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Undercover	By : IrenaAdler Category: M through R > NUMB3RS Views: 2309 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own NUMB3RS, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 35
- 36
- 37
Part 36� Background
and Foreground

�In the background?��
Charlie snapped.� �In the
background?� That�s all he said?� Of course, it�s in the background.� Otherwise it would be obvious and the
security checks would have caught it ages ago!�

�That�s all he said,� Don said with a helpless shrug.� �Just �Tell Charlie it�s in the background.��

�Background, background, background,� Charlie muttered as he
paced back and forth in the DEA�s conference room.

Sanchez watched him pace with the avidity of a hungry dog
waiting for a sloppy eater to drop his food.�
Don folded his arms, leaned against a desk, and resisted the urge to
check his watch yet again.

After getting back from their field trip, Rubel had called a
lawyer and not said a word since.� The
lawyer had arrived, an intense, sharp computer-crime specialist, who had sent
everyone scrambling to cover their asses.�
The DEA team was still under suspicion, so that left Don and Charlie to
figure out what Rubel had done, with Sanchez�s necessary aid and only Rubel�s
cryptic last sentence to guide them.� Don
wondered if he could convince Amita to help, although he hardly saw her these
days, hadn�t seen her much since Charlie and Colby got together.

Sanchez turned to Don and said, �My people have been tense
and jumpy as cats the last week.� If
Charlie can just find some method of proving that Rubel got the information on
his own, then we can stop looking at each other out of the corner of our eyes,
wondering who�s selling everyone else out.�

�I can imagine,� Don said.

�Background,� Charlie complained loudly.� He stopped in the middle of the room and,
folding his arms, glared at the wall screen which was currently showing the
DEA�s homepage, which looked a lot like the FBI�s but with a different logo.

Suddenly Charlie�s eyes widened.� �He didn�t �� he gasped in excitement.� �He put it in the background!�� He jumped to his laptop and started typing
furiously, murmuring under his breath.

�Did you figure it out?� Sanchez asked hopefully.

�It�s right there!� Charlie said, waving his hand at the
screen.

Don and Sanchez looked at the screen, but it looked the same
as it had for the last hour.

A light went on in Don�s mind.� �Hey, is there something imbedded in the DEA
logo, like those kiddie porn pictures were imbedded inside other pictures?�

�Not the graphic,� Charlie said, the laptop keys clacking.� �But you�re close!� Oh, it�s gotta be here �� Charlie was reading some sort of text
file.� He shook his head, pulled out a
chair, and scrolled back to the top of the text file.� He studied it closely, running his fingers
over the screen and muttering �It�s gotta be here�.

Don could hear Sanchez holding her breath.

�Yes!� Charlie said, stabbing the monitor with his
finger.� �There it is!� Oh god, it�s brilliant!� Just � amazingly
brilliant.�

�Yes, we know you�re a fan,� Don said impatiently.� �What is it?�

�Well, all pages of a website, even an entire local LAN like
yours, are often described by one overall page, one that sets the styles,
format and other things for all the pages, so you only have to make a change in
one place to change the look or function of all the pages.� It�s called cascading style sheets.� You guys run web apps for everything � email,
search engines, accounting, everything � all running under the same style.�� So this css file also invokes a JavaScript
file. Rubel put in this innocent looking piece of JavaScript inside that
file that runs every time someone uses the css file � which is all of the
time.�
�
�Okay,� Don said, �So he�s running a program.� What�s it doing?�

�Well, in a way, nothing.�
The system is just doing what it�s supposed to do.�

�Explain before Jan hits you,� Don snapped.

Charlie looked at Sanchez and said quickly, �When you use a
program or look at a webpage, it temporarily lives in the cache.�

�Cash?� Sanchez asked.

�No, cache.�
C-A-C-H-E.� It�s sort of like the
short-term memory of a computer, with the long-term memory being the hard
drive.� The cache is constantly changing
with what the computer is doing.� Rubel�s
JavaScript accesses the cache and looks for a very specific string.� When it sees that string, it saves a copy of
the page to a file.� But, and this is
beautiful, the new file looks almost exactly like cache files, close enough
that your security checks won�t flag it.�

�Okay,� Sanchez said slowly.�
�What is this string?�

�Working on it �� Charlie said and returned to frowning and
tapping on his computer.� Sanchez watched
him and chewed on her fingernails.� Don
gave in to the urge to check his watch.�
They�d been working for hours.� Or
rather, watching Charlie work for hours.

�Jan,� Charlie asked after a long few minutes. ��What�s an �action report�?�

�Huh?�� Sanchez
said.� �It�s a form that you have to fill
out for basically anything you plan to do.�
There�s a joke that you have to fill out an action report before you can
take a dump.�� Her eyes widened.� �If Rubel somehow got access to those reports,
he�d know everything that happened in this office, from how many pencils we
ordered to every wire tap we requested to ��

�To the details of every undercover investigation,� Charlie
finished.

�Dammit!� Stupid
bureaucracy.� They even have to be in a
special format.� Would make them easy to
find.�

Charlie nodded.�
�Rubel�s program was looking for that format.� Then it would be a straightforward thing for
him to run a program on his computer at home which accessed your system through
the backdoor he�d made, grabbed the cache files of the action reports, then
erased all signs of his work.�

Sanchez bent over the computer monitor and looked Charlie squarely
in the face.� �Charlie,� she said, her
voice tight with tension. �Are you saying that Rubel did this all by himself?�

�Yeah,� Charlie smiled.�
�No mole in your department.�

Sanchez whooped with joy, spun around once, grabbed Charlie
and gave him a smacking kiss on the lips.�
She raced out into the DEA�s bullpen to share the good news.� Surprised, Charlie wiped his mouth and Don
laughed.�

Don gave Charlie a hard squeeze on the shoulder.� �Good job, buddy.� Very good job.�

Charlie lit up at the praise and began telling Don how he�d
figured it out.

Don cut him off before he could get going.� �Will�s gonna want to know,� Don said and
squeezed Charlie�s shoulder again.� �You
came through again.� Thanks.�

�You�re welcome,� Charlie said.� One of the DEA�s computer techs came into the
office and Charlie cornered her and began telling her all about his
discovery.� Grinning, Don left Charlie to
someone who could appreciate his feat and went to tell Will.

�Security has been suspended,� Don said with a smile to the guard outside
Will�s room.� �You�re off duty.�

He went into Will�s room and was glad to find Will awake,
Cindi sitting nearby.

�Great news!� Don said.

�Ya caught thuh mole?� Will asked.�

�There was no mole!��
Don said happily, sitting next to Will�s bed.� �Rubel did it all himself!�

�Wonderful!� Cindi exclaimed.

�Damn,� Will said, relief flooding his face.� �Now won� haveta quit DEA.�

�You were gonna quit?� Don said with surprise.� �Why?�

��Cause tha� would mean I�m evun lousier agen� than I
thought.� Not fig�ring out when my
co-w�rkers were lyin� to me.�

Don frowned.� �You�re
not a lousy agent.� You�re one of the
best.�

�Oh, really?�� Will
said wryly.� �Look a� me.� Got muhself shot twice.�

Sighing, Don took Will�s hand.� �Yeah, we need to talk about that.� And I need to apologize for how royally I
fucked up.� I�m sorry, it should never
have happened.�

Will�s eyebrows rose.�
�You f�cked up?� I got muhself
shot �cause I�m an id�ot.� When I saw
thuh lab, I should�ve stopp�d right then and backed out.� We could�ve checked out of r�treat early and
called in raid tha� night.� But no, I had
ta go for whole pretty package, thuh precursor.�
It was thuh perf�ct trap for a DEA agen�.�

�And as an FBI agent, I should
have recognized that and stopped you from going into the room.�

�I was in charge, �member?�� Will snapped.�
�I though� we had that settl�d.�

�You were in charge, yes, but
I�ve got more experience than you.�� Don
let go of Will�s hand to rub his hand in agitation against the arm of his chair.� �I should have known something was wrong.�

��N what would�ve you done?� Said �letz go back?�� I wouldn�t �ve listen�d ta you.�� Will crossed his good arm over his chest and
looked just as stubborn as he probably would have in the lab.

Don shook his head.� He wasn�t going to let Will win this argument.� �How do you know that?� I should have said something.� I also should have picked up something to use
as a weapon while we were upstairs, something heavy and long like a fire
poker.�

�Dammit,� Will growled.�� Stop tryin� ta take respons�bility for
this!� I messed up �n got shot for
it.� End of story.�

�I was there, remember? And I
should have known better, stayed at the stairs when you went into the room.� Forgot everything I ever knew.�

�You w�re followin� my lead, like
I told ya to!� Will said, his voice loud with anger.

Don yelled back, �That doesn�t
excuse me from thinking!�

Cindi jumped to her feet.�
�I don�t believe you two!� Will
almost got killed and you�re arguing over who was the biggest screw-up.� Can�t you just be happy that it worked out
okay?� No, you�ve got to be the bigger
bastard and take the blame, like some sort of trophy.� God, you�re so � so � men!�� Cindi snapped out the
last word like an epithet and stormed out of the hospital room.

Don and Will stared after her then looked at each other. The
corner of Will�s mouth twitched and suddenly they were both laughing.� Their laughter built on each other�s until
they were laughing so hard tears were coming from their eyes.� Don grabbed the side of the bed and held his
chest as his frustration vaporized.� Will
slapped the mattress with his good hand and the room rang with relief-filled
laughter.

�You man, you!�� Don
said, imitating Cindi.

�Don�t, don�t,� Will gasped.�
�Hurts.�

�Oh, sorry,� Don said, trying to swallow his laughter.

Cindi peeked around the door.� �What is wrong with you two?� she asked in
bewilderment.� That set Don and Will off
all over again.
- 35
- 36
- 37
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