The windowless room had a large whiteboard on the wall and a rectangular conference table in the center, surrounded by seven chairs, four of them empty. The woman closed the door and took a seat at one end, leaving three available chairs—all on one side.
Niko sat closest to the woman who appeared to be in charge. Bodnar sat on his right, leaving the remaining seat for Vyper. Across the table, they faced three men in dark business suits, each one holding a light-blue folder.
On Niko’s left, the woman spoke. “My name is Victoria Evans. My associates are here to observe. We’ve studied your backgrounds and the recent events that brought you here. The security clearances you obtained at Kozel Group remain active, and they’ll be sufficient for the briefing you receive today.” She handed some papers to Mr. Bodnar. “Each of you need to sign this form before we proceed.”
Bodnar quickly read through each document and nodded. “This is standard.” He handed one copy to Niko and another to Vyper. “It says you can’t repeat anything you learn today—ever. Go ahead and sign it.”
When Ms. Evans received the signed copies, she placed them in her folder and set three identical large color photos on the table. “This is Stepan Belenko, also known as Zatan. He’s six feet tall, a hundred and ninety pounds. He runs a Russian cyber operation. As you know, his former boss and benefactor, Alexei Sokolov, is dead. Belenko seems to have found another benefactor, since his operation remains active.”
Niko had never known what Zatan looked like. He expected to see a young computer nerd, but this was a powerfully built man, with short blond hair and a long bulbous nose.
The men across the table stared at the three of them, like predators stalking their prey.
Evans leaned forward. “Several oil pipelines and refineries in Texas and Louisiana are experiencing cyber-attacks, and we believe it’s Belenko. His team hacked into the administrative systems and stole personal information. They’re probably behind the spear phishing campaign—system admins are receiving bogus emails demanding they change their password. So far, we believe none of them have clicked on the false link. But our greatest concern is the probes of the operational network, where pipelines are monitored and controlled. So far, they haven’t penetrated any of those systems.”
None of this was a surprise to Niko. What do they need us for?
Evans raised an eyebrow. “I know what you’re thinking. This is normal security monitoring and incident response.” She took a sheet of paper from her folder and turned it for everyone to see. Names and logos of corporations dotted the page. “The pipelines, refineries, networks, and computers are privately owned by these companies. We’ve offered to inspect and defend their systems, but each company refused. They don’t trust the government. They treat their corporate secrets like gold.”
Niko pursed his lips to keep from smiling. Marko would never have let that stop him. If systems needed protection, Kozel Group would protect them, even if they refused assistance.
“The owners haven’t granted us authority to perform penetration tests. We can’t plant bugs on their networks to infect Russian computers.” Evans sat back in her chair and swiveled slightly in Niko’s direction. “We need someone else to do it for us. Someone who can do it anonymously. If these companies discover the intrusion, our government needs to be able to deny involvement.”
Niko nodded. It’s all about deniability.
Evans’ eyebrows pinched together. “One more thing. We know you were trying to track down Belenko… Zatan. We can’t do it ourselves without illegally breaking into private computers, spoofing addresses, and leveraging uncooperative telecom company networks. We need to learn where his operation is located. We need to plant bugs on his computers. But we aren’t authorized—someone else must do it instead.”
For the next hour and a half, the briefing went into details. Niko and Vyper engaged in the conversation cooperatively, asking and answering questions.
Niko glanced at his watch—3:45. So far, no one discussed immunity. He nudged his lawyer.
Mr. Bodnar cleared his throat. “This has been a productive meeting. One I feel will lead to better safeguards for our country. My clients are prepared to work for you if they’re granted immunity from prosecution as we previously discussed.”
Evans set her papers on the table. “We’ve spoken about this with Secretary Grimes who’s been in contact with the Department of Justice. They agreed to reduce the recommended sentence to a range from three to six months.”
Niko looked at Vyper, her eyes beginning to water. He shook his head.
Bodnar fixed his gaze on Evans. “Our understanding was complete immunity—no prison time at all. Who changed their mind?”
“I wasn’t aware of any earlier agreement. All I can tell you is Secretary Grimes won’t reduce the sentence recommendation. He feels your clients broke the law with their illegal hacking and need to serve time.”
“Do you realize how ridiculous this sounds? You want my clients to illegally hack on your behalf, so you have deniability, but they must serve time for doing the same thing.”
They continued to argue without making progress.
At 4:00 as agreed earlier, Niko began to play hardball. “Why’d you ask us to come here if you weren’t willing to grant full immunity?”
Evans shifted her gaze to Niko. “Would you prefer to spend twenty years in prison? That’s your alternative.”
“Lydia and I have cooperated. This meeting was productive. You know we could help keep the country safe. Is this the way you treat people who agree to help?”
“This is not negotiable. We treat all hackers the same.”
“I’m surprised none of them have retaliated—sought revenge.”
The men across the table glared at Niko. Even Vyper and Bodnar stared at him with looks of disbelief.
Evans’s eyes narrowed. “Revenge? What are you suggesting?”
“I was just saying. Lots of hackers have uncovered government secrets—black sites where prisoners are tortured, even killed. I could imagine hackers using information like that against the government.”
“Is this a threat?” Evans pulled out her phone and texted something.
Niko shook his head. “Of course not. I wouldn’t do anything like that. Even if I wanted to, I’ve been under surveillance ever since my arrest.”
The door opened, and two uniformed guards entered.
Evans looked at Bodnar. “Zima will remain here. You and Harris will come with me.” She stood up and faced the guards. “Don’t let him leave.”
Niko watched everyone exit the room, leaving him alone with the guards. His heart pounded. Stick to the plan.
In about five minutes, the first-time bomb was scheduled to go off. Thousands of bots were poised to distribute the exposé of the secret black site in Batman, Turkey, where captured ISIS fighters were held and tortured. Some were even killed. Niko had used Google to translate the exposé to Turkish for release in that country. The story would also show up on the Homeland Security web page, and Secretary Grimes would receive an anonymous email at his official and personal email accounts.
There was no backing out now. This was the only way he knew to keep Vyper out of prison. As far as the government knew, Vyper didn’t participate in this ‘revenge.’ In half an hour, another time bomb was scheduled to go off.
Twenty minutes later, the door opened. Evans returned with two short-haired men in suits. One of them took a set of handcuffs off his belt. “Hold your hands together in front of you.” He snapped the cuffs on Niko’s wrists.