My Man Friday

MY MAN FRIDAY

By Thomas Kraemer

© 2019 by the author

Hanna Rodriguez, private investigator, was walking on her office treadmill that early spring morning, intently reviewing overnight messages on the treadmill’s eye-level display screen. The Santa Clara sunshine shone through the single long window, washing over the whiteboards that covered much of the wall space. The only other furniture in Hanna’s office were a couple of movable chairs and a table across which computer equipment and four screens were arrayed. She was, as usual, alone in the large office. She stepped off the treadmill and stood in her naturally erect posture, shining black hair fashionably short and spiky.

“Friday,” she said.

“What can I do for you, Hanna?” Friday’s deep male voice filled the room. It came from her custom-designed and securitized digital assistant, working in the software distributed across Hanna’s computers and phone.

“Let’s start with the AEI job. Get me a summary of their overnight comms traffic.”

America’s Energy Inc, the merged residue of bankrupt U.S. coal companies, now supported by a slew of subsidies, desperate accounting tricks, and sleazy lobbyists, had put its desperate last-chance bet on a vaunted super-secret clean coal technology. Its cybersecurity team had fended off hacking attempts to uncover the secret technology, and brought in Hanna to run them to ground. Hanna knew of AEI’s shaky environmental record, but it was a legit company, and politically connected. She’d checked. And what could be wrong with helping on a clean coal project? She took the job. It promised a big fee if successful. And she was earning it. These guys were tough nuggets. Nothing was ever fast enough for them.

“Connecting to client’s system,” Friday said. “Unusual traffic occurring at this time. Apparent intrusion through firewall.”

Hanna smashed her palm on the treadmill STOP button and stood erect, gripping the side rails. “Can you stop them? Can you get some crumbs, trace intruder to its origin?”

“I am attempting. Complex attack. They are already copying data. They’ve inserted three processes operating simultaneously. I might not be able to stop all three.”

“Mission one is discover who the belligerents are.”

Friday said, “Here’s a potential location clue I’m saving. They are out now. I captured a copy of all the data they got, and one of their processes.”

“Notify client cybersecurity. Continue monitoring. I’ll review this data now and call them to explain…”

Friday interrupted. “They see us. They’re trying to come in here. Very fast attack algorithm. Multiple probes.”

“Friday, just shut down! Have they got anything from us?” Hanna said.

“No. Our firewall remains unbreached. Shutting down.”

Hanna ran over and pulled the cable, just in case.

“What were the intruders looking for?” asked Hanna.

“Intruder is likely a competitor, comparing performance with its own technology, rather than seeking to steal our client’s technology. Information copied related to air pollution control, energy inputs and outputs, other performance data. Materials and construction not a focus.”

“So they’re not looking to recreate our client’s system for themselves, just see how well it works,” Hanna said. “How likely is this a competitor versus something else?”

“Calculating likelihood … 73%.”

“Other possibilities?”

“Blackmailers, foreign governments, kid hackers.”

“But those wouldn’t target just the performance data. They’d look for dirt or money. So it’s got to be competitors.”

“It’s very likely,” Friday said.

“How is the technology’s performance, by the way?”

 “Very poor. Pollutant capture less than 30 percent. Their energy use for carbon capture consumes most of the energy in coal. This is contrary to what the company has claimed in applications for funds.”

Hanna arched her back as she drew a long breath. A big fat ethical problem here. She might be in possession of information showing her client had lied on government funding applications. Hundreds of millions here, fraudulently obtained. If she kept it secret while benefitting, she could be held responsible, and it would, at best, smirch the ethical standards she advertised and held dear.

“Is this data from a one off? Is it possible there’s data showing better performance somewhere?” she asked.

“I would need to check the copied data against what’s in our client’s systems, outside the breached servers. I need to search their systems. We do not have permission, but I could bypass their security. It will take some time.”

“Go ahead, Friday,” “Reboot, stress test the firewall, and then go ahead and scan the client’s servers for vindicating performance data. I don’t like to do this without their permission,” Hanna said, re-attaching the network cable. “But I’m smelling a rat. Let’s talk in the morning. I’m going to call them now and explain what we know so far. Then, after they’re done shouting and cursing, I’ve got an interview across town for a new assignment. Gotta keep the business coming in. I don’t think I’ll use AEI as a reference today. You stay in monitor mode today and overnight if the firewall’s OK. Otherwise, just shut down.”

“You may consider it done. Will notify you if I need to shut down.” Friday said.

####

Finally at home, nearing midnight, Hanna dropped onto on the overstuffed couch on which she collapsed nearly every night, and often spent the remaining half-nights until rising in the early morning, thrashing into action again. Her apartment was as spare as her office, but the chairs were softer and more lux, as was the lighting. Linear abstract prints by Rothko, Kline and Frankenthaler graced the wide sand-colored walls, along with two large video screens. She just looked out for a while, over the bay lights.  

She said into the silence, “Friday, you are pretty much my only companion these days.”

Friday made no response. Hanna shrugged.

She wrapped up the evening running on her home treadmill with full-screen and stereo until she was exhausted. Sitting down after a shower, the exhaustion was numbing. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Better than alcohol, no hangover. And a sure antidote for loneliness, if only temporary.

She was starting to drowse, when her phone rang. It was her older sister.

Hanna sat up, blinking. “Hey, Sis.”

“Hey! You doing OK, Hanna? Can you talk, now? I know how crazy busy you are. Never know when’s a good time to catch you, with your detective work going on all hours of the night and day.”

“This is perfect timing, Sis. I’m just settling down. Doing OK. I’ve got my computer man Friday working overnight for me. How are things back home?”

“You’re just settling down after midnight. That’s what I mean. Well, you sound good, anyway. Maybe a little tired? Why don’t you hire some help?”

“I don’t need a helper. Friday does everything I can’t do myself. I gotta build a reputation, and I gotta do that myself. Just me. I work alone, I get better results. And with this new-and-improved Friday thing I got now, I can do a lot more.”

 “But you can’t slow it down. Seems to me like you’re on a computer-driven treadmill.”

“No, listen, Sis. Detective work’s not what it used be, running around interviewing barkeepers and doing stake-outs all night and that stuff. I’m home every night. We do all e-snooping these days. No stakeouts; we plant sensors. There’s so many dirty secrets stored places, too. You just need to get at it. And I’ve got the best, custom-designed electronic assistant in this business, my man Friday. Cost a fortune for the custom programming, but worth it. And you wouldn’t believe the security stuff he has.”

“How about live-type men?” Her sister cut her off. “Find any time for them?”

Hanna slumped. Not again. Then she sat up and spoke in the clear, simple, cold tone she used on clients and perps when they pissed her off. “Lay off, Sis. I haven’t got time. And I don’t wanna go back over the shit with those three assholes I fell in love with since I got out of the Army, one asshole per fucking year. That’s enough. Maybe, ah, some day, you know? I have trouble enough handling my asshole clients.”

“OK, I know, I know. Just wanted to ask. I’m sorry. I understand.”

Hanna melted a little. “I know, Sis. Thanks for asking. Yeah, I’m tired. I don’t know what else to do, though. I always liked getting completely caught up in some project, didn’t I? Now I’m more focused than ever. I wasn’t a good fit in the Army. They don’t like loners. I busted my ass and bit my tongue to shreds to get to Captain and then they chucked me out, ‘passed over,’ on the streets at age 32. Now I feel like I’m doing good things, like no one else can do them. Stopping assholes in their tracks. I’m the one that finds the truth. I just want to focus on that for now. That’s all that means anything for me. Life’s a bitch, but that’s who I am. I just don’t know what else to do.”

Her sister sighed. She said, then, just “I know.”

####

The next morning, fresh with the new day, Hanna strode into her office focused on the AEI job.

“Friday!”

“Good morning, Hanna. How can I help you?”

“Have you made any progress in finding out who the AEI intruders are?” she spoke while scanning the screen array.

Friday didn’t answer. Instead, after ten dead, hollow, seconds, an intense bearded young man’s face came on to all of her screens at once. Her mouth went dry and heart pounded at this invasion.

“Hello Hanna. My name is David. I’ve disabled Friday.”

“Who are you?”

“I’d like to meet you. It concerns the work you were doing yesterday. We did get into your system.”

“Well get out, while you can. My software is tracing you now, and recording everything. You’re a hacker, pal, and you’ve just confessed.” She crossed her arms, planted her feet.

 “You made a mistake,” he said. “I’d like to meet in person to talk about it. The avatar you see is not my real face, nor is this my real voice.” His exaggerated deep chuckle resounded. “You won’t be able to trace us. This connection will vanish when I sign off.”

Despite her bravura, Hanna was frightened and overwhelmed at his ability to penetrate her systems. The cool professionalism he, or it, projected with the slick avatar and calm speech was chilling. “What do you want from me?” she asked.

“As I said, it concerns the work you were doing yesterday for AEI. Let’s say I have a stake in the outcome. A very big stake. From what I learned yesterday I can make things very ugly for you and your client. You know now that they’ve been cheating the government, and fooling the public. Your Friday device has all the evidence. I want a face-to-face, today. I’ll hold off doing anything until we meet.”

“Who are you working for?” she attempted the demand.

“Let’s meet and talk about it. I promise I’ll fill you in,” he said, flashing a twisted pirate’s grin from the bearded face.

 She was over a barrel. “OK. Where, when?”

“Starbucks down the street. Fifteen minutes. Just walk in. I’ll recognize you.”

She paced around the office for a few minutes, trying to pull herself together. But the alarm just deepened. She was naked, deeply vulnerable. Her firewalls were the best available. She started shaking when she thought about the powers that could have the ability to breach them. Foreign militaries, who knew? Well, soon she’d learn something. Best to find out what she could.

####

Hanna was walking up to the café when a figure suddenly loomed at her shoulder, without a sound, out of nowhere. He was an open-faced, very thin sandy-haired man about her own age, in nondescript clothes and a sweater. He offered his hand and a tight smile.

“Hi, I’m David,” he said softly. She shook his hand. “Let’s go out and walk around,” he said, nodding toward the street.

They walked slowly through the tony tree-lined neighborhood toward the Civic Center Park.

As they walked, David said, “You shouldn’t have asked your man Friday to search your client’s data banks, outside the breached servers. Now you’re in deep. You know they’ve committed a felony.”

“That gives me an advantage,” Hanna said, stealing a sideways glance, trying to size him up. But he kept his head down.

“You’d take a big risk if you turned them in--odds are they’d find a way to deny it all, and ruin you as a trusty detective. But, on the other hand, if you don’t turn them in, you’d be in the soup with them if they get caught. And I have reason to believe they will.”

“So I repeat,” Hanna said, “what do you want from me? You’ve got all the goods on them now.”

They’d reached the park and sat down on a bench under some trees on the far side of the reflecting pool, where no one was around.

He looked her in the eye. “We’ve got more than that. We’ve got the goods on you, too. If you don’t play ball, we can destroy your credibility. Nobody would ever hire you again. You might even go to jail. You probably didn’t understand, or want to understand, that two of your most recent clients were criminal enterprises. The companies are owned by Russian kleptocrats.”

As Hanna opened her mouth to protest, he said “They’ve fooled a lot of people, hiding behind shell companies, phony owners. They ‘invested’ heavily in coal in states where legislators can be bought, and defrauded the investors. They’ll sell short just before the bottom drops out, which they’ll make sure happens.  I think you didn’t realize you were helping them elude detection, rather than catching thieves, but it won’t look that way when the finger-pointing starts.”

As a detective, she lived to destroy lies, uncover truths. Step-by-step, her work had become her life, her only purpose, its rewards her only solace. She had nothing else. Washed out as a soldier, hurt too many times as a lover, she could never conceive of being a parent and longed for numbness when work was over. Nothing else left. If her reputation was destroyed by this, it was the abyss. She wanted to just die. At the thin end of her wedge, the thought that she could just die calmed her in this confrontation.

She looked at him steadily, and thrust out her chin. “If you have all this, why are you bothering to talk to me. Why don’t you just destroy me? Get me out of the way. There’s nothing more you can steal from me.”

“We want you to help us.”

“You don’t know me,” she said, quietly and evenly, “I’d rather die than do that. I couldn’t face working for thieves, blackmailers, scum.”

He laughed. “You don’t know who we are.”

She held her gaze steady, glaring at him. “You’re a parasite, an industrial spy. You steal, and you destroy the people you steal from.”

“We’re Robin Hood, Hanna. We rob from the rich. Your client is the bad guy. You know that now. They lied to get government funds. The whole clean coal thing is a sham. We’re the good guys.”

“So what do you do? Extort money from the wicked big companies?”

“Hell no. We do exposés. We’re the Green Underground. We have other names. You’ve never heard of us, though. Hardly anyone has. Mostly we’re known as ‘unnamed sources.’ That’s the way we want it. But you’ve seen what we’ve provided to newspapers and government prosecutors. What I’m asking of you is to help us uncover the truth, and the lies, and do what you’ve always done. They might destroy you. They might destroy us. But you would be our detective, revealing the truth.”

“Why should I believe you? How do I know that you’re some great presence behind ‘unnamed sources?’”

“I’ll show you things we’ve dug up. Tangible things. And you’ll get to meet our team, and you’ll believe them. But Hanna, at this point you don’t have much choice. You know your client is a liar, and you’re in deep shit if you stay with them or if you don’t. And a certain ‘unnamed source’ could make a few phone calls today that would incriminate your client and you at the same time. But give us a chance. You can meet a couple team members tomorrow and we can go from there. With us, you redeem yourself. When the news breaks, you’ll be with the good guys.”

Things were moving fast. But her past had prepared her for making quick judgements and living or dying with the results. Given their powerful abilities, and what they had on her, she had little choice. And she knew he was right about AEI. She’d come to despise them anyway. What else was left for her?

She got up, walked around, gazed at the blue California sky. Then she looked down at him. “I have two questions for you,” she said.

He nodded.

“Is Friday back in service?”

“Yes,” he said. “We never really disabled him, just shut down his voice. He’s still on guard over your systems and listening. What’s the second question?”

“David, is that your real name?”

“Yes, it is.”

She picked up her phone. “Friday.”

“How can I help you, Hanna,” Friday said.

“Prepare an introductory presentation for our new client. Mark the file ‘unnamed source.’”