Tim Washburn - Cyber Attack

The flash-bangs explode with a flash of intense light and sound and the team enters the building, their rifles up in firing position. Hank didn’t hear the rifle fire from the snipers, but he assumes they were successful. Leapfrogging one another in twos, the well-rehearsed team makes entry into the target room. The three armed men are still armed, but their guns are silent, all three dead where they fell. Hank and the other members of the team work to quickly search and secure the remaining five men as other troops enter to clear the rest of the building.

Hank grabs the man he knows as Hassan and throws him facedown on the floor. He buries a knee in his back and pulls the man’s hands behind him and zip-ties his wrists. When the all clear is given, the five men are separated and taken to other parts of the building for interrogation. Hassan is mumbling something Hank can’t hear, his ears still ringing from the grenade blasts. As Paige and other computer experts swarm into the building, Hank grabs a chair and drags it into one of the smaller offices and forces Hassan to sit. Only then does he hear what Hassan is saying. He triggers his radio and says, “One bogie still unaccounted for.” Then he turns to his suspect.

Hassan is trembling, his crotch wet where he pissed himself. Hank takes a couple of calming breaths, allowing Hassan a moment to fully grasp the situation, then crosses his arms and leans against the wall. “Hello, Hassan.”

Hassan, his eyes wide in surprise, takes a close look at Hank and shakes his head. “How do you know my name?”

“We met at an Internet security conference two years ago. You never told me your last name.”

“It’s Ansari.” He looks down at a spot on the concrete for long few seconds. “He was going to kill us.”

“Who was?” Hank asks.

“His name is Basir Nazeri. Your men have to find him.”

“Was Nazeri callin’ the shots?” Hank asks.

Ansari nods. Over the next hour, Ansari lays out the entire plan, providing names, dates, and the other details of the attack. Hank does not take notes, nor does he record the conversation. It’s just he and Hassan speaking, man-to-man. Yes, it was Hassan who logged on to the satellite and yes, it was Nazeri who produced all of the zero-day vulnerabilities and mapped networks. As the story continues to unfold, Hank realizes that Basir Nazeri is a very dangerous man. Hank grills Hassan about Nazeri and is not really surprised to learn that Hassan doesn’t know much about the man.

“I have his picture,” Hassan blurts out.

“Where?” Hank asks.

“In an encrypted folder I keep in the cloud.”

Hank helps Hassan to stand and leads him back to the room where they had been working. The place is a whirlwind of activity with Paige standing in the center of the room calling the shots. He calls her over and explains what he needs.

“Where in the cloud?” Paige asks Hassan.

He explains how to find the folder and gives Paige his log-in credentials. Paige assures Hank she’ll send the pictures out immediately and Hank takes Hassan back to his chair. Hank learns about the drone strikes on Hassan’s family and the other four families and finally begins to understand some of the reasons for their actions. Once Hassan finishes his story, Hank probes for more information about Nazeri, digging for the tiny scraps that might provide a clue about his identity.

“When did you first meet him?” Hank asks.

“I told you. Six months ago. He showed up, called us together, and we started refining the malware.” Hassan goes on to explain about the scholarships and receiving the software during his final year of undergrad study. He ensures Hank that the story is the same for the other four members of the team.

“And you hadn’t met the other four students until six months ago when Nazeri arrived?”

“No,” Hassan says. “I knew we were developing malware, but I had no idea of the purpose. Three days ago, we arrived at this building and that is the same time we discovered Nazeri’s list of targets. We’ve been here since that day.”

“Who targeted the president?” Hank asks.

“So you know?” Hassan asks, arching his brows. “Nazeri. Is the president dead?”

Hank debates whether to tell him, but Hassan has been divulging information and nothing he’s said triggered Hank’s bullshit meter. “The last I heard he was still alive.”

“Good,” Hassan says.

“Anything else you can tell me about Nazeri? Where he’s from or who he was in contact with?”

Hassan shakes his head. “I attempted to find out more information about him and could not. Maybe you can find out by looking at the phone records.”

“What phone records? Was he in contact with someone else durin’ your stay here?”

“He was. He used a landline phone and some type of scrambler. I doubt you will find much in the way of content, but you might find whom he was calling. Nazeri is resourceful and extremely intelligent, but he could have made a mistake somewhere.”

“What about accents? Did he have one?”

“I did not detect one. He spoke perfect English.”

“American English?”

“Yes. I did notice that he did not use many contractions, if at all. That is common for some nonnative English speakers. My sense is that he has spent some time here in the States.”

“Anything else you can think of about Nazeri?”

Hassan shakes his head. “You have the pictures.”

“That was smart thinking on your part. What made you decide to do it?”

“A feeling. He became more belligerent as time went on. Yesterday, he told us he owned us. What do you do with something you own and no longer need?”

“Throw it away?” Hank asks.

“Yes. When the armed guards appeared, I knew our time was short. I did not know Nazeri had left the premises.”

“If you had to guess his origin, Hassan, what would you guess?”

“Middle Eastern. Maybe Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or another Gulf state.” Hassan looks up at Hank. “What happens now?”

“You and your cohorts will be transported to separate locations where the interrogations will continue.”

“Will I be killed?”

Hank hesitates for a moment then says, “No, Hassan, I don’t believe so. You’ll likely end up in prison somewhere.”

“Guantanamo?” Hassan asks.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think so. Sit tight for a minute, Hassan,” Hank says. He waves over another FBI SWAT team member and asks him to keep an eye on the prisoner. He returns to the main room and pulls Paige aside.

“You wouldn’t believe the list of targets these guys were going after,” Paige whispers. “Yesterday was only the tip of the iceberg.”

“Did you e-mail those photos of Nazeri to headquarters?”

“I did. Who is he?”

Hank sighs. “The mastermind. And we may never find him.”

“I’m sure the agency is blanketing the world with his picture as we speak. Did you ask that terrorist you’re interrogating for details?”

Hank winces at her use of the word terrorist , but when he stops to ponder it a moment he realizes that’s how they’ll be branded. “Yes. He doesn’t know much about him. Which is not surprisin’. Will you show me the picture?”

“Hoping to imprint it in that big brain of yours?” Paige asks as she leads Hank over to one of the computers.

“Somethin’ like that,” Hank says. Paige pulls up the photos of Nazeri and watches Hank’s facial expressions while he scrolls through the images.

“You haven’t seen him before, have you?” Paige asks when Hank finishes.

“No.”

“I could tell by reading your expression.”

“What? We’ve been together a couple of days and you now know all my tells?”