Page 73 of Wild Fever
Ipulled up to the security gate and flashed my fake credentials. The guard in the booth didn't give it a second thought. The lever arm lifted, and I drove the van into the parking lot and pulled up to the front of the building. We had printed out fake temporary tags for the vehicle. With all the cameras disabled, I wasn't worried about any video evidence.
With wireless earbuds over an encrypted app, using burner phones, we had secure comms among the team and Isabella. We did a quick radio check, then I hopped out with Piper, Kara, and Dr. Malcolm. JD stayed behind in the van in case we needed to make a hasty exit.
Wearing a ball cap, sunglasses, and a surgical mask, I walked into the lobby and greeted the guard behind the desk. The mask wasn’t common, but you’d still see people wearing them in public from time to time. It never really raised any questions. "I'm Tom. QTS Emergency Response. We talked on the phone."
Haskins stood up and reached across the counter to shake my hand.
I introduced the team. "This is Penelope, Karen, and Marcus."
They all waved.
I flashed a reassuring smile. "We’ll have you up and running in no time. Shouldn't be a problem.”
"Can I see what's going on?" Piper asked.
"Be my guest," Haskins replied.
Piper slipped around the desk and took a seat in front of the computer. We all wore latex gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints behind. She started tapping on the keys, staring intently at the screen. "I'm going to reboot from an external drive, and see if I can figure out what's going on."
Haskins looked on with anxiety as she performed the reboot and brought up a terminal prompt. She entered a few commands. "There's definitely some kind of malware in the system. It could be coming from anywhere. I'm going to need to go through and check all the terminals on the premises. Someone could have planted a Trojan horse or a virus. We can't rule out ransomware at this point. I'll need to do a deep scan of every system, looking for malicious code.”
"Malicious code could have been left behind by a disgruntled employee," I said. "You never know what some people will do once they are let go. Has anybody been fired recently?”
Officer Haskins thought about it for a moment. "There's a guy who got fired last week. Carl Watkins. He wasn't too happy about it. I don't blame him. We had to escort him out of the building. I always thought he was a pretty reserved guy, but he was cussing up a storm, making threats. You think he could have done something like this?"
I shrugged. "You never know. It's possible. We'll sort it out. Don't worry. I'll need access to the entire building.”
Haskins hesitated a moment. “I can't let you into the secure areas. That's off limits without clearance.”
I shrugged. "Totally your call. But we might not be able to get the system back online. The more time that goes by, the more damage could be done. A lot of times, these ransomware bugs start deleting data until you pay the ransom.”
The officer’s panicked eyes darted between us. A thin mist of sweat formed on his upper lip. Haskins wasn't used to making managerial decisions. "I need to call someone and let them know about this."
I didn’t want to talk my way into a problem. It was a fine line to keep him off balance, but not push him into total freak-out mode. "Do what you need to do, of course. But the longer we wait, the worse the situation could become.”
Piper smacked the table and cursed, a scowl twisting her face as she stared at the screen.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I got kicked out. Someone is actively inside the system," she said, making it all up.
Our little dramatic performance certainly kept Haskins on edge.
A ransom demand flashed on the screen. It read:Send $10 million to the following Bitcoin address. You have two hours to comply.
A counter started ticking down.
"I really need to call someone," Haskins said.
Maybe we had pushed too far.
"The hackers are probably monitoring all calls and communications," Piper said. "If I can find which hard drive the malware is on, I can delete it and shut the hack down. Do you know how many computers you have connected to the network currently?"
A dumb look flashed on the officer’s face. He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know.”
"What do you want us to do?” I asked.
The officer’s face tensed as he contemplated the situation.
