The Dark Web: The stunning new thriller from the author of The Angolan Clan (African Diamonds Book 3)

by Christopher Lowery

  ‘So, we need someone who can explain it and show them what’s going to happen?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  Everyone looked at Leo.

  He said, ‘OK, guys, I get it. You’re right, as usual. I’ll check the flights to Hong Kong. I’d better get moving, time’s short.’

  Moscow, Russian Federation

  ‘Shen’s at his home in Rublyovka, pretending to be in Shanghai, and you’re in my apartment in Moscow, pretending to be in Dubai. It’s like one of those farces you French people love.’ Elodie was on the phone with Piotr Gavrikov at his office in the GRU headquarters.

  ‘I suppose it is, but I have to keep it up until Monday. Why can’t you send out the trigger command today, and get it over with?’

  ‘It comes from the very top. Vladimir wants to do it in the middle of the night on a Sunday, while most of the world leaders are asleep or having dinner and can’t get hold of their staff. I actually agree with him, it will create more panic when they’re woken up to mayhem and start running around like headless chickens.’

  ‘So, it’s midnight on Sunday and that’s final?’

  ‘You’re worrying about your paycheque on Monday, right?’

  ‘Should I be?’

  ‘Have I ever let you down, Tsunami? If the boss and his friends get what they want, we’ll all be buying big fancy houses in the sun.’

  General Gavrikov called Shen’s mobile. ‘It’s fixed for midnight on Sunday. I’ll expect you at eleven. Is your man primed and ready?’

  ‘Midnight, that’s what I told him, no problem. I’ll confirm it with him again to be sure.’

  ‘OK. One final rehearsal tomorrow afternoon, and it better be perfect. No mistakes, Shen, or we’re all history. Understood?’

  ‘Don’t worry, Piotr. Monday will be a great day for the New Russian Federation.’

  Shen texted Hoi at Lee-Win, Confirmed midnight Sunday, five a.m. your time.

  FIFTY-THREE

  Malaga, Spain

  Saturday, 17 July 2017

  It was another very hot day, and Juan was driving Jenny to the airport for her two o’clock flight to London. She was still feeling off-colour, suffering from the oppressive heat, looking forward to escaping the Spanish summer temperatures and cooling down at home in Ipswich. Her phone rang as they were leaving the highway. It was Leo. ‘Hi, Aunt Jenny, where are you?’

  ‘On my way to the airport to go back to London, it’s too hot for me in Marbella. What’s new?’

  ‘Is Patrice still in Hong Kong?’

  She thought for a moment. ‘I would think he’ll stay for a few more days, he went on bank business, but with the Lee-Win problem he hasn’t had time to do anything. Why?’

  Leo explained their theory and Abby’s suggestion. ‘Do you think he’d go to Shanghai with me, and maybe talk Junjie into coming? I’ve got a flight to Hong Kong at five-twenty, arriving just after midday tomorrow, local time. It’s only two and a half hours from there to Shanghai and there’s lots of flights. We think the trigger command will be sent out at midnight tomorrow, so if we get a quick connection we could get there in time to stop this Hoi Wei character and convince Lee-Win to hijack the Moscow update and kill the deployment.’

  ‘I see.’ Jenny decided to defer the telling-off she’d been preparing for her nephew. ‘OK, I’ll call him now and ask him to wait for you and talk to Junjie. If he can go, I’ll tell him to book connecting flights for all of you. Text me your flight details and I’ll get hold of him before I leave Malaga.’

  O. R. Tambo International Airport,

  Johannesburg, South Africa

  Leo went early to the airport and had lunch while waiting for his flight. With all the rush to organise his flights and departure, he hadn’t eaten any breakfast. He called his mother to let her know what was happening.

  ‘I’m at the airport on my way to Shanghai,’ he answered to her first question, then related the morning’s happenings, ticking them off in his mind as he brought her up-to-date.

  Jenny had texted that Patrice would meet him at Hong Kong airport when he arrived at midday the next day. He’d booked three seats on a flight to Shanghai at three-twenty, getting in at six-ten. He confirmed that Junjie would join them, which would give them the credibility they needed.

  Coetzee had asked Tom Connor to contact Han Wang Tāng to arrange a meeting for them with the Lee-Win board. Tāng had been reluctant when the CEO told him that Leo was coming, and especially when he heard the real reasons for him leaving XPC, but when he knew that Junjie Lee-Win would be with him, he finally agreed to go into the office to receive them at seven o’clock. That gave them just five hours to convince the Chinese of the imminent catastrophe and to access the hub.

  Emma listened in silence until he’d finished, then she said, ‘Is it dangerous?’

  ‘Maybe if I was going to Moscow, but not Shanghai. They’ll be just as keen as us to kill the upload and it’s their hub, so I should be able to access it and sort it out before Shen sends his code over. Don’t worry, Mum, I’ll be with Patrice in China and the bad guys are in Russia.’

  He managed to calm Emma’s fears and she wished him luck and said goodbye, but Leo wasn’t as confident as he had sounded. On the plus side, he had everything he needed in his laptop and carry-on bag to demonstrate the A2 shutdown code, and hopefully convince them to prevent the hub deployment. Middleton’s assessment of Shen Fu Liáng’s psychological condition, and the documents about his background he’d received and printed out from Ilona, would help him explain the Chinaman’s role in the deception. Billy Chillicott’s account of the Soviet military strategy meant he could describe exactly what a devastating blow the attack would be to global stability and security. And with Junjie’s help, he could probably convince them of the circumstances of their founder’s death.

  But there were two big negatives. He knew nothing about Shen’s accomplice, Hoi Wei, who somehow had to be neutralised. And even though he felt fairly certain the Lee-Win board members were not involved in the conspiracy, if he was wrong he might walk into an ambush. And what he couldn’t yet show, the key to the whole conspiracy, were the faces behind the plot. Who had invested almost $2.5 billion to acquire Lee-Win and spent five years in a bid to recreate the USSR and reap even more billions in the process? He couldn’t prove who actually owned their company, who the Lee-Win directors were really working for, if they didn’t already know. He prayed that Chillicott would turn up some names for them, and fast.

  His last call was to Ed Muire, to bring him up-to-date and ask him to share the news with Tom Connor. For once, Ed listened to the plan in silence, then he just said, ‘Be careful, Leo.’

  Moscow, Russian Federation

  General Piotr Gavrikov was in a meeting room in the Kremlin building in Red Square with five other men. Three of them were dressed in smart, expensive suits, one was wearing torn jeans and a sweatshirt, and the fifth looked as if he was still on his yacht, in deck shoes, white trousers and a blue and white striped T-shirt.

  He didn’t comment on their dress sense. Worth $30 billion between them, they could afford to look the way they wanted. They’d spent the last two hours discussing a list of prime industries, government services and businesses in the countries that interested them. Now they moved on to the execution of their five-year plan.

  ‘It’s definitely tomorrow night, you’re sure?’ the smartly dressed Ukrainian asked.

  ‘At midnight, exactly. Vladimir insisted on that.’

  ‘There’s no way it can go wrong? Technically, I mean?’

  ‘We’ve run it again and again between our own hubs. I’ll get one last demonstration tomorrow, but it’s a thousand per cent OK. It knocks everything out like getting hit by both Klitschko brothers.’

  ‘And your guys, the military, they’re all in place?’

  ‘There’s enough ground troops on every border to quell any local resistance. Admiral Bolotnikov says the fleet positioning will be in place to back up the threat, and Gener
al Zhigunov will have a dozen squadrons over their airspace immediately after the cyber-attack. NATO will do nothing except call for meetings and it’ll be a fait accompli in a couple of days.’

  Gavrikov continued, ‘I’m having a last session with them tomorrow to ensure they’re all one hundred and fifty per cent ready. But in my opinion, it won’t be necessary. If our targets want their governments and industries operating again, they’ll just have to toe the line. There’ll be insurgent resistance for a while, but we’re used to dealing with that.

  ‘By the way,’ he continued, ‘have you seen all the publicity around Lee-Win since the new software was deployed? As well as the primary objective of this operation, it looks like we could make a fortune from the sale of the company. It’s being touted as the leading semiconductor business in the world. I was right, it’ll be worth billions more than we paid.’

  ‘You mean “more than we paid”, Piotr. But it’s a good point, we have to decide what to do with it when this project is finished. I just hope it’s still worth at least what it cost.’

  ‘OK, last item.’ The man in jeans from St Petersburg spoke. ‘We should talk about the Chinese who thinks he’s a Russian.’

  ‘Shen Fu Liáng?’ He laughed, ‘Or Grigori Vedeneyev, as he likes to be known in Moscow. He’ll send the trigger update to his mole at Lee-Win, then he’s expendable. All we need to agree on is what happens to him.’

  ‘You mean what does he get for removing the old man from the scene and working for us for five years, while screwing your girlfriend?’

  Gavrikov smiled uncomfortably. Thank God they don’t know about Shen’s family’s ‘accident’, they’d be really worried about their homicidal partner. ‘When this is done, everyone’s expendable, including her. I think the Tsunami programme has run its course. Unless you’ve got other ideas?’

  ‘We should get rid of them both, they’re not part of the club. We’ve put up a shitload of money and now she’ll want a place at the table when the dividend is due, but I’m not feeling generous. As for Liáng,’ he laughed and looked around at the others. ‘That guy is a gullible idiot. Why would he think that hating the Chinese would make him a Russian? Once a Chinese, always a Chinese, you can’t change your skin because you were born in the wrong place at the wrong time. We won’t need him, and we won’t need Tsunami any more.’

  ‘You’re saying it’s a one-fifth share for each of us, instead of one-sixth? I’m cool with that. Piotr can earn his commission by removing the both of them.’ The Chechnyan in the Giorgio Armani linen outfit put his hand out. ‘Agreed?’

  ‘Soglasovano, agreed.’ The men around the table joined their right hands in a handshake with their left hands on top.

  Enviously, Piotr Gavrikov watched them leave. If this works, he said to himself, I won’t just be watching them from the outside, I’ll be on the inside, mixing with the oligarchs.

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  Tom Connor said, ‘I’m not sure I like the sound of this.’

  Sharif and Daniel were in his office, and Ed had explained Leo’s plan to them, emphasising that Patrice and Junjie would be with him, trying to make it sound as simple and safe as he could.

  ‘Thing is,’ he replied, ‘there’s nothing we can do about it from here. Leo’s right, it has to be sorted in Shanghai, and he’s probably the only guy who knows enough to get it done. Plus, he’s got the founder’s son with him, that should count for a lot.’

  ‘I should talk to Tāng again, explain what we suspect, prepare the ground for him. He and Cheong seemed to be on the up and up when they called, I can’t believe they’re involved in this business.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Tom, but I don’t agree. We still don’t know for sure who are the good guys and bad guys up there, and we can’t take the risk of harming Leo’s chances. Anyway, he’s on his way there right now, so my vote is we leave it to him and the others to do their best.’

  Daniel spoke up, ‘I agree with Ed. We don’t have enough information to take any decision here. He’ll be the man on the spot and he’s smart enough to handle things without our interference. We should let him get on with it.’

  Finally, Tom agreed to wait for further news, but he wasn’t happy with the situation.

  Oberhart went to his office to call his father in Zurich. ‘Looks like there might be a chance of avoiding the trigger upload. I’ll keep you informed.’

  FIFTY-FOUR

  Ipswich, England

  Saturday, 17 July 2017

  It was a warm evening, but compared to Marbella it seemed positively fresh and cool to Jenny. Still feeling tired and a little sickly, she wondered if she’d picked up a bug in Spain and resolved to pay a visit to her doctor in London if she didn’t shake it off soon. In the back of her mind, Jenny realised it might simply be a delayed reaction to her break-up with Bill Redman. While in Spain, she’d kept herself too busy to think about her own situation, and she was still trying to do the same. It had been painful, but hopes of a new life with the banker were gradually fading from her mind.

  She was sitting in her garden with a sandwich and a cup of tea when her sister called her on FaceTime.

  ‘I hear Patrice worked miracles in Hong Kong.’

  ‘He was brilliant. With hardly any notice he was on a plane, and then found out everything we needed just in time. I was really impressed with his family commitment.’

  ‘It must be nice to have all these international bankers around at your beck and call.’

  Jenny laughed and avoided the subject. ‘What’s the latest news, I’ve lost touch a bit.’

  ‘I had a chat earlier with Leo. Thanks to your infuriating efficiency, he’s on his way to Hong Kong to meet with Patrice and Junjie. They’re flying straight to Shanghai to meet the Lee-Win board and try to prevent the download, or upload, or whatever you call it. Apparently the Chinese were duped by Shen like everyone else.’

  Jenny was relieved, her arrangements seemed to be working out. ‘How much time do they have? Leo said they were under the cosh.’

  ‘They found some kind of message that mentioned midnight tomorrow. He’s hoping to get there by seven in the evening, they’re seven hours ahead over there.’

  ‘They’ll only have five hours? My God, that’s much too tight for comfort. I hope they can pull it off. That cyber-attack will cause chaos if it’s not stopped. Marius told me the Russians have already got their forces in position to grab back the ex-USSR regions. The western powers won’t know what’s hit them.’

  ‘They’ll think it was a joint attack by China and Russia, a new détente between them to change the balance of power in the world. There’ll be a massive retaliation and we’ll end up in World War III. It doesn’t bear thinking about.’

  Jenny put on a confident tone. ‘I’m sure Leo will be up to the task and find a way of preventing the attack. If not, don’t forget, we’re talking about countries a long way away which don’t affect us here at all.’

  ‘Well, I suppose there’s nothing we can do except “lie back and think of England”, as we used to say. Speaking of which, how are things progressing with Bill?’

  ‘Sorry, Emma. There’s the house phone ringing. I’ll call you back later or tomorrow. Love you, bye.’ She put her mobile down and drank a swallow of the now lukewarm tea. Not a good day to share bad news, she thought. It’ll keep.

  * * *

  Jenny sat thinking about their conversation, and she wasn’t happy. She hadn’t been entirely honest with her sister, not what she’d said about the international threat and potential consequences, but what she hadn’t said: about the risks of Leo’s position. He was in China, a far-away, savage country he didn’t know, with a company whose director had put him in prison in Dubai, where he would still be festering without the intervention of Marius Coetzee. The man responsible was determined to deploy this devastating cyber-attack and Leo was going to go head-to-head with him to prevent it.

  The dream she’d had a week ago came back to her, the woman
and the Chinese man dressed as a sheikh. After Leo’s incarceration and then release, she’d assumed the couple must be Angela da Sousa and Shen Fu Liáng, but now she wasn’t so certain. Worrying thoughts flitted through her mind, shadowy faces she couldn’t pin down. She knew there had to be other players in the background. It’s not all as it seems, it can’t be, it never is.

  Jenny went online and checked out a number of alternatives, then confirmed the most suitable. She picked up her mobile and made a call.

  Delmas, Mpumalanga, South Africa

  ‘How are you, Jenny? I hear you’ve been busy, and effective, as usual.’ Coetzee listened for a while, interspersing her monologue with comments like, ‘I see. Maybe. You could be right. You think so? Fair enough.’

  After several minutes of this, he said, ‘You’re right. I should have thought of that. What do you want me to do?’

  He listened again and looked at his watch. ‘Why am I not surprised? OK, text me the details and I’ll get moving. Take care, and I’ll get back to you asap. Meanwhile, can you call Dr Middleton’s office and update them on Leo’s meeting in Shanghai? Thanks.’

  Coetzee went into the kitchen to negotiate with Karen. He hated these difficult discussions.

  FIFTY-FIVE

  Hong Kong International Airport

  Sunday, 18 July 2017

  ‘Patrice, great to see you again. Thanks for staying on and organising this trip.’

  ‘You’re looking well Leo, despite everything. Let me introduce a new friend, Mr Junjie Chongkun Lee-Win. He’s agreed to go up to Shanghai with us.’

  The Chinese man standing next to him was almost as tall as Leo. He bowed low then shook his hand. ‘Leo Stewart, I am happy to meet you, and to help you if I can to save my father’s illustrious reputation and our family name.’

  ‘Nǐ hǎo ma? How do you do?’ Leo bowed in turn. ‘It’s an honour to meet you, Junjie, thank you for coming on such short notice.’