The End Game (A Brit in the FBI 3)

“We have no time, Pierre. I need in there, right now. Who can I speak to locally? Who’s working the case?”

“Hold a moment, I will conference you in.”

The phone went silent. Martin said from behind him, “What are you thinking?”

“Gunther always wrote a special key to his code. It’s something we all do, in case of catastrophe. If I can hijack his system I might be able to find the key. Without it, we can’t stop the attack quickly enough. It continues to grow, the power outages are spreading. The power could be out for days at this rate, and with no one prepared, the results could be devastating.”

Menard said, “Nicholas, I have on the line the head of Munich’s police technology intervention unit, Lieutenant Elsie Splatz. She is the one who has been working on compiling the information requested in the warrant you provided. She can help you.”

A woman’s voice came clear on the line, accented, but her English was excellent. “Special Agent Drummond, I have the hard drives of Gunther Ansell’s computers in my office. We have been searching them, but his security is very good. We have not been able to get back his second layer of firewalls.”

“Give me access to your servers, I’ll look myself.”

“I am sorry, Agent Drummond, but that will not be possible. Your warrants have not cleared.”

Mike rolled her eyes at him, and he smiled for the first time in an hour. He said, “We certainly wouldn’t want a little thing like errant paperwork to get in the way of an international cyber-attack.”

“Your sarcasm is duly noted. What would you like me to do?”

“Look for a file called ‘Roman.’ It will be in the subfolders of an encrypted drive called ‘Fever.’”

A few taps. “Yes, I see it here. As you say, it is encrypted. We have not been able to get through this firewall.”

“Stop trying. Every bit of code you throw at it is making it tighten down more instead of less. I can access it. Send it to me.”

“You do not know what is in this file. It could launch another virus, another attack.”

Nicholas said, his voice calm, “Lieutenant, it’s Gunther’s key file. Trust me. I know how he works. I know how to get into the drive, into the files, through the encryption, but I need it in front of me to do so. It’s too complex to walk you through over the phone. We’re losing time. Please, send it along now.”

Menard said, “I will take responsibility, Lieutenant, and FedPol will send the appropriate paperwork as soon as possible. Give him what he wants.”

“Yes, sir. I have sent it through our secure network. You will have it momentarily.”

Nicholas’s laptop dinged. “I have it now. Thank you. Please stay on the line for a moment in case this doesn’t work.”

Nicholas clicked on the file, put a fresh thumb drive in, and executed the commands. Everyone in the room watched as the code unspooled, the drive whirring. The screen went black, then began shattering incrementally, breaking in half, then into fourths, then eighths, then sixteenths, then suddenly spiraling into a 3-D cornucopia-shaped web of complex numbers and letters. It was incredible and baffling, and not for the first time, Mike regretted that her background was in psychology, not computer science.

“This blows my mind,” Martin said, and was there a bit of excitement in that calm voice?

Savich grinned. “Mine, too.”

“I’m in,” Nicholas said. “I’m past the firewall.”

The numbers swirled around, spinning so quickly Mike had no idea how he could follow them. Nicholas suddenly slapped the screen. “There you are, you little bugger.” He clicked his mouse and every screen in the room mimicked his.

He said, “Martin, this is the code we need to disrupt to stop the attack. Here’s the protocol that should take it down.”

Martin shouted, “People, go!”

The room began to hum. Nicholas leaned back in the chair and gave Mike a huge upside-down grin.

Savich slapped him on the back. “Good job, Nicholas, Martin, all of you. Let’s hope it works.”

Pierre shouted, “You have it, Nicholas?”

“Yes, we’ve nailed it. We have the code and we’re stopping the attack as we speak. Thank you, Pierre, thank you, Lieutenant, for a

ll your help. Pierre, I’ll send the paperwork along as soon as I’m able.”