This all started with the promise of a story.

When Markus phoned me from Peru, he wanted to me to meet him at Heathrow. He had a story to tell me. Then he was murdered.

It’s taken us two months to discover what that story was - two months of you guys working so incredibly hard to help me and Rachel uncover the truth. But we have finally got our story.

This is what I believe Markus wanted us to know. This is the story he was trying to uncover in Calca:

Of course I’m pleased I got my story. But none of that matter so much as having got justice for Markus.

At home working on my next video blog when the phone goes.

Not really in the mood to talk, I let it ring out.

The person on the other end leaves a message.

By the time I get to the phone, the line is dead.

Hi everyone

After an exhausting 24hrs we’ve gotten it together enough to post on what’s happened:

Rachel’s got a post up about what happened, and you can look through the transcript of the online stuff. You did brilliantly, thank you - I’d go as far as saying you all saved my life.

I’m probably going to take some flack for this one, but let me be clear: taking part in this is a matter of personal choice. I can’t guarantee anything.

Having said that, here’s our very own A-Team:

Mike Rush
Kim Chantler
Kirsty Fish
Claire Tillyer
Zoe Fell

Edit: we’re hopefully taking along two extra team members, too:
Alex Eckl
Carmen Siu

Guys, you are heroes.

With Sunday’s lab heist ever closer - and my innards in ever greater turmoil - a further summary of suggestions for how to pull it all off (lab heist, not innards):

Tilly reckons distraction is the way to go, perhaps coupled with a ’scientist delivering something to lab’ cover story.

If you take a cool box and some dry ice with some fake samples in then I bet they wouldn’t turn you away, especially if you show them what’s in the box and say that the very expensive samples are going to get ruined if you don’t get them to the lab quick.

Zoe made the point that we’re going to need people stationed in the fields of each of the security cameras.

If you’ve got people distracting security on the CCTV, then the security guards are going to be more concerned with getting them off the premises than anyone else in the grounds.

Mike thinks there may be a camera blind-spot between the out buildings and the northern fence.

Suggestions for disabling the CCTV cameras once we’re inside the building include hairspray, paint and paint-ball paint. The tricky thing here is that the cameras are mounted on very high poles. I think we’re going to struggle to disable them; perhaps we’re better off dodging them.

Re Woodburn, Zoe suggested:

If Aalia’s username is anazim, it would make sense for Duncan Woodburn’s to be dwoodburn. If we could get a password, we could hack in and potentially set up an event for Sunday which would ensure he’d be away from Prometha HQ.

Great idea, but I think we’re going to have to just hope that Woodburn is away from the office on some golf course somewhere. There’s no point giving the police any more reason to arrest us (no need to add virtual trespass to actual trespass…).

And finally, Just a friend suggested setting off all the fire alarms, which will automatically open all the doors giving us 10 minutes to search the lab and Woodburn’s office. My concern here is that if searching the lab takes, say, 11 minutes… then we’ll be very much stuffed as emergency services arrive.

Seems to me it comes down to how few laws we can break while still getting the job done. Obviously, the fewer the better. Thoughts?

Any thoughts on how to pull this off?

William’s suggestion:

The best bet would be to host a rally outside their offices, distracting them long enough for someone to slip in (not that I condone that in any shape or form)

Seems like a good one - seeing as the other option of applying for a job seems not to have worked for Tilly

I’ve been doing a little digging. I spoke to Aalia, who drew me a map of the layout inside. She thinks if paperwork implicating Woodburn is anywhere, it will be in his office. It’s right opposite the lab, which is our likely spot for MAL samples.

Prometha Floor Plan

A quick trip to Prometha HQ ‘to deliver a package’ has netted me some useful snaps, and a map of the layout of the front of the building.

Rough map of the Prometha Campus

We need to get in, find hard evidence, find a MAL sample, and get out. Aalia tells me the building is open but very quiet at weekends, so I think Sunday is a good bet. The down side: CCTV, and security guards.

Prometha - front, looking north

Prometha - entrance

Prometha - south lawn

Prometha - Drive

Prometha - front

Prometha - security gate

Prometha - cctv in reception

I am now an official DEPAA supporter on Facebook :-)

Given that we know MAL - Prometha’s new product, and set to make them a lot of money - is derived from Murutaibo DNA, how do we get proof without the evidence being destroyed?

So - we need two things: a sample of MAL from Prometha and DNA from the Murutaibo.

I’ve spoken to Alison Streatwell from DEPAA, and she nearly agreed to use her contacts in Peru to get samples from the Murutaibo in hospital out there. I say nearly: she doesn’t quite believe that I’m serious enough about her cause.

I’ve got a plan. I think we can get her on-side if we help her out first.

There’s a page on the DEPAA site about how they think grass-roots activism on the internet can help spread word of their cause. They even give examples of the kind of thing you can do:

You can save the amazon!
It’s easier than you might think. The first step is raising awareness, and to do that you can:

• Tell a friend
• Make a petition
• Put up a banner
• Hold a protest march
• Create a website
• Write a letter to the editor
• Use your imagination… what can YOU do?

Protest marches are going to take too long to organize, but surely we can whip up an online storm in support of DEPAA? We just need to get word out there, and make sure she knows that it’s us doing it…

Here’s what I need you to do:

Read the stuff on the DEPAA site. Download the badges, put them on your facebook pages, your blogs, your myspace. Tell your mates. Stick up a poster or two. Twitter it. Take pictures.

Most importantly, take a record of what you’ve done, and email DEPAA. Tell them what you’re doing, and tell them that you’re doing it because Matt Blacker asked you to, and he needs DEPAA’s help .

If we can get Alison’s help, then we just need to get to Prometha. It goes without saying: please don’t contact Prometha directly to ask questions about this.

You guys have done some amazing work figuring out Jim Malham’s passwords and stuff for the Blackmoor site - thank you. But I’m wondering about this:

When I spoke to her, Emma Bracewell told me that her last known address for her cousin was at the Millaflores Hotel in Lima. I presume he was there before he left for Calca, but it’d be great to check if he had a corporate account, either under his own name, or Blackmoor, or Prometha. I can’t figure out which username or password he would have used. Any ideas?

For me this is a crucial development. We have a paper trail that establishes a link between Malham and Prometha. Thanks to Kim C, Claire, Zoe, Kirsty and Thomas K for figuring it out.

Just last week I was telling Sam Rocz that she was being paranoid about Woodburn… am now thinking I might have been over-hasty in reassuring her.