100 Ways to Solve a Murder-Chapter 97: Act V Enlightenment III

Private Facility, Cardiff

Marco followed behind Levi as they made their way out of the private facility in Cardiff.

"Levi, where are we going? Did they locate Sam?" the bearded man asked, as they got in the waiting black car outside. The two sat next to each other in the backseat of the car, waiting on standby. Ready to go anytime.

"She’s still in Cardiff as Anna informed," answered Levi, clearly impatient, waiting for Ivan’s valuable information. If he was honest, he wondered if Ivan would even share the knowledge he gains, or will he work alone to get his sister back? Only time can tell. But he hoped he would. He wanted to see her himself.

"I hate waiting but with nothing else to go on, that’s the only course left open to us," Levi said, clenching and unclenching his jaw.

Marco looked at Levi to his left,

"What are we waiting for?" he asked in wonder.

Levi’s eyes were glued on the view outside, his mobile-ready in hand.

"Her brother is currently hacking China’s satellite to pinpoint the exact location," he told him.

Marco’s eyes widened at the information. Was he kidding? He wondered to himself, but his face remained serious, and he knew he wasn’t lying.

But how would they do it? he learned just hours ago that the reason that Sam always wore her wristwatch, no matter the occasion was because it had an advanced GPS tracking mechanism.

But she lost that hours ago, it was left in the storage she was first taken after her abduction. But where she was moved after they do not know.

"H--how? She doesn’t have her high-tech watch anymore." Marco asked.

Levi turned to Marco,

"Anna and I, mostly I... decided to implant a tracking chip on her. Injected without her knowledge during one of her shock therapies," he informed, earning a shocked look from Marco. Did he just say she wasn’t aware?

"It is the size of a grain of rice. It was the only way we could ensure we would find her in case she lost the watch, which was likely.’" he added, then his eyes turned dark, "The hard part is tracking the signal, the chip in itself gives off a unique identifying signal. So low, it’s almost impossible to keep it in check." the slicked blond further explained.

Marco furrowed his brows,

"So, how??" he asked, lost in the technobabble talk.

Levi tore his eyes away from Marco and back on the streets outside,

"As I mentioned, possibly the best hacker in the World is working on locating that signal. I don’t know how he’ll do it. His computer skills are far more advanced than I know. But if it’s not him, no one can do it."

the slicked blond said, hoping that the man will find her location soon. Before it’s too late.

...

Ivan’s ’play’ room, Fredricksen Estate

Ivan’s fingers danced on the keyboard in such speed and expertise. One mistype and he’s screwed, and he can’t afford a mistake--it might just cause a War. He knew the gravity of the situation, but he was willing to take the risk, it was her life after all. And it outweighed everything for him, something he knew she didn’t know.

It was almost 8 hours ago when he received the devastating and maddening call from the platinum blond, informing him of his sister’s abduction in the very noses of not only her people...but also his!

Then an hour later, Anna informed him that the watch had been found without his sibling. He sent his people to track her down, his best programmers hacking through everything they can get their hands on, which will help them locate her whereabouts. But to no avail, the car that was used on her abduction had been found, people had been ’interviewed’ (and killed in the process) even with the assistance of the Secret Intelligence Service doing their part in her rescue, they can’t seem to find her.

And now there he was, 5 hours and 16 minutes in--that’s how long he’d been hacking satellite to satellite.

He was breaking into older satellites that orbit around the Earth, undetected. However, the thing about older satellites are, 1. don’t come with support for encrypted connections, and 2. relies on unsuspecting users of the satellite Internet service providers across the world.

He has taken advantage of this particular loophole in the design of these satellites, which can be easily exploited to freely intercept traffic between the satellite and a specific user.

This is how his scheme works.

The technique is quite simple because there’s a lot of vulnerable satellites orbiting around the Earth and sending unencrypted traffic to a desired geographical location.

He only needs:

1. A rented house in an area where the vulnerable satellites provide coverage--check

2. A satellite dish to intercept the traffic--check

3. A landline Internet connection, so he can sniff through the traffic that comes down from the satellite and selects an IP address of a random user online at that moment.--Check.

DONE.

Ivan then infected the target computer with malware to configure the domain names for the hacker’s command-and-control (C&C) servers to point to that IP address.

Long story short he gains control of the Satellite’s user system, instructing the infected botnet computers to send the stolen data to the command-and-control (C&C) server (compromised satellite user).

The sneaky part is: He is effectively hiding his location from investigators as they can be anywhere in the range of the satellite beam, i.e. thousands of miles

Now he uses the satellite for one single purpose, to trace that very specific chip.

And finally, after 5 hours and 18minutes, he had zeroed in on the location. He did not contemplate whether to trust the Jackson siblings, they had lied to her sister in an attempt to have her back, he respects that. He sent his people out while dialing Anna’s number and providing the coordinates.

.....

Cardiff

Levi’s mobile rang in his hand and before it even reached the second ring he had already answered it.

"Where?" he asked in a heartbeat, a muffled response on the other line and he ended the call.

"South Hangar, step on it," Levi told the driver.

It was 18 minutes later when they arrived at the location. Levi turned to the driver, "Call an ambulance." he said, leaning in and grabbing the gun in the man’s holster. Marco raised a brow at the sight of the handgun in his hand.

"Just a precaution," Levi states, handing him the gun. Marco takes it from his hand, wondering why the slicked blond was giving it to him.

"I don’t trust myself." Levi simply said, walking forward.

Marco scowled, "I don’t trust myself" echoed in his mind. He knew what the psychologist meant, that he may kill someone if Sam was...

Marco followed behind him, scanning the place cautiously.