Mark Pryor - Cyberian Affair

Mr. Bodnar cleared his throat. “This has been a productive meeting. One I feel will lead to better safeguards for our country. My clients are prepared to work for you if they’re granted immunity from prosecution as we previously discussed.”

Evans set her papers on the table. “We’ve spoken about this with Secretary Grimes who’s been in contact with the Department of Justice. They agreed to reduce the recommended sentence to a range from three to six months.”

Niko looked at Vyper, her eyes beginning to water. He shook his head.

Bodnar fixed his gaze on Evans. “Our understanding was complete immunity—no prison time at all. Who changed their mind?”

“I wasn’t aware of any earlier agreement. All I can tell you is Secretary Grimes won’t reduce the sentence recommendation. He feels your clients broke the law with their illegal hacking and need to serve time.”

“Do you realize how ridiculous this sounds? You want my clients to illegally hack on your behalf, so you have deniability, but they must serve time for doing the same thing.”

They continued to argue without making progress.

At 4:00 as agreed earlier, Niko began to play hardball. “Why’d you ask us to come here if you weren’t willing to grant full immunity?”

Evans shifted her gaze to Niko. “Would you prefer to spend twenty years in prison? That’s your alternative.”

“Lydia and I have cooperated. This meeting was productive. You know we could help keep the country safe. Is this the way you treat people who agree to help?”

“This is not negotiable. We treat all hackers the same.”

“I’m surprised none of them have retaliated—sought revenge.”

The men across the table glared at Niko. Even Vyper and Bodnar stared at him with looks of disbelief.

Evans’s eyes narrowed. “Revenge? What are you suggesting?”

“I was just saying. Lots of hackers have uncovered government secrets—black sites where prisoners are tortured, even killed. I could imagine hackers using information like that against the government.”

“Is this a threat?” Evans pulled out her phone and texted something.

Niko shook his head. “Of course not. I wouldn’t do anything like that. Even if I wanted to, I’ve been under surveillance ever since my arrest.”

The door opened, and two uniformed guards entered.

Evans looked at Bodnar. “Zima will remain here. You and Harris will come with me.” She stood up and faced the guards. “Don’t let him leave.”

Niko watched everyone exit the room, leaving him alone with the guards. His heart pounded. Stick to the plan.

In about five minutes, the first-time bomb was scheduled to go off. Thousands of bots were poised to distribute the exposé of the secret black site in Batman, Turkey, where captured ISIS fighters were held and tortured. Some were even killed. Niko had used Google to translate the exposé to Turkish for release in that country. The story would also show up on the Homeland Security web page, and Secretary Grimes would receive an anonymous email at his official and personal email accounts.

There was no backing out now. This was the only way he knew to keep Vyper out of prison. As far as the government knew, Vyper didn’t participate in this ‘revenge.’ In half an hour, another time bomb was scheduled to go off.

Twenty minutes later, the door opened. Evans returned with two short-haired men in suits. One of them took a set of handcuffs off his belt. “Hold your hands together in front of you.” He snapped the cuffs on Niko’s wrists.

Evans sat across the table from Niko. “We know you released the information about Batman, Turkey.”

“What?” Niko feigned surprise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What information?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. What other information are you planning to release?”

“How can I release anything?” Niko raised his arms. “You’ve got me handcuffed in a room surrounded by guards.”

“Talk now or you and Harris are going to prison for a long time.”

Niko dropped his head to his chest and mumbled. “I didn’t break my part of the deal.” He looked up and raised his voice. “You said Secretary Grimes agreed to a shorter sentence. Did he decide to revoke that deal, too? Does he even know what you’re threatening to do? I want to talk to Grimes. I want to talk to Bodnar.”

“You’re in no position to make any demands.”

“You think sending me to prison is going to stop these leaks—whatever they are?”

The door opened. Niko couldn’t see who was there, but Evans left the room.

The second time bomb must have gone off as scheduled. A message should have been posted on the Homeland webpage, promising to expose a high-level member of Homeland supporting illegal torture in Turkey. Grimes should have received an email with an audio attachment. He was recorded discussing the death of a prisoner, and how to cover it up. That recording was only for Grimes—at least for now.

Within five minutes, Evans returned. She waved all the guards to leave the room and took a seat next to Niko. She grabbed the arms of his chair and turned it to face her. “Can you stop the leaks?”

“I told you. I didn’t leak anything. I’ve been with you all day.”

“Cut the bullshit. End the leaks now!”

Niko held up his cuffed hands. “Even if I could, why should I? You’re going to send Lydia and me to prison.”

Evans grabbed Niko by the shoulders. “Stop the leaks. We’ll work something out.”

“No prison for Lydia or me?”

“Agreed.”

Niko shook his head. “Do you have approval to say this? Did Secretary Grimes authorize this?”

“I do. And the secretary authorized it.”

Niko sat at the conference table in the offices of Crystal Intelligence, hands bound in cuffs, police monitor attached to his ankle, staring into the eyes of Victoria Evans, mere inches from her face. He had taken a chance—a dangerous one—and he came out on top.

Despite winning, Niko didn’t trust Homeland. “Release me—Lydia, too. We’ll see if we can stop the leaks. Get the immunity paperwork to Bodnar within the hour and send someone to remove our ankle bracelets.”

Evans nodded and unlocked Niko’s cuffs. “Stop the leaks—immediately.” She stood and walked to the door. “You two work for me now. I expect you to do a good job, but you’ll never set foot in this building again.” She opened the door.

Vyper stood in the hallway, a worried look on her face. Her eyes opened wide and her face broke into a smile. Tears ran down her cheeks.

Niko rushed out and embraced her.

She buried her face into his shoulder. Trembling, she hung on with surprising strength.

Bodnar placed his hand on Niko’s shoulder. “You’ll have time for that later. We must be going.”

Silently, they walked to the car. In the back seat, they fitted their soundproofing socks over their ankle monitors.

The lawyer handed his prepaid phone to Vyper who sent an encrypted text to end the time bombs:

Gr@nd-tH3fT Quiesce

Bodnar removed a small electronic box from the glove compartment. He used it to scan the interior and exterior of the car before sitting behind the wheel. “We can talk.”

Niko gave Vyper a quick kiss. He sat back in his seat. “They’re going to remove our ankle bracelets and monitoring software, aren’t they?”

“I’ll make sure they take care of everything within a couple of hours,” said Bodnar. “You’ll be free from all those restrictions.”

Vyper handed the pre-paid phone back to the lawyer. “If Homeland backs out of this deal, we need to reset the time bombs. In the event I am unable to reset them myself, I need you to text the keyword ‘Boom.’ Then the whole world will hear Secretary Grimes’ voice demanding American guards to cover up the death of a prisoner.”