A Little Spy Work
Zacharias
We were sitting in our room and discussing a new problem from Computer Class.
“But I don’t think that changing the first variable will sort out the issue,” ‘Punzel was saying. She had become a great deal more confident since Mr. Ruv had taken her under his wing. She didn’t always do well in the other classes - she had a few problems in Computers and Self Defence - but there was no denying that she was talented.
Angelina
Sandy started explaining the problem in greater detail to ‘Punzel. He made some animated gestures as he analyzed the problem. He really was the smart one. He was intelligent and informed. Any question you ask about anything under the sun, he knew the answer.
Snowy was watching the two of them and adding inputs where necessary. He was our computer genius, our gadget person. He was also our unsaid leader. He knew just how to delegate tasks and handle situations.
Vincent
Fizz was leaning back on the sofa, with absolutely nothing to add. Her lazy demeanour betrayed nothing of the determination of her core. She was the strongest among us, physically, and that lent her strength to do just about anything that she put her mind to. She hated studying but was so good at Self Defence and Martial Arts that it evened out.
She looked up and saw me watching her. Interrupting the fascinating conversation, she said, “I think Snowy here has something he wants to tell us.”
Cho
Snowy looked up in alarm. Obviously he did not have anything to say.
“I...well...um...I have an idea!” he said slowly, an idea forming in his mind.
“There is an easy way to check whether the Black Snowflake is part of any illicit bank activities or not. We have to check their bank account transactions.”
“But there’s no guarantee that the organization deals with banks at all. They could very easily work only in cash,” Fizz pointed out.
Zacharias
“That’s true,” I agreed, “But have you seen the stuff that has the Black Snowflake logo. That stuff is really expensive. And high quality too. If this is just a branch of what the organization does, then chances are, the amount of money that the organization deals with is really high. It’s difficult to handle that amount in cash and even harder to double check. It just doesn’t seem logical not to have a bank account.”
Angelina
“All right, fair point,” conceded ‘Punzel, “But why only a single bank account under that name. There could be many accounts in different places for all we know.”
“That’s a good point,” mused Snowy, “But chances are that we can get in touch with at least one of those bank accounts and have a look at its transactions.”
“How?” I asked.
Vincent
I walked into the computer lab where Mr. R. Avshae was sitting. “Hey, Sir! I want to try out a new piece of code I thought of.”
“No problem. I have to go to a mee...I have to go somewhere now though, so you’ll be on your own.
“Did you notice?” whispered ‘Punzel, “Mr. Avshae was going to say meeting, but he cut himself off. What’s so secret about this meeting?”
Cho
“That’s a good point,” replied Fizz in a whisper, “I think you’re onto something here.”
Mr. Avshae had left the room by then. “We need to follow him,” said Snowy, “‘Punzel, you and Fizz tail Mr. Avshae. Sandy and I will figure out the code to hack this bank’s website.”
Saying so, he held out a slip. It had the name of some Swiss bank on it.
Zacharias
“We found it in Fa C’s cabin the day we went for her phone,” I admitted sheepishly.
‘Punzel looked upset, “And you didn’t tell us? Why ever not?”
“I wanted to protect you. We’re already in so much danger, I didn’t want to make it worse.”
“And a tiny slip of paper with my name on it will suddenly put me in mortal danger?”
Angelina
“I’m sorry,” said Snowy, “I probably should have told you immediately.”
“Yes,” said ‘Punzel, “You should have.”
“You’re right. It isn’t fair that I keep secrets from you when you would never do that from me.”
Vincent
The minute I said that, everyone’s expressions changed ever so slightly.
"Well, let's go check out this 'meeting', you guys go on with what you're doing, okay?"
‘Punzel and Fizz left the lab, leaving me alone with Sandy.
“Well,” he said, “That went well.”
Cho
Fizz and I hurried down the corridor. We were a couple of feet behind Mr. Ashvae and he didn’t hear a thing. In fact, he seemed very distracted, muttering to himself, and changing his walking pace.
This of course, made it very difficult to tail him, since we too had to keep changing our own paces.
Having said that, if we had been walking in clown suits with one hand holding a neon sign saying ‘We’re following you!!’ and the other held bells, he probably still wouldn’t have noticed. That was one distracted man.
Zacharias
Snowy immediately looked up a website and typed in the name of the bank. He then began furiously typing out some or the other code. It was way too complicated, so I didn’t try very hard to understand. I instead sat on the lookout for people nearby.
“What do you think will be Fa C’s name on the account?” he asked.
“I think she’ll put Black Snowflake’s name and not her own.”
“Good point.”
He returned to furiously typing like a maniac. After about fifteen minutes, he sat back and said, “That’s about it. The code will take some time to ru-”
The computer dinged with a flashing account number.
Angelina
Mr. Ashvae entered a large hall. I was about to follow him but ‘Punzel held me back.
“Did you see that? Mr. Ashvae put his thumb on a particular part of the wall. The next teacher did the same,” gesturing to a random lady in the hall. “Look!”
And indeed, the next teacher to enter the hall, a tall severe looking gentleman in a fully black suit, pretended to bend down to tie his shoelaces. He pushed his thumb against that precise part of the wall, as if casually leaning against it. I took a moment to marvel at ‘Punzel’s remarkable powers of observation. I would never have noticed that on my own.
Vincent
Sandy turned towards the computer so fast he seemed to have gotten whiplash. I blinked at the screen for a moment and then clicked the flashing account number. “Account Details” proclaimed the screen cheerfully, blatantly disregarding the strained situation in the room at that moment.
I clicked on “Previous Transactions”. If we got an idea of where Fa C had been getting money and from whom, it would probably aid us better in understanding what exactly the Black Snowflake did. I looked up at the screen tensely and it said “Loading...”
Cho
“That’s easily remedied,” Fizz started to say. “All we need to do is to put our thumbs on that wall.”
“No! Chances are, that part of the wall is a thumbprint scanner,” I said, thinking about the way the teachers had been pressing their thumbs against the wall. They must have been making sure the wall caught the edges of their thumbprint. That coupled with the conspicuous lack of security led me to believe that this was more than just some code. I explained these suspicions to Fizz.
“It all fits together too nicely,” I concluded. It’s too risky to try and get in. In any case, we can hear just fine from here. Let's just sit in a shadowy corner and listen.”
Zacharias
The page, at last, deigned to load and Snowy quickly scrolled to the past few transactions.
“Deposit of 2 million in cash...Transfer of 2 million to I don’t know who this is...Deposit of 3 million in cash...Transfer of 2.8 million to some other dude...yup” he murmured under his breath.
He pushed strands of hair out of his eyes and looked up. “It seems to me, Fa C is dealing in some very exorbitant amounts of money here. She deposits quite a bit, but then, the part I don’t get, transfers it out! Why is she giving away her money?”
“Maybe these are other, more secure accounts, I mean, two barely teenagers just hacked into this account!”
Angelina
I pulled ‘Punzel into a corner and we two sat down. I heard a clear, crisp voice, “Welcome! Thank you for coming. There. Pleasantries over. Now down to business.”
There was only one person I knew who would ever address a crowd like that. Fa C.
“Wow!” said ‘Punzel sarcastically in response to my identification of the voice. “Fa C in a big event! With all the teachers! In her own school! And something suspicious looking? Darn, she seemed like a real innocent lady!”
“All right, all right, no need to get all testy,” I said, grinning and settling down for a rather long and uncomfortable spying session.