Having spent weeks gathering access to the most secure areas of this building, she used the lazy Friday afternoon to get into the main computer room — the only way to access certain files on a dedicated highly-encrypted system.
First, from her desk computer, she accessed the security camera system, recorded a fifteen minute loop, and then turned the recording on so the security men on the first level would see nothing but that recording. She could only do this for fifteen minutes, she knew, because the system automatically rebooted after fifteen minutes.
Then she made her way through the first cipher lock without a problem. The code was due to be changed on Monday. She looked up at the camera and smiled.
The computer room was a little more difficult. It had a retina scanner along with a magnetic strip on her identification name tag. Both had to match to get her inside. Of course she had no access to this room officially. But she had upgraded her access to every level in the building just minutes ago. There would be a record of her entry that she would not be able to erase, but she didn’t plan on coming in on Monday anyway. She hoped to have everything she needed.
Once she got onto the computer she had just ten minutes to find what she needed. Since it was not connected to the internet, she had just one choice — to download the information she needed.
God there where thousands of massive files. She tried to sift through them to find anything of importance, but she wouldn’t have time.
Checking the clock on the wall, she had just six minutes to get out of there.
What about wireless, she thought. The entire building had wireless internet access. But if they were smart they would have shielded this room from the internet.
She tried anyway, plugging a small wireless adapter into a USB port. Good to go.
Alexandra glanced at the wall clock again. Just four minutes. Not enough time to download what she needed.
And where to send it? She had thought of this already, knowing she couldn’t just send the data to her home computer or to the BND. But she still knew the access encryption code to Jake’s server in Innsbruck, Austria.
She collected all the files she guessed she needed and started the transfer to Jake’s computer. Damn it! Based on the size of the files it would take at least a half hour to transfer the files.
Checking the clock, she had just one minute. She would have to leave the computer. She minimized everything and turned off the screen. But she would have to leave the wireless adapter and get it another time. Or just leave it. There was no way to trace it back to her.
Heading toward the door, she hesitated for a second. Would the link to Jake’s server remain open after the files transferred? She could call Jake and have him restart his system.
Get out, Alexandra.
She rushed to the first door and got through to the outer area. So far so good.
Her wrist watch said she had just twenty seconds. A little more nervous now as she went out through the cipher door.
She made it, breathing a heavy sigh of relief as she went down a level to her desk. The place was entirely empty now.
Back at her desk, she cleared everything from the cache. Then she executed an entire hard drive reformatting. She had been in and out of areas in the company computer system that she had no access for or reason to access. As she let the computer reformat, she started toward the elevators, her high heels clicking on the tile floors. Just as she pressed the elevator down button, the door opened and two large security guards startled her.
“Guten abend,” she said, as she tried to brush past the men.
But instead of going past her, they grabbed her arms.
Now her training and instincts kicked in. She twisted out of the grasp of one man while kicking the other one in the nuts. Whereas the two guards were simply trying to subdue her, she was using everything short of deadly force to get away. But the fight lasted just thirty seconds. In the end her training ruled over brawn. Both men were knocked out and without radios as she got into the elevator and pushed the ground level button.
Once she got to the ground floor, she set the radios in a corner and hit the top floor button. Then she scooted out and let the elevator go for a ride.
Now she still had to pass through the secure front entrance. How many guards were on duty? Should be two more, she thought.
As she got closer to the front entrance, she wished she had worn quieter shoes instead of the business three-inch heels.
She waved at the two security men off to the side at the front desk and tried not to speed her steps toward the front entrance. Had she overreacted with the security men upstairs?
Just as she reached the front doors she heard a man yell from behind her, “Halt, Fraulein.”
But she didn’t stop. She could see in the reflection of the windows, one of the men she had disabled upstairs was now accompanied by the two men from the front desk in pursuit.
Getting outside the door, she slipped off her high heels, picked them up, and ran as fast as she could toward the parking lot. She had her keys out and looked briefly behind her to see if the security guards were still following. They were, and were gaining ground.
Clicking her key as she approached the ten-year-old VW Passat, the security system sounded and lights flashed briefly.
She jumped behind the wheel, locked her doors, and turned over the engine just as the security men reached the car. One man had his pepper spray out and another had a Tazer. She reached inside the console and pulled out her 9mm Glock, pointing it at the two of them until they backed away from her car.
She smiled and pulled out of the lot, picking up speed and jamming the stick into third gear.
Crap. She just remembered the front gate into the parking lot. The guards would have radioed forward and have the gate down, forcing her to stop.
The front gate guard was outside the station, radio in hand, but with no gun to stop her. He only had the metal gate to slow her down.
Alexandra shoved her foot down onto the gas and rammed through the gate, shattering the metal but also smashing her windshield. Good thing this wasn’t her personal vehicle. It was a BND loaner registered to her fake identity at an address that did not exist.
When she got to the main frontage road to the autobahn, she cranked the wheel hard to the right and almost rounded the corner on two wheels.
She thought about what had just happened and knew she was not only burned at the defense contractor, but she might have compromised her good friend Jake Adams in the process. She had to contact him quickly before security realized what she had been doing in the computer room.
Just as she entered the westbound autobahn, she found her cell phone and punched in Jake’s number from memory.
“Come on, Jake. Answer your damn phone.”
3
When Jake’s cell phone rang, at first it surprised him. Only a few people had his number. One was the former CIA Director, Kurt Jenkins. Toni Contardo used to have his number, but she was killed recently. That left…
He checked his phone. The incoming caller read ‘Hofbrauhaus.’
Picking up his phone from the hotel nightstand, Jake accepted the call and said, “Ich habe eine Brezel und ein großes Bier.”
“Funny, Jake. Did I wake you?”
“I was just in bed thinking about you,” he said. “Are you driving?”
“Yes.”
“Jesus, on the autobahn?”
“Jake, I’m in trouble. I screwed up.” She quickly briefed him on what she had been up to, including the transfer of data to his server.