Page 28 of Beyond the Rules
“Yes,” they said inunison.
The laugh that burst out of my throat surprised me. It was a good sound, one I hadn’t heard in a while. Tanner and Aiden met my giggles with chuckles of their own. I liked those sounds too. Zar rolled his eyes again, proclaiming without words that I was a lost cause and he was the king of the sarcasticeye-roll.
I ignored Zar and guided Aiden through the back door I’d created into the game code, down to the lines that pertained to the power requirements for my favorite character, where I’d stored the link to a secret location on a dark net site, where I kept three key pieces ofevidence.
“The first link connects with the rootkit that I designed and used to break into Artur Dimayev’sservers.”
“Wait.” Tanner frowned. “TheArtur Dimayev? The Silicon Valley billionaire app developer who introduced us toPokey CatchandSweet Crush? The most successful app entrepreneur in Silicon Valley—no, scrap that—in theworld?”
“Yup, the one and only ArturDimayev.”
Zar punched his keyboard and googled Dimayev. His bio came up on the now split screen, along with his driver’s license and a picture of the smartly suited, blond, smiling tycoon posing at the sprawling campus of Dimayev Inc. forForbes’smagazine.
“He’s a goddamn ham.” Tanner grabbed his tablet and began to jot down notes. “How the hell did you get involved with this powerhouseprick?”
“Remember I told you about my federal slammersorority?”
The three men acknowledged me withvariousnods.
“When Hannah Klum came out of jail, she found her husband in the process of divorcing her. It was the tale of ages, she wasn’t hot anymore, he’d found himself a younger lover, blah, blah, blah. Youknowmen.”
Tanner flashed his space eliminating smile. “Not all men are assholeslikethat.”
“Ha!” I let out a sarcastic laugh. “Whatever.”
My father’s affairs had soured me on love, loyalty and fidelity. My mother’s meltdown had driven the point home. Marriage was a pile of shit and commitment equaled betrayal. But I didn’t let the acid corroding my belly derail mystory.
“Hannah got mad, decided to take him for all he was worth and went to her ex-cell mate, Lina Roberts, divorce attorney, who was back in business. Hannah knew her soon to be ex-husband made a lot more money than he declared. Lina hired me to check out her husband’s servers for clues as to where his fortunecamefrom.”
Zar slapped his hand on his forehead. “Hannah Klum is married to ArturDimayev?”
“Bingo,” I said. “So I built the rootkit, went in, checked out all his free apps and compared user rates to the advertising revenues the company generates. Huge difference. So I dug further and discovered that Dimayev’s free apps include a skimming bug that attaches itself to the user’s online banking transactions, withdrawing small amounts of cash concealed as bank fees. Worse, the skimming bug also collects personal information, addresses, social security numbers, that sort of thing. The money and the info is diverted to an offshore company listed as the app producingfacility.”
“He’s based out of Chechnya,” Zar said, keystroking throughDimayev’sinfo.
“Naturally, I hacked into his Dimayev’s Chechnyanservers.”
Zar shot me a sidelong glance. “Naturally.”
I rolled my eyes and kept to my story. “The money doesn’t stay in the company. It’s converted into bitcoin and flows through a convoluted maze that spans several countries and leads to someone whose handle isCalamity.”
“Calamity?” The three men snapped inunison.
“Yup,” I said, feeling a little iffy on my feet when I remembered the atrocities that Calamity so proudly posted on his social media accounts. “One of the most wanted black hackers in cyber space, the mastermind of the most prolific terrorist network on earth, and the author of the Berlinmassacre.”
Zar swore under his breath. Tanner must have noticed my wobbling legs, because he rolled a chair next to Aiden. I gave Tanner a grateful look and sank into thechair.
“We know Calamity,” Tanner said. “The son of a bitch is more slippery than agreasedpig.”
“She doesn’t have clearance to hear about it,” Zarwarned.
“We’re not sharing anything that’s not public information.” Tanner tapped his stylus against his mouth. “But why would someone as successful as Dimayev be involved with Calamity in the firstplace?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea, but here’s the worst part. The information collected goes to these categorized lists. Names of public servants and military personnel are separated and then forwarded to Calamity’s lieutenants in the field. I don’t think they’re Christmas cardlists.”
Aiden’s hands fisted over his keyboard. “Target lists. They’replanninghits?”
“By targeting the right individuals they can theoretically neutralize any agency, any army, any country, ourcountry.”