Cyberian Affair

by Mark A Pryor

  “You’re right—Sokolov had to kill all of us. The drone attack was a surprise, but the Center should have had time to engage security. That’s why the Russians had to intercept the call for help.”

  “And they hijacked the 9-1-1 phone number so police would not respond quickly.”

  Niko nodded. “When they went to Alpha World to kill Marko, they spotted me with him. I became a loose end, like Gato is now, so they tried to kill us both. This is the first time we’ve lined up all the facts. With Marko’s Action Center out of the picture, the Russians still face a threat from the team that replaced us—Cybercade. Sokolov would probably assume Marko shared information with them.”

  Vyper typed rapidly on her laptop. “Cybercade servers are being probed right now. It appears to be the same methods we saw the Russians using against us. I think they are gathering information to attack Cybercade.”

  “The drones!” Niko opened the security video from the attack and fast-forwarded to the first drone. He zoomed in for the highest resolution view before the explosion. “It has eight copter blades. I’m not familiar with the shaped charges it’s carrying. Hard to judge the weight.”

  He zoomed in on the second drone. “This one is carrying C4—eight sticks. That would be ten pounds, plus the camera.”

  “I found the drone.” Vyper entered a few commands on her laptop. “It is a DSI Heavy 8 octocopter. Their smaller models could not lift that weight. Maximum flight time is twenty minutes. Maximum range is five kilometers. The pilot had to be at least that close—probably closer, to minimize the drone’s travel time to the building.”

  “Can the signal from the pilot be jammed?”

  Vyper tapped away at the keyboard. “It uses spread spectrum on the 2.4 gigahertz band. A jammer broadcasting across the entire band will interrupt communication, creating an error condition for the drone. It will either return to the pilot, or hover in place until it runs out of power.”

  “We’ve got to tell Cybercade. I’ll alert them, and I’ll include the video of the attack. They need to set up a jammer.”

  Vyper gently grasped Niko’s arm. “I am sorry. A medical report arrived. Gato had another cardiac arrest. He is dead.”

  Christmas Eve

  Chapter 10

  The setting sun peeked through the trees, casting long shadows across the snow. Niko turned onto Vyper’s driveway and pulled into the garage. It had been good to get out, even if it was only for groceries, computers, and electronics. With all the holiday shoppers, Niko decided to get a card for Vyper. She never mentioned Christmas, but he wanted to be prepared in case she gave him a card.

  Niko took the bags from the trunk and carried them into the dining room. “I got a battery pack for our jammer. It’ll last for an hour or more.”

  Vyper began putting the groceries away. “I think we will need it. Cybercade has installed drone detection systems, but they have not decided how to defend against an attack. Fairfax County will not allow them to fire weapons or use omnidirectional jammers because it would affect neighboring businesses. Cybercade’s latest request is for permission to train their security team to use jammer guns.”

  “So, they can detect drones, but they can’t stop them. For the last two weeks, every media outlet has been talking about the drone attack and the suspicious deaths of Marko and Gato.”

  “Cybercade understands the urgency. They cancelled all holiday time off when the White House announced a heightened alert. It’s the county that is dragging its feet.”

  Niko grabbed the battery pack and headed toward the front of the house. “I’m going to make sure the jammer works with this—unless you need your phone or the internet right now.”

  “Go ahead. I will heat up the pizza.”

  Niko stepped onto the raised floor of Vyper’s second spare bedroom—built out like a small datacenter. Racks of computers and networking equipment lined every wall. The room was cool because of powerful air conditioning that constantly forced air under the floor and up through the equipment cabinets, even during the winter.

  In the middle of the room, sitting on a large table, was the jammer—a black box that looked like an expensive stereo receiver. A foot-long vertical antenna was attached. A much smaller box sat next to it.

  Niko unplugged the jammer from an extension cord and plugged it into the battery pack instead. He turned it on and picked up the smaller box, watching the signal strength meter. Slowly, he walked around the table, watching the movement of the needle.

  Satisfied, Niko turned off the jammer and returned to the dining room. “It works with the battery pack—same power as when it’s plugged into the wall.”

  Vyper glanced at her watch. “Pizza will be ready in ten minutes.” She sat on the couch and opened her laptop. “I have been analyzing financial transactions, trying to follow Sokolov’s money. We are fortunate Marko copied data he acquired when we worked with Treasury and NSA. I can track money travelling through the US, but I am having problems accessing the SWIFT transactions monitored from Belgium.”

  “Problems?” Niko sat on the couch and grinned. “I find it difficult to believe you can’t get into the European network.”

  Vyper snapped her head up and glared at Niko. “I did not say that. I told you I was having problems getting in.”

  He didn’t expect such a strong reaction. “I’m sorry if you misunderstood me. I tried to make a joke.”

  She locked eyes with him, a quizzical look on her face. Then she looked away. “I am not good at reading other people. It is difficult for me to know when you are telling a joke and when you are not.”

  “I care for you, Vyper … You’re my friend.” He took her hand and gave it a friendly squeeze. “I would never say anything to hurt or make fun of you.”

  She didn’t move her hand while they sat silently. When the buzzer went off in the kitchen, she got up. “Pizza’s ready.”

  While they ate, Niko brought Vyper up to speed on his activities, searching the internet for the current whereabouts of known Eastern European hackers. “At least a dozen of them simply disappeared. Maybe they gave up hacking, or perhaps someone hired them for a project.”

  “Like a cyber-attack team in Siberia?”

  “That’s what I’m thinking.” Niko popped the last bite of his pizza into his mouth and carried his plate to the sink. “I chatted with some of the people who are still active. A couple of them remind me of hackers I used to know years ago, but they use different names now. One’s called Zatan. He seems to be the most respected within the group.”

  “Does he know you are Niko?”

  “I use another name. I keep bragging that I know Prixster. It seems to pique his interest.”

  Vyper took the dishes to the sink. “I can build a program that Zatan might want. Perhaps something that discovers parts of the dark net. I will make sure it has the usual signs of my Prixster tools.”

  “Perfect. If he eagerly installs your software, we won’t need to break into his computer. I presume you intend to add something he doesn’t expect—something he won’t notice.”

  “I have many tricks no one has ever detected. Zatan will never spot anything wrong.”

  Niko opened his laptop to catch up on the news. One headline grabbed his attention:

  KOZEL GROUP CEO MAY HAVE BEEN POISONED

  Quickly scanning the article, Niko spotted the detail he was looking for:

  A reliable source inside the Loudoun County Medical Examiner’s office verified previous reports that Marko Kozel, CEO of Kozel Group, may have been intentionally poisoned. Toxicology results are not expected for several weeks, but a suspicious wound on Kozel’s leg seems to indicate poisoning.

  Even two weeks after Marko’s death, these details brought back feelings of anger and sadness.

  When he told Vyper, she closed her eyes and held her hand to her cheek. “Did you see a needle mark in Marko’s calf?”

  “At Alpha World, I saw a sore spot, like a bee sting. I didn’t have a chance t
o study it up close.”

  Vyper rocked her head back and forth, much as she had done when she first heard about Marko’s death.

  Niko read through two more reports on the poisoning, then his thoughts drifted to another victim. “Gato suffered a heart attack—two heart attacks—in the hospital. Those bastards could have slipped him the same poison.”

  He looked up from his computer and saw Vyper, curled up in a ball at the other end of the couch, holding her cheeks in her hands, her head rocking back and forth.

  Niko couldn’t bear to see her in such pain. He wanted to help but wasn’t sure how. The last time she acted this way, she recoiled from his touch.

  “Are you okay?” He set his laptop on the table. “Is there anything I can do?”

  She didn’t respond. The rocking continued.

  He reached for her left hand, still firmly pressed against her cheek. When he touched her, she pushed him away. “Leave me alone.”

  Niko backed off but didn’t move from the couch. He sat silently, trying to think about something else—the Russians, Zatan, and Sokolov. But his eyes never left Vyper. He would wait and be ready for whatever she needed.

  Ten minutes passed. The rocking stopped. She moved her hands from her face and looked at Niko. “I will be fine, now.”

  He wanted to reach out—to hold her—but didn’t want to spook her. “I miss Marko, too.”

  She sat upright. “It is Christmas Eve.”

  What? Christmas is special to her. It wasn’t special to Niko. He spoke softly. “I wasn’t sure what you did for Christmas, but I got you a card.” He stood up.

  Vyper took his hand and pulled him back on the couch. “Marko always came over for Christmas Eve. He was my only family.”

  “You and I can celebrate. I’ll buy a tree. We can decorate it.”

  She shook her head. “No tree. I do not want one in the house.”

  “They have artificial ones. No mess.”

  “You do not understand. When I was a child, I had a different family almost every year. When they gathered around the tree, it was noisy—everyone talking at once. Each time I tried to get away, to be alone, they would force me to come back.”

  “That must have been difficult for you.”

  Vyper studied his face. “Do not pretend to be interested. I know what you are trying to do. I will not have sex with you.”

  Niko didn’t know what to say. Although sex was often on his mind, certainly when near a pretty woman, this was one time when it wasn’t. He genuinely wanted to know her better. He wasn’t trying to get into her pants—not right now, anyway. “You’re a beautiful woman, Vyper, but I’m not attempting to seduce you. You once said you trusted me. Can you trust me now?”

  Her eyes locked onto his. She seemed to be searching his inner thoughts. “People have warned me about men since I was a child. They trained me to be suspicious. I have also learned about men the hard way … But you have treated me well for two weeks. Marko trusted you … I will, too.”

  Niko relaxed. “I’m glad we trust each other. I truly want to know about your life. Not everything … but I’d like to know about all those families you lived with. Were you an orphan?”

  “My father left us when I was very young. I think it was my fault. Autistic children can be stressful for a family—for a single parent, too. When I was twelve, my mother took me to a day care center and did not return. I never saw her again.”

  Niko wanted to reach out. To hold her. Stroke her hair. But he resisted his instincts, keeping his distance. “It must have been hard to understand at that age. Were you adopted?”

  Vyper shook her head. “No one adopts autistic children, especially at that age. They placed me in one home, then another—and another. This was Salt Lake City, so the families were large. Lots of people. No privacy. And I knew nothing about their religion, which was important to them.”

  “There’s one thing I know about you. If you want to learn something, you’ll study it. Did you learn how to be a Mormon?”

  “I learned, but some things were confusing. When I asked questions, people became angry with me. I learned to keep quiet and study something I could understand—computers.”

  “We can celebrate Christmas without a tree—and I promise not to be noisy.”

  Vyper smiled. “How do you celebrate Christmas?”

  “My mother never had a tree. Said it would bother her customers.” Niko made finger gestures to give air quotes around the word customers. “She was a prostitute and a grifter. I don’t know who my father was, and I don’t think she knew either.”

  Vyper placed her free hand on Niko’s arm. “Did your friends celebrate Christmas?”

  “Sure, but in the Ukraine, they celebrated it in January. And it was more about religion, less about gifts. They do trees, which they decorate with spiders and—”

  A warbling sound drew Niko’s attention. A message flashed on his laptop:

  FAIRFAX COUNTY EMERGENCY SYSTEMS UNDER ATTACK

  Cybercade

  Chapter 11

  Niko studied the screen on his laptop. “Denial of Service. With thousands of messages hammering Fairfax County’s systems, they won’t be able to respond to any emergencies.”

  Vyper typed in a few commands and pulled up a lengthy list of IP addresses. “The bogus messages are coming from all over the map. A large network of bots. It looks like the same botnet that attacked the banks when you were taking Sokolov’s money.”

  “Cybercade’s gotta be the target,” said Niko. “They’ll be preoccupied with stopping the cyber-attack on the county while the Russians come after them with drones. With County dispatch down, they can’t send out help.”

  “There are many targets the Russians could attack in Fairfax County. I agree they are probably going after Cybercade, but we cannot be sure.”

  Niko stood up. “Listen. We both believe the Russians are about to attack somewhere, and we both agree Cybercade is the logical target. If we’re right, we have to do our best to stop it.”

  Vyper began typing. “I am warning Cybercade. Reston is twenty minutes away if we take the toll road.”

  “I’m getting the jammer ready.”

  “Are you sure it will work from the car?”

  “Only one way to find out.” Niko ran to the spare bedroom and grabbed the jammer, along with its antenna and power pack. Then he raced to his room and grabbed the Glock, a magazine, and extra rounds of ammo. When he came back to the living room, Vyper was gone, and the door to the garage was open.

  He carried the equipment to the Prius, where Vyper sat in the passenger seat, computer in her lap.

  Niko placed the jammer carefully in the back seat, connecting the power pack and antenna.

  “You drive,” said Vyper. “I will monitor everything from here.”

  “You’ll lose cell phone and internet access when we turn on the jammer.”

  She held up a phone, much bigger than her cell. “I will use satellite—phone and internet. The frequency is lower.”

  Niko started the car, backed out, and headed south. “Did Cybercade get your message? What are they doing?”

  “I do not know, their firewall blocks my access, but they should have received the message.”

  They approached the highway to Dulles Airport, and Niko took it. “I didn’t think any firewall could stop you.”

  “Cybercade’s security people are good. It would take me a few hours to break in, and we do not have the time.”

  A chime rang on Vyper’s laptop. “Something happened … Active shooter at McLean Plaza Mall. A SWAT team is on its way. Maybe I can find out more.” She began typing furiously.

  Niko knew the mall. “Why would the Russians go after them?” He hit the accelerator. “It’s Christmas Eve—full of shoppers. A couple of miles past Cybercade.”

  “Slow down. You do not want to be stopped by the police.”

  He eased off the gas. “We can’t go to the mall. The cops won’t let us anywhere near the pl
ace. Besides, we can’t help—it’s a shooter, not a bunch of drones.”

  A video appeared on Vyper’s screen, then she switched to another and another. “I do not see anything unusual in any part of the mall. They must not know about the shooter … uh, never mind … now people are running.”

  There were too many things going on at once. Niko tried to make sense of it all. “How did Fairfax County dispatch the SWAT team? Their computers are under attack.”

  “Loudoun County responded. They must be assisting Fairfax while their computers are out of service.”

  Niko thought about turning around at the next exit but changed his mind. “Any news of casualties? Anyone spot the shooter?”

  “Nothing so far. Just people running away and police rushing to the scene.”

  The toll road was directly ahead. Niko followed the ramp and took the EZ-Pass lane onto the highway. “What if this is a distraction? It’s a perfect time to launch an attack on Cybercade.”

  “It started.” Vyper tapped away at the keyboard. “Someone rerouted the 9-1-1 calls. Just like they did with the Action Center attack. Calls are not going to the County, and I do not have time to fix it. I will send EMS Telecom a message.”

  Niko stepped on the gas. No need to worry about being stopped. Any cops in the area would be speeding to the mall, lights flashing. “Is there any place in the Cybercade parking lot where cameras won’t see us?”

  “No. But there is a restaurant just across the road. Their parking lot is less than one hundred feet from the back of the Cybercade building. Take the first right after the Shell station.”

  He pulled off the toll road and spotted his turn. “Can you access their cameras?”

  “Their network is secure. All I can tap into is their email.”

  Niko turned right and drove toward the restaurant. He turned off his lights and drove toward a dimly lit section of the parking lot. Before he had a chance to park, a spotlight on the Cybercade roof cut through the twilight darkness in the southern part of the sky.