Cipher (13 page)

“It makes sense… I guess… I just… I don’t know. I was just
curious, that’s all. That’s all it really was, just some curiosity,” he said.
But he wanted to say so much more to her. He wanted to tell her so many more
things, but he didn’t. He stopped short of doing that. But as the wine was polished
off and a new bottle arrived along with the food, Jonathan was building up his
nerves. He hadn’t felt this nervous around a girl for years
;
not since his late wife. He didn’t think he could feel anything for anyone
again; he really didn’t think he could.

“How’s the food?” she asked.

“Incredible.
Absolutely incredible
.
I never would have imagined how amazing everything could be here. And, you
know, I do want to say one other thing,” he added.

“What’s that?” she asked with a sly smile on her face.

“I’m happy to be here. I’m actually very happy to be here. I
know that we’ve been through a lot in a short
period of time
together, but I’m glad I took this job. I’m glad I had a chance to meet you.”

“I am too,” she said, smiling again, except this time it was
a genuine smile. He could feel the sincerity in her voice. He could feel her
actually meaning that, and it almost knocked him on his back. He was floored.
He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe the way he was feeling for her.

They continued their conversation over wine, and after the
third bottle was completed and the dessert was devoured, they headed back to
the hotel room. On the way, they held hands and walked side-by-side. It sent
butterflies in his stomach, and she raised her eyebrows and preened her hair
the entire way back to the hotel room. He knew she was flirting with him. He
could sense that she was actually flirting with him.

He opened the hotel room by slipping the key into the door
and they fell onto the bed together. They locked in a heated embrace. He
couldn’t believe what was happening. He couldn’t believe the way he was
feeling. Her soft lips met his and he thought he had slipped into a dream. He
wrapped his tongue around hers as they danced together to a silent sonnet in
their mouths and it was wonderful. He couldn’t have thought of a better feeling
than that very moment. He flipped her over on the bed and was on top of her,
kissing her. It was passionate and his mind was racing at a
million-miles-a-minute. He could feel his heart beating in the back of his
throat as his tongue continued to lock with hers.

He broke the embrace
momentarily
and looked at her in her eyes. He was on top of her looking into her eyes and
he held the back of her neck with his right hand, just behind her ear, and
kissed her lips softly. He felt like he was back in high school again. Her lips
were so perfect. Her eyes were so perfect. He got lost in another kiss. He felt
like he could have kissed her for hours on end. There was nothing he wanted
more than to kiss her like that, from the very first moment that he met her.
Everything that had happened – everything that they had been through
– had brought them to that very moment. And it was in that very moment
that they became lost in one another. Two souls who not too long ago were
nothing
but strangers, had intertwined their spirits with
one another.

He held onto the back of her neck as he kissed her
passionately. He still couldn’t believe that it was happening. He pulled back
again and she kissed the side of his face making her way to his ear. She
breathed lightly into his ear and whispered, “I’ve wanted to kiss you like that
for a long time now.”

“Really?” he asked.

“Really,” she said with the gentlest voice. She was like a
little lioness lying there so perfectly. She really was perfect to him.

He embraced her in a kiss again. He wrapped his tongue
around hers and pulled her face closer to his with his hand. He had imagined
that moment in his mind so many times over. He had pictured kissing her just
like that over, and over again. It was so perfect; it was jut as perfect as he
had imagined. He wanted to freeze that moment in time and save it forever. He
never wanted it to slip away. He never wanted her to slip away.

Boris Medviek sat in front of his
laptop on his yacht, his fingers furiously gliding across the keyboard. He clicked
the keys with purpose. He was on a mission. The glowing screen illuminated in the
dark living quarters of the superyacht. It was the middle of the night. And as
he sat there typing away, he realized what he was about to do. Amsterdam was
just a test. He had tested the waters and he knew they were fine. He knew what
he could do now. He knew what type of power he held in his hands. He was going
to disrupt everything. He was going to bring the world’s financial markets to a
screeching halt.

He launched the UNIX browsers one by one, opening up
infrastructure, financial, and communication portals. He was starting with
Istanbul. He was going to cripple the city. Then it would be New York, Sydney,
Los Angeles, and so on. They were on the hunt for him, and he was going to
ensure that no one found him. He wouldn’t allow them to interrupt his plans. He
wasn’t going to allow anything to come in the way of him and his goals. He continued
typing furiously on the keyboard as the glowing screen spit back results to his
commands. Line by line he hammered away. First, he was going to take out the
power in Istanbul. Without power, they would have no means of communications.
They would have no way to get him. He could do that. He could do more than that
in fact.

It was critical for him to use his satellite uplink on the
superyacht. He needed the Internet connection constant. He couldn’t allow
himself to go into the city and be disconnected. Soon there would be no power,
no Internet, and no means of communications in Istanbul. But his satellite
uplink would be unaffected. He knew that and he knew the city was going to dive
into complete chaos. After more clicks of the button, he sat back and watched
the commands on the UNIX browsers spitting back one by one and he waited. He
waited until he had access to the Istanbul power grid. It was just past 4am and
there were 24 hours until his meeting with Sheik Abdullah. After that, he knew
he could disappear.

A few more clicks of the keyboard, and he sat back upright
in front of his glaring monitor. He was in. The primitive security made him
laugh. They couldn’t stop him, not without power or any other means of
communications. He navigated through the Turkish infrastructure’s Website and
sent override codes in. The power was going offline. He waited as the system
generated more lines of code and he stepped outside onto the deck to feel the
cool breeze of the evening air. The yacht was anchored at the dock and he
looked out at the city and its lights. The yacht was self-sufficient, running
on an onboard power generator. He was fueled up and ready for the crisis. He
waited out on the deck until the city’s lights went out.

As he looked out onto the horizon, he saw the streetlights
going off one by one. Little by little, each section of the city lost power as
the grid came offline. He knew that there would be panic, but it wouldn’t
happen right away. He ran back inside to his laptop and took his seat in front
of it. He watched as the commands streamed down the screen as his overrides for
the power grid went into effect. He would only have a small window, but that’s
all that he would need. He only needed one short day and he was going to
disrupt the city and others by any means necessary. He continued with his task
as his fingers glided across the screen. He would now interrupt the telecom
companies in Istanbul. Once he flipped the switch all home phones and cell
phones would stop working. Communications would be gone and he would be a
ghost.

He acted fast. He suspended the power grid shut off to the
major telecoms by furiously typing in the UNIX browser screen. He needed to
gain access and implant a virus before all power was gone. He slammed violently
on the keys and his fingers glided across with an incredible quickness. He was
analyzing, testing, debugging, and sending data at a lightning rate. He felt
like he was part of the machine. He felt like he was one with the technology.
The maniacal thoughts swirled through his head as he looked out at the
partially lit city through the superyacht’s vast banks of windows and he smiled
to himself. He watched as he gained access to the telecoms and initiated an
all-out-attack with more pounding of the keys. The sun was still hours from
rising, and he still had so much work to do.

Next stop was Air Traffic Control in the United States. He
launched another UNIX browser and wormed his way into the system. He violated
their heavily protected databases in a matter of minutes. What he reveled in
was the fact that all of the world’s information was connected to the Web; all
of that information was very accessible to him. He had his fingers on the pulse
of data. Private information was no longer private; that data was no longer
protected by the virtual barriers that once seemed so secure. He accessed the
system and began changing the courses for two airplanes flying across the US.
He was going to make them collide and they wouldn’t know the difference. He
quickly hacked the systems and changed the courses and elevations of the planes
by a few degrees. Next, he hacked into the planes themselves and set a virus to
automatically shut down radar. They wouldn’t know what hit them until it was
too late.

Finally, he was back into the financial markets. He reviewed
his short sales of stocks on the airlines and he knew that a major catastrophe
in the air would send airline stocks crashing down along with the major markets
throughout the world. When they got wind that it was a terrorist tack, those
shares would tank and he would make millions more just on a careless stock
play. He smiled to himself as his brother appeared next to him.

“What’s the progress?” asked Dmitry.

“The plan is set. Everything is in place,” Boris said.

“What about the power?” he asked.

“Look out onto the city,” Boris said, pointing towards the
windows. “Do you see most of the lights are off?”

Dmitry smiled. “Yes.”

Boris smiled back at him. “There’s your answer,” he said.

*****

“Good morning sleepy head,” Jonathan said, yawning awake.
The daylight was streaming in through the windows.

“What time is it?” Jennifer asked.

He looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table and
noticed it was off.
That’s strange.
He looked at his watch to check the time. “It’s 9 o’clock in the morning,” he
said. He yawned and came in for a hug and a kiss.

“It’s too early,” she said.

Jonathan smiled. They still had an hour before they were set
to leave. He picked up the remote control for the television, but it wouldn’t
turn on. “That’s strange,” he said.

“What?”

“The TV doesn’t work and the alarm is off.”

“Maybe something’s wrong with the power,” she said, as she
stretched and yawned awake.

“Maybe,” he said. He looked at his cellphone and saw that he
didn’t have service. “And no service on the cellphone.”

“Really?” she asked. She sat up immediately on the bed and
reached for her own cellphone.

“Me too,” she remarked.

“That’s strange. That’s
really strange
.
I’m going to head downstairs and see what the problem is.”

“Okay,” she replied.

Jonathan
got
dressed and walked
over to the elevator. No power. The lights were off in the hallway and the
elevators weren’t working. He took the stairs and ran down the eight flights
until he reached the lobby, which was crowded with people. He looked around and
saw that they were swarming the front desk.

“What’s going on?” Jonathan asked a man in the lobby.

“Power is out,” he said. “It’s been out all morning.”

“Did they say when it
will
come
back on?” Jonathan asked.

“It’s not just the hotel. It’s the entire city.”

“The whole city is without power right now?”

“Yes. That’s what it seems like,” said the man.

Jonathan realized that without power, they couldn’t do
anything. They were supposed to meet up with the agents in the lobby at 10am, but
they would have no way of contacting them without cellphone service.

“Say,” asked Jonathan to the man.

“Yes?”

“Do you have cellphone service?”

“No. Cellphones are out to. Even the landlines aren’t
working. Everything has been cut off.”

“That’s so strange,” Jonathan said. “Do they know what’s
going on?”

“They’re as lost as we are. They have no clue,” said the
man.

“Okay, well, thanks,”
Jonathan
said.

He ran back into the stairwell, shot up the eight flights of
steps, and slipped the hotel key into the door. It wouldn’t work so he knocked.
He rushed back into the room completely out of breath.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” Jonathan said, panting. “Power is out. So is all
cellphone service.”

“What?”

“Yeah, seriously. I don’t know what’s going on but it doesn’t
look good at all. I don’t like this one bit,” he said.

“It’s Medviek,” she said, staring out the window. “What the
heck is going to be next? Jonathan, this is crazy.”

“I know. I know,” he said.

“We have to go. We have to meet Jenkins and Steiner. They
should be here any minute.”

“Okay,” he said.

They left the hotel room, but then realized they wouldn’t be
able to get back in later. They walked down the flight of stairs that was now
congested with other hotel guests all doing the same thing. They reached the
lobby and it was even more chaotic than just a few minutes ago when Jonathan
left it.

“Wow, this is crazy,” she said.

They walked outside and heard all the cars honking. All the
traffic lights were out and it was complete pandemonium on the streets.
Luckily, Agent Jenkins and Steiner were already outside waiting just in front
of the hotel.

“Hey,” Jonathan said as they closed the door and climbed
into the backseat of the car.

“Hey,” they said in unison.

“You guys see all this?” Jonathan asked.

“Yeah, it was a hell of a struggle getting here, let me tell
you that much,” Steiner said, who was in the driver’s seat this time.

“You guys okay?” Jenkins asked.

“Yes,” Jennifer added. “Just a little bit peeved. Are we
still going to be able to do what we planned on doing today?”

“Yes. Nothing has changed,” Jenkins said. “Power should be
back at some point soon. We just have to push forward with the plans.”

“Great,” Jonathan said.

Steiner fought the traffic through the city, honking the
horn in unison with dozens of other cars. They made their way to the outskirts
of the city to an old abandoned building. When they arrived there, Jonathan and
Jennifer looked at one another as if uneasy with the whole situation.

“Is this place safe?” Jennifer asked.

“Yes, it looks abandoned, but don’t worry,” Jenkins said.

They pulled into a garage that was part of the building.
Steiner reached over and punched a keypad and an old steel garage door opened. The
door opened, and he drove the car through, winding his way down a garage that
went down several levels.

“What is this place?” Jonathan asked.

“You’ll see. We’re almost there. We’ll get you all setup as
soon as we get down there,” Jenkins said.

“If the power is out, how is there power here?” Jonathan
asked.

“The building has its own generators,” Jenkins said.

“Well, that’s a relief,” Jennifer said.

“Yes, we’re completely ready for any situation here. The
whole city or country may be without power, but we’re fine. We’re up and
running here. And, there’s a satellite uplink down there. Access to news,
Internet, and everything else is going to be available,” Jenkins said.

“You guys are certainly prepared, aren’t you?” Jonathan
asked.

The two agents smiled in the front seat. They knew they had
their work cut out for them, but they were going to make progress little by
little, no matter what it took. Still, they were glad the two took notice of
their efforts.

“This was all here before any of this happened. It’s a joint
security taskforce between the American and Turkish governments. We’ll explain
more when we get inside. For the time being, get prepared to work,” Jenkins
said.

The two agents nodded at one another as if they had said the
right things at the right time. Jonathan and Jennifer looked at one another as
if pleased by the turn of events. They realized that they were going to be much
more prepared than they had initially thought.