Terminal Black

by Adrian Magson

  ‘In London. She moves around, like a lot of them. She told me the name of a hotel in Westminster, but then suggested a club near Leicester Square.’ His shoulders dropped. ‘She wanted somewhere busy. Fun, she said … I think she meant safe. She sounded worried.’

  She had good cause, Harry thought sombrely. She was being followed … which must have ultimately led them to Rik. ‘Did she say why?’

  ‘No. She sounded like she was trying to say something but couldn’t.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘I asked what was wrong, and to phone me. She did and said she had a problem. I asked what it was and she said she’d got into a fix with some serious people.’

  ‘Drugs?’

  ‘No, not that.’ He looked at Harry. ‘She’d been recruited to do some coding a while back. Sales and marketing stuff, she thought, the kind they send out over the internet with links to buy. Low level but paid pretty good. It was good to begin with, she said, pretty soon that began to change. The stuff she was asked to do started to get deep.’

  ‘Deep?’

  ‘They told her to hack into a water utility in Germany. They said it was a contract to test security systems to find any weak points.’

  ‘Isn’t that normal?’

  ‘Sure. If hackers can find a way in, the utility can block them.’ He gave a shrug. ‘But she got a bad vibe about the people she was working with. She’d heard of one or two of them before.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘Offensive hacking, mostly. Breaking into systems for a laugh, then leaving malware and bots designed to bring it down. People like that don’t give a shit about the effects of what they do, they just want to show off. Then the people running it said they wanted to investigate bringing a utility system to a standstill. Short term to begin with, like thirty minutes or so, to show they could. When they began talking longer term and more destructive, she figured it was time to get out.’

  ‘When was this?’

  ‘A week ago, maybe more. We were going to meet the following night at the club, but she didn’t make it.’

  Harry didn’t want to ask the next question, but he had to. ‘Does this friend have a name?’

  Rik looked at him, and Harry recalled the obsessive secrecy in the hacking community. It was all part of the absurd mystique. ‘Why do you want to know that?’

  ‘It’s not a big deal, if you don’t want to tell me.’

  ‘Nathalie,’ Rik said at last. ‘Nathalie Baier.’

  Harry kept his face blank. Baier would have been on her way to Leicester Square to meet him.

  ‘There’s something else.’ Rik spoke softly. ‘Something I haven’t mentioned.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Apart from the one phone call we were using a messaging service to talk. Just before we were due to meet she said she was in danger and needed to speak to someone high-up.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Someone on the inside. In Five … in cyber security.’

  Harry waited, wondering why Nathalie had assumed Rik would be able to help her. Then it hit him.

  ‘Did you tell her what you used to do?’

  Rik nodded. ‘Not everything … just that I’d been on attachment to the government. She wanted to know where. I let slip once about testing firewalls in government systems. It was just talk, you know? Showing off, I suppose.’

  ‘No shit. What the hell were you thinking?’

  ‘Everyone does it, bigging themselves up … making out they know stuff, that they’ve got contacts nobody else has got. She was smart; she made the connection and I didn’t bother correcting her.’

  Harry rubbed his eyes. It wasn’t a huge mistake – as long as that was as far as it had gone. Rik wouldn’t be the first former intelligence and security officer to have talked about his former job. But it was no wonder that the guns were out for him. ‘Did you give her anything that could have helped her penetrate our systems?’

  ‘No!’ Rik looked affronted. ‘Christ, Harry – what do you think I am?’

  ‘You ask a question like that after what you’ve just told me?’

  ‘Yeah, OK. But I didn’t tell her anything. All I said was that I’d got canned for nosing into classified files. That’s it, I promise!’

  Harry held up a hand. Rik’s response carried the ring of truth. ‘I believe you. What did she want to speak to Five about?’

  ‘She said she’d been assigned to a project. A major one.’

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘A cyber attack on the UK.’

  Before Harry could respond to that they heard voices and Rik was up and running. Instead of returning to the bench, though, he continued out of the entrance and disappeared down the road.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  It was a long thirty minutes before Rik returned. Harry had decided to risk staying where he was, confident that Rik would return. Bunking off now would leave Rik feeling even more isolated than he was.

  When he finally came back he was looking brighter. ‘I told Kraush the running was helping me remember some snatches. I gave him a couple of file references to keep him happy, but said I needed more time. He’s busy with the project so he seemed satisfied.’

  ‘This cyber hit … why are they doing it?’

  ‘Nat didn’t say. She’d heard one of the organizers say it would be revenge for smears against Moscow, and for giving sanctuary to traitors who’d betrayed the Rodina – the motherland.’

  ‘You believed her?’

  ‘Not at first. It sounded crazy. I mean, why would they? But after everything that’s happened recently I’m not so sure.’

  ‘What brought you here?’ Harry asked. Now wasn’t the time to tell Rik what had happened to his friend Nathalie; there was too much riding on getting out of here in one piece.

  ‘Nathalie sent me the address of an apartment here in Minsk, so I got a flight out hoping to see her. But it was a bust. The place was a derelict rat-hole. I couldn’t figure out why she’d sent me there.’

  ‘Perhaps she didn’t.’ It was as close as he dared come to saying Nathalie was dead.

  Rik nodded but didn’t react. ‘As I was waiting someone hit me and threw me into the back of a vehicle. That’s when I must have sent you the messages. I remember somebody sitting on me and feeling a pain in my arm, but that was it. When I woke up I was in the building down the road and my phone and laptop were gone.’ He shivered with the memory. ‘That’s all I can remember.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘They started asking questions. It was slow at first but I knew it wasn’t going to last. Then Kraush used the taser and Irina hit me. I think it was a taste of what was to come.’

  ‘How come they allowed you out?’

  ‘I said I needed exercise, so they suggested a run twice a day. They also let me have my iPod back. But only because they think I’ve got something they want.’

  Harry didn’t say anything. Whatever they were doing so far, they hadn’t seemed ready to apply too much pressure on Rik to remember what he’d seen in the files. A favour here and there, maybe it was worth it to get him to spill. Most debriefings of informants took a long time, sometimes weeks if the end prize was considered worthwhile. The idea was to build up trust while gently pushing for more information until the subject didn’t realize how much they were giving away.

  ‘And Kraush’s in charge?’

  ‘Yes. He looks and acts tough but it’s Irina I worry about.’ He pointed to the cut on his cheek. ‘I didn’t see this coming. She’s unpredictable. That was something you taught me, remember? Know who the dangerous ones are.’

  ‘I’m glad you retained something useful. Do they have surnames?’

  ‘Not that I’ve heard.’

  ‘How many more are involved?’

  ‘There were three originally. There was the FSB gofer I told you about … he’d got like a battle scar on his head and I think he had memory problems, maybe PTSD. He spoke good English and told me the others were GRU. He said he’d worked
in London. I didn’t see him after a while, then I found his body in a side room. He’d been shot. I reckon that was Irina.’

  ‘Any more?’

  ‘After he died they got a couple of heavies in to guard the buildings.’

  ‘What’s in the other building?’

  ‘The talent – the hacking team. They arrived on a coach the other night.’

  ‘For this cyber hit.’

  ‘Yes. I’ve seen it before. It’s a warehouse operation, always ready to move around to avoid detection. They crunch data and numbers, source targets and work on projects designed by whoever’s running it. I’m guessing GRU in Moscow.’

  ‘Can you prove it?’

  ‘No, of course not.’ He stared hard at Harry. ‘This is so different to everything I used to work on in Five. Back then, with a bit of work you knew where everybody was because they were ground-based and left footprints. You could find them by following their contacts and building a visible network. This isn’t the same at all. It’s like there are no limits any more. These people are … they’re totally off the grid. They don’t have home bases, they don’t leave normal footprints and they don’t have contacts you can latch onto. But they’re tight. It’s all done in the ether and if you catch one of them it’s because they made a mistake or somebody dobbed them in.’

  ‘Why would that happen if they’re all so tight?’

  Rik shrugged. ‘Jealousy … carelessness. Resentment because some hacker’s got a bigger name and reputation and is picking up all the work and rewards. Or someone thinks they’re a threat.’

  Like Nathalie, Harry thought. ‘What happens then?’

  ‘They disappear.’ Rik’s thoughts were clear to read: he knew what had happened to his friend. He then confirmed it. ‘Kraush told me she’d died in a traffic accident, but I think it was deliberate.’

  ‘To stop her talking.’

  ‘Yes. Sooner or later the people they used to work for see them as a threat.’

  Harry thought about how Rik had hovered on the periphery of the hacking community as part of his work. ‘But you’ve scraped through.’

  ‘Only because I’m not part of it. I know a few people by their tags, but that’s all.’

  ‘Until now.’

  ‘Yeah. Until now.’

  Harry stood up and walked around, one eye out for signs of Rik’s guards. His leg muscles were cold and stiff and he could feel the chill from the ground working its way into his bones. How the hell the locals stood it he couldn’t even begin to guess.

  He re-joined Rik, who was staring at the ground as if mesmerized. He wanted to tell him that the message to meet Nathalie at the apartment block hadn’t come from her; to confirm that she’d been killed in London and her laptop and possessions stolen. But that would have to wait. If Rik knew Kraush and Irina had killed her, there was every danger he might betray what he knew and end up with the same fate.

  Instead he said, ‘We have to get you away from here.’

  ‘What’s the point?’ Rik countered. ‘If the S and D order’s real, I’ll end up dead or locked up … like Red Station only worse.’

  ‘I don’t get it. If you want to get out of here, let’s do it. Now. Before they send a team after you.’

  ‘I can’t.’ Rik tugged at his left trouser leg, lifting the fabric above his ankle. It revealed a heavy-duty grey plastic strap drilled with holes and fitted with a small box-like object. ‘Say hello to my ball-and-chain.’

  Harry recognized the device. ‘A tracker? We can deal with that.’

  Rik shook his head. ‘No, you can’t. See the box? It contains a small charge of explosive.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘If I go beyond a certain radius from the base unit, the signal gets cut off. They said I wouldn’t get to hear the bang before it takes my legs off below the knees. Same if I try cutting the strap or opening the box. The only way of disarming it is by a coded radio signal which only they know.’

  Harry felt himself go hot and cold. He’d been around explosive devices like this. Their sole aim was to kill or maim – as Cramer had discovered. And they were often unpredictable in nature.

  ‘What if they have to move you in a hurry?’

  ‘As long as I stay within range of the base unit transmitter, it’s fine.’

  ‘Where do they keep that?’

  ‘In the warehouse somewhere. As long as I don’t get picked up and taken beyond the signal limit, everything’s sweet. Otherwise, kaboom.’

  Harry’s mind was in a whirl. This was beyond crazy. He couldn’t accomplish anything here; he needed specialist help and only Cramer could deliver it. ‘What if,’ he said slowly, his thoughts going at high speed, ‘I can get that thing off you?’

  ‘Do it and I’ll marry you.’

  ‘Let’s not get carried away.’ He stopped speaking when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, near the entrance. He was surprised at how much darker it had become. A woman was looking into the park and he felt a sense of alarm. Innocent passer-by or another of Rik’s watchers? She was short and stocky but with dark hair under a scarf. Then she moved into view and he saw she was pushing an ancient pram loaded with scrap wood.

  ‘How much longer have you got?’

  Rik shrugged. ‘Not long. They’re busy working in the unit next door, which is probably why I’m not being pushed harder to remember what I saw. But I don’t know how much longer they’ll wait before they lose patience.’

  ‘Whatever you’ve got they must think it’s important. Keep them talking as long as you can.’ He paused. ‘This cyber hit – is anything going to happen in the next twenty-four hours?’

  ‘I don’t think so. They’re still setting up.’ He looked worried. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘I need to ring London and get some help. But I’ll be back in the morning.’

  ‘OK. What if they move me?’

  ‘I’ll find you.’ He was about to go when something occurred to him. He took out the key to Rik’s flat which he’d been carrying. ‘Why did you leave this with your neighbour?’

  Rik looked blank for a moment. Then something changed in his expression and he looked almost sad. ‘I’m not sure. Instinct, maybe? It wasn’t a clue, if that’s what you thought … at least, I don’t think so.’ He frowned. ‘Sorry. I don’t think I was in a good place, you know? Too much going on and … perhaps I knew I was going to need your help.’

  Harry said nothing; anything he did say would be meaningless. He felt for his friend and had a sense of how lonely he must have been after his mother’s death.

  ‘Can you hold onto it for now?’ Rik added. ‘They might search me.’

  ‘Sure.’ Harry put the key away. ‘I’ll give it back when we’re in London.’

  Rik gave a nearly-normal smile. ‘Thanks, Harry. I should have called you.’

  ‘Yes, you should. You’re an idiot. Why didn’t you?’

  ‘Because I’m an idiot.’

  ‘Good. Glad we got that straight.’ He clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Stay with it, OK? We’ll get through this.’

  THIRTY-FIVE

  As soon as he got back to his hotel, courtesy of Clare, who was full of questions, Harry called Cramer.

  ‘I hope you’ve got some good news.’ Cramer sounded ready to burst. ‘Like where the hell you’ve been and why you didn’t call.’

  ‘I’ve been a bit busy. I found Rik, but there’s a problem.’ He explained about Rik’s captors and the tracker. ‘If he tries to walk away or remove it, it goes off.’

  Cramer was silent, and Harry wondered if he was remembering his own life-changing confrontation with an IED.

  ‘They’re definitely GRU?’

  ‘That’s what they said. The man’s name is Kraush – no first name – and the woman’s called Irina.’ Harry also relayed the threatened cyber attack, but was careful not to suggest there might be any terrorist element. If that suspicion was raised Cramer would be under pressure to spread the word to other international a
uthorities. It would, if they believed it was serious, start a chain-reaction of defence measures and word would soon get out.

  ‘You’d better tell me where these people are,’ Cramer said. ‘Where Ferris is, too. We need to act quickly.’

  ‘I’ll do that,’ Harry told him. ‘But I need to know I can get Rik out first. How fast can you get me some help?’

  ‘That depends. If it’s anything armed and military forget it. I’d never get it past the gatekeepers; they have this weird resistance to starting another global war.’

  ‘One person is all I need.’

  ‘One? You know Iron Man is made up, don’t you?’ Dark army humour.

  ‘Someone with electronic and bomb-disposal experience. If I’m going to bring Rik out I need to get that thing off his leg. But it can’t be done with an audience.’

  ‘I can arrange that.’ Then there was a long pause. Too long.

  ‘What’s going on?’ said Harry. He sensed trouble in the background. Cramer sounded as if he’d had a wad of stuffing punched up his nose.

  ‘Sorry. Just had an internal message from Hough, my controller on this assignment.’

  ‘Is it relevant?’

  ‘Yes. A new name is taking over the JIO – has taken over. It’s not official yet but the previous head is seriously ill and a man named Colmyer has stepped into his shoes.’

  ‘How does that affect my situation?’ Harry had lost interest in the movements of politicians and civil servants around Whitehall a long time ago. But whoever this Colmyer was, by Cramer’s muted reaction he wasn’t good news.

  ‘Colmyer’s put someone else on locating Ferris,’ Cramer said. ‘An outside contractor with direct access to him and him only.’

  ‘Is he allowed to do that?’

  ‘Legally? Search me. But it’s too late to stop him.’

  It didn’t take rocket science to figure out the likely outcome if Harry got in the way. Contractors were not bound by the same rules and regulations as others. The outcome was obvious. He wondered if this person was already on his trail.

  ‘Why would Colmyer be doing this? You had this organized.’

  ‘I thought so, too. There’s likely to be a shit-storm brewing in the back rooms and corridors of Whitehall, but my guess is he’ll weather it and hang the consequences. I reckon he’s trying to make a good impression, get himself a name early on. He’s been making noises about shaking up the security and intelligence agencies for a long time, so this could be the first salvo, God help us.’