“I did it,” Mark said suddenly from his seat in the back of the room. Sara and Anderson turned back. Mark leaned back in his seat and had a smile on his face. Next to him, J.D. was leaning to his side to be able to see what was on Mark’s laptop.
“What?” Sara asked.
“Do you remember what a rootkit is?” Mark asked.
“That’s something you install so you can completely access someone’s computer, right?” Sara responded.
“Exactly,” Mark said. “I just installed a rootkit on NATPAC’s computer. I’m downloading his files now.”
“How deep?” J.D. asked.
“Ring 0.” Mark shot back.
“Wait, is that the one where you have complete access?” Sara asked. She strained to remember the introductory lesson she received earlier in malware.
“Yes. It means I have administrative right on his computer. I can look at anything. We can look at anything.”
“How can you read it? Isn’t it in Mandarin Chinese?”
“I studied Mandarin when I was younger. I can read it.”
“Did you find something interesting?” Anderson asked.
“Well, first, do you want to know who our friend NATPAC really is?” Mark asked with a smile.
“Is it someone we would know?” Anderson asked.
“The family name is not uncommon. But it might ring a bell. NATPAC’s real name is Lo Min.”
Sara and Anderson stared at each other for a moment. Then it hit Sara.
“Wait. One of the Chinese generals has a similar name. I just saw him being covered on the news. What’s his name again?” Sara searched online and soon had her answer. “Yes. There’s a Chinese general named Lo Jie. Are they related?”
“They are brothers,” Mark said. “I have all the files here showing it.”
Anderson jumped in, “But China has the one child policy. Nobody can have a brother there. How can these guys be brothers?”
Sara knew the answer to this. “In China I think the elite can get around the one child policy. Also if the parents divorce, I think they can find a way to have a second child. So these two can be step brothers.”
“That’s exactly what they are,” Mark said. “They both have the same father but different mothers.”
“So the step brother of the general is this hacker,” Anderson said slowly.
“Wow. I just pulled up a file he uses to track his finances. Do you want to know how much our friend NATPAC, or Lo Min, has sitting in his bank account?”
“A million dollars?” Sara asked.
“Fifty million dollars,” Mark said. “And here’s something else. He apparently has consulting arrangements with a Chinese shipping company and several natural resource companies.”
“Like mining companies?” Sara asked.
“Yes, those Chinese companies that strike deals around the world with developing countries to build mines. They are the ones that create camps in those countries and send their own Chinese workers, rather than hire the locals. I think some of them are suspected of bribing developing country government officials.”
This gave Sara an idea. She turned to Anderson. “John, can you tell Tom to ask Captain Kim about this? But have him ask it as an open ended question.”
Anderson thought for a moment, and then turned on his microphone. “Yankee Actual. Can you ask Kim if the North Koreans were getting any foreign help with their drug production and smuggling operation?”
The screen ahead showed the same forest environment that Tom had been running through before. Tom and Kim were dodging stones, fallen logs, and thorny bushes, but were moving at a continuous pace. Tom posed the question to Kim. They slowed down and Kim responded after having thought through the question. He was speaking quietly. Sara guessed this was to avoid being heard. But it also seemed as though Kim still was not clued into the fact that they were watching him. Maybe he thought the helmet camera Tom was wearing was a flashlight.
“That’s interesting that you thought of that. My father told me that they get help from someone in China.”
Tom asked, “What do they do? What role do they play?”
“They helped us build the facility and learn how to actually make some of those products. They also have people that help us ship it out. I think they buy the ships from South Korean shipyards and just give it to us to use. The Chinese also have contacts all around the world, which allows us to smuggle the drugs better. Then they help our leaders get the cash into Chinese banks. They also help Room 39 operate restaurants throughout China which are basically fronts for laundering money.”
Tom knew exactly what to ask next, “What do the Chinese get in return?”
“They get a cut of the money we make. They have a few people there that collect it and then distribute it to those involved. I remember when I was studying in China, I read in a newspaper that some of the Chinese bureaucrats send their children to school in America. Well, how do you think a poor government bureaucrat can afford that?”
“That makes sense,” Mark immediately said. “Lo Min and his step brother seem to be the ones helping Room 39.”
“But does this mean that the senior leadership in China is involved with drug trafficking?” Sara asked.
“I don’t see any senior leader’s name come up in these files.”
Anderson said, “The senior leaders in China could have no knowledge of this link. They could easily have a rogue faction within their massive government bureaucracy that is carrying out its own plans. They could be doing this all under the nose of the Central Committee.”
Mark continued, “But what’s interesting is that Lo Min has been trying to climb his way up the leadership ladder. I have files here that show he’s been buying stakes in various companies in China. He seems to have been developing contacts all around the government. He’s getting paid by North Korea to help them, and he uses the money in turn to develop what look like legitimate business interests and friendships across China’s power structure. There must be a number of bureaucrats like him – people who cannot be accused of corruption in China, but who have made their money in dark ways.”
“So he’s trying to get rich and then gain a leadership position in the government?” Anderson said.
Sara smiled. “What can we do to stop all of this?”
Anderson thought for a moment and then replied. “This mission is to stop North Korea from getting nuclear weapons. That facility will be destroyed in a few hours. That will kill two birds with one stone. We’ll destroy a major part of this money making scheme, Room 39. We will also bury Room 39’s only nuclear bombs in a bunker deep underground. After that I don’t think there will be much for us to do. Does it really matter to us if these Chinese bureaucrats are trying to line their pockets by helping the North Koreans?”
Sara jumped in her seat, “It does matter. We can’t volerate it.”
Anderson looked at her as if she changed languages. “What?”
“We can’t allow ourselves to tolerate the fact that these Chinese bureaucrats are helping North Korea make and sell drugs. We can’t tolerate North Korea trying to acquire nuclear arms. We can’t tolerate it just because that in itself does not seem bad. We are looking at a frozen arrow. But we have to try to see the flying arrow and where its target is. If we let Room 39 to continue operating while being helped by rogue bureaucrats in China, North Korea will get nuclear bombs again. Or maybe they will slowly start to develop their own research so that they can build a bomb. Either way, we can’t stop once we blow that facility. We have to make sure we stop Lo Min and we need to get word around to the rest of the world so that they can counter these drug shipments. If we stop Room 39’s activities around the world, we can cripple all of its nuclear efforts.”
Anderson stared at her for a moment. Then he turned to the analyst charged with keeping in contact with the Director. Anderson asked to get the Director on the phone. Mark also
pulled out his cell phone and made a call. Sara looked back on the main screen for a few minutes. Soon Mark finished his phone call.
“I think there’s something I can do right now. I think I can throw a wrench into Lo Min’s plans,” Mark said. He started typing on his laptop. Sara stood up and walked around so she could see what he was doing. She soon realized that from looking at his laptop she would not understand what was going on. She just saw lines of code against a black screen.
“What are you doing?”
“I just spoke to the Director of the NSA. He gave me approval to undermine Lo Min if I do it surreptitiously. I’m going to tell Lo Min, Lo Jie and all the other bureaucrats mentioned in these files that we know what they are up to. I’m going to send an email from Lo Min’s account to himself. But it will also be sent to the others involved, and to some of the senior Chinese leaders, who probably don’t know about Lo Min’s activities. They will realize it’s from us although I won’t be explicit. By telling them that we know, we are threatening that the United States will expose them to the world. This email will also alert the senior Chinese leaders about their country’s connection with Room 39, so that they can clean themselves up internally. Here read this email. What do you think?”
Sara and J.D. read the screen as a message appeared.
Dear Lo Min,
A wise man once said: “Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.”
You and your brother Lo Jie should take this advice.
Stop working with Room 39.
Stop selling North Korean contraband.
Stop undermining peace.
Sincerely,
Lo Min
Anderson walked around and was stared at the message as well. Sara, Mark, and J.D. turned around and waited for him to say something.
“The NSA Director approved this?” Anderson asked.
“Yes,” Mark replied
“This should work. If this really is just a rogue faction in the government, once the main leadership figures it out, these guys will see their world turn upside down. No country would want a scandal involving its government officials selling drugs with the North Koreans.”
“I’m sending it. Here I go.” Mark hit a couple keys and then looked up at everyone.