Dean Warner Intrigues - 23. NSA Solution

Chapter 23 NSA Solution

Their new security guy called and came by the next morning. Jeff Talbot was nothing like Bruce Schuetz. He was all business and tried to impress them that he was in charge and they would do things his way. He was very overbearing to the point of being rude and talked to the two men as if they were children. Finally John had enough and asked him to leave which was met with some resistance on the part of Jeff. John was thoroughly pissed and said “get out or I will call the police. This is my home and you are not welcome.”

Jeff left in a huff and John was on the phone to his mom. He had a heated conversation with her and explained he would not be treated like a child nor would he abide having anything to do with the self-important Mr. Talbot. Libby was thoroughly confused. She had thought Talbot was overly obsequious and servile, but the man obviously was completely different with John and Dean. She assured John that a new person would be assigned as soon as she called the security company. John then told his mother that Bruce Schuetz was far more competent, more to his liking and he was sure Bruce had learned not to cross her again. They talked for a while longer. She did not commit to getting Bruce re-assigned, but she did not rule it out either. John got off the phone and explained everything to Dean who was in complete agreement with what had been said.

    *         *         *         *          *          *         *          *         *         *         *         *         *

Several hundred miles to the east on a campus with several nondescript federal office buildings, several of the National Security Agencies finest cryptographers had made a couple of breakthroughs in decoding Weiss' encrypted security routines which layered his hard drive with multiple layers of encryption. The first breakthrough involved the cipher key and the chip found in the bullet which Weiss had shot into Dean’s bedroom. That allowed them to see data and files which detailed what Weiss had sold to his contact from Chicago and what those programs allowed them to do including monitoring the computers which had received an e-mail from them with the executable codes hidden in them. The Feds were able to trace several computers the mob had infected and monitored including Dean’s.

Further the chip in the key chain showed Weiss had another layer of encryption on his computer and this layer, once decoded, provided another treasure trove of information. After the breakthrough they traced back not only every cookie, flash cookie and LSO's on Dean's computer but also the computer taken from Bruno Weiss' house. They built a profile showing a detailed network of international connections and deployed his tracking software and skimmer to their own advantage now that they understood how to direct it and harvest the information they were after. They had called in the FBI's assistant director for organized crime and added web addresses and sites they kept under surveillance.

Two large NSA super computers were put on the task and a highly disturbing picture indicating links between elements of organized crime in the US, the drug cartels in Mexico and South America as well as the Mafia in Europe and the Russian mob emerged. The amount of money being generated and transferred was mind boggling, over several billions of dollars as projected on an annual basis. The President's national security advisor was called in as was the assistant attorney general. As the mountain of data grew and the number of large domestic and international bank accounts involved became clear, the assistant secretary of the Treasury was also brought on board. A special task force was convened and battle plan was drawn up. Several foreign governments were brought in and their police agencies as well, including Interpol. Pointedly, the Russian and several former eastern block countries were not. Neither were the Italians, nor some of the South American governments.

   *         *         *        *         *        *         *          *           *          *          *           *        *

Bruce was back on the job and with security once more back to the usual, the guys felt a lot better. Friday was dinner at the Warner's and Debbie had outdone herself. She had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus, a jello salad and fresh baked rolls. She had the guys from next door as well as Sean and her boys. She had fried up three cut up chickens, one at time and kept the chicken warm in the top oven as she fried the next batch. She had used five pounds of potatoes to make the mashed potatoes and also gotten two pounds of asparagus. The jello salad was a double batch and featured cut up apples, walnuts and some pineapple in raspberry jello. The guys next door brought a lemon meringue pie they had gotten from the bakery and Sean brought three bottles of wine.

It was a feast! They enjoyed each other’s company but also were enjoying the food so the conversation was somewhat muted as they all plowed into the delicious bounty. They did talk about the latest events in Texas, filling in their guests and wondered what the federal agents were doing all this time and if they would ever be able to penetrate the security stuff done by Bruno Weiss. Talk then turned to basketball and how such a promising start to the IU season had gone downhill, but they looked forward to the rest of the final four playoffs.

After clearing the table and demolishing the dessert, John and Dean cleaned up in the kitchen while the rest adjourned to the family room to talk and see what game was on. After finishing Dean and John joined them and brought each of them a Bud Light. Dean asked Sean if he was still seeing Roy? Sean smiled and said: “Well after the first couple of times, we sort of cooled off and realized we were friends, just not boy-friends. I guess I'm still looking for Mr. Right” he sighed. Everyone immediately reassured Sean that with his warm and generous personality it was just a matter of time. But Sean retained his melancholy look even though he smiled.

At about eleven, the neighbors all said goodbye and headed to their homes and beds. John was staying overnight and after they let Sadie out to do her business and they reset the alarm, the dog followed Debbie to her room as the guys headed to Dean's. Dean let John shower first and then he took a quick shower too. They cuddled and then awkwardly got into a sixty-nine position in the confines of the regular double bed. However, it was no impediment to their usual outpouring and neither missed a drop. With no mess to dispose of, they turned and spooned with John shoving his ass back into the crotch of Dean who quietly giggled as they turned and kissed.

Saturday morning found them heading for John's gym and a swim. Dean was becoming really proficient and did his mile and a half in no time while John was all but struggling to finish a mile. They both showered off the chlorine and then Dean went to do a round on the machines while John scrounged up an opponent for racquetball. When they finished, they showered, hit the steam room and dry sauna and then showered again and were out of the club by half past eleven. They stopped at the little diner close to John's condo for lunch and then headed back to John's for a little afternoon delight. Later, they swung by Dean's house and collected his things and packed his car and he drove it back to John's and parked it in his other inside parking space on the ground level of the condo. They had planned to go out for dinner but instead chose to get Chinese takeout, which they brought back to John's and had a little feast. They put on some music and just ate at the coffee table in front of the fire. Dean was beginning to really love John's condo. It was masculine with clean lines but still warm and cozy and also very comfortable. They watched some more basketball and drank some beer and just enjoyed being with each other.

John was the most contented he had ever been and Dean was thinking that everything would be perfect if just this Bruno Weiss thing wasn't hanging over his head.

They were planning to go to dinner at the Trask's on Sunday for a traditional St. Patrick's day dinner and then later that evening Dean would return to the IU campus as his Spring break and John's vacation was over. They made an early evening of it and were soon in the bathroom and in the Jacuzzi.

Dean again asked John if he had a disposable enema and they both cleaned themselves out thoroughly. They adjourned to the big California King bed with plenty of room and stripped it of everything except the bottom fitted sheet. Then Dean pounced on John and pushed him to the mattress and started licking and kissing him down his chest and across his abs, then his hips and around to his thighs and then rolled him over and did the same to his bubble butt. That lasted for a while and then John pushed Dean over and proceeded to do to him just as Dean had done to him. Only after a short time, Dean was begging John to get a condom so he could put it on him as he really needed to feel him inside. John never hesitated to comply and it seemed that they were becoming more adapted to each other as he proceeded to easily enter his lover's body. The connection was electric. John again pushed Dean's legs backwards as he knelt and then stood over his lover long-dicking in and out of his lover. Dean's tool was pushed into his face and he swallowed it eagerly as they both were all too soon brought to a thundering climax, which left John spent and Dean almost drowned in his own semen. John dropped down next to him and started licking Dean's face clean and sucking his tongue. They were both drenched in sweat and while they cuddled for a bit, they both soon were up and heading for the large shower. After cleaning up, they stripped the bottom sheet off the bed and replaced it and remade the rest of the bed. The dirty laundry was put into the washing machine and the guys were soon snug in the bed and sound asleep in each other’s arms.

Sunday morning they joined the Trasks at church and afterward followed them back to their home for dinner. John's aunt and cousins joined them. It was corned beef, cabbage, boiled new potatoes, applesauce, and fresh baked bread with butter. Dessert was a white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry sauce. Everyone had an enjoyable time and by six o'clock Dean was on his way back to school.

He arrived uneventfully and sent texts to his security when he left the Trask's and when he arrived at his dorm and got answering ones back confirming they were on it. He started reviewing what he would be covering on Monday as he had an early 8:00 a.m. class and was still reading when his pod mates started arriving.

Class the next morning was somewhat unusual in that about a fifth were absent. After class Dean headed to the Union and found everyone was watching the news. An international crime bust was carried out over the weekend and the news was just coming out that morning. Several large banks were closed for the day and accounts were being seized both here in the U.S., as well as offshore and overseas. Several members of organized crime families had also been arrested as well as warrants issued for several others. It was being reported as the largest national and international crime bust ever with more than four hundred individuals sought and thousands of bank accounts with perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars seized in ten different countries.

As Dean was watching the news, he was suddenly approached by his security team and advised that he needed to get to a safe place immediately. They were taking him to the local FBI office per instructions from Bruce. They arrived without incident and Dean and his two companions were ushered into a small conference room with a table and six chairs and a counter at one end with a sink, a fresh brewed pot of coffee and some mugs, with creamer and sugar nearby. They all helped themselves to a cup of coffee and Dean pulled out his iPhone and called John who answered on the first ring.

“Are you okay” he inquired”

“Yeah, I got hauled off to the local FBI office here in Bloomington and I am cooling my heels in a conference room. How about you?”

“Dad and I are headed over to the police department for a meeting with detective Turner. Apparently, we are going to be included in a conference call. Both our mom's will be there as well.” The guys chatted for about twenty more minutes with nothing much happening. Then John said, “I'll call you back after this is over, Turner just came into the room and I want to hear what he has to say.”

Just as the connection was broken, the door to the conference room opened and a man and a woman came in and introduced themselves as federal agents. They said a conference call from Washington was scheduled for eleven o'clock and that it was to be conducted by Marshal James Mason. They had a little more than twenty minutes to kill and Dean asked where the restroom was and was directed to it. It seemed that during the wait, everyone in the room availed themselves of it. At five to eleven, the agent in charge, dialed into the conference call over the secure line in the room and they had to identify themselves and then they were added into the call by the FTS operator.

Promptly at 11:00 a.m. James Mason introduced himself and then made sure everyone was on the line and could hear. Once they had again all verified they could hear, he announced:

“By this time you have heard of a major U.S. and international organized crime bust over the weekend involving several countries and hundreds of individuals all over the world. The news media is being provided minimal information as the investigation is ongoing and it seems that the tendrils of organized crime have penetrated further than anyone had ever suspected. We were able to do this because our experts were able to crack the encryption security Weiss deployed with the help of the data chips and information from the Weiss case and the help you all provided.

We think that the organized crime families have more on their minds with all the arrests, outstanding warrants including wiretaps and seizures and are fully occupied and in no position to put anything together to implicate Dean further. To further strengthen that thought, we have put it out to certain factions of organized crime that it was a breakthrough provided in the evidence turned by the men who were captured in Texas that lead us to penetrate the Chicago crime bosses operation and that was the source of our way into their networks of financial dealings. We further let it be known that the Chicago family who sold them on this encryption scheme which they furnished, had used it to also skim funds from several transactions without the other criminal entities being aware of it. And actually, that part is true. Accordingly, the members of the Chicago mob have a death sentence on them from all the remaining conspirators in their money laundering and corruption schemes.

From the vast amount of data harvested so far we have determined that the mob boss in Chicago was particularly worried about Dean being somehow complicit with Bruno as it was Dean’s connection to the internet that Bruno used. Intercepted and decoded e-mails show he was particularly worried that Dean could track him using Bruno’s routines and considered Dean a twofold threat, both to himself and his organization.

As a precaution, we are asking Dean to be outfitted with a body armor vest and to wear it when walking between classes or when he is otherwise outside and exposed for at least a month. He should also wear headgear and dress inconspicuously and vary his routes and times as much as possible. His security team will be fully advised of the recommended procedures.

The government wishes to thank Dean and his mom as well as the Trask family for their invaluable help and assistance. Several rewards for information leading to the arrest and convictions of certain mob characters is pending and will be paid upon the expected convictions. The reward money will not be publicized.”

At that point Dean broke into the conversation and said: “Any reward money due me, should be paid to charity. I nominate UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders.”

Debbie Warner spoke up and said “I fully endorse Dean's decision and do not want to profit from what I consider as blood money.”

Libby Trask then also spoke up and said her family had no need of any money or reimbursement for any expenses and that she had conferred with her husband Jack and son John and they too wanted all reward money to go to the charities named by Dean.

The Marshal indicated he would follow-up with their requests and he would be contacting them individually as time permitted to keep them apprised of any further developments. He did inform them that the Feds were actively monitoring all communications from a whole host of suspects and if any mention of the Warners or the Trasks was heard, they would be informed. He closed the call after there were no further questions directed to him and left them connected. John asked Dean where he would obtain his body armor and the agent in charge in the room with them said it was being taken care of as they spoke. Dean told John he would call him on his cell phone and said good-bye to his mom and to John and his parents. As they pushed back from the table, the female agent excused herself and left the room. She returned shortly carrying a package which she then opened. She instructed Dean to take off his shirt but leave his undershirt on and helped him into his new vest. His shirt barely fit over it. She suggested he might want to buy some large bulky sweaters.

Dean was not real happy but understood it could be even more dangerous for him, despite the misdirection provided by the feds. He was glad to get back to his dorm room and the campus. He had provided the agent in charge with a list of the classes he had missed that day and the name of the professors as the FBI agent said he would be contacting the Dean of Students to get his absences excused on national security grounds. John's two man security team also provided the agent with the classes they missed and the names of their professors as well and the agent said he would take care of them as well.

Dean asked Russell, one his security guys if he could find some time to go pick up three dark, nondescript bulky sweaters as his shirts were tight over the vest and he gave him his Visa card.

The Nightly News that night was all about the big multinational crackdown on organized crime. Somehow the network had found out that the intelligence break came through the Chicago mob, which was either all in custody or running for their lives. Court appearances for arraignments were being scheduled all over the country and also abroad. Seizures of bank accounts were reported in more than 100 financial institutions here and abroad. Interpol was boasting they had done more to cripple organized crime over the past few days than in their entire prior history. Scotland Yard was publicly thanking the American Federal Bureau of Investigation for information leading to the arrest of several suspected organized crime members as well as information allowing them to seized almost a hundred million pounds sterling of their ill-gotten gains, much of it in Bermuda. The President of Mexico was proclaiming that the drug cartels were exposed and much of their money impounded. He had used the army to carry out a large assortment of raids and some of them had resulted in fierce gun battles which the army had expected and therefore used armored vehicles and tanks. While there had been some deaths of some military members and also some civilian casualties, the drug cartel members and their henchmen had faced overwhelming force and been mostly destroyed.

The reports from overseas were not all positive. The Russians were complaining of an abuse of their sovereignty as several Russian banks had assets seized at foreign branches. The Italians were also complaining that they were informed at the last possible moment and that intelligence about the operation had not been properly coordinated with their government.

The attorney general was questioned and he indicated that operations were ongoing and that his office would be seeking through the state department, the arrest and deportation of some suspects who had fled overseas.

Then the news turned to the financial markets, which had taken a dive. Stocks and bonds were down around the world as people were selling stocks and other securities and moving to cash.

When the news ended the guys were all talking about the big bust of organized crime and wondered how many had gotten away or successfully stashed even more money that was not caught?

In cities and towns around the country and also around the world, arrests and seizures continued to be made albeit on a smaller scale and volume. The week and month that followed provided some truly historic changes. With money supplies cut off, or almost completely dried up, facilities raided, people arrested and interrogated, drug shipments were curtailed and sales nose-dived due to a lack of supply. Within another few weeks, hospitals and treatment facilities were overloaded around the country with people going through acute withdrawal symptoms. Prior statistics which had estimated about 7 million drug addicts in the U.S., were blown away as more than double that number were in emergency treatment programs set up by the government.