Chapter 17 - First Assignment
He must be nearing the Kirov station. The world though blanketed in snow, Raul recognized the features of the land that stretched ahead of him.The train rocked him gently as he looked out through the window along the corridor next to his Cabin. He was waiting for the provodnitsa to open the cabin door for him.
The winter trees stood like a song half sung, unsure of the melody to come. Only when the wind breathes warm once more, will they recall the rolling words and unfurl them green in the sun. Until then they are mute, forlorn in the wind. Far in the distance, the city stood upon the hill in the gathering gloom. Each building jutted into the darkening sky as if it had been drawn on with charcoal.
Raul got back into his cabin and pulled apart the window curtains to let the sunlight inside the cabin. The scent of lemon grass still lingered in the cabin. The winter sunlight is watery and cold, without color radiated back from either grass and leaf, without the warmth of summer, it brings nothing but sharp illumination.
He pulled out the laptop from his backpack and hooked it on the hot spot from his iPhone. As expected he has received a few more mails from Mr.Wilson. The pictures in the mail told Raul that the spotters are closely, shadowing the party at Moscow. This time, the pictures taken by the spotters, focused on the digital devices the party were using, like their mobile phones, their laptop model, the operating system they are using, software they have installed on their devices etc. The photos, it seemed were taken from a cafe. He went through all the photos, taking time to study each photos and assimilate as much as he can from each photo.
There was also a small video attached with the mail. Raul clicked on the video. It was a closeup shot of someone typing on a laptop keypad. The video seemed to have shot from across a table from the right. Raul could see the fingers move across the keypad. Impressive!. Now all he needed to do is to figure out the movement of the fingers to get the password!
The approach used by Raul for gathering vital intelligence on adversary is more vintage; it may seem so in this current world filled with various tools, crack and hacks available at anyone's disposal. He doesn't resort to such measures. For him, this game of COMMINT is all about observation and improvisation in its very classical sense, then using these pieces of information, to gain what he wanted, overcoming any and all counter intelligence set in place by the adversary. Patience is the key here.
One of his first assignment was to target a Legal Consultancy firm at Kazan specifically, James Adams a retired Judge who was the legal consultant for UK Project with STARLIGHT Inc, in UK. Mr.Wilson, wanted to have all communication between the legal firm at Kazan and Starlight Inc.
Couple of weeks back, Raul have met some of the lawyers, accountants and staff from the legal consultancy firm at Kazan at a meeting . The meeting had given him a good chance to see some of the devices the lawyers used with the operating system and other software running on them. At that meeting Mr.Wilson has introduced Raul as the officer who manages all the documentations for the project.
For digital recce on UK project, Raul has made a few tools at his R&D lab. He chose the highest performing tool and named it HV5 short for HARVESTER 5.0. He had dropped the HV5 in the real world to understand how the tool worked. Having thoroughly satisfied with the performance of HV5 , he reported to Mr.Wilson who then gave him permission to drop the HV5 on the target computers. That was the most challenging task of all.
Office Secretary of Mr.Wilson fixed an appointment for Raul, with the legal consultancy firm at Kazan. Officially Raul was to go to Kazan, deliver a few legal drafts and a presentation at the legal firm on the UK project.
..
..
Raul had only one chance to complete the task without raising any suspicion and he was on his way to Kazan on the mission. The road was a smooth black river. The tires made their monotonous hiss over the wet highway and the air that makes its way though the filters is a bit dampened. All around, through these tinted windows are fields with a distant tree line and some houses.
He was in the city now. The city, as usual was having its monstrous traffic. Finally he arrived at the Pulkovo Airport. He parked his car at the P4-parking lot and took a shuttle to the airport.
In another 3 hours, he will be at Kazan
Raul arrived at Kazan by 3:00 PM in the evening. He checked into his hotel at Kazan. Over a tea at a cafeteria, near the hotel, he called the office secretary, Svetlana Turgenev of the Legal firm in Kazan and briefed her about his arrival. She assured Raul that everything is on the schedule and there is no change of plans.
So far, everything is working like a clockwork for Raul.
Raul woke up to an anxiety the next day. The anxiety, comes as an electrical storm in the brain that, quite honestly, is painful. It's different from a headache and it feels the same as intense sorrow, perhaps as a sort of frozen panic.
He had prepared his plans and worked on them in his mind, debated on them with his childhood friend-his conscience.
In another few hours, this will all get real.
The winter trees stood like a song half sung, unsure of the melody to come. Only when the wind breathes warm once more, will they recall the rolling words and unfurl them green in the sun. Until then they are mute, forlorn in the wind. Far in the distance, the city stood upon the hill in the gathering gloom. Each building jutted into the darkening sky as if it had been drawn on with charcoal.
Raul got back into his cabin and pulled apart the window curtains to let the sunlight inside the cabin. The scent of lemon grass still lingered in the cabin. The winter sunlight is watery and cold, without color radiated back from either grass and leaf, without the warmth of summer, it brings nothing but sharp illumination.
He pulled out the laptop from his backpack and hooked it on the hot spot from his iPhone. As expected he has received a few more mails from Mr.Wilson. The pictures in the mail told Raul that the spotters are closely, shadowing the party at Moscow. This time, the pictures taken by the spotters, focused on the digital devices the party were using, like their mobile phones, their laptop model, the operating system they are using, software they have installed on their devices etc. The photos, it seemed were taken from a cafe. He went through all the photos, taking time to study each photos and assimilate as much as he can from each photo.
There was also a small video attached with the mail. Raul clicked on the video. It was a closeup shot of someone typing on a laptop keypad. The video seemed to have shot from across a table from the right. Raul could see the fingers move across the keypad. Impressive!. Now all he needed to do is to figure out the movement of the fingers to get the password!
The approach used by Raul for gathering vital intelligence on adversary is more vintage; it may seem so in this current world filled with various tools, crack and hacks available at anyone's disposal. He doesn't resort to such measures. For him, this game of COMMINT is all about observation and improvisation in its very classical sense, then using these pieces of information, to gain what he wanted, overcoming any and all counter intelligence set in place by the adversary. Patience is the key here.
One of his first assignment was to target a Legal Consultancy firm at Kazan specifically, James Adams a retired Judge who was the legal consultant for UK Project with STARLIGHT Inc, in UK. Mr.Wilson, wanted to have all communication between the legal firm at Kazan and Starlight Inc.
Couple of weeks back, Raul have met some of the lawyers, accountants and staff from the legal consultancy firm at Kazan at a meeting . The meeting had given him a good chance to see some of the devices the lawyers used with the operating system and other software running on them. At that meeting Mr.Wilson has introduced Raul as the officer who manages all the documentations for the project.
For digital recce on UK project, Raul has made a few tools at his R&D lab. He chose the highest performing tool and named it HV5 short for HARVESTER 5.0. He had dropped the HV5 in the real world to understand how the tool worked. Having thoroughly satisfied with the performance of HV5 , he reported to Mr.Wilson who then gave him permission to drop the HV5 on the target computers. That was the most challenging task of all.
Office Secretary of Mr.Wilson fixed an appointment for Raul, with the legal consultancy firm at Kazan. Officially Raul was to go to Kazan, deliver a few legal drafts and a presentation at the legal firm on the UK project.
..
..
Raul had only one chance to complete the task without raising any suspicion and he was on his way to Kazan on the mission. The road was a smooth black river. The tires made their monotonous hiss over the wet highway and the air that makes its way though the filters is a bit dampened. All around, through these tinted windows are fields with a distant tree line and some houses.
He was in the city now. The city, as usual was having its monstrous traffic. Finally he arrived at the Pulkovo Airport. He parked his car at the P4-parking lot and took a shuttle to the airport.
In another 3 hours, he will be at Kazan
Raul arrived at Kazan by 3:00 PM in the evening. He checked into his hotel at Kazan. Over a tea at a cafeteria, near the hotel, he called the office secretary, Svetlana Turgenev of the Legal firm in Kazan and briefed her about his arrival. She assured Raul that everything is on the schedule and there is no change of plans.
So far, everything is working like a clockwork for Raul.
Raul woke up to an anxiety the next day. The anxiety, comes as an electrical storm in the brain that, quite honestly, is painful. It's different from a headache and it feels the same as intense sorrow, perhaps as a sort of frozen panic.
He had prepared his plans and worked on them in his mind, debated on them with his childhood friend-his conscience.
In another few hours, this will all get real.
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