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Olly opened the ransom note file and we both read its contents.
“Hi there, unfortunate corporate employee,
“Greetings from CryptoSpider. Your files are encrypted. Your computer has slowed down and your heart rate has increased. Relax! Move away from your computer and accept that you have been compromised. Rebooting or shutting down your computer will cause you to lose files without the possibility of recovery, and not even God will be able to help you.
“Our encryption algorithms are very strong. You cannot hope to recover your files without our help. The only way to get the recovery decryption tool is to cooperate with us.”
There was an email address and instructions below that. The final demand on the note was the ransom amount.
“We’re not greedy. We will sell you the decryption tool for 43.89 Bitcoin if you cooperate within twenty-four hours. The cost will increase by 50% every twenty-four hours.”
I wasn’t sure what I was expected to read. It didn’t sound like Cassandra had written it – for one, her prose was more professional and elegant than this. Maybe Lexi wrote it, or CryptoSpider. In any case, I felt the need to reassure Olly that I wasn’t involved. I cursed loudly several times. Olly squinted at me after a particularly graphic profanity.
Had I over done it? I mentally slapped myself.
Olly had no reason at all to connect me to this crime. The only reason I thought he would is because I was connected – but only I knew that. My hands were sweating, and I dried them on the inside of my trouser pockets. “Forty-three Bitcoins doesn’t sound like a lot.” Was it my imagination, or was my voice squeaking?
“It’s about two million pounds.”
My throat was drier than burnt toast. “How serious is this, then?”
Olly’s hands were tightly balled up on his head, with sprigs of straight blonde hair sprouting out from between his stubby fingers. “Very serious. All the water flow management is controlled by this server.” He hit the screen hard with a finger. “When that’s offline, nothing runs. The safeguards all kick in, so there’s no risk of water overflow, thank God.” He looked up at the ceiling. “But that’s the only thing we can thank him for!”
Olly walked away from the server and paced round the base of the tower. His face was bright red and he trembled. “I need to tell my boss. He’ll not be happy.”
“I doubt anyone is happy when a crime syndicate has attacked you.”
He spun round and glared at me. “How do you know a crime syndicate is responsible?”
I froze. Another blunder.
I was supposed to be a clueless bystander. After a second, which felt like a minute, I said, “I was just recalling headlines I’d seen in the media. Crime syndicate ransom major oil pipeline. That sort of thing.” I rubbed the back of my neck and squinted at him.
“Oh yeah, of course. Sorry, Peter. I didn’t mean to snap at you there. I’m just on edge.” His legs were practically knocking together at the knees. “My boss is a maniac – he’ll blow his top and there’s no telling what he’ll do.”
“Does he have a short temper?”
Olly gulped and involuntarily shivered. “Have you ever seen an exploding radiator unit in a Mercedes C430?”
I shook my head.
“Well, that’s like the adorable squeak of a kitten compared to my boss, Norman Cooper. He’s a bad-tempered and unpredictable sociopath.” He took a deep breath and, hands trembling, keyed in the number. His finger hovered over the dial button as he summoned the nerve to make the call.
I dropped into the plastic chair and the chair legs scraped against the concrete floor. I mentally kicked myself from head to toe and rotated my fidget spinner in sweaty hands. Even though Lexi was a dangerous, sadistic villain, I should have found a different solution so that Cassandra didn’t go through with this job. I’m a bright guy. Surely, I could have come up with something else?
I tapped the fidget spinner against the side of my head. I should never have driven Olly here today. “You knew that the IT system was compromised,” I berated myself silently. “And you still came in with him!”
Now that I’d seen the impact of the job on my friend, I felt compelled to help. But how could I do that, without revealing who I was?
Olly paced back and forward, his lips moving as he silently rehearsed how he was going to break the news. He gave me a weak smile and pressed the call button. I took out my phone and stared at it, pretending not to listen.
“What do you want, Williams?” A voice barked through the phone. “It’s Saturday.” Even though the phone wasn’t on speakerphone, I could still hear every word that Norman Cooper shouted.
“Hello, Sir. I’ve got some bad news.”
“I didn’t think you were interrupting my precious family time to tell me you’d won the lottery. Spit it out, then.”
“Erm – ”
“Speak up, boy!”
I gulped and tightened my jaw and reminded myself to stay quiet. Olly looked like a petrified rabbit.
“I’m at Warbreck Water Tower. The server which manages the water flow has been compromised. It’s encrypted with a ransomware virus.”
“RANSOMWARE?” The man’s voice echoed up the hollow tower. “Did you say ransomware?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You installed ransomware on my network?”
Olly’s face went bright red.
“No, Sir, I didn’t put it there – ”
“Not directly, but you let it happen and that makes you responsible. I knew this job was pushing you past your limit, Williams. But I thought I’d give you a chance. You’re a young guy and you had talent. You’ve been here three months and you’ve already disappointed me.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Olly looking over. His face the colour of a lobster and his knuckles white from holding the phone too tight. He probably regretted inviting me in and having me listen to this assassination.
Norman’s voice boomed through the speaker again. “I’ll call the business continuity team and notify the executive team. In the meantime, you stay put and work out how you let this happen. Remember this is still your probationary period – if you don’t fix this, don’t expect a permanent employment contract!”
“Yes, Sir.”
“One last thing.”
“Yes?”
“Thanks.”
“Thanks?”
“Thanks for nothing!” Norman hung up.
I sat hunched over in the chair, looking at my phone and pretending I hadn’t heard any of the conversation. Olly was about to become the fall-guy for a job he couldn’t even have prevented. Only I could have stopped this job – but I couldn’t tell him that.
Cassandra was certainly wrong when she said there wouldn’t be any real victims. I was looking at one right now, and he looked close to tears.
Olly gave me a half-smile and sniffed. His voice was tight, and he paused every few words to control a torrent of emotion. “I have no idea how this happened. It was fine yesterday – Bob Thomson was in here doing maintenance. He wouldn’t have done this. But Norman wants my head for it anyway.”
“It’s just one of those things that happens, Olly. You’re not to blame.” In my head, the words echoed with hollow sentiment. I knew exactly what happened, and I should have prevented it – somehow. I was as helpless as Olly, yet I had all the knowledge. Knowledge I couldn’t tell him.
“That’s not what Norman thinks.” He shook his head and leant on the giant blue water pipe in the middle of the tower. “Cyber criminals never see this side of it. They don’t see the human impact of what they do.” His body sagged like an overused pool inflatable at the end of the summer season. “I wish someone could show them that suffering.” He waved his hand toward the control cupboard. “CryptoSpider doesn’t care if I lose my job!”
I stayed quiet. He didn’t know how close he was to the architect of his pain.
He slammed his palm on the blue metal out-pipe in anger. “I need to get to the bottom of this.” He picked up his phone. “Hi. Bob, it’s me. Listen, this is serious...”
I needed to make phone call too. I opened the door of the water tower and half-stepped outside. The clouds, which had implied rain upon our arrival, had delivered their threat. Millions of raindrops hit the ground like mini meteors crashing onto Earth. The service road was like a river, and a rumble of thunder rolled over the town.
I stood halfway out the door and kept my voice low. “Cassandra, it’s Peter.”
“What’s happened? Is Odell OK? Where are you?” Her voice was higher pitched than normal.
“I’m not calling about Odell. He’s fine as far as I know.”
“Oh right. You’re calling on a Saturday – I just thought something had happened.”
“Something has happened.” I looked behind to make sure I wasn’t being overheard. Olly was rummaging through his magic bag and cradling his mobile between his head and shoulder. “We’ve got a big issue here.”
“Where’s here?”
“Warbreck Tower.”
She paused. “Why ... are you there?”
“It would take too long to explain. Anyway, I know the danger you’re in with Lexi, but I need you to pull the plug on this job right now. I’ll square this off with Lexi ... somehow.” I looked behind me again. Olly’s head was buried in a laptop, the blue glow illuminating his worried expression. I had no idea how I’d sort this with Lexi, but I wasn’t thinking about that hurdle yet.
“You’re not making any sense, Peter.” Her voice was calm. Even the mention of Lexi didn’t elicit a response in her.
“This water tower supplies the local hospital, and it needs a lot of water. If you let this job go on any longer, people will die. There are eight hundred beds in the hospital, full of sick people. Did you and Lexi think about that?”
She said nothing for a full minute. When she spoke, she didn’t answer my question, and her voice contained no emotion. “There’s no way to stop the encryption once it’s started.”
I wasn’t surprised by her answer. I knew in my heart that there was no way to reverse it. “So, what now?”
“The only way to fix the server and get the water tower back online is with the decryption tool. That will be emailed to them by Lexi when they pay,” said Cassandra, flatly.
“Or on Monday, when you post them the green USB stick,” I said.
“Yes. Either way, it’ll be over soon.”
She was missing the point. “Not soon enough. What about the hospital?”
She took so long to speak that I thought she’d hung up. “I’m sure they have a backup system. They’ll have enough water to last.”
I was powerless. Olly needed the decryption tool to fix this mess. “I hope they do, for your sake,” I snapped, before hanging up the call.
I went back into the tower, shaking water off my soaked shirt. A gust of wind caught the door and slammed it shut. Olly looked up from his laptop.
“Any joy?” I asked him, already knowing the answer.
“I checked the audit trail of service and maintenance visits and found the report from my team member, Bob Thomson, who visited yesterday. He’s on his way now, bringing his laptop.”
“His laptop? Do you think he did this?” I hoped my tone balanced incredulity with naivety.
Olly laughed. “Not in a million years. He’s a bit gullible sometimes, but he’s certainly not a cyber-criminal. He’s a thoroughly nice guy.” He picked up a grey cable and waved it round like a windmill. “No. The service notes say he plugged his laptop in using this cable. The server was working fine when he was here, but if a virus got in, it could have come from his laptop.”
***
Twenty minutes later I heard the throaty rumble of a sports car pull up and stop outside. Two minutes later, the door of the water tower creaked open. A man in tight-fitting chinos, with a double-chin, and a rain-soaked overcoat entered carrying a laptop case. I recognised him as Bob Thomson. Olly introduced me as the friend from the Mercedes Benz Owners Club who gave him a lift.
The photos Cassandra’s showed us last week at Thornton Manor were definitely Bob’s best choice. In person, he was chubbier, balder, and sweatier than the photos showed. Still, as he wiped the raindrops from his oversized glasses, I felt even sorrier for him. I shook his hand and tried to forget everything I knew about him – that he was a desperate divorcee going through a midlife crisis, he had a daughter about to be married, and he was paying for her lavish wedding.
Olly produced a USB stick from his magic bag. He plugged it into Bob’s laptop, and two minutes later, he shouted, “Got ya!” He grinned at me. “I told you this bag had everything I need. Bob, your laptop has the virus on it. That’s how the server here got infected.”
Bob looked bemused. “That’s not possible. I – ”
“The server was infiltrated by a computer that was plugged into the network yesterday. That’s only yours.”
“I had nothing to do with that,” Bob said. He cleaned his glasses again and bit his lower lip. His cheeks were reddening. “What I mean is, I’ve no idea about ransomware. I-I’ve never done anything like that.” He blinked several times in quick succession. “I don’t know anything about this, honestly I don’t.”
I felt sorry for the guy. You’ve no idea what’s happening, I thought.
Olly put his hand on Bob’s shoulder. “I didn’t say you did. I know you wouldn’t do this on purpose.”
Bob’s knees visibly shook, and he leaned on the table for support. “I didn’t install anything. I’m really careful about what I download. I’ve never had a virus in my life!” His voice cracked with emotion.
I knew the answer, but said nothing.
“How did you connect to the server yesterday?” Olly asked.
“Just the usual way. I plugged in the network cable and connected using the remote desktop application.” He mumbled, shuffling from foot to foot.
Olly nodded his head. “Remote desktop opens up a shared folder between your laptop and the server when you connect. When that shared folder is open, the virus simply spreads across from your laptop to the server.”
Bob sank down into the plastic chair, his head in his hands. The chair squeaked under his weight. “If that arsehole, Cooper, finds out, he’ll give me the sack. He’s been looking for a way to get rid of me for months. And I can’t afford to lose my job, not now.”
The virus got there because Cassandra installed it on the laptop after seducing the poor, unsuspecting Bob Thomson. I sank back further into my chair, wishing again that I hadn’t given Olly a lift here.
I coughed and Olly and Bob turned round. For half a second, Olly looked confused. “Sorry you’ve got caught up in this, Peter,” Olly said. “I forgot you were still here. You must be bored. There’s no chance I’ll get back to the car rally this weekend. This isn’t your problem, why don’t you head off and Bob can give me a lift home later?”
It was tempting to take the offer, but I looked at them both, and abandoning them wasn’t an option right now. I’d got them both into this mess because I didn’t control Cassandra and Lexi. “I’m happy to help if I can. What do you need to fix this?”
He smiled weakly and shook his head, implying I had no clue what I was saying. “You can’t help, Peter, but thanks. We need the bastards responsible to give us the decryption tool. And you don’t have that. Without the tool, I’ll have to call Norman and tell him to pay the ransom!”
I knew who was responsible. I could end this now if I persuaded Cassandra to hand over the green USB stick.
Bob wiped sweat off his forehead using the back of his sleeve “That’s going to be a fun call, not!”
Olly’s phone rang. “Talk of the devil. That’s him ringing.” He gulped and answered the phone.