The Hack

by Will Patching

  He flipped open his mobile phone and made a call.

  The man who fixed things at Sir Benjamin’s club would also be very busy tonight.

  ***

  Kylie stopped running at Marble Arch. Her top was covered with blood, but how did it get there? And her ear hurt so badly.

  She touched it. Blood. Her blood. But how? Kylie remembered running at the man, the ease with which the knife slid into his belly, the surprise on the man’s face.

  He had no gun that she could see. But the man grappling with Jerry certainly did. So she ran.

  What about Jerry?

  She had heard no gunshots. They were after her, not him. He was George’s friend. They wouldn’t hurt him. And anyway, she thought, she could hardly go to the police – that would just get Jerry into trouble.

  God, her ear throbbed. Did the man she stabbed grab her ear stud? She couldn’t remember, it all happened so fast. She felt the wound again, whimpering at the hurt.

  He’d bloody well ripped her stud off, taking a chunk of ear with it. The bastard!

  The bleeding would not stop, so Kylie went to hospital. The nurse was sympathetic, especially when Kylie told her how a girl had ripped her pierced ear open in a spat over a boy.

  She waited in Casualty, wondering what to do now. She did not even have a telephone number for Jerry.

  Then she remembered, and pulled the card from her pocket.

  The solicitor, Jerry’s friend.

  She would see him in the morning. He was selling the apartment for her and was a ‘trusty’ for her money, Jerry said.

  So, she’d trust him.

  ***

  She woke.

  She could smell him. He smelt good.

  Kate relaxed, felt secure with Doug’s arms around her, her backside pushed into him. They were slotted together like spoons and it felt great.

  Tonight was wonderful, she thought. She heard him murmur, dreaming, ‘I am alive.’ She giggled and wriggled her ass, just a little to see if he was alive enough for a third time. She moved against him.

  Yes. He was.

  ***

  Johnny was trying to create life in his new toy. The T12 and his own new computer were connected by an invisible umbilical cord through wi-fi connections in each device. Johnny was still attempting to light up the screens.

  The digital clock in the right-hand corner of his display read 5.00am, but he was not tired. Excitement had flushed all residual alcohol from his system leaving his brain totally obsessed with the puzzle before him. In deference to his sister he wore earphones, the thundering rock barely audible outside his head.

  His own screen scrolled digits, code, a language he lived for. In the last few hours he had still not managed to open George Simm’s box of tricks. Nothing he had tried had worked.

  He loved it. The challenge was truly awesome.

  He continued working, determined to unlock the secrets of the box. He would not sleep until then.

  At least, that’s what he thought.

  Johnny did not feel it, did not expect it. The blow to the base of his skull pitched him forward, unconscious, on to his precious new toy.

  ***

  ‘Hello. Are you awake?’ The nurse spoke in Thai, but the little boy didn’t reply. He looked much better than he did when the American brought him in some twenty-four hours ago. That man was generous, she thought, handing over a gold Amex card to guarantee the boy’s treatment.

  She checked the chart and noticed the name. Doug Brown. She put a line through it. That was the man’s name, the boy was an ‘Unknown Child.’ She realised she must have put it down wrongly in the register. She checked, corrected that too.

  The nurse continued her rounds but failed to see the police notice offering eight thousand baht reward for information about a little boy who was suffering from shock.

  Her colleague did, much later in the day.

  ***

  Johnny could not see, could not move. His head, throbbing from the man’s blow, bounced and banged on the van floor. It couldn’t be a dream, he thought, the metal whacking his cheekbone was too solid, too real.

  He pulled his arms, tried to move his hands, but they resisted, his wrists were clamped to something cold, metallic.

  Johnny’s stomach cramped, the flash of pain, the twisting tortured guts jerking his body. His arms and legs resisted as he tried to curl into a ball. He was in agony, stomach and skull conspiring in torment.

  His body convulsed and he bit his tongue, the blood pooling with his saliva. He tried to spit, but could not, his mouth was taped shut. He moaned.

  ‘Is the kid awake?’ An English voice, disembodied, echoed in the back of the van.

  Another voice, difficult to understand, a burp resonating from a distorted throat, replied. ‘Dunno.’

  ‘Jesus Christ, don’t tell me he’s a fucking spastic, Jock. That’s all we need. Shame about the girl. We might need her to look after him. And I was looking forward to looking after her! She’s a fit sort that one. Those tits!’

  Jock grunted.

  ‘She definitely went to her room after dinner, mate, I saw her go in while you followed brain box to Mama Sin’s. Thought she’d be there for the night. TV went on. Must’ve had a better offer from computer boy’s mate.’ He laughed a dirty laugh.

  ‘Aye.’

  Jock’s partner, a paratrooper decorated for bravery five times, then dishonourably discharged after he viciously raped a Bosnian, continued, ‘We’ll have to get her, mate. We don’t want the Thai police stirred up looking for her brother, do we, eh?’

  ‘Nah.’

  ‘You awake back there, whiz-kid?’

  Johnny kept quiet, but the man carried on as if he were conscious.

  ‘I’m sure you’re gonna co-operate with us, aren’t you son? You wouldn’t want to see your lovely sister carved up, now would you?’

  Johnny groaned.

  ‘I’m gonna have to go back and get her. Check you both out the hotel, make sure no one misses you. You be a good boy and you and your pretty sister can go home tomorrow. You hear me?’

  The truck, bumping, gears grating, stopped for a moment and Jock leapt out. The vehicle lurched forward again as Sam drove into the warehouse.

  Johnny’s insides still wrenched at him as he thought about Sis. And what did they want with him? They certainly weren’t with the CIA. He tried to control his breathing, to relax the pain away.

  He heard the door open, but still couldn’t see. Panic surged, he could feel dried blood around his eyes, the darkness disorienting him. Had they blinded him when they abducted him? The spasms started again, Johnny’s tongue was between his teeth, the jaw slicing soft tissue.

  Sam ripped off the tape covering Johnny’s mouth. ‘Fuck me, Jock. The bastard’s foaming at the mouth – blood and shit. I reckon the bloody spastic’s having another fit.’

  Johnny felt rough hands pulling at his face, his skin. What were they doing to him? His stomach muscles contorted and he tried to arch his body to ease the pain. Then he could see – the tape over his eyes had been ripped away – the light dazzling him.

  ‘You okay kid? You look like shit.’

  Johnny tried to speak, his diaphragm twitching uncontrollably. ‘S’just cramp.’ He spat blood. ‘What d’you want with me and Kate?’

  ‘A friend of ours needs some help finding something. Seems you’re the guy he needs to do it for him.’ Sam released Johnny’s feet, allowing him some relief as he curled up a little.

  ‘What?’ Johnny was confused, why didn’t they just ask him for help? There was no need to hit him, tie him up, kidnap him. Frighten him.

  ‘Dunno exactly. You can chat wiv him yourself soon enough.’

  Sam released the handcuffs and Johnny jackknifed completely. The pain eased and he tried again to breathe deeply, to relax.

  Sam carried on chatting. ‘But just be sure you understand me, Johnny boy. I don’t give a shit what the boss needs you for – you just do whatever he says. You make o
ne wrong move, you even look at me or Jock in a funny way, and I’ll slice you. Like salami.’

  Johnny could see the man’s knife appearing from thin air, like a card in a magic trick, then disappearing in a blink.

  The breathing exercises did not work. Terror and panic took over and Johnny’s diaphragm rebelled, his writhing bowels and stomach muscles agitating all the while. A jet of puke, stinking beer and bile, shot over Sam’s feet and trouser legs.

  ‘You dirty fucker!’ The boot slammed into Johnny’s eye. He was unconscious again.

  ‘Take it easy Sam.’ The rasping breathy voice resonated in the van. Jock joined Sam and together they hoisted Johnny into the office. They dropped him on a seat in front of a desktop computer and then chained him into position so that he could work but not run.

  ‘Where’s that dickhead Manny? He should be here by now. Let’s just hope he’s done his job and got everything the kid needs.’

  ‘Aye.’ Jock placed the T12 and Johnny’s machine beside the other computer.

  ‘At least he’s here for Sir Benjamin. Now mate, I’m going to get the girl. I don’t think the boy’ll be any trouble – but there’s nothing like an extra incentive to do as your told, is there, eh?’ Sam leered at his friend, the anticipation of Kate’s soft pliable body in his hands sending the blood surging to his groin.

  ‘Sam, be careful, it’s getting light.’ Although Jock’s six-word speech was mangled – ‘Su, beh ca-fu, s’gi lut’ – his old comrade in arms understood.

  ‘Don’t you worry. I won’t be long, mate. Might have to soften her up a bit though – make sure she’s gonna be co-operative.’ He winked at Jock.

  ‘Aye.’

  Sam jumped into the driving seat, reversed the van out of the building and set off on the trek back to the hotel. The sun, an orange disc squeezing itself on to the horizon, greeted him. He whistled as he drove.

  It was the start of a beautiful day.

  ***

  In Virginia the sun had just about set. The Director of the CIA was in his office with Teague.

  ‘I haven’t told him, Mike. I just hope Cody’s right.’

  Teague let out a whistle and said, ‘You sure about this, Jack? If it gets out, you’re finished. Christ, we’re both finished.’

  Jack Regan turned to face his friend. ‘The President doesn’t need to know right now. I’ve taken the decision. This juvenile prankster is not a threat to the nation, as long as Cody’s assessment is correct, and he seems to be right so far.’

  ‘Well, it’s your call. The other security agencies know nothing about any of this and Cody’s team are thick as thieves. No one outside of this office and GUSSET knows the extent our systems have been penetrated, but...’

  ‘No buts Mike. Decision made. I’ll stand by it – or fall. Right now I want a report from Cody.’

  ‘Sure, I’ll get him in.’ As he reached for the phone it buzzed. Agent Johnson was waiting to see the Director. ‘Do you want Cody in on this too, Jack?’

  ‘Yup. Let’s see what he makes of Johnson. The replacement team are arriving in Bangkok about now but I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get the answers we need in time.’

  When Cody arrived they buzzed through for Johnson to join them. The exhausted agent was the only one standing.

  ‘Johnson. I want no bullshit. I believe there is a leak from you or one of your team, maybe a family member. I don’t know, but we’re here to get to the bottom of it. Got it, son?’ The Director, now much calmer than when he’d called Johnson by telephone some twenty hours before, left his agent in no doubt as to the seriousness of the meeting.

  ‘Sir. I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Show him Cody.’

  ‘Sir.’ Cody jumped up and within seconds Johnny’s message and cartoon image flashed on to the wall screen. Cody addressed the condemned man. ‘Agent Johnson, we received this from an unknown source. This source has hacked into our systems and sent this message to my team. It’s potentially,’ Cody glanced at the Director, aware his bosses did not want the extent of the security breach disclosed, ‘a serious risk to systems security.’

  Johnson shook his head, disbelief and shock painted on his face. He turned to the Director, weariness in his tone. ‘You recalled my team for this, sir? Maybe it’s those guys, the Skunkworks.’

  ‘Johnson.’ The Director stood up, his fists bunched and knuckles pressed on the table, his arms supporting his upper half. ‘Did you ever say any of these things?’

  Johnson’s neck and ears were tinged pink as he read parts of the message aloud. ‘Agent Johnson says it’s one of you guys, some pissed off hacker nerd... you can’t be trusted... you’re all crazy and they should lock you up.’ He hesitated and sighed. ‘Sir, those sentiments are not exactly uncommon with field agents. We all risk our lives and these guys,’ Johnson, who didn’t know Cody personally but knew who he was, knew his role, waved his hand toward him, ‘are a bunch of criminals. And we’ve put them in charge of systems security.’

  ‘Agent, you are trying my patience. Did you say these things?’

  Johnson, neck glowing and sweating, poked a finger in the back of his collar and tried to wipe the discomfort away. He had not showered or changed, he had been in transit since he had received the call from his boss, and he felt like shit. ‘I may’ve done sir – I don’t remember exactly.’

  ‘And. The mission’s bullshit, team leader Johnson?’

  ‘Director, sir. That’s not meant how it sounds, we have – ’

  ‘DID YOU SAY IT?’

  ‘I believe so, sir.’ Johnson, a confident senior agent with years of service behind him was facing the most severe interrogation of his life, but nothing he had trained for had prepared him for this. He could feel his career flushing away by the second.

  ‘When?’

  ‘I... I’m not too sure, sir.’ Johnson massaged his throat, it was parched and his voice croaky. He knew he had said all these things. More than once.

  ‘Permission to speak, sir?’ Cody could see the pressure building, the Director looked ready to explode. Cody wanted to move things forward, and when the Director nodded at him said, ‘Agent Johnson, what’s important here is establishing who heard you say these things. Once we know, we can narrow the field, focus on those people. Our priority is to find the hacker.’

  ‘You think it’s one of my team hacking into your precious system, Cody? Christ, that’s so much bullshit...’

  ‘We think it may be a relative of a team member. Maybe a son or daughter who’s a real computer wizard. We’re currently stripping all the computers of close family members, looking to see who may be at the root of this.’

  ‘So that’s why MacKenzie said you took their computer equipment...’

  ‘This whole thing may be a prank. It may not. We hope it is. But one thing is for sure – you were heard saying these things and,’ Cody pointed to the caricature of Johnny, ‘he, or she, knows you personally or knows of you from someone close to you.’ Cody looked at the Director, who had sat down, calmer again.

  ‘This is important, Johnson. Get together with MacKenzie and the rest of your team. Brief them. But this is for their ears only. You brainstorm – who the hell could’ve heard this shit. Believe me I am so pissed at you. You’re lucky you’ve got this chance to redeem yourself. Now get to it.’ The Director glared at Johnson as he left.

  Teague had been quiet throughout the interview but now asked Cody, ‘Any joy with the families’ computer gear?’

  ‘Not yet sir. Couple of the kids have attempted low grade hacking into our system, but nothing like we’re looking at here. We’ve got a way to go, we’re checking hard drives, hidden files, CDs, DVDs, everything. It’s gonna take some time. But – ’

  ‘Let me guess.’ The Director sounded thoroughly dejected. ‘If he’s the Einstein you think he is we may find nothing.’

  ‘I’m sorry sir, it’s a possibility. It would help a lot if we had some lead from Johnson’s team.
To analyse everything from all eight agents and their families will take some time. And it could be a close family friend, we may not even have the machine the hacker’s using.’

  ‘Okay Cody. Do what you can. What’s the situation with setting a trap for this guy?’ His boss was keen to find a way of hooking the intruder.

  ‘As you know, this message came direct to one of my team as he was working on creating a Trojan Horse. We planned to deliver a beacon to the guy, to light him up and give us his location. We’re still working on it. When he sent this, we didn’t know he was watching us. Since then we’ve set up laptops in the office – offline. He can’t see what we’re mixing up for him until we load it on the main system. I’m hopeful we can come up with something that’ll hook him tonight.’

  ‘Just do it Cody. And remember. No one outside this office or your team must ever know the extent of this breach. You got that?’ Teague turned to his boss. ‘Anything to add, Jack?’

  ‘Yeah, one thing Cody. Your guys – they really that unpopular with the agents?’

  ‘Fraid so sir. That’s why we keep ourselves to ourselves. They don’t understand us...’ Cody paused, not sure how honest to be.

  ‘Go on son, speak freely.’ The Director obviously wanted to hear what his genius had to say.

  ‘Well, without us in here sir, there’d be no Agency. No security anyway. Unless you want to go back to paper. For my money, this intruder is worth a thousand field agents. The future is in cyber space. If he can do this to us, imagine what he could do for our intelligence gathering.’

  ‘You’re saying we need to find him, not so much to stop him, but to give him a job?’ The Director’s disbelief and anger at the troublesome nerd sliced the air.

  ‘Exactly sir. Right now he’s running rings round my guys, thirty of the best computer minds in the world. I don’t believe he’s a threat to us right now. But if we don’t get to him...’

  Teague filled in the rest. ‘And someone else does? He will be a huge threat.’

  ‘Sir. We need him here, where we can keep an eye on him, where he can use his genius for us. And to make sure no one else can exploit his talents.’

  With that, Cody left.