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Fake Into Account

Reese, set your password

By Andrew GavinPublished about a year ago 24 min read
1
Fake Into Account
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

REESE

LOADING...

...

......

ALMOST DONE...

...

......

TRANSACTION COMPLETE

Reese closed her laptop. It would be a few days before it hit her bank account, she'd come to know, but it was time to start shopping anyway. Or, at any rate thinking about which one to buy.

She slid the laptop into her backpack and zipped it up. She threw on her favorite sneakers and tied the laces. She noticed a rip on the side. Hmm, I guess I could get new shoes too, while I'm at it, she thought.

She headed downstairs and was about to step out the door when her mom interrupted her with, "Where are you off to?"

"Sasha's. We've got a project to work on," Reese replied - which wasn't entirely false. Mall first, then Sasha's, but she would end up there eventually.

"When are you going to be back?" her mom asked.

"I'm not sure, but probably not too late."

"Ok, well I've been called in for a developing case, so I probably won't be here when you get back," her mom said.

"Alright, no worries. I'm eating at Sasha's anyway, so no need to leave dinner."

Her mom stepped closer and gave her a kiss on her forehead the way she always did. "Ok, have fun," she said.

Reese grabbed the car keys from the hook and stepped out. She would take the Volvo, she knew. It wasn't really a discussion anymore. Mom makes the money. Mom drives the new Benz. That's the way it was. Well, not for long. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Her trip to the mall was short and uneventful. She spent a lot of time browsing through Jarhead's Jewelers, but didn't buy anything and Utopia's new collection didn't pique her interest. It was weird going into those expensive stores, but she had to get used to it. You had to look like you belonged, she knew, and what better way to get accustomed than to practice highbrow browsing? (Highbrowsing as the kids called it.) Besides, she wanted to get an idea of the prices to see what she was working with.

Afterwards, she headed over to Sasha's, as promised.

"Hey, Cup. Come in," Sasha said when she rang the doorbell.

Sasha's house was nice. Much nicer than her own. Not that Reese's mom was poor, or that their house was small, but there were nice houses, and then there were nice houses. Sasha had a nice house.

I'll have a nice house one day too, she thought.

"How's everything going?" Sasha asked, as Reese got herself settled in.

"Great," Reese replied.

"Any new updates?"

"Yeah, let me show you," Reese answered, as she opened her laptop.

MARNIE

"What have we got Phil?"

"Good evening, Marnie. Thanks for coming in on such short notice," Phil replied as he pushed the doors to the conference room open. "We've got a hit. Might not be anything, but it's in your area so thought you might wanna take a look."

He tapped in some commands on a keyboard and a page of various data popped up on the large screen on the wall. Marnie and the others in the room began eyeing through it as Phil continued speaking.

"This isn't anything we haven't handled before, but we want to make sure we get in front of it. We only just got the ping, but it looks like this may have been happening for a while."

Marnie and the others seated at the table nodded their understanding.

Phil continued, "I have sent your assignments to your encrypted emails, but I want Marnie to take point on this. It's her area so she knows it best. To mitigate unnecessary traffic, I want you to route any findings through Marnie. Marnie, your job will be to sift through the fluff and report anything useful to me."

"Understood," Marnie replied.

"Good," Phil confirmed with a nod. "You have your assignments, so get to it. As usual, I and the rest of the team are here for your support."

REESE

"Is it really that simple?" Sasha asked.

"Yep. That easy," Reese answered.

Sasha let out a silent wow as she sat back on the couch. Reese could see her eyes darting back and forth as she processed all of the information.

"So..." Sasha began. Here it comes, thought Reese. "...can I like...get in on this?"

Reese snorted with a smile then replied, "Not yet. I don't want to involve anyone else until I work out the kinks."

"Fine," Sasha said, slinking back into the couch. Then, after a brief moment she sat up quickly and said, "Well, I guess we should actually get this bio project done, huh?"

"I guess so," agreed Reese, putting away her laptop. She pulled out a textbook and a few notebooks from her bag. "I was thinking, in order to really drive home the point about the rainforest, we should..."

MARNIE

"It seems to be coming from the area west of Eucalyptus Blvd," the tech said.

"How accurate is the GPS?" asked Marnie.

"Depends," the tech said, "but generally only within about a 100 mile radius. For something like this, the perp is usually moving, so it's hard to get an accurate reading. But the triangulated signals have kind of narrowed it down to this area. At least their last known location."

"And how long has it been like this?" Marnie asked, "In other words, how long since the last reading? Has the perp moved?"

"If they have, it hasn't been from outside of this radius. But, it's impossible to tell. This is only the reading that they are giving off. For instance, if they traveled somewhere and didn't connect, it wouldn't register. Plus, these people are usually highly skilled at covering their tracks."

"So, we're looking at a seasoned professional?"

"Almost certainly. You can never be sure, but I would say so."

Marnie nodded, stroking her chin. "Can you pull me a list of likely locations they can be headquartered at?"

"It may take some time, but I can try. I'll let you know If I can."

"Please do. Thanks, Jordan."

The young man nodded and turned back toward his computer. Marnie made her way back to her office.

Hours later, she was elbow deep in research when there was a knock at her door.

"Hey, Boss."

"Come in, Leland. And you know you don't have to call me that. I'm not your boss."

"You are for this assignment, and that's good enough for me," the older, mustached man replied.

"What's up?" Marnie asked, as Leland sat on the edge of her desk.

The man stroked his gray mustache as he spoke. "I was just looking at the report Jordan is working on. I have some thoughts."

REESE

"I can't believe we actually got an A on that project," Reese said laughing, "I feel like we barely did anything."

"Well, when you've got it, you've got it," Sasha replied, swinging her hips and snapping her fingers.

Reese laughed and waved goodbye as she made her way over to the parking lot. Sasha returned the gesture as she stepped onto her bus.

The commute home was usual, nothing to write home about. There was an accident on Westbury Ave, so traffic backed up, but otherwise everything was normal. That's the way it was around here. It was a small suburb outside of Des Moines, so not exactly the most exciting place in the world. The city had some life, but it rarely trickled out to this sleepy town. Sleepy. Yeah, that was a good way to describe it, Reese realized. Pleasant and safe, but with not much going on - good or bad. Sleepy. Like someone's grandpa.

She had finally finished putting this thought together as she pulled in the driveway and went inside. Her mom was sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop open, sipping a cup of coffee.

"It's 3pm, Mom. A bit late for coffee, don't you think?"

"I suppose, but I haven't been sleeping too much the last few days," she said as she took another sip. Her eyes were scanning something on the screen.

"What's the matter?" Reese asked, "Another big case?"

"Yes," Marnie replied, "well, at least I think. Actually, I'm not sure," then after a second, "I hope not."

"Details," Reese said with a gimme gesture with her hand. She grabbed an apple from the fridge and joined her mom at the table.

Marnie sighed, rubbed her eyes, and then began, "In summary, there is something going on around here."

"In Des Moines? Happens all the time. Isn't that your job? Why is this different?"

"Not in the city. West of it. Somewhere."

"Dallas County?"

"We assume, but it's hard to tell. We just have a general radius, but the epicenter is right around here."

She was silent for a minute. Reese stepped in, "Can I know what it is?"

"Not sure I can tell you that yet. It's - "

"I know, I know. 'Classified government information' yada, yada."

Marnie cracked a smile. "You know the drill," she said.

"Well, anything I can help with? You know how much I love to be Mommy's little assistant," Reese asked.

"I'm not sure if you can. It's kind of - "

"Oh, come on. Try me! Speak in code if you wish, so that you're not revealing the actual info."

Marnie considered it. From time to time, she had asked for Reese's opinions on things and in some instances, she actually was right. Never to the point of solving a case, but at least pointing Marnie in a direction she hadn't gone before.

"Ok fine," Marnie sighed, "um...let's say, hypothetically, that someone was stealing a bunch of money. Not in the old fashioned go-to-a-bank-and-hold-them-at-gunpoint kind of way, but in the new press-a-button-and-steal-thousands-of-dollars-in-a-matter-of-seconds kind of way."

"Ok..." Reese prodded.

"Generally speaking, this person would be using an encryption of sorts. Perhaps a VPN or other stronger security to hide their location. They can also usually do it from anywhere, so it is difficult to pinpoint them."

"Ok...." Reese prodded again.

"The thing is, we have received multiple hits all within this area. Whatever encryption the perp is using is solid enough to hide their general location, but our system is able to pull out just enough info to suggest a localized area. It's like looking at a fuzzy picture. We're pretty sure it is within this range, but have no clue where. And also, it could be completely wrong."

Reese nodded and then spoke, "So...to summarize: you think you know where this person is committing this fraud, but all you have is a general area. That could be all of Dallas County and potentially surrounding areas as well. Or not there at all."

"Exactly."

"But, why are you even on this case? You usually work in Des Moines."

"True, but sometimes law enforcement agencies will join or share resources depending on the case. Since I am 1. a tech specialist, 2. live in Dallas County, and 3. have a pretty good rapport with most people in the area - if I do say so myself - I was chosen to head this investigation. They're hoping that with all three of those factors, I could make some headway. And I'm hoping that too."

"How would you even start looking for someone like this?" Reese asked. Then after a moment added, "Hypothetically, of course."

"Like any other case. Try to build a profile. Figure out the person's MO. Think about who would likely be doing this and start to narrow down a list. My tech told me that he thinks it's a seasoned professional, but another agent came into my office with a hunch that he's wrong. He thinks that it is an amateur. Maybe even a first timer."

"A first timer? Meaning what?"

"Like someone commiting the crime for the first time. Maybe they stumbled upon this by accident and are trying to experiment and see if they can get away with it. Or someone looking to get rich quick."

"But that could be anyone."

"True. Hence, my job, sweetheart. Why do you think detectives exist?" Marnie laughed as she indicated her laptop. She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"What are you thinking?" Reese asked.

"I'm starting to think that my agent was right. That this isn't a seasoned pro. I think we're dealing with a rookie here. One who has access to high strength encryption, but still not totally sure what they're doing. Like a kid in little league with a Louisville Slugger. Great gear can only get you so far..."

Reese sat motionless as her mother spoke.

"...so in my head I'm thinking it's probably someone young. Maybe college or even younger. Probably some idiot kid who got his hands on some black market tech and is trying to make a few bucks and impress girls to get his dick wet. Or it could be a girl, I suppose. Didn't mean to be sexist. Could very well be a dumb high school girl..."

Reese swallowed.

"...but I could be wrong."

Reese's hands were starting to get sweaty. She began to feel lightheaded. "Um...well..." she croaked, "I hope...you figure it out." She stood up slowly from the table trying not to pass out. "I'll be upstairs if you need me."

She scuttled slowly down the hall trying not to look suspicious. Once she was sure she was out of her mom's sight, she bolted up the stairs and into her room. She pulled out her phone and called Sasha.

After a few rings, Sasha answered. "Hello?"

"Hey. Um...we need to talk..."

MARNIE

Marnie sat up in her chair and stretched her back. She had to clear her mind, maybe that would help. She picked up her laptop and moved to the living room. She placed the laptop on the coffee table and folded her legs underneath her as she sat on the couch.

She rubbed her finger where a ring should have been and got to thinking. It had been six years. Well, three officially, but the cascade had begun long before that. Bruce had wanted to move to Chicago, to the big city. "That's where crime lives," he'd say. And he was right. It made sense, after all. Both of them working in law enforcement. However, as Reese grew up, Marnie wanted to be there for her. Bruce felt that his career was being stymied by living in such a sleepy town next to a dormant city. And that was probably true. But, for Marnie it was more important to stay here in their home and be with Reese. So, after claiming that she was "holding him back," Bruce packed his bags, emptied his half of their mutual bank account, and headed east to the Windy City. The funny thing was that a few years after he left, she got promoted and was now making more money than he was. She smirked at the irony, but the lack of ring on her finger still made her heart hurt.

Since his departure, she hadn't really touched that other account. In the future, she planned to turn it into a fund for Reese, but she hadn't gotten around to it. It had an emergency fund of a few hundred bucks, but otherwise, had not really been put to use. Just another relic of their time together.

She glanced around the room at all the pictures of now only Reese and herself. Reese had her father's eyes and smile and his tenacity. She was very smart and ambitious and top of her class, as was he in his time. She just hoped that Reese would turn out to be a better spouse when it came to that...

As her eyes panned the room, they came to rest on a picture of the two of them from last year. It was at her promotional ceremony. In the photo, next to Reese's bright blue eyes and blonde hair, was herself holding the congratulatory package she received. Her new badge and documentation, a new gun and holster, and a basket including a new laptop and the latest tech gear.

She smiled to herself, remembering that day. It was unseasonably hot. The iced tea they served was just a little bit watery. Maggie from corrections was there trying to make a --

Wait.

She remembered something. The package she received that day included all of the most up-to-date tech security software. There was a bit of a learning curve to using it most effectively, but the department gave her extensive training. The software was housed on a series of zip drives that she downloaded to her computer. Zip drives that were...in a briefcase in her closet.

REESE

"Ok, but do you know that she knows for sure?" Sasha asked.

"No. I mean, I don't know. I feel like she's getting closer though. Like it's only a matter of time," Reese replied. She put the burger back in it's wrapping on the floor. "I don't think I can eat this. I have no appetite," she said.

Without hesitation, Sasha swiped it. "I mean, she's pretty good at this stuff, right?" she asked between bites.

"Yeah, she's the best of the best. That's why she got promoted."

"Ok, well what do you do? Can't you just erase it?"

"It's not that simple. First of all, I can't just get rid of that money. How am I supposed to explain the sudden deposits into my account? Second, I can get rid of the software, but there will still be traces of it. Like, the history of usage doesn't get deleted. Eventually, if they look hard enough, they will be able to trace it back to me."

"Yeah, but you said it's a radius right? Like the whole county? How will they be able to prove it's you?"

"I'm living in the house with the detective on the case. And she's top of her class. Plus, I don't know if you've ever stepped outside your front door, but there's not a whole lot happening out here. Not like there's a large population to hide behind. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone figures it out."

After a moment, Sasha swallowed hard and her eyes went wide.

"What?" Reese asked.

"Nothing," she replied, "I'm just glad you denied cutting me in on this. That could have been bad."

"Alright, we've got to figure out an attack plan," Reese continued, ignoring her, "and how I get out of this."

"Can you just confess?"

"Are you insane? Fraud is a federal offense. I could spend years in prison!"

"Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you did all this, Cup."

"I never thought I'd get caught."

"No criminal does. And as you said, your mom is the tech cop. Why would you do this?"

"I was using her own software. I just thought I'd fuck around, see how far I could take it. Make some quick money. It worked at first with no issues, so I kept going. After the first few times, there was no red flags, so I didn't think it would trigger anything. I figured I was safe."

"Yeah, but you were laundering money into your account. How would that not be caught?"

"They've got all kinds of security set up. And I was doing it from right here, which is within my mom's zone. I figured that if things were looking weird they'd write it off as a glitch with the tech. I never expected it to ring any alarm bells."

"Well, you screwed up big time, pal."

"Thanks. You're not helping."

Sasha shrugged her shoulders in response. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, let me think." She pulled out her laptop. She opened up the software and logged in. She waited for it to load.

Watching her, Sasha asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to try and shut it down somehow. See if I can delete the traces."

She typed furiously. A screen came up: ACTIVITY MAY BE MONITORED. No shit.

She typed some more and another screen popped up. CANNOT DELETE PRIOR ACTIVITY. Damn it.

More typing, more screens. UNABLE TO AUTHORIZE SYSTEM OVERRIDE. Followed by SYSTEM SAFETY SHUTDOWN IMMINENT.

She sat back, breathing heavily.

"Done?" Sasha asked.

"No. I couldn't get anywhere."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning I didn't get anywhere. Nothing happened." They both sat in silence for several seconds.

Eventually, Sasha chimed in. "Maybe you should reset your password."

"What?"

"I'm just saying. To throw them off the scent a bit. Probably doesn't hurt."

"Sasha," Reese said, turning to her, "I am using an illegal software system. I don't think resetting my password is going to do jack."

"Fine. What do I know." She ate her last french fry. "For the record, I saw you type it in and I don't think peanutbuttercup2005 is a very strong password. But again, what do I know?" She took a long slurp of her drink.

Reese rolled her eyes. "When it comes to the operation of highly classified government technology? Very little."

Sasha mumbled something to herself and sank back into the couch. "What are you going to do now?" she asked.

Reese thought for a long moment before answering. "I don't know. But, there's gotta be some way to shut it down."

MARNIE

Her phone rang. It was Jordan. When she answered he said, "Hey ma'am. There's another hit. Are you seeing this?"

"Yeah," she answered, "I'm looking at it right now."

"Let's see if we can nail 'em," he said, and she heard violent typing through the phone.

Different information kept flashing across her screen. Eventually, it came to a map and the pin was being dragged along as Jordan tried to locate the source of the ping. Eventually, it slowed down and came to rest over the vicinity of Dallas County. Then he scrolled in. And he scrolled in again. He moved the map once or twice and scrolled in again. The pin came to a stop.

"This is as close as I can get it," Jordan said, "but I'm fairly confident it's coming from this general area. It's still a several block radius, but it's certainly much closer than we had last time."

Marnie eyed the map carefully. This area looked familiar. Undoubtedly, it was a block of houses on the other side of town.

Marnie recognized the neighborhood. Sasha's. Unquestionably, where Reese mysteriously ran off to several hours ago, after their talk.

Comprehension began to flood her brain, but she tried to keep her voice neutral. "Understood, Jordan. Thanks."

"You got it, Marnie," he said, then hung up.

Marnie put the phone down, her hands shaking. She tried to catch her breath as her mind raced.

She had spent the last several hours trying to convince herself that her hunch about Reese was false. However, this seemed to be the nail in the coffin. She knew that there was a very real possibility that Reese had committed this crime, but her heart refused to accept it.

Ultimately, if she had to do her job, she would do it. And if that meant putting her own daughter behind bars, then so be it. She swore an oath. If her daughter committed a crime, she should face the consequences.

But at the same time, she couldn't let her baby take the fall for this. Could she? Marnie knew that before it even got to that point, she would work tirelessly to find any shred of data possible to absolve her daughter.

When she got into law enforcement she knew there was always a possibility of her family getting involved in the middle of a case. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine them being the actual culprit. Especially not her sweet, intelligent Reese.

If only there was another way out...

She noticed herself pacing. She only did that when she was highly stressed, or needed to make a big decision. She used to do it a lot when Bruce was still around, but anyway, that was a thought for another time...

She ran through her options:

1. Turn Reese in

This would mean literally handing her child over to the authorities and watching her potentially face decades in prison.

2. Confront Reese and get her to shut it down

How would that even work? Eventually they would still trace it back to her, no?

3...was there an option 3? There had to be, right?

Maybe she could talk to her people and have them stop the investigation? She could put in a request, but it wouldn't be likely that they stopped.

Marnie continued to pace. Faster. Faster. She knew time was of the essence, but she couldn't think of anything.

Until, finally, it hit her.

JORDAN

"What do you mean it disappeared?"

"I don't know, sir. It just disappeared," Jordan replied.

Phil stood over his shoulder gazing at the computer screen, his mouth still agape with shock. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "So we have nothing?"

"It's all gone, sir. Everything. All of the hits and the logs too, the whole system seems to have been flushed. Like someone went in and wiped it," Jordan explained, astounded.

"How is that possible?" Phil prodded.

"I've never really thought of it before, but I guess it's as possible as anything else. Someone would have to access the system and wipe it. But, if this person was good enough to be doing this essentially out in the open - in an area this unpopulated - and get away with it, who's to say they weren't able to cover their tracks too?" Jordan sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. He stared at the screen as if an answer would somehow manifest itself. After a moment he wondered, "So what do we do now?"

Phil took his time answering. "I guess we've got nothing. Set an alert for the area and if anyone tries anything similar, I want to know immediately. Did you inform Marnie?"

"Not yet, but I can do it right now." Jordan pulled out his phone and wrote out a text.

When Jordan finished, Phil continued, "I'll take care of the paperwork to say that the issue resolved itself. Things like this happen from time to time. Technology can only get us so far. It is certainly a sucker punch, but sometimes, we just lose." He let out a deep sigh and rubbed his chin. "I guess this bastard got away with it."

MARNIE AND REESE

Marnie got back in the car and closed the door, letting out a deep sigh. She handed the deposit slip to Reese, who without looking at her asked, "Is it done?"

Staring straight ahead, Marnie answered, "It is."

She started up the car and pulled away. For several minutes, the two sat in silence until Reese asked, "What's gonna happen?"

"Probably nothing. Things like this happen from time to time. Crimes just sort of peter out. We can't catch the culprit and they sort of stop committing the crime. We don't have enough information to find them and the evidence stops coming in, so they basically slip through our nets. We have tons of unfinished cases on file at the office. No one will ever know the difference."

Reese said nothing, but understood her mother's words. She looked at the deposit slip in her hands and asked, "So, what are we going to do with it?"

"I'm not sure yet," Marnie replied, "but we can come up with some ideas I bet. I've always wanted to extend the back porch."

Reese nodded. "That would be nice. I wouldn't mind a pool either."

Marnie laughed. Suddenly, her phone buzzed with a text from Jordan. She'd read it later.

Reese made a suggestion, "We could take the trip to Hawaii you've always wanted."

"All good ideas, honey. I'm sure we can figure something out."

Several more seconds of silence went by. Marnie chuckled to herself.

"What is it?" Reese asked.

"It's just funny. That bank account your Dad left me when he ran off? It actually came in handy after all."

They both smiled and Reese leaned her neck back on the headrest. After a moment, Reese brought up something that had been weighing on her mind. "How did you...ya know?"

"Kill switch," Marnie answered, turning to look at her, "turns out I still had the manuals for the software in my briefcase. It wasn't explicitly listed in there, but I was able to figure it out."

Reese nodded her understanding. She was good with technology, but her mom had always been one notch better. Maybe someday she would find something she could beat her at, but she could worry about that later. She drummed her fingers on the deposit slip. For now, she was happy with her defeat.

guiltyfiction
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About the Creator

Andrew Gavin

Welcome to my mind! Enjoy your stay!

Extra towels upon request.

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  • Anthony Evans about a year ago

    The password is really very important.

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