by Hunt, Jack
Anna looked at him and gave a strained smile.
Chapter 3
The cinch of his hood was loosened, and a meaty hand pulled it off. Someone stepped back behind him. Blake squinted hard as the world snapped into view. Sunlight flooded in through a window, dust drifted in the air and questions bombarded his mind. Where am I now? He recalled a brief conversation with Michael Thorn, otherwise known as Solo in the world of hackers, and then he remembered being restrained and injected, after that it was a blur.
Within seconds he got his answer.
He was home.
In his apartment in Frisco, Colorado.
It was in his kitchen. He squinted at the figures before him. It took but a second to recognize who they were — Thorn, and his thirteen-year-old son Aidan.
“Aidan.”
“Dad.”
“Did they do anything to you?”
He shook his head.
Blake’s eyes flitted to Thorn who was tucking into a bowl of pasta.
“How’s it feel to be home, Blake?”
“What are you doing?” He struggled to move because his wrists and feet were bound to a chair. Thorn sat across from him. He had a shaved head, and was wearing a jean jacket and V-neck shirt.
He stopped eating and continued talking. “It’s a nice place you’ve got here. Must have cost you a fortune. But I expect it was nothing with that security consulting business of yours, huh?” He stabbed his butter knife at him and cut into a roll before taking a second to butter it. “How long has it been since we last saw each other?”
“Let my kid go. He’s done nothing.”
“Settle down, Blake. I’m not gonna harm him.”
“I don’t believe you.” He gritted his teeth. “Why did you kill my wife?”
Thorn pulled a face and stopped chewing. “Correction. You killed her. You see, had you done what you were asked, she would have been returned home and Aidan here would have been none the wiser. Hell, we’d even left him a note.” He wagged his knife in the air and squinted. “You know, I really thought she’d be the one to tip you over the edge but obviously not.”
Blake’s nostrils flared. He so badly wanted to reach across the desk and wring his neck. He and Thorn went way back. They’d had met through a hacking forum back in the early ’90s not long before Blake was imprisoned. They’d worked on a number of projects together and created worms that could infect systems. Back then they were friends, close partners in a new age of information and technology. They were the ones pushing the envelope of what could be achieved long before hacking groups like Anonymous formed.
“Why are you doing this?”
Thorn continued eating. Blake looked around the room and saw several others. At a rough head count there looked to be around ten. None of them were wearing masks now. He only recognized a few faces, hackers from years gone by, those who had gone over the edge: Dmitry Petrov, responsible for multiple DDoS attacks was sentenced to a year in federal prison back in early 2000. Niles Black, sentenced to four years behind bars for publishing credit card information and his involvement in the Stratfor hack. And then there was Hector Richardson, who had served three years for telecommunications fraud. They stared back at him but never said a word.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Thorn said, shoveling away some more pasta.
“You want to get back at me.”
He laughed and looked at the others. “Always about you, isn’t it, Blake? The most famous hacker of our generation and you always think it’s about you. Not this time.” He stabbed a piece of pasta and brought it to his lips then paused. “Of course making that plea deal didn’t do you any favors. You know, if it wasn’t for you, they wouldn’t have found me.”
“I could say the same thing.”
In his prime he was untouchable. The feds had no idea where he was until someone gave him up.
“Wasn’t me. That was your own fault. Trusting people outside of our circle.” He finished off his meal and reached for a glass of beer, took a sip and leaned back and glanced at Aidan.
“Did your old man ever tell you what he used to do?”
“I already know,” Aidan said.
“Of course you do.” He smirked and lit a cigarette and blew smoke out the corner of his mouth. “Humility was never your strong point, was it, Blake?” He nodded a few times before continuing. “Must have been nice only doing five years inside the pen. Me? They were looking at throwing me in for twenty. Had it not been for the help of Dmitry over here I would still be locked up.”
“Where did you go?”
He stifled a laugh. “After I jumped bail I fled across the border to Canada then took a private plane to Moscow. Russia welcomed me with open arms. Can you imagine that? All these years our government has been painting them in a bad light but when it came down to letting me walk, or throwing away the key, well we all know what our government would have done.”
“So you’re working for the Russians now?”
“Me? Work for someone else?” He laughed. “Surely you know me better than that, Blake.”
“So what is this? Some game you want to play with the government?”
He took a hard pull on his cigarette. “Game? Maybe. I mean it’s been fun so far but like anything, the fun has to come to an end. We have one final piece of the puzzle to finish and then we’ll be heading out.”
“So why am I still alive?”
“I made a promise, didn’t I? I said you would get to see your son and you have.”
“What are you playing at, Thorn?”
Thorn wiped the corner of his lips with a napkin then got up from his seat and walked around the kitchen. He picked up a framed photo of Blake’s family. It had been taken a few years back at one of Aidan’s first martial arts tournaments. He’d been taking Taekwondo for four years and had already won several state competitions.
“Such a shame. She really was a pretty little thing. Tell me, Blake, where did you meet her? Giving one of your talks? Did she buy your book? Or stand in line to see the movie they based on you?” He grinned, shooting him a sideways glance. “That’s right, I’ve been keeping close tabs on you. You get out and you’re this unsung hero. Invited to speak at security consulting events, put up at fancy hotels and gifted with some of the wealthiest clients in the USA. Me? I’ve had to hide in the shadows for the past nine years. No longer welcome in my own country.”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t have jumped bail then.”
Thorn smiled and glanced at him before putting the photo down.
“Cute.” He returned to the table and drained the remainder of his drink. When he was done he sat back down. “You want to know my end game? Huh?”
Blake stared back at him.
“These past ten days have been good. Believe me, I could leave the country in this state and be satisfied. Of course there would be a huge loss of life but wisdom tells me that right now we have some of the best minds in government working hard to get that grid back up again so I know it’s only a matter of time before they figure it out and the lights come back on.” He breathed in deeply and looked at the others. “Now I could wait for that or… I could do everyone a favor and bring it back up.”
“Just like that?” Blake asked, slightly confused.
Thorn made a gesture to Dmitry. He pulled out a cell phone and handed it to him. Thorn looked back at Blake. “Oh the wonders of satellite,” he said as if clarifying how it would work. He then glanced at his watch. “A couple more minutes and we should be good for testing this baby out, thanks to you. You see, as good as I am at hacking, you were always better, Blake. And you took every opportunity to make that clear to me.”
“I was a different person back then.”
He laughed. “Really? So am I expected to believe you’re now a changed man?”
Blake didn’t answer him.
Thorn looked at his wristwatch again. Thorn then got on the phone, dialed a number and brought it up to his lips. He walked off and mumbled a bit and
then returned and handed the phone back, and slipped back into his chair.
“I don’t get it.”
“C’mon, Blake. Don’t act ignorant. You know what we’re gonna do. We talked about it, don’t you remember?”
Blake stared back at him racking his mind for why he’d want the grid down, and why he would bring it back up again.
Because he didn’t respond, Thorn filled in the gap. “Five letters, Blake. Silos.”
Right then the reality of what he was doing sank in.
He shook his head. “No. You will kill millions.”
Thorn sighed. “We really need to work on this communication. Correction. You will kill millions. Me? I will be long gone. Out of sight. Out of mind. Out of the country. But you…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small smartphone, swiped, tapped a few keys and played back a video of him bringing the grid down.
It was proof, damning evidence that… Blake gritted his teeth and lunged forward, shifting the chair ever so slightly towards him.
“You bastard!”
Thorn laughed. “Settle down, Blake. It’s all good. You see, we’re just resetting the world. Leveling the scales of justice. Bringing it back to the way it should be — free. Free from fear. Free from nuclear weapons. Free from tyranny and injustice. And having fun all at the same time. Right?” he said. “That’s why we got into this, for the fun of it. Don’t you remember telling me that?”
Blake chuckled. “You’re an idiot. I can’t hack into the silos or launch control centers. No one can. They are off the grid. They are self-contained with everything they need including diesel generators. They don’t draw their power entirely from outside. So go ahead, bring up the power. You can’t do shit!”
“Oh the power coming back on isn’t for hacking into the launch control facilities. It’s for this video of you to be distributed to the NSA. After that, it’s going back down again. You see, for what we’re about to do, we can’t have prying eyes, and even though the grid is down, you’re right… that emergency generator at the launch facilities in Wyoming will still be functioning.” He paused and smiled. “Well, for now.”
Silence stretched between them before Blake asked, “How? How are you going to do it?”
“Don’t worry. Leave that to us. Though I would have thought someone like you would have been able to figure that out.”
Suddenly, there was a surge of power. The lights blinked on, and the clock on his stove started flashing. Thorn gave a broad smile and waved his arm around.
“Look at that. Just like magic. I have to say, Blake. The work you did was spectacular. I couldn’t have done better myself. Now it’s set up like a light switch, we can shut it down, bring it up whenever we like.” He looked up at the ceiling. “I wonder what the government would have paid us if we’d installed ransomware?” He paused for a second. “Ah, doesn’t matter.”
Thorn looked down at his phone and Dmitry brought over a laptop.
Thorn took his place at the table. “Now just a few small things to do and this file will be on its way and in the hands of the NSA in no time.” He started tapping away at the keys and Blake looked over at his son. His pulse sped up as he began to connect the dots in his mind. The United States only operated 450 LGM Minuteman-III ICBM missiles at three silo locations in the west: Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, Minot AFB in North Dakota and F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming and partially in Colorado. They had been developed as a deterrent back in the 1950s and were made active in 1962 at the height of the cold war to counterattack if the U.S. was attacked by the Soviet Union. The launch facilities still operated using outdated archaic technology from the 1960s and 8-inch floppy disks. According to the government it remained that way in order to protect them from being hacked but recent information had come to light to suggest that the launch control sites were still vulnerable to hacking through the HICS cable system or the silo radio receivers.
Thorn hit a final button and leaned back in his chair. “There we go. The file originating from your home, your computer, detailing exactly what you did. Of course we didn’t show them everything. We can’t have them bringing the grid back up again, can we?”
“You’re going to launch the missiles at Russia, aren’t you?”
He smiled. “Now you’re catching on!”
Back when they were friends, young and full of ego, they’d chewed over the idea. He wasn’t serious about it. It just posed a challenge. Could they do it?
Blake turned his head. “Dmitry.”
Thorn snorted. “Oh don’t look at him. He doesn’t care. In fact it was his idea. I just wanted to bring the grid down and fuck with the system. Dmitry? Well, let’s say Russia hasn’t exactly treated him well and so...”
He trailed off glancing at his watch again. “Any minute now.” Thorn smiled. “Can you imagine the look on everyone’s face across the country right now? The power is back up! I can almost hear them cheering. The sense of relief, and then…” He glanced back at his watch. Suddenly, the power went off again. “Oh dear. The power has gone out again. What a travesty.”
“Thorn, don’t do this. This won’t just affect Russia. You’ll start World War Three.”
“I know. Isn’t it beautiful?”
He was out of his mind. Thorn rocked back in his chair relishing the situation.
“You need the power off so they don’t see you coming, don’t you? You’ve got to do it manually. That’s why you’re back here.”
Thorn pointed at him. “Nothing gets by you, does it, Blake? That’s why I liked you. You were always one step ahead. It’s a pity things turned out the way they did. If you’d just kept your mouth closed…”
Thorn shut off the computer and rose from the table.
“Do you know the government showed up on my family’s doorstep? They hassled them so much — you know, wanting to know where I was that my mother had a stroke. I couldn’t even make it back for her funeral.”
Blake was at a loss for words.
Thorn breathed in deeply and picked up the empty bottle of beer and flipped it in the air, catching it by the neck. In one smooth move he smashed half of it on the table leaving a shard of jagged glass in his hand.
Without missing a beat he walked around the table and yanked Aidan’s head back.
“Thorn, no. Kill me.”
“Oh, I’m not going to kill you. I want you to suffer.”
With that said he slid the glass across Aidan’s throat.
Blake’s scream caught in his throat as Thorn turned and walked out of the house leaving him bound to a chair watching his son bleed out.
Chapter 4
Chase waded ankle deep into the crystal waters of Cucumber Creek; found a deep spot of water and submerged a section of the green metal canister below the surface. He squinted into the bright morning sky and kept his eyes peeled for trouble. Although Breckenridge didn’t appear to have stooped to the depths that Oneida had, he knew it only took a couple of bad apples. Cucumber Creek was a good couple of miles trek through the dense woodland that surrounded the Shock Hill neighborhood. He didn’t like the idea of being out there with nothing more than a lever action .44 Winchester rifle. Even though Sam had taken him through a few drills and shown him how to use one, he still didn’t feel comfortable. He considered himself a city boy; the idea of living off the grid and having to defend territory was foreign to him.
He scooped up the canister and was making his way back to the rocky shore when he heard what sounded like dead branches breaking. His eyes flitted nervously to the left, and then the right, and his pulse sped up. Just as he exited the water two men emerged into the clearing carrying similar canisters to his. Fearful, he dropped his and yanked the rifle off his back.
Hands raised. “Whoa, it’s okay, we’re just here to collect some water,” said a tall, burly fella with a dark beard. The other one was scrawny, and carrying two canisters.
“Sorry, can’t be too careful,” Chase said.
“I hear you. Did yo
u see the power come back on?”
His brow pinched. “It came on?”
“For all of ten minutes then it shut off again.”
A smile formed on his face. Maybe the government is close to fixing this shit storm.
“Yeah, maybe. Well I’ve got to get going.” Chase quickly gathered up the other canister, gave a nod and darted into the woodland, looking over his shoulder every so often. Although they didn’t attack, he didn’t feel comfortable being out in the middle of nowhere under the current conditions.
As he was making his way back through the woods, he heard footsteps behind him again. This time when he turned he noticed the men were back and this time not carrying any of the canisters.
“Hey, hold up. You got a light?”
He backed up. “Don’t smoke. Sorry.”
“You from Shock Hill?”
“Not from the area. Just staying with some friends.”
“Same here,” the bearded guy said. “You driving?”
Chase shook his head. His nerves were on high alert.
“Damn, that’s too bad. Was hoping to get a boost. You think you can give us a hand? Our vehicle broke down over on Ski Hill Road.”
“Sorry, I really need to get back.”
“It’ll only take a minute. We just need an extra hand to push start it. Dang thing gave up the ghost.”
“So why aren’t you there?” Chase asked.
“Oh, right, yeah, well we’d come out to get water.”
The two men kept moving forward. The other guy was rail thin, had sunken eyes and his hood up. He looked like a tweaker. He kept sniffing and his eyes darted nervously all around the woodland.
“Look man, I’d like to help but I have friends expecting me.”
“C’mon. It’s only ten minutes out of your day.”
“Sorry.”