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First, give the apartment a search to determine if there are any clues there, or if Meiling was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, which does seem more probable. Then, download everything on the phone just to be sure, C, then leave the phone set up broadcasting audio and video to an anonymous Matrix drop. Then, move quickly to a coffin hotel and monitor the spy we've left in Meiling's apartment as we go over the data, for when they break into it to collect the SIM. Do A and B on the move, through several proxies/tor/etc if possible, and go to that coffin motel. This will give us some info on their response time and the people doing the responding. It may actually be better to do C from an alley nearby or something, somewhere where we haven't left any evidence of our passing, like probably video cameras outside Meiling's apartment. Get some feedback from Kay on tactics. We could set her up and get her and the Triad guy taken out here, but that sounds both too dangerous and too bloodthirsty for my tastes, as well as leading a trail back to us. If we get too visible to H-Brand we will end up as another Meiling or worse.
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Aug 30, 2016 00:03
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 03:21 |
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If we dial in to H-corp, are they going to able to do some hacker magic and fry our brain/know that we are accessing their server, as opposed to the dead man's sim? Also lol, Billy brought us in to get some cash and instead gives us a car, a chauffeur and a romantic
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Aug 30, 2016 00:11
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C., but not here; we should be somewhere more anonymous when we make that call. In the meantime, check through Meilings apartment for info, including any indication of a link between her and H-Brand or the dead exec. Or the lady who lost her earring.
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Aug 30, 2016 00:13
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Outrail posted:Also lol, Billy brought us in to get some cash and instead gives us a car, a chauffeur and a romantic That's the power of a silver tongue. Reframe the situation to such that it is a good idea for people to help you, and you'll get help instead of getting butchered. He won't be a chump when he's blackmailing an H-brand executive instead of a down on his luck reporter/con artist, if we can actually make that happen.
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Aug 30, 2016 05:26
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Yeah, if we play it right Billy will be next on our list. Or we can frame him for the while thing and have H Corp rub him out.
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Aug 30, 2016 18:38
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Outrail posted:If we dial in to H-corp, are they going to able to do some hacker magic and fry our brain/know that we are accessing their server, as opposed to the dead man's sim? The work that Yokokat did will let us do a limited spoof into the H-Brand servers pretending to be him. H-Brand infosec will notice a dead man checking his email, though, and then we'll have a limited time before they track the phone. They could maybe launch some sort of cyber-attack as well, but trying to cook someone's brain through a phone is difficult because they're designed to be safe. potatocubed fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Aug 30, 2016 |
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Aug 30, 2016 23:20
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I want to put the call in to H-Brand but the moment I do they're going to notice the dead guy logging in and start a back-trace -- so time to do some prep first. When I disconnect, Kay is sitting on Meiling's bed going through her bedside table. "That's private," I snap at her. "Says the man digging through someone else's phone," she says. But she slides the drawer closed anyway. "Find anything good?" "Don't know yet." I stand up and check the time -- it's easy to lose track when you're jacked in -- but I was only down for half an hour. I look around Meiling's apartment, a plan coalescing in the back of my head. "I did." Kay interrupts my chain of thought. She throws something to me and I catch it instinctively: Meiling's phone. Her current phone. She didn't take it to the police station when she turned herself in. "You've got a key to her place but you didn't search it," Kay goes on. "This 'innocent woman' your other half?" "Just a friend," I say. I unlock the phone; Meiling never told me her passcode but I watched her do it enough times that it's second nature to me. I skim through her recent calls. Several from one number over the past few days, but no identifying details attached to it. A boyfriend I didn't know about? I check the same number in her messages and I find something interesting pre-dating the calls: Mystery Number #1 posted:Hello. You don't know me, but I have important information that could make or break your brother's career. Please call this number to discuss an off-the-record meeting. Sure as poo poo not a boyfriend, then. The language and punctuation are oddly formal -- someone used to talking down to people, to regimented communication. Someone corporate. The only corps Meiling knew were the ones who ate at her cart from time to time. And technically her brother, I realise, although he worked for such a tiny little sub-subsidiary it was easy to forget. I turn my attention to Meiling's photos. Terrence grinning at me from half a dozen places, always with two fingers in a victory sign, often with a beer in his hand. I'd met him once, and he'd been exactly like you'd think. How the hell was he wrapped up in this? Focus, Mas'ud. One lead at a time. I open up my wifi and create a couple of anonymous matrix IDs in the privacy of my own head. "We're going to need to move pretty soon," I say to Kay. "Get ready." She raises her eyebrows but doesn't say anything. Stands up and moves to the door. Moments later I hear the car start outside -- some sort of private link between the two of them, I guess. I jack in to Meiling's old phone again, hook its camera and mic to one of the anonymous IDs, then initiate the connection with H-Brand's email server. Quick quick quick. I grab copies of everything I can as it downloads and stash it all on my internal storage. I can sort through it later. Sure enough, after nine seconds I'm shut out. The phone is just starting to give me its first security warning when I jack out. I gesture 'time to go' at Kay, then 'shh'. I leave the phone camera-down on the couch, nice and obvious for the curious interloper, and together we head downstairs. "I think H-Brand might be about to hit this place," I say as we climb back into Zhao's car. "Take me to a coffin hotel on the other side of the island. I need to make some phone calls, and it's probably best if I do that on the move." "It's almost like you've done this before," Kay says as she settles into her seat to watch the road. But her sarcasm washes off me. Too busy interposing my other anon account between me and the people I'm about to call -- leaving Mas'ud Quade behind and becoming someone else. I'm no hacker, but I know how to do my job and stay alive. I hope. ---- Okay, we've got some people to call -- Derek Frost, Leilin Wen, and Mystery Number #1. But how will we do it? A. Claim to be someone else. (Who?) It almost certainly won't fly, but we might get something in the confusion. B. Make anonymous, unspecific threats, and see what that shakes loose. C. Polite journalist approach. Maybe they'll be reasonable? D. Paxman style. Get in their face (ear) with question after question. Works better face to face, but you never know. Different answers for different targets are totally fine. We've also got the data from Donny's most recent emails to sift, but we'll do that once we get somewhere quiet. Gather information now, analyse later.
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Aug 31, 2016 14:41
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Let's try D with one, and go with A on the other one if that works poorly.
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Sep 1, 2016 14:05
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D the first two and A Mr. Anonymous. (I'd suggest a one sentence description of characters we're given the option to interact with since remembering who everyone is by name is kinda tough without having to go look it up.)
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Sep 4, 2016 06:56
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