Mark Pryor - Cyberian Affair

Even though it sounded like a good deal to Niko, he still had reservations. “What happens if they refuse to give us full immunity? If we turn down their offer, we have no deal—and we risk spending a long time in prison.”

“That’s a legitimate concern. They hold all the cards. I think they realize you didn’t work with the Russians, but they still don’t approve of unsanctioned hacking.”

Niko needed to prepare for the worst, so they had to let Bodnar in on their plan. “Vyper and I’ve discussed ways to mitigate the risk. If the government decides to screw us, we’re prepared to play hardball. To be precise, as far as the government is concerned, I’m the one that’ll play hardball.”

Bodnar raised an eyebrow. “Feel free to run your idea by me. I won’t try to stop you, and I won’t tell the government. I know Marko would want me to help you if I can.”

Niko took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “You said the meeting starts at two o’clock and goes for two hours. We’ll schedule a time bomb to go off at 4:15—releasing compromising information around the world. If the government decides to screw us, I’ll ‘go rogue’ around four o’clock—and you two need to act surprised and worried. On the other hand, Mister Bodnar, if the government decides to give us full immunity, you’ll be able to stop it with a phone call or a text.”

The lawyer leaned forward on the table. “I won’t ask you what the compromising information is, but I don’t see how it’ll make them change their minds.”

Vyper smiled. “There will be more time bombs, each one releasing additional information. The bombs will continue until told to stop.”

Bodnar packed up his papers and set the briefcase on the floor, then he looked each of them in the eye. “Marko had confidence in both of you, so you can count on me.”

They talked through the details of the plan, refining it, and talking contingencies.

The lawyer stood and took his briefcase. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 11:00. We’ll have lunch before the meeting.”

“We’ll be ready.” Niko walked him to the door.

Crystal City, Virginia

The following morning, Niko and Vyper followed Bodnar into a courtyard surrounded by modern high-rise buildings, an unlikely location for the offices of Crystal Intelligence. They headed toward the glass and steel structures on the right. A fast food restaurant and a clothing store flanked a tall set of glass doors below the street address of the building.

Their lawyer held the door as they entered a small lobby with artificial potted trees on either side of a bank of elevators. They rode it up to the tenth floor.

The doors opened to a reception area that looked like the lobby of a fine hotel. They walked past a small unoccupied seating area, and approached a woman standing behind a desk.

She smiled. “May I help you?”

Bodnar nodded and handed her an identification card. “We have an appointment—”

“They’re waiting for you in Conference Room B.” She returned his ID and pressed a button. The door on the right clicked, and Bodnar opened it, waving his arm to encourage Niko and Vyper to enter.

To their left was a double set of oak doors. Ahead was a bland hallway devoid of any pictures or plants, where a tall woman in a dark business suit stepped through a door on the right that displayed the letter B . She offered her hand to each of them. “Mister Bodnar… Mister Zima… Miss Harris.” She waved toward the door. “Please come in.”

The windowless room had a large whiteboard on the wall and a rectangular conference table in the center, surrounded by seven chairs, four of them empty. The woman closed the door and took a seat at one end, leaving three available chairs—all on one side.

Niko sat closest to the woman who appeared to be in charge. Bodnar sat on his right, leaving the remaining seat for Vyper. Across the table, they faced three men in dark business suits, each one holding a light-blue folder.

On Niko’s left, the woman spoke. “My name is Victoria Evans. My associates are here to observe. We’ve studied your backgrounds and the recent events that brought you here. The security clearances you obtained at Kozel Group remain active, and they’ll be sufficient for the briefing you receive today.” She handed some papers to Mr. Bodnar. “Each of you need to sign this form before we proceed.”

Bodnar quickly read through each document and nodded. “This is standard.” He handed one copy to Niko and another to Vyper. “It says you can’t repeat anything you learn today—ever. Go ahead and sign it.”

When Ms. Evans received the signed copies, she placed them in her folder and set three identical large color photos on the table. “This is Stepan Belenko, also known as Zatan. He’s six feet tall, a hundred and ninety pounds. He runs a Russian cyber operation. As you know, his former boss and benefactor, Alexei Sokolov, is dead. Belenko seems to have found another benefactor, since his operation remains active.”

Niko had never known what Zatan looked like. He expected to see a young computer nerd, but this was a powerfully built man, with short blond hair and a long bulbous nose.

The men across the table stared at the three of them, like predators stalking their prey.

Evans leaned forward. “Several oil pipelines and refineries in Texas and Louisiana are experiencing cyber-attacks, and we believe it’s Belenko. His team hacked into the administrative systems and stole personal information. They’re probably behind the spear phishing campaign—system admins are receiving bogus emails demanding they change their password. So far, we believe none of them have clicked on the false link. But our greatest concern is the probes of the operational network, where pipelines are monitored and controlled. So far, they haven’t penetrated any of those systems.”

None of this was a surprise to Niko. What do they need us for ?

Evans raised an eyebrow. “I know what you’re thinking. This is normal security monitoring and incident response.” She took a sheet of paper from her folder and turned it for everyone to see. Names and logos of corporations dotted the page. “The pipelines, refineries, networks, and computers are privately owned by these companies. We’ve offered to inspect and defend their systems, but each company refused. They don’t trust the government. They treat their corporate secrets like gold.”

Niko pursed his lips to keep from smiling. Marko would never have let that stop him. If systems needed protection, Kozel Group would protect them, even if they refused assistance.

“The owners haven’t granted us authority to perform penetration tests. We can’t plant bugs on their networks to infect Russian computers.” Evans sat back in her chair and swiveled slightly in Niko’s direction. “We need someone else to do it for us. Someone who can do it anonymously. If these companies discover the intrusion, our government needs to be able to deny involvement.”

Niko nodded . It’s all about deniability .

Evans’ eyebrows pinched together. “One more thing. We know you were trying to track down Belenko… Zatan. We can’t do it ourselves without illegally breaking into private computers, spoofing addresses, and leveraging uncooperative telecom company networks. We need to learn where his operation is located. We need to plant bugs on his computers. But we aren’t authorized—someone else must do it instead.”

For the next hour and a half, the briefing went into details. Niko and Vyper engaged in the conversation cooperatively, asking and answering questions.

Niko glanced at his watch—3:45. So far, no one discussed immunity. He nudged his lawyer.