Flight Path: A Wright & Tran Novel (14 page)

“Two hundred?” Sammi asked.

Kara nodded, “But they’re grouped by number sequences. They made a series of videos for each… well… each…” Kara couldn’t phrase the right word. She was angry, incensed beyond anything she had ever known, but most of all she was numb. Physically and mentally drained. Her head hurt, a weight in her stomach pulled so intensely that she felt like curling into the foetal position and her eyes were red and puffy.

Tien and she had quickly realised that the videos were grouped by their titles. Some groups had upwards of twenty video files, some just one. Both women knew they had to conduct some rudimentary analysis just to determine what it was they had found. Even watching only enough to be able to confirm why the videos were grouped, the experience had been horrendous. They could take no more after opening a file from 2008. Kara had been physically sick in the toilet. Tien had wept and prayed. Then both had sat quietly, tears streaming down their cheeks, holding each other’s hand and waiting for the return of Chaz and Sammi.

“Victim?” Chaz offered as a closure to Kara’s sentence.

Tien nodded, “Yes. They’re grouped by victim. Based on the limited number we viewed, most are girls. But there are some boys. Ages were probably between maybe six or seven up to maybe fourteen or fifteen.”

“Oh,” Sammi said, dropping her gaze to the floor.

“How many groups of videos in total?” Chaz asked through clenched teeth. Kara could see his jaw was tight, the muscles in his neck tensed and his face flushed.

“Twenty-seven,” Tien answered.

“Twenty-seven kids,” he said, his voice wavering. “Over how many years?”

“Twelve.”

The room was quiet. Kara watched Chaz swallow hard, but that couldn’t prevent his tears. The four friends stood and hugged one another. Eventually Sammi straightened up, “We’ve got to hand this over to the cops. The parents have a right to know what happened. They’ll need to come in and dig this whole farm up.”

Kara leant against the desk, “We will do, but they won’t find anything.”

“Oh God, how do you know?” Sammi asked.

“There’s a video from 2008. Just one video in its own set and longer than those with multiple files. It showed the whole process. The abduction, they took her from a shopping centre, her time here, we reckon they held her for at least a month and then…” Kara stopped and tried to form words but just shook her head.

“It’s okay, you don- ” Chaz said.

“Yes we do Chaz,” Tien interrupted. “It explains what happened. There’s footage of them on the red boat. Rik and the fat man are on camera. That boat is a proper fishing rig. It has an industrial-sized gutting table with knives, bone saws and a chute where offcuts are hosed down before being dumped into the water… There’s going to be nothing to find.”

“Those poor kids.” Chaz’s whole body slumped.

Sammi squeezed his shoulder and put her arm around him, “We still have to hand it over to the police,” she said.

“And we will,” Kara agreed. “But I want to bring down the rest of whatever these bastards are into. I especially want to find Derek Swift. The Dutch Police won’t be bothered to go looking for him. The other small matter is if we hand this all over to the authorities at the minute, we’ll be spending a considerable amount of time in a Dutch prison. Despite Rik and the rest of them being paedophiles and killers, extrajudicial executions still aren’t authorised. We’ll all face murder charges.”

“So what’s the plan,” Chaz asked, his composure partially returning.

“Tien will need time to work through these systems and Jacob will have to stay out on the perimeter. Meanwhile you guys are going to play reservoir dogs.”

The winter su
n
had struggled to cling onto the day and by early afternoon the interior of the house was dark. Tien swivelled away from the desk and faced Kara, who sat on a cushion against the far wall. The two were just visible in the light coming from the monitors.

“That’s the last one and I think I’ve finally figured it out. It’s sick, but I’ve got to admit, it’s ingenious.” Tien said, leaning forward and back to relieve the stiffness that had come from sitting in front of the computers for so long.

“Ingenious? Really? Doesn’t sound like I’m going to like this.”

“Well, the last system was hooked onto ZeroNet. It used a different chat app from the others but basically, it and the rest of them were the same. All their communications are routed over darknets and they’ve used five systems, each with a slightly different protocol.”

“So this is the darkweb they’ve hooked into?” Kara asked, not knowing much about the hidden Internet other than it existed.

“Yep. They’ve used TOR, I2P, FAI, FreeNet and ZeroNet.”

Kara held her hand up, “Woah. You know you lost me at the first one. I get they had multiple communication paths but all I need to know is, can we trace who they were talking to? Can we get a lead on Swift?”

“No. That’s the ingenious part. Each one of these computers is hooked into a chat room but you can only access it on video. That’s what these are for,” Tien said, pointing to micro cameras mounted on top of five of the screens. “As best I can establish, they made and edited the videos on the editing PC. Then they uploaded them separately onto file servers buried in the darkweb. That provided the isolation and anonymity.”

“So these videos are online? Shared with anyone who knows where to look?”

“Not quite. The added layer of security is opposite to what you’d think.”

“How’d you mean?”

“To access the files you need to go through a protocol,” Kara frowned. Tien switched tack, “Okay, imagine that the files are in an office, but to get into the office you need to pass through a security check.”

“Okay.”

“Well, that’s what’s taken me so long. We’d think these individuals can’t afford their names and faces to be known. Every nation on earth would arrest them for what are on these videos. So you’d expect the security procedures to be hi-tech encryption based.”

“Yeah. Is that the problem, you can’t break it?”

“No. That’s just it. There are no encryption methods. Not that I can find and I’ve looked for,” Tien checked her watch, “a good three hours now.”

“So the security check is that you can just waltz in?” Kara asked, rubbing her eyes and suddenly feeling very tired.

“No. I think the security check is these cameras. They have to make a video call. The person in this room has to recognise the person on the other end. It’s the only explanation that I’m left with and it ties in with the only documentation I can find. Come here and take a look,” she said and swivelled back to the monitors. Kara rose and came to look over her shoulder.

“There’s a plain text file on each system,” Tien said as she opened up a document on screen. “All different content but the same type of information. A list of names and a list of two numbers against each name. See anything familiar?”

Kara leaned in, “They’re all first names only and the numbers are i- Oh!” Kara stopped and leaned closer. “The numbers are like the ones Amberley used in his text message. Five figures and then a three figure pin.”

“Yep,” Tien agreed. “I also think the first two digits of the first number are country codes.”

“Like phone codes you mean?”

“Yeah. Amberley and Swift’s were both forty-four and I can’t find any on here or the other systems that don’t start with a number that isn’t a country code.”

“So that means we can find them?”

“No. Well, probably not. It tells us where they were when they first got given the number. I doubt Swift is still in the UK but he was still referred to by Amberley with a forty-four number.”

“Okay, so you have names and numbers. What’s that got to do with the videos?” Kara asked, going back to sit on the cushion.

“I think they get identified within the system and then after that it’s a human check. Someone in this room has to recognise the person joining the chat room, otherwise they don’t get any further. Like I said, it’s ingenious. You have a group of people all corrupt, all as guilty as each other, who only allow those they recognise in.”

“Like Mutually Assured Destruction?”

“Yeah. It’s MAD for sure,” Tien agreed, “but more than that. If you do get in and were being coerced by law enforcement, they’d see it in your face. There is nothing better than another human looking at you to figure out if you’re distressed.”

“So we have a whole ton of paedophiles and perverts congregating in a chat room and no way to get into that chat room to see who is in there, without being a recognised face?”

“Yep and being darkweb means absolute anonymity for the computers they use, so you can’t get them that way. You have to be on the inside. The idea that law enforcement could pose as someone and infiltrate the system is unlikely. I can’t find proof, because by its design there are no traces, but I would imagine you have to take part in some form of initiation before they’d let you into the inner circle. Apart from no court upholding any case once an illegal act is performed by an undercover officer, I doubt any operative would put themselves through that. So the most you would take down is the single cell you were trying to gain access through.”

“But if you did get in, you’d bring down a global network,” Kara said, her mind already processing options.

Tien halted her before she had made much headway, “Not really. That’s where the separate systems come in. This one,” she said pointing to the right most set of monitors, only seems to connect to people with German and Moldovan codes. That one,” she indicated the next system over, “connects to the UK, Ireland and strangely enough, Azerbaijan and Cameroon.”

“So it’s not just MAD they’re emulating, but a terrorist cell network?” Kara asked.

Tien nodded. “If you did get into one cell, you’d only be able to remove that particular subset.”

“Unless you were in this room,” Kara said. “Then you’d bring it all down?”

“You’d bring more down, but I doubt all. This must have been setup like a series of distributed hubs. I’d imagine, no, scrub that, I’m certain that there will be two or three or ten other central hubs like this. It’s maximum security with limited risk if compromised.”

“Yeah but that’s all guesswork, surely?”

“I suppose, but I do know there’s even more isolation and compartments. I can’t find all the country codes. I mean, I’ll have to properly go through them, but it was easy to spot that there are definitely no codes for France or the USA. I doubt very much they are paedophile-free nations and anyway, like I said, I’m certain.”

Kara trusted Tien enough to just take her word on it, but she also knew the strength of their working relationship was founded on being able to press each other for justification. She sat up straighter on her cushion, “Why?”

“Because it’s what you and I would do if we were setting up a clandestine operation. We’d have the connectivity we needed but the exclusivity and deniability to limit disasters. We’d be doing it because it’s how we were trained and it makes the most sense. The people in this network have got self-preservation as a motivator. There isn’t really a bigger one.”

“Fair enough,” Kara conceded. “So how do we break in and find Swift?”

“We don’t. The computer nets are isolated and even though there’s a bitcoin account, I ca-”

“Sorry Tien. Bitcoin? Isn’t that the Internet currency thingy?”

“Yeah. It’s an active account.”

“Can we get in there?”

“Nope. Bitcoin’s probably one of the most secure accounts there is. I haven’t got anything anyway near powerful enough to even attempt a hack on it. But the account is active and it must be making a lot of money. Given the list of names and the material they are getting access to, this is a high-end financial operation.”

Kara looked around the room, “It always comes down to the money,” she sighed. “But this farmhouse is crumbling.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t anyone’s home. It’ll just be a random property owned by one of those five next door, or worse, some hidden shell corporation that’s untraceable. I’ll also bet that all five of them are wealthy. They’ll have nice cars and nice houses and nice lives.”

Kara shook her head, “And probably nice families and nice wives?”

“Probably.”

“I doubt we’ll need to research their private lives. Something tells me, like this place, everything will be neatly compartmented. Can you see a way in?” Kara asked.

“Not really. Not at the minute.”

Kara pushed herself up and looked around the room. “Well, that’s good enough for me. You got what you need to go?”

Tien pulled a thumbnail drive from the last system and walked across to the equipment rack. She pulled the cables from the Hard Disc Drive Recorder and hefted it out. “Do now.”

The two left the room, walked through the former kitchen and out the unblocked doorway into the farmyard’s rear courtyard and paddocks.

Kara called out quietly in the darkening twilight, “Sammi, Chaz?”

The pair appeared in the doorway of a small concrete blockhouse.

“You all good?”

“Yep,” they answered in unison.

“Just need you and Tien to cast your eyes over the scene and see what you think,” Chaz said walking towards them with an old can in hand.

The four returned to the house and Sammi turned on the unshaded lightbulb. Kara and Tien took in the staged room for the first time.

Buddy lay where he had fallen, as did Van and Tubbs, but Tubbs had been angled forty-five degrees so that the side of his head, where the bullet holes were, faced side on to where the body of Albert lay. The major difference was with Rik. He had been moved from where he originally died, to lie adjacent to Albert’s feet. Given he had no blood dripping from him, his was the cleanest and least forensically difficult move to make. The Glock pistol Albert had held lay between the two, its top slide all the way back, signifying the weapon had been fired until empty.

“Albert fired a full magazine off?” Tien asked.

“Well, Buddy fired a couple first, then Albert fired the rest,” Sammi confirmed.

Kara stood where Albert would have and looked across the room, “Where?”

Chaz walked across and pointed out the bullet holes in the walls and in the couch that had been returned to its original position.

When Kara was satisfied that the spread of bullets was feasible, she asked, “Residue?”

Sammi indicated Albert, “He’s covered in it. It was a bit difficult, but Chaz held him and I managed to get his right hand to grip the pistol. Not only that but Rik will have quite a lot on him as he was lying underneath when we did it.”

“Van and Buddy had already fired and Tubbs, just like the original never got a chance to,” Chaz added.

“You know the gunshot residue won’t be traceable afterwards,” Sammi said.

“Yeah, but it makes a complete job, just in case,” Kara said as she had one final look around the room. “So Tien, talk me through it.”

“As long as we pile the wood from the door in the right semblance of order, then the ash pattern will look plausible. With what will be left, I could make the scenario of a fight between three versus two. One of the three gets their neck broken, others fire wildly all over the place. Our only issue will be the accurate headshots in the middle of spurious aiming but the investigators will see what they think they see.”

“So final thoughts?” Kara asked. “Do we do this or make them completely disappear? Sammi?”

“I liked the idea of taking them down to the harbour, nicking their boat and sinking it in the middle of the North Sea, but it’s way too complex and will end up with someone asking awkward questions.”

Kara looked to Chaz.

“I agree with Sammi. The boat idea seemed plausible at first, but we’d risk being seen getting them on board and we’d need to delay until we could get people we trust over here to crew it. That’s way too many risks.”

Kara surveyed the room again. “Tien?”

“We can’t just take them out and bury them in a paddock,” Tien said. “The ground disturbance will be too noticeable and then we’re left with the same problem. If the police think someone else was involved they have to come looking. If we make it reasonable enough that nobody else was here, then they won’t waste the effort. Added to that, if we go ahead it solves the problem of our DNA being all over this house.”

“Okay then,” Kara said, happy that her team were decided. “Final questions then. Are we completely sanitised and how do we initiate the fire?”

Sammi answered, “Yep, Jacob and Chaz have covered all the tracks in and out that got us here and we have a route planned back down to where the cars are. We’ll be spotless.” She pointed across to the small set of shelves. The stacked set of towels and the box that had contained the guns was still there but next to the towels was an old fashioned, double-glass-bowled oil lamp.