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

by Christopher Lowery

  ‘But you guys delivered the goods. Congratulations guys, there’s a lot of happy folk over on this side of the pond.’

  Coetzee said, ‘I was just a spectator, it was a one-man show, starring Mr Leo Stewart.’

  ‘I got a call from Mel Ritterbrand at the State Department a little while ago. He’d just had a visit from the Russian ambassador. Mel told me a few interesting facts. First, they’re bringing their military back home, the “exercises” have been terminated. I believe the guy, there’d be no interest in him lying when we’ve got GRU by the short and curlies.’

  ‘You heard Wei’s confession. He had instructions to send the upload to fourteen ex-USSR countries,’ Coetzee said. ‘You were right, that’s what the army and navy presence was for, to persuade them to cooperate and rejoin the Soviet Club if they wanted their countries’ infrastructures working again. It was a close call.’

  ‘Too damn right it was. Anyways, he asked for my help to find the cause of a cyber-attack they’re suffering at the Directorate. Can they find out where it’s coming from?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Leo answered. ‘I sent the upload back to the same hub address it came from. We figured it was GRU. It was signed as a Lee-Win minor upgrade, so they downloaded it without question. Now, we’re managing their hub from here. It’s a pretty neat situation, actually.’

  ‘So you took control of the GRU hub? You outspooked the spooks? Boy oh boy, that’s really neat, even for a non-techy like me.’

  ‘It was a variation of the handover code that Abby worked out, just slightly different. I don’t think there’s anything they can do about it until we stop.’

  ‘Well, even if they find anything, I guess I don’t see them saying they suspect Lee-Win or China, when we’ve got a file three feet thick with the goods on Tsunami, Shen, the hidden Russian ownership, the A2 code and the confessions you sent me. That’s a lot of shit. They’re gonna want to kick this into the long grass and bury it.

  ‘Speaking of which,’ Chillicott went on, ‘I hate to be the one to break the news, but it seems your friend Shen Fu Liáng and General Piotr Gavrikov were involved in a fatal car accident last night. And the Minister of Defence has stepped down.’

  Leo caught his breath and said nothing, and Coetzee replied, ‘That was pretty fast work, even for the Soviets. They want to keep this whole thing quiet.’

  ‘Right on, Marius. And Leo’s gonna love this last item,’ Chillicott paused dramatically. ‘Remember the arm-wrestling? Well, I think I just won a round. The Russians want to cooperate with us in petitioning the UN Security Council to instigate an Internet security programme. How do you like them apples?’ His uproarious laugh reverberated from the speaker, then his tone became serious. ‘That Rwandan story was a timely reminder, catastrophes come in many guises. We just weren’t expecting it to happen again so soon, or like this. But maybe we’ve learned a lesson this time around. And it was averted mainly due to you, Leo, thanks a ton. And about that job offer we discussed in San Diego, you want to chat?’

  They said goodbye, and Leo was about to switch off his phone when General Chillicott added, ‘By the way, you can stop the A2 triggering now. See you guys.’

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  ‘We just got a message from Leo Stewart. The cyber-attack has been thwarted, ACRE is an outstanding worldwide success.’

  ‘Wunderbar! Finally, the news we’ve been waiting for, thanks and well done, Daniel. I’ll call Julius right away. I’m going to ask for a telephone board meeting this morning to approve the offer. It could even be delivered today.’

  ‘You should be thanking Leo, looks like it was him who managed to prevent the attack. It turns out that Han Wan Tāng in Shanghai was also a saboteur, what an incredible setup we got involved in. But Leo seems to have sorted it for good.’

  ‘We certainly backed the right guy last March. We’ll bear that in mind if our offer is accepted, we’ll need a first-class team.’

  ‘I hope that doesn’t mean I have to stay here. I want to come back to Zurich, I’m really tired of all this good weather.’

  London, England

  Ilona Tymoshenko was catching up on her overnight emails. It was seven in the morning and the office was quiet. The message from General Chillicott was very satisfying. It seemed the dossier she’d sent to Leo Stewart had put paid to the Tsunami business, and he’d been able to foil the Lee-Win cyber-threat. She breathed a sigh of relief. This confirmed a report she’d received from her friend Ilya, that a hacking attack in Moscow that had disabled the GRU networks had been resolved. Ilona was sure the price had been the retreat of their forces from the borders of many countries, including her own.

  No doubt Hugh will be fully informed when he comes in, she thought. I’ll wait for him to give me his own interpretation of events. Anyway, it won’t be bad for our security business.

  There was also a long message from Lucas Meyer in Antwerp, with several attachments, including photographs. She went through the documents one by one, her pulse quickening with every disclosure, hardly believing what she was reading. The first revelation was that Elodie Delacroix’s photograph had matched the image of a French woman called Esther Rousseau, who was wanted by Interpol. She had been on the run since 2008, when she’d been employed by a Swiss bank and was involved in a robbery with Raymundo d’Almeida, an Angolan psychopath who was killed in a shoot-out with the police in Marbella, Spain. The woman had reappeared briefly in 2010, linked to investigations into the murder of a pilot in Australia and several murders in South Africa.

  The last item in Meyer’s report was a Daily Telegraph article from six years before. The headline was, ‘Peer convicted of Money Laundering’. The piece concerned a man called Lord Arthur Selwyn Savage Dudley, who had been sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for non-declaration of accounts with foreign banks. The original charges against Dudley also related to involvement in the South African murders in 2010, but these accusations were not proven and he had pleaded guilty to the lesser charges.

  Meyer’s notes stated that Esther Rousseau had never been found, and the police were keen to get any information that Ilona might have to open up the search. Photographs of Lord Dudley and Esther Rousseau were attached to the file. She recognised the woman’s face from Ed’s photo, and she also recognised Lord Arthur Dudley.

  Ilona couldn’t believe her eyes. She was staring at her partner, Dr Hugh Middleton.

  Her mind digested these pieces of information: Tsunami/Elodie Delacroix was Esther Rousseau, who was obviously a career criminal. As Dudley, Middleton seems to have known her. Coetzee was from South Africa, Hugh would never speak to Coetzee. He was a close friend of Leo Stewart who was born in Rwanda. She remembered further items from the research she’d done for him: Leo’s mother wrote a book called My Son the Hostage, his aunt was a wealthy private equity businesswoman, Middleton-Dudley was keenly interested in Leo Stewart. Where did all this lead?

  Ilona had worked for almost twenty years in the information-gathering business. She knew that knowledge was power. The information she had received about Hugh was potentially damaging, even fatally so. It gave her power over him, great power. She sent a thank-you note to Meyer, adding that she had heard nothing further from Elodie Delacroix, but would contact him if she had any further information. Then she copied everything to the files in her personal tablet and deleted it from the office system. Hugh would never know what she knew, nor how she knew it. Not unless, or until, she decided to tell him.

  An hour later, Middleton arrived at the office. ‘Good morning, Hugh.’ She welcomed him with a warm smile. ‘Have you seen General Chillicott’s report? It seems we won a great victory. Well done to your lateral thinking. I’ll get you a coffee.’

  ‘Thank you, Ilona dear, I’m delighted to hear it. Coffee would be welcome indeed.’ He went into his office to read the report for himself. She’s being rather effusive with her praise, he reflected. I wonder what’s going on in her mind.

  Shanghai, Peo
ple’s Republic of China

  Wednesday, 21 July 2017

  ‘Goodbye, Bohai. I’m sorry our visit wasn’t exactly enjoyable.’ Leo and the others were ready to leave for the airport, where they would go their separate ways, Patrice to Hong Kong to catch up on his business meetings, Junjie to Macau and Coetzee to South Africa. Leo was flying to London, then going up to Durham to spend some time with his mother.

  ‘Wait just a moment, Leo. I have some interesting news to share. Today, we received a proposal from a Chinese hedge fund called Hai-Sat, to purchase Lee-Win and XPC. They already own MicroCentral, a Swiss processor company, and we believe it could create a very successful combination. I’ve spoken to our lawyers about the consequences of this conspiracy, and I intend to send them a full dossier with instructions to have the purchase of the company by that consortium of Russian criminals annulled. Not only did they commit murder to accomplish their strategy, but they broke the Chinese laws about foreign ownership.’

  He turned to Junjie. ‘Would you like to join me in getting back your father’s company and making a transaction with this hedge fund?’ He patted Leo on the shoulder. ‘I have in mind a first-class CEO.’

  So that’s what Daniel Oberhart was doing at XPC, scouting for an acquisition! Leo laughed. ‘Guys, whatever happens, our first priority is pretty clear. The A2 cell is still sitting in millions of networks all over the world. We have to find a way to neutralise it before someone else gets ideas.’

  ‘Or,’ Coetzee said, ‘we could sit on it until someone decides to make the next global power play.’

  Moscow, Russian Federation

  Esther Rousseau was queuing at immigration control in Moscow Domodedovo International Airport. She’d seen the news on TV that morning of the death of General Piotr Gavrikov and an unknown man, and she knew exactly what it meant. Somehow, that interfering African nephew of the putain, Jenny Bishop, had managed to foil Shen, Piotr and the spooks at GRU. All day Monday she’d tried their mobiles, but both went unanswered and she’d feared the worst, not for them, but for herself.

  Her plane to London was at eleven a.m. and there were plenty of flights from there to Dublin. The booking had been made in her maiden name of Esther Bonnard, which she had never revealed to anyone in the Russian organisation. Her French passport in that name had been renewed before she’d left for Dubai. Esther was always prepared for the worst.

  Nervously, she handed the passport over, keeping her features expressionless, wondering how quickly GRU would spread out its tentacles. The immigration officer spent several moments checking it against his computer records. Finally, he stamped it and gave it back with a smile. ‘Bon voyage, Mademoiselle Bonnard,’ he said.

  She walked to her departure gate with mixed emotions, saying to herself, When I left Arthur Dudley, I had only $50,000. Now, I have $300,000. I must be heading in the right direction. Esther went to the bar next to the gate and ordered a glass of champagne. She figured she’d earned it.

  EPILOGUE

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  August 2017

  ‘Hi, Lynne, you look great.’ Ed Muire helped her onto the back of Leo’s Harley. She wrapped her arms around his waist as they roared along the coast road towards Club 27.

  The place was quiet and they sat at the bar. Ed ordered two glasses of champagne, and the barman poured them into long-stemmed flutes.

  ‘What are we celebrating? Something special?’

  ‘Maybe. I had a long talk with Tom today. He was thinking of quitting, but Lee-Win have asked him to stay on. There’s a big shake-up going on there after all the crap with Shen and Han. They had everyone fooled, so Tom’s not getting any stick from Shanghai. The other thing is, it looks like we could be merging with MicroCentral, that’s Danny Oberhart’s previous company in Zurich.’

  ‘Is that good?’

  ‘I guess so, we’d be one of the biggest players around. Looks like a great opportunity. Tom likes the deal, that’s why he’s staying.’

  ‘And what about you?’

  ‘He offered to make me Senior VP of software development.’

  ‘Wow! That’s really cool. What did you say?’

  ‘Told him I’d answer tomorrow.’

  ‘What’s going to change between today and tomorrow?’

  ‘I wanted to talk to you first.’

  She laughed. ‘What’s it got to do with me?’

  ‘I was just wondering if you were staying for a while. If not, I wouldn’t be too keen to accept.’

  ‘So, the champagne depends on my answer?’

  ‘You could put it like that.’

  She picked up the glasses and handed one to him. ‘Congratulations, Ed.’ She clinked the glasses. ‘And cheers, I’m willing to give it a try.’

  Heathrow Airport, England

  Leo was standing by the coffee bar in the arrivals hall when the young woman came through. She looked around the crowded hall, waving when she saw him walking towards her. He thought she looked beautiful.

  ‘Hi there,’ he said, kissing her on both cheeks. ‘Welcome to the UK, thanks for coming.’

  ‘Great to see you, Leo. Thanks for the invitation, it was a massive surprise.’

  He picked up her two bags. ‘Where are we going?’ she asked.

  ‘I booked at The Langham in Marylebone, Aunt Jenny stays there all the time. She says it’s a great hotel, and it’s near Regent’s Park and Oxford Street with all the big department stores.’

  ‘Sounds awesome. What’s the programme?’

  ‘I thought we could just hang out for a few days, get to know each other better under normal circumstances. What do you think?’

  ‘I think that’s a great programme. Let’s do it.’ She kissed him on the cheek and they walked together to the taxi rank.

  London, England

  Jenny Bishop was reading the proofs of the September edition of Thinking Woman Magazine in Dr Sue Clark’s waiting room. She’d visited the doctor after returning from Spain and explained her recent symptoms of poor sleep, occasional nausea and listlessness. Sue had carried out a complete check-up, questioning her about previous health issues, illnesses and accidents, as Jenny dredged up the episodes from her memory. Then her assistant had taken blood and urine samples for testing. Now, a week later, she was ushered into the doctor’s room and sat nervously, waiting for the results of the tests. Dr Clark finished consulting her dossier and looked up with a smile.

  Jenny asked, ‘So, what’s my problem, Sue?’

  ‘It’s not a problem, Jenny, it’s wonderful news. You’re pregnant.’

  THE END

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  In 2015, when I began writing this story, there were just over 3 billion Internet users in the world. At that time, the Internet Society www.internetsociety.org, stated;

  ‘Today we are at a defining moment in the evolution and growth of the Internet. Large-scale data breaches, uncertainties about the use of our data, cybercrime, surveillance and other online threats are eroding users’ trust and affecting how they use the Internet. Eroding trust is also affecting the way governments view the Internet, and, is shaping the policy environment for the Internet around the world.

  There are now, in January 2018, 3.8 billion Internet users, a 27% increase in 3 years, and the problems are increasing, not reducing. During that same period, after many years of research, two key technology components, as described in this story, were invented or discovered:

  • A system of Automatic Constant Recurring Encryption, similar to ACRE, and

  • The A2 Analog Back Door Attack, a physical modification to microprocessors permitting hackers to compromise a computer network.

  Finally, just this month, four unrelated, independent groups of researchers have uncovered the fact that billions of chips implanted into computers and other machines since 1994, contain hackable entry points. https://www.wired.com. These attack points, named Spectre and Meltdown, are present in chips manufactured by INTEL, ARM and AMD and may take years
to mitigate.

  Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

  Christopher Lowery is a ‘Geordie’, born in the northeast of England, who graduated in finance and economics after reluctantly giving up career choices in professional golf and rock & roll. He is a real estate and telecoms entrepreneur and inventor and has created several successful companies around the world, including Interoute and Wyless Group. The Dark Web is based on his experience as one of the creators of The ‘Internet of Things’, the technology of remote equipment management. Chris also writes poetry, children’s books and songs. He and his wife Marjorie live between London, Geneva and Marbella. Their daughter, Kerry-Jane, a writer/photographer, lives in London.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  My thanks for their invaluable advice and assistance go to:

  My nephew, Nick Street and his sidekick, Joe Baggaley, for introducing me to ‘A2’ and more importantly, explaining how it works. It actually exists and is a truly terrifying cyber-weapon.

  My wife M and daughter K-J, proof-readers/red-liners and common sense contributors, for their patience and assistance in helping me get through Vol III and stay more or less sane.

  Martin Panchaud, Mike Jeffries, Sig Ramseyer and other early readers for their honest opinions. Without readers, there is no point in writing.

  And once again, especially to my publisher and good friend, Matthew Smith, for believing in my books and helping me to share them with the world.

  Books 1 and 2 in THE AFRICAN DIAMONDS

  TRIOLOGY are available from all good bookshops

  The Angolan Clan takes the reader on a heart-stopping roller coaster ride, from past to present and back again. It is a deadly intercontinental treasure hunt laced with secrets, deceit and murder. The prize is a fortune in Angolan diamonds … or death at the hands of a pathological killer.