Page 57 of Savage Redemption

She clears the chair and carries it over but pauses to gaze around her. “Some setup you have here. You could launch an expedition to Mars.”

“Too hot for my liking,” I reply. “I’m sure you’ve seen better.”

She shrugs. “Not in private hands. Is that a quantum processor over there?”

I nod. “Useful for enhanced cybersecurity.”

She leans in to better examine my state-of-the art equipment. “Not much call for this sort of gear outside of NASA. It must have cost a fortune.”

It did, but I’m not naming figures. “I find it handy.”

“What for?”

“This and that.” I’ll be using it soon to hack into di Santo’s financial and security systems but I’m not sure this upstanding and eminent academic really wants to know that.

“What are you working on now, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“A bit of research for Ethan.”

She leans over my shoulder to study my screen. “Are you checking up on that man in the clinic? Ethan doesn’t trust him.”

“My brother doesn’t trust anyone. But yes. I’m going to dig around a bit, see what I can find out about him.”

“I’d start with the money,” she advises, settling next to me. “Banking records, investments, that sort of thing.”

My thoughts exactly. Always follow the money, first rule of background checks. “You do realise that’s illegal, Professor.”

She issues an inelegant snort. “What software are you using?”

“I call itDosh Digger.” Not an especially fancy name, but it does what it says on the tin. “It’s a system I adapted from commercial banking software.”

“You developed this yourself?” She leans in for a closer look. “Can you talk me through it?”

I shrug. “Okay. The purpose is to track payments in and out of any specific bank account, just like the normal versions. But mine traces the origins of any payments, the source bank account. I can then home in on that account and repeat the process to create a detailed trail. It works in the other direction, too. I can see who he paid money to and what they then did with it. I simply set up the search parameters and leave the system to do its thing.”

“How long does it take to conclude the search?”

“Depends how long the trail is, but typically I see the first results in a couple of minutes.”

“Can I see it in operation?”

I rarely have an audience, and never anyone so interested in my idiosyncratic ramblings through the inner bowels of IT technology. It’s a rare treat, and Eva Byrne’s obvious admiration for my work is heady. I can’t resist the urge to share with someone who actually gets it.

“I don’t see why not.” I dance my fingers over the keys. “First, I need to identify any accounts held by Carlos di Santo. I do that by simply hacking into his official business accounts.”

“Simply?”

I grin. I’ve been hacking into people’s banking records since I was about five. “Few companies realise how easy it is for an experienced hacker to gain access. Ah, yes, here we are.” I put Carlos di Santo’s name into a generalised search and come up with a series of companies he has an interest in. “I get the impression he keeps himself busy. He’s managing director of three companies, a venture capital organisation, a construction firm, and an international financial investment corporation.”

“An interesting portfolio,” Eva murmurs. “Sounds lucrative.”

“Well, let’s see.” I begin with the venture capital enterprise, loftily titled Lightning Seeds. “He seems to specialise in Third World startups, central Africa mainly. His businesses are all registered in Hong Kong.”

“Why would he…?”

“Hong Kong is one of the world’s foremost financial hubs. A good place to locate a multi-national financial empire.”

“Those sorts of ventures sound high-risk.”

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