The Hyacinth Towers Incident Part 1

The beginning of the beginning of the actual F-Team :D

I'll have more done sometime this week.  I'm planning on writing up till the point that the phone rings.  

I'm kinda tired, so don't expect this to make complete sense. XD  

The Hyacinth Towers Incident

                Natalie was extremely bored.  Laura and Jennifer had been living with her for nearly two months now.  She had gotten used to the excitement their random expeditions brought her.  She would do research for them, hacking into computer systems that actually provided her with a challenge.  Sometimes they would even have her mess with a building’s camera system so they could go anywhere without being seen, but with an eye in the sky, so to speak. 

                They had nothing planned at the moment, so the three of them were lounging around the house, staring lazily at the TV.  Natalie pulled out her laptop and set it on her folded legs.  She began drifting through the internet, not really paying attention to what she was doing.  She continued her wanderings for about a half an hour before she stumbled upon something interesting.  It seemed to be some sort of encrypted message. 

                She ran it through one of the decrypting programs she designed.  Eventually, she had her message.  It read: “H.T., 3 p.m. 12, 20 kg, brg csh” Natalie narrowed her eyes.  What could this mean?  H.T.  Was that a person?  A place?  3 p.m. was obviously some sort of meeting time, and 12 was the date.  In that case, H.T. probably WAS a place.  20 kg.  Kg was probably kilograms.  Kilograms of what, exactly?  And the last part of the message.  Brg csh.  That had to be bring cash.  It seemed to Natalie that some sort of important exchange would be taking place at the mysterious H.T. 

                Natalie absentmindedly typed the initials “H.T.” into her favorite search engine.  Tons of people popped up.  She narrowed her search to destinations and locations.  A list of museums, zoos, and other tourist attractions appeared.  Natalie sat back with a sigh.  There were millions of places this could be taking place at.  It may not even be in this country.  She looked back over the message, trying to trace its source.  It seemed to come from a public computer, located in one of the local city libraries.  She grinned; satisfied that it would be a local place. 

                 Out loud, she asked to the room at large, “What would you guys consider a good, common place for an exchange involving money?” 

                Jennifer answered, without moving her eyes from the TV screen, “depends on what it being exchanged.  A hostage, drugs, whores.  It really depends…” 

                “Alright,” Natalie replied, thinking, “let’s say it’s drugs.  Where would be a good place?”

                Laura took this one, “probably any place that’s abandoned.  An old warehouse.  A parking lot.  Maybe even a hotel.” 

                “A hotel?  Hmm…” Natalie returned her focus to her computer screen. 

                Laura and Jennifer exchanged a look, shrugged, and turned back to the TV. 

                She modified her search again, this time with “hotels” and the city name.  Only a few results popped up this time.  “Hyacinth Towers,” she murmured.  She clicked on a link to the hotel’s website.  It was a high quality hotel, with state-of-the art services and gorgeous rooms.  She looked back at the message.  It said when the exchange was to take place, as well as the basic location, but it didn’t say where exactly in the hotel it would be.  She figured it would be in one of the rooms, but which room?  Perhaps it was a combination of the time and the date?  She felt it was a long shot, but worth a try.  She attempted to book an online room, and entered a special request for the 12^th of that month and room 312.  She was told that the room would be occupied during that day, but would be available the next day.  Next she tried hacking into the hotel’s security system.  Perhaps she could find out which guest would be staying in the room and could use it as a lead. 

                The room was saved for a man named Smith.  It was an obvious cover name, but she knew she needed more information than that.  She looked to see how the reservation had been made.  It seemed to originate from a public computer, similar to the way the encrypted message had been sent.  This public computer seemed to be located at a small cyber bar near the park.  Natalie figured it might be worth something, so she explained everything she had discovered so far to Jennifer and Laura. 

                They seemed intrigued.  “Perhaps we can do a little research,” Jennifer suggested.  “It’s not like we’re making good use of our time, and this sounds like we may be able to get something out of it.” 

                Laura decided to head to library, and Jennifer agreed that she would go to the cyber café.  Natalie said she would stay at her apartment and try to gather more information through the hotel’s website. 

~~~~~~~

                Laura approached the brick face of the run-down little library.  Its faded sign read “Jason Kindling Library” and underneath it said, “To Educate Those That Will It.”  She climbed the steps and pushed the door open.  It distinctly smelled of old books and dust.  The floor was of a dark wood and there were lamps with green shades upon a few rickety tables.  A frail old woman sat behind the front desk. 

                Laura approached her slowly, and asked quietly, “where would I go to use a computer in this library?” 

                The lady looked up from the book she had been reading, and pointed with a wispy hand towards a desk behind her.  Laura nodded her thanks and continued to the desk.  She brought up the internet, and went to recent history.  Natalie had told her that the email would have been sent three days ago.  She began sifting through URLs.  Eventually she came upon an email provider site.  She flipped open her cell phone and texted to Natalie, “I think I may have found it.”  She then copied the URL into the text and sent it.  Her task complete, she stood up and turned off the computer.  After thanking the librarian, she continued out through the door, down the steps, and back towards Natalie’s apartment.    

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                Meanwhile, Jennifer was just reaching the cyber café.  It was completely devoid of people.  Thanks to Natalie, she knew exactly which computer to sit down at.  She continued to do exactly what Laura had.  She searched through the URLs until she found an email provider that had been accessed three days prior.  After sending the address to Natalie, she too continued back to the apartment. 

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