by Andrew Watts
“What about the forensics that the FBI had?”
“It’s been tampered with, obviously. It links to you. So if we want to go after Morozov, we’ll also be using the same forensic evidence that implicates you. Does that sound like it would hold up?”
“No. But this isn’t court…” Max decided it was time to bring up Renee. “I have someone I’ve been working with. A Canadian woman that I know, Renee. She’s former CSE. A real black hat ninja.”
“A what?”
“A hacker, Dad. Renee has been able to uncover a lot about Morozov. He has an outfit called Maljab Tactical. They’re a group of Uzbek defense consultants, and they operate mostly out of Syria. They specialize in working with Jihadi extremist groups. They also have some pretty good hackers. Our working theory is that this group was involved in the Fend cyber intrusion. They probably linked the network breach to me.”
“Why is Morozov interested in Max?” Charles asked.
Max turned to his father. “Whatever he does, Morozov is planning to hang the blame on me. He laid the groundwork with the hacking incident. He’ll finish the job by seizing control of the Fend 100 during the passenger qualification flight, and the cyber forensics will point to yours truly.” Max paused. “I’m beginning to think you should just postpone the flight. Use whatever excuse you need—including the false evidence that ties me to the Russians. If it’s what we need to do…”
“No, Max,” Wilkes said. “There’s a better way forward. Do you know why we pulled you out of Europe last year?”
“The DIA pulled me out. They said my cover was blown, after the incident with the two Russian arms dealers.”
“Not exactly. Max, Charles, it’s time that we discussed a long-term relationship between the Fend family and the CIA.”
“I’ve heard this talk before,” said Charles.
“Charles, your son was working for the intelligence community, just as I told you. Specifically, he worked under the purview of the Defense Intelligence Agency.”
Charles looked at Max as if seeing him for the first time, a mix of fear and pride in his eyes.
Wilkes went on, “The CIA has a network of high-profile agents. Wealthy businessmen. CEOs. Celebrities. Heads of state. People with access. They have various levels of training. Some are little more than informants, but the network is one of our most valuable.”
“What does this have to do with your reason for not wanting to cancel the Fend 100 test flight? And for pulling me out of Europe?” Max said.
“The Agency doesn’t like to shut down potential sources of information. It sort of goes against our mission,” Wilkes said. “If there’s a way to keep a valuable asset in play, we’ll take it. Charles will be retiring from the Fend Aerospace Company soon. We recognize that, and have planned for it. Max, ironically, the best place the US government can place you is in your father’s company.”
“So what are you saying? That me leaving the DIA was intentional? But I thought my cover was blown.”
“A partial truth. Morozov knows. But few others, if any. The CIA would like you to continue to serve. When your father retires, your position with the Fend Aerospace Company, as well as your family name and status, will create many opportunities for us.”
Max nodded. He didn’t completely trust Wilkes, but as much as he hated to admit it, he wanted to get back in the game.
“So the two Russian men in France—that was Morozov?”
“We believe so, yes. We think he set up the deal to test you. He wanted to see for himself whether you were really working as a spy. But he didn’t tell anyone else. Just like he never told anyone that your father was working for the CIA.”
“So then why did he test me? And if he thinks I work for US intelligence—why did he keep it to himself?”
Wilkes said, “Who knows? Maybe he wanted to finish what he started with your mother. The one thing that keeps KGB agents warm during the cold Russian winters. Revenge.”
“Why would he do this now?” Charles asked.
Wilkes continued offering ideas. “Maybe seeing Max in France reminded him of you, Charles. And don’t forget Sergei—Max’s asset in France. We think he was planning this cyberattack with one of his Eastern European cyber ransom gangs. Morozov must have caught wind of it. He’s well connected to the Russian mafia. Hell, it might not even be about revenge as much as it is an opportunity that he stumbled into.”
Max rubbed his chin. “Maybe.” That seemed like too much of a coincidence for Max, but he didn’t say it. “Whatever the reason, it seems as though Morozov plans to launch another cyberattack during the Fend 100 flight.”
Charles shook his head. “Wonderful. If I don’t proceed with the Fend 100 flight, Morozov may start selling bits of the Fend technology on the open market, which will spook the investors and threaten to cancel our government contract before it’s finalized. But if I do proceed with the Fend 100 flight, we risk another, more effective cyberattack. Is that about it?”
“In a nutshell.”
Charles said, “We have to go on with the flight. If we don’t, the company will be devastated. We’ll have to ensure that we protect ourselves from this next cyberattack. That is the only satisfactory answer from my end.”
“Good. That’s exactly what I want as well.” said Wilkes.
“Why?”
“Proof. The forensic evidence we capture will provide us with leverage against Morozov and the Russians. But there’s another reason. Something I haven’t told you yet.”
Both Fends stood in suspense.
“I think Morozov has a man on the inside of Fend Aerospace. And I don’t want to change any of our plans until we find out who that is, lest we tip him off.”
“Why do you think that?”
“The FBI told me. I’ve been speaking to the man who’s investigating the Fend cyberattack. The FBI forensics team tells him that the only way someone could have penetrated the network the first time—however limited its success—was with inside knowledge.”
“You’re working with the FBI?”
“Yes.”
Charles frowned. “You think there’s someone who works for me that is helping Morozov?”
“Possibly. I think we should bring the FBI investigator into the fold here tonight. Special Agent Flynn. I would like him to provide his theories on the matter.”
Charles clasped his hands together. “We need a way to protect ourselves against this.”
Max said, “Like I said, the British agent I met—Charlotte Capri—said she’d give me a software program designed by MI-6. MI-6 is designing this software program to protect the Fend 100 from being hacked by Morozov’s cyberoperators.”
Charles said, “Caleb?”
Wilkes nodded. “They mentioned something to me about this. But we weren’t ready to commit.”
“Why?”
“At the time, we weren’t convinced that Morozov was going to be able to break through the Fend network. And we were hoping that his initial attempt would give us enough evidence to connect it to him.”
“But?”
“But so far, the cyber trail just leads to a Syrian group. If we allow them one more attempt, the gentlemen at Fort Meade will be ready. We’ll be able to prove that Morozov’s group is responsible for the cyberattacks. Our government can’t move on Morozov until that point. When we’re done here, I’ll call my counterparts at MI-6 and find out about their progress with the thumb drive option. They need to work through me from now on.”
Max watched Wilkes when he said it. He looked anxious, a hint of worry in his voice. Like something wasn’t going according to plan.
Wilkes said, “I realize that I’m asking a lot of you both here. But I would like to keep pressing on with the Fend 100 flight.”
“It’s something I want as well. But I want to talk to some of my people about this,” Charles said. “If there’s a vulnerability in our system, I want them to know.”
Wilkes said, “Let’s keep this information amo
ng a small group. Pick one person that you trust implicitly on your team.”
He thought for a moment. “Maria Blount. She’s the program manager. But she has an engineering background. She would be able to find out if we have a problem.”
“Is there a way that Maria can provide another layer of security, to make sure that the Russians can’t hack into the aircraft controls?” Max asked.
Charles said, “We’ll meet with her and find out. I won’t allow the flight to go on unless she can guarantee it will be safe.”
Wilkes held up his hand. “Let’s run her name by the FBI first. I want to make sure that they approve. I’m going to call the FBI agent I’ve been working with. He’s already in Jacksonville. We’ll fill him in and run this Maria Blount name by him. As long as he approves, we’ll bring her into the fold as well.”
“Make sure that the FBI knows this rubbish about Max being complicit in the crime is not true.”
“Yes. Please do that,” Max said, his brow arched.
Wilkes smirked. “Of course. I’ll make my call.”
An hour later, Special Agent Jake Flynn showed up at Charles Fend’s home in Ponte Vedra. Max had thought about inviting Renee but decided against it. He preferred to keep her behind the curtain for now.
Flynn stood in the doorway, greeted by Wilkes and Max Fend. He didn’t look happy.
Max was half-expecting a load of FBI agents to come storming in behind him. Instead, he got a disgruntled nod. “Mr. Fend.”
“Hello again.”
Max assumed that Wilkes had prepped Flynn and decided not to press it any further for now.
Wilkes summarized the earlier conversations for Flynn.
“So this Pavel Morozov is former KGB, and is responsible for the cyberattacks on Fend Aerospace.”
“We think so, yes.”
Flynn looked at Wilkes. “How do you want to play this?”
Wilkes filled him in on what they were thinking.
As promised, Wilkes made sure to get his superiors at the CIA involved. Wilkes and Flynn jumped on a secure conference call with the bigwigs at the CIA and FBI for the next fifteen minutes. Wilkes smoothed things over and let them know that Max Fend was working with the CIA and should not be considered a suspect in the Fend cybercrime. From the short duration of the call, Max got the impression that the FBI and CIA leadership had already discussed the matter.
When the two men emerged, Wilkes said, “Special Agent Flynn, would you be able to share with the Fends what you were telling me yesterday? Your suspicions about an insider at Fend Aerospace.”
Flynn looked uncomfortable. “We’re looking closely at a few employees there.”
Wilkes nodded. “Could you say who?”
“I would rather not. No offense.”
Charles said, “Agent Flynn, with respect, it appears to be in our collective best interests to proceed with the Fend 100 flight tomorrow. The CIA and FBI both want to collect more cyber evidence on Pavel Morozov during that time. We’ll need at least one of my experts at Fend Aerospace to help us reduce the risk of Morozov actually succeeding and stealing all of the Fend 100’s artificial intelligence technology. But if you won’t share your suspects with us, then I don’t know who to trust.”
Flynn looked thoughtful. “How about you give me a name, and I help you pick who I think would be best suited for the job?”
Wilkes said, “Charles, who was the person that you mentioned earlier?”
“Maria Blount.”
Flynn looked at Wilkes. “She should be fine. She was actually the one who first contacted the FBI about the cyber intrusion on the Fend network.”
“Alright, let’s get her over here.”
Maria came thirty minutes later, and they quickly brought her up to speed.
Maria said, “So let me see if I understand. Max, I think what I hear you saying is that this Russian is planning to remotely tap into the Fend 100, and use the datalink connection between the Fend 100 and the Fend 100 control center to steal our most precious AI technology. Is that right?”
“Exactly.”
“Okay…and someone who you all trust is going to give you some sort of software that will act as an antivirus—to neutralize any threat that the Russians could actually do this.” They hadn’t told her that MI-6 would be providing the thumb drive. She didn’t need to know who it was, just what it would do.
“Correct.”
Maria paused. She frowned and said, “Well, this means they’ve already infected the aircraft or our control room software. If that’s true, they must have done it the first time they hacked in. I find that highly doubtful. But it’s possible that we overlooked something. If…and that’s a big if…they really have a worm in our system, I don’t know if it will be enough to just trust that this magical thumb drive software will inoculate us from another attack. Especially with as much as we have riding on this Fend 100 flight. I mean, this is everything to the company, Charles.”
“I know, Maria. I understand the importance.”
“Sorry. It’s just…I know this means a lot to our bottom line.”
Max knew it too. While he tried not to let that influence his decision-making, he realized that if the Fend 100 test flight didn’t pass with flying colors, his father’s company would take a pummeling on Wall Street. His father still owned a controlling share of the stock, but a failed test flight could ruin his life’s work. It could mean massive layoffs, not to mention the effect it might have on the whole aviation sector. If the first autonomous commercial airline flight were hacked, no one would want to fly on them. There was already enough fear about riding in one of these things.
Max said, “Maria, do you see any other way that we could provide a fail-safe? Some way of preventing the flight from getting hacked?”
Her eyes glanced up, twitching back and forth as she thought. She started nodding to herself. “Yes. I think I know what we can do. I can go on the flight.”
Charles said, “You want to go on the flight?”
“Yes. I’ll rewrite some of the remote override code tonight. It will take a while, but I can do it. If anyone does hack into the flight, like last time, I’ll be able to override it from inside the aircraft.” She smiled, pleased with her solution. “It’s the safest way.”
“What about the thumb drive with the antivirus software?” Max said.
Wilkes eyed Max. “Let’s consider Maria going on the plane as a fail-safe. But we should also continue to plan to get the thumb drive from your contact, Max. And I’ll check on that solution with my contacts.”
Charles said, “Okay—do we feel like there are enough controls in place that this will be a safe event?”
They all nodded slowly.
“And we’ll be watching Morozov’s yacht,” Wilkes said. “If he tries anything, we’ll finally have the evidence we need to prosecute him. Mr. Flynn, would you be able to help with a takedown, if we need it?”
Flynn nodded. “The FBI can handle that. Let me talk to my superiors.”
They spoke for a few more minutes, and then Maria left to go get to work. Flynn did as well.
Wilkes said to Max, “You need a ride?”
“Sure. Thanks.”
Max asked to be dropped off at a gas station near his father’s home. He had texted Renee a few minutes before, asking her to pick him up there.
Wilkes smiled. “What’s the matter? You don’t want me to know where you’re staying?”
“Sorry.”
Max’s ride pulled up. Renee looked at both Caleb Wilkes and Max through her window.
“Is that your Canadian hacker?”
“It is.”
Wilkes nodded his approval. They then traded phone numbers. Before getting out of the car, Max said, “Let me ask you something. Why didn’t you tell me you were going to recruit me after I began working for my father’s company? I mean, why did the DIA—and you—let me think that I was done?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Your father is the owner of Fen
d Aerospace. We received intelligence that Morozov was planning something big, and it involved Fend. I couldn’t be certain that you weren’t part of it.”
“You really thought I might be compromised?”
“No. But I’m not paid to get it right most of the time. I’m supposed to get it right all of the time. So I quarantined you. I couldn’t let you in on my operation until you were cleared.”
“Are you sure now?”
“One hundred percent.”
Max thought something still didn’t fit. Wilkes wasn’t giving him everything, and both of them knew it. But a good intelligence operative knew when to stop asking questions.
“Alright, thanks. I’ll let you know what I hear from Charlotte.”
“Max.”
“Yeah?”
“Relax. I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
Max gave a small smile. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
He got in Renee’s car and they drove away, careful to check that they weren’t being followed.
17
When they got back to their hotel, Max and Renee took a quick walk on the nearby beach to talk and go over their plans. Their hands brushed together a few times as they walked, and Max caught Renee glancing at him when it happened, an unmistakable look of affection on her face.
Neither had said much about the rekindling of their old flame. There hadn’t been time. Was it just a byproduct of the fear and adrenaline that was pumping through both of them after nearly being killed twice in one week? When this was over, would they go their separate ways? Or would it grow into something more?
All Max knew was that he loved the feel of her smooth bare skin on his body. And he loved seeing her smile at him in that special way.
But he was glad they hadn’t spoken about it. He wasn’t exactly the kind of guy that liked to talk about relationships or feelings. And they had plenty of other things to discuss.
“You don’t trust Wilkes, do you?” Renee said.