills, everything, is paid in cash. It’s a luxurious place. Not like the dump
in Clapham.”

“That’s funny. Wood uses the alias Fortuna to hide his fortune.
Imagination is not his ‘thing’. OK,” replied Bill.

“Just a ‘heads up’; expect to get a call in the next 24 hours with
information on premises to execute a search warrant. We are pursuing some
electronic means to locate the computer facilities of the organisation. If we
are successful, we want to be ready to go.”

“Bill, executing search warrants is what we do. We are always ready and
we can move at the ‘drop of a hat’. You just get me a lead I can get a warrant
for. We still have armed lunatics out there and we are no closer to finding
them than we were days ago.”

Frustration was creeping into Cullen’s voice. “By the way, we’ve supplied
the phone records of Wood’s place to a CIA person, Banks. OK?”

-|-

The mobile on the bedside table in Bill’s fourth floor accommodation was
buzzing. He looked over towards it and saw the clock beyond displaying:
6:19.
“God!
What’s going on at this time of the
day?” thought Bill.

“We’ve got them!” It was John
Buttrose
,
triumphant.

“What?” said Bill, trying to work out who was speaking and what they were
talking about, still half
asleep.

“John
Buttrose
here, Mr Hodge. The plan worked.
We traced the messaging packets to an IP address in a data centre in Docklands.
We can tell you which floor, which cabinet and which racks the servers are in.
We’ve already traced the client details of the company which is responsible for
the servers and contacted the Met. I’m on my way there now to participate in
the raid.” Bill could almost feel the heat from the beam on
Buttrose’s
face.

“OK. Let me get up. It’s going to be a long day. Well done John! Great
work! I owe you a beer.” Bill did not feel as ebullient as the sentiment of his
words.

“John, for reasons I am not going to go into for the next few days I’d
like you to just send me a txt if you need to speak to me rather than calling
my landline or mobile, ok?” Bill wondered if John’s phone call had already been
compromised and whether the Darknet organisation, if forewarned, could pull out
the incriminating evidence before the police got there.

-|-

The light on Bill’s phone was flashing again. “
Quell surprise
!” he
said out loud as he walked into his office.

Cullen announced that the Met had executed a search warrant at a data
centre in Docklands and technicians from GCHQ had copied in place all of the
servers in the racks identified and left them all functioning as normal.

The cabinets for the servers were locked but that had proved a minor
setback to them.

The data centre manager who had to be told exactly which servers they had
the warrant for, was being held in custody until GCHQ conducted their forensic
investigation of the server hard disks and reported. Cullen did not want anyone
to warn off the server’s owners before he was ready.

He also said that they had found out that the servers owner’s, who were
listed as IOD London limited, almost certainly another fake front, had their
own technicians maintain the servers in the data centre, but all the data
centre management had was a sign-in log and door access cards for them and
nothing much else to identify them. Everything else is done by email.

Cullen said that as soon as they got a location from GCHQ they would
prepare for another swoop.

“Yes. It’s going to be a long day,” Bill said as he put down the phone.

Not long afterwards a young man walked into Bill’s office and introduced
himself as James. Bill didn’t know him but the white shirt and black tie looked
familiar.

“Please come with me,” he announced.

Intrigued, Bill followed and arrived at the counter-intelligence floor
and was shown into the same meeting room he’d met ‘Phillip’ previously.

Phillip came in and closed the door and immediately launched into an
explanation. “We’ve confirmed a number of ‘anomalies’ related to your matter
but we are not able to take any action at this stage. I wanted to update you so
that you know what actions to take depending on what happens next. OK?”

“Sure. What did you find?” Bill asked.

“Your SIS account has been accessed inappropriately. We can prove that it
was accessed by someone in this building while you were abroad and also at the
same time as you were logged in legitimately in the last week. However,
unfortunately, we cannot prove
who
it is.

On each of the occasions we’ve had video footage of the office area where
the logins took place, something was used to obscure it; on one occasion a
portable whiteboard was rolled in front of the closed circuit camera; on
another the lights went out on the floor and it was too dark to see anything,
and in another it took place out of shot. So it’s clear that whoever this is,
they’re aware of the cameras and that what they were doing needed to be
concealed.

In each of these instances we can prove that your ‘suspected perpetrator’
was on the floor, from the door access system, but that isn’t enough proof. We
considered dragging him in and questioning him but we think he’s much too
astute to be tripped up or broken down and it would just tip our hand. We’ve
gone through his entire case history and his career has been exemplary.”

“OK. So what happens now?” said Bill.

“We’ve checked a wide range of things and not found any evidence that
would suggest he’s dirty. But, we have not been able to disprove anything
either. We acknowledge he is probably involved in something we don’t know about
yet, based on behaviour indicators.

We want you to continue about your business. Avoid access to your SIS
account. Report any and all interactions you have with him.”

Chapter Twenty Six

Bill’s mobile beeped. The txt said, “
pls
call, john.”

Bill decided to use a phone on a different floor altogether this time and
went to the communications centre.

“What’s up John?”

“Good news and bad news, which
d’you
want
first?” replied John.

“I think I need some good news before I can handle the bad…,” said Bill.

“The analysis of the databases and files on the server is well on its
way. We have a pretty good handle on the information we got. We’ve got
everything, drug shipment details, distribution network, front companies,
accounts; everything!” enthused John.

Bill paused for a moment wondering what could be the bad news, “…so
what’s the ‘bad’ news?”

“We’ve got nothing.”

“Eh? How
d’you
mean?” bill was perplexed. Why
was he talking in riddles? Was it a GCHQ thing?

“While we have all the details of everything, what we don’t have is
anything
that actually ties back to real people. Everything is organised by fake
identities and fake companies. We will be able to seize the bank accounts and
the assets but we might never know who these people are or be able to prosecute
them.”

“I don’t understand. There must be a connection to them running the
servers; to
something
in amongst all that data that leads to them,
surely?” Bill was exasperated by the slipperiness of his opponents.

“No. Remember they access everything through the Darknet even when they
are driving the systems on the server, so we cannot trace back to them. Even
the email accounts they have for talking with the data centre provider is on a
public web-based email system and they pull the email from within the Darknet.
So they could be anywhere in the world.

“
Jeesus
!
So we can only shut them down, not
put them in jail?” Bill was thinking again.

“Not even shut them down. If we destroy the server, seize it, whatever, sure
we can stop them for a while. But they can just reinstall their systems
somewhere else and start again. They would have to rebuild their identity base,
set up new bank accounts, front companies,
et cetera
, but they are
masters at all that. They would be back to where they are now in six months.

We might catch them out over a period of time if we go through all the
material we have and find some mistake they’ve made, but as soon as they know
they have been compromised, they’ll shut it down and move on themselves.” John
was very clear about how ‘bad’ the news was. He felt he had to apologise,
“Sorry.”

“You’ve done a great job John. Don’t be sorry. I’ll have to think. Who
else knows what you’ve just told me?”

“Only the analysts here at GCHQ that have been working on it,” replied
John.

“OK. Don’t tell anybody else until I come back to you. Keep going through
the databases and see if there is a way we can trap them. I’ll talk to you
later.” Bill rang off, brow furrowed.

“Ashes in our mouth,” he thought.

Sitting back in his office, Bill put his feet up on the corner of his
desk, crestfallen, deep in thought.

Fenton Curry walked in. “Hey Bill! You look a bit down in the dumps.
What’s the matter?”

“Oh. It all just seems a bit of a lost cause that’s all,” said Bill.

“What’s happened? I haven’t heard much from you this last while.” Curry
was watching carefully for any body language, facial expressions or tone of
voice for clues. It was impossible for him to disguise the intensity of his
interest.

Bill looked up and said, “Nothing. That’s the point. We’re getting
nowhere, fast.
High energy, low velocity.
I
will
let you know as soon as something breaks or you can leverage anything for me,
believe me.”

Fenton just stood there looking at Bill. He finally turned and said,
“Well, my door is always open. Whenever you have a lead, let me know.”

As
eF’s
back disappeared through the door Bill
felt a smile play across his face as a plan started to form in his mind.

-|-

“Hello again, Captain Hodge.
We are still working on the matter.
We don’t have anything we can tell you,” started Phillip Bristow.

“You wanted to know about interactions. Curry just walked into my office
looking for news. I told him we had nothing. But it’s given me an idea.”

Bill explained the scenario of the Darknet Corporation and the inability
to trace back to real people. “If eF is mixed up in this then he might break
out and contact them if we tell him that we are about to seize all their bank
accounts and raid their properties and assets. He’s bound to try to warn them,
right?”

“A trap?” said Phillip. “It would be complicated, covering all the
potential means of communication, but do-able. You realise that if we can’t
intercept him and he does warn them, they’ll probably get their money out
before you can stop them?”

“I don’t give a shit about the money, to be honest.” It had always been
about justice for Bill.

“How much time can you give me to set up?” asked Phillip.

“It needs to be today. I won’t be able to keep a lid on the information
for long and there’s a risk he finds out through other means.
Maybe a couple of hours or so?
Three at the outside,” said
Bill.

“I’ll get started then,” said Phillip standing up and dismissing Bill.

-|-

Phillip called in his assistant and asked her to get a
comms
liaison person, a watcher team leader and systems
programming manager into his office a-s-a-p.

When they were assembled he started explaining the urgency, secrecy and
importance of the operation he was assigning them, given that they were setting
a trap for a senior MI6 officer and that a major police, SIS and CIA operation
was in the balance depending on how they performed.

In mobile phone technology, whatever cell tower is closest to a mobile
typically has precedence to maintain the connection. SIS operates sufficient of
its own cell towers at Legoland to ensure that all of the mobiles in its
vicinity connect to these SIS controlled cells. Phillip arranged for outbound
calls from Curry’s mobile to be routed to Phillip’s mobile.

The communications liaison was tasked with programming the SIS PABX to
similarly route new outbound calls from any landline handset, on a floor by
floor basis, as counter intelligence agents monitored the movements of their
target within Legoland and nominated designated floors. This was to be
coordinated by an agent stationed in
Comms
listening
to advice of the target’s location on the assigned watcher network channel.

The same filtering approach was to be taken to internet and email systems,
on a floor by floor basis, with all outbound email or webpages requests being
routed through the SIS firewall, to Phillip, for interception on a delayed loop
that he could cut or release, as appropriate.

The only public payphone within 500 metres that was already being tapped
was to have the tap modified to route all outbound calls to Phillip, while
capturing the dialled number.

A security person was designated to operate the closed circuit camera
system in Legoland to keep the target visible at all times, where possible, for
evidential purposes.

A large watcher team was prepared and briefed to follow the target and
provide the floor locations he was on and to be ready to arrest him when
instructed. They were to apply the same protocol to anyone who the target
talked to until stood down, which was why such a large team was needed. They
could not anticipate how many people the target might talk to until the watch
was resolved.

Phillip sent his assistant personally to advise Bill Hodge that he was
set up and ready.

Bill went out of his office; chose a phone at random and called John
Buttrose
. “John, I’m going to arrange a briefing session so
that you can relate your analysis of the
darknet
corporation server.

I want you to just explain what you have found without mentioning the
issue with not being able to identify real people and to just say that you
haven’t got to that bit yet and you’re working on it. Just gloss over it.

What I really want you to emphasise is that you have all their account
details, the list of properties, safe deposit boxes, all of that stuff and that
it should be seized forthwith. OK?”

“Sure, but what are you up to?” John asked.

“If I’m right someone at the briefing will try to warn them to get their
money out and hopefully lead us to them.”

“Got it!
I hope they don’t have as many cut-outs and blind alleys for
you to go down as we’ve seen so far. Do you think it will work?” John was quick
on the uptake, as Bill expected.

“Flushing out the culprit is as important as tracing the Darknet
Corporation. If it doesn’t work, nothing else will anyway. So nothing lost in
trying. I’ll call you from my normal phone to set it up. Act as if it’s news to
you. OK?”

Bill went back to his office and made calls to John
Buttrose
,
as arranged, then Detective Chief Superintendent Cullen. When he had finished
he walked up to Fenton Curry’s office to let him know that the briefing had
been set up, if he wanted to sit in. Bill was not surprised when Curry eagerly
included himself. The final step was to let Phillip know the time and place for
the conference call briefing was to take place.

-|-

Bill escorted Cullen and Gower into the seventh floor conference room he
had been in for the last teleconference briefing from GCHQ to find Curry already
there. Bill made the introductions and then Curry organised the connection with
GCHQ.

John
Buttrose
was already in the room at the
far end, wearing a white coat this time.

After being introduced to the two policemen, whom John had communicated
with before but had never seen, John launched into his briefing. The discovery
of the
darknet
corporation server was a revelation
and Curry let out a gasp, but so too did Gower, which tended to make his
surprise unremarkable.

John had obviously prepared and showed photographs and screenshots as
well as explaining what they had found and the significance of the sums of
money, assets and geographic spread of property, cars, boats and the numbers of
safe deposit boxes they had discovered. Bill smiled at the effectiveness of
John’s efforts, trying not to pay attention to Curry’s squirming reactions.

Since it was all news to Cullen, he played his part superbly. He asked
questions about which banks the accounts were at and starting making comments
about getting the accounts seized and the evidence he would need to get court
orders and communications with other forces in Europe where many of the
properties and assets were located.

Bill had to discipline himself from smiling. If his suspicions were well
founded then the seizure of the vast empire of assets was compelling motivation
and his plan would work.

Eventually the briefing was over with John committing to an update when
they had discovered more and the two policemen hurried to get started on
seizing assets.

Curry stopped Bill and shook his hand, looking deeply into his eyes and
congratulated him, with feeling. Bill felt it was less congratulatory than
creepy; more threatening than approving.

Curry abruptly turned and walked out. Bill could see the watcher from his
extreme right start walking in the same direction. “Off we go!” thought Bill
almost starting to rub his hands unconsciously and stopping himself.

-|-

Curry went to his office and spent a few minutes pacing and trying to think
what to do. He pulled out his burner phone and looked at it, then decided and
put it away again. He went out to the cafeteria and ordered a cup of tea. The
cafeteria was far from busy at this time of day and Curry surveyed the staff.

Eventually he decided and got up and moved to the lift pressing both up
and down buttons and turning round to see if anyone was following. No one
moved. When the down lift came he stepped in. It was empty.

On the ground floor the watcher was alerted to the arrival of Curry in
lift 4 and he positioned himself to appear to nonchalantly walk from the area
behind the lifts to follow Curry, assuming he would leave through the front
doors.

Curry emerged from the lift on the ground floor and walked to the
information board to pause long enough to check whether he was being followed
or not. He was particularly watching the arriving lifts rather than anyone
already on the ground floor and didn’t notice the lingering watcher out of
sight around a corner.

Satisfied, he walked quickly out the door and turned left along the
Albert Embankment and walked as far as the bus stop. Standing looking back up
the street, he looked like any other bus passenger watching for the arrival of
their bus. In fact, he was checking for watchers.