Free An Armageddon Duology by Erec Stebbins Page A

dwarfs the imagination. Estimates are in the hundreds of trillions of dollars.”
    Savas tried not to let his jaw drop. “I didn’t know that much money even existed in the world.”
    “It’s all in bits and bytes, not in gold or cash,” said Lightfoote.
    “Virtual money that isn’t so virtual.” Savas leaned back in his chair. “And how much money is being stolen?”
    A white-haired professor from the computer science group flipped pages on a notepad. “We’ve been following the thing for three days now. There’s no way to know how much was siphoned before that, but our estimates are in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”
    “That’s a hell of a lot.”
    “Per day .”
    A silence filled the room. Savas looked at Lightfoote, who just laughed.
    “Does you intern think something is funny, agent Savas?” asked Teller.
    Lightfoote spoke for herself. “You idiots . Did you ever stop to think that if it was so easy for you to tear through the world’s firewalls that others couldn’t? Did you stop to think how fragile everything is now, everything online, everything in bytes—money, electricity, nuclear power systems? And now someone is using your own black hat code to leech from an underground financial market that should have been shut down after 2008? You’re like a bunch of fucking twelve-year-olds wandering around an arms factory and pushing buttons.”
    “Your division has been included in this briefing because of your track record, Agent Savas,” said the NSA official, “but the disrespect and frankly treasonous attitude of your staff cannot be tolerated.”
    “Are you insane?” asked the Interpol officer. “This is not a US governmental matter only. You aren’t in authority here, whatever God-complex your organization has developed. The lady is right. This is big . This is a disaster!”
    “Look, people,” said Savas, standing up. “I’m inclined to agree with that assessment, and I thank you for including us in this briefing. Our team will get to it immediately. Anything we find with we’ll pass your way. But, you may have noticed that we have our plate full right now. Matters of life and death, not just money and taxes. Our resources are stretched to the breaking point.” He turned to the Scot. “This is a big threat. We’ll help, but we’re going put out the fire in our house, first.” He turned to leave.
    “We need countermeasures,” said Lightfoote. Eyes turned toward her. “This is something new. Something truly dangerous. You can’t just rely on the software companies to develop and issue patches. There isn’t time.”
    “What do you mean there isn’t time?” said Teller.
    “I mean that whoever is behind this is not playing for a criminal unit or nation-state. Those groups have long-term ends in mind, stability of the system. You can’t make a living off the system as a criminal if you bring it down.”
    “The system , whatever that might be, isn’t going down!” Teller looked incredulous.
    “That’s where you’re wrong.” Her green eyes burned. “This is major artery damage. You can’t wait to patch it. The patient will bleed to death. Organ systems will malfunction. You’ve got to go in aggressively and root the damn thing out. If you don’t, at the rates the professor mentions, come November you’re going to have an economic catastrophe on your hands.”

13

Watching the World Burn
    A four-by -five panel of giant flat-screen monitors covered a wall in a dark room. News stations spanning the content of the major networks to cable providers flashed a diversity of images. One by one, sound was associated with a given monitor and channel, large speakers on the sides of the array of screens projecting audio, the brightness on the other nineteen monitors dropping dramatically to emphasize the featured screen. Centered before the dizzying display was a lone chair containing a shadowed figure.
    “This is Monica Grayford from CNN,” began the short-haired