Something Infiltrated Part 2

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            It was while he was at Scorpion HQ that Ian received the SMS with the coordinates of the building they were supposed to infiltrate. A quick Google search showed Ian that it was the ABSA building in Johannesburg.
            Following the other instructions on the SMS, Ian determined that they would need to get in, go up to the thirteenth floor and upload the contents of the flash drive from an office that, if everything went as planned, would be empty.
            He made an excuse at the office and headed out to do some lone recon. The ABSA building was pretty secure above the first two floors, but Ian knew ways to get past biometric scanners that didn’t involve cutting off hands or impaling eyes on pens.
            Ian was quite surprised by how easily he could move around the building without anyone questioning him. Granted he did not stay in one place too long but he did pass the same point a few times, and no one said a word.
            He arrived at the office that the SMS mentioned and saw that a man was busy inside, looking intently at his computer screen. In the reflection behind the man Ian could see that whatever the site was, it was very pink and the man had a very hungry look in his eyes.
  “Do you have an appointment?” asked a young woman as she walked past the office and saw Ian there.
  “Uh, no, I’m from tech support downstairs,” Ian lied, “but I see he’s fixed the problem.” He turned away, and made his way out of the building.
            Once he was outside, he walked back to his car, taking out his cell phone and calling Ed.
  “We upload the files tonight,” he announced.
  “So soon?”
  “Yeah, the sooner the better. I think it’s about time we get this farce properly underway.”
  “Okay, I’ll let Devon know.”
  “Good, I’ll send through the details now. Meet up at twenty one hundred hours,” Ian said, and ended the call. “Now, to keep myself busy for a few hours.”
            Ian made his way over to Sandton City, where he spent the rest of the day walking around, doing some window shopping and meeting Danny for lunch. As the time grew nearer, Ian grew more anxious until finally it was ten minutes to nine and he saw Ed drive up.
  “Where’s Dev?” Ed asked as he got out of his car and greeted Ian.
  “Already setting up, you brought the equipment?”
  “Of course, what do you take me for?”
            They equipped themselves in combat armor similar to what Devon had worn while they were trying to rescue Ed in Japan. They donned their combat helmets and covered their faces with their balaclavas and their eyes with their tactical sunglasses.
  “Okay, boys,” came Melisa’s voice over their earpieces, “TacCom online. How do you copy?”
  “Overwatch, solid copy,” said Devon.
  “Specter one-one actual, solid copy,” said Ian.
  “Specter one-two, solid copy,” said Ed.
  “Solid copy confirmed, green all across the board. You boys are good to go,” said Melisa.
  “Overwatch, what’s the field look like?” asked Ian.
  “All clear, you can proceed, Dragon,” said Devon.
  “Copy, Caboose, keep us posted,” said Ed as he and Ian made their way to the entrance of the building.
            The two of them entered the building and silently stalked towards the first security checkpoint on the second floor.
  “They’ve got lax security for a bank,” Ed noted as Ian was bypassed the biometric scanner.
  “They’ve got outdated security,” said Ian. “There,” he added as the door opened.
  “What are we doing about the cameras?”
  “The suits handle that, remember?”
  “Oh yeah, haven’t done this in a while,” admitted Ed.
  “We did this just the other day.”
  “The sawmill was different, it was a sawmill. This is a proper building with semi-decent security. Speaking of which, where are the guards?”
  “I was wondering that as well,” said Ian, worry in his voice.
            The two agents continued up towards the thirteenth floor, only stopping at checkpoints so Ian could bypass the biometric scanners. All the while, they never encountered a guard.
  “Something’s wrong,” Ed said when they reached the final checkpoint.
  “Agreed, Overwatch what’s the SitRep?”
  “All clear, guys, thermal is only showing the two of you and target is empty,” said Devon over their earpieces.
  “Let’s do this,” said Ed.
            Ian opened the door and they stalked across the open plan office, moving from cubical to cubical until they reached the office where Ian had seen the man staring at his screen earlier.
            When they entered, Ian immediately headed to the terminal and plugged in the flash drive. After a second of reading the screen went black and started listing encrypted files as they finished sending. Ed was standing by the door keeping watch.
  “And?” Ed asked.
  “It’s locked me out,” said Ian after he tried a few commands. “I’m not going to be able to trace these files.”
  “How long’s it gonna take to finish?”
  “No idea. Oh wait, it’s done.”
  “That was fast.”
  “Yeah, let me just check something…flash drive’s been formatted and no trace of files being sent in network logs. They’re good.”
  “Ian, admire their code another time, someone is heading your way,” said Devon.
  “From where?” asked Ed.
  “Off to your left.”
  “Damnit, we won’t get out without being seen,” noted Ian.
  “Unless we don’t use the door.”
  “No, I’ve got an idea, just act casual.”
  “We’re trespassing and you want me to act casual?”
  “Yes,” said Ian and gave Ed ‘a calm down and do as I say’ look. “Take off the helmet and balaclava.”
  “What are you doing in here?” asked the man as he entered the office.
  “Good evening. I’m special agent Fettle, and that is officer Mkumbwe. We work for the Scorpion’s, cybercrimes division,” said Ian.
  “Uhm,” the man said, his expression turning worried. “I can explain. Uhm, it’s not mine.”
  “That’s what they all say,” said Ed.
  “Honest, I mean, I didn’t want to pirate anything, I swear, but people asked me to, and I’m weak willed.”
  “That’s no excuse,” said Ian.
  “Please, I’ll pay anything-”
  “Now he’s trying to bride us, Fettle.”
  “No, I’m…it’s just…please I’m on probation as it is. I’ll delete all of it, I swear.”
  “Mkumbwe, I do believe the man is sincere.”
  “I am.”
  “Perhaps we should let him off with a warning, Fettle.”
  “Yes, I think we should.”
  “Oh, thank you, thank you,” the man said, falling to his knees.
  “How did you know that would work?” Ed asked later as they left the building.
  “He was watching porn this morning when I did recon, so I figured I’d try and bust him on the use of child pornography. I had no idea he was using ABSA’s bandwidth to pirate stuff.”
  “And Mkumbwe, really?”
  “What?” asked Ian with a sly smile. “TacCom, mission complete.”
  “TacCom confirms,” said Melisa. “Everyone Echo-Echo.”
  “See you back at the house?” asked Ed as they got to his car.
  “Yeah, meet you there,” said Ian.

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