Vyper sat next to Niko and opened her laptop. “They say the same kind of drones were used in both attacks, but no one mentions Russians.”
The woman at the anchor desk announced the latest:
“…so far, no deaths have been reported. Emergency medical personnel are treating the injured in the parking area. At least five people were transported by ambulance to area hospitals. A Fairfax County Police spokesman said the injuries and damage would have been much higher if not for the heroic efforts of two security guards who shot down the drones. For more—”
Niko stood. “We were lucky. No one died. And it appears no one noticed our car.” He headed toward the garage. “I’ll put the jammer away.”
After moving the equipment to the computer room, Niko flopped on the couch. “I still don’t think we’re safe. If Sokolov ever realizes I’m alive, he’ll come after me. That means you could be in danger, too.”
Vyper nodded. “That is why we must do something to neutralize him.”
“What about his money? Marko threatened to take it all. Let’s take it.”
“Marko was smart, but he was bluffing. I gave him the only information I had on Sokolov’s accounts. I do not know where that murderer keeps the rest of his money.”
That was our ace in the hole. Now it’s gone.
Vyper closed her laptop and turned to face him. “You are surprised. I thought you knew.” She placed her hand on his. “We can stop him—you and me. We agreed. I will use my Prixster tricks, and you will be Trotsky.”
Her touch felt warm. Her eyes, light brown with gold flecks, held his gaze. All the awkwardness between them was gone. Even with all the tension, Niko had the urge to put a move on her. Kiss her.
Too risky. Could spook her. Take it slow.
“Okay, but you found Sokolov’s money before. Can you do it again?”
“It will take some time, but I can do it—thanks to Marko. He did not always follow the rules. We recently performed a vulnerability assessment of the US Treasury systems, and I made an unauthorized copy of suspicious account reports. I also know a back door into the European SWIFT system.”
“Holy crap. You can do that?”
“It is necessary. Marko would understand.”
“If you get caught—stealing data from Treasury and breaking into SWIFT—you could go to prison. Are you sure you want to risk it?”
Vyper removed her hand and straightened her back. “Marko is dead because of Sokolov. I will do anything to destroy that man.”
“I feel the same way.” Niko grabbed his laptop. “I’ll try to trace him through my contacts with Ukrainian hacker groups. I’m sure Sokolov himself never used a computer on the internet—he’d have people take care of those menial tasks for him.”
“I have a database of millions of Facebook users. Would that help? It includes their bio, their friends, and everything they ever typed or clicked on.”
“You’re amazing. I don’t know whether to call you Vyper or Prixster. Sure, this’ll help a lot. At least for people who use Facebook.”
“I have Google, Twitter, and Amazon, too. They all sell marketing data. Most of their clients are not tight on security. I have been collecting it for a couple of years. All the data is in the computer room.” She pointed to the spare bedroom. “You can access it from your laptop.”
The possibilities made Niko’s head spin. Nearly everyone who went on the internet used Google or Facebook—or both. And everything was recorded—from their first naïve years online. The amount of data available was mind-boggling.
For the last two weeks, Niko had been digging for clues to identify Zatan, but he came up with very little. He’d been doing this the hard way. Everything he learned was recorded on the one-page document displayed on his screen.
Niko turned his laptop toward Vyper. “I think this hacker works in the Siberian ‘research firm’ financed by Sokolov. How much can you find on him?”
Vyper tapped away on her keyboard, then shook her head. She typed some more. Finally, her fingers stopped, and she turned the screen so Niko could see it. “I can only find his Google searches—all originating from the dark net. The oldest one is from four months ago.”
“Amazing.” Niko hadn’t expected to find anything on the mysterious hacker. “I’m sure there’s a lot more information on normal people. Most of them pay no attention to security issues, but Zatan does.” He scanned through the report. “Interesting. Even these few searches tell me something about him. This hacker probably created the Zatan persona four months ago. The problem is, even though he speaks English, I’m sure he spends more time on Russian sites.”
“Like Yandex and mail.ru? I have those, too, although I do not speak the language. Marko requested it.”
Niko scooted closer to her. “Marko thought of everything. Since I know Russian, we can do a search.”
Vyper typed something into her computer. “I will show you how to search the databases.” The TV on the wall turned black, ending the network news program. The image of a computer screen appeared on the right side of the TV. “Each side is set up as a remote display. Project your laptop to the left side.”
Niko located the settings and selected it. Now his screen was projected on the left, with Vyper’s on the right. Following her directions, Niko ran the Russian search tool. The same program appeared on Vyper’s side of the TV, except everything was translated to English.
Her mouse pointer moved to an empty box. “Here’s where you enter Zatan. I have no idea how to do that with Cyrillic letters.”
He typed “Затан” and hit ENTER. A few seconds later, a report filled his screen—much more than the meager list of Google searches from the English database. It appeared to go back only four months, but it still represented a wealth of information about the mysterious hacker.
“I could spend days going through everything here.” Niko scanned through the sections of the report. “We’re still missing a lot. This guy must spend most of his time on the dark web—hacker stuff, black market… well, you know. I don’t suppose it shows up here.”
“No dark websites.”
“Okay, I think there’s enough here to develop a detailed psychological profile on him. If I learn enough, I’ll be able to con him into doing anything we want. Well, not quite anything—but I could get him to share information, maybe even trust your software.”
“You mentioned profiles,” said Vyper. “There are computer models that do the work for you.” Her screen changed to a list of files. “The one on the top is supposed to be really effective. It was used to micro-target voters with political ads—our election, Brexit, some others.”
Niko felt like he was drinking from a fire hose. “That model will create the psychological profile I need?”
“They call it psychographic. It is not my area of expertise. You understand people better than I do.”
He couldn’t believe the wealth of data and tools at his disposal. “I’ve got my work cut out for me, but you certainly made it easier.”
“If you learn the names of associates, or if you discover any of his previous internet identities, you should search for them as well.” Vyper started to rock. “We have to get to Sokolov. Stop him. Ruin him.”
Niko took her hand. “We’re going to get this guy. He’s going to pay for Marko’s death.”
Vyper’s eyes began to water.
“What’s wrong?… Are you okay?”
She wiped her eyes. “I miss Marko. Especially tonight.”
“What did you and Marko do on Christmas Eve?”
“We played video games.” She wiped away a tear and smiled. “I always won.”