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TWENTY-SIX
It is you ...
Mackenzie rubbed her arms and stared at the code rippling across her laptop. Waves of nausea rolled through her at the thought of what she’d done—breaking into the system, through the security parameters even after she gained access via her covert connection.
She wasn’t part of the company. Not on the board. Not an official employee. But she was a Hanson, and, in a way, this was her company too. Her sister, her family, had been threatened. She didn’t need to keep justifying her actions for saving the family name. Saving lives.
But she’d had to know, and now she could confirm that her past had risen up to attack her personally. Her family and ... friends. She glanced at Alex. She had to stop Nebulous 2.0 before he could harm anyone else.
Hadn’t she known, deep down, that this attack was him all along?
“I’ll come for you when you least expect it.”
And she hadn’t expected it. She’d been counseled not to worry about him. She should have known better. And now he wanted to inflict his own personal brand of revenge. Payback for the money she and Julian lost him years ago—and much, much more. She admitted she’d been terrified those days would come back to bite her.
And Julian had been scared at the carnival. He’d known who the threat was from. The hidden message must have said as much, and she’d been too stunned to recognize he’d left a hidden message for her.
Alex leaned in close and peered over her shoulder at the laptop. “You said I can’t call the agency because he’ll know. Does that mean...”
“Yes. It’s him.” Her palms slicked, and she wiped them on her pants.
Alex moved to sit next to her, scooting the chair closer. “How do you know it’s him ... or her?”
“I’d always thought of Nebulous 2.0 as a man—the way he ‘talked’ to us before. The aggression. I could have been completely wrong, of course.”
“Right, but how do you know it’s actually Nebulous 2.0 and not someone else? If he’s as skilled as you say, wouldn’t he write self-erasing code? Fake his web addresses. Route his attacks through other people’s devices?”
“He does it all. But I have the advantage in this case.” She closed her eyes and drew in a calming breath. “You know when you hear someone speaking ... you know their voice. Or a song on the radio, you know who’s singing. I can recognize his voice.”
“You’re kidding. Even in boring code?”
“He has some tells. An extra parenthesis here and there. Certain styles. His previous attacks were what we call advanced persistent threats that build over time. I started there. I knew where to look, and that’s where I found him. His tactics are sophisticated, but they haven’t changed. He pursued me because he saw the skills I already had, then built on those and taught me ... um ... well, if I can say that.”
Alex gently squeezed her shoulder. “You definitely can. You’re one of a kind, Mackenzie. I’m surprised you’re not part of the national response team of ethical hackers.” He left his warm hand on her shoulder, and she soaked up his assurances.
“Who says I’m not?”
“Are you?”
She laughed. “If I were, this entire scenario would be different.”
“So you found malicious code. And he’s attacking Hanstech because he wants revenge.”
“He’s invaded the system, but his code isn’t set to run yet. He’s been here for a while. Exfiltrating information. I need to find his rogue access point and shut it down.”
“Rogue access point. You mean an unauthorized rogue access point created by a malicious attacker as opposed to a well-meaning, unauthorized hacker, like what you did tonight?”
She flicked her gaze to him. “Yes. Mine is still also a rogue access point. The cybercriminal also could have gained access via Air-Fi through a well-placed smartphone, router, or even a fire alarm. I need to find that and shut it down before my access point is found and shut down.”
Alex dropped his hand and paced again, which she tried to ignore. “He’s stealing secrets. I need to—”
Make a call? Was that what he was going to say? She lifted a finger, signaling to Alex that she wanted quiet. “Tomorrow, while I’m at Hanstech, I’ll search for the access point. I can physically walk through the place, and the amplitude should get stronger the closer I get. I’ll work it that way, now that I know he is definitely in the system. In the meantime, I’m deploying my own countermeasures to stop his attacks.”
Mackenzie spent another hour working to counter Nebulous 2.0’s planned attack. A sense of purpose filled her, and even the feeling of victory that she’d found him. But it was short-lived, considering she alone was the reason he was in the Hanstech system.
A code name intrigued her—D-Swarmbut—but the data would take too long to go through. She searched the code name in another window, and after digging deep, found a short video clip. Tiny robots crawled along the street of a small town while drones swarmed above them—all working in tandem.
Alex was back, leaning over her shoulder. “Swarming drones?”
