respective tasks. Let’s share what we know. First up, Steve Levy. He’s Mark’s second-in-command. What do you have on those GPS coordinates, Steve?”
Steve consulted his notes. “Well, we reviewed the GPS coordinates and the satellite images of the site. We considered that the subject might have had a portable residence of some kind. However, extensive review of the site indicated no evidence that a physical structure of any kind had been constructed and no sign that anyone had even been in the area recently.
“We then did a thorough background check on the location to see if it held any kind of historical, environmental or astrological significance. We came up empty. So we ran a transposition between latitude and longitude to see if we could come up with a meaningful location there, but it put us in the middle of the ocean.
“After that we tried applying a Vigenère Cipher, various steganography techniques and a monoalphabetic substitution to the numbers. Basically we’ve got nothing. I’m sorry. Could be he just spoofed the system and sent us on a goose chase.”
I tried not to show my disappointment. They’d done everything I would have, so I couldn’t fault their technique. Still, I didn’t buy it. I couldn’t explain why, but I knew Broodryk had a very deliberate reason for selecting those coordinates. I just couldn’t prove it yet.
Woodward thanked Levy and then leaned back so I could better see the woman sitting beside him.
“Lexi, I’d like to introduce you to Grayson Reese. Ms. Reese is a CIA analyst. She’s been tracking Johannes Broodryk for more than four years. She’s just returned from out of town and has gathered all the intel we have on him. She’s prepared to give us a quick background briefing now.”
She tilted her head toward me, looking directly at me as she spoke. “Johannes Peter Broodryk was born on February 19, 1977 in Cape Town, South Africa. His father, Drake, was a computer engineer and designed software for one of the early microprocessors for the popular Anati 6600 computer at a company called Dynamica Tech located in Cape Town. His mother, Alina Pogova, was the daughter of Russian immigrants. She taught Russian literature at the University of Cape Town. Both of Broodryk’s parents were killed in an automobile accident when Johannes was eleven. He lived with his single uncle, Boni Broodryk, a ship engineer, until he graduated. Johannes attended the University of Cape Town for four years and graduated with the equivalent of a BS in Computer Science with a specialty in network security and neural networks. His grades indicate he was a so-so student. Didn’t show up for class much, but got the work done.”
I made some notes on my paper. “Did he get a higher degree?”
“He started, but got kicked out. Got a taste for hacking. He stole about four hundred thousand dollars from a local bank and had blown through most of it by the time he was caught. He got three years in a minimum-security facility where he apparently honed his skills even further in the prison computer lab and got his hate on for authority in general.”
I nodded and she continued without looking at her notes.
“Once out of prison, he went to live with a friend of a friend he’d met in prison. They needed a computer guy for their underground business and Broodryk fit the bill perfectly. Drugs, money laundering, forgery, extortion and robbery were just a start for him. His friend in prison, Gregor Muller, eventually got out and re-joined the operation. The two of them renamed their organization
Skelm
, which in Afrikaans slang can mean either troublemaker or a lover on the sly. Somewhere along the line Broodryk and Muller had an ugly falling out and the group split. Broodryk renamed his group the Veiled Knights and moved his operation to Johannesburg.”
I interrupted. “The Veiled Knights—Broodryk’s group—were the ones who masterminded the hit on the high school.”
“Yes. Broodryk
Steve consulted his notes. “Well, we reviewed the GPS coordinates and the satellite images of the site. We considered that the subject might have had a portable residence of some kind. However, extensive review of the site indicated no evidence that a physical structure of any kind had been constructed and no sign that anyone had even been in the area recently.
“We then did a thorough background check on the location to see if it held any kind of historical, environmental or astrological significance. We came up empty. So we ran a transposition between latitude and longitude to see if we could come up with a meaningful location there, but it put us in the middle of the ocean.
“After that we tried applying a Vigenère Cipher, various steganography techniques and a monoalphabetic substitution to the numbers. Basically we’ve got nothing. I’m sorry. Could be he just spoofed the system and sent us on a goose chase.”
I tried not to show my disappointment. They’d done everything I would have, so I couldn’t fault their technique. Still, I didn’t buy it. I couldn’t explain why, but I knew Broodryk had a very deliberate reason for selecting those coordinates. I just couldn’t prove it yet.
Woodward thanked Levy and then leaned back so I could better see the woman sitting beside him.
“Lexi, I’d like to introduce you to Grayson Reese. Ms. Reese is a CIA analyst. She’s been tracking Johannes Broodryk for more than four years. She’s just returned from out of town and has gathered all the intel we have on him. She’s prepared to give us a quick background briefing now.”
She tilted her head toward me, looking directly at me as she spoke. “Johannes Peter Broodryk was born on February 19, 1977 in Cape Town, South Africa. His father, Drake, was a computer engineer and designed software for one of the early microprocessors for the popular Anati 6600 computer at a company called Dynamica Tech located in Cape Town. His mother, Alina Pogova, was the daughter of Russian immigrants. She taught Russian literature at the University of Cape Town. Both of Broodryk’s parents were killed in an automobile accident when Johannes was eleven. He lived with his single uncle, Boni Broodryk, a ship engineer, until he graduated. Johannes attended the University of Cape Town for four years and graduated with the equivalent of a BS in Computer Science with a specialty in network security and neural networks. His grades indicate he was a so-so student. Didn’t show up for class much, but got the work done.”
I made some notes on my paper. “Did he get a higher degree?”
“He started, but got kicked out. Got a taste for hacking. He stole about four hundred thousand dollars from a local bank and had blown through most of it by the time he was caught. He got three years in a minimum-security facility where he apparently honed his skills even further in the prison computer lab and got his hate on for authority in general.”
I nodded and she continued without looking at her notes.
“Once out of prison, he went to live with a friend of a friend he’d met in prison. They needed a computer guy for their underground business and Broodryk fit the bill perfectly. Drugs, money laundering, forgery, extortion and robbery were just a start for him. His friend in prison, Gregor Muller, eventually got out and re-joined the operation. The two of them renamed their organization
Skelm
, which in Afrikaans slang can mean either troublemaker or a lover on the sly. Somewhere along the line Broodryk and Muller had an ugly falling out and the group split. Broodryk renamed his group the Veiled Knights and moved his operation to Johannesburg.”
I interrupted. “The Veiled Knights—Broodryk’s group—were the ones who masterminded the hit on the high school.”
“Yes. Broodryk
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