Cyberian Affair

by Mark A Pryor

  She’s autistic. Not good with people.

  Niko fished his phone out of his pocket. “I’m calling 9-1-1.”

  “No! Do not call. Russians hijacked the Loudoun County emergency phone numbers. No 9-1-1 calls from the County are going through. They have all been redirected to other numbers. County Dispatch cannot receive them. They commandeered Parthian Security’s numbers, too.”

  She’s right. Franklin called security. No one came—only the drones.

  Niko stared at the video. No emergency vehicles in sight. “Do something, Vyper. We can’t just watch them die!”

  “I sent an anonymous message to County Dispatch operations and Ashburn Police. They will respond.” Vyper grabbed a second laptop from the coffee table and handed it to Niko. “The Action Center’s system is not accessible—probably shut down before the attack. We must use backup data.”

  “You mean the copy we send to our backup site? That won’t show the drone attack. It’s got to be a couple of hours old.”

  “The official backup site isn’t our only copy. There is another server that replicates everything in real time.” Vyper scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to him. “Use this password to login.”

  While Niko waited for the laptop to start up, he couldn’t take his eyes off the video on the TV. The fire had spread, with flames coming from the roof and the front door. Two police cars arrived, but no other emergency vehicles.

  They’re still in there. Rocky, Gato—everyone.

  For now, Niko had to push the deaths out of his mind.

  Something else bothered him. As a security guy, he instinctively distrusted strangers. But Marko had given him Vyper’s number, so he should trust her. Niko watched her type away in rapid bursts.

  Autistic or not. She’s a security geek.

  He had to know. “Why do you trust me?”

  She looked up from her keyboard. “Marko told me to trust and assist anyone who identifies themselves as The Pythia.”

  Niko’s laptop displayed a small set of icons. “Where’s the other backup server?”

  She pointed over her shoulder. “The spare bedroom—my computer room. But you access it here from your laptop. It is the blue icon. Use the password I gave you.”

  Niko double-clicked a small blue picture of a lock. He glanced at Vyper’s screen and noticed the logo of EMS Telecom. “You broke into the phone company? They’ve got tight security.”

  “Have you ever heard of Groper?”

  “Sure,” said Niko. “Used to be one of the most dangerous hacking tools in the world. But all the security vendors have learned how to block it now.”

  “I keep improving Groper. My latest version can penetrate most systems.”

  “Your version? Everyone knows the mysterious Prixster created it.”

  “I was Prixster.”

  Holy shit!

  Among Marko’s staff, Vyper’s reputation was legend. But the entire world knew Prixster was unmatched in her hacking ability—the creator of some of the most dangerous computer software ever unleashed upon the cyberworld.

  “I thought Prixster disappeared—dead or hiding.”

  Vyper smiled. “Russia came after me. FBI, too. Criminals, hackers—everybody wanted to find me. When Marko discovered my identity, he protected me—took me deep. Taught me to use my skills to help our country. Prixster no longer exists.”

  Flashing lights on the TV screen captured Niko’s attention. Police cars and fire engines parked haphazardly in front of the building. A ladder truck pulled up followed by emergency medical vehicles.

  He looked at Vyper and pointed to the TV. “Maybe it’s not too late.”

  She shook her head and continued typing.

  He hated to admit it, but she was probably right. Everyone inside—Rocky, Gato, and the others—were likely dead

  Niko signed in and located the video files on the laptop Vyper gave him—the one labeled “Roof.” He pressed rewind until it reached the time when he left Starbucks. Using fast-forward, he watched the sky above the building. Suddenly, the video shifted.

  Camera’s linked to radar?

  He pressed pause and backed it up.

  Vyper interrupted. “Someone at EMS Telecom reassigned the county emergency phone numbers. All 9-1-1 calls have been directed to Fairfax Hospital.”

  Niko paused the video and looked at her. “What? Can you imagine how confusing it is for the callers … and the folks at the hospital? I guess confusion is part of the plan.”

  “A Loudoun County administrator must authorize all changes to the phone system, but any customer service representative at EMS can alter it—whether authorized or not. The transaction was performed by someone with the login name of fancy.”

  “The Russians must have planted someone inside the phone company.”

  Vyper’s fingers danced across her keyboard. “I just sent the time-stamped details anonymously to the security team at EMS. They will know who fancy is, and they can arrest him … or her. I also sent it to Loudoun County dispatch.”

  It wasn’t a surprise that the Russians had an agent inside EMS—probably more than one. But they hijacked all 9-1-1 calls to the county, redirecting them to a hospital.

  All those lives at risk … what do they care? They’re killers.

  He pressed ‘play’ on the roof video, zooming in to view the approaching drone, then slowed it down to view frame by frame. It was an octocopter carrying cargo below its belly—something flat, but thick.

  The drone reached the building, hovered for a few seconds, then dropped rapidly toward the roof. He paused it at the last minute. The cargo wasn’t flat. A thick hoop sat on a thinner base. He played it forward through each frame until a fireball and smoke covered the video.

  The hoop. It’s the explosive.

  Niko restarted the video, located the second drone, and zoomed in close. It carried a different package. Something the shape of a pizza box hung below the blades. As it approached, he got a clearer view of the box, formed of long, light-colored bricks.

  Looks familiar. C-4 explosive!

  Before it reached the roof, the smoke from the first drone obscured the video. A few frames later a bright flash cut through the smoke just before the video went black.

  He backed up the video again and found a third drone. Zooming in as close as possible, he studied it as it approached. The recording ended before showing any detail.

  Niko found another file, this one called “Outside.” Before watching it, he turned to Vyper. “It looks like each drone carried a different type of explosive.”

  She stopped typing. “How do you know about explosives?”

  “I learned a little when I worked for an arms dealer in Philadelphia. It seems each of these drones had a different purpose. The first one had some kind of explosive hoop. It might have been the kind of shaped charge they use to cut through metal. Looks like it blew a hole in the roof. The second one was C-4. I guess they figured this drone could drop its explosive through the hole in the roof and do more damage. I didn’t get a good look at the third.”

  Vyper nodded and pointed to her laptop. “I learned more at EMS. Have you ever heard of an app called Telegram?”

  “Sure. Used to send encrypted texts. Popular with people who want to keep their messages secret.”

  “Yes—like terrorists and spies. Fancy sent and received several encrypted messages using the Telegram app today. I believe this person is an agent.”

  “We’ve got to tell someone, but I’m not sure who. Marko once told me the White House won’t authorize active measures against Russia. Defensive action is fine, but nothing aggressive enough to actually stop them.”

  “Marko told me the same thing. I will send the information to the FBI, but they might not follow through.”

  Niko slammed his fist on the arm of the couch. “That’s not good enough. Marko, Joey, and everyone else are dead. I’m a loose end for them. They won’t stop looking for me.”

  Vyper looked up fro
m her laptop. “Marko was the only friend I had. I am angry, too. Do you have any ideas?”

  “First, we have to tell someone who will force the government to act … the press. Like Watergate. Deep Throat’s inside information led to the resignation of the president. Maybe we could do the same thing and take down Sokolov.” Niko struggled to turn his instincts into a real plan. “You need to be a new Deep Throat. We’ll call you Trotsky.”

  Vyper shook her head. “I know computers, not people. I do not know what to say, who to talk to.”

  “Then I’ll be Trotsky. I’ll figure out what to say, who to tell.”

  “I agree. But it will not stop the Russians. It is not safe for you to leave my home. Not until they are stopped. Do you have any more ideas?”

  “I’ll think of something. Sokolov’s doing this. We stole his money. He’s looking for me—maybe you, too.”

  “How can we stop him?”

  “Right now, I don’t have a plan. But we need a brilliant hacker willing to do unethical things online. Someone like Prixster.”

  Falcon

  Chapter 7

  Niko waited for an answer. He needed to neutralize the Russian threat, but he couldn’t do it without Vyper’s help.

  She nodded. “You are right. I will be Prixster once again, but I will not use the name.”

  “Great. Working together, we have a fighting chance.”

  The live video feed showed the outside of the burning building. The fire department had contained most of the flames while the EMTs stood around. No sign of anyone coming out.

  Vyper set her laptop on the couch. “We cannot help them. The emergency responders will do that.”

  “We don’t know…” Niko thought of the people who were in the Center earlier in the evening before Marko was killed. “Maybe Rocky or Gato survived.”

  “I am monitoring the dispatch system. If something significant happens, I will get the details. For now, we need a plan. Marko knew a lot more about the Russians than we do. I have his files on the backup server.”

  Niko studied the directory on the server. Next to the video files were twenty folders, each one labeled with unintelligible names consisting of random numbers and letters. “What am I looking at?”

  Vyper pointed to one of the folders.

  Niko selected it and entered the password Vyper gave him. A list of clearly labelled files appeared, sorted with the newest date on top. One name was familiar. “I’ll start with the file on SOKOLOV.”

  “I will look at the latest information on security incidents.” Vyper began typing on her laptop.

  The Sokolov file summarized what was known about the billionaire who was recently named the CEO of Rusmir, the largest computer services company in Russia. Previously, he held a government position as Director of Communications, IT and Media—probably a reward from the Russian president for assistance in the Crimean intervention.

  Crimea! That’s where Niko grew up—in Sevastopol. Scanning quickly past the first few pages, he found confirmation of his suspicions. Sokolov was Ukrainian. The man had been a suspected enforcer in the Ukrainian Mafia. He might have lived there when Niko did.

  Niko thought back to his teenage years in Sevastopol. He wasn’t proud of the work his gang did for the Mafia—collecting and delivering protection money.

  He turned to Vyper. “I might have met Sokolov when I lived in the Ukraine.”

  She looked up from her laptop. “When I searched for your name earlier this evening, I learned where you were from. You will have more insight into Sokolov’s background than I do.”

  On the TV, the live video showed an ambulance driving around the side of the building where the flames had been extinguished.

  Someone’s alive.

  Vyper must have seen it, too. She typed on her laptop. “They are reporting one survivor—a man. He requires an ambulance. No name or description of injuries yet.”

  Niko thought about the Action Center. “Maybe the survivor was inside the datacenter. The tight physical security could have protected him. The others were unprotected—in operations, where the drone exploded.” He looked at Vyper. “Have you learned anything about the hackers?”

  “They are not done yet. It is a large team, and they are now probing Fairfax County systems, looking for weaknesses. The probes are coming from the dark net. If they find a vulnerable server, they might take more aggressive action.”

  “Can you protect the systems they’re targeting?”

  “Yes, I will, but it will not stop the Russians from probing other systems. I plan to configure a few decoy servers so they appear to have weak defenses. Once the Russians access the decoys, I will track them backwards.”

  “You said the hacks are coming from the dark net. You can’t track anything through that network.”

  “So far, the only dark net traffic I see comes from the TOR network. It is only a minor problem because I know the vulnerabilities of its Onion routers. When I was Prixster, I infected over a thousand of them. Each time I see an attack coming from an Onion router, I install my software on it and spread the infection. Over time, I have been able to trace many attacks back to the source.”

  No one can crack the dark net … no one but Prixster.

  A smile crossed his lips. “I’m going to learn a lot from you.”

  “I am not a good teacher, but you may watch all you like.”

  “Vyper.” Niko waited for her to look in his direction. “Can I ask a personal question?”

  “You can ask me whatever you like.”

  “The way you speak. It sounds so formal. Where did you learn to speak English?”

  A wrinkle formed on her brow. “I do not know. I cannot remember learning to speak. I was very young. Why do you ask?”

  “I learned Ukrainian and Russian long before I learned English. I wondered if English was a second language for you.”

  “I grew up in Utah. Never learned a second language.”

  “I don’t think I ever heard you use a contraction. You say, ‘I do not know,’ and, ‘I cannot remember’. It’s just … like I said, it sounds so formal.”

  “That is how I learned to speak. Contractions sound like slang to me. It is … It’s … just the way I speak. Does it bother you?”

  “Absolutely not. You have a lovely voice. It was a silly question.”

  A glance at his watch showed it was nearly 4 a.m. He could barely spell Sokolov at this hour. “I’m going to bed. My mind works better after a few hours’ sleep.”

  “You are right. I need my sleep, too.” She closed her laptop and stood. “See you in the morning.”

  It was too late for a shower. Niko moved everything off the double bed in the guest room. He stripped off his clothes, turned out the light, and crawled under the sheet. As tired as he was, sleep should come easily, but he feared a repeat of his recurring nightmare.

  ***

  Niko was eighteen again in Sevastopol. Part of his mind knew it was a dream, but everything seemed so real. He stepped out of the pub into the warm night air, carrying a valise full of protection money. He turned right and spotted his friend Yuri standing on the corner.

  Yuri waved. “Pryvit!”

  Niko slipped easily back into his native language. “Pryvit! Is something wrong? Skorpion is expecting me.”

  Yuri’s expression turned serious. He motioned Niko closer and lowered his voice. “Skorpion is dead. Shot full of bullets outside his house.”

  Holy shit! The man in charge of protection couldn’t protect himself?

  Niko whispered. “When? Who?”

  “Two hours ago. No one said who did it—not out loud—but Falcon’s taken his place.”

  “Did Falcon kill him?”

  Yuri shook his head. “People like him don’t do their own killing. They order the hit, and someone does it for them.”

  “Who collects the money now?” Niko held up his valise. “Falcon?”

  Yuri smiled. “Yeah, but I don’t think it would be a good idea
to ask him if he killed Skorpion.”

  “Where do I find him?”

  “At the warehouse. He’s taken over Skorpion’s office. Go in as though nothing happened. Hand over the money and leave.”

  When Niko arrived at the warehouse, he knocked and entered. Skorpion’s bodyguard stood inside the door as usual. Big lunk must have been in on the hit. Inside the room, a man in a white shirt sat at Skorpion’s desk.

  Gotta be Falcon.

  Niko handed the bodyguard a slip of paper and the valise—just like he did every week. Then he turned to leave.

  The man at the desk spoke. “Are you Adam Zima?”

  Adam. Another reminder this was a dream, but the danger felt real. “Yes. I’m Adam.”

  Falcon stood up. He was shorter than Niko expected, with closely cropped, dark hair. He looked like Kasparov, the chess master. “Come here, boy. I want to meet you.”

  Niko stepped closer, stopping in front of the desk. The man’s eyes looked evil. His irises were black, the same color as his pupils. Niko’s heart raced as he stared into the soul of the devil, waiting for the man to speak.

  “They tell me good things about you. How loyal you are—how strong.” He walked over and put his hand on Niko’s shoulder. “We should be friends—loyal friends. Can I count on you?”

  The man’s touch made Niko cringe. This stone-cold killer was demanding unquestioned loyalty. Only one answer would let him walk out of here alive. “Of course, sir.”

  Falcon walked back and sat behind his desk. “You collect Melnik’s payments, don’t you?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “They say he’s behind a few months. That true?”

  “It is. He’s paying now, but there were two months when he didn’t. It’s all in the paperwork I turn in every week.”

  An insincere smile spread across Falcon’s face. “Well, Adam. You’re no longer just a delivery boy. From now on, I expect you to collect all money owed to me. If someone refuses to pay, you won’t accept their answer. You’re a strong boy, they’ll listen to you. Do you understand?”

  Sweat formed on Niko’s brow. He didn’t want to shake people down. If he could refuse and leave right now, he would, but no Mafia leader would let that happen. “Yes, sir. I’ll talk to Melnik. He’ll pay.”