Swimming with Sharks (37 page)

Alex leaned forward and looked at the incomprehensible row of numbers and letters flashing by on the monitor.

“But if this thing recognizes every access,” she asked, “how can you get into the system without anyone noticing?”

“Like I said, through the back door,” Justin answered. “There’s a command that gives me administrator’s rights.”

“Aha.”

“Such a large and complex system as BM 5.3 naturally has strict access controls. The network administrator is the only authorized individual to read, modify, or delete any system files. He also assigns access rights to
individual users and monitors them. BM 5.3 has a directory structure that we call Listing, with which the network administrator monitors access rights. Every user has his or her own identification code, the UIC. Based on this personal code, the computer recognizes which resources are available to the user after log-in.”

“So those people who monitor everything can also snoop around in my files?” Alex asked in disbelief.

“Of course,” Justin said.

“That’s just unbelievable!” She shook her head in disgust. “I save tons of important things on my computer.”

“If they are so secret that no one should know about them, then you shouldn’t save them on your computer. I can show you a trick to set up a secret file even your administrator can’t crack.”

“You get full access with one simple command?” Mark was mightily impressed.

“Yes.” Justin looked up and grinned. “Pretty easy, isn’t it? You just need to know the command. If you tried to hack the passwords, it would attract attention right away. Most of the software for password hacking needs an incredible amount of capacity. We also happened to install Stealth into BM 5.3, a program that allows us to access the system unnoticed. It’s named after the stealth bomber that enemy radar can’t detect, and it makes the external user invisible to the network administrator.”

“What’s the secret command?” Mark asked curiously.

“I’ll tell you,” Justin answered with a smile, “because the command itself doesn’t really get you very far.”

He turned the monitor slightly to the right so that Alex, Oliver, and Mark could see the screen and typed a combination of numbers and letters on the keyboard.

RloginBM5.0LMINY.target.com-1-froot<

The screen turned black for a few seconds, and then the password prompt appeared.

“And now?” Mark asked.

“This system has an embedded command that circumvents the password. You have to think of it as a universal key.”

>etx/passw/10pht.com.unix<

The computer hummed away busily. Then the monitor flickered and displayed a message that Justin obviously expected, but it took Alex and Mark’s breathe away.

Welcome to Levy Manhattan Investments, New York City.

“Unbelievable,” Alex murmured.

“Ingenious!” Mark said, visibly impressed.

“Now we have unrestricted access to the server.” Justin licked his lips like a satisfied cat. “Let’s see if we can solve your problem. What should I look for?”

“Private Equity Technology Partners,” Alex said promptly.

“Fund management,” Oliver added. It took a few minutes for Justin to find the securities department information after maneuvering through various LMI server interfaces.

“Holy cow,” he said, “they’ve got hundreds of them!”

“Of course,” Alex said, “investment funds are totally legal.”

Oliver leaned forward and looked over Justin’s shoulder.

“That’s the one,” he said. “May I?”

“Sure, go ahead.” Justin moved aside obligingly. Alex marveled at Oliver’s focus. She had never seen him at work before and noticed that he appeared to be on familiar ground. But after a while the hopeful tension in his face gave way to a look of resignation.

“This is the wrong place,” he said, chewing pensively on his lower lip. “They only manage legal funds, and there’s no indication of risky investments.”

He gave Justin his seat back.

“We need to get into the database module where the offshore companies are managed,” he said.

“Maybe they’re not doing it from headquarters, but from a subsidiary in the Caymans or Switzerland.”

“Okay,” Justin said, “let me try a help command.”

He typed in a combination of numbers and letters again.

“Ah, yes,” he eventually said, “here it is. There are a number of limited partnerships that are owned by the company’s subsidiaries. We have quite a big selection here: LMI in Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Cape Town, or Singapore; Banque Villiers Suisse in Geneva, Zurich, Monaco, and Liechtenstein; Levy & Villiers in Zurich, Nassau/Bahamas, and Georgetown/Grand Cayman; LV Invest on Samoa and Labuan; SeViCo in Panama City, Gibraltar, Road Town/BVI…”

“Stop!” Oliver yelled; everyone looked at him in surprise.

“Let me see,” he said. “They list SeViCo as a subsidiary of LMI? Unbelievable! I thought that only Vitali was behind this, but…”

His eyes met Alex’s.

“SeViCo,” she murmured, “could also be derived from Sergio and Vincent.”

“Exactly,” Oliver said, “and it would be the proof that the two of them are in it together.”

Justin focused and worked silently for almost an hour, but then he shook his head.

“It’s a dead end,” he said. “I’m not getting anywhere with SeViCo. They do it differently; I don’t get it.”

The four of them were at a loss. How all of these companies were related to each other was too complex to figure out. Oliver jumped up and paced back and forth in the tiny office.

“Let’s recap,” he said. “Alex has a suspicion that someone conducts illegal business with her confidential information. Mark and Alex found out that MPM buys the stock of companies that are about to be acquired or merged. According to the commercial register, MPM is owned by Venture Capital SeaStarFriends Limited Partnership. In turn, a fund launched
by LMI called Private Equity Technology Partners is invested in the latter. Correct?”

Alex and Mark nodded.

“SeaStarFriends is a partnership registered in the British Virgin Islands. All of this smells like money laundering.” Oliver frowned and shook his head. “We need to approach this differently. Justin, can you try to get into the commercial registry on the British Virgin Islands?”

“Sure.” Justin went back to work. Oliver, Mark, and Alex followed his efforts, tensely registering his every breath.

“I should work for the IRS,” he said after about a half hour. “I’m in.”

The three of them felt electrified.

“The safety measures are quite ridiculous.” Justin pointed to his screen. “Here are the registration numbers of every company registered on the British Virgin Islands…Let’s see…”

“Venture Capital SeaStarFriends Limited Partnership,” Oliver said with a triumphant smile, “incorporated on May 25, 1998. The general partner is Vincent Isaac Levy, and the limited partner is Mr. Sergio Ignazio Vitali.”

“My God,” Alex whispered, “I can’t believe it.”

“MPM is owned by Levy and Vitali,” Oliver said.

“Then Zack isn’t working for himself. He’s working for them.” Alex felt miserable all of a sudden. Vincent Levy and Sergio Vitali made gigantic, risk-free profits through this fake company using insider information that
she
delivered to them! She didn’t even have to look for the individual stock purchases—she was certain that MPM always bought before a merger or acquisition was publicly announced. Sergio must have made millions, if not billions, over the past few months! Rage rose within her. Sergio had been using her the whole time. Now she understood his attempt at reconciliation the night he was shot, as well as his marriage proposal: he was afraid that his golden goose would fly off if she left him. Worst of all, she didn’t know what to do with this discovery. No one would believe that
she hadn’t a clue about MPM and SeaStarFriends. She was Sergio’s lover. People would obviously think that she was an accomplice.

“That’s exactly what Shanahan did,” Oliver observed, but Alex didn’t respond. He had been right the whole time!

“If there’s one of these companies,” Mark pointed out, “then there are probably more like it. And if LMI invests in them with its own funds, then that means Levy and Vitali profit. Tax free.”

Alex felt a chill. Sergio and Levy started SeaStarFriends right when she joined LMI. They had profited from her deals from the very beginning. But in contrast to Shanahan, who knew what he was doing, she wasn’t privy to the situation. Sergio had lied to her in every respect.

“What are they doing with all this dough?” Justin threw out. “I mean, what do you need all those millions for?”

“If you have one million, then you want two,” Oliver replied. “If you have two, then you want ten; and if you have ten, you want a hundred. The greed of some people is virtually insatiable.”

“This setup is almost perfect,” Mark observed. “Really, we should admire anyone who could come up with this.”

“That’s true,” Oliver said, “and it’s absolutely safe for the people pulling the strings. If one of these companies goes bust, then you can hardly trace it back to whoever is behind it. The authorities are busy enough. If one of the trails leads to an offshore financial center, they’ll simply drop it and keep going after little guys they can catch in their own country.”

“Nevertheless,” Alex said, trying to maintain her composure, although she was boiling inside, “Justin’s question is valid. I’d also love to find out what they’re doing with all this money. Vitali already has everything that money can buy. There must be another reason why he’s doing this.”

“What do you mean?” Oliver cast her a probing glance, but Alex didn’t answer. She suddenly remembered a conversation that she’d overheard during the charity event at the Plaza. The wife of New
York’s building commissioner told Vincent Levy’s wife that they had been vacationing in the Caymans at Sergio’s expense. Did Sergio repay McIntyre for a favor in this way?

“Justin,” Alex asked, “could you get into the computer of Levy & Villiers in Georgetown on Grand Cayman?”

“I can try,” he said.

“What do you expect to find?” Oliver asked in surprise.

“Maybe nothing,” Alex said, “but maybe material that will secure your Pulitzer Prize.”

Oliver grinned, but Justin’s face turned grim after a few minutes.

“I need a specific password in order to get into the network on the Caymans,” he said.

“Why’s that? Do they use a different operating system?” Mark asked.

“It’s an added safety feature.” Justin shrugged his shoulders. “The computer isn’t linked to the one in New York.”

He went to work at a different computer.

Eventually, he said, “Let’s grab some food. If we’re lucky, CryptCrack will hack the password by the time we’re back.”

“What the hell is that?” Mark wanted to know.

“CryptCrack,” Justin said, “is a password-hacking program that I recently developed. Now I can test it in real circumstances.”

They left the computer alone with this Herculean task and went to the MIT cafeteria, located in a different building on the campus. They were starving after so many tense hours in the basement.

Mary Kostidis sighed. Even though he didn’t say anything, more and more she could feel the enormous pressure weighing on her husband. Vitali Junior’s death, the hostilities in the press, and this strange terrorist—all of this strained his nerves. At last night’s dinner for the Canadian
ambassador, Nick was his old entertaining, charming, and relaxed self for a while. However, when Mary later went into his office—where he had disappeared with Ray Howard—she could tell from his expression that something else had happened. She asked him about it afterward, but he simply dismissed her question.

In the past, Nick had involved her in his life. They discussed their problems with each other, and he’d asked for her opinion. But during the last few months, something had changed between them. For the first time in their long marriage, Mary Kostidis didn’t know what her husband was dealing with. Why was he hiding important things from her? When she stepped out on the terrace last night, she had thought for a brief, crazy moment that there could possibly be another woman in his life. Mary noticed how her husband looked at Alex Sontheim, the beautiful and highly intelligent banker. The expression on his face caused a painful sting in her heart. For as long as she’d known him, he had never given her such an enraptured and fascinated look. Had Nick fallen in love with her? Without a doubt, Alex was an extraordinary woman: successful, independent, and exceptionally sharp. She was beautiful, but she was also Sergio Vitali’s lover. Was that possibly the reason why he had invited her? Did Nick think that he could finally get to his archenemy through Alex? Or was there more behind it?