Cipher

by Robert Stohn

  Next stop was Air Traffic Control in the United States. He launched another UNIX browser and wormed his way into the system. He violated their heavily protected databases in a matter of minutes. What he reveled in was the fact that all of the world’s information was connected to the Web; all of that information was very accessible to him. He had his fingers on the pulse of data. Private information was no longer private; that data was no longer protected by the virtual barriers that once seemed so secure. He accessed the system and began changing the courses for two airplanes flying across the US. He was going to make them collide and they wouldn’t know the difference. He quickly hacked the systems and changed the courses and elevations of the planes by a few degrees. Next, he hacked into the planes themselves and set a virus to automatically shut down radar. They wouldn’t know what hit them until it was too late.

  Finally, he was back into the financial markets. He reviewed his short sales of stocks on the airlines and he knew that a major catastrophe in the air would send airline stocks crashing down along with the major markets throughout the world. When they got wind that it was a terrorist tack, those shares would tank and he would make millions more just on a careless stock play. He smiled to himself as his brother appeared next to him.

  “What’s the progress?” asked Dmitry.

  “The plan is set. Everything is in place,” Boris said.

  “What about the power?” he asked.

  “Look out onto the city,” Boris said, pointing towards the windows. “Do you see most of the lights are off?”

  Dmitry smiled. “Yes.”

  Boris smiled back at him. “There’s your answer,” he said.

  *****

  “Good morning sleepy head,” Jonathan said, yawning awake. The daylight was streaming in through the windows.

  “What time is it?” Jennifer asked.

  He looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table and noticed it was off. That’s strange. He looked at his watch to check the time. “It’s 9 o’clock in the morning,” he said. He yawned and came in for a hug and a kiss.

  “It’s too early,” she said.

  Jonathan smiled. They still had an hour before they were set to leave. He picked up the remote control for the television, but it wouldn’t turn on. “That’s strange,” he said.

  “What?”

  “The TV doesn’t work and the alarm is off.”

  “Maybe something’s wrong with the power,” she said, as she stretched and yawned awake.

  “Maybe,” he said. He looked at his cellphone and saw that he didn’t have service. “And no service on the cellphone.”

  “Really?” she asked. She sat up immediately on the bed and reached for her own cellphone.

  “Me too,” she remarked.

  “That’s strange. That’s really strange. I’m going to head downstairs and see what the problem is.”

  “Okay,” she replied.

  Jonathan got dressed and walked over to the elevator. No power. The lights were off in the hallway and the elevators weren’t working. He took the stairs and ran down the eight flights until he reached the lobby, which was crowded with people. He looked around and saw that they were swarming the front desk.

  “What’s going on?” Jonathan asked a man in the lobby.

  “Power is out,” he said. “It’s been out all morning.”

  “Did they say when it will come back on?” Jonathan asked.

  “It’s not just the hotel. It’s the entire city.”

  “The whole city is without power right now?”

  “Yes. That’s what it seems like,” said the man.

  Jonathan realized that without power, they couldn’t do anything. They were supposed to meet up with the agents in the lobby at 10am, but they would have no way of contacting them without cellphone service.

  “Say,” asked Jonathan to the man.

  “Yes?”

  “Do you have cellphone service?”

  “No. Cellphones are out to. Even the landlines aren’t working. Everything has been cut off.”

  “That’s so strange,” Jonathan said. “Do they know what’s going on?”

  “They’re as lost as we are. They have no clue,” said the man.

  “Okay, well, thanks,” Jonathan said.

  He ran back into the stairwell, shot up the eight flights of steps, and slipped the hotel key into the door. It wouldn’t work so he knocked. He rushed back into the room completely out of breath.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” Jonathan said, panting. “Power is out. So is all cellphone service.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, seriously. I don’t know what’s going on but it doesn’t look good at all. I don’t like this one bit,” he said.

  “It’s Medviek,” she said, staring out the window. “What the heck is going to be next? Jonathan, this is crazy.”

  “I know. I know,” he said.

  “We have to go. We have to meet Jenkins and Steiner. They should be here any minute.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  They left the hotel room, but then realized they wouldn’t be able to get back in later. They walked down the flight of stairs that was now congested with other hotel guests all doing the same thing. They reached the lobby and it was even more chaotic than just a few minutes ago when Jonathan left it.

  “Wow, this is crazy,” she said.

  They walked outside and heard all the cars honking. All the traffic lights were out and it was complete pandemonium on the streets. Luckily, Agent Jenkins and Steiner were already outside waiting just in front of the hotel.

  “Hey,” Jonathan said as they closed the door and climbed into the backseat of the car.

  “Hey,” they said in unison.

  “You guys see all this?” Jonathan asked.

  “Yeah, it was a hell of a struggle getting here, let me tell you that much,” Steiner said, who was in the driver’s seat this time.

  “You guys okay?” Jenkins asked.

  “Yes,” Jennifer added. “Just a little bit peeved. Are we still going to be able to do what we planned on doing today?”

  “Yes. Nothing has changed,” Jenkins said. “Power should be back at some point soon. We just have to push forward with the plans.”

  “Great,” Jonathan said.

  Steiner fought the traffic through the city, honking the horn in unison with dozens of other cars. They made their way to the outskirts of the city to an old abandoned building. When they arrived there, Jonathan and Jennifer looked at one another as if uneasy with the whole situation.

  “Is this place safe?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yes, it looks abandoned, but don’t worry,” Jenkins said.

  They pulled into a garage that was part of the building. Steiner reached over and punched a keypad and an old steel garage door opened. The door opened, and he drove the car through, winding his way down a garage that went down several levels.

  “What is this place?” Jonathan asked.

  “You’ll see. We’re almost there. We’ll get you all setup as soon as we get down there,” Jenkins said.

  “If the power is out, how is there power here?” Jonathan asked.

  “The building has its own generators,” Jenkins said.

  “Well, that’s a relief,” Jennifer said.

  “Yes, we’re completely ready for any situation here. The whole city or country may be without power, but we’re fine. We’re up and running here. And, there’s a satellite uplink down there. Access to news, Internet, and everything else is going to be available,” Jenkins said.

  “You guys are certainly prepared, aren’t you?” Jonathan asked.

  The two agents smiled in the front seat. They knew they had their work cut out for them, but they were going to make progress little by little, no matter what it took. Still, they were glad the two took notice of their efforts.

  “This was all here before any of this happened. It’s a joint security taskforce between the American and Turkish gover
nments. We’ll explain more when we get inside. For the time being, get prepared to work,” Jenkins said.

  The two agents nodded at one another as if they had said the right things at the right time. Jonathan and Jennifer looked at one another as if pleased by the turn of events. They realized that they were going to be much more prepared than they had initially thought.

  Chapter 19

  A tragic accident today in the sky – Two planes collided over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island, New York … 621 Passengers are feared to be lost. In other news, massive power outages in Istanbul and New York City have crippled services and communications. Authorities are searching for a motive in the attacks. Financial markets have been sent plummeting today. The Dow, S&P 500, and the Nasdaq were in a free-fall before trading was halted in New York on news that terrorist attacks have been leading to the recent problems reported in major cities around the world. Air Traffic Control Systems in the United States and other parts of the world have been infiltrated in what the police are calling ‘another sophisticated cyber attack.’

  Jonathan and Jennifer watched the TV screen in the heavily fortified underground bunker. They stared at it in disbelief. Agents Steiner and Jenkins stood in the room where a slew of joint security personnel were present to debrief the doctor and the detective.

  “Mr. Grace, Dr. Cobalt, it’s nice to meet you. I’m NSA Director Peter Edwards.” The dark haired colonel reached out his hand and greeted the two civilians. “I’m sorry you’ve had to hear the news here first.”

  “This is terrible,” Jonathan said.

  “Oh my God,” Jennifer followed with a hand over her mouth. “All of those people. Was this…”

  “Yes, it was Medviek. We have reason to believe that he infiltrated several secure systems early this morning local time,” said the Director.

  “This is absolutely terrible,” Jenkins said. Steiner nodded in agreement. “We really have to catch this bastard.”

  “He’s proven to be very elusive,” the Director said. He looked at everyone in the room as he spoke. “But, it’s now or never. He has that list and we need to make sure the data isn’t passed off. We know he’s here on the yacht in port. We need to infiltrate that yacht now and we need to do it fast, but we need to do it with tact. We know that he’s most likely planned for whatever contingencies he’s setup to evade us. We don’t want to capture him then find that the list or the cipher drive has changed hands.”

  “That’s why we need to send in these two,” Steiner said.

  “What’s our angle?” asked the Director.

  “Jenkins and I have been discussing that. We have a plan.”

  “Well, let’s get to work before more bad stuff happens. We need to get that cipher drive and we need to get it fast. Have you debriefed Dr. Cobalt yet on everything she knows?” asked the Director.

  “Not formally,” Jenkins said.

  “Okay, let’s get setup in the room. I want to know everything and we don’t have much time,” said the Director.

  Jonathan and Jennifer looked at one another again. They wondered if they had made the right decision. They wondered what would happen to them if they didn’t cooperate, and worse, what would happen if they did cooperate and something went wrong. They gave each other nervous glances as they were led to an interrogation room for debriefing. They had more vested in each other than ever before.

  “Please take a seat,” Jenkins said. She pointed to the two chairs that were directly opposite one another at a small table in a room with a single one-way mirror. The Director of the NSA sat in an observatory room where he could listen and watch from the outside looking in.

  “I’m going to start the video camera here,” Steiner said as he made his way over to a video camera that had been positioned at the side of the table with a full view of all four parties involved in the interrogation.

  “I don’t understand why we need to be interrogated,” Jonathan said. “We told you that we would cooperate.”

  “Detective Grace… err… Mr. Grace, you have to understand that this is now a matter of national security. More than just your lives are at stake here. As you saw and heard with the news update with what’s going on around the world, many lives are at risk,” Steiner said still standing after having turned on the camera to record.

  “I understand. I guess this has gotten blown up much larger than it started out to be,” Jonathan said.

  “You can say that again. For the record, could you please both state your names?” Jenkins said.

  “Jonathan Grace.”

  “Jennifer Cobalt.”

  “Thank you. Mr. Grace, could you please tell me how you came about meeting Ms. Cobalt for the record?” Jenkins asked.

  Jonathan looked at Jennifer with a certain degree of concern. She nodded her head at him as if to tell him it was okay, and that he should speak freely.

  “I hadn’t met Ms. Cobalt before I arrived in Istanbul. We met only a short while ago, but it feels like since we met, we’ve been to hell and back together.”

  “And why did you come to Istanbul?” Jenkins asked.

  “I was supposed to retrieve the cipher drive.”

  “And you were told that Ms. Cobalt had it?”

  “Not exactly,” Jonathan said.

  “Okay? What were you told exactly and by whom?” Jenkins asked. She stood up this time and paced the room. She looked agitated. Something was bothering her. Jonathan and Jennifer both watched her pacing back and forth.

  “Is something wrong?” Jonathan asked.

  “Just answer the question,” Steiner said, who’s once pleasant demeanor had now turned sour.

  “Well, I was hired to find the cipher drive for a client.”

  “By whom?” Jenkins asked.

  “Joe Cicerone,” Jonathan said, looking down at the table as if he was embarrassed to say it.

  “Don Cicerone of the Italian Mob Family?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s your connection to their syndicated criminal network?” Jenkins asked.

  Jonathan certainly felt like he was being interrogated. He just wanted to run out of that room as fast as he could, grab Jennifer by the arm, and never look back. “What do you mean?”

  “Why would an Italian Mob Boss want to hire you to do a job for them?”

  “I’ve done work for them in the past,” Jonathan said, mawkishly.

  “What kind of work?” Steiner asked this time.

  “Investigative work.”

  “What kind of investigate work?” It was Jenkins asking this time. Jonathan wished just one of them would talk instead of having them alternating the questions. Plus, Jenkins was still pacing the room, which further put Jonathan on edge.

  “The kind of work that involves finding people or uncovering dirt on people. I’m an investigator,” he said. “That’s my job. That’s what I do.”

  “We know your background Mr. Grace. We know the type of work you’ve done, but we also know that you haven’t taken on new business in over two years. So, out of the blue, you get a call from Don Cicerone and you decide to take the job? Something doesn’t add up here.” Jenkins said, her face turning red.

  “Why am I feeling like I’ve done something wrong here?” Jonathan asked. He looked at Jennifer nervously.

  “Answer the question,” Steiner said.

  “What was the question?”

  “Why did you take the job after two years on the lam?”

  “Why do I have to even answer that question? What does that even have to do with anything? I don’t get it,” Jonathan said. “I didn’t do anything wrong here. We’re wasting our time on this when we should be going after Medviek.”

  “We’ll get to that Mr. Grace. For the time being, we need you to cooperate with us. We’re not asking you; we’re telling you,” Jenkins said.

  It was strange watching them turn from two mild-mannered individuals, into irate government agents. But, Jonathan did as he was told. He answered their quest
ions to the best of his knowledge. Jennifer reached under the table and squeezed his hand out of sight, as if to tell him it was going to be okay.

  “Fine. So you want to know why I took the job?”

  “Yes,” Jenkins said, still pacing the room. Jonathan’s eyes followed her back and forth, as she walked from one end of the room to the other.

  “I needed the money.”

  “You needed the money?” Jenkins asked.

  “Yeah. I needed the money.”

  “But, why would Don Cicerone call you of all people? Especially considering you hadn’t had contact with him in over two years. Why you Mr. Grace?”

  “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him that question,” Jonathan said, feeling combative all of a sudden.

  “Please, Mr. Grace. We need you to cooperate with us,” Steiner said. They were playing some weird rendition of good cop, bad cop for no apparent reason.

  “I am cooperating.”

  “It doesn’t sound like it,” Jenkins barked back.

  “What else do you want me to say? What else do you want me to tell you? You want to know about the alcoholism? You want to know about how shitty my life has been these past two years? You want to know why I contemplated suicide dozens of times after my wife died? What do you want to know? What!” Jonathan was done being a lap dog; he was tired of being verbally abused and feeling like he had done something wrong. All he wanted to do was do the job he was paid for until he had met Jennifer. All he wanted to do now was make sure she was safe.

  Jenkins sat back down after that verbal tirade by Jonathan. She hadn’t realized the severity of his situation. She was an expert at analyzing body language. She could tell when someone was lying to her. She sat down and stared at Jonathan. She was going to watch him like a hawk.