Prologue-
1 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2013, Los Gatos, California.
From a few hundred feet away the intersection looked completely
clear. In fact, there was no other traffic visible in any direction, which
was no surprise for the late hour.
It was tough for the driver to steer, what with seven partiers
crammed into a sedan that seated five, but everyone had to get back
to the dorms, and this was the only ride available. When they piled
in he couldn?t say no. He wished they?d quiet down a little, though,
and let him focus on the road.
Maybe he?d had one too many himself, but he was doing okay?
not speeding, and hadn?t crossed any yellow lines so far. Besides, the
rest of them had been drinking more heavily.
As they neared the intersection the driver realized the traffic
signal was out. There were three?one on the right, one on the
opposite corner, and one overhead?and they were all out. That was
strange. Signals usually flashed when they weren?t working, right? He
eased off the accelerator, but they were already into the intersection.
A quarter way through he saw it?they all saw it?a tanker truck
bearing down on them. There wasn?t even time for them to close their eyes.
The residents of the apartment building who came out when the
cops and paramedics arrived said it sounded more like an explosion
than an accident, like a bomb had been dropped from a fighter jet.
It took three companies to control the blaze, which burned until
almost noon the next day. All seven in the car were incinerated, most
beyond recognition. The driver of the rig was killed too.
All the signals in a ten-square-mile area of the city had gone out
at the same time. The automatic backups, rigged to keep the red and
yellow lights flashing, didn?t work. According to the staff at CalTrans,
which controlled the new synchronized system, their monitors
showed everything was working properly at the time of the accident.
Network Systems had provided the server that ran the
synchronization. All functions were automated. Human error had
been removed. If a single signal went down, a rare occurrence to
begin with, the others in the intersection were programmed to stay
on. Traffic management was on its own grid, so if the power in an
area went out, signals still did their job. At worst, if an entire
intersection somehow went offline, the computers were set to make
the lights flash, to warn drivers of the potential danger. In short, the
accident should not have happened. It could not have happened.
Chapter 1-
4 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012, Yvonne Tran?s bedroom
Theirs was a relationship based on advantage?who held it and
when, and how strongly. When Stokes called her, she knew it was
hers, and she was not about to let him forget it.
She let the refrain from ?Satisfaction? play once more on her
smart phone before answering.
?You want something, darling??
He paused for a moment. The trace of her Russian accent always
did that to him, no matter how critical the situation. ?There?s a
problem,? he said.
?You mean aside from you waking me up at four in the
morning??
?Yes.?
?Let me guess. Your wife threw you out again??
He exhaled slowly into the receiver and she sensed his frustration.
Good. Keep the pressure on.
?No, Yvonne. There was an accident in Silicon Valley. Eight
people were killed.?
?My God. What happened??
?Something infiltrated an automated traffic system. No one out
there has a clue as to who or how.?
It was rare that anyone had a clue. That was the common
denominator among governments and corporations. She?d dealt with
enough of them?for and against?and had yet to encounter an
organization that had the slightest idea as to how the world really
worked.
?Is this a bad time, Yvonne? I mean, did you just get in? I know
how you like to party.?
How quickly he could shift gears. But if she recapped the
evening?s activities, she?d be open. She?d cede control to him. He
wanted those details, maybe more than he wanted to discuss this
latest crisis. Maybe there was no crisis, and he was merely using a
terrible power outage as an excuse for calling, for trying to put her on
the defensive, gain an opening so he might make one more pitch to
keep their affair going.
?Those files are sealed, Rohan,? she said.
?Sorry. Just trying to be nice.?
?Can we get to the point??
She had trusted him, for a little while at least, but how much trust
could be generated between a black hat wanted on two continents
and a top-level cyber security wonk. Both his government job and
her freelance hacking career demanded constant lies and cover-ups,
interactions that lasted only hours, rarely days, never longer. She
knew an affair couldn?t last, and tried to tell him that, to make him
see why they shouldn?t be together. And then he let it slip that he was
married, and that ended it, despite his pleading. Yet he never stopped
trying. Even now, with all those people dead and a critical system
compromised, he was trying to lead her there.
?That?s all I can tell you on this line,? he said. ?We?re not secure.
Lieutenant Cummings from my office is on his way to your place.
He?ll install a Scan-U unit so we can have a conference call.?
?Another toy? What does this one do??
?Holographic communications. 3-D conferencing. This technology
allows us to look around corners in someone?s room while
we?re speaking to them.?
She knew he was kidding?maybe. ?So when you?re talking to
me you can see what I?m wearing below the monitor.?
?Or not wearing.?
He was relentless. But she wouldn?t let him get off the subject.
?CyberCom should be ashamed at how they use the taxpayers?
money. Send your Cummings, Rohan. I?ll contact you when he?s
done.?
?One more thing,? he said. ?Cummings will also deliver a small
upgrade for your cochlear implant. Just some software you can install
in the chip to give you more range.?
An hour later she signaled Stokes that her Scan-U unit was
activated. He responded, and his holographic image resolved in the
space between her and the monitor. For a moment it was a surprise,
as if he?d stepped through the screen into her bedroom. The 3-D
projection of his head came complete with his mop of brown hair
and wire rim glasses. It turned left to right, appearing to scan the
room, and her, and Cummings, who was in there too, sipping from
a cup of coffee she had offered. She assumed her image was doing
something similar on the other end of the communication, and that
Stokes was probably running his hand along the electrons that
formed the likeness of her hip.
This would not do. She didn?t see the value of such a system,
except to give Stokes access to her private life. Instead of addressing
him straight on, she kept her head down, staring at the keyboard
while she worked at hacking the system?s code. ?So, what else can
you tell me, Rohan? You didn?t call just to give me that terrible news.?
Stokes wasn?t ready for business yet. ?Is that Cummings?? he
asked.
?Yes. He looked a little sleepy.?
?So you invited him into your bedroom??
The officer was leaning against a dresser, downing the last dregs
from his cup.
Stokes?s voice raised an octave. ?And you?re still wearing a robe??
?He is cute. And besides, where else would I set up this new toy?
This is where I spend most of my time.?
While she spoke, she barely lifted her eyes from the Scan-U?s controls, but she could sense the scowl creeping over his face. She was enjoying playing with him.
?Yvonne, you should have put the unit in your office. You can?t
bring my officers into your bedroom.?
?Why not? He?s not married.?
Stokes cleared his throat. His voice came back down to its usual
tenor. ?Lieutenant, you?re only supposed to be there until we?re sure
the Scan-U is working. As you can see, it is. Now get the hell back to
your office!?
There was a fading, ?Sir, yes sir!? as Cummings retreated.
When he was gone, Stokes blew another puff of air. ?All right,
Yvonne,? he said. ?Time to be serious. Very serious.?
?Yes, the signals are still down in Silicon Valley, the police are
going crazy trying to control traffic, and Network Systems suspects
someone has hacked their command servers.?
?How the hell do you know all that??
?I?m very popular with the boys out there, too. You know how it
is?a little smile, a little shake, and some of them will tell you
anything.? She waited for him to calm down. ?Actually, I have some
friends at NetSys. They texted me 15 minutes ago.? She grabbed her
wireless from the table and waved it slowly back and forth. Stokes
shook the specter of his head again.
?NetSys says it wasn?t just that the signals went out in most of
the area,? he said. ?They weren?t able to reroute to get back online.
It was almost as if someone else had gained full control. Like they
were testing to see how much control they could get.?
?A network attack.?
?That?s what we?re looking at.?
?Give me some IPs and I?ll start looking.?
?Hang on. I?m bringing in my boss, Vice Admiral Lucas from
CyberCom, and a Mr. Sanchez.?
?Right now?? she replied.
?Yes.?
?A girl can?t sleep in anymore. All right.?
As Stokes moved to conference in the other parties, Yvonne
finished accessing Scan-U?s program. She copied a few lines of code
from a routine on her personal computer, and configured it to replace
the command that instructed the unit to take video of her and project
it to the others in the conference. She ordered it to instead access a
file she had stored on the web.
?What the f??? Stokes said.
?Language, darling. We have guests.? An artist friend of hers had
created an animation a few weeks before at her request?a fantasy
superhero?raven haired, with a face like a princess, and an athlete?s
body wrapped in a leather jumpsuit, wearing four-inch heels. It was
not that different from her real appearance, but having this alter ego
to present to strangers made her more comfortable. She could control
the image from her own keyboard, and make the 3-D graphic
respond to her commands. She commanded the cartoon body to
swivel seductively, and knew it would produce the same show for
everyone else in the conference.
?I needed to do something about my appearance,? she said. ?I just look a mess at this hour.? She had to laugh at her own joke. ?Besides, you don?t want to divulge my identity
just yet, right??
?But how did you do that? The Scan-U is the most advanced
piece of communications technology at CyberCom. It?s completely
new.?
?Nothing a good hacker can?t figure out. That?s why you hire me,
remember??
She sometimes thought the real reason was because he was still
in love with her, but it was far more involved. Beyond his little boy
infatuation was a mind as duplicitous as hers?almost. She wasn?t
just a hacker, he?d told her, she was the best he?d ever confronted. He
was CIA at the time. He and his team pursued, and she eluded. She
flirted with him as she ridiculed their efforts, and he had the gall to
flirt back. The men she duped usually became angry that a woman
could outsmart them, but Stokes seemed to enjoy the competition.
And then they caught her, and as she was brought into custody she
could not help thinking she had let herself be caught, if only to meet
him, to see in person a man who played the game at her level. Now
she owed him for keeping her out of prison. She could have been
hacking into another online scam, ripping off the ripoff artists and
making a million or so in the process, but she was stuck working for
Stokes, chasing what was probably a short circuit or a tripped breaker
somewhere. She chastised herself again for her mistakes?playing
with him, leaving herself open, getting involved. They were mistakes
she promised never to make again.
Two new holographic images appeared simultaneously, on either
side of Stokes. Ed Lucas was on the left. Almost a pity he was in the
military. He had the ruddy good looks that would have made him a
decent model?or a porn star. On the right was a woman in a suit,
with her hair pulled back into a bun so tight it raised the corners of
her eyebrows into a Mr. Spock-like air of astonishment. Maybe
Stokes had made a mistake referring to her in the masculine, but
Yvonne couldn?t let it go?anyone this stiff deserved derision.
?My dear Edward,? Yvonne said. ?So nice to see you again. And
this must be Mr. Sanchez.?
The woman huffed. ?What? That?s Ms. Sanchez.?
?Really??
?My fault. Totally my fault,? Stokes cut in. ?Someone on my staff
must have made a typo in the message he sent, and I passed it on.?
?An honest blunder, I?m sure,? Yvonne said. ?The mistake is
certainly understandable.?
?Where?s her image?? Sanchez said. ?All I?m getting is an avatar.
It looks like some kind of Spider-woman.?
?Ooh, that?s a new one,? Yvonne said. ?I like it. I think maybe I
will use it.?
?I need to see her face!?
?Sorry, darling, that image is classified.?
?Mr. Stokes, who is this person??
Yvonne smiled. She had Sanchez off balance and would keep her
that way. It made the stuffed shirts and blouses so much easier to deal
with.
Stokes cut in. ?Ms. Sanchez, I can?t divulge this person?s name.
She?s a cyber security expert with top-secret clearance and a record
of cracking some of our most difficult cases. Her code name is Cyber
Styletto.?
The avatar curtsied.
Sanchez let out a ?Humph.?
?Besides, as Rohan knows, I look a fright when I get out of bed,?
Yvonne said.
?Do you have to make those jokes??
?Oh yes, Rohan. It makes me? how do you say? more
human.?
?Please, the situation is critical.?
?All right,? Yvonne said. ?I will focus. So who is the lovely lady??
?Rita Sanchez, chief information security officer at Network
Systems, the company that sold the servers to CalTrans.?
?Time to check the warranty. Maybe CalTrans can get a refund.?
?I swear, Miss?Miss. Oh, never mind,? Sanchez said.
?Ms. Sanchez,? Stokes said, ?can you fill us in on what you?ve
been able to determine??
Sanchez had nothing. Instead she rattled on about product
performance and redundancies, and how the servers were designed
to be virtually impossible to compromise. She played with the top
button of her blouse, which seemed to Yvonne to be tight enough to
choke her.
While she listened to the woman fumble for answers, Yvonne
reached for the computer keyboard on her desk and tapped in a few
more commands. Network System?s files were password protected,
with redundancies, but her password generator cracked through
before Sanchez finished speaking. She conducted a few file searches,
and a schematic of the traffic control grid in the area displayed. She
traced the signal outages with her fingers, looking for patterns.
Sanchez went on, and she interrupted. ?This is definitely an attack,
but it?s also a probe.?
?What do you mean?? Sanchez asked.
?They?re looking for weaknesses more than trying to cause
damage at this point. Whoever did it may have been surprised they
were able to control the system so easily. That?s why the attack came
in the middle of the night. If they wanted to hurt people they would
have done it during rush hour.?
?They found a way to hurt people anyway,? Stokes said. ?The attackers probably consider that collateral damage.?
?Is this the work of a foreign power?? Lucas asked.
?Maybe. Maybe not.?
?This is like the Bay Area power outage in 2001,? Lucas said.
?We knew that one was a state-sponsored probe. They were testing
our security protocols.?
?It?s a very sophisticated attack,? Yvonne said. She typed out
more commands. A portion of the Network Systems server
motherboard came into focus on the screen, and she relayed it into
the Scan-U system so the others could see. ?Ms. Sanchez, I need you
to send me the complete schematic of this.?
?My God. How did you get that?? Sanchez said.
?Your networks are not as secure as you might think. How soon
can I have it??
Stokes cut in. ?I think you?ll agree our agent needs to take over
this investigation as soon as possible.?
?You know my price, Rohan.?
?I?ll have a quarter million dollars deposited in your account as
soon as the bank opens this morning. You get the other quarter
million when the job is completed?to our satisfaction.?
?And I want an extra quarter million from Network Systems. For,
um, consulting.?
Sanchez hand went from her button to her throat. ?What? That?s
extortion,? she said.
?And you?ll pay it,? Stokes said. ?If you want to keep supplying
servers to CalTrans and other government agencies.?
Sanchez turned away and seemed to be muttering something to
an associate. Admiral Lucas had to bring a hand up to hide his
laughter. ?I see our agent hasn?t changed a bit since she started
working for us. Still as mercenary as ever,? he said.
END Chapter One
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