Betrayed: (A Financial and Conspiracies Thriller – Book 1 in the Legacy Thriller Series) (2 page)

‘The Manila Beijing Bank, Paseo de Roxas,’ he said in a demanding, abrupt tone.

Spurred on by the promise of double the fare, the driver pressed the taxi whenever the traffic allowed, the faster parts of the journey exposing both the age of the car and its weaknesses. The bodywork shook as though one half of it were a different vehicle to the other; passing over some of the more severe bumps, the rattling box gave the impression that it might come apart at any moment. Throughout the journey Zhang thought about the message. It had merely said ‘
Forced to shut the bank down - you must come back.’

As the taxi was approached his head office building, up ahead he could see a large gathering of people pressing towards and against the thick glass doors. From their gestures it was clear that they were in a state of collective agitation and as the taxi drew closer, he could hear the shouting too. He made his second decision of the crisis. He sat up, leant forward and told the driver to pass on by the bank’s front entrance and take the first left. As soon as they were out of sight of the crowds, he had the taxi stop, got out and paid. Crossing the narrow street to a small door, he took out a bunch of keys, he selected one and let himself in. He found himself in a narrow passageway with a short flights of steps at the end of it. As he hurried along, sweat held his fine, sparse hair to his whitened forehead. He soon emerged into a narrow hallway with two service lifts; as one of these lifts was at the ground floor, he quickly entered, closed the metal gates and pressed the button for the top floor. After an unsteady ride, the lift ground to a noisy halt on the top floor. Hurrying out, around a couple of corners, and through another set of swing doors, he came at last into the main lobby of the executive suites.

As soon as he appeared, the crowds of whispering people, gathered in small groups, drifted apart to allow him through to his office which, like the hallway, was a melee of anxious people. They stopped speaking and most sidled away out of the room as he entered. He went round his desk and slumped into his chair. He glanced at the little gold-plated carriage clock on his desk – it was just coming up to eleven-thirty. The remaining people in his room dispersed and, soon his most senior manager, Guan, and one other short darkish man were all that were left of the earlier crowd.

Eventually, Zhang appeared to have regained some composure, Guan cleared his throat, stepped nearer the desk and introduced the short dark man.

‘This is Emilio Gonzales, head of Manila’s cyber police unit,’ he said.

Gonzales took a step forward and held out his hand. Zhang, remembering his manners, got to his feet, bowed slightly and shook hands. With a sweep of his hand he indicated that all three of them should sit.

‘I’m afraid that whilst you were out at your meeting, we suffered a major cyber- attack,’ said Manager Guan. ‘We lost all our current customer records, names, account numbers, transactions, balances…’

‘Our databases; − were they just destroyed or have they been stolen to be put to some other use?’ asked Zhang.

‘Destroyed, we think,’ replied Guan, ‘but Mr Gonzales is here because this attack is apparently just the tip of an iceberg − perhaps he should take over now and explain that to you.’ Guan made a small gesture with his hand towards the other man.

‘We had an anonymous telephone tip-off early this morning’ said Gonzales. ‘When we followed it up, we raided a young computer hacker in the Pasay City area of Manila. I’m afraid he was killed trying to escape but we’ve seized his equipment, including a couple of laptops he’d been working on. We’re still trying to crack the passwords on those two. We found it easy, however, to get into a third machine he took with him as he fled. From this, even in the short time available, we’ve been able to get some useful information and I can tell you already that the main reason for the attack on your bank was not to damage the bank itself, but was just a trial run for something much bigger.’

‘Something much bigger?’ repeated Zhang, ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Let me explain,’ said Gonzales, ‘We believe that the Toshiba laptop he took when he fled was his personal machine. Strange, but when we managed to get a tricky catch open, we found that it was just an empty shell and hidden inside it was a small brand-new Russian-built machine − we’re guessing that this ruse was to make it less likely that anyone would steal it. He regularly sent his backers which also had bits of computer software attached to them. We’ve worked out that he was perfecting software for them.’

‘Aha, so presumably you managed to trace these backers through the email address?’ Zhang’s face muscles relaxed almost as far as a smile.

‘I’m afraid not,’ replied Gonzales, ‘the email account and all particulars of it were terminated last night. But his last email was the one that shocked us the most.’

‘What do you mean shocked you?’ asked Zhang.

‘I’ll quote it – or at least the translation,’ replied Gonzales. ‘It says, “
the attached amendments to the attack software are all you’ll need. Try them on the Manila Beijing Bank. That will show you I’ve done my job. When you try it on the Manila Beijing you will see that you’re now ready for the Big One in London tomorrow
.” And that’s all we have. We don’t know yet what this Big One is, nor exactly when it’s going to take place.’

‘Good God,’ whispered Zhang wiping his dry mouth with the back of his hand. ‘But here’s another thing I don’t understand,’ he went on, ‘you say you got all of this from a tip-off. If you’re going to ‘
attack’
a bank, why give anyone a tip-off about it? Doesn’t make sense.’

‘At the moment, it doesn’t make sense to us either,’ said Gonzales, ‘all I can say is that we’ve warned our counterparts in London of a threatened attack. It’s still only seven-thirty in the morning there, but it’s up to them now. ’Though, of course I’ll let you know what happens and, let’s just hope that the collapse of a big bank doesn’t take others down with it.’

Chapter 2

Thursday, 8am

Home Office, Whitehall, London

The news of the Manila cyber-attacks and the threat of an attack on a big bank in the City of London tomorrow, came first to Sandy Scale. As the head of the City of London’s Cyber Crime Unit, Scale was responsible for monitoring and countering cyber threats to the City. He was Emilio Gonzales’s counterpart in this respect and the two had met a couple of times as part of the international network dealing with the growing incidences of bank cyber-attacks. Although there was no detail yet to Gonzales’s news, Scale was taking no chances – the ‘Big One’ might well mean one of the big five banks. He rang the Home Secretary, Peter Forsyth, at his London home at about the time he guessed he would be having his breakfast.

‘You did the right thing ringing me this early,’ said Forsyth after Scale had told him all that he knew so far. ‘I’ll ring the PM and the Chancellor personally; I’m pretty sure the PM will want a Cobra Meeting as soon as everyone can be got hold of. While I do that, will you ring Bill Fisher at the Bank of England? I don’t know if you’ve met him yet; he’s the Governor’s recently appointed advisor on any cyber warfare attacks that might threaten the stability of Sterling. Fix up a meeting with him. Give him all the information you can and, if necessary, pursue matters further with your contacts in Manila. I’ll expect the two of you to take a lead in this and keep us all of us advised of developments.’

‘Certainly, Home Secretary, I have actually met Fisher and I’ll ring him right away,’ replied Scale. This conversation over, he looked up Fisher’s number and rang it. As he waited for a reply, he thought about Fisher and about the present threat. By reputation, Fisher was a smart operator, someone good to have on your side in an emergency. The Manila news was the first time they had been given an advance warning of something of this kind, the first time it was necessary to worry about what was coming before it arrived. He was looking forward to having someone as good as Fisher with whom to share this burden.

‘Sandy, you’re early; does that mean that something’s up?’ said Fisher as soon as he heard who was calling.

‘Yes, afraid so.’ Scale, went on to give Fisher a quick resume of Gonzales’s news and finishing by saying, ‘so the Home Secretary suggested we meet right away and see what more we can get from Manila or any other sources.’

‘Okay,’ replied Fisher, ‘but as my boss, the Governor, will be sure to be called to attend the Cobra Meeting and will want to meet you before that, could you come here to my office in the Bank of England?’

Although Scale probably outranked Fisher, he had yet to meet the Governor of the Bank of England, so he agreed.

‘Good, I’ll warn security to look out for you,’ said Fisher.

Scale took some time to get to the Bank of England as, even at eight in the morning, traffic was heavy. When he eventually arrived, Fisher had organised coffee for the two of them and poured some as Scale seated himself and got some papers out of his briefcase.

‘Thanks for your early morning call about the threat from Manila,’ said Fisher.

‘You know, coming here close just near to each other and an appalling thought occurred to me. If this threatened Manila attack succeeds, chances are that those two, along with all the other banks throughout the country will close. I just pictured them, queues of people snaking away from their firmly shut doors, all of ’em waiting in vain to get their money out. Our analysis at the office is that, unlike 2008, an attack on a big bank would turn quickly into the closure of them all − ATMs turned off, cash drying up, credit cards useless: a nightmare. Before you could say it, there’d be bloody anarchy in the streets… In terms of security, which is our remit, it could turn into an absolute nightmare.’

‘Yes, - except none of that’s going to happen,’ said Fisher,

There was a silence for a moment as Scale looked back at him, his cup halfway to his mouth,

‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘What do you mean, “
none of that’s going happen”
?’

‘You’ve been invited to the conference here at the Bank of England tomorrow, haven’t you?’ asked Fisher.

‘Yes, I’ll be there,’ replied Scale. Then, the thought struck him and he added, ‘Ah, yes, the cyber defence software you’re introducing to the financial world at the conference.’

‘That’s it,’ said Fisher. ‘We’re introducing Athena. That’s why a bank collapse isn’t going to happen.’

‘I’m not with you, Athena you say?’ said Scale. ‘Although you’ve invited me, I confess I haven’t read all the literature your people sent about the conference or… er about Athena – thought I’d learn all about it when I got there. So what is Athena exactly?’

‘Named after the ancient Greek goddess of strategic warfare. The man who came up with the original idea that later led on to Athena was Sir Jeremy Towneley, head of the Towneley Bank – you’ll have heard of him?’

‘Oh, yeah, everyone knows of Sir Jeremey, the Towneley Bank, the Towneley Foundation, and all his philanthropy, the acceptable face of banking…’

‘Quite,’ confirmed Fisher. ‘Well a year or more ago he and a couple of others at the top of world finance, people like Warren Buffet and Isiah Feldman, said that in their view the greatest danger to the stability of the world’s financial systems was a cyber-attack on a big bank. They agreed that the collapse of one big bank these days could bring all the others down too. Sir Jeremy was damned if
his
bank’s three-hundred and fifty years of history was going to go down the tubes with the rest of them. But, unlike the others in the financial world − who still spend huge sums of money on cyber defences – Sir Jeremy decided to go on the offensive – that
counter-attack
was a better strategy. With me so far?’

Scale just nodded, as he was sipping his coffee at that moment.

‘So he put together a unique team to develop counter-attacking software,’ Fisher went on. ‘He also acquired computers powerful enough to deliver really effective retaliatory blow to hackers. I’m afraid that Sir Jeremy contracted terminal cancer not long ago, so he passed the project over to his nephew, Angus Macrae…’

‘Angus Macrae?’ repeated Scale, noting it down.

‘Yes, real Scottish Highland name, indeed Angus moved the team to his father’s remote island up there, Craithe…’ Fisher quickly put his clenched hand up to his mouth as soon as he had said the island’s name, ‘damn, shouldn’t have told you that last bit.’

‘What bit?’ Scale put down his cup.

‘The bit about moving it all up to the island of Craithe, that’s a closely guarded secret. Still, seeing it’s you, no harm’s done − but keep it to yourself. The island’s way up off the west coast of Scotland – ideal from a security point of view.’

‘Plus Athena, I suppose?’ asked Scale. ‘But you were saying that there won’t be a bank collapse because of this Athena.’

‘Yes, it’s unique,’ said Fisher. ‘Without getting technical, the Macrae team, together with a secretive conglomerate partner have found a way to synergise the new quantum computer technology with today’s standard digital technology which has run just about everything these past thirty years or so.’

‘Quantum computers?’ said Scale, ‘I thought they were still in their infancy – years away from working properly.’

‘That’s what most people think,’ replied Fisher. ‘But without getting technical, although Microsoft, Google and the Wall Street Bankers Goldman Sacks are also racing ahead with this technology of the future, Athena’s ahead of them all. In short it is already a fully functioning, defence and counter-attacking weapon.’

‘Well, as head of the City of London’s cyber-attack unit, why haven’t I been told about this before now?’ asked Scale, now reddening in the face and leaning forward towards Fisher.

‘Can’t answer that,’ replied Fisher, ‘but maybe because of what Athena’s actually become.’

Scale frowned. ‘What it’s become?’

‘Thanks to its quantum computing elements, it can slice through any known present-day computer defences as though they simply weren’t there, and once inside a target’s core operating system, it can either take complete control, paralyse it or destroy it. In other words, it’s become the ultimate cyber-weapon. It’s capable of taking down an air traffic control system, a power grid, or a rail network – in the wrong hands it could bring a country to its knees. That’s why it’s been kept so secret. God, can you imagine what organised crime syndicates, terrorists or one of the world’s state-backed teams of hackers could do if they got their hands on it.’

‘Right. Tell me, does it matter who it is doing the attacking, State, mafia or terrorist?’

‘It does,’ said Fisher. ‘If it’s a State-backed team attacking – such as Russia for example – they won’t want to take a bank down and cause a collapse and a recession like the last time. That applies to a Mafia or Organised Crime syndicate as well. They’d be taking control of a bank for ransom money – might even take the cash while they were at it. The only kinds of people who might take a bank down with the purpose of a wholesale collapse of the financial system as an objective would be one of these terrorist groups from the middle east or north Africa.’

‘Here’s another thought – if this Athena is so powerful, how come we don’t use it against others, we’ve enough trouble spots in the world where it would come dead handy?’ said Scale.

‘Well, that’s an ongoing argument between Macrae and the government who understandably would love to have Athena in their arsenal,’ said Fisher, ‘but Macrae won’t have it – doesn’t believe in waging war against civilians.’

‘Well, I can see his point,’ said Scale, ‘But, another thing, in defending against any of these bank attacks, is that inevitable that it will give away its location?’

‘I don’t know,’ replied Fisher. ‘That’s Angus Macrae problem. I’ve no doubt, however, that a bunch of scientists and hackers who are clever enough to develop a world beater liken Athena are probably smart enough to have also devised ways of keeping it out of the wrong hands.’

‘Let’s hope to God you’re right.’