Cyber Attack (2 page)

Katie O’Shea
– graduate of the United States Naval Academy who trained as a Naval Intelligence officer. After an introduction to John Adams Morgan, she quickly rose up the ranks of the intelligence community. She now is part of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. She resides in Washington, D.C.

Brad
– born Francis Crowninshield Bradlee, descendant of the Crownindshield family, a historic seafaring and military family dating back to the early 1600’s. He is the battalion commander of the 25
^th
Marine Regiment of 1
^st
Battalion based at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. There nickname is
Cold Steel Warriors
. He is an active member of Oathkeepers and the Three Percenters.

Abbie
– Abigail Morgan, daughter of John Adams Morgan. United States Senator for Massachusetts since 2008. Independent, with libertarian leanings. Resides in Washington, D.C.

THE BOSTON BRAHMIN:

John Adams Morgan
– lineal descendant of President John Adams and Henry Sturgis Morgan, founder of J.P. Morgan. Morgan attended Harvard, obtaining a master’s degree in business and a law degree. Founded the Morgan-Holmes law firm with the grandson of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Among other concerns, he owns Morgan Global, an international banking and financial conglomerate. Extremely wealthy, Morgan is the recognized head of The Boston Brahmin.

Walter Cabot
– direct descendant of John Cabot, shipbuilders during the time of the Revolutionary War. Wealthy philanthropist and CEO of Cabot Industries. He is part of Morgan’s inner circle.

Lawrence Lowell
– descendant of John Lowell, a Federal Judge in the first United States Continental Congress. Extremely wealthy and part of Morgan’s inner circle.

ZERO DAY GAMERS:

Andrew Lau
– MIT professor of Korean descent. Brilliant mind that created the Zero Day Gamers as a way to utilize his talents for personal financial gain.

Anna Fakhri
– MIT graduate assistant to Professor Lau of Arabic descent. She prides herself on her “internet detective work”. She speaks multiple Arabic languages.

Leonid “Leo” Malvalaha
– MIT graduate assistant to Professor Lau of Russian descent. He is very adept at creating complex viruses, worms, and Trojans used in cyber attack activities. He speaks fluent Russian.

Herm Walthaus
– newest member of the Zero Day Gamers. MIT graduate student. Introverted, but extremely analytical. Stays abreast of latest tools and techniques available to hackers.

AEGIS TEAM:

Nomad
– Steven Sargent.

Slash
– Drew Jackson. Former SEAL Team member who worked briefly for private contractors like Blackwater. Born and raised in Tennessee where his family farm is located. He has excellent survival skills.

Bugs
– Paul Hittle. Former Army Special Forces Medic who left the Green Berets for security contractor work. He owns a ranch in East Texas.

Sharpie
– Raymond Bower. Former Delta Force who now operates a lucrative private equity fund venture with former classmates from Harvard. He resides in New York City.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:

Malcolm Lowe
– John Morgan’s trusted assistant. Former undersecretary of state during Morgan’s tenure as Secretary of State. He
handles
sensitive matters for Mr. Morgan.

J-Rock
– Jarvis Rockwell, leader of the unified black gangs of Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan in south Boston. He rose to power after the death of his unborn child during a race riot at Copley Square in April 2016.

Joe Sciacca
– Boston Herald’s chief editor.

Epigraph

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.

~ John F. Kennedy

*****

Experience hath shewn that even under the best forms of government, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

~ Thomas Jefferson

*****

Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness.

*****

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentis
~ Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.

~ Vergil’s words for the voice of Laocoon in the Aeneid

*****

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

~ Benjamin Franklin

*****

What the world needs now is a do over.

~ Anonymous

Previously, in the Loyal Nine

The Boston Brahmin series begins in December of 2015 and the timeframe of The Loyal Nine continues through April 2016. Steven Sargent, in his capacity as Nomad, an Aegis deep cover operative, undertakes several black ops missions in Ukraine, Switzerland, and Germany. The purposes behind the operations become increasingly suspect to Steven and his brother Sarge. It is apparent that Steven’s true employer, John Morgan, is orchestrating a series of events as part of a grander scheme.

Sarge continues to teach at the Harvard-Kennedy School of Government. He begins to make nationwide appearances after publishing a New York Times best seller,
Choose Freedom or Capitulation: America’s Sovereignty Crisis
. During this time, he rekindles his relationship with Julia Hawthorne who is also celebrating national notoriety for her accomplishments at The Boston Herald newspaper. The two take a trip to Las Vegas for a convention and become unwilling participants in a cyber attack upon the Las Vegas power grid. Throughout The Loyal Nine, Sarge and Julia observe the economic and societal collapse of America.

The chasm between the haves and have-nots widens resulting in hostilities between labor unions and their employers. There are unintended consequences of these actions and numerous deaths are the result.

Racial tensions are on the rise across the country and Boston becomes ground zero for social unrest when a beloved retired bus driver is beaten to death during the St. Patrick’s Day festivities. In protest, a group of marchers descend upon Copley Square at the end of the Boston Marathon resulting in a clash with police.

The Quinn family, Donald, Susan and their young daughters, are caught up in an angry mob scene at a local mall relating to the Black Lives Matter protests. Donald decides to accelerate The Loyal Nine’s preparedness activities as he gets the sense America is on the brink of collapse.

The reader gets an inside look at the morning security briefings in the White House Situation Room. Katie O’Shea becomes a respected rising star within the intelligence community while solidifying her role as a conduit for information to John Morgan.

John Morgan continues to act as a world power broker. He manipulates geopolitical events for the financial gain of his wealthy associates, The Boston Brahmin. He carefully orchestrates the rise to national prominence of his daughter, Senator Abigail Morgan.

As a direct descendant of the Founding Fathers, Morgan is sickened to watch America descend into collapse. Morgan believes the country can return to its former greatness. He recognizes drastic measures may be required. He envisions a reset of sorts, but what that entails is yet to be determined.

Throughout The Loyal Nine, the Zero Day Gamers, make a name for themselves in the
hacktivist
community as their skills and capabilities escalate from cyber vandalism to cyber ransom to cyber terror. Professor Lau and his talented graduate assistants create ingenious methods of cyber intrusion. At times, they question the morality of their activities. But the ransoms they extract from their victims are too lucrative to turn away.

The end game, the mission statement of the Zero Day Gamers, is succinct:

One man’s gain is another man’s loss; who gains and who loses is determined by who pays.

But who else loses in their deadly game? Cyber Attack begins …

PART ONE

Chapter 1

May 8, 2016

3:07 p.m.

American Airlines Flight 129

33,000 Feet

Near St. Louis, Missouri

“Good afternoon from the flight deck. This is Captain Randy Gray, and it is my honor to pilot our American Airlines Boeing 757 into Washington Dulles this afternoon. We have reached our cruising altitude of thirty-three thousand feet, after averting the initial turbulence caused by the area of weather north of the Dallas–Fort Worth metro area. With a little help from a tailwind, we should arrive on time at Washington Dulles International by two o’clock local time,” said Gray. “I will be turning off the Fasten Seat Belt signs to allow you free access to our newly enhanced cabin. Our flight attendants will begin cabin service shortly. As always, we thank you for flying American Airlines.”

Gray began his career as a pilot in 1989 with Command Airways, a small regional carrier based in upstate New York. Initially checked out on the ATR 42, a Czech-made plane, Gray continued his training and became a highly respected pilot within the American Airlines ranks. The flight to Washington Dulles was routine. He shared the cockpit with First Officer William Applegate and his longtime friend Stacy Bird, a Frontier Air captain riding in the jump seat to D.C. after a hunting trip in West Texas.

“Bill, Stacy and I would like to say hello to a friend in first class. Would you mind taking over for a bit?” asked Gray.

Applegate had flown right seat with Gray in the past and had earned Gray’s confidence.

“Absolutely, fellows, go ahead. She’s flyin’ herself anyway,” said Applegate.

Gray and Bird unbuckled their harnesses and took a quick glance at the controls to confirm everything was in order. He and Bird slipped into the galley through the secured cockpit door, which automatically locked behind them.

“Hi, guys,” said Karen Mosely, the chief flight attendant. “May I get you boys anything?”

“I don’t think so, Karen, but thanks,” said Gray. “We’re gonna holler at 3B for a minute before we descend into Dulles.”

Captains Gray and Bird strolled down the aisle behind her to greet a former Air Force buddy—when the aircraft took a sudden lurch upward. Gray grabbed the headrests of the seats on both sides of the aisle and ducked to look out the windows for a cause—clear blue skies. The plane quickly corrected, steadying for a moment before nosing downward into a steep descent. Gasps and screams erupted throughout the cabin.

“Is your FO okay?” asked Bird.

Gray knew what he meant by this question. Since the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370 and the deliberate crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, every pilot looked at the members of their crew with a different set of eyes. He locked eyes with Bird, both of them sharing the same thought. If they’d hit turbulence, why didn’t Applegate activate the Fasten Seat Belt signs?

“Back to the cockpit,” he said, edging brusquely by Captain Bird.

Gray reached the intercom console next to the cockpit access door and pressed the pound key, praying for Applegate to respond.

Chapter 2

May 8, 2016

3:07 p.m.

The Hack House

Binney Street

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Andrew Lau stared intently at the iMac monitor array as Leonid Malvalaha deftly navigated the mouse. Malvalaha and Lau’s other longtime graduate assistant, Anna Fakhri, had continued in their new endeavor, despite the potential risk of criminal prosecution.

Through the process of pen testing, Lau identified zero-day vulnerabilities in a computer network and took advantage of the security holes before the network’s IT department could find a solution. Once the vulnerability window was identified, the zero-day attack inserted malware into the system. The
Game
, as Lau called it, required the attacked entity to pay a ransom in exchange for a patch to their security. Prior to today, their hacks didn’t directly risk lives, though their February hack on behalf of the Las Vegas service employees union resulted in many unforeseen deaths. They were more selective in their project after Las Vegas, until now.

“Malvalaha, run us through the hack,” said Lau, patting his trusted associate on the shoulder as he walked by.

Lau’s core group consisted of Malvalaha, Fakhri and newcomer Herm Walthaus, who had proven himself by creating a cascading blackout of the Las Vegas power grid—no small feat. In a way, this was a team of misfits—although talented ones. They came from diverse backgrounds but shared a common goal of advancing their personal wealth.

“We’re monitoring American Airlines Flight 129, which departed Dallas around forty-five minutes ago,” stated Malvalaha.

His desk resembled the cockpit of a sophisticated aircraft, with six flat-panel monitors at his disposal. He pointed to the screen that displayed FlightAware, an online tool providing up-to-the-second statistics on any airline flight.

“Flight 129 is currently over St. Louis and has adjusted its flight path directly to Washington Dulles airport. The aircraft is a Boeing 757-200, flying at approximately four hundred eighty knots, or five hundred and fifty miles per hour. Altitude thirty-three thousand feet.”

“Tell us what your research has shown,” said Lau.