36. Encryption
Encryption
The laptop remained off. But a soft hum emanated from it that worried Amir. He didn’t understand what was happening and time was running out. He had clearance to fly out in the next hour; and at any moment it could be scrapped. The airport shut down once more.
“You broke it. You stupid—.” Nazim said, whipping Carl with the Uzi.
“Wait! Wait!” Carl replied. “It’s still working. Can you hear it?”
“Do you have any idea what I had to do to get my hands on this?” Nazim said. Nazim pressed the barrel against his spine and pushed him into the table, almost knocking it over. Suddenly, the laptop turned back on. The screen icon reappeared, and everything seemed fine.
“See! It was a power cycle,” Carl said, biting his nails. He took a deep breath and backed away from the gun's muzzle. Then, he opened another program to analyze the drive. Moments later, he gained access to the drive without doing much else. “This isn’t right.”
“What’s wrong?” Amir said, looking over Carl’s shoulder.
“Nothing,” Carl stuttered.
“Have you accessed the drive?”
“Yes,” Carl replied, laughing nervously.
Amir didn’t believe him; to him, it looked like he had no idea what the hell he was doing.
Where was the encryption? The protected folders?
It was far too easy for Amir to believe; he didn’t trust Carl at his word.
On the monitor screen there was a singular folder titled DIANA and not much else. The memory was full. “See.”
“Well done. And with three minutes to spare,” Amir said. He signaled to a man by the hangar door. “We’re leaving.”
“But before you go. I need to tell you that there’s something odd about this drive. It’s innovative tech. I’ve never seen anything like this before. And the encryption on it, if you can call it that, is designed to restrain the data,” Carl said.
“Restrain? What is this word?” Amir said.
“Stop. It stops the program from activating. There are programs inside the folder that, once the encryption is removed, will be functional. Encryption changes the data so people can’t read it, but it also interrupts programs from functioning.
The problem with this encryption is that it’s outdated.
It would take me seconds to hack it using modern tools.
That means the only reason the encryption was added was to prevent programs from executing,” Carl said.
“Executing?” Amir said.
“Yes! It’s like malware in a sense. A worm or a bot, which is a program designed for a specific purpose,” Carl said.
“This worm. It is valuable, yes?” Amir said.
“I’m not sure. I would have to analyze the contents of the folder. An amateur could do it,” Carl said, letting out a laugh.
“Is that so?” Amir said as he withdrew his gun. “It looks like you’re no longer of any use to me.”
“What?” Carl said, but before he could react, Amir pulled the trigger. And down went Carl onto the table before tumbling to the ground.
“Grab the drive and the laptop,” Amir said to Nazim. He walked over to Carl, dug in his pants, and pulled out the crumpled hundred-dollar bill. “No one steals from me.”
The jet engine roared to life in the background moments before, muffling the gun shot echo.
Soon, what was left of Amir’s men had all boarded the jet, save for a few who left by car with plans to leave as tourists.
Amir boarded the jet with Nazim. Omar, Salim, and Ahmed soon joined them.
And within minutes they were on the runway, ready to fly off back home.
“What now?” Nazim said.
“We’ll find someone else when we arrive,” Amir said.
“Amir, you know I’d do anything for you. Even follow you to the end of the world. But don’t you think we are risking too much for this technology?” Nazim said.
Amir leaned forward in his chair and grabbed Nazim by the shoulder. “Don’t worry, brother. When we sell this technology, our families will be set for generations. And our village will never suffer again,” Amir said.
Nazim didn’t say a word. The other men on the plane nodded in agreement.
“Let’s ask Theo when we arrive,” Amir said.
“Theo?” Ahmed said.
“He’s a bartender, Amir,” Omar said.
“He installed the computer and the television. And don’t forget the internet box,” Amir said confidently.
“Amir, I think this is more complicated than installing a television,” Nazim said.
“Enough! You heard that fat imbecile. Easy to unlock with tools,” Amir said.
The men shot passing glances at one another, unsure if Theo could actually do it at all.
“Theo will open the folder and then I will sell it in Monaco, as planned,” Amir said.
“During the upcoming meeting?” Nazim asked.
“Yes. During the F1 race, we’ll have our meeting with our contact from Dubai,” Amir said.
The pilot hailed Amir from the cockpit and asked him to get ready; to sit down and put seatbelts on as they were about to takeoff.
The jet reached the end of the strip and had been waiting for approval from the tower to go ahead as the night fell upon the city.
With a final destination of Monaco, Amir’s biggest score was within reach.