The Dark Web_The stunning new thriller from the author of The Angolan Clan

by Christopher Lowery

  Ed came back to the table. ‘What who’s going to do? You’re talking about me behind my back?’

  ‘Cheers.’ They clinked glasses and chatted for a while. Elodie had obviously had a few drinks before arriving and was totally at ease in what should have been an awkward situation.

  It’s the elephant in the room, Ed thought. We all know what happened, but no one wants to talk about it, and she doesn’t care whether we know or not, because there’s nothing we can do.

  He bought another round of drinks and whispered to Lynne, ‘Let’s find out about her and Shen.’

  She said, innocently, ‘What about you and Shen? You’ve been here for over two years, right? It’s not exactly Brussels, is it?’

  ‘That’s not my favourite town, I don’t miss it at all. I’ve been to lots of countries and cities and there’s only one place I miss.’ She sipped her drink and didn’t elaborate.

  ‘Where did you guys meet? It’s not obvious, a Chinaman and a Belgian lady. It must have been in some exotic location. Hawaii, Los Angeles, London, New York?’

  ‘As a matter of fact, it’s not exotic at all. Just my favourite place, the one I miss.’

  They waited, but she still didn’t disclose the location. Ed changed the subject. ‘When’s Shen back from Shanghai? I suppose the upload’s scheduled pretty soon.’

  ‘They’re deploying it tomorrow morning at eleven o’clock. You XPC guys will be famous.’ She threw back the rest of her martini. ‘We should celebrate that, the champagne’s on me.’

  The waiter came over with a bottle of Laurent Perrier and poured three glasses. ‘Cheers, here’s to Scotty, Leo and Ed, a great team.’ She emptied her glass and poured herself another.

  ‘You forgot Shen and Sharif.’ Lynne sipped her champagne.

  ‘No, I didn’t, I ignored them.’ She laughed uproariously and downed her drink.

  Ed looked at Lynne and shrugged his shoulders. ‘She doesn’t care,’ he mouthed. Leaning over, he filled her glass. ‘We should get a photo, to mark the occasion.’

  ‘Non, non, I don’t want a photo. I hate them.’ Elodie tried to stand up and almost fell over.

  ‘Come on, be a sport.’ He called the waiter and gave him his mobile, sat between the two women, holding Elodie upright in her seat. ‘We can call it “Scouser between Belgian and Welsh Roses”. Right, here’s to a great team.’ They all lifted their glasses.

  Ed took his phone and looked at the photos. The waiter had taken five shots and there were two with excellent likenesses of the Belgian woman in full face. ‘I’ll send them to your mobile now. What’s your number?’

  It was midnight when they poured Elodie into a cab, then they rode to Ed’s flat on the Harley. He texted Leo, Chillicott and Tom Connor, Upload expected this morning at eleven Shanghai time. He cropped Elodie’s image from one of the photos and enlarged it to give a clear full view of her, then sent it to the general.

  Chillicott forwarded it to the UK, to be seen by Hugh Middleton when he arrived at his office in the morning.

  Delmas, Mpumalanga, South Africa

  Rod’s brute force bombardment programme had been running for six hours, with no success. Abby called time, and they left it to hammer away at the key field until they came back to the lab the next morning. It wasn’t looking good.

  FORTY-NINE

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  Friday, 16 July 2017

  Tom Connor hadn’t slept at all, and was at XPC at six forty-five, waiting nervously for Ed. They went down to the lab, and at seven on the dot a message came up on the main system computer screen: ‘New software is available from Lee-Win’. It was accompanied by the usual certification, description of the upgrades and payment details.

  ‘OK?’ Ed looked at Tom and he nodded. The package took several minutes to download, then he immediately ran Leo’s mini-network to test the ACRE encrypted transmission.

  Sharif came into the lab. ‘What’s happening? Have we got the new software?’ he asked excitedly.

  ‘We have, and it’s exactly what we wrote and running flawlessly. You, Scotty and Leo should be proud, it’s beyond fabulous, a terrific job.’

  Sharif looked a little mollified. ‘Thanks, and obviously you were right. They’re going to send out the other code later. We’ve probably got a couple of days.’

  Ed checked the time. ‘We’ll call Leo later to see if he’s made any progress, it’s only five-thirty in the morning there. I’m going down to talk to Daniel now, see if he can help with the hub problem.’

  ‘Let’s hope to God you can find a way in.’ Tom went to his office. He felt helpless and stupid, and he didn’t want to think about the consequences if they didn’t find a way to stop the next upload. In any case, he thought, I’m finished here whatever happens, and maybe XPC is. Better get ready to move on.

  Delmas, Mpumalanga, South Africa

  It was six-thirty a.m., two and a half hours after the Shanghai deployment, when Coetzee joined Leo and the others in the lab. Rod’s bombardment programme had been throwing millions of keywords at Sharif’s folder for fifteen hours and it was still encrypted.

  They saw the message from Lee-Win on Leo’s laptop screen and downloaded the software. It worked perfectly on the mini-network, as it would in the millions of businesses around the world that received it.

  While Abby was examining every detail of the download file, trying to find a way to reverse engineer into the hub, Leo showed Coetzee a two-word text he’d received in the night from Billy Chillicott: Try Tsunami. Neither understood the connection, but he said to Rod, ‘Switch off your programme. Try putting in Tsunami.’

  Rod looked sceptical as he typed the word in, then, ‘I don’t believe it. Where the hell did that come from?’ The folder had opened, and inside was a text file with a Russian name: ‘Код выключения’. He clicked on the file and it revealed several lines of computer code written in English.

  ‘It came direct from General Billy Chillicott, at US Homeland Security.’ Leo ignored their querulous looks. ‘You’re the expert on A2, Julia. What do you think?’

  ‘That’s it. That’s the A2 function. It basically says, “When cell S470C887,999 changes mode, shut down ACRE transmission until mode change.”’

  Abby looked up from her laptop. ‘The translation of that Russian script is Shutdown Code.’

  ‘And it does what it says on the box, but where Russia fits in this conundrum is still a mystery to me. OK, all we have to work out now is how to change that instruction and get it deployed to all the existing processors out there via the Lee-Win hub.’

  ‘Sounds easy, Leo, except for two small problems. You can’t change the properties of a physical cell, and we still don’t know that address.’ Abby had given up searching, there was no ID on the Lee-Win download.

  ‘And we’ve got maybe two days to do it,’ said Coetzee.

  ‘We got this far in three days, we just need another break. I’ll text Billy that it worked and it’s in Russian. It might help him to help us.’

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  ‘It’s every bit as good as we expected, well done Daniel.’

  ‘I didn’t have much to do with it. This XPC team did a great job, despite all the challenges they had. I still can’t figure out what happened with Scotty and then Leo. A strange coincidence, but it’s all worked out in the end. You’re all set to go back to Hai-Sat.’ Oberhart was speaking to his father Max, in Zurich, when Ed came into his office.

  ‘I’ll have to go now, talk to you later.’ He put the phone down. ‘Hi Ed, how’s everything?’

  ‘What do you think of the download?’ Ed had come down hoping to find a route to identify the Lee-Win hub address.

  ‘It’s fabulous. I’ve been running it back and forwards, up and down, and it’s as solid as a rock. Scotty, Leo and you guys did a marvellous job, well done.’

  ‘Did Shen give you a copy of the package he sent to Shanghai?’ Ed asked casually.

  ‘He di
dn’t have to. I’ve already got everything from the teams. All the testing and the final versions, Shen copied it all onto his laptop to send. And now I’ve got the downloads, I don’t need anything else.’

  ‘So you’ve got the hub coordinates?’

  ‘No, I’ve never needed them. Shen handles all the communications with Shanghai. He’s their board member, it’s his prerogative. What’s this about?’

  Ed hesitated. He still wasn’t sure about Oberhart, and Lynne had a perceptive woman’s instincts about people. But he seems sincere, and he might be the only guy with the answer. What the hell. He decided to tell him the whole story, and show him the video and the effect of the A2 attack on Leo’s network. ‘There’s something you should know about, Daniel, something to do with Shen,’ he said.

  Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

  ‘Thank you for your visit, Shen, and please remember to thank every member of the Dubai team for their remarkable work. As promised, we will be awarding a special bonus pool to reward them. Our finance director will be in touch with you and Tom Connor to arrange the payments.’ Chairman Bohai Cheong and MD Han Wang Tāng bowed then waved as Shen Fu Liáng climbed into the company limousine and was driven off to Pudong International Airport.

  The driver dropped him off at Terminal 2 for the Emirates flight back to Dubai. Then Shen took the shuttle bus to Terminal 1 in comfortable time for his one o’clock China Eastern flight to Moscow. A few hours of sleep on the ten-hour journey meant he’d arrive in good shape to finish the last item on his agenda. He accepted a glass of champagne from the cabin attendant, laid back in his seat and closed his eyes. Shen was pleased with his work. It had taken almost five years, but it was almost finished.

  London, England

  ‘Good morning, Ilona. How are you this morning?’

  ‘Just fine, thank you, and I’ve got good news. The new Lee-Win software has been deployed from Shanghai.’

  ‘So they finally managed to send it out, and with what consequences?’

  ‘According to our IT manager, it works absolutely perfectly. No glitches or viruses.’

  ‘So, the diabolical plan, if there is such a plan, must be to send out the virus later.’

  ‘I suppose so. In any event, we don’t have time to talk about that now.’ She looked at her watch. ‘You’re a little late, you know you have an appointment at ten-thirty?’

  ‘My taxi was involved in a traffic accident, a minor event, although I found it rather unpleasant.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘The driver of the car directly in front of us lost control and veered onto the crowded pavement.’

  ‘How frightening. Was anyone hurt?’

  ‘Fortunately not, but for a moment I imagined I was witnessing a car terrorist attack. There have been so many of them in recent months.’

  ‘You must learn to control your fertile imagination. It’s not always productive I’m afraid.’

  He sat at the other side of her desk. ‘You know I don’t drive, don’t you?’

  She nodded, wondering where he was going with this line of thought.

  ‘There are two reasons for that. The first is simply that I have a fear of travelling, and I can’t bear the thought of setting off somewhere with myself in charge of the journey.’ He ignored her astonished expression. ‘The second is that I’ve always considered that a motorised vehicle is a lethal weapon, and that anyone in control of one is a potential murderer. I’m mortified that these recent lethal attacks have proved me right, and I fear that it will become the weapon of choice in the hands of these deranged terrorist assassins.’

  Ilona thought about his words for a moment. ‘For once, Hugh, I don’t appreciate your lateral thinking. If everyone who drives a vehicle has the idea of using it as a lethal weapon, the world will be in even worse shape that it presently is.’

  ‘Precisely.’ He stood up. ‘In any event, I hadn’t forgotten my appointment, although I rather wish I had. You know how much I dislike these left-wing journalists and their rose-tinted views of a utopian socialist world.’

  ‘I’ve sent you a couple of messages that I need an answer to, can you quickly look at them before the poor man arrives?’

  Middleton went into his office and opened his laptop. Amongst the several messages, he spotted an email from Billy Chillicott, with the subject ‘Elodie’ and an attached photo. He double-clicked on the photo, looked at the enlarged likeness of the attractive woman on the screen and froze at his desk.

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  When Ed left him, Daniel Oberhart called his father back to tell him about the probable A2 attack. It was not an enjoyable call.

  FIFTY

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  Friday, 16 July 2017

  ‘We haven’t been able to find anything on the hub ID. Sharif and I’ve taken the download data to pieces and there’s no clue there. Daniel’s here and he’s been working with us. I’ve told him everything and he wants to help us screw Shen and his conspiracy.’ Ed was in Tom Connor’s office, on the phone with Leo. Sharif and the CEO were listening, as were Abby and Coetzee.

  ‘Hi Daniel, glad to have you on board. I guess you’re a bit shaken up by what was going on?’

  The Swiss man appeared calm and collected, despite the overwhelming evidence of Shen’s duplicity shown to him by Ed, but behind the controlled facade he was seething with rage and shock. He was furious to have been taken for a fool by someone he trusted, and even angrier to find XPC involved in a potentially catastrophic global cyber-attack. He’d already shared the news with his father at MicroCentral, knowing it could ruin their three years of planning and work, but he hid his feelings and said simply, ‘You’ve been through a really crappy time, Leo, so don’t shed any tears on my account. What exactly are we trying to do here?’

  ‘We’re trying to find an access to the Lee-Win hub, so we can somehow block the trigger download when Shen tries to send it. We’ve had no joy on that, but thanks to Billy Chillicott we’ve found the cell instructions.’ Leo explained about Tsunami and the contents of the Russian-named file.

  ‘First it’s Chinese, now it’s Russian? What’s Shen got to do with Russia?’ Ed was getting lost in the ever-changing events. ‘Does it mean anything to you, Tom?’

  ‘I’ve never heard of any Russian connection. Nothing at all. He was appointed to the Lee-Win board in Shanghai in 2012, after the company changed hands, and then he came down here just before we opened in 2014. That’s all I know about him.’

  ‘Chillicott said something about a possible connection with the Russian Secret Service, but I don’t think it’s a proven theory at the minute.’ Leo shook his head in exasperation. ‘OK, let’s concentrate on the job in hand. Abby’s people are working on changing the trigger code. But we need the hub coordinates. Come on, guys, there has to be a way to get them. Any thoughts, Daniel?’

  ‘Shen sent the package from his laptop on Tuesday, with copies to no one, and he’s taken it with him.’ Daniel was quiet for a moment, then, ‘He would have to send it from his XPC address and not his personal account. It’s a highly valuable package of confidential software from XPC to its parent, so he’d have to present it correctly, otherwise the Lee-Win people would find it strange. If that’s the case, we’ve got it right here on the company server. Everything he’s ever officially sent to Shanghai or received from them. It’s all there in the Cloud, the great big filing cabinet in the sky!’

  Marbella, Spain

  ‘Patrice, it’s good to hear back from you. How is Madame Lee-Win?’ Jenny had been dozing on the settee when her mobile rang.

  ‘She’s in fine form today, less tired. I think she felt more comfortable with Junjie, her eldest son, being there. He went through her old files and found a copy of the Sale & Purchase Agreement for the business in October 2012, and the bank statement with the payments received by her. It was a huge deal, $2.4 billion, in six payments, although Junjie says his mother reduced the price because
she was so concerned about her family’s safety. I won’t waste your time on the phone, I’ll scan extracts with the main items to you right now and you can go through them yourself. You know just as much as I do about such transactions nowadays.’

  ‘Well, certainly not at that level, but the principles are the same. That’s great, Patrice, many, many thanks. I’ll keep you informed of our progress, assuming we can make any in this complicated business.’

  ‘Is everything OK in Spain, Jenny? You sound a little tired.’

  ‘I’m fine, thanks. Just didn’t sleep well and it’s unbearably hot here. Don’t worry.’

  He rang off and Jenny immediately called Leo. ‘Patrice has received the documents concerning the Lee-Win sale. I’ll forward whatever seems relevant as soon as I get them.’

  ‘Great, tell Patrice I was wrong about him. Things are looking up, Aunt Jenny. We’re working on a counter-measure for the next upload aimed at that cell, and they’re searching for the Lee-Win hub coordinates on the XPC server. Marius says hI, and thanks.’

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  ‘There’s a call for you on line one, Mr Connor.’

  ‘I’m tied up right now, Nora. Who’s calling?’

  Ed Muir was with the CEO in his office. They were trying to decipher the conflicting information they’d found on the server concerning Shen Fu Liáng.

  ‘It’s Lee-Win, in Shanghai, Mr Han Wang Tāng.’

  Connor looked at Ed, his eyes raised. What next? ‘Put him through, please.’

  After exchanging the usual polite Chinese introductions, the Lee-Win MD and Head of Development said, ‘Tom Connor, I am calling you at the request of our chairman, Mr Bohai Cheong, who is listening on the loudspeaker.’

  Tom had only met the chairman once, when he’d taken the job, and knew he wasn’t comfortable in English. ‘It’s an honour to have you on this call, Mr Chairman. How can I help you, Han?’