Conspiracy

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Minutes after amanda Rauci used her credit card, a copy of the transaction was forwarded to the Secret Service and, rom them, to Desk Three, where it showed up in Robert Gallo’s e-mail queue.

The transaction showed the card had been used to pay the American Credit Ch*k Company. American Credit Ch*k was an Internet company whose Web site boasted that it could provide instant credit information over the Internet on any American. While the claims were slightly overblown, the information was in fact fairly complete and very quick, as Gallo found out by ordering his own credit report. It even noted that he just paid off the loan on his Jetta a month before. Gallo recorded the entire query and transaction so he could see how the program worked.

“They keep a record of the transaction request,” Gallo told Johnny Bib, pointing to the screen where the program’s scripts and data were displayed. “They set up an account, so you have a full history and everything else. But they don’t keep track of where the request came from. We’d have to look at their server records. Take me about ten minutes to get in there. Maybe fifteen. Once I’m in, it’s a snap.”

“Go through channels,” said Johnny Bib.

Gallo hung his head.

“Johnny, it’ll take at least until morning for anybody at the credit-checking place to say, ‘Cool, go ahead,’ ” he explained.

“Try the right way first,” said Johnny Bib, bouncing out of the room.