Survival Wednesday - No Such Thing As Untraceable

So today we explore the concept of survival in the field of Private Investigation. 

For my first book, Purple Knot, in which the heroine is a detective, I did so much research that I started to scare my family. 

Not really, but they were impressed by the tricks of the trade I shared at dinner.

Something that really baked their noodle was the concept of untraceable cell phones not really being all that...well, untraceable. 

In the movies, sure, you get an ominous call from a stalker or a kidnapper and its just like it came from ghost...no way to trace it, right?  

Uh, maybe not.

Part of my research took me to a great book by Steven Kerry Brown called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating. As a jumping off point for your research into the ins and outs of trade, this is a wonderful place to start. Of course, its just an overview, but the book offers some great myth busting along with facts.

One such myth is the Untraceable Cell Phone.  In fact it just might be easier to hit *67 than go to the trouble of buying a "Throw Away" cell to make those calls...if you were a fictional bad guy, that is.

Here are the reasons why...

• Let's say you paid in cash, so they can't trace you, right?

Well...that's a start, but really, that's not enough to cover your tracks. If you make a call with the phone, even to those who have no caller ID, law enforcement can get a record of numbers that called a victim's phone.

• So they have your number...so what? I paid in cash, so no name. I'm in the clear.

Well, not so much your name...but where you live and what you look like...so your anonymity just went down a few notches.

Retailers keep track of the phones they sell via an Electronic Serial Number (ESN) programmed into it.  The cell company that activates the phone knows which ESN number went to which stores.

 

• So what, you say? Thousands of people shop at that particular store. They wouldn't be able to know who bought the cell phone or when...I'm safe.

Nope. 

Cell phones require activation at the time of purchase. Look around your store next time...see any cameras? Guess who is on a time-coded recording?  Now guess who now has the cell number, where you bought it, when you bought it...and now, a photo of you buying it?

• Its just a picture of a random person who paid cash. No one knows who I am...I'm still one step ahead of the good guys.

Well...you're not, really.

If you called anyone else on that phone, all they have to do is show a picture of you (the one from the store) to those people...and unless you hang with criminals - which is possible, you are a fictional bad guy - someone will tell them your name.

• My den of thieves will never reveal my evil identity!

They don't have to. Because every time you turn on that phone, if law enforcement is monitoring your cell number...they can pinpoint the cell towers you are pinging off of.  So they wait to see the area...and they come armed with your picture and ask...and wait...and sooner or later --- You're toast.

Now since this is all for fiction writing purposes only, we can take liberties with technology. Diabolical minds are able to outwit these types of moves by law enforcement thus ratcheting up the conflict and tension. 

**Remember, your main character has to stand out from the rest...their own unique ability or approach or insight are what saves the day.**

If you use the facts to set up an impossible situation, then getting out of it and out smarting the villain is all the more sweet.

Keep in mind that knowing how the system works helps to open up the imagination to ways around it. As always, research is a key component to writing a great story.

Until next time...Go Write!

Photograph by Deleranto Bestiole.

Survival Wednesday - Alligator Attack

My current WIP, Bayou Blue, takes place in the fictional Bayou La Foudre, a sleepy parish in southern Louisiana. A large portion of the action scene near the climax occurs in the swamp. 


To celebrate spine-tingling adventure in the muck...I decided to make todays post about surviving an alligator attack. Get your notepads out, my friends, because you may someday need this stuff.


In The Worst-Case Scenario Handbook, by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht, they give some great tips on how to avoid being in the situation all together.  


And of course, never try to wrestle an alligator in real life...All this information is for fiction writing purposes only. I am not an expert and neither are you.


But, lets say, for argument's purposes, that your hero is in the dank and dripping dark of a bayou swamp, face to giant snout-full-of-teeth with a bull alligator. The gator charges, the low rumble of his roar spiking the hair on your MC's arms....what does he do?

• Well, first of all, I would run screaming and probably pass out from fright, thus becoming lunch.  HOWEVER, the book says to try to get on the alligator's back if you're on dry land.  Sort of a bull-riding defensive move I guess.

• Then you are supposed to cover the alligator's eyes because apparently, that makes them docile.  Clearly, Peek-A-Boo has its uses outside of confusing your infant.

This next piece of advice yanked a disbelieving snort-laugh out of me...

• If its jaws are closed on something you wish to remove -- like your arm -- then "tap" or punch it on the snout.

I'm not the expert here...but "tapping" seems inadequate. I doubt I'd be that polite anyway. I tend to panic.

• Seek medical attention, even if for a scratch. There can be infection. 

I'd like to add that losing buckets of blood is also an indicator that medical help is a good idea.

The best way to avoid this scenario is to not swim where there are alligators...so NO WHERE, in Florida.  Also swamps named "Dead Man's Gulch."  Don't dangle your limbs from boats. Don't harass or touch the alligators - they frown upon that kind of disturbance. Don't pick up their babies for a photo-op.

Alligators are beautiful, precious, and ferocious animals. They're wild. Leave them alone and give them space.  Unfortunately, my MC does everything right and still has an unpleasant encounter...but that's the fun of fiction.

Until next time...Go Write!

Photograph by Perpetualplum  

Duck...No, Weave!

So, I do a lot of research on things that I will (hopefully) never encounter or need in my real (housewife) life. To do this I have tons of books on strange subjects. I wrote about them in a past post called, Trickery, Deception, and Other Essentials.

Today we are learning how to dodge bullets! Yay for survival books!

The Worst-Case Scenario, a survival handbook by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht, is one of my  "Go To" texts for situations that I know nothing about.  There is a chapter about surviving if you are in the line of gunfire where they have diagrams and everything.

In our scenario, our hero, let's call him Survival Stan, fresh from stealing a secret government vial of uber-doom, is confronted with evil henchmen-guards and fired upon. In the movies we would see him running across the courtyard a trail of bullets churning up dirt at his heels as he bee-lines it for the door...WRONG!!

See, according to my trusty handbook, running in a straight line across a clear open area is a sure fire way to get gone!  You are instead supposed to run in a zig-zag pattern while putting as many obstacles between yourself and the henchmen's bullets as possible.

Zig-Zag, people.  It doesn't look cool, kind of like an ostrich at a ballet, but most people do not have the training to properly track a moving target, much less a wavering one, to hit it.

Also, if there is a corner, use it.  Hide behind cabinets or doorways. Untrained shooters usually cannot hit a target more than sixty-feet away, so start running...fast.  Don't wait...run.

Also don't bother pulling a Dirty Harry  and counting the bullets. There is no way of knowing if the shooter has more ammunition and we all saw The Matrix...there's ALWAYS more ammo hidden in those trench coats.

If you are outside and there are cars around, get to a car on the opposite side of the street and get behind a tire. They will stop small caliber bullets, but armor piercing rounds will punch holes in the car like it was made of paper....so keep that in mind.

Finally, I want to remind all of you that this is purely a hypothetical situation for your characters...I'm in no way an expert. The point is to get you thinking about research and how the details of a scene can really pull the reader into the experience and make it believable.

I'd love to hear of any great books or research techniques you've used to create a vivid and riveting universe for your story.  Until next time...Go Write!