Rule 53

by Elaine Nolan

  “That bad?”

  “Only a minor detail of multi-source attacks on us.”

  “Oh, is that all? Just us?”

  “Predominately, they tried other sites on the network to try getting in, but we seemed to be the main target.”

  “Have you even eaten since we got back?”

  “I had a coffee four hours ago.”

  “I meant food, but then again, you like your coffee by the slice. I’m heading to the kitchen, want a sandwich?”

  “Sure, if you’re making.” She loosened her hair from its bundled knot at the back of her neck, and massaged it to relieve tension there, her unruly curls framing her face. She rubbed her neck but the alerts on the screen grabbed her attention. She smiled at the screen.

  “Good news?” he asked.

  “Defence Forces–1, hackers–nil”, she answered giving him the score.

  “It’s a coincidence it only started since that fiasco.”

  “You believe in coincidences?” she asked, his derisive snort gave her his answer.

  “Toasted chicken?” he asked instead.

  “Ooh, yes please,” she answered, her attention diverted back to the code on the screen as she scanned through the file, but the gnawing in her midriff won out and she followed him down to the basement canteen, arriving in time for her snack to go into the toaster.

  “You know,” he began, “I’ve done two UN Peacekeeping tours, but this place scares me more than those war-torn countries ever did.”

  “You knew who your enemy was,” she answered, and he nodded, getting plates ready.

  “Here, it’s faceless. It’s fought in your domain.” She wasn’t sure if he intended the pun, but he seemed oblivious to it.

  “Welcome to the new world,” she answered. “Cybercrime has taken over as the world’s greatest threat.”

  “You handled yourself well on that exercise. I thought you had a desk job in the intelligence side, with a dash of army training.”

  “I’ve some field experience,” she said, playing with the truth.

  “But not military.”

  “No, but we’re on the same side.”

  “Good to know.” He handed her the cooked sandwich. “And this thing with the American?”

  “You asking out of curiosity, or on behalf of Donal?”

  “This freaky thing of yours… intrigues me,” he admitted. “But again, with the coincidences.”

  “He hasn’t the ability to hack us.”

  “I’m also wondering if what’s happening is because you’re here. The Senator is not happy having you here. And let’s not forget your newfound brother.”

  “The coincidences are not lost on me. Is it possible they’ve targeted me? I’ve no doubts I have been, but I’d no knowledge I had an older brother. I came here to find one person, not this level of shit.”

  Adam wiped a dab of melted butter from his bottom lip with his thumb, a serious expression on his face.

  “Do you love him?”

  “Rainey?” She found the question outrageous.

  “No, Mann.” She hesitated, confirming his assessment. “If it helps,” he added, “he’s in love with you, but being on different sides, having differing loyalties can’t be easy.”

  She chewed her food, slipping into deeper thought.

  “And another observation,” he added, pulling her back. She raised a questioning eyebrow. “For someone with a reputation for troublemaking and rule-breaking, you’ve been suspiciously compliant and rule-abiding since we put you into uniform.” She smirked.

  “Maybe it’s more strategic to comply right now.”

  “No, that’s not it, although I believe everything you do is strategic. Not necessarily planned, but strategic.” She smirked again. “But you’re different since you put on the uniform, and you’ve made no effort to get back out of it. So what is it? A throwback to a school uniform and strict nuns?”

  “It wasn’t the nuns,” she confirmed her convent-school education. “I had a problem with… well, everything.”

  “You went off the rails,” he said, and she nodded. “But something must’ve worked and got you back on track, and I’m guessing it involved discipline and that kinky shit you’re into.”

  “You’re not just a pretty face,” she threw back, but smirked. “That was the discipline. Everyone sees risqué, S&M movies and think it’s a bit of slap and tickle. It’s more like the army.”

  “I don’t remember having to wear lacy thigh-high boots.”

  She laughed.

  “Lace chaffs, leather’s better,” she told him, and he almost choked on his next bite. “But it’s the same as the army in instilling discipline; infractions incur penalties, adherence to the rules gain rewards.”

  “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what rewards?”

  “Whatever gives you the greatest pleasure. After Rainey’s attempt to get me back on drugs, being back in a uniform has a familiarity to it. But this time I don’t have the threat of a leather strap across my arse worry about.” she answered with a grin. He swallowed hard, and considered phoning his wife back in Ireland, then taking a cold shower.

  “You are a character, Harte. It will never be dull with you around.”

  “I’d hate to be boring.”

  “Is that even possible?”

  “Not so far,” she conceded.

  He finished eating and washed his plate under running hot water, taking hers and doing the same.

  “Has Donal talked to you yet?” he asked.

  “About?” Her question answered his.

  “We video-conferenced with DFHQ and NSIS while you were battling on the interwebs, and they want a discreet investigation into what the hell went wrong on that exercise, and why we were targeted on the computer attack.”

  “What if I told you I already started one?” she asked.

  “You have?”

  “Fuck yeah! I don’t believe in coincidences either. I let loose a Cryptographic War Kit while I worked on the battle-blocker.”

  “Yeah, those words sounded like English.”

  “I enjoy throwing them out, makes me sound mysterious and techie. Heaven forbid I sounded boring.”

  “To translate, you did awesome shit on the computery stuff?”

  “Good translation, yes, I did awesome shit.”

  “Find anything?”

  “Ah here, I’m awesome, not a feckin’ miracle worker. That hack was designed to do several things. For starters, take us offline for as long as possible, stranding us with no comms to DFHQ, then spiders to trawl through our systems and files the way I’ve been trawling through Huntington’s, and I found very nasty bots designed to cause significant damage throughout the network whenever we got back up and running.”

  “I’d rather be back in the Lebanon.”

  She smirked, but there was nothing humorous in it.

  “I don’t think it’s because I’m here. I found documents showing that military preparedness exercise for Washington was designed months ago, but only recently set in motion. Swayne was only brought on board and had the idea sold to her. Without sounding cocky, we’re lucky I was here. That hack pushed me to the very edge of my skills to keep up with it. At one point I didn’t think I’d ever get ahead of it,” she admitted.

  He found no false modesty, no gloating at her eventual victory, and no fear at admitting near defeat. The tech team in County Kildare, thousands of miles away, admitted they’d had difficulty keeping up with her keystrokes and the coding she’d used to counter this attack.

  She had every right to a victory roll but wasn’t.

  “Go get some sleep. We’ll meet with Donal in the morning after you’ve rested, and figure out where we go from here.”

  “Now that’s an order I’ve no problem following,” she answered, and dragged her tired body back up to her cot in the Crow’s Nest.

  CHAPTER 35

  “You have a visitor,” Donal startled her as she reviewed the file from one of the overnight u
pdates.

  “I’m going to put a bell on you,” she answered. “Or lock this door so you have to knock.”

  “Against Health and Safety Regulations to lock yourself in,” he told her.

  “Fuck regulations,” she retorted.

  “Coming from you, that’s no surprise. Visitor for you, at reception,” he repeated.

  “Who?”

  He chuckled.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

  Her features hardened as she approached the front desk and saw Rainey. He gave her his most winsome smile, but she remained unaffected by it. His attempt to be pleasant increased her scowl. She adopted a military stance, feet planted, spaced apart. He expected her to cross her arms, but she jammed her hands into the pockets of her fatigues. It was no less aggressive or defensive, and he wondered if it was her way of preventing herself from punching him. He wouldn’t put it past her. She waited, ignoring his opening ‘Hi’ as a greeting. His smile slipped, realising he wasn’t winning her over. He didn’t expect it to be easy, just didn’t expect it to be this difficult.

  “I need your help,” he said, his voice dropping in tone and volume, embarrassed at the admission to her. She continued to stare at him. “Leigh,” he pressed.

  Her eyes narrowed, and he held back on telling her she was behaving like their father at that moment. She turned, but inclined her head, indicating he follow. He did with no further prompting, and she led him to one of the small meeting rooms, allowing him to enter first. He sat, but she remained standing, resuming her pose. He put the large envelope he held on the small table.

  “I’m being set up,” he admitted.

  “Really?” Her tone dripped with sarcasm. Feeling vulnerable and at a disadvantage, he stood again. Though he was taller, standing didn’t diminish his unease at facing her.

  “This isn’t a game or ploy. I’m not trying to pull a fast one. I think I’m being stitched up.”

  “By whom?”

  He hesitated, which didn’t help his case with her, and she scowled at him again.

  “Has this to do with your brilliant fucking social conscious experiment you concocted?”

  “I didn’t concoct anything, but yes, it was supposed to be a social enhancement, engineering open team building that cut across borders and cultures to…”

  She held her hand up in front of him, cutting off his verbal flow.

  “I’m not the Senator, or anyone who gives a fuck, so spare me the sales pitch,” she said. “Your experiment almost got me and my team killed, as well as the civilians you claim to care so much for.”

  “I know, and that’s why I’m here. You’re the only one I can ask for help.”

  “That’s pathetic,” she threw back at him.

  “Yeah. But I figured you’d be the best person to turn to, even if it was to disprove me. Swayne’s setting up a hearing to investigate what happened, how it happened. Believe me, I welcome it, but I don’t think it will be fair.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Because my emails and voice mails were hacked. Anything I had electronically has disappeared. I’m being followed.”

  “You could just be paranoid.”

  “Isn’t that a quote from Heller’s book; just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you,” he said.

  “Did you keep backups? Paper copies?” she asked.

  “I’d love to sound competent…”

  “But?”

  “I never got around to backing up any of my personal files.” She glared at him again. “I have paper copies of emails where I needed them for meetings.”

  “It’s a start,” she answered.

  “So you will help?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Leigh, please, begging is not my strong point, or even in my nature, but I don’t know what else to do, or where else to go.”

  She held out her hand, and he gave her the envelope. She spread the contents on the table, scanned through them, pulling some to the fore before discarding them again.

  “There’s nothing of value here,” she told him.

  “But they prove what I was up to,” he defended.

  “They prove nothing,” she snapped back. “They’re sales pitch emails. All they state is your glorious ideology and fancy worded claims and possibilities.”

  “But at least they don’t show I planned the bad stuff.”

  “Maybe your emails weren’t hacked. Maybe you deleted them to cover your own arse.” With an anger born of frustration and disappointment, he swept the pages together, straightening them to re-envelope them.

  “You’re right, it was a stupid idea coming here,” he muttered and she smirked, crossing her arms in front of her.

  “Have you never faced an opposing view before? Have you never been challenged?” she asked.

  “I have, just not when I’ve tried being nice, or when asking for help.”

  “If you give in this easily, you may as well let Swayne throw the book at you.”

  He gave her a puzzled look.

  “Is this your idea of help?”

  “It’s an idea,” she threw back, echoing his own reply to her from an earlier time. “I suspect you’re too used to charming people and getting your own way. Or as I said before, you’re not in this alone, and someone’s pulling your strings. You know who’s behind it, don’t you? You probably even know why, and I’m guessing you tried to step outside that string’s reach. Now they’re pulling you back, hard. You’re angry at me, but I’m not the one playing you. I never have.” To her surprise, he blushed, wouldn’t look her in the eye, but focused instead on her uniform nametag. “My help comes at a price,” she told him, in a chillingly low tone.

  “Which is?” He dared to glance at her.

  “Full, frank and honest disclosure.” She saw his jaw clench, his eyes narrow, characteristics reminiscent of Lee. She gave him a moment and waited.

  “Fine,” he agreed. “But I need to get something first before I do.” She glared at him again. “It’ll help explain and put everything into context.”

  “Fine,” she echoed. “And I need your email and phone accounts.”

  “Why?”

  “Just because something’s deleted doesn’t mean it’s gone.”

  “I had a guy try a deep dive to retrieve them, and he couldn’t find or restore them.” That he knew enough about the dark web to use the term deep dive raised more questions in her mind, hinting at deeper intrigue.

  “You didn’t have me,” she told him, without revealing her inner concerns.

  “You’ll help?”

  “I’ll look into it, but if there’s a hint this is a stunt and you’re trying to get out ahead of an indictment, I send everything to Swayne.”

  “That’s fair.”

  “Feeling brave?”

  “Like I said, I’ve nothing to hide.”

  “For your sake, you’d better not, because a brother or not, I will show you no mercy if you’re fucking me around.”

  He nodded but couldn’t hold a smirk in any longer.

  “Seriously, you’re a shorter version of dad. I’ll text you details of my mailboxes.”

  “And if you hold anything back, you’re on your own.”

  That sobered him back up and he nodded, agreeing to her terms and conditions. He hesitated leaving, frowned, and again she waited. If he wanted her help, he could get to it and drop these dramatic pauses. This looked like the cogs were whirling and she recognised the same eye movement as when she was working and following a thought through to its conclusion.

  “Have you any plans for tonight?” he asked.

  “Oh, you know, the usual, protecting, and defending Ireland, and maybe rescuing my half-brother’s shredded reputation.”

  “If you could save it from a shredding in the first place that would be awesome. What I have in mind might help you, and introduce you to some other players,” he said, confirming her suspicions he wasn’t in
this alone.

  “Which is?”

  “Charity Ball,” he answered. While she tried to stay impassive, she couldn’t hide her distaste for the function. “It won’t be that bad,” he tried to reassure her, but she remained unconvinced.

  “Black tie?” she asked. He confirmed it with a nod, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust, needing another dress.

  “I’ll pick you up later?” It wasn’t a question, but if it kept him from a future in prison, he was prepared to drag her to it, if he had to. “You said a full, frank and honest. We can start there.” He smirked at her glare.

  She stopped by Donal’s office on the way back to her own.

  “You know how we were trying to figure out where to start investigating what happened on that exercise?” she asked.

  “You have something?” he sounded curious.

  “I’ve been handed a front door key.”

  “Courtesy of your brother? Is he playing us?”

  “If he is, it’ll be the last thing he ever does, and he knows it.”

  “It’s too many coincidences for my liking, Harte. Our team in danger in the field, hacking of our systems, and now this? I wouldn’t believe it if I read in a trashy paperback novel.”

  “You need to read better quality novels. Real life is nothing but a series of coincidences and unintended consequences,” she quipped. “But you wanted to use me to get closer to him, and he’s given me the perfect opportunity to do it, and without raising his suspicions. It’ll probably raise everyone else’s suspicions, which is why I’m telling you, to keep you in the loop.”

  “Because I am the Intelligence Co-Ordinator.”

  “Yes, because,” she answered with a smirk. He didn’t buy it, but it was as good as it would get with her.

  “Anything else?”

  “Yes. I need you to hire a dress for me, for tonight.”

  “I said Intelligence Co-Ordinator, not a concierge.”

  “Surely a good and established Intelligence Officer knows these things.” His jaw tightened at the jibe.

  “What’s the event?” he gave in.