6 - Nick the Geek
Washington DC – February 2020
Welcome to my online cyber thriller, The Phisherman. This chapter is where you start to learn about the cyber weapon - and be prepared: it's definitely a scary idea. When you discover how it works, I guarantee it will blow most readers' minds, not just with what it does, but by how credible it sounds. However, if want to learn more about the story and meet the three main characters first, click HERE. To start at Chapter 1, click HERE. To select another chapter, click HERE.
When Nick eventually turned up at Langley for his next assignment, he was unsure what would result from Casey’s threats in London.
It didn’t take long to find out.
‘Davies, it’s so good to see you,’ Casey said as he walked into her office, though he knew from her proud look and self-satisfied tone that he would not feel the same way.
She reinforced that when she remained seated in her comfortable chair.
He scanned his boss’s expansive yet minimalist den.
No surprise to see it’s still as cold and unwelcome as ever. There are no family photos or anything to indicate the Bitch has an everyday life outside the Agency.
True to her apparent OCD, she couldn’t refrain from meticulously orientating the few items on her desk. An expensive pen, a plain notepad, her PC’s aqua vertical mouse and matching mousepad were all squarely aligned. And the four-inch marble statue of a clenched fist inside a Venus sign representing feminine power was positioned at the corner of her desk to face whoever walked through her door.
Nick glanced down at the two perfectly-spaced chairs she’d chosen for visitors. They were hard, square wooden surfaces designed to ensure anyone who sat in them would squirm.
And that’s before the Bitch has opened her mouth.
‘Don’t sit down,’ she commanded. ‘You don’t deserve that much of my time.’
Nick openly mouthed ‘bitch’ to Casey’s subtly painted face.
He was delighted with the flash of anger her immaculately applied makeup could not conceal. However, it was only momentary.
Swiftly recovering control, Casey leaned back in her seat and released a loud, smug sigh. As Nick stood in front of her with a look that conveyed utter contempt for the woman who’d been given authority over him, she smiled at him with an evil glint in her eyes.
‘I must admit, I’ve been waiting for this day since we met,’ she continued in a voice dripping with venom. ‘You cannot understand how delighted I am to tell you, Nick Davies, self-proclaimed champion of Counter-Terrorism, that you are temporarily reassigned to Cyber.’
As the shock announcement penetrated Nick’s mind, his spiteful boss gleefully continued. Nick tried to ignore the vomit spewing from Casey’s pursed lips as she rambled on about how Nick had unnecessarily endangered himself and his team. Apparently, his mind was no longer focused enough to function in that role effectively. He had seen too much destruction and death up close and personal. As a result, his attitude had become cavalier.
Casey’s shrill voice jarred Nick back to reality.
‘Because of your supposedly brilliant intellect, “upstairs” think you could be useful working on internal projects. I tried to convince them that you’re simply an old relic and a danger to our future. But, for some inexplicable reason, they believe you are still valuable and can give the cyber team real-world insight into their project. So, you’ve been transferred to the Cyber Special Operations Group for six months, effective immediately.’
When Nick emitted a menacing growl and stepped toward Casey, she pointed to the video camera in the top corner of her room and continued with an overly cheerful voice.
‘Come on, Davies. Have a go. Prove to me yet again what a mindless meat-headed man you are. This is just too good. Your shallow male ego is easier to trigger than I thought.’
When Nick stepped back, she smiled.
‘Yet again, you disappoint me. However, I’ll make sure Doctor Browning watches the silent video of your performance today. He’ll complete some psych tests to see if we can make your desk role permanent. I’ve already warned him about your anger issues …’
‘Lady, anger management isn’t my issue. All I need is for idiots like you to stop pissing me off with your underwhelming stupidity.’
‘I don’t care what you need or think, Davies. All I care is that you be a good dog and report to your new boss, Garry Whyte, head of C-SOG. Garry’s heading up a top-secret project the Agency thinks you could help with, God knows how. However, I’m sure you’ll love sitting at a desk for eight hours a day, five days a week. I know I’m thrilled by it. Well, off with you.’
And with a flick of her pale, bony fingers indicating Nick needed to leave, Casey leaned forward and studied her computer monitor. She was making it clear to Nick – her time overseeing Nick Davies had reached its finale. Who he was and all he’d done in the Counter-Terrorism Special Operations Group meant nothing to her.
After mouthing off a few final choice insults and kicking over the two visitor chairs, Nick slammed the door shut and stormed downstairs, ignoring her departing comment, ‘Someday you’ll go far, Davies – and I really hope you stay there.’
It was easy locating Garry Whyte’s spacious office.
Nick stood quietly in the doorway and surveyed the slight man sitting at his desk. Though he was probably only five years older than Nick, his light brown hair was filled with light grey streaks, and the creases of age married with stress lined his face.
Nick was not surprised to see an efficient and well-organized space with minimal distractions. However, unlike most geeks Nick had dealt with, Garry appeared to have a life beyond technology. The extensive array of frames on his desk proudly displaying various photos of Garry with a happy wife and two children, a boy and a girl, revealed Nick’s new boss – for now – was a family man before everything else.
And I don’t mind whatever that music is he’s got playing in the background.
Despite the evidence for the slight geek boss having a real life, Nick was initially wary of someone he regarded as the ultimate desk jockey. So he was surprised to find how easy Garry was to engage in conversation. Within minutes they were laughing like old friends as they paid out on what an obnoxious pain in the ass Casey was. Nick almost fell off his chair when Garry drily commented, ‘You know Casey brings most people around here a lot of joy, Nick … when she leaves the room.’
Nick was somewhat disappointed when his new boss brought up the cyber project.
‘Our Government thinks this cyber weapon will change the War on Terror, Nick. And if it works as planned, it will transform the art of war. Of course, we know you’re not a skilled programmer. However, the powers-that-be expect you to inject a real-world tactical perspective into the project. And I’m sure the crew will love getting your thoughts. Despite what we’ve seen in movies, you’re the only one on the team trained and experienced in using pain to extract data from human subjects.’
Nick was intrigued by Garry’s final comment. Torturing prisoners for information that saved American lives was something he had enjoyed in past operations. However, he could not comprehend how those skills related to a cyber project.
His curiosity vanished when Garry exclaimed, ‘And on that note, I think it’s time you met the team.’
Nick found it hard to match Garry’s passion.
After the fearless people I’ve fought alongside for the last few years, working with a bunch of weak nerds is not something I’m looking forward to. Thanks, Super Bitch.
However, within the first hour, Nick was pleasantly surprised at the witty camaraderie among the small group. The nerds were intelligent, possessed a droll slapstick sense of humor that left Nick rolling on the floor laughing, and they all accepted Nick into their family without a second thought. Despite too many unkempt beards and the two programmers in their twenties sporting mullets, most of the geeks looked like ordinary people. Several wore clothes that Nick would wear in public. And Nick was shocked to see three women amongst them. Even more surprisingly, the two slim, young brunettes were up to his dating standards.
When the taller one called Julie smiled invitingly at him as she adjusted her glasses, Nick knew the days ahead were not entirely bleak.
Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. And Casey Bitch will be so pissed off when I send her a ‘thank you’ photo of me and Jules getting together after work.
Within two days, Nick was back to working incredibly long hours. However, instead of chasing violent extremists, he banged away on the keyboard of his C-SOG-issued laptop, providing feedback and insight to his new team as the project advanced.
Nick understood why he’d been brought on board once he learned how the insidious cyber weapon called 831 worked. Although it was hard to believe, the geeks had developed code that could physically hurt people sitting in front of a computer device. The programmers now needed a professional killer to teach them how to make their software more efficient and effective at hurting people.
Seeing 831 in action made Nick think twice about spending time with Julie. Garry had laughingly told him, ‘Jules was the first one on the team to volunteer for running trials on our human guinea pigs. You’d better watch out for her, Nick. She’s got a dark side. And I think she’s dangerous.’
At the time, Nick had laughed too.
He stopped laughing when Jules delivered her report during Nick’s first team update. Her excitement over the tests’ hideous outcomes as they were projected in high-definition onto the wall for all to see made him shudder. And it took a lot to shake Nick.
After seeing the video, Nick understood why the cyber project was classified top-secret. And that meant he had to secure any related digital documents on his laptop within a virtual machine.1 A VM allowed Nick to use his computer for everyday activities like emails when he wasn’t working on project materials. If anything disastrous happened on the computer, the project documents would be safely isolated within their software-based cocoon.
However, the VM application permitted Nick to create another virtual machine for his non-approved, extra-curricular activities. Because Nick only gambled inside that VM, it prevented the laptop’s operating system from monitoring his gambling forays. As a result, the Agency didn’t know what he was doing with their equipment.
Unsurprisingly, no matter how large Nick’s workload was from 831, there were always small moments when Nick could attend to his vice and add an extra thrill to his work.
Thanks for reading my online serial. I hope you enjoyed meeting the colorful characters in this chapter. If you enjoyed this chapter, please click the heart-shaped LIKE button below. And if you have any suggestions to help make the story better or want to encourage me as a storyteller (either would be nice), please leave a comment.A virtual machine (aka VM) is a software computer created and used within a physical computer. Like physical computers, VMs run applications and an operating system. However, VMs are computer files that run on a physical computer and behave like a physical computer. For example, I could have Windows 10 on my actual computer and a VM running a version of Linux. Or I might use a VM specifically for online shopping, so if I get hacked while online, only my VM is hacked – my actual computer is safe. To learn more, check out What a Virtual Machine is & how it works [Microsoft]