The drive from Ratchaburi Province had passed in a whirl of activity. His first order of business upon leaving the power plant had been to contact Arjit Singh. It had been three a.m. in London, the middle of the hacker’s workday.
“What happened?” Arjit demanded. “You cut me off before I could finish. I tried to ring you back, but you didn’t answer.”
“Something came up,” said Simon. “Just tell me if you have good news or bad news.”
“Hold on a sec. First, let me know if you can get back online. I can pick up where I left off.”
“Not possible. The flash drive is gone.”
“More secret agent shit?”
“Something like that,” said Simon. “I take it then it’s bad news.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Without the drive it’s over.”
“I cracked it,” said Arjit.
“Say again?”
“Took me a while, but I got it. That’s not the problem. Your friend had a boatload of files. I was halfway through downloading them when the connection broke off.”
Relief poured over Simon. “But you got half?”
“A little more.”
Actually, half sounded marvelous. He was in no position to complain. “What are we talking about?”
“A gazillion emails, a shit ton of files and spreadsheets, and a crap load of text messages.”
“In English.”
“Five hundred thousand emails, ten thousand files and spreadsheets, and a million or so text messages. Clear enough for you?”
And that is only half?“Tell me they’re safe and sound.”
“Tucked away in the cloud under lock and key.”
“How can I access them?”
“Give me an email address,” said Arjit. “And don’t say Gmail.”
Given events, Simon had to assume that his current email had been compromised. “I need a new one. Industrial strength. Any ideas?”
“Proton. They’re Swiss. Only one thing: you have to remember your user name and password. Lose ’em and they’re gone forever.”
“I think I can manage.”
“That’s what everyone says. Give me a few minutes and I’ll get it set up.”
Simon promised to call back in an hour, then phoned D’Artagnan Moore, who was not as pleased to be roused in the middle of the night.
“I need you to send me some money.”
“Mind telling me where you are?”
“Thailand. Heading to Pattaya.”
