DIG: The Official Prequel

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"I promised Detective Versluis that I would wield the sledgehammer and spare his back in order to get inside the bunker. Luckily Detective Versluis and I were able to find the trick door entrance. But, turns out we didn’t even need a warrant since our arrival begat exigent circumstances: shots were fired, making it necessary to enter. When we raced inside we found Mr. Yusim brandishing a gun."

 - From DIG: The Official Prequel, Inspired by USA Network’s Television Event Series

POLICE REPORT

Detective Golan Cohen, Jerusalem Police

October 2, 2014

I promised Detective Versluis that I would wield the sledgehammer and spare his back in order to get inside the bunker. Luckily Detective Versluis and I were able to find the trick door entrance. But, turns out we didn’t even need a warrant since our arrival begat exigent circumstances: shots were fired, making it necessary to enter. When we raced inside we found Mr. Yusim brandishing a gun. He had it aimed at the missing bank teller Orit Peleg. She was shot in the arm and screaming in pain. Mr. Yusim and Ms. Peleg were yelling in Russian. Yusim shouted, “Inogda kity yedyat akula.” Ms. Peleg replied “Na kogo ti rabotaesh?” Thankfully, one of the uniformed detectives translated the exchange to mean, “Sometimes the whale eats the shark,” with Orit Peleg replying, “Who are you working for?” Yusim just smiled and wouldn’t answer. Detective Versluis attempted to disarm and apprehend the suspect, but we were too late. Within seconds, Mr. Yusim fatally shot Ms. Peleg. I then shot the suspect Mr. Yusim in the leg, disabling him. Ms. Orit Peleg died before the ambulance arrived.  Mr. Yusim refused to answer any and all questions and asked for his attorney. FBI Agent Peter Connelly arrived at that point and attempted to find out where the diamonds were, but Mr. Yusim only smiled. Agent Connelly indicated that Orit Peleg was also known as Dasha Petrova, and from the conversations she had with Mr. Yusim, we submit that she is most probably also the hacker Akula.

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PETER CONNELLY: FIELD NOTES - AKULA FILES

October 3, 2014 – 9:45pm Israeli time (2:45pm EST)

After Liat was tipped off to the raid, I went to the location, the Odessa Grocery store, and found a once hidden bunker now swarming with police. I pushed through the uniform detectives and saw Detective Cohen arresting Mr. Yusim, the individual arrested at the hammam, who was now standing over a dead woman. The woman is someone very familiar to this investigation, for she has been identified as both Dasha Petrova AND Orit Peleg. The big surprise is that this woman has also been successfully identified through forensic computer analysis as…. AKULA. With a little makeup, wigs, and clothing, the woman known as Akula was able to successfully pass both as a middle-aged Orit Peleg and a young Dasha Petrova, all the while being able to retain her identity as the hacker Akula. (This case would be one that my wife would have enjoyed. I can almost hear her say, “What you don’t know about women...”)

Buried on Akula’s hard drive, RCFL agents uncovered malware code used to perform “zero-day attacks” on banks and financial institutions worldwide.  These attacks are traceable to Akula’s systems via her exploitation of previously unknown banking system vulnerabilities and through her use of a unique algorithm designed to cover her tracks by erasing victims’ hard drives and replacing local data with ASCii images of a great white shark—truly pride goeth before destruction. From what police can now assess, Akula planned the entire crime and then she was able to remain invisible “in plain sight” overseeing her operation. Working as a lowly bank teller allowed her to oversee Jonathan Frank without him knowing her true identity. What she didn’t count on was that Mr. Yusim, one of her employees, served a larger, and I suspect more formidable, employer. Mr. Yusim, I imagine, will be well paid for his time in prison in exchange for his silence. As for my job of recovering the U.S. Treasury’s money, the diamonds are nowhere to be found.