[Chapter 481: Co on, Let's Rock Together]
Once the target was confird, Adams' team sprang into action, searching for architectural blueprints of the Butterfly Security and Protection Company's headquarters.
The place was huge, with many buildings.
They planned to identify possible prisoner-holding locations such as basents. Then, they could devise entry sches like claiming to perform building inspections or plumbing maintenance to sneak inside the Butterfly Company and investigate.
To get physical blueprints, they would have to request files from the Los Angeles Departnt of Building and Safety, which was a complicated procedure and risked raising suspicion.
When Carajono, who was skilled in computers and the internet, returned, Adams had him search online to see if there was a digital copy.
Carajono did indeed find that all buildings in the Venice area had digital records.
But the Los Angeles Departnt of Building and Safety's digital archives weren't freely accessible.
Adams stood behind Carajono looking at the computer screen and asked, "Can you get into the database and grab the blueprints?"
Carajono was confident, "No problem. I'll borrow so botnets to hack in. The tech at Building and Safety is weak -- no one will detect anything, even ten years from now."
Adams, who often saw Carajono ssing with movie tech and the internet, trusted him deeply, "Then let's move."
Carajono's fingers flew over the keyboard, and within minutes, exploiting firewall vulnerabilities, he hacked into the Departnt's electronic data repository and quickly found the design blueprints for the Venice private yacht club.
Adams watched and said, "The address is right, and the orientation matches -- this is the one."
Carajono replied, "I'll download a copy."
Using the botnets, he transmitted an electronic copy through several disguised nodes to his own computer and carefully erased all traces.
Within his technical scope, nothing was left behind.
He discarded all the botnets and didn't open the file imdiately. Instead, he ran the blueprints through three rounds of antivirus and his own protective software to be sure.
Scar grew impatient and asked, "Can we look now?"
"Stay calm," Carajono clicked open the blueprints, "Now we're good."
Adams, a forr urban SWAT officer, could read architectural blueprints and quickly scanned it through, saying, "Print it out."
Carajono connected to the printer, and soon the large sheets were printed, much easier to study.
...
Five people gathered around the dining table to study the plans together.
Adams pointed to the main building on the blueprint and traced his finger downward. "Look here. This building has a basent, and it's massive. The notes say it connects to water, electricity, ventilation, and sewage pipes. There are likely people living down there."
The driver said, "We're too few. If this was outside North Arica, we'd storm in, kill all the n, and keep the won as slaves..."
Scar shot him a glare, "Shut up."
The driver shrugged, holding his tongue.
After carefully studying the blueprints, Adams asked Carajono, "Can you hack into Butterfly's network system to cause an outage -- network or power?"
Carajono responded, "I can only try. Just a little test."
Adams then told Scar, "Find a way to pose as network or power maintenance workers -- we have the money for it."
"I'll find a lead," Scar said, pulling the driver away.
Carajono turned to Bruno, who was working with him, and said, "Co with to lrose Place. I need to buy so electronic equipnt."
They hurried out, leaving Adams alone studying the blueprints.
---
anwhile, in Venice at Butterfly Security's headquarters, Fernandez from electronic security rushed out of the monitoring room, pushed open his boss Hierro's office door, and said, "Boss, network alarms have been triggered!"
Hierro dropped his mouse and went straight to the monitoring room. After a glance, he picked up the phone and called Campos. "Our network periter alert was just triggered."
Campos asked, "Which section?"
Hierro looked down to double-check and said, "It's the electronic archive at the Departnt of Building and Safety -- likely the company's digital blueprints."
Without hesitation, Campos said, "Go straight to Coast Tower."
They hung up at almost the sa ti. Campos didn't get into his own car but took a regular employee vehicle.
They were pros -- when network alerts fired off, Butterfly might be targeted.
Coincidentally, a dock garbage truck was departing, so they hopped into it.
Erging from the company, they went to the garbage transfer station, then climbed into a car Edward had sent. Soon, they arrived at Coast Tower.
...
Hierro explained the situation to Hawke, emphasizing, "This isn't a false alarm -- the person who hacked the Departnt's archive copied the blueprints."
Butterfly had chosen this location -- the forr Ackerman family Venice private yacht club. Hawke suspected that, given a series of incidents involving the Ackermans, soone might be digging into them.
After all, the politically savvy easily figured out the biggest beneficiary without needing police or FBI evidence.
The Ackermans' three main mbers ended up missing.
Buddy Ackerman was burned in xico's wilderness and still missing.
Anyone investigating these missing persons would search for hiding spots.
Using Mayor Brian's influence, Hawke had the Departnt digitize blueprints for multiple buildings -- the Coast Tower, Beverly Hills hilltop estate, Butterfly Security Company, and forr Twitter headquarters.
They also converted nearby buildings' plans to mislead investigators.
Moreover, they embedded tracking programs created by Twitter's top hackers inside the digital blueprints.
Twitter, the biggest online dia company in the U.S. and worldwide, faced daily hacker attacks but never had a server crash -- its cyber security was strong.
Many defenders were also skilled at tracking and offensive asures.
Dozens of hackers caught and sent to prison by the FBI had been traced this way.
...
Hawke gathered the director of cybersecurity Belin and lead technician Gossett for a eting.
Minutes later, the eting began.
Hierro briefed Belin and Gossett on the details.
Hawke demanded, "Launch reverse tracking and find who copied the blueprints as fast as possible."
Belin replied, "I'll assemble a team. Using supercomputers, we'll find them quickly."
Hawke approved.
Gossett ford a three-person team connected to the supercomputer.
The tracking program was Belin's design. Five tech experts backed by a supercomputer, all while the intruders were unaware.
...
Hawke called Campos and Edward to another room. "Do you suspect the company's club is under surveillance?"
Campos thought and answered, "No obvious signs yet, but they might be watching us from a distance, not close up."
Hawke nodded and told Edward, "Notify Raul, Guti, Morentes, and other security. They'll support Campos's operation later."
They still needed more personnel, so Hawke ordered Campos, "Don't move anyone from the company. Pull elite mbers from elsewhere, disguise them, and gather at Warehouse 3 of West Coast Environntal Technologies."
This warehouse was always set aside for ergencies.
...
Campos changed phones, contacted contacts -- Juan, Garcia, and others resting imdiately headed to the eting point.
Hawke inford Special Operations agent Erica.
Once the location was confird, Erica would arrange a helicopter unit for aerial support nearby.
If anything went wrong, air support would respond first.
Butterfly Security and Ferguson family's security companies also stood by to deploy.
...
Soon, Belin knocked and entered, "We've found them."
Hawke and the others went to a small conference room, where a screen lowered and Gossett connected his computer to the projector.
With the supercomputer's power, they pinpointed the intruder's location in less than 10 minutes.
Gossett opened the digital map of Santa Monica, zood into 14th Street, and circled a detached single-family ho with a yard. "We're sure the IP address for the stolen data is inside this house."
Hawke ordered, "Zoom in fully and pull property info."
Files appeared on the screen quickly.
The house was a rental managed by a real estate agency. It had been rented a few months ago to soone nad Smith, a businessman who ca to L.A. to invest in Hollywood films.
Photos of the house's interior and exterior, taken for rental listings, were also displayed.
Hawke gave the order to Campos, "Lead the team and apprehend them."
Campos acknowledged and told Hierro to head out imdiately.
Hawke addressed the cyber team, "Double this month's bonus plus a special chairman's reward."
The three techs were excited.
Hawke added, "You all rest here for now."
With such a big reward, sitting tight for a few days wasn't a problem.
...
Campos drove a Ford Mustang from Twitter security, eting up with Raul's bodyguard team, heading to West Coast Environntal Technologies Warehouse 1.
Garcia, Juan, and others arrived there as well.
Inside the warehouse were multiple shipping containers.
Raul opened one and switched on the light.
The container was full of weapons, mainly untraceable Russian arms -- from pistols, assault rifles, light machine guns, to rocket launchers, grenades, smoke bombs, and stun grenades.
Campos began assigning tasks, "Juan and Hierro, proceed to the target house for preliminary reconnaissance. Avoid alerting anyone."
"Understood," they responded, each carrying only pistols.
Campos continued, "Garcia, this neighborhood has a community committee. I had Edward contact LAPD Supervisor Milner, who will accompany you to coordinate with the committee officially."
Garcia nodded and led his team out.
Raul, along with others, changed into gear, selected firearms and ammunition, including grenades and stun grenades.
Campos specifically requested additional stun guns and tranquilizer guns.
...
A while later, Juan and Hierro returned.
Juan reported, "There are gates front and back; the walls are high. They probably have few people inside."
Hierro added, "There is basic surveillance. I checked -- no infrared alarms or similar devices."
He noted thoughtfully, "They haven't realized their exposure."
"Prepare," Campos said, dialing Garcia. With Milner's help, the team had officially connected with the committee.
...
Ten minutes later, about a dozen vehicles drove out of the warehouse, approaching the target neighborhood from different directions.
Campos selected two white and Latino-mixed team mbers to pose as community committee workers. Along with a female staffer familiar with locals, they carried notification flyers to houses.
Milner and the community committee told them the neighborhood hosted a yearly Neighbor's Day event to foster social ties.
Residents here were affluent, with extensive networks; socializing often brought opportunities.
Flyers scheduled for next week were used now.
Social workers were also used as cover.
With preparations done, the operation started.
Flyers were distributed just like normal.
Raul and Guti led teams to attack the villa's back door.
Hierro jamd surveillance signals.
Garcia watched community monitors, noticing a regular pattern of people leaving in the day and returning at night.
Campos ford the attack plan accordingly.
Two vehicles prepositioned on nearby street parking spots.
One was a van, where the best shooter, Morentes, set up a sniper rifle behind a shooting port.
Campos sat in the front passenger seat to command.
Teams dressed as social workers split into groups, going door-to-door delivering flyers and warmly inviting residents.
If no one answered, the flyers were slipped into mailboxes.
...
Inside the single-family villa, Adams studied the blueprints and found a way to infiltrate Butterfly Company via a Venice storm drain pipe.
The drain ca from downtown, passed beneath Butterfly's building, and exited near the private dock into the ocean.
They could use this path to get inside.
The only issue was that the pipe's interior contents might be unpleasant.
Adams thought a little extra money would solve any problems.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Adams went to the window and peered outside. He saw a woman in social worker clothes standing outside the iron gate.
Looking at the surveillance feed, controlled by Hierro, he saw no one hiding nearby.
Adjusting his handgun discreetly, Adams opened the gate and asked, "Can I help you?"
The woman pulled out an invitation, reciting, "Next month, the community will hold a Neighbor's Day event."
Adams recalled hearing about it when he bought groceries. Taking the invitation, he said, "Thanks, I'll attend."
Suddenly, figures appeared from both sides, all firing tasers.
Even prepared, Adams couldn't avoid the close-range hits.
The taser darts struck him, and he convulsed, collapsing.
The woman quickly stepped back and sped away.
Four n jumped out of a nearby car and quickly subdued Adams.
Almost simultaneously, Campos gave the command to attack.
Raul and crew broke in the back door, swept the first and second floors, finding no one.
Campos ordered Adams be brought inside while the others followed.
Garcia watched community footage and reported via radio, "Step one went smoothly. We can hold here and wait for others to return. The footage shows staggered arrival tis."
"Good," Campos entered, setting traps.
...
Milner completed negotiations with the committee, and the staff dispersed.
Campos left Adams in the basent under guard and set up more forces to capture anyone returning.
The villa was ideal -- the high walls blocked views in and out. People hiding behind side gates outside the main gate remained unseen.
Campos hid multiple n at front and back entrances, waiting for targets.
Downstairs, Adams struggled loudly but couldn't make sound; tape sealed his mouth.
The guards, Raul and Guti, ard and aiming at him, allowed no escape.
...
After a while,
Outside, the driver stopped their car by the villa gate. Scar, carrying a pile of docunts, got out and entered the gate by entering the code on the keypad.
The driver followed.
Both suddenly convulsed and collapsed, struck by sothing unseen.
"Get them!" Garcia ordered.
Several n sward, cuffing the two with hands behind their backs, gagging them with tape, and putting black hoods over their heads before dragging them inside the villa.
*****
spatreon/Sayonara816.
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