Little Black Book

Little Black Book by EA Taralaikov

While sipping an almond chai latte and counting down the minute’s before I cross the road to start work at 9.30am. At the Art Agency Studio.

There is this handsome fella that is at the same Café every morning, 8.45-9.20am. We exchange glances and make small take. Then we go our separate ways at 9.20am.

Each day I regret not making the first move to at least give him my name or contact number in the hope he might call.

A week goes by and we still just glance and say hello, sit at opposite tables and say have a great day, bye.

Monday morning, I arrived earlier at the café, as I was to start work at 9am.

The handsome character was there and was working on his laptop and writing in his notebook. I said good morning and he just looked up and stopped to take a call on his mobile.

Another missed opportunity to make the first move on my behalf. I sat there watching him and wondering what it was that he was working on.

Usually, he would work there sitting on the corner table quietly, but on this day, he seemed agitated and nervous.

Out of curiosity, I called in at work, explaining that I will be a few minutes late due to a train delay.

I was concerned with how my mysterious café buddy was acting.

As I approached him, he was startled by my voice, “sorry are you ok?’ I asked. He looked up at me with his glaring blue eyes, and said that he was fine, just running late for a deadline.

Another call came thru on his mobile, and he brushed me off by saying, I have to take this, “it’s private”.

With that I went back to my table sat down and thought it odd of his reactions. I was on my mobile taking happy snaps for social media.

5 mins go by, and my mysterious man who name I never get a chance to ask, was starting to pack up his laptop and paperwork, while two men walked into the café without ordering coffee, they looked around the store, and they both noticed each other in the café. I had my camera mode on, and I was videoing the interaction of all three men. It all seemed so weird, probably nothing but to be on the safe side.

My mysterious man went to get up and walk out the café, but he stopped and said to me “here’s the todays paper that you were waiting for” with that I was startled and replied, “yes of course!”

Then he fast paced out of the café, with the two strange men following.

Confused by the encounter, I had with my mystery man, I soon realised that It was time to race off to work. I gathered my belongings and left.

Once I arrived at my desk, I place down my folio, bag and then I realised that I had taken the local papers from the coffee shop, boy I must have been delirious in order to take the newspapers.

To my surprise, as I opened the pages of the newspaper a notebook, fell out onto the floor. Hmm, what on earth I thought, was it a mistake or was it deliberately placed into the papers for me to have.

I flipped the pages of the notebook, only to come across rows of numbers and symbols, as if it was a group of codes for a computer program.

235301282715269688918536356754858628508912413020088967230368771673220527602

Last page: 904625697166532776746648320380374280100293470930272690489102837043110636675

5JKcUoQ8Ad5vMn8zctpk3m1BtHxLvo7zsoghoX2o8FKaxPMZqto

5JKcUoQ8Ad5vMn8zctpk3m1BtHxLvo7zsoghoX2o8FKaxXzCNCK

5JKcUoQ8Ad5vMn8zctpk3m1BtHxLvo7zsoghoX2o8FKaxgJE3uv

I hear my boss’s screechy voice calling out my name so I just placed the notebook in my draw and made sure it was locked, thinking to myself that there must have been a reason, that this person, gave me his notebook.

After work I walked past the coffee shop just in case my mysterious man was there waiting, but no luck, I just walked past and made it to my train, homeward bound.

Once home I sat down to take a better look at the codes, I noticed that the order of numbers and letter along with symbols, resembled 16 character key codes followed by what may appear as accounts, but to what? I can’t go to the nerd at the tech lab at work, just in case, this leads to something more than just codes. I had done some research of my own, but I was letting my wild imagination get the better of me, with that I put the book down and went to sleep.

I kept thinking of how the codes would be used? Who would want to have the codes? Tech savy accountants? Darkweb? and Bitcoin? all use cryptic language. What is my mysterious friend into?

A few days went by, (he) my mysterious man, was not showing up at the café and I was still trying to figure out what the codes represented.

I started chatting online to a group of cyber hackers and program developers. Without giving out too much information on my behalf, we eliminated that the codes were a gaming or app program. Most where saying what I was originally thinking that it was the cryptic language for the Darkweb.

To clear my mind, I opened up the newspaper where I came across this article, where this reporter had uncovered a new smarter and sinister global network of crime and corruption and it’s all on the Darkweb. Where the encryption is hard to track down.

Could it be possible that my mystery man, was into crime and corrupt. Could this be the clue that me was trying to give me that I should perhaps get in contact with the reporter of the local newspaper?

Forget Insta influencers and tattooed Harley riders or fitness junkies with bags of cash meeting in the haunts of the rich and infamous.

Today’s 2021 drug trafficking crime lords are tech savvy, discrete, deal in Bitcoin, understand transnational laws and globally networked and likely living overseas to traffic anything, from drugs to arms, tobacco to laundered money.

And this year it is predicted 100 per cent of their business will be done online via encrypted channels with international collaboration “of unprecedented scale” to create wealth and crime lines at levels never seen, “testing” traditional policing approaches like never before.

That’s the conclusion of an Australian Federal Police assessment that notes the changing face of the drugs trafficking crime boss into increasingly sophisticated digital criminals, posing new challenges for law enforcement including the AFP and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

I started to listen into random online code hackers, where I stumbled across similarities into Bitcoin Private Keys, and the numbers I had in the notebook.

After days of trying to configure these codes It was doing my head in, is this all in my imagination or should I hand in the notebook to the authorities or even better should I contact the reporter and tell him what was going on, maybe he could find the mysterious man and help me solve this mystery.

The day after I contacted the Local Newspaper Office and asked for the details of the reporter that had wrote the article on Crime on the Darkweb. The receptionist, said due to private confidentiality she was unable to give out personal details, instead I gave her mine contact number and mentioned it was of interest to him and the article.

Half the day went by I was knee deep in artwork for a deadline, when I received the call. We arranged to meet at the café opposite my workplace. Before I was to leave the office, I made photocopies of a pages from the notebook and his newspaper article and with that I told my co-workers that I was taking an early lunch break and to find me at the coffee café across the street.

As I was crossing the street, I was nervously sweating, not knowing what to expect, my stomach was churning in knots, All I knew that I was to be cautious with this reporter and to not give out too much information of what I know.

As I walked into the café not knowing who I was looking for, when this guy stood up from the table he was sitting and waved me over.

We greeted each other with a “hello, how are you?” Then took a seat at the corner table where the mysterious man would always sit at.

The reporter introduced himself as Will Scribe he had already knew my name, and we started to discuss our connection with the mysterious man, know as Max Millions. Will knew Max very well as he was the main source for the article in questioned, an informant and working undercover with the AFP and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

Max was worried about giving up his cover and he had enough trust in me to protect the information and put two and two together work out the notebook was connected to the Newspaper Article.

I asked if Will was in contact with Max, and about his safety. But it was clear that Max was heavily involved with his undercover character and the underground crime mob.

I had no option but to trust Will and hand over the notebook, and with that I saw the last of Will and was never to see Max again.

Weeks go by….. Back at work where I was working on a presentation, I was interrupted by a special delivery, registered post to me. To my surprise it was a cheque for the amount of $20,000.00. A reward for my involvement with the safe return of the Little Black Book.