Friday 8 June 2075 1430 The Green Lady Seattle



The Green Lady is what it purports to be; a runner bar. It is a place where one can generally come to relax, toss back some beers, get a few trid games in, maybe look for a job. Trouble is, most of those sitting around a place like this on a Friday afternoon were the sort of people who need a job. That includes you. You made the rent for your medium grade studio apartment, but it was tight this month and will be a whole lot tighter next month unless something comes along. Eight days into the month and nothing, nada, zip, zilch, zero income. You could always bet everything on some game, but you know little about odds and could lose everything so you wisely stay away from the gamblers. Sometime there was something at the day-labor spot, but it was usually work more suited to that guy three tables over who is built like some sort of tank. So day labor is generally out as well. That left hoping, which was not doing so hot just now either. Life sucks.

You are watching the highlights of last night's Blood Bowl match on the trid screen above the bar when the guy walks in. You might not even have noticed him but he goes straight to the bar and Mac points a rather skinny arm directly at you. The man nods and leaves something on the counter that disappears before you can tell the size of the scrip bill. Then turning in your direction, the guy walks to your table with two beers, one of which he puts down on the table and slides over to you. Taking the other chair at the table, he gulps from his mug and looks at you. "If you are Tbyte, I may have a job for you. A real job that pays real money. Interested?"

Friday 8 June 2075 1430 The Green Lady Seattle

This particular morning had not been kind to Tbyte. For one reason or another he'd barely slept three hours and so found himself downing about five cups of soycaf just to stay awake. One of the little joys about this place was that they actually made a decent cup of caf. One or two nuyen here and there didin't matter at this point in the month, unless something came in soon, Tbyte was going to have to spend the next two weeks scraping fractions of Nuyen off of people's accounts down at the local bank, a tedious process that never yielded enough to be worth it except in the most desperate times. Last night's Bloodbowl match was failing to hold his attention, another reason he'd not gotten much sleep. Claus wouldn't let him rest until he'd gone through the highlights with dumb sound effects included.

It took him a moment to realize that someone had joined him at the table, with a drink for him no less. It was a bit early to be drinking but one wouldn't hurt. He raised his mug in thanks to the man. "Well Mr. Johnson, I probably would be. What exactly are we dealing with here?"

Friday 8 June 2075 1433 The Green Lady Seattle



The man frowns. "I hate that name; it always sounds so stupid to me. Please just call me Titus. The job is small but could lead to other things if you do well. Sort of depends on how close to the gray you are willing to go. The job is just a hair shy of being completely illegal. Interested enough to find out more?"

Friday 8 June 2075 1433 The Green Lady Seattle

Tbyte smirked as the man spoke. "I think you'll find I live quite comfortably in the grey, Titus. So what is it exactly that you need me to do?"

Friday 8 June 2075 1435 The Green Lady Seattle



Titus grins and stands. "Drink up and I will take you for a ride to where we can talk in peace and comfort."

Friday 8 June 2075 1435 The Green Lady Seattle

Tbyte absolutely hated it when people said that, only because one time the drink ended up being spiked. Those were different times though, one would need to have a serious deathwish to try and drug a runner in a runner bar....it would be a shame to waste good beer too. He raised the mug and downed the rest of it before standing up from the table. "Lead the way, Titus."

Titus walks from the Green Lady and points to a beater car at the curb. The outside certainly gives the impression that anyone stealing this thing is taking a step down in life. The man snickers a bit as he gets in and interprets your look. "Hey, it runs and who is going to steal it. Take it easy and sit back. This will take about thirty minutes. Sorry, but no sound system. That would double the value of the thing and then it might get stolen." He laughs as he tries to put the car in gear and it just sits. He tries a second time and fit starts, running sort of smoothly. He hums the same song over and over during the trip, making you quite glad when he gets to the destination and parks. He motions for you to leave the car and walks you up a set of stairs and into a house that has certainly seen better days. The entry hall is full of garbage and debris and he steps around it, heading for the stairs at the end of the hall. Titus turns a switch and a weak light illuminates the stairs going down. At the bottom is a door and you can see a weak green light coming through the cracks. He uses an old=school key and open the door for you to enter.

You pass into a room that is a vast improvement on the rest of the building. Several comfortable-looking chairs are set around a small coffee table. There is a sort of mobile work station next to each chair. He points to one of the chairs and asks you to sit. "You need a soycaf or something before we get started?"

Tbyte would by lying to himself if he said this wasn't perhaps the oddest start to a Johnson meet he'd ever experienced. The man's car left him wondering if he truly had any funds at all to offer for this job and his choice of tune to hum left Tbyte questioning his sanity. The state of the bolthole, if one could call it that, seemed to erase all the fears he had about the Johnson though. It was obvious now that the run down area and car were either disposables or cover.

He collapsed into one of the chairs and tried to work out the kinks in his back left by the bottomed-out suspension. "Better make that a double."

((Posted for Mercy))

---Johnson---
Titus smiles and brings you a double soycaf, handing it to you as he sits down in one of the other chairs. “OK, here is the scoop. I have been contracted to find some hackers. Good ones. My employer is apparently considering something big and wants three of you to work on a project, but not just any three. He has provided me with a list of tests that he thinks will stretch your abilities and tell him if you are what he is looking for. For the first test, I am to provide you with a deck that is pretty basic in its capabilities and software. If you pass and go on to the second test, you may use your own deck or continue with his.” He takes a drink from his mug and looks at you. “You will stay here until the first test is complete. There is a bathroom just through that door over there, a small frig behind you, and I can provide some food if it takes you too long. You know where the cafpot is. You may quit at any time and I will still pay you for the test, but I do encourage to make a good-faith effort. I am to tell you that this job could be quite lucrative if you make it to the final team.”
Another drink and he asks if you are ready. “Your first test is to determine the name of the mistress of the assistant branch manager of the New Seattle Bank’s branch office at 15th and Trolley in Downtown Seattle. You may begin now and take as long as you need. You are being paid by the job, not the hour. Good luck. I will be in the office just through that door if you need anything. Let me get that deck for you.” He goes to the small office he had indicated and returns with a mid-grade deck. "The current password for the deck is "LUCK907"

--Tbyte---
The mousey hacker downs the double soycaf in record time, happy to at least have some work. "Cool, think I saw this sort of thing in an old trid once or twice...but I can understand where your boss is coming from with this. Don't want to end up with incompetent team members after all. He boots up the deck and allocates it's resources for a nice long evening of information scanning. He spends the better part of an hour configuring the new deck just the way he liked it. After passing the double soycaf through his system, Tbyte reached up to the back of his neck and pulled a plug attached to a small data transfer cable out. Plugging it into the mid-grade deck and zonking out into full VR.

Meanwhile in the Matrix, a badger sits on a park bench in the middle of the Emerald City reading a newspaper. The obvious thing for Tbyte to do is to even find out the name of his target. Considering the Big Ten parade their department heads around like trophies, he doesn't really thing it should be all that hard to find...so the badger flips a page of the newspaper. (Matrix Search 8 ) Satisfied he had the right target, the badger icon jumped off the park bench and proceeded to trot towards the Emerald City bank branch that represented this particular office in the virtual world...but a small and angry animal waiting near the entrance would be sure to draw attention from passers by and the roaming IC or spider. Instead it started to dig its den in the alley adjacent to the bank, peaking its head out any time someone left. (Hide 8 and matrix perception 8 )Once Tbyte is fairly certain he's got the target right, the badger emerges from its den and starts to trot through the busy virtual cityscape after the icon, trying to nibble at its ankle once before running away into another alley. (Brute Force 8 )

The critter lifts its ears to the sky hoping to collect what it was after. It races to catch up and trail the persona from a far after some initial data has been transferred. (Snoop 8 and and spoof command 8 - send site visit history).

Friday 8 June 2075 1720 Titus' Hideout



The badger has little trouble identifying the target and following him. The nip at the ankle gets his attention for a moment but is soon forgotten, although you know that you have probably started the overwatch clock by that action. The man eventually turns from the curb to a walkway leading to a small apartment building. He stops before entering the building and disappears in such a manner that you are sure he has disconnected his wireless.

Friday 8 June 2075 1720 Titus' Hideout

Meanwhile in the real world, Tbyte's datajack retracts back into his neck. With all the texts and call logs on this particular cyberdeck, he starts going through and looking at the contacts, calls, and texts sent by and to this particular mark. He starts looking through them hoping to identify which one is the wife which one is the mistress. Hopefully he can find enough publicly available information to reference the commcodes to the apartment building.

Friday 8 June 2075 1730 Titus' Hideout



Your search eventually manages to reveal all eight of the public comm codes registered for the residents of the building. Another search lets you know that there are only four Apartments in the building.

Friday 8 June 2075 1730 Titus' Hideout

In AR, Tbyte places the list of public comm codes next to the call and text logs taken from his target's 'link. If none of the codes match up then he does a further search into each comm code in search of a connection. Perhaps they work for the same company or share a similar hobby or interest that might be discovered while sorting through the links to trids of funny cats and him asking the wife what dinner will be that night.

Friday 8 June 2075 1750 Titus' Hideout



It does not take long to get a match in his call log. A check against the official registry yields that the comm is registered to Mr. Alexander Gordon.

Friday 8 June 2075 1750 Titus' Hideout

Tbyte sits up and lets out a groan as he stretches, cracking much of his back. He cranes his head over the back of the seat to speak with Titus. "Right, think I got it. This mistress of his seems to be a man named Alexander Gordan or an unfortunately named female. "

Titus looks at you from his chair behind a small desk in the office. "Are you absolutely certain that you have the correct answer?"

Tbyte reboots the deck so as to hopefully lose the attention of GOD for now. "Never can be 100% certain without making physical contact but it's my policy to always give the Johnson some sort of lead at this point just in case I meet one hell of an attack barrier." After rebooting the deck, he once again inserts his datajack into the deck and zonks out in the chair. This time his icon took on the form of a faceless man in a suit. Hopefully a search of the area would show the icon belonging to the commcode of Mr Gordan or his previous target. Since he had time to work with, Tbyte's mark would be a bit more subtle..perhaps just a bump in the crowd or a knock on the virtual door of the apartment.

Whichever one of them he was able to find and mark first, he'd set his deck to intercept the traffic coming from the 'link in order to spy on them in real time.

Friday 8 June 2075 1827 Titus' Hideout



Yeah. You find no such thing as an attack barrier in the Gordon 'link. The firewall is easily bypassed and you get your marks. Scrolling through the call log, you find that the only number that has been used in the past three months is that of your target, the bank assistant branch manager. The call log only goes back the three months, so was new then or the rest has been wiped. Most of the log is just short calls out but there are some rather salacious texts from the manager to someone named Peg, although he usually refers to her in somewhat more fanciful terms of endearment. These texts describe in great pornographic style what the sender wants to do to the receiver.

Friday 8 June 2075 1827 Titus' Hideout

Tbyte snickers quietly to himself as he transitions from VR back to realspace. The datajack once again retracts into his neck. His head cranes over the chair again, smiling. "Alright, all the good stuff is finished processing. Rather deceptive name to go with the 'link, at this point no doubt it's probably a burner. Her name is Peg but we've got a real saucy bastard on our hands here. I'll save some of the highlights if you'd like a laugh later." At this point he taps away on the tablet, going on a hunch and just looking again at the bank's "about our team" page to see if anyone whose name could be shortened to Peg also happens to work there.

Titus smiles and once again asks if this is your final decision. The bank's page does indeed list the employees, but you do not see any with a name that could be Peg, however, the branch manager's name is listed as Alex Gordon and his wife's name is Margaret. None of the other spouses have similar names.

Tbyte does his best to nod, still looking at Titus upside down over the back of the chair. "Yep, I'm stickin' to my guns on this one. The 'link seems to have been purchased in the name of his boss...Sleeping with your boss' wife though..so scandalous." He continues tapping out essentially another Google search. "Depending on how much you believes last century's records, Peg can be a nickname for Margaret...and I'll give you three guesses what your mark's boss' wife's name is."

Friday 8 June 2075 1848 Titus' Hideout



Titus smiles and comes out of the office. "Well done, Tbyte, well done. That is the correct answer. You get to move on to the second test. You may take a short break if you like. Let me know when you are ready."

Friday 8 June 2075 1848 Titus' Hideout

Tbyte stands up and plays a symphony of cracking joints before going over and grabbing another soycaf and one of those instant sandwich type deals. He goes back and sits in the chair backwards on his knees, using the backrest to support his torso. "So if you don't mind me asking, how many others have you put through your tests? No details mind you, I'd like to keep my head and whatnot." He'd wait for Titus to explain in whatever way he wanted to. Once Titus was finished, Tbyte would toss the trash from what passed for a meal. "Alright, let's kick it. What's the second test?"

Friday 8 June 2075 1900 Titus' Hideout



Cannot give you too much, but there have been eight people in that chair. I am working from a list provided by my employer. There are more names on it if you fail. So on to the second test. It is actually a continuation of the first one. now that we know that he really has a mistress and who it is, I want you to investigate the target deeper a bit deeper. Please tell me what you find. Take all the time you need. Please make sure of the details and follow all the relevant leads. Any questions?"

Friday 8 June 2075 1900 Titus' Hideout

Tbyte shrugs. "Well color me suprised, I figured it would have been fewer...ah well. Guess the only question I've got is if you're looking for something specific on him or if you just want to know so much about him you can have a one-sided conversation? Either way, might wanna get comfy cuz it'll probably be an all-nighter at least." He goes back to his chair, sprawling sideways in it as he fires up the deck one more. The datajack goes in but he sits in AR for now so he can hear Titus speak.

The first order of business is to simply pull up the New Seattle Bank's page to get what they claim is his basic biography, then he started going through old articles regarding any scandals or controversies the bank might have been involved in that involved Mr. Gordan because of participation and not just because he's the branch manager. And of course he checks to see if this guy is silly enough to have a MeFeed or an Ibook page. After all that, he'd search again for the burner commlink his wife seems to be using and try and trace it to a physical address if the public searches didn't list one for him. Provided that worked out, in the virtual, a fly icon would appear in the house and try to land on Mr. Gordan's 'link and Mrs. Gordan's 'link assuming it needed to be compromised again. He'd simply start to download the logs from the real 'link and then intercept the traffic once the branch manager woke up and went to work.

Friday 8 June 2075 1905 Titus' Hideout


Your search of both Alex Gordon and his wife includes the assistant, Harold Pennywise. All three have IBook pages, but no MeFeeds. The Gordons are big on taking vacations to exotic locales, where Margaret takes lots of pictures and posts them for all of her "friends" to like. There are lots of comments from other women about how lucky she is. Alex's pages are more prosaic and Harold's downright boring, although he does seem to have one passion that gets mentioned frequently; a cabin on a lake in the nearby Cascades. There are some pictures and it is indeed something to be proud of, going far beyond what most people think of as a cabin. Public records indicate that the bank itself does not seem to have ever had any scandals associated with it.

Friday 8 June 2075 1905 Titus' Hideout

For the most part, Tbyte was amused looking over the pages of his mark and associates. Who needed intrusion when people were more than willing to display their lives on the net for all the world to see without any provocation? It did lead to the inevitable conclusion that for the most part their public lives were mostly clean but everyone has secrets, and the more on display their public life the darker the secrets. He hadn't initially considered even bothering with the secretary. Thinking on it for a little bit, Tbyte figured that the secretary could be knowingly or unknowingly involved in anything shady Mr. Gordan was up to. He sent an agent off to find and sit on Harold's commlink to start copying over the 'links contents and sending any real-time activity back to the deck while he set to work getting into Gordan's 'link in prep for the flood of data that was sure to come during tomorrow's workday.

Friday 8 June 2075 2100 Titus' Hideout



The secretary's name is Joan Wright. She is thirty-two years old and a looker. Based on the public page of employees, she is by far the best looing woman working at the branch. She, too, has an IBook page and frequently post some of the stupidest things you have ever seen in print. She is apparently content to "like" and pass on every inane piece of drivel about her favorite cause of the rights of paracritters. Her list of "friends" seems to include both Alex Gordon and Harold Pennywise, as well as about twenty people in Columbia. One of the contacts there is apparently the creator of the articles about the plight of the paracritters. The weirdness of the information and the vitriol spewed against people who condone this travesty seems to have limited the number of people viewing the information. Your tag on Alex Gordon's phone picks up an inbound transmission from his secretary at just 2113. The message is innocuous and informs him of a text she has received from the parent branch in Seattle that the scheduled external audit was being moved from 7/31 to 6/28. Apparently the change is being made to accommodate the travel plans of the branch manager, who had inadvertently scheduled a trip to Columbia for the original audit date. Gordon thanks his secretary and hangs up. Minutes later, Gordon calls Pennywise and tells him the news. Pennywise tells Gordon that they will be ready.

Friday 8 June 2075 2115 Titus' Hideout

It had initially seemed that the secretary was just a harmless oddball but the time of day and the 'tone' of the messages tugged at Tbyte. Traveling to Colombia wouldn't have been out of the ordinary for the branch manager and his wife but it most definitely would be for Pennywise, if his assumption that the way he said "We will be ready" implied he'd be joining them. There's also the fact that the audit was conveniently moved a month for this little trip. Half a century prior and any trip to Colombia would immediately make one think of the drug trade but Tbyte couldn't imagine that they had a need to resort to such things?

Assuming Tbyte was right and it wasn't just his paranoid mind playing tricks, then the manager and company might be planning to abscond with quite a bit of money and thus needed to reschedule the audit. The hacker decided to pull up Wright's IBook page and compare her Colombian 'friends' with any of the bounty lists for Lone Star and the UCAS. If that turned up nothing then he'd look through the data on Wright's 'link to try and confirm their accomodations in Colombia and waiting to eavesdrop on any other communications.

Friday 8 June 2075 2215 Titus' Hideout



While researching the Gordon's itinerary, you note the address of the hotel they are staying at in Columbia and nothing stands out as odd. The hotel is advertised as a five-star residence retreat from the outer world and lots of the amenities listed would certainly suggest that is true. The host for the hotel provides easy access to tours of the rooms provided and most of the amenities, such as the beach, spa, pool, etc.

Interestingly enough, the secretary's friends list includes several people with bounties from Lone Star and KE, as well as several countries. Most of these men are wanted for various white collar crimes such as embezzlement and money laundering. Unfortunately, Columbia seems to have some rather special laws protecting certain people, such as embezzlers and money launderers, etc.

Friday 8 June 2075 2215 Titus' Hideout

Tbyte switches back into AR and cranes his head over the armrest. "Alright so long story short, it seems to me this guy and his collaborators are probably looking to fly the coop with a pretty cool nuyen balance." He gets out his own deck from his backpack. "How certain do you need that to be? Cuz if you're lookin' for the solid finances then things might get a bit messy."

Titus looks up from a pad he is reading and nods. "Are you certain who the collaborators are? Have you found all of the group and are any of them simply patsies or are all of them in on this? Where does the wife fit in and does her husband know she is having an affair? Ahhhh, yes. Bringing out your deck? Good. I am sure it is superior to the one provided to you. Are hungry? There is pizza I can heat up, or some soydogs."

Friday 8 June 2075 2220 Titus' Hideout

Tbyte shrugs, fiddling around with the settings on his personal deck as he speaks. "There's only so much that can be gained through going through someone's garbage. I'll walk you through the list. Mr Gordon's secretary has an Ibook friends list comprised of many people wanted by multiple countries for exactly the sort of thing I suspect Gordan and company of. Much like last century, Colombia's extradition status sucks massively so it'd be a good place to flee to. Pennywise was the first person he contacted after being told the date had been moved so the assistant is likely in on this as well. One can see multiple scenarios for the wife depending on what type of person she is, she might be well aware of what's going on and started having the fling simply because she knew they'd be permanently out of the country soon. It's also possible Mr Gordan is aware of her being unfaithful and is planning on running away and throwing his wife and assistant manager under the bus."

He shrugs. "You can spin a pretty nice web or the entire thing could be a complete coincidence and I'm seeing connections where none exist. Should have a better idea soon though." Tbyte uses the mid-grade deck supplied to him to place an agent on Wright's 'link, spoofing a message from her to the resort. <<Good evening, this is Joan Wright just clearing some things up for the Gordan party. We are booked for four people, correct?>> He'd set the agent to transfer any messages from the resort to him and not display them on Wright's commlink without his permission.

On his other deck, he start poking around to see if he can't find a passenger list for the nearest suborbital on that day. Certainly a risky way to travel if the main branch even remotely suspected something but considering how much they left out in plain view, he guessed they weren't too good at this sort of thing.

Friday 8 June 2075 2300 Titus' Hideout



The agent reports back that it is unable to penetrate the firewall and establish the connection to Wright's 'link. Your own search of the passenger lists for the day in question takes more time than you had thought it would, thanks to some pesky IC on the airline's host, but you do finally determine that there are reservations for both a Mr. and Mrs. Alex Gordon to Columbia on the day in question. You do not find any for either the assistant or the secretary.

This new information put the hacker in a bit of a bind, if the secretary and assistant were in on any potential fraud it wouldn't make sense for them to stay behind. On the other hand it may be the case that it was listed as a personal trip rather than business and thus it would look very suspicious indeed if everyone up and left before a scheduled audit. It was only conjecture, but perhaps the secretary and assistant were staying behind in order to throw the assistant manager under the bus. They would almost certainly would have been paid off, likely through an offshore account that would raise too many red flags to try and find. He decided just to use the still cracked connection to Gordan's link to set his own deck processing his purchase data to look for any odd trends. He also looks for any sort of communication between Wright's wanted friends and the manager.

Playing the angle that this all may be a coincidence, he checks the birthdays of the so far five people involved.

Saturday 9 June 2075 0140 Titus' Hideout



You are scanning pretty deep into Gordon's commlink but find no direct messages or calls between the branch manager and any of the people on his secretary's IBook friends list. You do find a series of lingerie purchases in a size that does not match his wife's figure and several from a florist that were delivered to an address other than his house. it was while you are looking through this information that he receives a text from Miss Wright. >>Hey, there. I could not sleep. How are you dealing with this new wrinkle?<<

>>I will be alright. We will be alright. Everything is set in Columbia?<<

>>Of course, my love. We will be welcomed with open arms. As long as we have the funds.<<

>>No problem there. Pennywise and Margaret are clueless. We will be in paradise and they will be holding the bag. Chumps.<<

>>Useful chumps, my love.<<

>>Yes, quite useful.<<

>>I need to go. Just wanted to talk. Love to you.<<

The messages stop.

Saturday 9 June 2075 0140 Titus' Hideout

Tbyte has the throw a hand over his mouth to stifle a giggle fit as he spies on the conversation being had. The hacker tosses his head back over the chair and lets out a yawn. "You know, this whole group plays out like a really back soap opera trid. Assistant manager sleeping with his boss' wife, his boss doing the secretary...does no one keep it in their pants anymore? I was right though, they're planning to abscond to Colombia with what I can only imagine is quite the sizable account balance. Perhaps unsurprisingly at this point, it's the manager and secretary whole will have to be masquerading as his wife. Gordan says the others are being played, so Pennywise probably thinks he gets to go too or something but the escape seems to definitely be just for two."

Saturday 9 June 2075 0150 Titus' Hideout


Titus comes out of his office and takes a seat. "Very well done, Tbyte. I am impressed. It does indeed seem to be quite like a soap opera, doesn't it? I wonder if Pennywise and the wife are planning to betray Gordon?" He shakes his head. "Oh well, that is only a help, not a hindrance. So, are you ready to move onto the next test or would you like some rest? There is a rather comfortable bed in the next room, if you like."

Tbyte shuts down the deck provided and starts to do a bit of information control before restarting his personal deck. "Normally I'd say let's continue...but I could really use a good night's sleep. So give me about...four hours and we'll start the third test." He walks into the spare room and collapses onto the bed, quite exhausted from a hard day's work. Before falling asleep, he shoots off a quick text to Claus. <<Hey dummy, you might be on your own for dinner tomorrow too but if I'm finished with work early does Shima's Wok sound okay?>>

Saturday 9 June 2075 0700 Titus' Hideout


Titus lets you sleep a bit more than the four hours. The bed is comfortable and you feel refreshed as you wake up. The aroma of soycaf hangs in the air, as does something else. As you enter the main room, Titus points to a plate of some sort of food. "Not sure what you would want, so just got a Stuffer Shack Scramble for you. The soycaf is good, even if the food is only mediocre. Eat and let me know when you are ready. Do you have any questions about the first two tests? I am limited in what I can say, but I may be able to answer something."

Tbyte lets out a yawn and wolfs down the food in a hurry, Spending all day in the Matrix certainly did burn up a lot of energy at least as far as brainpower was concerned. "Nah, all the stuff I tend to be curious about is bad for both of us, so I'll stay right here in mostly ignorance where I belong. But...would you mind if I kept that bug on their commlinks? Kinda wanna know how this soap opera turns out."
He has the feeling whatever the test is for today is going to require quite a bit more work, so he starts tapping on his deck and sets his baby monitor program to run. "Alright so what's the scoop on my third test?"

Saturday 9 June 2075 0735 Titus' Hideout


Titus smiles at you. "Nice attitude, Tbyte. Alright, we will get right to business then. In your first two tests you have determined that the wife of the branch manager is having an affair with her husbands assistant, while the husband is banging his secretary. Also, there seems to be some sort of embezzlement plan going on where in the manager and the secretary are planning on absconding to Columbia with a lot of money and leaving the wife and the assistant holding the bag. The third test is pretty tough, so please feel free to indicate that you have had enough and want to stop. You are to devise a way to siphon the money from the account of the branch manager before he gets to Columbia, making his arrival there a bit less than welcome. At this point, you are not to make the attempt, just devise the plan. If your plan is accepted, you will be placed with two others to work out a combined plan and then execute it at the appropriate time. Please be as complete as you can and plan out your process to as much detail as possible. Remember that this is simply a mental exercise for now."

Tbyte runs a hand through his short but greasy hair. "Oooh boy that's quite a task you've got right there..." He starts tapping on his deck, siphoning through various wiki articles regarding magic, the latest tech innovations from last year's DEFCON. "Alright well the first step is obviously going to be finding out where and how our mark is keeping the money. If he's storing it all in digital rather than a physical media we might have an easier time moving it to the account of your choice. At the same time though, if it's stored as physical media at a lower security bank then with a good team we may just be able to walk right in and replace his credsticks with clever fakes. Guess I'll break down the options into several depending on the storage method of choice...but considering he's fleeing I'd say that credsticks are the most likely."


Scenario 1: Low Security, Digital Storage
"We'll need an infiltrator and a mage. The mage will deal with any guardian spirits that are wandering around while I deal with the small security peripherals that are a bit more secure than their internal network. Infiltrator gets in with our help, geeks the spider and plugs me into their nexus and we do our wire transfer from there. We might be able to cover our tracks if our mage goes with our infiltrator and does his mind mumbo jumbo but that tends to get expensive quick."

Scenario 2: Low Security, Physical Storage.
"The same as above but with the additional need for a skilled safecracker or a couple weeks fooling the system into thinking that our infiltrator is the right guy. The big problem here is gonna be forgery of credsticks, I can do it but it takes a fucking long time...probably longer than we have. So if you know any -really- good forgers then now is the time to bring 'em out from behind door number 2."

Scenario 3: High Security, Digital Storage
"Get me one or two good deckers, an infiltrator, and a mage. Same principle as scenario 1 except we'd likely need to impersonate multiple spiders otherwise we'll be noticed right away the moment we try and make any changes to their Nexus. Guardian Spirits are going to be a real bitch here but one of us impersonating the spider might be able to help the mage and distract the spirits with false alarms or something. Cleaning up our trail is gonna be a real bastard in this case, it'll take time and the longer it takes the more likely someone is to notice weird shit going on."

Scenario 4: High Security, Physical Storage
"Same as 3 with the added addition of absolutely needing copied biometrics on our mark and a safecracker just in case we aren't able to open the vault via the internal net...which hasn't been a thing for about 20 years I think."

Tbyte shrugs. "There's only so much you can plan for when we doing even have the slightest about where he's keeping the money...unless he's really dumb enough to keep it in the bank he works at. You always could just get a couple thugs to grab him from the house, put a car battery to his balls, and force him to transfer the money right then and there...probably the easiest to do but seems like you guys are looking for subtlety."

"Oh..and we obviously need a getaway driver for most of these. Some muscle wouldn't hurt either in case Knight Errant decides to crash the party."

Saturday 9 June 2075 0745 Titus' Hideout


Titus nods. "Can you find out where the money is going to be kept so as to limit the choices a bit? Do as much research as you need."

Saturday 9 June 2075 0745 Titus' Hideout

"Sure can give it a try, hopefully he's just as bad at hiding where he puts it as he is with hiding that he stole it." Tbyte reconfigures his deck for sleaze and devotes probably the better part of the morning to spoofing an account onto Gordan's commlink. Once in, he gives an agent a list of generic banking-related terms to search through while Tbyte himself starts looking through his records and contacts to see if anyone besides his mistress is labeled as someone they are clearly not. If possible, he'd try to log into Gordon's Matrix banking and view any list of charges and transfers from there. "Sure would be nice if it was a literal offshore account, always thought it would be cool to pull a heist from the comfort of a sunny beach."

Saturday 9 June 2075 1245 Titus' Hideout


You are able to get the file on Gordon's 'link and begin your searches. Some of the information comes quickly and you determine that all of the employees seem to be what the brochure says they are; normal wage slaves earning a living to support their families, to include the secretary. Gordon's banking is through the bank he manages and everything seems to be in order. After double checking the data, you shake your head and something niggles your mind about the secretary.

Saturday 9 June 2075 1245 Titus' Hideout
Tbyte frowns, certain that the bank manager wouldn't have been the kind to trust the management and movement of the probably large sums they'd skimmed off the top to be handled by someone else. He couldn't find it after an extensive search so in his mind that meant the data simply didn't exist either on this link or where he thought it did. The next logical step was his secretary, considering she was the one with the weird Colombian friends and the one that arranged the trip. With the same procedure as last time, he set an agent to go about looking for odd transactions on her link while he looked for the more subtle clues, not before shooting a quick text to Claus. <<Sorry, this is gonna be another all day deal. It's take out again for you.>>

Saturday 9 June 2075 1257 Titus' Hideout


The secretary's 'link is far better protected than the others and you remember that you had noticed that earlier. A gentle probe reveals a very good firewall and you toy with the idea of trying to force it or sneak past it or letting it sit there and go a different route to get information about her. This sort of commlink is certainly better than what a secretary would normally be able to afford.