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xp_logsIn Geneva, Doug and Amanda come up with a novel way to determine just who was meeting Arkady.
If there was one lesson of Remy's that Doug had actually grudgingly paid attention to, mixed in with all the 'Cunning Linguist' jokes and the bad German mustache, it was this. "Technology a good t'ing as far as it goes," the Cajun had hammered into his head. "But dere no substitute for going out and working people to get intel." And as much as Doug was comfortable hacking his way into something, his power did lend itself toward looking a source in the eye and trying to figure out all the things they weren't telling him.
"So we know there was a meeting," he told Amanda as they sat at a small cafe table. "Now we just need to figure out how to find out who was there, and preferably what was said." He pushed a sugar packet idly in circles as his brain worried at the problem. "Any ideas?"
"We can probably pump the waitstaff for info, but it's likely they won't have a lot to give us - the place is pretty busy and I doubt they'd remember every customer." Amanda gnawed meditatively on her thumbnail, considering the issue. "And they probably made sure no-one was going to overhear them, either."
Amanda hadn't really spoken to Doug outside of work since the Hellfire Club discussion and now, while she wasn't going out of her way to be rude or anything, there was a definite 'business only' air to how she addressed him. At some point they'd deal with things, but not yet. "What's around there? Anything we can use, like a CCTV camera?"
"Let's see." Doug scanned the area, dismissing several areas that either didn't have good line of sight to the cafe or were unlikely to have any kind of CCTV. "ATM at the bank across the street," he said, opening up his laptop. He poked at his keyboard, then frowned. "And of course their offsite security location would be undergoing maintenance," he said with an exasperated 'why me' tone. "Plan B, see if there's a physical backup drive in the machine itself." He examined the street traffic with a critical eye. "Any ideas?"
"We'll need a distraction - no way this can wait until night." Amanda watched the passersby - ordinary people. Business types, students on vacation, women out shopping with their children... A slow smile crossed her face. "And I think I know exactly what sort of distraction we need."
***
An hour later...
Amanda peered into the window of a store, looking at her reflection in the glass, and adjusted the collar of her dress. As much as she hated to admit it, the shade of pink looked good on her. Her gaze shifted to take in the blonde young man across the street near the bank, dressed in a set of coveralls like any other repair man. He noticed her looking, and nodded, once. Time to go. Handbag looped over her shoulder, Amanda stepped away from the window, careful to keep her steps slow and heavy, one hand going to the small of her back as if it pained her. In front of her, her 'belly' protruded hugely. Anyone looking at her would have guessed the young housefrau was only a week or two from birth.
Angelo would have a fit if he saw her like this.
Doug chuckled in the privacy of his brain at the radical change in Amanda's appearance. It reminded him of "The Professor", a con artist in a series of Spider Robinson novels. It was funny, the parallels between some of the things they did for the job, and the tricks a con artist played. The classic cons were classics because they worked.
Doug strode up to the ATM and knelt before it, pulling out a oversized rugged PDA that looked like a diagnostic tool. It looked that way because that was how he and Mark had put it together. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a set of lockpicks and set to jimmying the lock on the panel that allowed access to the machine's innards. He'd never be as proficient as Jubilee or Remy, but for a simple brute force pick like this on a fairly simple lock, he could manage. With the panel open, he searched for a port, and plugged a USB cord into it, connecting the PDA to the ATM. Now the waiting part, which was where Amanda came in to keep attention off of him.
Crossing the room ponderously, Amanda reached the doors of the bank and made a show of struggling with them. She managed to get inside, but somehow in the process 'dropped' her handbag, scattering its contents all over the polished floor. "~Oh dear!~" she exclaimed, beginninig to bend down to pick things up, before clutching her 'pregnant' belly with a cry of pain.
It was like shouting "Fire" in a crowded room. Various people, bank staff and customers, came rushing to her aid, effectively blocking the door and thus anyone trying to question Doug on what he was doing.
Even at the highest download speed and data compression, pulling the last day's worth of data took time. The first command the video system received was to stop recording anything, so that there would be no records of his and Amanda's existence at the bank. Next, he began downloading the records, doing his best to appear like he was fixing the innards of the machine while his programming did its work.
"~Madame, should we call an amulance?~" a rather worried-looking bank manager was asking Amanda, waving a teller away with instructions to get a glass of water. He and a male customer were trying to help her to her feet, but it was tough going as she kept picking up her belongings and dropping them again.
"~Oh no, it's nothing, no reason to make such a fuss,~" she protested. "~Just a litte fainting spell, it happens sometimes when I try to bend over. I just need to sit down for a minute. Just let me get my things~" She noticed another teller glancing at the ATM and tugged on her hand. "~Please, could you help me pick these up, miss?~" The teller nodded at once and knelt down beside Amanda, helping her scoop up various bits and pieces and put them back into the overlarge handbag.
When the download of the data was complete, Doug pulled the cable out, relatched the access panel, and left everything just as he had encountered it. Then, dropping his PDA into his pocket and pulling his cap low to hide his face, he walked calmly away from the bank, never even looking at the 'pregnant woman' on the floor on the other side of the entry.
Helped to a chair, surrounded by worried bank workers, Amanda accepted her glass of water with a grateful smile. "~You've all been so helpful,~" she murmured, amused at just how true that was.
If there was one lesson of Remy's that Doug had actually grudgingly paid attention to, mixed in with all the 'Cunning Linguist' jokes and the bad German mustache, it was this. "Technology a good t'ing as far as it goes," the Cajun had hammered into his head. "But dere no substitute for going out and working people to get intel." And as much as Doug was comfortable hacking his way into something, his power did lend itself toward looking a source in the eye and trying to figure out all the things they weren't telling him.
"So we know there was a meeting," he told Amanda as they sat at a small cafe table. "Now we just need to figure out how to find out who was there, and preferably what was said." He pushed a sugar packet idly in circles as his brain worried at the problem. "Any ideas?"
"We can probably pump the waitstaff for info, but it's likely they won't have a lot to give us - the place is pretty busy and I doubt they'd remember every customer." Amanda gnawed meditatively on her thumbnail, considering the issue. "And they probably made sure no-one was going to overhear them, either."
Amanda hadn't really spoken to Doug outside of work since the Hellfire Club discussion and now, while she wasn't going out of her way to be rude or anything, there was a definite 'business only' air to how she addressed him. At some point they'd deal with things, but not yet. "What's around there? Anything we can use, like a CCTV camera?"
"Let's see." Doug scanned the area, dismissing several areas that either didn't have good line of sight to the cafe or were unlikely to have any kind of CCTV. "ATM at the bank across the street," he said, opening up his laptop. He poked at his keyboard, then frowned. "And of course their offsite security location would be undergoing maintenance," he said with an exasperated 'why me' tone. "Plan B, see if there's a physical backup drive in the machine itself." He examined the street traffic with a critical eye. "Any ideas?"
"We'll need a distraction - no way this can wait until night." Amanda watched the passersby - ordinary people. Business types, students on vacation, women out shopping with their children... A slow smile crossed her face. "And I think I know exactly what sort of distraction we need."
***
An hour later...
Amanda peered into the window of a store, looking at her reflection in the glass, and adjusted the collar of her dress. As much as she hated to admit it, the shade of pink looked good on her. Her gaze shifted to take in the blonde young man across the street near the bank, dressed in a set of coveralls like any other repair man. He noticed her looking, and nodded, once. Time to go. Handbag looped over her shoulder, Amanda stepped away from the window, careful to keep her steps slow and heavy, one hand going to the small of her back as if it pained her. In front of her, her 'belly' protruded hugely. Anyone looking at her would have guessed the young housefrau was only a week or two from birth.
Angelo would have a fit if he saw her like this.
Doug chuckled in the privacy of his brain at the radical change in Amanda's appearance. It reminded him of "The Professor", a con artist in a series of Spider Robinson novels. It was funny, the parallels between some of the things they did for the job, and the tricks a con artist played. The classic cons were classics because they worked.
Doug strode up to the ATM and knelt before it, pulling out a oversized rugged PDA that looked like a diagnostic tool. It looked that way because that was how he and Mark had put it together. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a set of lockpicks and set to jimmying the lock on the panel that allowed access to the machine's innards. He'd never be as proficient as Jubilee or Remy, but for a simple brute force pick like this on a fairly simple lock, he could manage. With the panel open, he searched for a port, and plugged a USB cord into it, connecting the PDA to the ATM. Now the waiting part, which was where Amanda came in to keep attention off of him.
Crossing the room ponderously, Amanda reached the doors of the bank and made a show of struggling with them. She managed to get inside, but somehow in the process 'dropped' her handbag, scattering its contents all over the polished floor. "~Oh dear!~" she exclaimed, beginninig to bend down to pick things up, before clutching her 'pregnant' belly with a cry of pain.
It was like shouting "Fire" in a crowded room. Various people, bank staff and customers, came rushing to her aid, effectively blocking the door and thus anyone trying to question Doug on what he was doing.
Even at the highest download speed and data compression, pulling the last day's worth of data took time. The first command the video system received was to stop recording anything, so that there would be no records of his and Amanda's existence at the bank. Next, he began downloading the records, doing his best to appear like he was fixing the innards of the machine while his programming did its work.
"~Madame, should we call an amulance?~" a rather worried-looking bank manager was asking Amanda, waving a teller away with instructions to get a glass of water. He and a male customer were trying to help her to her feet, but it was tough going as she kept picking up her belongings and dropping them again.
"~Oh no, it's nothing, no reason to make such a fuss,~" she protested. "~Just a litte fainting spell, it happens sometimes when I try to bend over. I just need to sit down for a minute. Just let me get my things~" She noticed another teller glancing at the ATM and tugged on her hand. "~Please, could you help me pick these up, miss?~" The teller nodded at once and knelt down beside Amanda, helping her scoop up various bits and pieces and put them back into the overlarge handbag.
When the download of the data was complete, Doug pulled the cable out, relatched the access panel, and left everything just as he had encountered it. Then, dropping his PDA into his pocket and pulling his cap low to hide his face, he walked calmly away from the bank, never even looking at the 'pregnant woman' on the floor on the other side of the entry.
Helped to a chair, surrounded by worried bank workers, Amanda accepted her glass of water with a grateful smile. "~You've all been so helpful,~" she murmured, amused at just how true that was.
