Jack Ryan, Jr., had read thousands — no,
Langley declined Adam Yao’s request for support in surveillance of Zha Shu Hai.
Jack reached into CIA records to look into this NOC Adam Yao. While they were accessing he looked down at his watch; the morning meeting would be starting in just a few minutes.
Twenty minutes later Jack was on the ninth floor, addressing the rest of the operatives, Gerry Hendley, Sam Granger, and Rick Bell. “NSA says they have a long way to go, but they have found a Trojan on their secure network at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. One of the lines of code steals the software for flying the drones, and then orders the software to be sent to a server on the Internet.”
Bell said, “If the DoD network isn’t attached to the Internet, then how can the software get exfiltrated to an Internet server?”
Ryan explained, “Anytime somebody uses a remote hard drive, which they have to do to update software or to put new data on the network, the Trojan sneaks pilfered data onto hidden portions of the drive automatically, without the user knowing. Then, when this drive is later plugged into a computer with Internet access, the data immediately is snuck out to a command server controlled by the bad guys. If the malware is any good, then it all happens on the down low.”
Domingo Chavez said, “The old way to defend your position was called ‘the Three G’s.’ Gates, guns, and guys. That method doesn’t slow these guys down a bit.”
Sam Granger asked, “Where was the data sent?”
“The data was sent to a network server, a physical computer, at Qom University of Technology.”
“Qom?” Caruso did not recognize the name.
Ding Chavez blew out a sigh. “Iran.”
“Those sons of bitches,” muttered Sam Driscoll.
Sam Granger said, “Looks like CIA’s suspicions are confirmed.”
Jack said, “That’s not exactly true, Sam. This virus wasn’t controlling the drone; this virus is a Trojan that recorded every bit of the control software and exfiltrated it back out. The Trojan points to a university in Iran, but in order to fly the Reaper they would have had to spoof the signal. They would need a ton of equipment and some expertise, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t do it.”
“So, was it Iran?”
“I don’t know. The more I think about it, the more I am suspicious. This line of code makes it so obvious, it looks to me like whoever set this whole operation up
“I’d like to bring Gavin into the meeting to get his take on it,” Jack said. “This is pretty much all that Gavin Biery thinks about.”
Rick Bell balked. “True though that might be, he is not an analyst.”
“No, not at all. He doesn’t have the training, nor does he have the patience or temperament to deal with voices that disagree with his own, which is something any analyst worth a damn needs to possess. But still, I say we look at Biery like a source.”
“A source?”
“Yeah. We give him everything the NSA knows about the attack. Starting with this information about the exfiltration server.”
Rick Bell looked to Gerry Hendley to make the call.
Gerry said, “Gavin knows his stuff. Let’s bring him in and ask for his take on this. Jack, why don’t you go down and talk to him when we’re finished here?”
“Sure. And there is more news from CIA this morning. I would have told Gavin this already because it relates to him, but I had to get up here first.”
Granger said, “What is it?”
“There is a NOC in Hong Kong who says FastByte Twenty-two, the guy who is involved with the Istanbul Drive, is living there in Hong Kong. He says he’s been watching him for several days.”
“What is he doing?” asked Hendley.
“That isn’t really explained in the cable. The NOC is trying to get some resources to expand surveillance because, he says, the hacker worked on the software for some of the UAV drones that were attacked. He thinks he might be involved with what’s going on.”
“What does Langley say about that?”
“They said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ My guess is CIA is looking at Iran too hard to put much stock in this lead in Hong Kong. They made some good points refuting his argument.”
Hendley said, “But we’re sure it’s the same FastByte Twenty-two?”
“It’s the only one that has turned up anywhere. Open source, classified intel, LexisNexis. I think he’s our guy.”
Sam Granger saw a look on Ryan’s face. “What’s on your mind, Jack?”
“I was thinking, Gerry, that maybe we could go over and help this Adam Yao out.”
Sam Granger shook his head. “Jack, you know The Campus is in operational stand-down.”
“The Campus is, but Hendley Associates is not.”
Chavez said, “What are you talking about, Jack?”
“This NOC, Adam Yao, runs a front company over there that is a business investigation firm. I was thinking we could go over there as representatives of Hendley and say this FastByte character has been trying to break into our network. Just play dumb like we don’t know Adam Yao is already tailing the guy in his clandestine duties for the CIA.”
It was quiet in the conference room for a good fifteen seconds.
Finally Gerry Hendley said, “I like it.”
“That’s a great idea, kid,” admitted Chavez.
Granger said, “Okay, but let’s keep it small. Ryan and Chavez can go to Hong Kong and meet with Yao. See what you can find out about FastByte Twenty-two and report in to us.”
Jack nodded, but Ding said, “Sam, I’m going to throw something out there, and I hope you’ll consider it.”
“Shoot.”
“Ryan and I are going to be out of our element when it comes to this hacking stuff. I mean, even conceptually. I don’t know what these servers look like, how many people it takes to run them, who does what, et cetera, et cetera.”
“Yeah. Me, either,” admitted Ryan.
Chavez said, “I suggest we take Biery with us.”
Granger almost spit his last sip of coffee out with that suggestion.
“Gavin? Out in the field?”
Chavez said, “I know, I don’t like thinking about it too much, but he’s one hundred percent reliable and has all the intel we need to sell our situation to the NOC working this. I think he can help us with our cover for status as well.”
“Explain.”
“We go to this company like we’re chasing a hacker, but only Gavin can represent the problem we face. Hey, I’ve got a master’s and Jack is a freaking genius, but if the guy on the ground starts questioning us too much we are going to show ourselves as out of our element. We’re going to look like a couple of knuckle draggers compared to the computer geeks.”
Sam nodded. “Okay, Ding. Request granted. I need you guys to keep him safe, though. He will be a babe in the woods if things get dicey.”
“Roger that. I will say that since the Agency is going to notify the U.S. Marshals, there’s a good chance that we don’t have a lot of time to act. If they go over there and arrest FastByte, and he enters the justice system, we may never know who he was working for.”
Chavez continued, “And he might have loose lips about our operation here in order to bargain for a reduction
