Code Flicker

by Marlin Seigman

  It was Gomez’s idea to rewrite the incoming data streams with a request to end services and issue a refund, but Jacob would be the one to execute it. The attack required the most speed coding, and Jacob was the fastest. The idea was to create a worm in the request. If the worm got through the firewall, it was designed to spread to all of the accounts in the server’s database. Jacob wanted to get multiple copies of the worm through so he had to rewrite as many of the incoming streams as possible, hoping one or made it.

  Two-Step’s voice came over the headset. “This thing isn’t cooperating. It’s discarding my data packets as soon as I send them.” He was using the false IP address to send a continuous stream of large, corrupt data packets to the site. The attack, along with the flood of ping request attack Sandy and Gomez were sending, should keep the firewall busy enough to let Xia through so she could install a backdoor and let everyone in.

  “Just keep at it,” Gomez said. “The response times to the pings are slowing, so we are doing something right.”

  “Let me know when to go,” Xia said.

  “Not yet,” Gomez said.

  Jacob moved from incoming data stream to incoming data stream, linking with it and getting out before it hit the firewall. He wanted to know if the worm was getting through, but unless he linked with an outgoing stream and saw a refund, he wouldn’t know. He didn’t have time for that, so he would just have to have faith it was working. He linked with another stream, slowing it down, writing the request, injecting it with the worm, moving on, linking with another stream. Time moved differently in a net link, speeding up or slowing down, changing the perception of each moment, and Jacob lost any sense of how long they had been at the attack. He only heard the others in the distance, unable to hear what they were saying. He was in the task, not in time.

  A scream ripped through his awareness.

  “What was that?” Jacob asked.

  “It’s Xia. She’s down,” Kat said through the headset. “I’m trying to get her out.”

  “What happened?”

  “I gave her the signal to go,” Gomez said, “and the firewall hit her with some kind of feedback.”

  Kat yelled over the comm, “Monk, get up here! She’s seizing. Monk, now!”

  “Everyone stay focused,” Sandy said. “Kat has her. Besides, there’s nothing we can do when we’re linked. Let’s finish this job.”

  Jacob agreed and got back to the incoming streams, but he needed to know if it was working, if it was worth the time. He intercepted an outgoing data stream. It was a video packet. Nothing but porn. He moved to another to find more porn. More porn on the next. The next stream had the funds transfer for refund code. He tried another. A funds transfer. Three of the next five streams contained a funds transfer for refund. That was more than coincidence. The worm got through and worked. That wasn’t enough. The worm would be discovered soon, and people on the other side of the firewall would start trying to eradicate it. Gomez and the others had to get through before that happened.

  “Guys,” Kat said, “Monk knows what hit Xia, and he can help her. He’s seen it before. The firewall sends a neuro-disruption signal at attackers. The SRS people who were here trying to hack this site got hit with it.”

  “Bastards. They could have put that in the documents they gave us so we knew what was coming,” Sandy said.

  “How are we supposed to get through, then,” Two-Step asked.

  “The worm got through,” Jacob said. “We need to know why.”

  “Is it because it’s going in as a command the site would get anyway?” Sandy asked.

  “Could we send the backdoor in the same way?” Two-Step asked.

  “It can’t be that easy,” Gomez said. “This system has to search for shit coming in on recognized command codes. It must be something else.”

  Jacob agreed. Why did the worm get through? What was different? The size? The frequency of the attacks?

  The attacks. Maybe it wasn’t the worm, but what was happening when he sent the worm.

  “Kat, how is Xia?” Jacob asked.

  “Monk took care of her. She’ll be fine. I don’t think she should link back up right now though.”

  “Can Monk help anyone else if they get zapped?”

  “Yes.”

  “What are you thinking?” Gomez asked.

  “Let’s send the backdoor in a data stream like I did the worm. We’ll know if it worked soon enough.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “If it doesn’t, one of you will send it on as many data streams as possible while the other two keep up the other attacks.”

  “What good will that do if we know it doesn’t work?” Sandy asked.

  “I’m thinking the worm got through when the system zapped Xia. With all of the other attacks, that little trick must have stressed the system and opened a crack. I’m going to go in the way Xia did, and if I’m right the backdoor will get through.”

  “So you’re going to intentionally get your brain fried by this thing?” Sandy asked.

  “If it works, I think you guys can handle it from there. I’ve got a feeling anyone on the other side of the firewall is busy trying to stop their bank account from being drained. Besides,” he added, “I’ll be fine. Kat will take care of me.”

  “It’s worth a try,” Gomez said. He readied the backdoor and sent it embedded in a data stream.

  They waited.

  Nothing.

  “Looks like I’m going in,” Jacob said.

  “Kat, you be ready to get him out of here,” Gomez said.

  “I will. Get ready Monk,” Kat said.

  Jacob took a breath. “Are you sending?”

  “We are.”

  “I’m going in.”

  Jacob linked with a data stream. A sound like rolling thunder surrounded him and he could see the firewall coming, a sparkle in the corner of his vision growing larger and coming up the data stream and he felt its presence at the edges of his awareness and pain stabbed at his mind.

  He screamed.

  Everything went black and silent.

  ◆◆◆

  Jacob opened his eyes.

  “Welcome back,” Monk said.

  What happened? Jacob tried to ask, the words getting stuck on their way from his brain to his mouth.

  “Don’t try to talk. You won’t be able to for a little bit anyway. Just relax.”

  He closed his eyes and faded out.

  When he came to again, he could hear laughter. Sandy and Gomez were laughing. He tried to sit up. His whole body was drained and ached. He had never run a marathon, but he imagined this is how your body felt after running one. Now Two-Step laughed. And Kat. And someone else. Monk? He blinked, trying to focus on something. His legs felt strange. He reached down to check them. Where were his pants? And underwear? At least he had a blanket over him.

  Finally, he could sit up. Xia sat on the floor next to him, her back against the wall, a blanket over her lower body. “Hey,” she said, sounding and looking as drained as he felt. “You look like shit.”

  “You too,” he said weakly.

  “It worked.”

  “What?”

  “They got through and brought the site down.”

  He was too drained to react, but he felt a surge of pride and adrenaline course through his body.

  “You’re awake,” Kat said.

  Everyone turned to look at him, smiles on their faces.

  “Where are my pants,” he asked.

  “They’re in the laundry downstairs,” Monk said.

  “Why?”

  “That neurofeedback made you piss yourself.”

  Now embarrassment mixed with the pride and adrenaline.

  “Your idea worked,” Gomez said.

  “I put the backdoor in a data stream that got through when the firewall attacked you,” Two-Step said.

  “The Brotherhood was so busy trying to contain the worm you got through, they didn’t see us coming. We crashed the whole site
and deleted their content,” Sandy said.

  “On top of that,” Gomez said, “Two-Step got their crypto wallet info before we got out. Over half of their subscribers got refunds because of your worm.”

  “Speaking of worms, fix your blanket,” Kat said.

  “Very funny,” Jacob said, pulling the blanket up to his waist.

  Chapter 26

  Johnson operated in information. He believed the more you know about a person, a situation, the better equipped you are to influence any outcome involving that person or situation. He did not think this was a unique philosophy. It was common sense. He had discovered, though, that the cliché, common sense was not all that common, was correct. This, of course, he used as a weapon. His adherence to the common sense use of information, and the tendency in others to avoid it, usually benefited him.

  With this in mind, he reviewed the file he had on the SRS man, Mr. Li. The file had grown since their first encounter in the waiting room of Mr. Craig’s office. After seeing Mr. Li that day, Johnson thought it prudent to gather as much information on the man as he could. He knew there would come a time the two of them would interact, and Johnson wanted to go into that situation armed with his most important weapon.

  He closed the file as his sedan entered the parking lot of Mr.Li’s hotel. Through the sedan’s tinted window, Johnson watched Mr. Li standing in front of the hotel and talking on his phone. After a short conversation, he started for the sedan. Johnson waited until he stood beside his door before he rolled down the window.

  “Mr. Li,” he said.

  “And you are Johnson, I believe.”

  “I am. Please get in.”

  Mr. Li walked around to the other side of the car and got in.

  “You can stay parked here,” Johnson told the driver. “Can I get you a drink, Mr. Li?” Johnson asked, gesturing to the pullout wet bar, knowing Mr. Li would say no.

  “No thank you. I never touch the stuff,” Mr. Li said.

  “If you don’t mind, I will have one.”

  “By all means.”

  Johnson poured his drink. “I know time is a commodity, so let us get right to the business before us.”

  “I agree.”

  “First, I want to say our joint venture went well. The hijacking saved us quite a bit in holding and inspection fees.”

  “I am pleased to hear it,” Mr. Li said.

  “I assume you found the promised goods acceptable?”

  “We did. The grade of explosives is among the best I have seen.”

  “Excellent. There is the issue of the remaining cargo to be delivered to us.”

  Mr. Li hesitated briefly. It was not much, a small tell that a professional poker player might have missed, but Johnson saw it. Whatever the SRS man would say next would be a lie.

  “Yes, there has been a mix-up. Our man in charge of shipping them back to you had the wrong numbers in his log. I assure you, we will track these crates down and return them to you.”

  Johnson smiled. “Of course you will.”

  Mr. Li returned the smile with a hesitant smile. The smile of someone who knows he has been caught in a lie, Johnson thought.

  Johnson continued. “Mr. Craig has also sent me to ask you if you have given our offer of a more permanent, closer working relationship with our organization any more consideration.”

  Mr. Li brought his hands together, fingertip to fingertip as if praying. “I have. It is a very interesting offer. One that, to be honest, took me by surprise, and I do not surprise easily.”

  “I would imagine not,” Johnson said. He then took a drink, keeping his eyes on the other man.

  “Yes. Well, I have to say that I am very tempted by the offer. But you must understand that loyalty is an important element in my life.”

  “Of course. Loyalty and honesty.” Johnson could not help himself with that little dig. He also knew that Mr. Li had been one of the most loyal SRS operatives he had ever researched. It was why, after he had been informed of the offer to Mr. Li, he thought the Russian, Evgeny Tal, would have been a better choice. However, he knew his place and did not say as much. It was a mistake for Mr. Craig to rely on someone else to recommend an SRS operative to try and bring in. Johnson did not mention this to Mr. Craig either, and now, after Mr. Li did say no, there would be little hope of approaching Evgeny Tal to enter into a relationship. Mr. Li would be looking for them to make such a move and would take steps to see that it failed.

  “My family has been in the Triad for four generations. You might say it is our family business. It is certainly our family tradition, and I am a very traditional man.”

  “I understand. Tradition is as important as loyalty.”

  “Please tell Mr. Craig that I am flattered he made the offer. However, I must say no.”

  “Of course. If you have a change of heart, do not hesitate to contact me.”

  Mr. Li got out and walked to the hotel’s main entrance.

  Johnson tapped the screen on the panel next to the wet bar. Mr. Craig’s image appeared.

  “Johnson, what is our answer?”

  “The answer is no, sir.”

  Disappointment washed over Mr. Craig’s face. “I see. Perhaps we should have approached the Russian.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “I am sure that is what you would have suggested if I had put you on this from the start. It was my mistake to offer it to someone else. Always go with the best.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Johnson said.

  “A missed opportunity.”

  “Yes, sir. If I may make a suggestion?”

  Mr. Craig gestured his approval.

  “I feel that we should increase our surveillance of the SRS, and perhaps prepare for more drastic measures. Our inside contact should also be informed of this. I do not think we can trust their goals will align with ours, and they could be a hindrance, either by design or by accident. To put it bluntly, I do not trust them.”

  “Take whatever steps you deem necessary.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Chapter 27

  Jacob’s body ached. It didn’t take long to feel mostly recovered from the neurofeedback. The brain fog he had at first went away quickly, and he regained his motor functions shortly after, but his body still felt some lingering effects. His appetite suffered also, and he pushed his unfinished chaat to the center of the table.

  “Anyone want this?” he asked.

  Gomez and Kat shook their heads no.

  Sandy said, “Sure.”

  “You have the most amazing metabolism,” Kat said to her.

  “I’m sure it will catch up with me eventually. Until then, I’m going to enjoy it.”

  Jacob watched the little girl who sold vegetables making her way through the garden, adding to her basket. A young couple dressed in typical corporate sector clothing approached the girl. They exchanged a few words, and she gave them some squash and tomatoes. Bending down to her eye level, they asked her something and she nodded. They each took out their phones and took selfies. The couple walked away with their produce and the photographic proof of purchase, photographic proof of their experience, a satisfied look on their faces. It was common for young corporates to visit The Galleria to buy food. It was trendy. Hey, look at us eating food grown by real people. Some of them, the more adventurous, even bought from Pigeon Eater at times. All of them had to have proof, for themselves and for their social network. Jacob used to do the same thing. His time in prison broke him of the habit and he never felt the need to go back to it.

  He watched the couple exit the garden, then turned his attention back to the girl refilling her basket. This is the only life she knows, he thought. She has almost no chance of getting out and becoming one of those trendy young corporates coming to The Galleria on their days off and posting evidence of the trip. Born into what most people spend their lives trying to avoid, she would probably only know the world outside through the net, and the photo of her, spreading through the couple’s social netwo
rk, was the only way she would be known by that world. But the photo would eventually be buried deep down in the network feed and become irrelevant and unnecessary to the couple and to the world, just like the girl.

  “Still feeling off?” Sandy asked, snapping Jacob out of his thoughts.

  “I guess so. Just lost in thought.”

  “We meet with Evgeny in a few,” Gomez said. “You good to go, or should we handle it?”

  Jacob shook his head. “No, I’m good. Once that chaat gets in my system, I’ll be even better.”

  “You hardly ate,” Sandy said.

  “It was enough.”

  Sandy shrugged, accepting his response. “How soon can we move on Your Better Life after we get the cards?”

  “It’ll take less than an hour to program the cards, and Two-Step has the flippers modified, so not long,” Gomez said.

  “I would feel better if we could test the flippers somehow,” Kat said.

  “I would too,” Jacob said, “but I don’t know where we can find a quantum processor to run tests.”

  “We could test one on a traditional processor and see if it slows that down,” Sandy said.

  “I don’t know how true of a test that would be.”

  “But if it works, we would have an idea,” Gomez said.

  “Let’s assume a test works and we program the ID cards. Where do we go from there?” Jacob asked.

  “We have to go on a day and time both Xia and Slade work,” Gomez said.

  “That shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll ask her when she works, and you ask Slade.”

  Gomez nodded and checked the time. “We better get going. We have to meet them in the garage in ten minutes. They better not fuck us over this time. It’s getting a bit old.”

  They tossed their leftovers in the garden composter and headed to the parking garage. Kat and Gomez walked in front of Jacob and Sandy, far enough away to be out of earshot.

  “I think he’s going to ask her tonight,” Jacob said.