Mark Pryor - Cyberian Affair

She’s autistic. Not good with people .

Niko fished his phone out of his pocket. “I’m calling 9-1-1.”

“No! Do not call. Russians hijacked the Loudoun County emergency phone numbers. No 9-1-1 calls from the County are going through. They have all been redirected to other numbers. County Dispatch cannot receive them. They commandeered Parthian Security’s numbers, too.”

She’s right. Franklin called security. No one came—only the drones .

Niko stared at the video. No emergency vehicles in sight. “Do something, Vyper. We can’t just watch them die!”

“I sent an anonymous message to County Dispatch operations and Ashburn Police. They will respond.” Vyper grabbed a second laptop from the coffee table and handed it to Niko. “The Action Center’s system is not accessible—probably shut down before the attack. We must use backup data.”

“You mean the copy we send to our backup site? That won’t show the drone attack. It’s got to be a couple of hours old.”

“The official backup site isn’t our only copy. There is another server that replicates everything in real time.” Vyper scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to him. “Use this password to login.”

While Niko waited for the laptop to start up, he couldn’t take his eyes off the video on the TV. The fire had spread, with flames coming from the roof and the front door. Two police cars arrived, but no other emergency vehicles.

They’re still in there. Rocky, Gato—everyone .

For now, Niko had to push the deaths out of his mind.

Something else bothered him. As a security guy, he instinctively distrusted strangers. But Marko had given him Vyper’s number, so he should trust her. Niko watched her type away in rapid bursts.

Autistic or not. She’s a security geek.

He had to know. “Why do you trust me?”

She looked up from her keyboard. “Marko told me to trust and assist anyone who identifies themselves as The Pythia .”

Niko’s laptop displayed a small set of icons. “Where’s the other backup server?”

She pointed over her shoulder. “The spare bedroom—my computer room. But you access it here from your laptop. It is the blue icon. Use the password I gave you.”

Niko double-clicked a small blue picture of a lock. He glanced at Vyper’s screen and noticed the logo of EMS Telecom. “You broke into the phone company? They’ve got tight security.”

“Have you ever heard of Groper?”

“Sure,” said Niko. “Used to be one of the most dangerous hacking tools in the world. But all the security vendors have learned how to block it now.”

“I keep improving Groper. My latest version can penetrate most systems.”

“Your version? Everyone knows the mysterious Prixster created it.”

“I was Prixster.”

Holy shit !

Among Marko’s staff, Vyper’s reputation was legend. But the entire world knew Prixster was unmatched in her hacking ability—the creator of some of the most dangerous computer software ever unleashed upon the cyberworld.

“I thought Prixster disappeared—dead or hiding.”

Vyper smiled. “Russia came after me. FBI, too. Criminals, hackers—everybody wanted to find me. When Marko discovered my identity, he protected me—took me deep. Taught me to use my skills to help our country. Prixster no longer exists.”

Flashing lights on the TV screen captured Niko’s attention. Police cars and fire engines parked haphazardly in front of the building. A ladder truck pulled up followed by emergency medical vehicles.

He looked at Vyper and pointed to the TV. “Maybe it’s not too late.”

She shook her head and continued typing.

He hated to admit it, but she was probably right. Everyone inside—Rocky, Gato, and the others—were likely dead

Niko signed in and located the video files on the laptop Vyper gave him—the one labeled “Roof.” He pressed rewind until it reached the time when he left Starbucks. Using fast-forward, he watched the sky above the building. Suddenly, the video shifted.

Camera’s linked to radar ?

He pressed pause and backed it up.

Vyper interrupted. “Someone at EMS Telecom reassigned the county emergency phone numbers. All 9-1-1 calls have been directed to Fairfax Hospital.”

Niko paused the video and looked at her. “What? Can you imagine how confusing it is for the callers… and the folks at the hospital? I guess confusion is part of the plan.”

“A Loudoun County administrator must authorize all changes to the phone system, but any customer service representative at EMS can alter it—whether authorized or not. The transaction was performed by someone with the login name of fancy .”

“The Russians must have planted someone inside the phone company.”

Vyper’s fingers danced across her keyboard. “I just sent the time-stamped details anonymously to the security team at EMS. They will know who fancy is, and they can arrest him… or her. I also sent it to Loudoun County dispatch.”

It wasn’t a surprise that the Russians had an agent inside EMS—probably more than one. But they hijacked all 9-1-1 calls to the county, redirecting them to a hospital.

All those lives at risk… what do they care? They’re killers .

He pressed ‘play’ on the roof video, zooming in to view the approaching drone, then slowed it down to view frame by frame. It was an octocopter carrying cargo below its belly—something flat, but thick.

The drone reached the building, hovered for a few seconds, then dropped rapidly toward the roof. He paused it at the last minute. The cargo wasn’t flat. A thick hoop sat on a thinner base. He played it forward through each frame until a fireball and smoke covered the video.

The hoop. It’s the explosive.

Niko restarted the video, located the second drone, and zoomed in close. It carried a different package. Something the shape of a pizza box hung below the blades. As it approached, he got a clearer view of the box, formed of long, light-colored bricks.

Looks familiar . C-4 explosive !

Before it reached the roof, the smoke from the first drone obscured the video. A few frames later a bright flash cut through the smoke just before the video went black.

He backed up the video again and found a third drone. Zooming in as close as possible, he studied it as it approached. The recording ended before showing any detail.

Niko found another file, this one called “Outside.” Before watching it, he turned to Vyper. “It looks like each drone carried a different type of explosive.”

She stopped typing. “How do you know about explosives?”

“I learned a little when I worked for an arms dealer in Philadelphia. It seems each of these drones had a different purpose. The first one had some kind of explosive hoop. It might have been the kind of shaped charge they use to cut through metal. Looks like it blew a hole in the roof. The second one was C-4. I guess they figured this drone could drop its explosive through the hole in the roof and do more damage. I didn’t get a good look at the third.”

Vyper nodded and pointed to her laptop. “I learned more at EMS. Have you ever heard of an app called Telegram?”

“Sure. Used to send encrypted texts. Popular with people who want to keep their messages secret.”

“Yes—like terrorists and spies. Fancy sent and received several encrypted messages using the Telegram app today. I believe this person is an agent.”

“We’ve got to tell someone, but I’m not sure who. Marko once told me the White House won’t authorize active measures against Russia. Defensive action is fine, but nothing aggressive enough to actually stop them.”