He carried the equipment to the Prius, where Vyper sat in the passenger seat, computer in her lap.
Niko placed the jammer carefully in the back seat, connecting the power pack and antenna.
“You drive,” said Vyper. “I will monitor everything from here.”
“You’ll lose cell phone and internet access when we turn on the jammer.”
She held up a phone, much bigger than her cell. “I will use satellite—phone and internet. The frequency is lower.”
Niko started the car, backed out, and headed south. “Did Cybercade get your message? What are they doing?”
“I do not know, their firewall blocks my access, but they should have received the message.”
They approached the highway to Dulles Airport, and Niko took it. “I didn’t think any firewall could stop you.”
“Cybercade’s security people are good. It would take me a few hours to break in, and we do not have the time.”
A chime rang on Vyper’s laptop. “Something happened… Active shooter at McLean Plaza Mall. A SWAT team is on its way. Maybe I can find out more.” She began typing furiously.
Niko knew the mall. “Why would the Russians go after them?” He hit the accelerator. “It’s Christmas Eve—full of shoppers. A couple of miles past Cybercade.”
“Slow down. You do not want to be stopped by the police.”
He eased off the gas. “We can’t go to the mall. The cops won’t let us anywhere near the place. Besides, we can’t help—it’s a shooter, not a bunch of drones.”
A video appeared on Vyper’s screen, then she switched to another and another. “I do not see anything unusual in any part of the mall. They must not know about the shooter… uh, never mind… now people are running.”
There were too many things going on at once. Niko tried to make sense of it all. “How did Fairfax County dispatch the SWAT team? Their computers are under attack.”
“Loudoun County responded. They must be assisting Fairfax while their computers are out of service.”
Niko thought about turning around at the next exit but changed his mind. “Any news of casualties? Anyone spot the shooter?”
“Nothing so far. Just people running away and police rushing to the scene.”
The toll road was directly ahead. Niko followed the ramp and took the EZ-Pass lane onto the highway. “What if this is a distraction? It’s a perfect time to launch an attack on Cybercade.”
“It started.” Vyper tapped away at the keyboard. “Someone rerouted the 9-1-1 calls. Just like they did with the Action Center attack. Calls are not going to the County, and I do not have time to fix it. I will send EMS Telecom a message.”
Niko stepped on the gas. No need to worry about being stopped. Any cops in the area would be speeding to the mall, lights flashing. “Is there any place in the Cybercade parking lot where cameras won’t see us?”
“No. But there is a restaurant just across the road. Their parking lot is less than one hundred feet from the back of the Cybercade building. Take the first right after the Shell station.”
He pulled off the toll road and spotted his turn. “Can you access their cameras?”
“Their network is secure. All I can tap into is their email.”
Niko turned right and drove toward the restaurant. He turned off his lights and drove toward a dimly lit section of the parking lot. Before he had a chance to park, a spotlight on the Cybercade roof cut through the twilight darkness in the southern part of the sky.
“They spotted a drone.” Vyper grabbed her cell phone and pressed a number. “If your phone responds, no one is jamming. They will be vulnerable.”
The phone in Niko’s pocket vibrated and rang as he pulled to a stop. “Turn on the jammer. Put the antenna on the roof.”
While Vyper reached into the back seat, a drone appeared above Cybercade, dropping rapidly. It hit the roof with a bang, and a fireball erupted from the top of the building.
Vyper barely flinched as she retrieved the antenna and stuck the magnetic mount on the roof of the Prius.
Niko jumped out of the car and searched the sky. The faint sound of an electric drill—or angry hornets—drew his attention to the right, where an octocopter holding a package hovered a hundred yards away.
Vyper rushed over to him. “The jammer is working. It looks like this drone is programmed to stop when it loses its signal. If we turn off the jammer, I believe it will continue its attack.”
A siren wailed at Cybercade, overwhelming the buzzing of the octocopter. Niko peered through the tree line. He saw dozens of people running from the front door. One woman held her cell phone to her ear, then glanced at the screen and put the phone back in her pocket. Two men did the same thing.
Vyper shook her head. “Cell phones, security cameras, nothing will work. Emergency responders will not come.”
“I can shoot it down,” said Niko. “But I’d rather avoid that in this neighborhood. Maybe we should let it hover until it runs out of power. How long do you think it’ll take?”
“Hard to say. Maybe up to fifteen—”
A metallic boom came from the building. The drone broke apart and fell.
Through the tree line, Niko spotted two men in guard uniforms aiming rifles at the sky. A broken drone lay on the parking lot a dozen feet in front of them.
Outside Cybercade, everyone tried to start their cars at once, like the beginning of the Indy 500. Horns blared, and tires squealed, as cars darted to the exit, narrowly avoiding collisions.
Niko searched the sky in the area he believed the other octocopters came from. “They used three drones on the Action Center, but I don’t see another one. We have to get out of here soon. Let’s turn off the jammer and watch.”
He reached into the back seat and flipped the switch. Less than a minute later, a buzzing sound announced the approach of another drone. It stopped the second he turned the jammer back on.
A second gunshot hit the drone, knocking it out of the sky.
Niko turned off the equipment again. They waited one minute, then another. After five minutes with no sign of a drone, Niko pulled the antenna off the roof and tossed it inside the car. He ran to the driver’s side and jumped in behind the wheel. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Hold on,” said Vyper. She opened the back of the Prius and removed a license plate from the spare tire compartment. She attached it magnetically on top of the existing plate before getting in the car.
Niko backed out and drove to the road before turning on his lights.
“Take the parkway back,” said Vyper. “Traffic cameras recorded our arrival. The Prius will look suspicious if it is seen arriving and leaving the area within a short period of time.”
“You changed the plates. Besides, there are a lot of light blue Priuses on the road. Aren’t you being a bit paranoid?”
“I am cautious.”
On the way to the parkway, Niko tried to make sense of the chaotic day. “The Russians weren’t successful in taking out Cybercade. And they’d be nuts to try again.”
“If no one steals any of their money, perhaps they will assume the threat is over.”
A chill shot up Niko’s spine. “Then they’re free to execute their plan. But we don’t know what it is.”
Chapter 12
Profiling
As soon as they arrived home, Niko flipped on cable news and sat on the couch. Funny how he’d come to think of Vyper’s place as home. She insisted he stay until they eliminated Sokolov as a threat.
The TV screen showed a live aerial view of the Cybercade building surrounded by fire engines, police cars, and other emergency vehicles. Below the images, a Breaking News chyron announced: