“I figure Sokolov needed to eliminate the threat from Marko’s team—for fear we’d take his money—so he’d have to hold back on any planned cyber-attack until he could neutralize the threat. My friend Joey sometimes bragged a bit too much when he drank. He probably led them to Marko. If they learned he was in on it, they could have traced him to the Center.”
Vyper set her laptop aside. “If he attacked the Center immediately, he only would have killed the staff on second shift. That is why they sent out the false message from Marko, calling in the day shift. It would not work if Marko was in the building at the time, so they poisoned him.”
“You’re right—Sokolov had to kill all of us. The drone attack was a surprise, but the Center should have had time to engage security. That’s why the Russians had to intercept the call for help.”
“And they hijacked the 9-1-1 phone number so police would not respond quickly.”
Niko nodded. “When they went to Alpha World to kill Marko, they spotted me with him. I became a loose end, like Gato is now, so they tried to kill us both. This is the first time we’ve lined up all the facts. With Marko’s Action Center out of the picture, the Russians still face a threat from the team that replaced us—Cybercade. Sokolov would probably assume Marko shared information with them.”
Vyper typed rapidly on her laptop. “Cybercade servers are being probed right now. It appears to be the same methods we saw the Russians using against us. I think they are gathering information to attack Cybercade.”
“The drones!” Niko opened the security video from the attack and fast-forwarded to the first drone. He zoomed in for the highest resolution view before the explosion. “It has eight copter blades. I’m not familiar with the shaped charges it’s carrying. Hard to judge the weight.”
He zoomed in on the second drone. “This one is carrying C4—eight sticks. That would be ten pounds, plus the camera.”
“I found the drone.” Vyper entered a few commands on her laptop. “It is a DSI Heavy 8 octocopter. Their smaller models could not lift that weight. Maximum flight time is twenty minutes. Maximum range is five kilometers. The pilot had to be at least that close—probably closer, to minimize the drone’s travel time to the building.”
“Can the signal from the pilot be jammed?”
Vyper tapped away at the keyboard. “It uses spread spectrum on the 2.4 gigahertz band. A jammer broadcasting across the entire band will interrupt communication, creating an error condition for the drone. It will either return to the pilot, or hover in place until it runs out of power.”
“We’ve got to tell Cybercade. I’ll alert them, and I’ll include the video of the attack. They need to set up a jammer.”
Vyper gently grasped Niko’s arm. “I am sorry. A medical report arrived. Gato had another cardiac arrest. He is dead.”
Chapter 10
Christmas Eve
The setting sun peeked through the trees, casting long shadows across the snow. Niko turned onto Vyper’s driveway and pulled into the garage. It had been good to get out, even if it was only for groceries, computers, and electronics. With all the holiday shoppers, Niko decided to get a card for Vyper. She never mentioned Christmas, but he wanted to be prepared in case she gave him a card.
Niko took the bags from the trunk and carried them into the dining room. “I got a battery pack for our jammer. It’ll last for an hour or more.”
Vyper began putting the groceries away. “I think we will need it. Cybercade has installed drone detection systems, but they have not decided how to defend against an attack. Fairfax County will not allow them to fire weapons or use omnidirectional jammers because it would affect neighboring businesses. Cybercade’s latest request is for permission to train their security team to use jammer guns.”
“So, they can detect drones, but they can’t stop them. For the last two weeks, every media outlet has been talking about the drone attack and the suspicious deaths of Marko and Gato.”
“Cybercade understands the urgency. They cancelled all holiday time off when the White House announced a heightened alert. It’s the county that is dragging its feet.”
Niko grabbed the battery pack and headed toward the front of the house. “I’m going to make sure the jammer works with this—unless you need your phone or the internet right now.”
“Go ahead. I will heat up the pizza.”
Niko stepped onto the raised floor of Vyper’s second spare bedroom—built out like a small datacenter. Racks of computers and networking equipment lined every wall. The room was cool because of powerful air conditioning that constantly forced air under the floor and up through the equipment cabinets, even during the winter.
In the middle of the room, sitting on a large table, was the jammer—a black box that looked like an expensive stereo receiver. A foot-long vertical antenna was attached. A much smaller box sat next to it.
Niko unplugged the jammer from an extension cord and plugged it into the battery pack instead. He turned it on and picked up the smaller box, watching the signal strength meter. Slowly, he walked around the table, watching the movement of the needle.
Satisfied, Niko turned off the jammer and returned to the dining room. “It works with the battery pack—same power as when it’s plugged into the wall.”
Vyper glanced at her watch. “Pizza will be ready in ten minutes.” She sat on the couch and opened her laptop. “I have been analyzing financial transactions, trying to follow Sokolov’s money. We are fortunate Marko copied data he acquired when we worked with Treasury and NSA. I can track money travelling through the US, but I am having problems accessing the SWIFT transactions monitored from Belgium.”
“Problems?” Niko sat on the couch and grinned. “I find it difficult to believe you can’t get into the European network.”
Vyper snapped her head up and glared at Niko. “I did not say that. I told you I was having problems getting in.”
He didn’t expect such a strong reaction. “I’m sorry if you misunderstood me. I tried to make a joke.”
She locked eyes with him, a quizzical look on her face. Then she looked away. “I am not good at reading other people. It is difficult for me to know when you are telling a joke and when you are not.”
“I care for you, Vyper… You’re my friend.” He took her hand and gave it a friendly squeeze. “I would never say anything to hurt or make fun of you.”
She didn’t move her hand while they sat silently. When the buzzer went off in the kitchen, she got up. “Pizza’s ready.”
While they ate, Niko brought Vyper up to speed on his activities, searching the internet for the current whereabouts of known Eastern European hackers. “At least a dozen of them simply disappeared. Maybe they gave up hacking, or perhaps someone hired them for a project.”
“Like a cyber-attack team in Siberia?”
“That’s what I’m thinking.” Niko popped the last bite of his pizza into his mouth and carried his plate to the sink. “I chatted with some of the people who are still active. A couple of them remind me of hackers I used to know years ago, but they use different names now. One’s called Zatan. He seems to be the most respected within the group.”
“Does he know you are Niko?”
“I use another name. I keep bragging that I know Prixster. It seems to pique his interest.”
Vyper took the dishes to the sink. “I can build a program that Zatan might want. Perhaps something that discovers parts of the dark net. I will make sure it has the usual signs of my Prixster tools.”
“Perfect. If he eagerly installs your software, we won’t need to break into his computer. I presume you intend to add something he doesn’t expect—something he won’t notice.”