Treasonable Intent

by C Shaw Hilton

  She was relentless and forensic in her approach. Every detail was questioned and assertion triangulated. Each participant felt they had been put on the spot with penetrating questions. They rehearsed the events of the previous two days, they went through the personal profiles, actions and motives of every key person involved and finally they looked at the policy and practice that had shaped events.

  It quickly became apparent everyone had been playing catch up in a complex web of conspiracy and only the decisive intervention at Exmoor had been an effective disruption of their enemies. The tracking of Benning on the M62 was fortuitous. The failure to execute the ambush and capture Major Wilkins was more an outcome of the weather and her training rather than something they could take credit for. It was depressing and worrying. Anger subsided to gloom. Yet as the meeting went on for a further hour, there was also a growing sense that Benning’s plot had begun to lose its momentum. They had now recovered the remains of Major Wilkins tablet and the hardware the terrorists had used. They had a complete record of the encrypted data sent to Shanghai. They also had a prisoner fit enough to be interrogated. Finally a sense of purpose and confidence took over the discussion and various tactical options became concrete proposals.

  “What have we learned about the tablet?” asked Alicia as they reviewed events at the Exmoor Cottage.

  Louise looked at the report from the specialist CERT officer who had examined it. “The tablet has been ruined but with our other information we think it was embedded with software designed to implant trojan protocols. The view is that it compromised the secure communications network of each Rose Garden site. It may also has been geared to extract information from those sites but anything that might help us prove that has been destroyed. The SSD card was probably the culprit but whatever was on it was wiped.”

  The Brigadier wasn’t impressed. “There has to be something else hidden within the tablet. Why go to all that trouble to get into the heart of the system just to meddle with the communications?”

  Louise looked uncomfortable but spoke with confidence “I take your point. We will go through the remains of the tablet again. It is possible they haven’t completely wiped any corrupting software. Either way there is no file or app that holds the secure information from any Rose Garden site.”

  Ten minutes later at 11.16 pm the phones of the half dozen attendees all began to vibrate. Alicia asked for the debriefing to be suspended. She, Louise and the Brigadier went upstairs to the JCW situation room where officers were monitoring a developing situation at the National Cyber Security Centre. Fielding was looking worried, “What’s happening?” he asked.

  “There is a fire at the NCSC. They are evacuating all but non-essential personnel.” Alicia looked at the images on the screens on the far wall. “I don’t like it. It is too much of a coincidence.” The three of them continued to watch and listen as the duty officer at NCSC relayed his report.

  Louise spoke hesitatingly “Maybe it isn’t a co-incidence. Either way it would suit that agenda.”

  Alicia looked at Louise for a long moment. “And that agenda is?” Then the lights went out and the whole room was plunged into darkness. Even the air conditioning fans fell silent. From the near distance came the sound of a loud boom and the whole room shuddered. “Oh Hell!” exclaimed the Brigadier.

  The next half hour was a horrendous and chaotic episode. The EMP created indiscipline and confusion despite all of the previous well-rehearsed drills. The proximity of the blast had overwhelmed all of the protective measures. The backup systems failed. The planned support from the NSC didn’t materialise as that centre shut down under its own crisis. The three Rose Garden sites cut themselves off in the belief that the rest of the cyber defence system was either destroyed or compromised.

  The point where the weapon had struck part of the main complex was like a war zone. There were dead and injured everywhere. The Director of GCHQ had taken an early night and was in his bed two kilometres away. His phone didn’t ring and no other communications worked. He slept in blissful ignorance until two GCHQ guards ran to his house to knock on the door and wake him up. Gradually the staff who had been off site became aware of the situation and filtered into work. They fumbled around in the dark for a further hour until the army ambulances and trucks carrying large generators appeared. Slowly and without a clear sequence, some of the hardware began to spring back into life but not a single PC nor file server was undamaged. By 12.15 am it was clear the Brigadier and Alicia would have to locate elsewhere to get through to Whitehall. In the situation room only two screens had been reactivated. One showed a view of the shattered building in the central compound. On the other the BBC news channel flickered on. The Brigadier looked on in amazement. “Good god” said Alicia indignantly. There, large as life, was Neville Benning, being interviewed by the Newsnight anchor. Underneath a red text box scrolled the lines: “Breaking News – UK under Cyber Attack from its own system – PM to make statement – Public urged to remain calm.”

  “At least we know where the bugger is!” exclaimed the Brigadier. Alicia just shook her head.

  Their thoughts were interrupted by the duty officer. “Your police helicopter is here from Bristol.” Immediately the Brigadier and Alicia turned away from the screens and headed out.

  In the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital over 100 miles away the patients would normally have been asleep. The rumours had started just before midnight with staff gathering around TV screens. Those patients who felt well enough began to switch on their own bedside monitors. By the 1am news summary on BBC there was a growing audience that included Fawzia Wilkins and Kirsten Stamm, both under guard for very different reasons in their own private rooms. Fatima Ali was in intensive care and still in a coma having taken a severe head wound.

  Stamm couldn’t help smiling, despite her personal predicament. The operation appeared to be going well. For her, however, it was over and she needed to think carefully about how to handle the inevitable questions and threats that would be visited upon her by the interrogators from Special Events. Fawzia on the other hand was already out of bed and rummaging for her clothes in the small cupboard next to it.

  In the cabinet office briefing room the Prime Minister had gathered as many members of the government and National Security Council that could be summoned at short notice. It was 1am. Some looked as though they had been dragged from their beds and others as though they had been working all night. Dame Maude shuffled papers and consulted her senior civil servants in a manner that indicated near panic. Sir Alistair looked as though he was fatally wounded. It was he who had rubbished the idea of a physical attack and now one had happened. The Head of MI6 arrived late and looked bewildered. The reports around events at the safe house in Bristol and the subsequent hunt for Olsson had sunk him into near despair. The PM was direct and to the point. “What the hell is going on?”

  Dame Maude read from the notes in front of her. “It appears that a co-ordinated physical attack was launched on our cyber defence capability at 11.22pm. GCHQ was subject to a tactical EMP weapon delivered within its secure perimeter by members of the terrorist cell. The National Security Centre was compromised at the same time under distraction of a fire and through the introduction of a virus into its main security system. We are also aware a cyber-malware attack has taken place on each of the Rose Garden sites. It would appear we have lost control of our secure communications network between the sites..” she paused, struggling with the next words, “…to a foreign power. China.” There were gasps from around the room.

  Dame Maude pressed on. “In short our whole defensive and offensive capability has been compromised. At midnight our former Head of the National Threat Assessment Team appeared on the BBC to declare that our system was out of control and had begun to attack our national infrastructure. Benning claims that his warnings about the system were ignored and now it has, and I quote, “Taken on a life of its own.” He laid the blame squarely at the door of the Prime Minister and the C
abinet.”

  There was a long pause as the assembled group digested the information. It was the Home Secretary who spoke: “What does he mean by attacking our national infrastructure?”

  Dame Maude replied without hesitation. “He claims that every two hours from 1.22am a major UK system will be disrupted. Then the disruption will move on to another one. He also claims no one can stop it.”

  “Bloody ridiculous” said Sir Alistair. “Rose Garden cannot attack UK targets. Like everything else, he has set this up as a distraction. He wants the government discredited and public and parliamentary opinion swinging heavily against our cyber defence systems.”

  There were nods around the table. The PM checked her notes. “Which systems are threatened according to Benning?”

  Dame Maude swallowed hard. She spoke in as measured tone as she could muster. “Benning has listed the first five. It doesn’t make easy reading. The prison service, on-line banking, motorway traffic control systems, Network Rail and the national electricity grid.

  The Prime Minister looked around the table as she spoke, ensuring the gravity of her words were understood by everyone. “Let’s be clear,” she said with a slow threatening tone, “Benning and his associates have betrayed this country. I want the man arrested immediately and made to co-operate in unpicking the mess he has created. I don’t care what it takes. I also want the Chinese ambassador in my office in the next half hour. It is simply not tolerable for them to interfere in UK security in this way. Are we sure Rose Garden cannot target UK systems? Indeed, can it target anything without my authorisation?”

  There was a murmur around the table. Then over a video link it was the voice of Brigadier Fielding who spoke. He’d been flown with the Head of MI5 to Avon and Somerset Police headquarters in Portishead to get to a secure link. Cheltenham was still blacked out. “It is possible, Prime Minister. Some of those systems rely on, or are linked to, file servers outside the UK. Disruptive malware could be routed through them. I am not sure what would happen in those circumstances but I think we should prepare for the worst.”

  The PM looked at his face on the screen. “But it cannot target without approval from me” she said, her voice conveying incredulity. “Whether the Chinese have hacked into the National Secure Network or not, they cannot counterfeit my authority. Nor has it the capacity to select targets on its own!”

  It was Dame Maude who stepped in. “Normally you are right Prime Minister. It would only be in the event that the government, GCHQ and the National Cyber Security Centre were obliterated or compromised by nuclear or other device, that the system has the capacity to act autonomously.”

  The Head of MI6 almost involuntarily blurted out: “Well that sounds exactly like he scenario they are trying to simulate. They are looking to put the system beyond our control.”

  Alicia spoke up over the video link: “They have either disabled or compromised all five sites to the point where only the National Secure Network affords communication between them. Rose Garden has assessed that the UK is under nuclear attack because of the EMP at GCHQ. Currently it is awaiting orders but Dame Maude is correct, in the event none are forthcoming then it will retaliate against anything that poses a threat. Benning and the Chinese appear to have access into the secure network and are going to launch a cyber-attack on Rose Garden every two hours using a different proxy system, starting with computers in the prison service. Rose Garden will simply retaliate. Hence his list of systems that will be disrupted.”

  “Let’s just give it new orders” blurted the Home Secretary. There were more mutterings around the table. The PM was writing furiously in her note pad and a rather heated exchange was occurring sotto voce between the Head of MI6 and the Foreign Secretary. The word Russia was mentioned several times.

  It was Sir Alistair who spoke first: “There are only two ways to do that. Firstly we could go in via a system that is open to the network, in other words, one of the targets. Initially the prison service ICT system. Secondly we get into one of the five sites and break into the system there.”

  Fielding’s voice interjected; “Both options have real difficulty. Firstly anything coming from a hostile system such as the prison service will be disregarded by Rose Garden. Secondly our sites are all locked down and physically secured. It would require an assault by troops and there would be significant casualties.”

  The Foreign Secretary spoke: “What about the new GCHQ site in Manchester?”

  Sir Alistair shook his head; “Not connected in yet, and before you ask it would take at least a day to do so. Even then Rose Garden might refuse to recognise it as an authentic source.”

  “Recommendations please!” came the almost hysterical voice of the Prime Minister. She could see the assembled audience scrabbling for solutions but failing to find them.

  Dame Maude stepped in. An astute woman she had always believed that the propensity of government to complicate things was its biggest shortcoming. As often before she prefaced her remarks with the inevitable; “Let’s keep this simple.” All eyes turned to her. “Special Events will arrest Benning at the BBC and begin interviewing him at Greater Manchester Police Headquarters immediately. I’d like Alicia Court to fly up there to take charge of that.” She could see the Head of MI5 nod agreement on screen. “Good. Next a team of Computer Emergency Response Team officers will be deployed to get a grip on the prison service and other four named target computer networks. They are to limit the disruption and try to get into the secure network so we can disable what the Chinese are doing. The JCW Unit will continue to see if they can get anything useful from Major Wilkins tablet and the captured hardware. Finally another CERT team will join a special assault team to force entry into the National Cyber Security Headquarters. It’s the easiest of the four remaining sites; if it comes to a fire fight the other three are hardened military bases and casualties will be high. We will continue to get Cheltenham up and running as quickly as we can. The media handling will remain with the Cabinet Office.”

  The meeting ended shortly afterwards. At 1.22 am exactly the security CCTV and door controls in two dozen prisons, run by the P4Secure Company, failed at the same moment.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Haller had watched the taxi disappear with a mixture of relief and anxiety. He was wedged in the doorway of a kebab shop looking every inch the victim of an assault. In the late evening in a completely unfamiliar town with no money and no passport he felt isolated and vulnerable. His American sponsors had disowned him and the Chinese were intent on locking him away in a research prison. His laptop was still in the clutches of Benning. All in all it wasn’t a promising position to be in. His mind began to speculate on the possibility that the British government might offer him the chance to get his life back. He had learned enough to know that if he could help undo the damage Benning was creating, then they might protect him. He politely asked the man behind the counter for directions to the nearest police station. “It’s up the road in Swinton” came the reply, “you’d be better calling them.”

  Haller looked tired and dishevelled. “I’m afraid I have been robbed of my phone and money.” The counter server didn’t need convincing and offered him his mobile. It was fifty minutes later that a police patrol car pulled up at the kerb. A further three hours of repetitive explanation before he found himself face to face with an officer from the Greater Manchester Police Counter Terrorism Unit in their headquarters. It was all grindingly slow but Haller didn’t feel irritated because he needed the time to think through his next move.

  The officer quickly verified the Swiss doctor’s identity. The police computer made a partial match with the image taken in Castleford, linking him to Benning. Haller judged that the modest information he imparted would be enough for them to bring in a more senior person to interview him. What he didn’t know, was that on the floor below, MI5 Special Events officers had already arrested and begun questioning Benning. The Head of Threat Assessment had been unceremoniously bundled out of the B
BC building in Salford after his TV interview.

  Haller’s laptop had gone with George to a safe location. Benning refused to answer any questions until a senior intelligence officer was present. By 2.45am the Head of MI5, Alicia Court, arrived by helicopter to lead the questioning. Forty minutes later she decided to take a break. Benning had proved as bloody minded and irritating as his Newsnight interview had suggested. The only thing that seemed to throw him off balance was the news that Nia Williams was dead.

  As she left the interview room she was informed of the presence of Haller. On impulse Alicia took the stairs to the next floor and found the doctor trying to explain again why Benning had kidnapped him. Instead of continuing that line of questioning she asked Haller about their Chinese connection. The decision provided her with a windfall of information. Skirting quickly over how he had misused the research from the Hong Kong project and accentuating his links with the USA, Haller promoted his own value. He broadly described his work on molecular biology and coding. He even revealed that he had worked with Lansing Research in the UK and Switzerland. He described developing advanced cellular repair and growth methods which were being used to treat injured service personnel. “I am one of the good guys!” he kept explaining.

  Alicia thought he was an oddity. She couldn’t believe half of the claims he made. The stuff of a vivid imagination rooted in science fiction, she assessed. However there were enough solid bits of information to help apply leverage on Benning. She left the doctor and returned to the interview room below. Armed with Haller’s account, the MI5 interrogators went to work on Neville Benning. In classic fashion the Head of MI5 berated him as a traitor and accused him of being a sleeper agent for the Chinese over many years. In contrast the senior forensic psychologist from Special Events seemed desperate to hear more about the public interest Benning was upholding. She appeared wholly empathetic to the idea of exposing Rose Garden for what it had become. Working between them they tried to glean as much as they could about his plot but it proved extremely hard to shift him from simply reciting his demands. He wanted Rose Garden shut down and a full public enquiry into the cyber defence strategy being pursued by the government.