“For queen and country?”
“Indeed.”
“They have me working for a Russian businessman right now. His name is Pavel Morozov. Have you heard of him?”
“I have. So what are you doing for Morozov? What’s your cover?”
“I’m an executive assistant.” She smiled.
“Like a secretary?”
“Sort of, yes. He’s on a working vacation. Morozov sent his yacht so he could stay on board while he was here. He’s going to do a month-long tour of Florida and the Caribbean, meeting with investors and business partners along the way. I’m helping to manage things for him.”
“What does he have to do with my father’s company?”
“A few months ago, a member of the Russian mafia named Sergei began fishing for a buyer. He was selling access to Fend Aerospace’s corporate data center. Word on the street is that you knew Sergei.”
“We were professional acquaintances.”
“Morozov got word of this plan. But he knew that Sergei had worked with the Americans before, and he didn’t trust him as a partner.”
“Morozov was right. Sergei would have sold him out if it suited him. So Morozov stole Sergei’s idea?”
“More or less. Morozov went and commissioned his own hackers. Their objective was to steal the most valuable technology your father’s company owns — the artificial intelligence software for the Fend 100 aircraft.”
“I’m told that they failed.”
“That’s right. They were able to steal some of the aircraft blueprints but couldn’t get into the hardened servers located in the Fend 100 control center — the ones that housed the AI program.”
“You said that they were going to try again. What’s changed? Why would it work the second time around?”
She looked worried. “There’s a vulnerability window. When the Fend 100 is flying, it uses an encrypted datalink that sends information back and forth between it and the Fend 100 control center. This sort of opens up the firewalls for the Fend 100. We think that the first cyberattack planted a virus that will allow Morozov’s hackers to take advantage of this vulnerability window.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. We’re still trying to find out. But the point is that there will likely be another attempt to steal the Fend 100 AI data — during the big demonstration flight they’re having in a few days.”
“Why is MI-6 so interested in this?”
She shrugged. “Morozov is wrapped up in a lot of bad things. This is just one of them. It’s possible that he intends to do the same thing as Sergei — sell the information or hold it for ransom. That’s standard operating procedure for these cybercriminals. But there is a darker scenario — there are many people who are very concerned about what one would be able to do with the technology.”
“What does that mean? What could he use it for?”
“Your father’s company has big defense contracts for drones. The AI software he’s developed doesn’t just have commercial implications. Imagine how AI learning machines could improve the effectiveness of combat drones. The AI software could turn them into a robot air force, thinking and learning on their own — dominating the battlespace.”
Now Max understood why someone like Morozov might be interested. His expertise in the defense sector, and his connections at the highest levels of the Russian government, would make this a valuable steal.
“You said Morozov was going to hack into my father’s plane again. When?”
“In a few days. Fend Aerospace has their final approval test flight with the FAA. It will have people on board this time. Mostly reporters and company executives. The FAA has already declared it safe. Now they want to observe it with passengers aboard. We think he’ll try to hack into the network during that flight — during the vulnerability window.”
“None of this explains why I was set up. What’s all this got to do with me?”
“We think Morozov knows about your background in Europe — you had a lot of connections there to unsavory characters. And he needs someone to divert the FBI’s attention — an inside man at Fend Aerospace. If they’re off worrying about you, then that’s taking eyeballs away from him.”
Max had an idea about that. Renee’s theory was holding water. “So he just wants to hang this on me because he thinks I make a good scapegoat? That still doesn’t explain it.”
“There is one more thing. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think that Pavel Morozov really does have someone working on the inside at Fend Aerospace.”
Max couldn’t stop his jaw from momentarily dropping. “Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you know? Why would you say that?”
“That’s what MI-6 thinks. The cyber experts there think it seems logical. They think that someone with inside knowledge and access to the Fend Aerospace network would be needed to pull it all off. That’s how they were able to frame you. And that’s how they know so much about the Fend network.”
“Has Morozov or his team mentioned anything about someone on the inside of Fend Aerospace?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s an MI-6 theory that they want me to look into. Morozov runs a very tight unit. They’re some of the best-trained operatives in the world. Many of them are former FSB. His security team is all former Spetsnaz.”
“I met some of them recently,” Max said. “Nice guys.”
She swayed to the music like she was just a regular tourist, here to dance. “That was quite an escape,” she whispered into his ear. “He was very upset about that.” A smile. She really was attractive.
Max could feel her body pressing up against him. He smelled her perfume, too. It smelled good.
“So one minute he’s trying to set me up to take the fall for my father’s company sabotage. Then he’s trying to kill me. Why? Why not just kill me in the first place?”
“We think that at first, he needed you to take the fall. But now that the FBI has taken the bait, he doesn’t need you alive anymore.”
“Isn’t he worried about this all leading back to him?”
“It won’t.” She seemed very sure of herself.
Max thought about telling her that Renee had already traced it back to one of his subsidiaries, but he didn’t want to give her more information than he needed to. Not yet.
“In a few days, he’ll be taking his yacht to Jacksonville,” Charlotte said.
“Jacksonville? Where Fend Aerospace headquarters is located?”
“Yes.”
“Why in God’s name would he do that?”
“I think he wants to be there when it happens.”
Max shook his head. “I need to warn my father. He needs to cancel the Fend 100 flight.”
“Absolutely not.”
“What? Why?”
“We went out on a limb and freed you, Max. We gave you a second chance for a reason. We have a plan. Now hear me out.”
He folded his arms. “What do you want me to do?”
“They’ve planted a computer virus in the Fend network. One that will allow them to steal the Fend 100’s AI data during the flight next week. But you can stop it, Max.”
“How?”
“MI-6 is working on a fix. It would be another software program — one that would serve as a sort of antidote to the virus they put in there. This would make sure that they couldn’t hack into the aircraft.”
“So why do you need me?” Max said. “Why not just contact the CIA?”
“We’ve tried working with the CIA on this, but they aren’t seeing things our way. They preferred to wait. We wanted to move. They weren’t sure what to do about you. We decided that the best option was to break you out of custody in D.C. and get you to help us out.”
“Why?”
“You hold your father’s confidence, Max. He’ll listen to you. You can’t let him cancel the flight — this cyber antidote is the best way.”