The Devil's Ransom, page 33
Wolffe said, “Tell POTUS to turn off the abort. We might have a way to stop this.”
“What? How? You have some line on the Iranians?”
“I don’t have time to explain right now, but it’s not the Iranians. Don’t let them abort.”
“The president has already given the order to their mission control.”
I said, “Then tell him to countermand it!”
“Who is this?”
Wolffe glowered at me and said, “It’s Pike Logan. Sorry, you’re on speaker.”
“So this is his idea?”
“No, it’s mine. Look, we can save that capsule but we need more time.”
“The president isn’t available right now. He’s in a prescheduled meeting with the president of Lebanon. They have a state dinner tonight.”
“Get him out of the meeting!”
“I can’t. Not without alerting everyone that something’s amiss.”
I said, “Then you make the call. Contact their mission control and countermand the order.”
“I don’t have that authority.”
What is it with these people afraid to make a decision? No wonder they’re always wetting their pants when I’m on the ground.
I said, “Look, sir, this isn’t hard. Just countermand the order for time. Tell them to hold off until the last moment, then abort.”
He said, “How do I know you’ve actually got anything?”
“You don’t, but you do know something.”
“What?”
“You sit on your ass and the deaths of those four people are on your head.”
Chapter 68
Gordon Dillard watched the debate inside mission control intently. As NASA liaison, he could give his opinion, but he wasn’t involved in the ultimate decision.
The lead engineer from Auriga said, “I can’t believe I just got a call from the president of the United States ordering us to abort. He can’t tell us what to do with our company.”
A female engineer said, “But he has a point. The farther the capsule gets from the orbital plane, the less are their chances of survival.”
“The chances are less than fifty percent as it is. Waiting a bit isn’t going to make that much of a difference.”
Gordon felt his phone vibrate and stepped away.
“Hello?”
“Gordon Dillard, from NASA?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“It’s Alexander Palmer. I’m the national security advisor to the president. I know he just called to tell Auriga to abort. I need you to tell them not to.”
“What? Why?”
“Things have changed. We think we have a lead on the ransomware. We think we can turn it off.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, but it’s worth a wait.”
“Not really. They’re debating the issue right now. The problem is the farther they leave from the orbital plane, the less the chance of survival.”
Palmer didn’t respond. Gordon said, “Hello? Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, I heard you. Look, it’s your call, but we have a greater chance of saving that capsule than they have if they abort. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Sir, it’s not my call. I have no authority here.”
“Do you agree with what I just said?”
“Yes, it makes sense. If you have even a sixty percent chance of success, that beats the odds of them aborting.”
“Then figure out a way to convey that.”
Gordon saw the group of Auriga engineers huddle around a computer and said, “I gotta go.”
He hung up and went to the computer, pulling the lead engineer away. He said, “What’s going on?”
“We decided to punt. Let Skyler make the decision.”
“I just talked to the White House. The thinking has changed. They no longer want an abort.”
“Well, no offense, but it’s not the White House’s call. It’s ours, which means it’s Skyler’s. Not only is he CEO, but it’s his ass on the line.”
“You don’t understand. They think they can clear the ransomware.”
“They think? The longer we sit here, the less chance that capsule has for coming home.”
“It has less of a chance right now than the odds of clearing the ransomware. Don’t let them abort.”
One of the engineers pulled the lead away, handing him a headset. He put it on, and Gordon grabbed one from an adjacent computer. He heard “Mission control, this is Valkyrie One. More precisely, this is Skyler Fitch. I’ve decided to abort. We will initiate shortly.”
Gordon keyed the mike, saying, “Sir, this is Gordon Dillard from NASA. We believe that’s premature. We recommend waiting until being forced to do so due to time constraints.”
“That’s great, NASA, but you aren’t running this show. My people have told me the pluses and minuses and I’ve made my decision.”
The Auriga lead engineer tried to pull off Gordon’s headset, but he batted the hands away, keying the mike again. “What’s the mission commander say?”
Skyler came back with “I’m the mission commander.”
Gordon said, “Fabio, Fabio, this is NASA, are you on the net?”
On board the capsule, Fabio looked at Skyler, then keyed his mike. “This is Fabio, go ahead.”
“Don’t abort. I say again, do not abort until I say so.”
Skyler said, “Mission control, get that man off the net.”
They heard nothing for a few seconds, then the lead engineer came back on, saying, “He’s gone. If he gives us any more trouble, I’ll call security.”
Skyler said, “Okay, we’re proceeding with the abort. Prepare to receive.”
Fabio did nothing. Off the net, Skyler said, “Push that button.”
“No. We’re not aborting. I’m the mission commander.”
“And I’m your boss. Push that button or you’re fired!”
Fabio looked at him and said, “Fuck off.”
Skyler’s eyes grew wide and Fabio wondered if this was the first time someone had ever told him no.
Skyler began to work the buckles on his harness and Fabio said, “If you leave that seat, you’ll spend the rest of this journey unconscious. We aren’t aborting.”
Chapter 69
Andrei Obrenovic felt his phone vibrate and thought, Finally. He looked at the number and saw it wasn’t Nikita. It was an unknown. He thought about declining it, but then recognized the area code as Washington, DC. He accepted the call.
“Is this Andrei Obrenovic? The Russian oligarch?”
“It is, but I don’t like that term. I’d prefer ‘the Russian businessman.’”
“Businessman? What’s your business? I mean besides bankrolling hackers to take money from U.S. corporations?”
That got Andrei’s attention. He said, “Who is this?”
“Who I am doesn’t matter. What I represent does. My reach is long, and your protection right now is poor.”
Andrei laughed and said, “I promise my protection is adequate. You’ll have to do better than phone threats.”
“You mean Nikita? And his pack of pipe hitters? They’re dead. I killed them in Croatia. And I’m coming for you unless you answer one simple question.”
Andrei turned in a circle, not wanting to believe the words, but how else would he know the name of his head of security? And that he was in Croatia?
Andrei hadn’t had contact with Nikita in days, which also bolstered the story. He said, “What do you want?”
“I’m not after you. Yet. I’m after a man I know as Sphinx. I only know his code name, but I know you know his identity. He’s an American and of no consequence to you.”
“I know of no such name. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Andrei, listen to me closely. Nothing this man says will come back to you. I have bigger fish to fry than to chase you down, but make no mistake, I’m going to find Sphinx. If I do it the hard way, it’ll be through you. I’m going to find you. And I’m going to kill you.”
“I can’t give you what I don’t know.”
“Then enjoy what’s left of your life living like a pauper.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means the only way you’re going to extend how long you walk this earth is to disappear, meaning no more yachts, no more villas in the mountains, no more caviar. It’ll let you live a few months longer, but you’ll still die. It’s what I do. You do ransomware, and I hunt men for a living.”
Andrei considered for a moment, then said, “So if I give you the name, you leave me alone?”
“Yes. With one caveat: you no longer bankroll ransomware gangs. I’ve already destroyed Dark Star. Don’t give me a reason to regret today’s decision.”
The mention of Dark Star made up Andrei’s mind. The man was telling the truth, and if he’d killed Nikita and the rest of Andrei’s security, he was skilled.
He said, “His name is Dylan. I don’t know his last name, but he runs a cybersecurity firm in the United States. He’s some sort of computer genius.”
“That’s it? That’s all you know?”
“Yes. Well, when I talked to him on the phone he had a DC area code just like you. I don’t know if that’s where he lives, but that was his cell phone.”
“Give me his number.”
“It won’t do any good. It was a burner phone. Each time he called me, it was from a different number, but the area code was always DC. He only used each SIM card once, and that’s all I know.”
“That’s enough. You just earned the right to keep eating caviar. Don’t forget what I said.”
Andrei started to answer, but the line went dead.
Chapter 70
I hung up the phone and said, “What was the name of that guy that helped us with our ransomware and then helped the NSC? Wasn’t it Dylan?”
Wolffe said, “Yeah, Dylan Hobbes. Why?”
I looked at Knuckles and said, “Head upstairs to the team rooms. Get a low-vis package for the team.” I turned to Blaine, saying, “Show him what we can steal.”
Blaine led the team out of the room and I said, “What’s his company? Where is it? It’s here in DC, isn’t it?”
“It’s called Second Day Solutions and yeah, it’s here in DC. Why?”
I turned to the computer on the desk and googled the name, saying, “The Russian said his first name was Dylan, he was a computer genius, and he had a DC area code. That’s our target. That’s Sphinx.”
“Dylan Hobbes? That’s insane. He has a security clearance higher than God. He worked for both the NSA and Cyber Command. He’s been briefing the president of the United States, for Christ’s sake.”
I saw the address in Tysons Corner, about twenty minutes away. I said, “And what’s he been briefing? He’s the one that’s been talking about Iran. All the proof of the so-called Iranian penetration came from him. He’s the reason we’re about to be at war.”
I stood up and Wolffe said, “Wait a minute. Wait just a minute. You can’t conduct an assault on United States soil. It’s against the charter and might very well compromise the Taskforce. Let me call the DC police. Get a SWAT team on it.”
I looked at my watch and said, “It took Kerry Bostwick an hour to track down that number. It’s going to take me twenty minutes just to get there. It’ll take you at least an hour to get through the red tape, and we don’t have that sort of time.”
I hollered down the hall, “Creed, get your ass in here!”
“Creed? What’s he going to do?”
“He’s going to help me stop the ransomware.”
Fabio looked at his watch and called mission control, his eyes on the abort button. “Mission control, mission control, how are we looking?”
“The PONR is in thirty minutes,” meaning point of no return.
Skyler heard the transmission and said, “Hit it now, just in case we’re in the same boat we were before. Give us some time to fix it if it doesn’t fire.”
Fabio said, “No. Let them work the problem.”
Skyler lost his calm demeanor, saying, “Press that damn button! If we wait and it doesn’t work, we’re going into the space station!”
Fabio turned to him and said, “I’m not pressing that button until NASA instructs me to do so.”
Skyler got on the radio and said, “Mission control, mission control, this is Skyler.”
“This is mission control, go.”
“Get that NASA guy on the net. Tell him to tell this asshole to press the button.”
We went racing out of the parking garage in two cars, getting on Interstate 66 toward Tysons Corner, me talking on the radio the whole way.
“Okay, we’re going to get there with about five minutes to spare. We go in hard, no knock and wait. If the door to the office is locked, we breach it explosively. You all have Dylan’s picture. Just control anyone else. Get them on the floor and move on. There are no hostiles here.”
I got head nods in my vehicle and a “roger” from the one following.
We reached the 495 loop and I said, “Five minutes out. Anyone who gets jackpot call Creed forward. Creed, you wait at the breach with Jennifer until we call.”
I turned around and looked at him. He nodded, childlike glee on his face from being involved in an operation on the ground instead of staring at a computer screen.
Behind the wheel, Jennifer exited 495, passed the National Counterterrorism Center, then said, “That’s it. That’s the building.”
I looked at the structure, seeing what appeared to be a warehouse instead of some sleek, modern building housing a cutting-edge computer company. I said, “You sure? That’s not what I thought it would look like.”
“That’s the address.”
“Pull up front. Knuckles, you have breach. Jennifer, stay with Creed until we call. Your other duty is going to be security for the people we find inside who aren’t Dylan. You have enough flex-ties?”
She nodded, and I said, “Veep, Brett, stack with me.”
We screeched to a stop, everyone bailing out on the run. There was no door at ground level that we could see. We found a flight of stairs and raced up them to the second level. There was a steel door with a small sign stating, “Second Day Solutions. Ring the bell for service.”
Knuckles tried the handle, shook his head, and slapped a charge on the frame right next to the lockset. We scooted together behind him, getting out of the blast radius and drawing our weapons. He crouched, I cleared the radius, making sure everyone was behind me, then rubbed his shoulder.
The door lock shattered in a blinding flash, the overpressure slamming into us, the noise splitting the air, and I was moving, running around Knuckles and kicking the door open on its twisted frame.
I entered an anteroom with two people in it, neither of them Dylan Hobbes. I pointed my weapon at them and shouted, “Down, down. Get the fuck on the ground.”
They did so, and I went forward to an office, saying on the net, “That’s the holding area. Koko, flex-tie them and don’t let them use a phone.” I stopped at the door, felt a squeeze, and entered, seeing a man behind a computer looking at me in shock.
I jerked him to his feet and flung him into the anteroom, letting Jennifer take over. I didn’t even wait for him to hit the ground, racing to the next office, Veep behind me. I saw Knuckles and Brett on the other side of the room doing the same thing, going into one office and extracting people before moving to the next. I reached the last office, finding yet another man behind a computer, and instead of jerking him out, I pointed my gun at him and said, “Where’s Dylan Hobbes?”
He raised his hands in the air and said, “In the SCIF. In the lab SCIF.”
“Where is that?”
“Downstairs. It’s downstairs.”
I broke out of the office, saying on the net, “All elements, all elements, downstairs. Koko, get those last two on the ground, get their cells, then bring Creed.”
Knuckles was first in the stairwell, me right behind him. We took the steps two at a time, leapt over a landing, and continued on to the bottom. Knuckles jerked the door handle and we met Dylan Hobbes, his hand out like he was trying to open it.
He said, “What was that explosion?” Then he saw us with our guns and said, “What—”
Knuckles stunned him with a jab to the face and grabbed his arm, planting a hip into his body and rotating. Hobbes flipped over Knuckles’ back and slammed into the ground, hard. Knuckles rolled him to his stomach, then flex-tied his hands together, Hobbes screaming the whole time.
Knuckles jerked him to his feet and I leaned into him, pointing my weapon at his nose. I said, “You have about five minutes to live. Where is the ransomware computer?”
“Wh . . . what?”
I theatrically racked my slide, a round flipping through the air, then shoved it into his temple.
He pointed with his head, saying, “In there. In there.”
Chapter 71
Gordan Dillard looked at his watch, saw they were out of time, and pressed the mike, resigned to the fact that he was about to kill four people. But four was better than the entire space station.
“Fabio, Fabio, this is NASA, do you copy?”
“This is Fabio, go.”
He took a deep breath, then said, “We’re out of time. I’m sorry. It didn’t work out. Go ahead and abort.”
Sounding as if he were ordering a pizza, Fabio said, “Roger. Copy abort. Confirm?”
“This is NASA. I confirm.”
Inside the capsule, Fabio looked at his fellow travelers and said, “It’s been good to know you. Everyone take fifteen seconds to pray or do whatever you need to do.”
The time elapsed and he reached for the button, flipping up the Plexiglas shield. He glanced once more around the capsule and put his finger on the button.
His helmet came alive, someone shouting, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
He pulled his hand back, saying, “Mission control, this is Valkyrie One. What’s the situation?”
“The screens are clearing. I say again, the screens are clearing. The point of no return is irrelevant now. Don’t abort. I say again, do not abort. Let us get control.”
