Episode #5: Tamara Analyses

Mar,24 2026

<-#4: Sabrina Plans a Tunnel

I pull my collar again. Why do I even need to be dressed for this? I chose to work for a naturist supervillain so I could work nude. Not so I had to get dressed!

My computer beeps. One more container breached.

Why is this so hard?

First, it was an encrypted USB drive. Commercial grade, so easy enough to break.

We did find the document we needed right away, but I noticed a few things.

Notably, a corrupted video file without a valid header.

This screams TrueCrypt container, so impossible to hack!

Or is it?

When we hit our first TrueCrypt container, we were convinced we were stuck. They are impossible to hack! Even the FBI didn't manage to hack one after years of trying.

Or are they?

Cassian needed those files, so we had to invent a way to crack TrueCrypt containers. And when I say "we," I mean "me." I did that...

For some unknown reason, Cassian installed several supercomputers in the base.

Encryption is all based on the idea that an operation is easy when you have the right key but nigh impossible when you don't.

The thing is... "impossible" and "nigh impossible" are not the same, and with enough supercomputer cycles distributed with a proper multi-threaded script, you can just about crack any nut. Provided you have enough time.

And as it turns out, enough time can mean anywhere between four hours and four months. And it's not even based on the complexity of the key. I wasn't trying to guess the password directly. I was attacking the key derivation process itself, letting the supercomputers grind through billions of possibilities.

Well, I got lucky, and it took 19 hours to hack that TrueCrypt container, which gave me a trove of new files. Some of which we never expected to find.

Cassian felt like a 7-year-old at a candy shop when discovering he just won a million dollars in candy.

We printed all that could be printed, and more intelligent people than me would sit down and review them.

What am I saying? No one is more intelligent than me. I meant more specialized people. Strategy, people. Those who know what to do with these things.

I have a more abstract intelligence. I know how to do things, but not what to do.

But one image bothered me. Then a second and a third.

I knew who this organization was, so I knew what I was up against. Steganography. The idea is to store encrypted data into a JPG file.

In theory, you also send the original so that a mathematical formula is used to retrieve which bits were changed and, thus, retrieve the encrypted data.

Then, you break that encryption, and you are done.

I didn't have the original on the drive, but we had seized a laptop, and on it was a gallery of images, including the three on the drive. It's that laptop that told us about this key's location.

My guess is that everyone gets those reference images, so when they get their steganography-modified image, they can decrypt them.

Sadly for them, they made a major error. The decryption key was the MD5 of the original file content. Pretty amateur, but it gave me yet another break in our case!

The first file was an SSH private key. The second was a list of IP addresses and ports, with a username. The third was a VPN auto-config file.

Cassian came as soon as I told him via my watch.

"I see 9 IP addresses; could these be the servers we've been searching for?" he asks me.

"Perhaps, but they are all local IP addresses. You would need to connect through their VPN, but it's risky. They will be alerted if someone logs in and we don't know if it's a unique connection"

"We know it's the backup master USB drive. They duplicate it when they get a new supervisor. Tamara, I think we are in"

"Make sure to scramble the IP routing."

"Oh, you are doing it; you won that right"

"With all due respect, Cassian, we have a few hackers who are better suited. They will know how to evade security and all"

"Good point, Tamara. You can't do everything"

"I can, but others can do some things faster than I can"

Why would he underestimate me like that?

But he laughed. I like him. And he is great with my wife. And he buys all the toys I want, like more supercomputers and an atomic microscope. Plus, he paid for my wedding.

Fine, he can underestimate me.

Sadly, he relieved me of duty. I was done for the day. I mean, not sadly. After all, I will get home in time for supper with my wife, but I don't like being sidelined.

Worse, this is what we need to figure out to go after our next targets, so now that I am off that case, I have nothing else to do!

Cassian is gone, so I decide to turn in early. If there is nothing else I can do, I might as well go home and get out of these stuffy clothes.

I text my wife from my watch that I am done, and she texts me back that she could free herself in a few minutes.

My brother and his husband are coming over for supper tonight. That means that Peter is feeling better. That's good.

Every operator expects to get hurt on the job. It happens. Didn't a guy get killed a few months ago? A bullet that got in between his bulletproof vest and his helmet.

My stupid brother got into a work accident. What a dumbass.

I vouched for him. I got him here. We both grew up in the same naturist resort, so I thought it would help him and his husband out.

I sigh. He was lucky Cassian was concerned, not angry.

And I told him. This is a bad guy you will be working for. Did he listen? No, he was just thrilled to do construction in a secret lair, not thinking about who was footing the bill and how. He was excited that both of us would have our sexual orientation accepted.

Granted, I was single and he was already married, but he knew. I had ex-girlfriends. Of course he knew; we tell each other everything.

I go to my wife's office. She did say she would finish soon.

I find her with Erika. I like her, and Sabrina tells me that she is a great employee.

Sabrina smiles when she sees me. When I see her smile, it's like the whole world fades away and only the two of us exist.

How is that possible? Sabrina mentioned to me that this is what love feels like, but it did that to me the first time I saw her smile.

Before I knew she was gay. Before she knew I was gay. Even before she knew she was gay.

She comes in for a kiss.

Growing up as a naturist, I grew up with a certain repulsion toward public displays of affection, but Sabrina became one as an adult. She had exes. Ex-boyfriends in her cases, but exes that did enjoy that form of public exhibition.

I had to teach her not to do that when we were nude. Sadly, at the moment, we're both dressed.

Once this project is over, I'll talk to Cassian again about nudity at the compound, I think. There should be no requirement for me to wear clothes, ever.

"I only needed a few more minutes with Erika, and I am all yours, Tamara"

"I am ok, really. It's rather straightforward," says Erika.

I don't know how Tamara sustains long conversations with her, but then again, Erika is as tall as Cassian. The difference, is that I don't tend to look at my boss in the eyes, but Sabrina does. With everyone. Even Patrice.

I try to not even talk to Patrice...

She makes me nervous.

Her job is to perform security maintenance and keep the compound in top operational capacity. Well, that's the job of everyone else too! The builders have to build things that work long-term. Sabrina's department decides what things and how. Maintenance does the cleaning and repairs.

What is her goal? Why not put her in charge of maintenance? What the hell is a "director of security readiness"?

Sabrina grabs my hand, and we proceed to the main security gate.

And now is the weirdest thing ever.

They pat us down and search our pockets. If we were allowed to work nude, this wouldn't be needed at all!

Such a waste of time. I mean, they scan us when we enter nude and won't open the door unless we are fully nude.

And yet, they can't let us leave and scan us only when we are about to leave, nude.

I get it, there are weapons and explosives; we could use them to bust out of the secured entry.

That entry isn't meant to keep everyone out, just to make it loud if anyone tries. That way, further measures can stop an intruder.

But when going out, however, we undress after those measures, and it's too late to prevent smuggling out anything.

We actually find Kevin, fully dressed, when we get on a golf cart.

In the morning, people take those golf carts to work and, in theory, bring them back in the evening.

That's all great... except that most people don't share golf carts, and we don't have enough of them!

So Kevin's job is to ride with someone coming in, bring back a golf cart. Go back with someone else, bring back another, until the rush is over.

Repeat the same process the other way around in the evening. And when no one shows up? Well, he needs to jog the whole way... unless someone travels his direction meanwhile.

He is also in charge of plugging the golf carts in to charge them. Most of us don't bother. I do, but most of us don't.

I thought he would ride with us, but we are early, so he is mainly unplugging them so they are ready to go!

On the ride back to the resort, Sabrina tells about the new tunnels. Exciting! I tell her about my breakthrough, and she seems genuinely excited.

In the lockers under the member's community center, we undress, use the massive tank of sunscreen, and exit with our towels, holding hands like the naturist couple we are.

Finally, I can breathe as the sun shines on our skin.

"Shrimp fajitas?" asked Sabrina, as if she read my mind.

This is going to be a great double date with my brother and his husband.

<-#4: Sabrina Plans a Tunnel