THE BROTHERHOOD (17 page)

‘Commercially available for ten grand, but you can have it for five. The return on investment can potentially be enormous, don’t you think?’

Bill took a wad of cash from his jacket. ‘You can count it if you want.’

Aazim’s mouth gaped at the sight of the cash.

‘If I can’t trust my own cousin then who can I trust?’ Lenni said, his eyes gleaming.

Once they were back in the car, Aazim let Bill have it. ‘You had all that cash and you made me use my credit card to buy all those clothes?’

‘As I explained to you, we
had
to use it. They have to think we’re still in the city.’

Aazim smirked at Bill. ‘Where did you get it anyway? You don’t exactly look like the businessman of the year.’

‘Compliments of your boss. He paid me twenty grand upfront and I stashed it in the car. Safer than my office.’

‘Really?’

‘It is if you know where to put it and only I could start that clunker. Now let’s find the internet.’

Chapter 17

‘
Assalamu alaikum
, Saeed.’ It had been a while since Sam had returned to the mosque as urgent matters were demanding his attention.

‘
Alaikum assalam
, brother. Let us find ourselves a more comfortable seating.’ Sam greeted the old man and they entered the mosque’s private room where they sat on the floor cross-legged.

‘I always enjoy coming to Australia but the flight is rather tiresome,’ the old man said, smiling politely.

Sam had expected a new messenger but instead he’d been greeted by an old cleric, the one The Brotherhood sent to smooth over delicate situations. ‘What brings you here, brother?’ Sam asked. The visit was unexpected and had taken him by surprise.

‘I wanted to see how things are progressing and if there’s anything you need. Recent developments have caused concern amongst The Brotherhood and we feel we have somewhat neglected your needs.’

‘I assure you there’s nothing to be concerned about. I have matters under control and the two will be disposed of …’

‘
Inshallah
. We don’t doubt you, Sam, but this is a matter concerning one of our brothers.’

‘Please continue.’

‘We know you’re looking for him in Lebanon, are you not? It’s unfortunate you haven’t told The Brotherhood.’

‘I assure you, I work in the best interests of The Brotherhood.’ Sam was getting annoyed. ‘Besides, it’s a small matter and I didn’t think it necessary to bother you with it.’

‘Please, brother Saeed, don’t take it the wrong way. You are one of our most proficient soldiers. Do you know where he is?’

‘Unfortunately, no. My informants haven’t been able to locate him.’ His admission felt humiliating and he couldn’t work out where the cleric’s uncomfortable probing was heading. He had to be careful.

With a sigh the cleric continued, looking aggrieved. ‘We believe he is no longer in Lebanon. He has been sighted in Cairo.’

‘
La afham
.’ I don’t understand. ‘Why has The Brotherhood taken such an interest in him?’

‘We are concerned he may try to …’ – the cleric chose his words carefully – ‘confront the teacher and cause him harm.’

‘Why would he do that?’ Discreetly observing the worshippers around him, Sam felt exposed.

‘Well, as you know, when the teacher came here he spent some time with our Muslim brother. Their days in Lebanon had made them close.’

‘Yes, I vaguely recall one such meeting.’ He remembered it quite well: a private congregation had been organised between the two and Sam had been snubbed.

‘They had some disagreements, as you know, and the teacher tried to convince him not to leave The Brotherhood. He was about to do the unthinkable, but you cannot abandon a way of life.’ The cleric was getting upset and took a moment to calm himself. ‘A short time later a very unfortunate incident took place. His wife was killed in a car accident.’

‘Yes, that was unfortunate,’ Sam agreed sombrely.

‘Indeed, he blames us for it and seeks revenge.’ The cleric’s eyes were pools of worry. ‘The teacher forbade anyone to harm him or any member of his family. It is not our way; that is how enemies are made.’

‘He is a wise and forgiving man.’

‘Indeed he is. Forgive me if I seem insolent by what I am about to ask you, brother. Did you have anything to do with it?’

‘His wife’s death? I assure you I did not, brother. Allah is my witness and may thunder strike me where I stand if I am lying.’ Sam was stunned by the cleric’s bluntness. The Brotherhood’s attention was a revelation and the directness of the question greatly concerned him. A subtle warning was being delivered: he was being noticed.

‘I’m sorry, Saeed, but I had to ask. The teacher wants a clear conscience if he has to condemn a grieving man to his fate.’ The old cleric stood up and said goodbye. ‘
Ma’assalama
.’

‘
Fi aman Allah
,’ said Sam.

Old men and hypocrites, he thought as he watched the cleric waddle out of the room with his minders. He took their stance on non-violence with a grain of salt, surprised they hadn’t asked him to dispose of Ilias. He had to be vigilant. They were a shrewd bunch and could become a real problem if the slightest of suspicion was raised in his work.

Bill purposely chose the Click and Surf internet cafe just off the Western Freeway so they wouldn’t waste any time getting to Ballarat. Aazim hopped on one of the computers to search for the Softbreach report while Bill scanned the patrons around them. He figured a backpacker hostel was nearby – a couple of rugged Europeans with dreadlocks were speaking in broken English to the waitress. They held a map and asked for directions while arguing with each other in Dutch. Postcards on the walls from around the world added to the colourful decor and an array of foreign currency was displayed beneath a glass bar-top.

Aazim was quickly immersed in a Google search, opening page after page of technical jargon. It was his territory and it felt good to be doing something he knew.

‘Found anything yet?’ Bill hung over him impatiently.

‘Nope, I’m still looking.’

‘I’ll get us a coffee.’

Time seemed to drag and Bill got restless. ‘Any progress?’

‘Bill, I need time. I don’t even know some of the terminology I’m reading. I have to learn it as I go and it’s not easy with you distracting me.’

A Bob Marley tune came on the radio and Bill decided to nip out for a cigarette. The laidback atmosphere of the cafe wasn’t helping his restive mood. ‘Are you okay here, buddy? I’ll just pop out for a pack of cigarettes.’

‘Yes, I’ll be fine,’ Aazim said, waving him off.

Bill saw a convenience store down the road and strolled towards it, constantly on the lookout for anything unusual. The door buzzer announced his entry in the store and he lined up behind a customer being served at the counter, looking for his brand of cigarettes on a shelf behind the sales clerk. The buzzer went off again and a policeman entered. Bill maintained a straight posture and waited patiently for his turn to be served.

The policeman grabbed a water bottle from the drink fridge and stood next to Bill. The man glanced towards him and something registered on his face. His right hand slowly rose to meet his gun and Bill heard the sound of a holster click open. The customer in front completed her purchase and walked out, allowing Bill to step forward.

‘Can I help you, sir?’ asked the Indian clerk.

The officer had barely drawn his weapon when Bill executed a precise back-kick, digging his heel into the man’s solar plexus, causing him to collapse and drop his weapon. The force knocked the wind out of him, and with a roundhouse kick to the head he was knocked out cold. Bill drew his own weapon and pointed it at the sales clerk.

‘Put your hands up and keep away from the alarm switch.’

‘Don’t shoot, mister, please,’ the clerk stammered.

‘Do as I say and you won’t get hurt. Move away from the desk and place your hands behind your head.’

The clerk was scared out of his wits but followed Bill’s instructions. Bill took the policeman’s handcuffs and cuffed the clerk to a fridge door. He found PVC tape under the counter and bound the officer’s hands. He turned the window sign to ‘closed’, grabbed a pack of cigarettes and the tape, left money on the counter and walked out.

‘We’ve gotta go, Az!’ Bill said, rushing up to Aazim.

‘Okay, I’m nearly done.’ Aazim turned. ‘We’re in trouble, aren’t we?’

‘Something like that. Grab what you’ve got and let’s go.’

‘I found the report, I’ll just get the printout.’

The police sirens screamed past them as they drove away from the internet cafe. Bill turned onto the freeway and they were on their way to Ballarat.

‘What happened?’

‘A cop recognised me. Did you find anything on the Oracle password?’ He took out a cigarette and lit up to calm his nerves. Aazim threw him a look of disapproval so he opened a window as a compromise.

‘It’s pretty interesting how it works,’ Aazim said excitedly. ‘To make passwords secure they’re usually protected by hashing using a one-way algorithm, right?’

‘What?’

‘Password hashing. Think of it as a digital fingerprint. Let’s say you type in a piece of data and that data gets converted into a small number. The algorithm is a mathematical process that mixes up the number and turns it into that fingerprint. Understand?’

‘So the algorithm is like an encryption tool?’

‘Not really, encryption’s something that can be reversed, whereas this is one way only and when a password is hashed the hash is stored in a password table.’

‘Right.’

‘A one-way algorithm is used to calculate password hashes. I found internet newsgroups from a 1993 posting that described it in detail –’

‘Az.’ Bill’s frown told Aazim to get back on track. He was having a hard time following as it was.

‘After the algorithm got posted on the internet, guess what happened.’

‘Hackers got their hands on it and made a crack program?’

‘Something like that. Oracle always denied a password weakness in their software, so some of these crack programs are commercially available and others are free. I downloaded a couple on a disk from the cafe – one uses a Brute Force method and the other a Dictionary Attack.’

‘How do they work?’

‘To get the password we’ll need the hash value from the password table. Once we have it we can run it through the two programs and see which one comes up with a match first.’

‘How will you get the hash value?’

‘I’m still reading through it, but I know it’s stored in different locations on the system and there’s about five ways of accessing it. I’ll see which one’s easiest once I’m on the server. It all depends how much access, if any, I can get to the operating system. What I want to know is how we get access to the server. We can’t just walk in there, you know.’

‘That’s exactly what we’ll do. What time do the cleaners usually arrive and how long does it take them to finish?’

‘About five-thirty, from what I remember. It’s not a large building and remember, there’s only one security guard.’

‘Okay, we’ll move in at five-thirty and work on staying only two hours.’ Aazim could tell Bill was doing some hard thinking. ‘We go in after business hours when employees leave because we don’t want any of your colleagues recognising you. That gives us about two and a half hours,’ Bill said, looking at his watch.

‘Hang on a sec,’ Aazim said. ‘Are you proposing we go in as the cleaners? What happens when the real ones come? We don’t even have ID cards.’

‘Don’t worry about that, leave it to me. In the meantime let’s grab a feed. I don’t know about you but I’m starving.’

‘All right then.’ Aazim sighed. He was too hungry to push any further for an explanation. ‘I’ll need all the energy I can get.’

‘We’ll take off as soon as we’re done. On our way there, start thinking about the building layout. I need a fair idea of where and how many exits there are, how many floors, rooms and how the car park is laid out.’

‘What is it?’ Barry was in his office when one of his men interrupted.

‘Sir, we just received information from our field agents. They’ve arrested the Perth suspect.’

‘Good. I want a full report and media coverage on this.’ Barry was delighted. Sam’s envelope had contained documented information on Australian citizens who’d spent time in Afghan training camps and other locations deemed to be terrorist sites. Disillusioned from failed relationships and dismissed as social outcasts, they were more misfits of society than serious threats but they had all the right traits for a publicity arrest. That was all that mattered to Barry. It was just the beginning for him. Sam had promised him something even bigger: the location of the entire Brotherhood leadership. Such a breakthrough arrest would elevate him to the status of legend.

‘There’s something else, sir. A senior constable was assaulted in Melbourne’s west. He recognised the suspect as William McKane.’

‘What? When did this happen?’ Barry exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

‘An hour ago. It just came in. The constable attempted to arrest him in a suburban convenience store but McKane attacked him and fled.’

‘Was he with anyone?’

‘The report states he was by himself.’ The agent gave him the location of the assault.

Barry wondered what they were up to. ‘What else?’

‘There’s a credit card transaction under the name of Aazim Elkhoury. The purchase was made at the Click and Surf internet cafe.’

‘I want you to go down there and find out what they bought and who they spoke to. If they used a computer I want it taken apart. Find out exactly what they were doing on it, understand?’

‘Yes sir.’

‘And get me a map.’

‘A map?’

‘Yes a map, a fucking map of Melbourne. Can you manage that?’

The startled agent departed hastily from his office.

Bill and Aazim pulled over at a roadside restaurant. Smoke poured out of the chimney, carrying the smell of burnt meat. Inside they were greeted by screaming children and stressed parents. They opted for a quieter spot in the corner. A burly waitress took their order and soon after their meal arrived. It wasn’t the best food but to Aazim it tasted better than Jimmy’s breakfast. Aazim ordered a latte and they watched the afternoon news on the in-house TV.