Hacked

By DAVID PHILLIPS

The Chinese cyber-terrorists hacked into the US government and US company systems and stole vital information. One man was given the job of tracking down the criminals involved.

The trail led across the States, into Canada and finally to Hong Kong and Macau, before returning to United States home ground.

With the help of his own hacker and a switched-on lady partner, Dan Miles finally got to the truths of the attack on his country.

You can never stop the Chinese from stealing. The best you can do is make someone pay.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: DavidRPhillips
• Release date: Aug 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393309758

DAVID PHILLIPS

David Phillips, FCPA (ret.) is in his mid-seventies and lives just out of Melbourne, Australia. He began writing in his early seventies and found an enjoyment in putting ideas together with research to come up with stories, often linked to historical events of interest. He finds writing a labour of love and spends time at the keyboard every day.

Book preview

Chapter One

They hacked Amazon and Facebook to public outrage. They hacked the US government to the outrage of a man prone to carry a grudge for as long as it took to exact revenge. Agent Dan Miles considered extreme sanction the only justice for a crime against his country, and the Chinese hackers made themselves an implacable enemy.

Immediately he was briefed on the incursion, he disappeared from regular contact. He had received immediate word that departmental facilities and staff were fully occupied; this would be a solo assignment which suited Dan just fine. Apart from regular updates with Sphinx, an associate who had contacts Dan could never reach, he would not be available to his department until the assignment he had set himself was completed. Such exclusions did not include Charlie. Dan never could find out her real name, but she was his constant contact; no matter where he was, or where she was, Charlie would be there when he needed her. Charlie had ways of finding things that sometimes even eluded Sphinx.

Dan Miles was a man who fitted in well with the people with whom he worked in close company, but he found it difficult to establish close links with those outside his work regime. He was divorced, he had a son he saw only at odd times because his work constantly took him away from domestic connections, and he was a lonely, restless man whenever he did not have an active investigation to pursue. Whenever he thought about it, he reckoned he wouldn’t change a thing. His job as an investigator of wrongs against his country was his life. He found he had little time for involvement with the women he met along the way.

The identity he chose for this overseas assignment, selected from those he had acquired with the assistance of Sphinx and Harry Vine, a master forger, was Jerry Clanton, senior representative, Farm Implements Consultants, Boise, Idaho, U.S.A. He prepared for a visit to China while Sphinx searched the ether for the most likely cities in which to undertake the first stages of investigation into the hackers’ operations.

There were multiple perpetrators involved, from various countries, working together to cause mayhem on the internet. Dan was pleased when Sphinx advised him of this. It could make it easier to find the criminals because there would be the chance of carelessness in communications and clues could be left providing identities. A surprise change in his itinerary came when it was found that one of the people he wanted to find was in Canada, most likely in Toronto, just over the border, and Dan boarded a plane the next day for a much shorter flight than he had been expecting.

As he checked in to the Hyatt Regency in Toronto, he received a text:

Nothing conclusive, but best chance to start looking is Chinatown. Confident your target is Chinese, lives Toronto, is connected to Chinese community, possible tong connections. Will follow up. S.

He responded: OK. I’ll see if I can stir things up.

Dan was already in casual gear and took a few minutes for a quick freshen-up in his hotel room. The mirror showed a man of medium height in his mid-thirties, fair-haired and blue-eyed, clean-shaven with the hint of a smile in and around the eyes while the firm jaw and mouth suggested a capacity for decisive action.  He set off for the Chinatown area. He found, from a quick read of the hotel information booklet, that it was the largest of its genre in the western hemisphere.

He walked two blocks from the hotel on King Street West then turned right along Spadina Avenue, crossed Adelaide St. West, Richmond St. West and Queen St. West and arrived in the Chinatown district. He ordered a cappuccino and sat outside the Dark Horse Espresso Bar on Spadina as he sipped and watched the comings and goings across the street from his position. It was peaceful to his eye at the distance, humdrum in fact, everyone going about their normal business.

He walked across and began to stroll among the shops and the market stands, absorbing the bustling, haggling, happy atmosphere and the variety of odours from the cooking and produce on show as he adapted to the scene while, hopefully, becoming less noticeable as the minutes passed. Dan could see the stall-holders watching him from the corners of their eyes as he strolled by. He assessed each business, searching for a sign of strength, influence, perhaps dominance. Dan had a message to pass around and wanted to pick the right people to convey it. It would be based on his instincts and he would act on reflex.

As he dodged around a close-packed group of market tables, he watched Benny Wu’s Laundry and Dry Cleaning. There was a constant flow of people passing in and out of the shop. It was the perfect place for the passing on of all kinds of information and Dan reckoned it would be used by those who wanted an informal ‘post office’. He entered and joined a queue, watching closely the reactions of customer and counter sales staff, trying to guess the relationships without the benefit of the language. There was a familiarity between the customers and the staff and quite a deal of repartee, albeit in a language he could not follow. When his turn came, he stayed back from the counter and spoke loudly enough for all in the shop to hear. He was sure most of them would understand English, even as they would fail to admit it when it suited.

‘I am looking for one of the men who hacked in to Facebook and Amazon. I want to speak with him. If you know him, a computer expert, please tell him to be here tomorrow at three in the afternoon.’

A little Chinaman came out from behind a partition, head forward and wringing his hands.

"We not know such people. We only poor laundry people, not know such clever people as you talk about. We no can help you, I so sorry, sir.’

‘I think someone knows such a person, so if someone tells him, he comes tomorrow.’

‘No. Not possible. So sorry.’

‘We will see tomorrow. Okay.’

Dan left. The little Chinese man scratched his head. He did not look happy.

Dan repeated the statement in three other businesses which presented a possible place of influence within the complex. He returned to the hotel, satisfied. Assuming his target lived in Toronto and was Chinese, as Sphinx indicated, there was a good chance he would hear of the bold invitation. Many voices would carry his challenge by nightfall.

*

When he returned to the establishments he had chosen on the following afternoon, Dan was greeted with shrugs and head-shakes and open hand-signs as expected. The likelihood of a serious internet criminal revealing his or her identity to a stranger was zero. Dan had completed the charade so that he could detect any nervous reactions that might have shown a hint of knowledge of the subject and to trigger some action or reaction from the Chinese community. He had also identified himself as a danger. There are times when the hunter must reveal himself as a target to bring the prey from cover.

Sphinx and some of his friends had monitored the airwaves from the moment Dan made his series of announcements in Chinatown. Some sites had been active in the hours immediately after his calls and Dan had some addresses in Toronto he planned to visit.

He was street-wise and always watchful. It was also his habit to always back-track when out on the streets. As a result, he was aware he was being followed by a man and woman acting as an alternating team. This tactic went close to fooling Dan and he grudgingly gave them points for their plan. They were not to know that he had a thing about being followed. He strung them along for enough time to get snaps of both on his cell phone before he switched back, for the third time, and ordered a cappuccino at the Dark Horse Espresso Bar. He waited.

The woman came into the café, ordered a latte, and sat at a table on the opposite side of the room. When it arrived, Dan picked up his cup and walked over to her table.

‘May I join you?’

She was beautiful, dark hair, olive skin, with an oriental face and almond eyes. When she smiled, which she did despite the circumstances, she was exquisite.

‘Yes, sir, while we drink our coffee.’

‘Then I must leave you?’

‘I think so.’

‘I am new in Toronto. Perhaps you might consent to show me the city.’

‘I would be prepared to be your guide for some of the afternoon.’

He could see that she was placing limits, even as she was gifted the opportunity to keep him under observation. He could see there might be a reason to overcome those limits.

Dan saw the man pass the front of the café several times, no doubt trying to work out which way the meeting was proceeding. He could be concerned if they were a couple. Best to let it ride. It might be fun to visit some of the addresses Sphinx has sent me accompanied by this lady.

‘My name is Dan. May I know your name?’

‘I am Fiona. It is my English name, the one I use at all times now.’

They had finished drinking their coffee and they walked out on to Spadina Avenue.

‘Fiona, would you accompany me to the CN Tower. It is something I would like to visit again.’

‘You have been in Toronto before?’

‘Yes, some time ago.’

‘I will come with you. We can walk from here. It is not too far.’

‘Let’s grab a cab instead.’

‘It’s not far. We can walk.’

He raised his arm and whisked her into the cab that responded immediately.

‘CN tower, thanks, and I know it’s not far. There’ll be a decent tip for the ride.’

The cabbie nodded, his frown disappeared, and he joined the traffic.

Dan noticed the concerned look on the lady’s partner as he hurried up to the vehicle, too late to have any effect on the outcome.

*

Dan paid the cab driver on being deposited on Front Street. The cabby seemed pleased with the payment and gave him a nod, as the CN Tower loomed 553 metres above them. Fiona led the way to the entrance where there was only a short line ahead of them. She came back to him with tickets for entrance and shrugged when he suggested he reimburse her. Someone was covering any expenses she incurred.

They entered the lift and rose at a rapid rate, explained by the female attendant as being twenty-two kilometres per hour.

‘Wow! This is different. There was no glass lift with a see-through floor when I was last in Toronto.’

‘You’ll also see glass flooring in the main viewing area. People can look down past their toes at the scenery below.’

‘What a great innovation. Can you still go outside to the railing?’

‘No. You go out with a harness. There is no rail.’

‘That sounds too much trouble to me. I prefer a rail I can hang on to if the wind gets strong.’

‘I agree. I’ve avoided the harness experience.’

‘Would you like another coffee, Fiona?’

‘Yes, if you are having one.’

He ordered the coffee and they found a table for two.

‘I’ve done you a favour, Fiona.’

"In what way?’

‘You are being paid to follow me and, here you are, sitting with me and knowing exactly where I am and what I am up to.’

‘What makes you think I’m being paid to follow you?’

‘I don’t think you’d