Chapter 09: Night of News

An excited KK asks, “What could have happened to it?”

“I don’t know, but I’m glad I made a backup on a DVD. I need to talk to Brain. Do you know if he’s home?”

“I’m not sure. He flew to Phoenix very early this morning and he’s scheduled to come back tonight.”

“What’s he doing up there?”

“According to Mom he’s meeting with some of the professors at Arizona State to discuss their Computer Science Doctoral Program.”

A puzzled Kyle says, “I didn’t realize he was considering ASU!”

“He wasn’t! The opportunity came up yesterday while you two were doing the paint-ball tournament. Ryan called them back last night and flew out this morning. It seems one of his professors recommended him for a fellowship grant last week. He didn’t want to worry you, so he wanted to hear them out before he said anything to you.”

“Why would he be afraid I’d get worried?”

“I didn’t get a chance to ask, but I assume it has to do with the three of us going separate ways. Except for your time in the Army we’ve been pretty inseparable for most of our lives.”

“KK, we’ve all grown into adults with adult lives to live, and I’m OK with that. I can honestly say it’ll be easier for me to have Brain move on than for you.”

Grinning, she replies, “Oh, I’m moving on in my adult life too. I’m just taking you with me.”

Kyle smiles in return and says, “I guess that’s true. Instead of my best friend you’ll be my wife, my lover, and the mother of my children.”

“I may be all of those, but more than anything, I never want to stop being your best friend.”

“Kathleen Kennedy, soon to be Alexander, I definitely like the sound of that. Now let’s call your house and see if he’s home. If he’s not too wiped out I’d like to talk with him about that file.”

Nodding her understanding Kathleen picks up the phone and dials her mother’s house. Her mom answers and KK asks, “Mom, is Ryan home yet.”

“He got in just a little while ago. He turned his computer on and went to take a shower. Since I no longer hear the water running I’d guess he’s finished. Do you want to talk to him?”

“If I can.”

After some discussion in the background Kathleen can’t follow her brother comes on the line. He says, “Hi, Sis. What’s going on?”

“Kyle and I need you to come over here, ASAP.”

“Sure, let me check my email then I’ll be right there.”

Fifteen minutes later the doorbell rings. Kyle answers it with his left hand; his right hand has his .45 caliber automatic tight against his pants leg. Seeing it’s Ryan he releases the chain lock and lets him in. Ryan enters, holding some DVDs he asks, “What’s going on with Jonas?”

A surprised Kathleen incredulously asks, “Didn’t Mom tell you?”

“Tell me what? She’s so tied up with some of her friends talking about some wedding, she hardly spoke a word to me.”

Following what happened Kyle responds, “Brain, Jonas committed suicide yesterday while we were at the paint-ball tournament.”

Ryan turns pale and looks as if he can barely stand. Kyle puts the forty-five under his belt in the hollow of his back and helps lead his friend to a chair. Kathleen asks, “If you didn’t know something about his death why did you ask about him?”

“His computer alarm was activated!”

A puzzled Kyle narrows his eyes and asks, “Computer alarm?”

“When I set up your network Jonas was concerned about security. There are some hidden cameras in the house, along with several traps set up in the computer. If those traps are sprung, or if Jonas initiates a security shutdown, the system will automatically initiate a hidden encrypted zipped file on the server while wiping his computer clean. So clean even the FBI’s experts can’t recover a single word. It’ll also send an email to me containing a coded message. This message will notify me the security feature has been activated and provide me with the password to actually open the file.”

An enlightened Kyle says, “Then that’s where the hidden file came from on the server.”

“Oh, you found it? Did you try to open or copy it?”

“I tried to open it, but I didn’t have the password. I did make a DVD and put it under one of the floor mats in my Jeep.”

“Even if you now have the password that copy is worthless. The files inside the copy will talk about a lot of things that sound important, but Jonas prepared it as a red herring. At the same time it seemed to copy the file for you a real file transfer to a remote FTP site began. When the transfer finished the file was removed from the server. When I got home tonight I booted my machine like normal. While I was getting my shower the security program checked the FTP site. Seeing Jonas’ backup it used a special code to overrule the security features and copy the file over into a separate partition on my hard drive.”

KK remarks, “I don’t know about you, my future husband, but I’m impressed.”

“So am I.”

A shocked Ryan the Brain looks back and forth between his sister and his best friend, several times, before he asks, “Mom was talking about your wedding?”

Kyle smiles, “’Fraid so. Are you willing to be my best man?”

“More than willing, but is Dad willing to give her away?”

“I think so. Mom’s already told him.”

“Really! I didn’t know they’re even on speaking terms.”

KK replies, “You haven’t heard her dis him either, have you?”

“I hadn’t thought about it, but you’re right. What happened?”

Kathleen explains, “About three months after he left us she cooled down enough they could sit down and talk. Listening to his side she realized that she’d been wrapped up in us kids for so long she’d not been the wife she should have been. She told me later: Dad didn’t leave her for another woman, she’d driven him to her! The divorce settlement was fair and Dad’s always helped us when things got tight. Who do you think’s been paying our school costs?”

“Wow! That probably makes my next decision a whole lot easier.”

“What’s that big brother?”

“The opportunity at ASU is a good fellowship with a work / study program offered by the company Dad works for. In addition, Dad has offered to let me live with them. I’ll have my Masters at the end of this term and I’ll be able to start ASU’s Doctoral Program in the fall. Dad says I can begin working for the company this summer.”

“What about CyberFun?” Kyle asks.

“How ‘bout I give my share to the two of you as a wedding present?”

“Brother, that’s generous, way too generous. That place is potentially worth several million!”

“Maybe so, but only if you two work your butts off. I’m not going to let you do all that and then just reap the unearned benefits. I’ll sign my share over to the two of you this week and never look back. Getting my PhD and doing advanced computer research is my future, not running CyberFun; no matter how profitable it is! If I do need financial help, someday, just remember what your po’ bro’ did.”

Kyle looks at his future bride for what seems like an hour. Finally she nods in agreement. He says, “OK, Brain, if that’s what you want. Now fill us in about this mysterious file.”

“If I’d been here I could’ve entered the password which would’ve removed the encryption as well as prevented the file from moving to the FTP site. After talking to you I saw Jonas’ email. When I opened it I realized the security option had been activated. I checked my special partition and saw the file. At that point I knew someone had tried to read or copy it from the server.” Holding up the DVDs he has in his hand he continues, “I opened the decompression program, entered the password, and unzipped all of the files that were updated on Jonas’ computer on the date of Jonas’ email. I copied all of the files to these disks for you.”

Reflecting back to something Ryan said earlier, Kyle asks, “You mentioned security cameras. Was one of the cameras in his office?”

“Yes, there’s one behind the painting of the old ranch house and another above the door to the study.”

A surprised Kyle exclaims, “Really?”

“Here, I’ll show you.” Kyle and Kathleen follow Ryan into Jonas’ office. Once there he points to a spot in the trees and rocks near the right edge. He carefully removes the picture from its hanger to show a wire coming out of the wall. “This is a wide angled camera attached to a fiber optic interface and cable. This cable, and others like it, go to a processing unit. That unit feeds into the server as part of the network.”

Trying to work through all this information KK asks, “How easy is it to spot any of this?”

“All the cameras and wiring are embedded in the walls, as well as the processing unit. Unless they knew it was here someone will have to knock down most of the walls to locate any evidence it even existed.”

Kyle responds, “Well, I suspect we’ll know a lot more of the situation once we’ve studied those security videos.” After looking at his watch Kyle adds, “Guys, it’s after midnight and we all have classes tomorrow. What’s worse is midterms start the day after. As much as I hate to delay looking at this stuff we need to put this on hold for a few days. We’re all too close to graduation to get distracted and lose focus.”

Ryan nods in agreement and says, “I’m heading home. What do you want me to do with the DVDs?”

“Do you still have the original data on your computer?”

“There and on a FTP site physically located on a friend’s computer in Canada.”