The Dark Web_The stunning new thriller from the author of The Angolan Clan

by Christopher Lowery

  ‘How did you get the code from him?’

  ‘On a flash drive. Scotty saw it just before… Shit, that’s why he was killed. I told him it was just photos and music, but I know he didn’t believe me.’

  ‘Did you tell Shen about it?’ Ed could see from the Pakistani’s expression that he had.

  Tom saw the expression too. ‘My God! Shen… You really think that’s what happened to Scotty?’

  ‘Probably, Tom. I’m sorry, but there’s no way you could have known.’

  ‘That fucking devious, corrupt, murdering Chinese son of a bitch. I’d like to rip his throat out…’

  ‘Join the queue, Tom, but we don’t have time to talk about it now. Sharif, where’s the stick? Does it have any other data that might help us?’

  ‘Shen gave it back to me after… It’s in my desk. Come on.’

  Ed refrained from telling him how stupidly naïve he’d been, and they went up to his office. Sharif pushed the memory stick into the USB port of his laptop. ‘There are two files on it. This one has the code I added to the upload.’ He pointed the cursor at a text file named ‘Sharif’ and double-clicked to open up a sheet of coded instructions.

  Ed explained to the CEO, ‘See the last three lines of code? They’re sending the same message thousands of times to that cell. That’s what sets off the command to close the processor down.’

  ‘And millions of Lee-Win customers around the world will download it, and governments, businesses and whole industries will stop working.’ Tom put his face in his hands. ‘Oh my God, how could I be so blind.’

  ‘Wait, if they do it in two parts, we might have a chance. What’s the other file, Sharif ?’

  ‘I don’t know, it’s an encrypted folder in Chinese and I can’t open it. I don’t know why it’s on the stick.’

  ‘It has to be connected in some way. Let’s see.’ Ed looked at the screen. The folder name was written in Chinese characters, 金路. ‘It can only be for Shen.’

  He clicked on it and a new panel came up with a picture of a silver key and more Chinese text, 回车键. A typing box was provided to enter the encryption key, and he knew he couldn’t get past it.

  ‘Dead end, at least for me. Encryption’s not my thing.’

  Tom Connor said, ‘Can’t you see from those lines of code where the cell is sending that command to?’

  ‘It doesn’t work like that. That code just charges the cell then we don’t know what happens, it creates a physical switchover in the processor. Let’s have a look at that code file again, we might get lucky.’ Ed clicked on the file name, then opened up Properties on the screen. On the General page, the creation date of the file was 26 February 2017.

  ‘That’s the month before Shen gave it to me.’ Sharif looked as if he wanted to sink through the floor.

  Ed brought up the Details page. ‘Well, well, very careless. Look, the author left his moniker, somebody called Hoi Wei. That definitely sounds Chinese to me.’

  He removed the flash drive from the laptop. ‘We know who wrote the A2 code and when, but we don’t know what’s in the other file, ‘cos we can’t bloody open it.’

  ‘Leo’s the king of encryption, Ed.’

  ‘Just what I was thinking, Sharif. Plus, he’s got some really switched-on ex-hackers down there. I’ll send him the folder right away. See what he can do with it.’

  The Pakistani grabbed Ed’s shoulder. ‘If Scotty died because of this, we have to stop it. I’ll work all day and all night to help if I can.’

  Delmas, Mpumalanga, South Africa

  ‘Right, guys. We’ve got some decrypting to do.’ Leo had just received the folder from Ed, with a note saying, ‘This is from the flash drive Sharif got from Shen. The code was written in Feb 17 by a careless Chinese called Hoi Wei. We can’t open the other file. Hope you can.’

  He was with Abby and the team in the lab, having failed several more times to catch the elusive A2 command, and now all were resigned to it being impossible. The information from the memory stick might be their only chance of finding a way into Lee-Win’s hub network.

  ‘Does anybody here understand Chinese characters?’ he asked Abby.

  ‘I don’t think so, but you can copy it into an online translation programme. Here, I’ll do it.’ A moment later, she said, ‘OK, the first text means “Golden Path”, and the other one just says “Enter Key”.’

  ‘Golden Path? So this might be about money after all. And who’s this guy, Hoi Wei?’

  ‘Leo, never mind about that, we don’t have time. Just send the folder to Rod and Julia and we’ll get started.’

  Marbella, Spain

  The email started, ‘Good morning Jenny, greetings from Hong Kong.’ It was midday in Spain and Patrice’s message had just arrived. Jenny put on her glasses and read the text.

  ‘Saw Mme Lee-Win this afternoon. Charming and elegant, you wouldn’t know she’s ill. Looks fine, but tires quickly. We talked for two hours, mainly about the death of her husband, Chongkun. In 2012 a Chinese man and a French woman came to see them, from a syndicate that wanted to buy the microprocessor business. The business was not for sale, but they returned and phoned several times, making new proposals, until she told them to go away and leave them alone. A few weeks later, Chongkun’s car was hit by a lorry and he was crushed to death. The verdict was an accident, but she’s sure (me too) that it was murder. The couple came repeatedly, until she was frightened for her sons and finally gave up and sold the business to them. It was handled by her lawyers and she can’t remember the details. I’m coming back again tomorrow and one of her sons will be here from Macau, so I’ll get the rest of the story and any available documents. Sorry, it’s so difficult. Hope this helps. PM.’

  Jenny sent off a thank you note and called Marius Coetzee with the news. Maybe it would start to make sense for him, if not for her. She was still feeling under the weather, and went up to her room for a nap.

  FORTY-EIGHT

  Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

  Thursday, 15 July 2017

  ‘We’ve done all the necessary tests and we’re most satisfied with the results. The upload works efficiently, the download procedure is faultless and activates the connectivity module, and the new ACRE and Mark VII versions exceed our expectations. Your Dubai team has done great work, Shen, you must congratulate them for us.’ The speaker was Han Wang Tāng, Managing Director and Head of Product Development at Lee-Win Micro-Technology, Shanghai.

  ‘Thank you, Han, I’ll do so. As you can now see, our concerns over the departure of Leo Stewart were unfounded. The other members of my group accomplished the work quickly and efficiently, and his absence caused us no disruption.’

  The man sitting next to Han, Bohai Cheong, the company chairman, intervened. ‘I wasn’t aware of that, what exactly happened?’

  Tāng responded, ‘Tom Connor mentioned this matter to me, but I understood that Leo Stewart had taken just a few days off to rest and was then returning to supervise the final work programme. Was I wrong?’

  ‘Unfortunately, yes. He left XPC last Friday and we don’t know where he has gone. But it made no difference, the work was completed under my supervision and we delivered the final package ahead of time. I’m very proud of what we accomplished.’

  ‘And so you should be, Shen. But I’m shocked to hear of the behaviour of that man, Stewart, a most irresponsible attitude. But thanks to you and your other colleagues, the project has been executed to perfection.’

  Shen smiled modestly. ‘I assume you’ll be deploying the upload immediately?’

  Mr Cheong said gravely, ‘Tomorrow, July 16th, is the anniversary of the birth of our illustrious founder, Chongkun Lee-Win. He would have been sixty-five years of age, if his life had not been cruelly ended in the motor car accident five years ago. We will send out the upload tomorrow morning at eleven o’clock to honour him in the most appropriate manner we can. He was a great visionary, and we would not have the successful business and reputation we
enjoy had it not been so. I am only sorry that he cannot be here to celebrate this great event with us. Our directors and staff will mark the occasion with two minutes of silence all together in the main hall.’

  Shen listened to this eulogy, a solemn and respectful expression on his face. At last, he thought, it’s going out tomorrow morning. I fly to Moscow at one o’clock. Perfect timing. Aloud he said, ‘I am indeed fortunate to be able to join your memorial ceremony tomorrow morning, before I leave. Sadly, the great man is no longer here, but I am sure he is at the side of Buddha, looking down on us as he achieves nirvana.’

  Cheong patted him on the shoulder. ‘Thank you for those words, Shen. Sadly, you did not know Chongkun. He was a most extraordinary visionary and would have been proud of the way we have continued his great work. When the world sees what we have achieved, it will stop for a moment and marvel.’

  It will most definitely stop, and perhaps for more than just a moment, he said to himself. Let’s hope it has the desired effect. ‘I’ll call my office now and share this news with them and pass on your congratulations. I’m sure they’ll respect that same two-minute silence in Dubai at the appropriate hour.’

  He left the room and called Elodie. ‘It’s going out tomorrow at eleven o’clock, that’s seven in the morning for you. I’ll text you when it’s done and we start receiving reports. I’m missing you, darling. Goodnight and dream sweet dreams, and you should wake up one step away from nirvana, as they say here.’

  Next, he called the Moscow number. ‘It’s confirmed for tomorrow morning. I’ll be there in the evening as arranged. Get everything ready for Sunday, we’re on the final stretch.’

  Shen went along to the canteen, where a group of techies were drinking sodas and talking. He was carrying his computer bag. He glanced over at one of them, a smartly dressed, tall, dark-skinned Chinese with a hair lip, then went to the elevator and pressed the button for the garage level. A few minutes later, the tall man came into the garage and got into a green Toyota. Shen waited a moment then got in the passenger seat. He took an envelope from his bag and handed it to him.

  ‘Here you are, Hoi, the second instalment of your money. Five hundred notes of 200 Euros - 100,000 Euros. That’s 150,000 altogether. You want to count them?’

  The man shook his head. ‘It’s OK. If you want me to finish the job, it better be right. How will I collect the rest?’

  ‘Don’t worry, we’re not dishonest people. I’ll find you and you’ll get the last hundred.’

  He shrugged. ‘I’ll be around. What’s the timetable?’

  ‘You know it’s eleven tomorrow morning for the Lee-Win upload. Yours is on Sunday, I’ll be in Moscow and I’ll text you. It’ll be around midnight Moscow time. About five in the morning here, with the time difference. OK?’

  ‘I’ll be here before midnight just to be sure.’

  As he moved to turn away, Shen grabbed his head and stared into his eyes. ‘By the way, Hoi. I’ve never mentioned this before, but now is a good time. If you fulfil your duty, you’ll be paid in full, as I’ve promised. But if for any reason the deployment fails, for any reason at all, your life and your family’s lives will not be worth a single yen. The men behind this attack are the richest, most powerful, corrupt and ruthless in existence and they will find you wherever you try to hide. If anything goes wrong, that 150,000 Euros will buy you nothing but pain, misery and death. Understood?’

  His face blanched and he pushed Shen away. ‘Nothing will go wrong. I’ll make quite sure of it.’

  ‘Good. It’s been a pleasure.’ He climbed out of the car and went back into the elevator. This time he went straight up to the executive floor. Han Wang Tāng was still sitting with the chairman, and Shen said, ‘I’ve just talked to Tom Connor in Dubai. He asked me to tell you they will be honoured to mark the deployment with two minutes silence tomorrow. It will be seven in the morning local time and everyone will be there to show their respects.’

  ‘Thank you, Shen Fu Liáng. You are a truly devoted colleague,’ Han replied, shaking him by the hand.

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  ‘Shen just confirmed the upload’s scheduled for eleven o’clock tomorrow, Shanghai time. Is that what you were told?’ Elodie Delacroix was talking on WhatsApp on her other phone.

  She listened for a moment. ‘Good, then we know it’s definite. When will you deploy the trigger? Sunday, as we thought? I’d better get moving then, I don’t want to be stuck here by myself when the chaos starts. They’ll catch on pretty soon what’s happening at XPC, and they’ll be looking for scapegoats. I’ll book a flight for tomorrow and text you the details. You’ll come to meet me at the airport, right? Fantastique, I can’t wait to see you, it’s been too long. I’ll dream about you tonight chéri, see you tomorrow.’

  Elodie booked herself a first-class seat on a two o’clock Emirates flight, arriving in Moscow at six-thirty in the evening. She texted the flight number then went to run a bath. She poured in a double amount of her most expensive bath lotion and lay back, a glass of champagne in her hand, celebrating her masterful handling of the situation. By the time she was dressed and ready to go out, the bottle was empty.

  Delmas, Mpumalanga, South Africa

  Rod’s finger ends were bitten to the quick. He looked at the others in despair. ‘OK, I’ve tried all the tricks I know to break in and every connected word I can think of as a key: Lee-Win, XPC, Shen, Elodie, Sharif, ACRE, Trigger, Mark VII and dozens more. I even tried the cell number, and nothing works. I’m going to have to try to use brute force.’

  ‘That could take forever, and the chance of cracking it is hundreds of millions to one. Has no one got a better idea?’ Abby was feeling the pressure. Leo had come down looking for solutions, and so far they were having no success.

  ‘How long will it take to set up?’ Leo had never attempted a decryption by bombardment before.

  ‘Maybe an hour to write the parameters. You can help me with them, suggest related fields and logical connections, that kind of thing. It opens up millions of potential keywords. Then my programme just starts sending them to the key field until it takes a liking to one and “Hey presto, open sesame”.’

  Coetzee said, ‘OK, get started. Leo and I need to call General Chillicott to update him and see if he’s got any news from his side.’

  They left Rod and Julia and went into Coetzee’s office. He asked, ‘Have you seen the papers this morning?’

  ‘Haven’t had time. What’s the latest bad news?’

  He pointed at a front-page article from the previous day’s London Times: ‘NATO meeting convened as Russian military movements subject of concern at EU Conference’.

  ‘Troops and ships moving into strategic places around Eastern Europe,’ he commented. ‘Could be Vladimir just flexing his muscles, or maybe something more serious.’

  ‘Dad, we’ve got enough on our plate without worrying about Soviet plans to take over the world.’

  Coetzee shrugged and looked at Leo, making as if to slap himself on the cheek. ‘Sorry, Abby. We’ll call Chillicott and hear what he has to say.’

  After going through the security call-back process, the general’s voice boomed out of the speakerphone. ‘Gentlemen, got any good news for me? I sure could use some.’

  Leo explained about the folder they’d received from Ed. ‘It’s encrypted in Chinese and we’re trying to hack into it.’

  ‘Everything falls into place,’ Chillicott said. ‘Lee-Win sets up Dubai, they hire Scotty then Leo, and you guys perfect that great encryption system. Shen sends the upload package to Shanghai and we believe they’ll deploy a corrupted version in the form of a cyber-attack. And there’s nothing we can do about it yet, because the package you sent up there is kosher and we’ve got no definite proof of anything bad happening at XPC. The whole thing’s a perfect set-up. Have you made any progress on the source of funds for the Lee-Win buyout?’

  Coetzee explained that a well-placed friend was with Mme Lee-Win in
Hong Kong with that objective. ‘We’re expecting some news by tomorrow.’

  ‘I’m crossing my fingers, guys. Let me know what you find out asap.’

  Coetzee said, ‘Can I ask a delicate question, General?’

  ‘Fire away, Marius, and call me Billy. If we’re gonna save the world, let’s at least be on first name terms.’

  ‘Ilona Tymoshenko mentioned something about a possible Moscow connection. Could that explain the military activity around Eastern Europe?’

  There was a long silence, then, ‘I didn’t expect it to be so delicate, Marius. But the short answer is, we hope not.’

  Coetzee looked at his daughter’s shocked expression. ‘Understood, Billy. Now we know what we’re up against. Trust us, if there’s a way to stop it, we’ll find it.’

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  ‘Don’t look now, but Elodie just came in.’ It was ten p.m., and Ed and Lynne were in the bar at Club 27. It was starting to liven up on the dance floor, but the bar wasn’t yet crowded.

  ‘I see her. She’s coming over. Shit, this could be embarrassing.’ He stood up. ‘Hi Elodie, having a night out on the tiles?’

  She laughed loudly. ‘When the cat’s away, you know what happens. Hi, Lynne, mind if I ask you to keep me company?’

  ‘Sit down, we wouldn’t want you pining away for Shen all alone in your apartment. How about a glass of champagne?’

  ‘Actually, I’d kill for a very dry martini.’

  Ed went to the bar, and Elodie said, ‘You two seem to be getting along very well. How long are you intending to stay in Dubai?’

  ‘I don’t really know. I like it here, but it’s not a place for a normal life, at least not what I’d call normal.’

  ‘I know what you mean, especially for a liberated woman, very complicated. And Ed? What about him?’

  Lynne weighed her words. ‘I suppose it depends on whether he continues at XPC or not. After everything that happened with Leo, and now they’ve finished the upgrade project, I don’t know what he’s going to do.’