"Only once. After that it's been over computer." "So it could be anyone really?" "Sure, but that doesn't matter. It's what he did. First, we entered the computer . . ." "What do you mean we?" Higgins shot Scott a disapproving stare. "We. Like him and me. He tied my computer to his so I could watch what he was doing. So, he gets into the computer . . ." "How?" "With the passwords. There were three." "How did he get them?" "From another hacker I assume. That's another story." The con- stant interruptions exasperated Scott. "Let me finish, then grill me. O.K.?" Higgins nodded. Sure. "So, once we were in, he could do anything he wanted. The com- puter thought he was the Systems Administrator, the head honcho for all the bank's computer operations. So we had free reign. The first place we went was to Account Operations. That's where the general account information on the bank's customers is kept. I asked him for information on you. Within seconds I knew a lot about you." Higgins frowned deeply. "From there, he asked for detailed information on your files; credit cards, payment histo- ry, delinquencies, loans on cars, IRA's, the whole shooting match." "I have to interrupt here, Scott," Higgins said edgily. "Could he, or you have made changes, to, ah . . .my account?" "We did!" "You made changes? What changes?" Higgins was aghast. "We took all your savings and invested them in a new startup fast food franchise called Press Rat and Wharthog Sandwiches, Inc." "You have got be kidding." Scott saw the sweat drops at Higgins' hairline. "Yeah, I am. But he did show me how easy it is to make adjust- ments in account files. Like pay off loans and have them disap- pear, invoke foreclosures, increase or decrease balances, whatev- er we wanted to do." "Jesus Christ!" "That's not the half of it. Not even a millionth of it. See, we went through lots of accounts. The bank computer must hold hundreds of thousands of account records, and we had access to them all. If we had wanted to, we could have erased them all, or zeroed them out, or made everyone rich overnight." "Are you telling me," Higgins spoke carefully, "that you and this . . .hacker, illegally entered a bank computer and changed records and . . ." "Whoah!" Scott held up his hands to slow Higgins down. "We left everything the way it was, no changes as far as I could tell." "Are you sure?" "No, I'm not. I wasn't in the driver's seat. I went along for the ride." "What else did you do last night, Scott?" Higgins sounded re- signed to more bad news. The legal implications must have been too much for him to handle. "We poked around transfer accounts, where they wire money from one bank to another and through the Fed Reserve. Transaction accounts, reserves, statements, credit cards. Use your imagina- tion. If a bank does it, we saw it. The point is, John, I need to know two things."