Page 14 of The Hacker
“The data usage is off the charts again, as it was when you had the Wi-Fi issue,” he said, his voice low. “This time, however, someone is harnessing all the phones in the gym to handle the massive stream of traffic.”
She jerked her wandering mind back into business mode. “What kind of traffic? Is it some kind of illegal activity?”
“I won’t know until I get back to my office. My phone can collect the data but it doesn’t have the capacity to analyze it.” He put his elbows on the table and touched all his fingertips together, his gaze fixed on her above them. She’d only ever seen people do that in old movies, but somehow it worked for him. “I have a theory that someone is utilizing the phones as a deep web or dark web node.”
A frisson of nervous excitement tingled through her. “The dark web sounds like something Darth Vader would use. Is it illegal?”
“Not necessarily. The deep web, which encompasses the dark web, is used by legitimate businesses who want very secure information transfer, since deep websites are all encrypted and don’t show up on search engines. Some regular folks simply believe they have the right to be anonymous on the internet. Even more important, since its users cannot be tracked, citizens living under totalitarian governments use the deep web to communicate with the uncensored outside world. Which is why theNew York Timeshas a deep website. I personally use the dark web to track possible data sales if a client gets hacked.”
“So it’s a good thing?”
“Sometimes. But it was also home to the infamous Silk Road website, which dealt—and in fact might still deal—in very illicit goods and services.”
“How illicit?”
“Guns, drugs.” Leland’s expression of distaste was even stronger than when he had been sipping his protein drink. “Child pornography, sex-slave trading. Truly horrible things. Unfortunately, others have picked up where the Silk Road left off. Supposedly, you can even hire an assassin, but most of those websites have turned out to be scams.”
“So what exactly does being a node for the deep, dark web mean?”
He smiled briefly at her feeble joke. “The deep and dark webs are based on anonymity. In the simplest terms, users obtain that anonymity by having their internet access randomly bounced through multiple servers called nodes. That makes it virtually impossible to trace activity back to the end user.”
Dawn frowned. “Would someone at the gym have to know about being a node?” She just couldn’t picture Ramón aiding and abetting an assassin or a child pornographer.
“I would think so. Some router has to be feeding the traffic through the phones. It’s an interesting hack. I’m wondering if it’s related to your earlier Wi-Fi issues.” His face was lit with interest, his eyes practically glowing. His drawl had melted away as he talked. “Using the phones would probably make the users even harder to track because the IP addresses are bouncing through multiple devices. But why? What are they trying to hide?”
His gaze still seemed aimed at her, but his attention had turned to the problem. He was talking to himself. “Money laundering of some kind? Data theft?”
“The secret recipe for Jamaican Karma?”
His lips quirked in a half smile and he laid his hands palm down on the table. “Sorry. Puzzles enthrall me.”
“No apology necessary. I just wondered how far away your mind had gone.”
“I should get to the office to find out what’s really going on.”
She felt hollow at the prospect of his departure. Even potential assassins couldn’t dampen the pleasure of basking in his company. “At least you got your exercise done for the day.”
“So I will glow with virtue for the next twenty-four hours.” He pushed his chair back.
Dawn tried to delay his departure. “Did you get a lot of thinking done in the pool?”
An odd expression crossed his face. “I did but not on the most useful of topics.” He eased out of his chair with a surprised grimace. “I stiffened up. You get the credit for that. My muscles are accustomed only to swimming.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She stood too. “See you tomorrow at three.”
“You’ll hear from me before then.” His expression turned serious. “It’s a good bet that something shady is going on here. I wouldn’t mention it to anyone you don’t trust one hundred percent.”
That was pretty much her motto for life nowadays. She nodded. “Only Alice knows about this from me.” Although she might talk to her friend Natalie. Nat owned the Mane Attraction hair salon and knew more about what was going on in Cofferwood than even the police chief. And she was totally trustworthy.
“Excellent.” He smiled, his eyes glinting behind the glasses. “Maybe you should walk me to the door in case the muscles you’ve tortured can’t hold me up.”
The hollowness was banished by a wave of pleasure. He wanted her company a little longer too. She gave him a scan up and down. “I think catching you would be a job for Ramón, not me.”
“You are stronger than you think.” He moved to her side and put his hand against the small of her back to nudge her forward. The casual touch vibrated into the marrow of her bones while his words zinged around in her brain.
He saw her as strong, but he meant physically. He didn’t know who she really was.
Chapter 4
