Mark Pryor - Cyberian Affair

Niko huffed. “We’re supposed to believe you?”

Smith nodded. “After I leave, go ahead and open this suitcase from Mister Bodnar. He told me Vyper’s fingerprint will unlock it. He didn’t say what he packed, and I didn’t ask.” Smith turned to leave. “We can discuss the new plan and your training program tomorrow.”

Once he left, Vyper opened the suitcase. Inside were their laptops, a game console, equipment to search for electronic bugs and hidden camera lenses, and a white noise generator to interfere with any long-distance surveillance.

Maybe they couldn’t trust Smith, but Bodnar always came through.

Warrenton, Virginia

Niko lay face-down on a table in the medical offices of Warrenton Training Center while a male nurse pushed his hair aside and inserted a needle.

“That wasn’t so bad,” said Niko. “Can I sit up now?”

The nurse shook his head. “Stay right there. That was just to numb the area. I’ll be back in ten minutes to insert the implant.” He walked out.

Niko thought about Vyper, probably lying on a table next door getting the same treatment. They were both here because Mr. Smith agreed to a revised plan for Nassau—one that included Vyper. He said the CIA was serious about their safety and security, which meant they had to allow tiny transponders to be inserted under their skin. Smith also promised to remove these devices as soon as the Nassau operation was complete.

For the next seven days, they’d stay in the Tower Apartments in downtown Warrenton, only a short drive to the training center where they’d prepare for the mission.

The nurse returned. “You’ll only feel a little pressure. Your hair will hide the small scar.”

The poking and prodding were annoying, but it didn’t hurt. The nurse opened a bottle and brushed something wet over the cut. “All done. The liquid bandage will keep it from bleeding. Don’t wash your hair for a few days.”

At nine o’clock, Mr. Smith arrived to take Niko and Vyper to their next appointment. They walked across the parking lot to an office building. After going through three security checkpoints, they arrived at a small conference room with eight chairs around a rectangular table.

Mr. Smith sat in front of the only laptop in the room. “We’ll start the week with a mission briefing.” He motioned for them to sit across from him. A large screen covered the wall at the end of the table. When he tapped a few keys on the computer, the CIA seal appeared on the screen with the word MKSIGMA in bold letters below it.

Niko shared a bewildered look with Vyper. The internet was rife with rumors about CIA projects, like MONGOOSE and STARGATE, but the name on the screen sounded too much like the notorious mind-control program, MKULTRA.

The CIA seal faded and was replaced by a world map with a line connecting Nassau, in the Bahamas, to Vladivostok, in Far Eastern Siberia. A large bubble containing a network diagram appeared above each location.

Smith pointed a laser dot at the Siberian location. “Belenko, aka Zatan, is planning and coordinating Russian cyber-attacks from this restricted network in Vladivostok. The mission of MKSIGMA is to gain access to the restricted area, discover their plans, and neutralize the threat.” The red dot circled a graphic that resembled a brick wall. “This firewall isolates the restricted network. It’s configured like the Nassau firewall that Harris has been unable to crack.”

“My name is Vyper. Nobody calls me Harris.”

“Vyper it is.” Smith nodded. “Physical security around the Siberian datacenter is daunting, made even more difficult because it’s located inside Russia.” The red pointer circled a connection to the firewall. “This entry point is privileged, allowing trusted networks more complete access.” Smith moved the pointer slowly from the firewall to another one in the Bahamas, following the line connecting the locations. “We’ll break into the Siberian network from Nassau.”

Niko shook his head. “You want me to walk into the datacenter and plant a bug on the privileged side of the firewall so Vyper can hack her way into Vladivostok?”

Smith displayed a more detailed diagram and pointed the dot to one of the switches. “You’ve got the idea, but I don’t want you to plant a bug. Instead, you’ll make a network connection between this restricted switch port and an open port on the wide area switch.” The pointer moved between the two switch ports.

“No.” Vyper shook her head. “They can detect everything I do. It will appear to be unexpected network traffic from the outside.”

“We’ve got it covered,” said Smith. “Nassau Telecom configured a private channel that uses a separate wavelength over the same fiber. The Russians will never notice the covert tap.”

Vyper was full of questions and so was Niko. Smith provided detailed documentation and went over each point they raised.

Niko was convinced the technical aspects of the plan were solid. But none of it would work if he couldn’t sneak in and make the connection. It should be easy. Just another scam. He took a deep breath to calm himself and let it out. “How are you going to turn me into a spy?”

Smith leaned back in his chair and closed the laptop. “Let’s start with your cover story. You’ll be a visiting professor from the Ukraine—always good to have a cover you’re comfortable with. The school, New Providence University, will hire you to teach network security.”

“What name do I use?”

“You’ll be Anton Zhora.” Smith crossed his arms against his chest. “Once in Nassau, you need to complete the following actions.” He projected a list of bullet items on the screen:

• Human Intelligence

• Electronic Intelligence—Coral Computing

• Penetration—Network Access

• Electronic Intelligence—Vladivostok

The red dot moved to the item at the top of the list. “First, establish trust at the university while collecting information on everyone you encounter—students, faculty, anyone who shows interest in you.” The dot moved to the next item. “Second, break into the Coral Computing Datacenter remotely and collect all the information you can. It’s a multi-tenant facility, and Belenko is one of their clients.”

The dot moved to the third entry. “Once you’ve collected enough information to develop a plan, go inside Zatan’s datacenter and connect the switches.” Smith moved the dot to the last item and looked at Vyper. “After the connection is made, you will break into Vladvistok from Nassau to discover what Zatan is up to.”

“Sounds like it’ll work, but I’m not a spy. You said I need to collect information about people… do I take pictures or something?”

“One of my associates will be joining us later to demonstrate the tools available to you.” Smith turned to face Vyper. “We got you a job as a security analyst for Charles Town Cloud—the largest internet provider on the island.”

Vyper’s hands began to twitch until she laced her fingers together. “Do you expect me to spy, too? I am not good with people.”

Smith shook his head. “No. I want you work your shift as a trusted employee, bringing no suspicion on yourself. Each day, after your shift is over, go back to your apartment and work for us. Your initial assignment is to hack into Coral Computing—gain access to their cameras, their security systems, robots… everything. Once Niko gets inside and makes the connection, you’ll penetrate the Vladivostok network as we discussed. We also need your help with a couple of special projects, but we can discuss them later.”

“You mentioned an apartment,” said Vyper. “Where do we stay?”