The Unseen (14 page)

“Why do you say that?”

“Because it sounds like you’re just discovering this,” SeptemberMist said. “The worst part about it is that it doesn’t necessarily get easier with time. Not that I’m all full of wisdom and experience or anything, but that’s what frustrated me. Every time something happens, it’s new, and I’m completely unprepared for it.”

“That sucks,” Kari said.

“It does. The good news is that it’s worth all the mess.” Kari smiled at that.
It’s true. All that time I spent trying to decide how I felt about David was worth it. I’m happy with David. Really happy. Oedipus’s star power can just be a little blinding . . .

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just need some time.”

“Good,” SeptemberMist said. “And I know that Joseth isn’t used to having to wait for things. None of us are. We want something, and we just print it. But these things are more complicated, and he’ll come to terms with that sooner or later. Trust me. And trust him.”

“Thanks SeptemberMist,” Kari said.

“Tara,” SetpemberMist said. “My name is Tara.”

Kari looked her friend in the eyes and smiled. Some hackers were careful about sharing their true identity, even at Valhalla, and SeptemberMist was one of them. Despite their time together Kari had never asked about her real name. The fact that SeptemberMist had shared that with her now was moving.

“Thanks Tara.”

“No problem, any time you need to talk, or need anything, I’m here for you.”

“I appreciate that.” Kari doubted she would ever go to someone willingly to talk about feelings or relationships, but it was still nice to have another friend around.
I better not tell Aubrey I talked to someone else about boys. She’d be livid if she knew I cheated on her monopoly of boy talk.

“And I’m not just saying that.” Tara leaned back in her seat and left Kari alone. For the first time that day, Kari connected to the Net and checked the news. It was filled with the usual headlines about battles, speeches, and the dim future.

Before coming to Valhalla, she would constantly check the news for updates about the war, but it all felt so far away here—almost like it was happening in a distant land or foreign country across the globe. But tonight the news felt close to home.
No more time wasted thinking about boys and trying to impress Oedipus. Someone needs to stop this war.

Kari mentally crossed her fingers as she tried to access the CIA’s database one more time. Access denied.
Oh, come on!
She slammed her head into the pillow several times before giving up.
I’ve been at this all stinking day, and I’m no closer to getting in than I was before!

In fact, the odds were that she was even further away from gaining access than she had been when she started. It was unlikely that her attacks on an internal priority database had gone unnoticed.
I need to get in there!
After weeks of hacking into computers that brought her no closer to figuring out whom the shadowy third party behind the assassinations was, she had finally found the files she had been looking for. At least she thought she did. It was impossible to know without breaking into them.

I need help.
It was painful to admit, but if she wanted to gain access to the database that contained all of the files on the US investigations, she would need some assistance. Typically, she would go to the hacker community and ask for tips, but that was both impossible and unnecessary now.

Lars was sound asleep, so she left her room on her own. It didn’t take her long to find someone who might be able to help her get through security sooner rather than later.

“What’s going on, Motorcad?” Kari said. He was seated on a chair in the great room, looking determined and intensely focused.

“Playing a tournament,” he said.

“Oh, nice. I assume you’re winning.”

“Always.”

“Nice.”

Motorcad didn’t respond, which was odd because usually he was more than happy to talk about his exploits.
Must be a close game.
She thought it might be best to leave him alone, but she tried anyway. “Hey, I was wondering if there was any way you could give a system I’m working on a second pair of eyes when you’re done.” Kari said.

“What system?”

“The CIA’s”

“Why are you hacking them? Did Oedipus put you up to this?” He sounded like he wanted to talk about it, but he was also fully distracted by his game.

“Personal reasons.” Kari didn’t want to explain her theories to him, especially not right here or right now. “But, don’t worry about it.”

“We should talk, Freelancer.”

“Any time,” Kari said as she walked away. It didn’t take her long to find SeptemberMist outside on one of the decks. At first Kari thought she was asleep, but the subtle movement underneath her closed eyelids tipped Kari off to the fact that SeptemberMist was still awake.

“Hey, SeptemberMist,” Kari said. She hated bothering people.

“Freelancer, my dear.” SeptemberMist opened her eyes and sat up. “What’s happening?”

“Nothing much. Well, actually, I was hoping that you’d be able to help me with something.”

“Of course,” she said. She smiled at her with a good amount of empathy.
Great, she thinks I want to talk about boys again.

“I’m trying to hack into a CIA database, but I’m not having much luck.”

“Oh. Yeah, of course, I can get you in. Just let me know what you need.”

SeptemberMist’s confidence made Kari feel insecure, but Kari sent her the information about the database.

“Interesting,” SeptemberMist said. “Give me a minute.”

Kari didn’t know what to do while she waited, so she took a seat on a nearby chair and watched large drones swoop down by the garage, only to reappear a few minutes later carrying large containers.
Who is shipping that much stuff out of here?
She felt like going to investigate.

“Done. I’m sending you the access information.”

“What?”
No way! I’ve been trying to get in there all day!

“Username and password, all ready for you. But I would act quickly. Not sure how long it will take them to change their password back.”

“How did you do that so quickly?”

“I messaged a few database admins from some highly authentic accounts and asked for them to reset the account password. Easy enough.”
I need to learn how to do some social engineering! I could have spent weeks trying to crack that system.

“What did I just help you get into? I don’t mean to be nosy, but I like to know what I’m involved in.”

“This should hold all of the information from the investigations of the assassinations,” Kari said. She was already copying over all of the data, feeding it directly into her algorithms that she was running to form connections in the data.

“Very interesting,” SeptemberMist said. “Let me know if you find what you are looking for.”

“I will! Thanks.” By the time she made it back to her room, her algorithm had already produced a name that it was 85 percent confident was located at the center of the massive web of data points.

Donna Rosewood, who are you?
It wasn’t the name that she was expecting, or even one she was familiar with. Kari pulled up all of the information she could find on the woman. She was a young state senator from Nebraska who had been instrumental in getting her state to vote for succession. That is, she
had been
a state senator. She had been assigned the position of sub-assistant vice president of commerce shortly after the fighting began, but she had quickly climbed the ranks through a number of vacancies and was now serving as the senior vice president of military supply chain operations.

No wonder she didn’t show up in my results! Her superiors weren’t assassinated directly, but they filled the open positions left by those who were killed! She just followed them up the ladder.

Kari’s heart was starting to beat faster as she processed the information.
This is her! It has to be!
Kari found the personal accounts of Donna Rosewood and immediately began to attack them with everything she had at her disposal.

Tens of thousands of passwords and account reset requests later, she still wasn’t able to break through. Kari didn’t miss a beat as she turned to her next strategy, searching the web for wherever she held an account. It didn’t take long for a lengthy list of sites that she had registered at during her lifetime to appear. Kari combed through the list until she found the one she was looking for.

Politimaker.
It was a social network designed around politically active people. Donna had registered there a few years ago and hadn’t been active lately. Instead of trying to hack Donna’s account directly, Kari went straight for the source. A few minutes later, she had full control of the Politimaker database, including all user information.
Everyone just trusts all of these sites with their information. No one knows just how vulnerable they are.
It was exactly the reason that Kari was selective about which sites she registered for.

It only took her a few queries to find Donna’s username and password: Thisi$asecureREKAMITILOPpassword3354.
Goldmine.
In an instant, Kari was on Donna’s official state-sponsored email account entering a number of passwords that followed the pattern. On her third try she had full access to Donna’s email.
Thisi$asecureLIAMEETATSpassword3354 follows her same exact pattern that she’s always used. It’s a good password; she’s probably never been hacked. Poor Donna.

Kari scanned the list of messages and found nothing of interest. There were countless emails about updates on the war effort and election information, but there was nothing that linked her to assassinations. She dug deeper and still didn’t find anything of interest.
It has to be here somewhere.

She was a dozen pages deep in Rosewood’s account and still nothing looked overly suspicious.
Unless she was smart enough to try to hide it.
Kari pulled open her deleted emails.

The first conversation she was able to recover didn’t have a subject. She instinctively opened it. It was a message from an untraceable anonymous account. The message was encrypted text that looked like a mess of jumbled characters.
Unusable, but at least it means there is something to hide.
Kari opened Donna’s reply and found it sitting there in all of its unencrypted glory. She experienced a rush of adrenaline.
This is what hackers live for.

PAYMENT HAS BEEN SENT. TRENT ELLSWORTH NEXT.

Kari gasped. All the proof she needed, sitting there in plain text.
David is going to freak out.
Kari pumped her fists in the air and let out a cheer that woke Lars up from his long nap.

“Sorry, Lars!” Kari said out loud. She opened her eyes just for a moment to apologize, and when she refocused on Rosewood’s account, she found that she was locked out.

No! No! No!
Kari tried to log in again, but all of her attempts failed instantly. Her account had been locked.
I didn’t get a copy or even a picture of it! There goes my proof.
Lars was licking at her feet as she sat on her bed, depressed. The absolute high of a moment ago was replaced with emptiness.
Without that proof, I can’t do anything to her! I’ll have to hack in again, but if they found unauthorized access, they will do everything possible to destroy any incriminating records. That was a one-shot opportunity, and now it’s gone.

Maybe the media would be able to piece it together with the data that I do have. But she’s high enough up that she could probably shut it down before it got anywhere. I could try taking her down on my own. Or I don’t have to do it alone.
She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to groan or to laugh.
I have access to the world’s best hacker, who just so happens to specialize in projects like this.

Kari left her room and headed upstairs to Joseth’s. His door was open, and he was talking to MagicWaffles and TrailMix by the windows.

“Kari, come in,” Joseth said. The other guys waved good-bye and quickly left the room, leaving them alone. “I’m glad you’re here.”

She wanted to tell him again that she had a boyfriend and wasn’t interested in him, but even mentioning that would take the conversation in the direction that she did not want to go.

“Did you get the chance to look into the assassinations?”

“I did not.” Joseth took a seat on the edge of his bed, the only furniture in the room, and gestured for her to the do the same. She didn’t budge.
This is a business conversation.

“Well, I did. And I’ve got it pinned down to Donna Rosewood. She’s behind it.”

“Really? One person is behind all of those killings?”

“Yes, I hacked the CIA database and was able to use their investigations to track it down to her with a high level of confidence. Then I hacked her email and found proof.”

“Can I see it?”

“Well . . . no. At least you can’t see the email proof. I got locked out before I could copy it.”

“So all we have to go on is your word?”

Kari thought about it for a second before responding. Joseth hadn’t reacted the way she had hoped he would.

“Yes.”

“Well that’s good enough for me, Kari. What do you want me to do?”

“We have to take her down! If we can pull it off, I think there is a chance that the whole war will settle down!”

“If she is as dangerous as you say and as powerful as her title implies, it’s not going to be easy.” Kari nodded her agreement. “So that means you’re going to have to commit to doing whatever it takes to bring her down.”

“Of course,” Kari said. “Someone has to stop her.”

“Even if it means using your hacking drones?” The question gave Kari pause. She had sworn never to use them again, but if that’s what it took to stop the war, she would.

“Even if it means using my hacking drones.”

“Excellent. I have some business to take care of tonight, but how about we get started first thing tomorrow?”

“That would be amazing.”
I’m not going to wait until tomorrow to get started, though.
Kari left the room before Joseth had the chance to discuss anything else.
I don’t care how big of deal Donna Rosewood is—she’ll be no match for the Unseen!