‘Oh, it’s you!’ the ragged voice replied. ‘You’d better come in.’
Sean entered and nearly tripped over the pile of unopened mail in the narrow hallway. ‘I gather you had a good night’ said Sean, grinning.
They had met when Daniel was studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After Sean’s assignment finished, Daniel returned to the University to complete his post graduate degree. Why anyone would want to spend so much time in a lab, Sean couldn’t understand. However Daniel was one of the hottest IT experts the department had access to.
Known as DD because of the alliteration with his surname Davis, Daniel mumbled something about a drink, and Sean entered the small kitchen. He found some mugs and made coffee while DD went upstairs to change. Fifteen minutes later DD came down, appearing fresher and smarter in slim jeans, tee-shirt, hoodie sweat top and green pumps.
‘Got a query for you about text messaging.’ Sean checked to see if he was paying attention.
‘Yeah, go ahead.’
‘A body was found frozen in Siberia. The last thing he did before he died was to text his wife, but she didn’t get the message until several days later. How could you explain that?’
DD shrugged. ‘Sounds like a puzzle for Sherlock. There’s probably a logical answer. If the mobile wasn’t in range of a signal the text would stay on the device. Assuming the phone was cold — really cold — the battery would shut down until it warmed up again. Even then, someone would need to turn the phone back on. If a signal was present, the message would go automatically.’
‘I see’ said Sean. I guess somebody at the mortuary turned the phone on when they were checking the body. It explains a lot.’ Sean dived into his pocket and passed over a photograph of Khostov.
‘Here’s who we are looking for.’ Sean filled DD in on the mission. ‘SIS have been investigating Khostov’s links to friends in London and the surrounding area. They unearthed connections to a friend’s son studying at Oxford and a female cousin working as a shop assistant at a jewellers in Bournemouth. The teams drew a blank. Airports were alerted, but so far they’ve not received any further information.’
DD picked up the photo and studied the face. ‘You want me to look for him?’
‘No-one can find a record of Khostov entering the UK.’
‘He was almost certainly travelling under a false passport,’ he responded. ‘Could he have entered by boat or small plane?’
‘It’s possible’ conceded Sean.
‘If he did, chances are there won’t be any records to search.’
‘Well, what can you do?’
‘I could speak to a couple of my contacts at the Border Agency. I developed some algorithms for them about a year ago, and they owe me a favour or two.’
‘Anything else?’
‘There’s something I’m working on at the moment that might help. Would you like me to show you the site?’
‘A website?’ Sean sounded sceptical.
‘Yep.’ DD pushed the crockery and empty beer cans away to make more space. He brought a laptop down from a shelf and opened it out on the table. ‘Check this.’
Sean noticed the site had a white background and a large banner across the top which read: TRIP WIRE. Underneath were a number of dials. The busy layout reminded Sean of the cockpit of a Boeing 747.
DD glanced apologetically at Sean. ‘The name’s not very original, I’m afraid, but the nuts and bolts behind the interface are the key.’ He pointed to the first coloured dial on the monitor. ‘Just on this dial alone sits a database which monitors several inputs. Let’s suppose the female cousin in Bournemouth makes a telephone call to the student at Oxford. The computer has the cousin’s phone number, plus the student’s mobile. Any call between the two is immediately flagged here.’
‘OK.’
DD assumed Sean wasn’t particularly impressed. ‘The databank also has direct access to the cousin’s nearest telephone exchange. The call triggers a capture, recording the call and presenting the audio here. You click on the call details underlined and the control will play it back for you.’
Sean appeared to be mildly interested.
‘Plus, the site gathers name and address information from the telephone exchange logs and begins to match these with the government’s database. Assume the student is unknown to us when we start. One phone call and his contacts are added to the links. If any call is made to or from his phone, the database picks up the data and displays it here. That also includes any kind of social media interaction — twitter, Facebook, and so on.’
Sean smiled. The more DD talked, the more he liked the dials.
‘If any of these are flagged, either in the site’s own database, or on the government’s, an alert is generated direct to me. The message may be a phone call, encrypted text message, tweet or email containing the particulars of the alert.’
‘OK, I’m beginning to get the idea’ replied Sean.
‘The site doesn’t just cover phone calls, but emails, text messages, even if a target’s mobile phone moves outside a pre-defined area. TRIP WIRE retrieves information from all the government records, plus ports and airport passenger lists, and other databanks if journeys are paid for using a debit or credit card.’
Sean appeared bemused. ‘It must take a great deal of setting up?’
‘That’s the most difficult part.’
‘Suppose a vital call is made before you’ve input the data?’
DD smiled grimly. ‘That’s why I’m spending all my time on automating the setup.’
Sean shook his head. ‘Well I’m impressed. Let’s hope all your hard work pays off.’
Captain Grigori Burak closed the bridge door behind him and rested his arms against the rail on the forward lookout. He breathed in deeply, savouring the cold air which carried a surprising amount of moisture. The pack ice stretched towards the horizon; behind, a trail of broken ice marked its course.
This moment should have been the pinnacle of his career. LK-80 wasn't pretty, but as Grigori sensed the thrum of the ship’s powerful engines through the deck plates, he experienced a fierce connection to the men who built her. Constructed at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in St Petersburg, she had a double hull, like all Arktika-class icebreakers. The outer keel was 5 centimetres thick at the ice-breaking areas, and she sliced through the thickest ice with ease.
But the events of the past month had left a sour taste in his mouth, and he feared it would be a long while before the bitterness faded.
'Sir.' A young rating timidly approached the Captain. Grigori had the appearance and temperament of a bulldog, together with a reputation for being tenacious and determined. It was also well known he had little time for juniors.
'Yes?'
The sailor saluted. 'Sir, the Chief Engineer said he has found an excess of corrosive elements in the primary coolant loop.'
Captain Grigori groaned. The issue they encountered during sea trials appeared to be returning. 'How bad?'
'Not critical, sir. However he said you should be concerned.'
'Right. I'll telephone him immediately.'
Grigori re-entered the bridge and picked up the phone. 'What's this about, Pytor? I believed the glitch had been cured.' Grigori listened as his Chief Engineer launched into an explanation of sealants and the lack of replacement parts. 'What is the status of the second reactor?'
'Down for maintenance.'
Grigori shook his head. He had spent a year preparing for this day, and now they were at sea a tiny issue like this could jeopardise the expedition. 'How long to fix it?'
'Five days, maybe a week.' Pytor's voice sounded tinny over the connection. 'I must warn you Captain that in order to make repairs without taking the main reactor offline, you will need to stay below a speed of 14 knots. Any faster would cause greater pressure in the containment vessel. Coupled with the increased corrosive, the risk of coolant leakage is great.'