Mark Pryor - Cyberian Affair

He pointed to the TV. “That briefing’s going to be about the action centers. I think the FBI ran out of leads after they found the dead Russians in the car crash. They can blame them for Marko’s murder, but not the Cybercade attack.”

Vyper flipped her laptop open. “Marko’s killer and the driver—they shared an apartment. The FBI searched it, but they never told the public what they discovered.”

“Look at the TV. They’re showing what they found in the apartment. A drone, exactly like the ones that attacked the Action Center.”

On the screen, an FBI agent stood behind a table used to display evidence from the search. Vyper stared at the dark coil next to the drone. “Is that an explosive?”

“That’s the shaped I told you about. It blew a hole in the roof.”

The television briefing continued. A government official requested northern Virginia residents to call if they saw a similar drone or explosive material. When a reporter asked for information on the poisoning of Marko and Gato, officials repeated the statement that toxicology results were not yet available.

Vyper tapped away at the keyboard. “An unnamed reliable source claims the police found digoxin in the apartment. It is made from digitalis.”

“That should make it clear, even to the FBI—they killed Marko. The media says nothing about Russian involvement despite my Trotsky messages. Are they blind or stupid? How much evidence do they need?”

Vyper turned her screen toward Niko. “I just received another tracker report from FANTAZIJA.COM. This is the third one—all from Vladivostok. Does the name look familiar?”

He nodded. It was one of the top Eastern European hackers Niko had identified. Each of them had disappeared from sight around five months ago and appeared online later with a new name. Vyper had used her magic to correlate the old names to the new ones.

But Zatan wasn’t on the list. He hadn’t visited FANTAZIJA.COM, or perhaps he avoided being infected by the tracker. Nevertheless, Vyper had discovered his former computer identity, one Niko remembered from his youth. Back then, the man who had become Zatan used his computer skills to manage the books for Falcon—aka Sokolov.

A smile appeared on Vyper’s face.

Niko knew why. “You cracked your way through more of the dark net, didn’t you?”

She nodded. “This guy connected to FANTAZIJA using two of the Onion routers I already control. He also accessed two routers I had not seen before, so I infected them.”

“Haven’t you spread your software across the entire dark net yet?”

Vyper giggled. “It is on twenty-five percent of the Onion Network. I only have a partial view of the network traffic.”

“You never cease to amaze me. No one else has penetrated it like you.”

“You are wrong. The NSA has been doing this for much longer than I have. They monitor most of the traffic on the dark net.”

“What?” Niko’s pulse raced. “The government knows what we’re doing? They know you’re breaking into financial records? They know where we are?”

She shook her head. “You realize everything about security is risky. Nothing is one hundred percent safe. But we take precautions—encryption, false identities, private networks. We make it hard for NSA to break through our defenses, but they can find us if they really want to.”

“I thought my secrets were safe behind the dark net, but now you tell me the NSA can see anything they like.” Niko shook his head and went to the kitchen. “You thirsty?”

Her only response was the sound of tapping on the keyboard.

He selected a pale ale from the refrigerator and grabbed a glass. “Have you found Sokolov’s money yet?” He set the glass next to the couch and took a seat.

“Making progress. I discovered a bank account tied to Sokolov’s nephew. He is the owner and the only employee of a business called Altai Associates. For some reason, Russia’s GRU pays Altai over two billion rubles each month.”

Niko did a mental calculation. “That’s thirty million dollars from Russian military intelligence. What does Altai do?”

“It is a service provider, but there is no mention of the type of service. Of course, it does not make sense for a one-man company to deliver any service worth that much money. It must be a shell company—used to launder or funnel funds secretly.”

“Where does the money go?”

“I am still trying to figure that out.”

“I hope NSA doesn’t realize what you’re doing.” Niko turned to his laptop when it beeped. “Zatan just appeared online at his favorite dark web site—Runion.”

“That is a dangerous site. Hackers and con artists lie in wait for newbies.”

“Hackers and con artists? Like the two of us?”

Vyper smiled. “Which one are you?”

“Definitely the con artist.” Niko projected the image of his laptop screen to the TV. “Zatan believes I’m a naïve newbie. The only reason he talks to me is because I know Prixster. You’ll find our conversation interesting. We always meet up in the public chat room. They speak English there.”

A message appeared on the screen:

Zatan666: U there anarch?

“He saw me come online. My handle is Anarch. I’ll see what he wants.”

Anarch13: U bet

Zatan666: Private

“This must be important. I have to join him in our private chat room. We speak Russian, so I’ll translate for you as we go.”

Although Niko spoke fluent Russian, sometimes his grammar and word choices reflected his Ukrainian roots—even in text. Zatan didn’t disguise his disdain for Ukrainians.

Vyper set her laptop aside. “What does he want?”

“Last time we chatted, I gave him your list of Onion router nodes near Sevastopol. He told me I was full of shit—these couldn’t be real. Well, he checked it out, and now he’s asking where I got the information.”

Niko typed a response. “I told him I used Prixster’s program to search for Onion routers.”

When Zatan’s response came back, Niko burst out laughing. “He said, ‘Give me the fucking thing.’ I’m going to tease him a bit. When I finally give it to him, I want his hungry anticipation to overcome his instinctive suspicions.”

“Do not overplay it,” said Vyper. “We need him to accept it. Once he does, my spyware will give me control of his computer, and he will never know.”

“Let me show you how a con artist sets the hook. I’m going to tell him Prixster does not share with strangers.” He typed it in.

The response came back immediately. “He says, ‘Prixster doesn’t have to know.’ I’m going to play hard-to-get.”

Ten minutes later, Niko decided he had played with him enough. “That’s it. I made him promise not to share it, show it, or say anything to anyone. Zatan agreed and I’m sending it to him now.”

Vyper’s face lit up. “You did it! We are a team. We will get Sokolov. I am so glad you decided to stay.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips. Then she stood and walked to the kitchen.

Although the kiss lasted only a few seconds, the warmth of her body and scent of her hair lingered. As she walked away, he whispered under his breath, “I love you.”

Fresh from his shower, Niko slipped a pair of cargo pants over his BVDs and pulled a T-shirt over his head. He couldn’t remember much from his dream last night, but Vyper was in it and they made love.

One day… maybe.

Niko heard her footsteps in the other room. No surprise, she always got up early. Maybe she received a message from Zatan’s computer. It should have responded by now. After all, Niko gave him the spyware program two weeks ago.