Mark Pryor - Cyberian Affair

“Very convenient. Looks like the connector simply slips off.”

“You catch on quickly.” Vyper disconnected the circuit board and pressed the screen back in place. “Can you fix the other laptop? I need something from my emergency kit.”

“Sure.” Niko pried the screen away from the second computer.

Vyper grabbed a screwdriver and walked to the living room where she squatted down in front of an unused wall plug. “This is where I keep my ‘go bag’. She unscrewed and removed the wall plate, and reached inside, retrieving a small electronic device.

“Is that a satellite phone?” Niko asked, as he disconnected the circuit board.

She nodded. “The FBI can monitor our cells as much they want, but they will not be monitoring this.” She reached inside the hole in the wall and retrieved a thumb drive. “And this contains some useful software.”

“Aren’t we taking a chance with the sat phone? Won’t the FBI see the signal?” Niko snapped the back on his laptop.

“Not unless they search for it. Even if they detect a signal, it could be coming from any house nearby—this phone does not send location information.” Vyper reattached the wall plate and stood up.

“The encryption on sat phones is so simple, even I can crack it. All they have to do is unscramble all the calls coming from this area.”

Vyper sat next to Niko. “I know how to make secure calls. But first I will install my software.” She inserted the thumb drive into her laptop and ran the installation software. “Whenever you use the computer, run the cleaner program afterwards. It is probably not necessary, but I do not want to leave any breadcrumbs for the police to follow.”

She opened her toolkit and removed a short telephone cord. “We must to use this for private internet access.” She connected the phone to her laptop and pointed to the screen. “Use this browser to visit forbidden sites.” She dialed a number and waited while tones and warbling sounds came from the computer.

“I haven’t heard modem noises for years. This is like the good old days.”

“It will be slow, but private. I wonder if Mister Bodnar sent us anything.” She logged into an email system. “Nothing yet.”

Niko placed his hand on Vyper’s. “Sweetheart.”

She looked at him and smiled. “You have never called me that before. I like it.”

“It suits you.” He grasped both her hands. “We need to discuss Homeland. If Bodnar doesn’t get them to agree to the deal, we’ll both end up in prison. Even if he does get the deal, we still might go to prison.”

Vyper shook her head. “Bodnar said Homeland would hire us. I thought that meant the FBI would leave us alone.”

“Homeland will expect us to tell them everything we know, and they’ll share the information with the FBI. Do you believe they’ll offer full immunity for everything? We committed bank fraud and stole Sokolov’s money. You stole financial information from Treasury.”

“Bodnar said he would request full immunity.”

Niko shook his head. “Do you trust Homeland or the FBI? I don’t. Even if they promise immunity, nothing is guaranteed until we have it in writing. Even if Bodnar gets them to sign papers, they can claim we lied to them. One lie and we go to prison.”

Vyper’s hands began to flap. She clasped them together and looked up. “We cannot let this happen. Do you have any ideas?”

“We need leverage. You can demonstrate your value—creating software implants the Russians can’t detect, tracking people through the dark net. But I’m not sure that’s enough. We have to show we’ve got power over them.”

“What power do we have? They are the government.”

Niko thought about the scene from The Godfather . Don Corleone delivered one of the best lines of all times. Make him an offer he can’t refuse .

Vyper raised an eyebrow. “How can you smile at a time like this?”

He opened a laptop and selected the special internet browser. “What kind of dirt can we find on Homeland—or any of the people in charge?”

Niko checked the surveillance video—no cars, no people. He typed a command on his laptop to sign onto a private network in the Cayman Islands. It felt good to be anonymous on the internet again.

Vyper sat next to him at the dining room table. “We should look through Marko’s files. He supported Homeland and the CIA for years, and he saved all the dirt he came across.”

“Where’d he store them?”

“Let me do it.” Vyper slid the laptop in front of her, typed in a few commands, and accessed a dark website where she entered a password. “This is where I backed up his data.” She scrolled down a list of directories until she reached one called RAINYDAY. “Marko always told me to prepare for the worst—and he practiced what he preached.” She opened it.

Niko studied the titles of the first page of entries. “Everything looks like CIA stuff. We need something on Homeland.”

Vyper moved onto the second page and paused until they both had time to read through the titles before moving onto the next, and the next.

In the middle of the seventh page, Niko spotted something. “Look at this. Leonard Grimes… he’s the Secretary of Homeland Security. At least he is now.”

Vyper opened the document. “He must have worked in the CIA five years ago.”

Niko skimmed through the pages. “It’s about torturing prisoners in Batman, Turkey. If Secretary Grimes was involved, I’m sure he wouldn’t want his role made public.”

“I thought it was illegal—even in Turkey.”

“You’re right. And the Turkish people would be pissed to learn their government was helping America like this.”

Vyper pushed Niko’s laptop back. “This sounds like the kind of dirt you were looking for. What do we do now?”

“I’ll do some more digging—see how much I can learn about this place and what they did there. I also need to learn more about Grimes’ CIA assignment.”

“What should we do with the information?” Vyper tapped on her keyboard. “I can use my bots to spread the word—inside the US and also in Turkey.”

Niko had the beginnings of a plan, but everything depended upon Bodnar’s negotiations with Homeland. “Can you post something on the Homeland Security web page?”

“They will not like it.” Vyper smiled. “But I can post whatever you want on their public web page and most of the internal pages as well.”

The phone rang and Vyper answered. “Hello, Mister Bodnar… Yes… We will see you shortly.” She hung up. “Bodnar is on the way over—maybe half an hour. He has something to discuss, but he does not want to talk on the phone.”

Niko continued his research while Vyper studied the Homeland web pages. They also tossed around ideas about how to leverage the dirt on Grimes and the CIA.

When Bodnar arrived, Vyper led him to the dining room table. He sat, opened his briefcase, and took out a small manila folder. “Homeland’s interested in hiring both of you, but not without an interview. They weren’t specific about what they want you to do… ‘Need to know,’ I suspect. Since I insisted on tying the job to an immunity deal, they agreed to meet the three of us.”

Vyper held Niko’s hand and looked at their lawyer. “Does this mean we do not go to prison?”

Bodnar wrinkled his forehead. “I believe so, but I haven’t seen the agreement. No one’s signed anything.” He removed a paper from the folder. “When we meet with Homeland, make no mention of Prixster or Sokolov’s missing money.”

“When do we speak with them?” asked Niko. “Where is this place?”

“The interview is tomorrow at two o’clock. They scheduled it for two hours. Homeland won’t hire you directly—or authorize you to enter their offices. You’re actually applying for a job at a company called Crystal Intelligence—near Reagan Airport. But don’t be fooled, everyone in management works for Homeland.”