A Quest Within

by Len Marshall

  Jacob and his father had further discussions around the dinner table that night.

  “What did you decide, Dad?” Jacob asked, feeling goosebumps all over.

  “Well, before answering that question I’d like to ask you something first and I’d like to have an honest reply.” Ajay’s remarks unsettled Jacob even further. “What really made you change your mind overnight? Is it me not telling you about the polygraph tests or the other things going on at Waverley Davis or do you really want to be part of my team?” Ajay asked, keeping his tone sober.

  “Dad, it’s my belief that nothing in this universe moves without some kind of motivation. Both science and logic agree on that. Yes, it’s true that your stress, the polygraph incident and Neil’s advice have been those motivational forces. But Dad, for the last few days I’ve felt a strong urge within to be with you,” Jacob said. “Dad! I want to know you better. I’ve seen Neil and I’m amazed how much he’s changed since he joined Waverley Davis.”

  Ajay was overwhelmed by Jacob’s unexpected reply. He had thought of dozens of possible answers that Jacob might give but this one was not among them. Ajay tried to remember how much time he had spent with his son and felt a sense of disappointment as his conscience told him that, however long it was, it had not been enough. He began to recall all those events in Jacob’s life when Ajay had not been there with him. Jacob was close to his mother but he had always idealized his father as a model of success. Martha had always told Ajay of a simplistic formula for success. Jacob had converted that simplistic formula into his own template for success.

  “Jacob,” Ajay said earnestly and embraced his son. Both hugged each other as if they had been living in two different worlds and were meeting after a long time apart.

  “Welcome to Waverley Davis, Son,” Ajay said with tears in his eyes.

  “Thank you Dad,” and Jacob’s demeanor was no different to his father’s.

  Chapter Seven

  Manifesting is a lot like making a cake. The things needed are supplied by you, the mixing is done by your mind and the baking is done in the oven of the universe.

  Stephen Richards

  It had now been more than three weeks since the last penetration into the Waverley Davis Security network. Jenifer’s intervention had ensured that the network had remained safe. Perimeter defense breaches were not a matter of concern as far as her efforts to maintain a status quo in this cyber war was concerned. On the other hand, the Chinese were really surprised how none of their attacks had been completely successful despite the fact that they had a clear picture about the internal network topology of the Waverley Davis Security internet architecture. After repeated failures in their attempts they had decided to test a new cyber weapon but still no attack had been successful because of Jenifer’s intervention. This had caused palpable panic among the Chinese intelligence, navy and political leadership.

  “Have you considered the diplomatic cost of this plan Ping?” Li Jingling, a senior Pollitt-Bureau leader, asked.

  Ping May was there to present an alternative line of action to the top Chinese leadership by which to extract or destroy the secret US weapon. There were around twenty people in the hall sitting around both sides of a long table. His plan involved obtaining by any means, including violence and kidnapping, the data required.

  “A kidnapping of this scale would not go unnoticed. All the USA law enforcers would be looking for a victim like that,” another voice was heard raising objections to Ping May’s plan.

  “Indeed. Every aspect and possible outcome has been carefully analyzed by myself and my team. First of all, let me make it clear that not taking any action is not an option at all. We’ve tried and tested multiple cyber-weapons. The suggestion of using kinetic force is the option of last resort and I don’t think there is anyone here who will disagree with that,” Ping May said firmly.

  “Just how have you calculated the odds of success of this Plan-B of yours?”

  “What makes you so sure that it will deliver?” yet another question was thrown in.

  “The idea is to firstly kidnap Victor’s family and then force him to deliver to us the information we require under duress,” Ping May explained. Many whispers whisked around the hall.

  “But how does it address the problem of the US law enforcers, Ping?” someone else asked.

  “The operation will be carried out by three teams each hitting their mark in a synchronized plan,” Ping explained. “Our resources are already there on the ground preparing for the operation as we speak and awaiting instructions to hit their marks. Jinn Wu from the Chinese embassy will be supervising the operation from there,” he added. There was silence in the room.

  “No one here has any doubt about your or your men’s preparation for this operation but I think we must debate the ways we can avoid any serious diplomatic fallout from such an undertaking,” The most senior member reiterated the concerns of Li Jingling. “What you said earlier in this regard presents no solution to this question and you know the stakes here. Without finding a satisfactory answer to this question, we can’t approve your plan,” he added. All eyes were on Ping May who showed no signs of worry.

  “Diplomatic concerns are always amongst the top considerations in the planning of such operations. And this particular operation is no exception to the rule. Officially, our target will be kidnapped and killed by a North Korean agent who, if required, will also confess to his crimes.” Ping May’s plan once again brought deadly silence into the hall.

  “What if the North Koreans reject him as being one of their agents?” Li Jingling asked.

  “They will try but will not do anything about it because, as you can see in the files you have been given, the agent deployed on this mission was actually born in North Korea and remained there until very recently.” Ping May unveiled his secret weapon in the USA. Lee’s details were indeed there in the files stating he was a North Korean citizen. This fact was partially true. Lee had been born in North Korea but, at the age of fifteen he had come to China. Ping May had been a mid-level ranking officer in the People’s Liberation Army in China at that the time. He had seen the potential in Lee and had trained him in all the skills he now possessed.

  “This will make it impossible for the USA to recognize him even if they tried,” Ping May added.

  “And what would our strategy be if Washington chose to retaliate?” Li Jingling asked

  “Where would they retaliate, North Korea or China? And what kind of retaliation?” Ping May countered.

  “The USA are over nineteen trillion dollars in debt. They can’t even afford to send troops to the conflict zones that their interventions have created in the Middle East. Thinking about a possible full-fledged retaliation over a kidnapping or murder is just too farfetched.

  The Chinese are already superior in information technology. The Americans, however, do have the edge in military matters but if we achieve our target through this plan, China would put that technological superiority to an end, at least in naval power projection capabilities. This mission is important not only for our national defense but also for regional stability.” He analyzed the USA’s vulnerability which was clearly advantageous to his plan and also explained the plan’s rationale.

  “I think Ping May has made everything pretty clear to all of us. We must accept his plan as there’s no real alternative,” the senior member announced and everyone nodded their heads in approval. The mission was to go ahead. Ping May was happy that a big hurdle had been removed and that he could contact Lee and Jinn Wu as quickly as possible to finalize the last remaining tactical details and put the mission in motion.

  ***

  The two blonde haired girls sat opposite each other at the back of a small coffee outlet at Grand Central Railway station next to the world famous oyster bar.

  “I never thought that I’d be facing a situation l
ike this.” Jenifer was clearly panicking.

  “Well, this is not just a situation; it is an outright existential crisis for us” Natalie seemed more fretful than assured.

  Jenifer continued, “I gave them your picture as part of the agreement to conceal my true identity.” She had exchanged the picture previously not realising that she would meet Neil again.” This meant that they would have to swop places again. Next time, she would have to meet Neil.

  The Chinese contingent had Natalie’s picture believing it to be Jenifer, Fu Wang’s local contact who was working on Neil. Lee had also bugged Natalie’s apartment while Jenifer’s place was still secure. The problem with this deception was that it was impossible to know how long it would last. Jenifer had devised the plan to use someone else to impersonate her after she had been asked by her unknown benefactor to work with Fu Wang’s group. She had heard many horror stories which often ended badly.

  Jenifer needed to get to relative safety from impending threats from at least a safe distance.

  “I think this is the time for us to disappear,” she said. “Soon, if this goes pear-shaped...”

  “All hell will break loose,” Natalie suggested. “We’ll create our own exit plan.” They had got to get out of this operation.

  Jenifer rejected her suggestion instantly.

  “I think if we’re to survive this situation, then we need to play each scenario carefully from here on in. Besides there’s zero possibility that I’ll have to meet Neil and Fu Wang both at the same time so that’s something I intend to use to my advantage.”

  “True, but you’re a very close friend of Neil’s. How can you avoid seeing him and if the Chinese are monitoring him, there’s always a possibility of you being spotted.” Natalie warned Jenifer about a clear and present danger which unnerved Jenifer. She was not thinking with her eyes open.

  “I think it’s time to end my affair with Neil,” she said.

  “He’ll be heartbroken,” she thought. Well, that’s a small price to pay for something that will considerably improve the odds of our survival. “You can keep meeting with Fu or anyone else and maintain your cover,” she told Natalie

  “That’s the trouble, my friend. That’s not your choice. It was part of your task to pretend to be his girlfriend and I’m not certain that task is over yet. You’ve already met with him twice regardless of whether you wanted to meet him or not. How then do we know that there will be not a third time?” Natalie said. Jenifer wore a sign of frustration on her face.

  “You can avoid that third meeting but you’ll have to act on my plan,” Natalie said.

  Meanwhile, Jenifer was still lost in her own thoughts.

  “No Nat! We’ll stay here and face whatever is about to unfold,” Jenifer said. “Running is not an option for hackers because a hacker is always online, always present. We’re always easy to find if someone looks closely enough. Besides that, if we run we’ll draw unnecessary suspicion from everyone involved.”

  The status quo that is being maintained by me in this war will not be lost either she thought secretly.

  “There’s no end in sight and time is a luxury we don’t have. We don’t even know what their target is in Waverley Davis,” Natalie said.

  Jenifer thought then commented, “Time is not a critical variable here; it’s maintaining the plausibility of our identities which is critical right now. We’ll have to maintain our respective covers at all costs. Once we get to the bottom of this cyber war we’ll be able to make more realistic decisions about our future course of action.”

  “Well then to achieve that, we’ll have to examine this second malicious code our Chinese friends have planted on poor Neil’s mobile,” Natalie said.

  “Poor Neil?” they both chuckled and Natalie punched Jenifer in the arm with a smile on her face.

  “That’s a brilliant, even an excellent idea,” Jenifer said and grabbed the keyboard. Her fingers ran really fast with her eyes fixed on at the screen.

  “Have you got the diary with you?” knowing the code was in Jenifer’s diary. “Yes, right here,” she replied. They both got busy typing, pointing, gesturing looking at the screen. They spent the next five hours trying to understand the true nature of that code and what they found left them with even more questions.

  “Many years ago, I came across news stories highlighting Chinese attempts to develop something like this,” Natalie said. “I never imagined that one day I’d see this thing developed and in full operation,” she added.

  “What in the files at Waverley Davis is making these Chinese so determined and behaving crazy like this?” Wish I could get to the bottom of this mystery, she contemplated.

  “Well, it’s no real big surprise for us is it? We both well know about the portfolios of Waverley Davis. They specialize in military firmware. Now it’s evident that whatever the Chinese are after, it has great strategic value for them which means it has great strategic value for us also, when I say us, I mean this country, the USA.” Natalie had chanced upon something unknowingly.

  “It means sooner or later the FBI and CIA will also be part of this thing,” Jenifer said.

  “This will also be monitored by various cyber commands of the US military,” Natalie added to Jenifer’s observation.

  “A storm is brewing,” Jenifer muttered.

  “This program works on the premise that involves some dangerous interrupts being called to affect the functionality of certain functions of CPUs and random memories,” Natalie said pointing at the monitor screen. “How badly this will affect them is not clear from here but for sure it is just too sophisticated. We’ll need more time to fully understand this cyber internet type weapon.”

  Jenifer then remembered, “The Iranian nuclear program was allegedly sabotaged by a worm virus a few decades ago during the Bush Administration. They used a worm very similar with the help of Stunt virus. The virus is Stuxnet version 2.0.”

  “What in heaven’s name was that?” asked Natalie

  “Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm believed to be a jointly-built American-Israeli cyber weapon program, although neither state has confirmed this openly. However, there were US officials who claimed that this worm was developed during the Bush administration to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program with what would appear to be a long series of unfortunate accidents.

  The Stuxnet virus specifically targets programmable logic controllers (PLCs) which allow the automation of electromechanical processes such as those used to control machinery on factory assembly lines and amusement rides or centrifuges like those used for separating nuclear material. It works by targeting their operating systems and networks and then the virus seeks out moving, spinning mechanical parts. It can then cause motor or server destruction on industrial systems by causing the fast-spinning centrifuges to tear themselves apart.

  Back in the 1970s, Stuxnet, or at least it was rumored, reportedly ruined almost one-fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges. The consequences set their nuclear capability back for nearly twenty years by ensuring that the hardware control mechanism of their centrifuge machines was compromised,” explained Jenifer, “and in my opinion this one looks almost identical to Stuxnet 2.0.”

  “Really?” Natalie was curious.

  “I don’t think I’d be able to help them anyway,” she reasoned, “because it would take me days to understand this virus worm let alone build a response and by then this damn code would already be there in their network, I guess.” Now Jenifer was reconsidering Natalie’s plan to get off the radar for a while.

  ***

  FBI’s Christopher Ray gave his latest findings to Waverley Davis. He was speaking to Victor and Jacob and he held a large sheet of graph paper in his right hand. He spoke, “Even his polygraph report is clean.” He was still in state of shock but he was referring to Neil.

  “It surprised us b
oth,” Victor said, meaning himself and Jacob.

  “Remember that many expert criminals have fooled the polygraph tests before,” Christopher said.

  “Wait, are you suggesting Neil is some kind of criminal?” Jacob protested.

  “It’s not me. You’ve seen the forensic report presented by Victor,” Christopher replied.

  “Believe me, it’s as difficult for me to fathom Neil’s choices as he is also my best friend.”

  “What if someone else has tried to frame him? Someone might have,” Jacob said thinking about another possibility.

  “That might be the case but we’ll have to act according to the law here Jacob,” Christopher said. “Only further investigations will unmask the truth but, unfortunately, this has to be the starting point,” he added.

  Jacob had started to work at Waverley Davis but not in his father’s office. He had joined as cyber architect and was working in close quarters with Victor and Farrell. He was amazed by the scale and sophistication of the attacks which were being mounted on the Waverley Davis network. He was also impressed by the work done by Victor and his team. Jacob had seen the obvious fact that lately the attacks were being externally mounted but there was certainly also suspicious activity going on by someone from within the network.

  The access logs were thoroughly examined and it was discovered that in every attack the timings of both the internal and external activities were always identical. However, after further investigation, Jacob was also able to conclude that there was no link between these peculiar activities. This was a paradox.

  The internal activity was actually responsible for the continuation of these attacks despite the many changes done by Victor in network topology and internal IP address schemes. So, it was obvious that in order to prevent the external network attacks, internal malicious activity had to be stopped. Jacob asked Victor to start investigating everyone passively with the help of their own cyber investigation software toolkit.