17 - Repairing the breach
London – 12:05 pm Tuesday
Welcome to my online cyber thriller, The Phisherman. To learn more about the story and meet the three main characters, click HERE. If you'd prefer to start at Chapter 1, click HERE. To select another chapter, click HERE.It must have been at least a minute before Nick said anything.
He could see Alison’s mind whirring at a million miles an hour, and was concerned about setting her off again merely by talking.
At the same time, Nick had a crisis.
He needed her help.
And I need that help right now, not tomorrow.
‘Look, Ali, I’m sorry for making you angry,’ he said with remorse. ‘I hope you know I value you as a professional. Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me whether you’re a man, woman, or anyone else you choose to be. As you said, I came to you and requested your help. And I did that, knowing you are a woman. So, please, don’t take whatever this is out on me. We’re supposed to be on the same team. The real bad guy …’
Alison looked at him sharply.
‘… or gal or whatever this hacker is – that’s who we need to focus our energies on.’
He could see the anger dissipating from her face.
‘So please, can you tell me how we catch whoever this person is so we can stop the cyber project from getting out? If you knew how serious this software is, you’d realize this hacker’s gender is irrelevant.’
Alison’s eyes pierced Nick’s soul as she resumed her seat. It was like she was measuring him up, working out if she could trust him.
After a brief pause, she took another sip of her coffee, then gently sucked her red lips like she was pondering her next move.
‘So you come here and offend me for being a woman while expecting me to help you. And you won’t tell me why I should help other than giving me some far-fetched story about a secretive project that’s been stolen, which can affect us as one of your valued allies. Sorry, Nick, but you need to give me more than that to get any more assistance from me.’
Nick stared her in the eye.
‘Ali, if I knew anything more, I’d tell you. Honestly.’
Alison stared at him for several seconds before responding.
‘I don’t believe you, Nick, though I guess it’s more that you can’t tell me than you won’t.’
Nick waited, hoping Alison wouldn’t call his bluff.
His heart dropped when she stated, ‘You told me my government should be concerned about this project. So telling me you know nothing won’t suffice. I’m not asking you to break any oaths. But you need to let me know why I should help you find this hacker. Why should I give a damn about this secret project, Nick?’
‘And if you won’t tell me anything else, I’ll follow this through myself. Because the one thing I will tell you is your digital pickpocket is most likely on English soil. And I’m guessing that means a copy of those secret files is in England too.’
Nick leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and released a loud sigh. Discovering his hacker was nearby was unexpected. His heart skipped at the thought of capturing the SOB so quickly.
However, it means I need Alison’s help more than ever.
After a long pause, he leaned forward and stared intently into Alison’s resolute eyes.
‘Whatever I tell you must stay within these walls, Ali. You can’t tell anyone.’
‘That depends on what you tell me, Nick. Although I trust you, your employers are an entirely different ball game. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could kick an IBM mainframe from 1960. If I get the slightest whiff of a threat to my nation, all bets are off. ’
Alison leaned forward and repeated her question with more intensity.
‘So what can you tell me, Nick?’
Nick struggled to focus as he stared into her intense yet beautiful dark eyes only two feet away. He needed her.
And I want more than her help.
But what can I tell her without creating an international incident with our most significant ally?
As his mind settled, Nick whispered, ‘It’s a code-cracker.’
Alison held Nick’s eyes. Nick knew she was trying to ascertain if his words were true.
He must have convinced her because, after a brief pause, she asked, ‘And why is this code-cracker so important?’
‘I don’t know, Ali. I’m not a programmer. You know my specialty is hunting people. That’s why I’m here. I don’t need to know how the cracker works or why it’s unique. All I know is that it’s unlike any tech our gurus have created. And in the hands of our enemies, all comms we use on international missions can be decrypted. That’s why I have to find this hacker – for the safety of all our active forces. And then I must make such an example of whoever this mother is that no one dares to even think of hacking the Agency again.’
Alison took another deep breath before continuing with a sarcastic voice.
‘And I’m guessing your techsperts1 are planning to share this new code-cracker with their allies soon?’
Nick’s nervous lack of response drew a dry laugh from Alison.
‘Your guilty look tells me everything I need to know, Nick. And, to be honest, I wouldn’t expect anything less.’
Nick waited. His mission was on a knife’s edge.
After a long pause, Alison spoke in an emotionless voice.
‘Okay, Nick. Let me tell you how to find your hacker and this stolen code-cracker.’
Nick released an audible sigh that elicited a wry smile from Alison.
‘And once we do, I’ll ensure my Director-General has a personal conversation with your Director about how we saved your bacon yet again.’
Satisfied with the guilty look on Nick’s face, she launched into a technical monolog. Nick tried not to yawn as she spoke about utilising a vulnerability she’d recently discovered in the remote service the hacker had used in his exploit.
‘Let me get this rolling – it should only take a couple of minutes.’
Nick exhaled a silent sigh of relief. The woman Nick wanted had returned. The tiger had been tamed.
Well, she’s back in her cage for now.
Nick could tell from the flashing box on the monitor that Alison’s program had found something within sixty seconds.
‘What’s that mean, Ali? Have you found my hacker?’
Nick was frustrated when she turned to him and stared.
He forced himself to shut up.
After a brief moment that dragged on for too long, Alison calmly turned the monitor around so Nick couldn’t see it.
‘Thank you, Nick. This won’t take me long. But I don’t need you breathing down my neck. So chill. You’ll hear what I’ve got not long after I know it.’
Time stood still for Nick as Alison scrolled and clicked, checking through the findings on her screen. He knew she’d discovered something important from the gleeful surprise that flickered across her face, though it was only there for a brief moment, replaced just as swiftly by a blank expression.
After a few more clicks, she turned to Nick and drily stated, ‘Despite your lack of faith, Nick, I have a location.’
As Nick leaned forward and demanded with anticipation, ‘Where is it?’
‘I need you to settle down, Nick, because I’ve got better news than that.’
Nick sat back and tried to calm himself. That became more difficult when Alison left one of those frustrating pauses that made Nick want to shake her.
‘You’re not going to believe this, but your hacker is only fifteen miles away in a suburb called Redbridge.’
Nick jumped up in shocked delight. ‘Son of a bitch!’
That was unexpected.
At the same time, I don’t know what I expected.
Still, to find that the hacker was less than a forty-minute drive away – twenty minutes, the way Ali drives – was too good to be true.
‘And I’m guessing you have a street address?’
‘Of course I do,’ she smiled with a glint of mischief in her eyes.
For a moment, Nick stood there, admiring how such a gorgeous woman could be that clever yet have such a delightful sense of wickedness.
‘Ali, I take it all back. You are a legend, a true keyboard warrior.’
Alison tilted her head in acknowledgement, accepting Nick’s praise.
She was still looking proud of herself when he started moving toward the door. Her moment of praise was gone as Nick’s brain leapt into action.
‘And now, Ali, it’s time to move. We’ve got a hacker to catch. And this time, it’s in my world.’
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