Mark Pryor - Cyberian Affair

“Grimes won’t take a chance—he won’t screw up the deal. I’m sure Ms. Evans will come through.” Bodnar started the car and pulled out just as his phone beeped. He handed it to Vyper. “This could be her. Check out the message.”

She glanced at the phone. “This is not a text. It is a news alert… Someone hacked into the Moscow Metro—a cyber-attack. All the signal lights on the tracks around the city are red. No trains are moving… businesses and government offices are closed… people cannot get to work. Russia suspects the CIA, but they do not cite any evidence.”

Niko shook his head. “This isn’t like the CIA. I’m sure they could do it, but not without high-level government approval. If Russia had evidence of American involvement, they’d consider it an act of war.”

Vyper gave the phone back to Bodnar. “Whoever did this could have caused train crashes and loss of life, but they did not. If it was CIA, they would deny it. Just like our deal. They want us to hack the Russians, and they want deniability .”

“You’re right,” said Niko. “The government will never come to our defense. If we get caught doing something illegal, they’ll throw us under the bus. So, deniability is important to Homeland—we can use it to our advantage.”

Bodnar spoke up from the front seat. “You never stop scheming, do you?”

Niko smiled at Vyper. “Never. But don’t worry. This is nothing like the time bombs. This is about Homeland letting us do our job without constantly looking over our shoulders. If Homeland wants deniability, they can’t be caught communicating with us—monitoring us. They have to leave us alone.”

Vyper raised her eyebrows. “Do I get my computers back? The network equipment? Everything?”

Bodnar took the ramp to I-66. “You two make a lot of sense. I’ll make your demands clear.”

Sterling, Virginia

Niko unplugged his laptop from the front of a network switch. He looked around Vyper’s computer room with satisfaction. It had taken three days, but all her equipment was back where it belonged, wiped clean and rebuilt.

He opened the door and stepped down from the raised computer room floor to the living room. Vyper sat on the couch, computer in her lap. The TV on the wall displayed a large map of the Texas-Louisiana coast with colored lines connecting colored dots.

Vyper turned her head. “Sit down and take a break. How is it going?”

Niko sat down and leaned over to give her a kiss. He opened his laptop. “The last of the configurations are complete. It’s time to run through final tests.” He looked at the TV. “Looks like the oil fields. Is that what Cybercade’s monitoring?”

“It is. I copied their data feeds. They will not notice.” She set her laptop aside. “I have been checking out Runion and a few other dark websites, picking up chatter. There is more information on the Moscow Metro break-in. I am not sure who did it, but whoever it was, they included some of Prixster’s signature code. It was not me, but the word is out—Prixster hacked the Metro.”

“The world thinks you attacked the Russians? That makes you a target. Zatan was looking for you before Sokolov was killed. I can’t see why he’d stop now.” Niko held her hand. “If our government wanted deniability for their attack, this is one way they could do it. Maybe they know you’re Prixster, and they’re using you as bait.”

Vyper pulled her hand away and waved it dismissively. “It is not the first time I have been pursued. Marko was the only person who ever discovered my identity. I will be careful.”

“We have to take this seriously. What if he finds you? The Russians play rough—Sokolov did.” Niko brushed her hair behind her ear. “You’re prepared for virtually any kind of computer attack, but not for a physical assault. Just look at how helpless we were when the FBI broke in.”

Her hand began to flap. “I was scared. They burst right in. We could not stop them. We could not hide.”

“Let me take care of it. I’ll beef up the security system and increase your home protection.”

Vyper placed a hand on his cheek and kissed him. “You are the best.” She placed her computer on her lap. “Right now, I want to check on my bots. They have been probing the pipeline and refinery systems ever since the FBI left us alone.”

“Are you using your Groper program? Wouldn’t it be detected?”

“Detected? Not my program. It does not look like a sustained attack. I spread the probes across thousands of bots located all over the world. And I have slowed it all down. It looks random.” A text box appeared in the upper right corner of the TV screen. She pointed. “There—it found a server with old web software that was missing important security patches—the third one I have seen so far. I will install my monitor and tracker software on all of them.”

Niko used his laptop to access the unpatched server. “I’ll break in and grab the list of sign-on IDs.” He tried a few hacker tricks. Soon he was browsing through restricted files. He copied the list of user names. “I’m going to monitor the sign-ins for a few days. See if there’s any suspicious activity.”

“This is odd.” Vyper displayed a list of locations on the TV. “I’ve been collecting data from the Russian computers infected with my tracker. Most of them are located in Vladivostok. But three are accessing the internet from Phoenix, Arizona—three different computers on the same subnet. Not only that—two more are coming in from a location in the Bahamas—an office building in Nassau.”

“Very suspicious. It looks like the Russians have collaborators in two more locations.”

Vyper tapped away at her keyboard. “Let me see if these computers are accessing the systems in Texas or Louisiana.”

While Vyper was occupied with the oil fields, Niko searched for home security systems—not just cameras and locks. He wanted something they could use to defend themselves as well. They could afford the best thanks to Sokolov’s money.

The sound of typing stopped. Vyper stared silently at her screen.

“What is it,” Niko leaned over to see her computer. “You look confused.”

She nodded. “Five computers in the Phoenix site are probing a pipeline control network at Rockefeller Petroleum in Houston, Texas.”

“Just as you suspected. We’ll give Homeland the details. But something else is bothering you.”

She turned the screen and pointed to a string of letters and numbers. “This is what they are looking for. They are trying to get a response from something. It reminds me of Stuxnet—only different.”

“You think it’s looking for a specialized computer? This site is a major oil pipeline hub. It could be looking for a system that controls pipeline operation.”

“I agree, but I am not sure what to do next.”

“That’s why Homeland gave us the ‘bat phone’.” Niko took a cell phone from the table. “They like to hear from us every day. Now we have some significant information to pass along.”

Niko called a special number connected to Homeland through two intermediate locations. He waited while the phones established a secure connection. After exchanging passphrases, Niko reported on the Phoenix and Nassau sites as well as the peculiar probes in Houston. He also promised to send the details in an encrypted, anonymous email. A terse acknowledgement from Homeland ended the call.

He shook his head. “Homeland is a pain in the ass. They should tell Rockefeller Petroleum they must tighten their pipeline network security. And someone from Homeland should check out Phoenix and Nassau. We have no idea whether they’ll follow up on anything we send them. Marko never worked this way.”