The Cyber War Conspiracy, Thomas Biehlig [i can read book club .TXT] 📗

himself, so bad were his pains. He heard one of the men ask, „Boss, are we going into the old shed?” Then the noise of the engine got so loud that nothing else could be heard.

After a short drive they docked at an old abandoned jetty and Lopez was hauled up out of the boat like a sack and dragged into a dark shed. There they threw him onto the floor. When the light went on Lopez tried to catch a glimpse of his tormentors, but he was simply too far weakened to turn himself over. On the other hand he heard the educated voice again: „I believe he’s ready to talk, Shackle him to the pillar and blindfold him!"

After that the man they named Boss spoke directly to him for the first time: „Lopez, what did you think you were doing? Did you really think you could just simply leave our organization? We warned you, but you didn’t want to listen. Now you’re going to feel the consequences.”

He gave a nasty laugh and suddenly struck Lopez a well-aimed karate kick in the middle of his face. There was a loud crunching noise and blood burst in streams out of his shattered nose.

„Oops, “said the man. „I think that went a bit too far. We still want to give him a chance. “

Lopez felt that the gag was ripped out of his mouth and somebody pulled him up.

„If you want to tell us something, do it now. Maybe we’ll let you live! “

Lopez convulsively tried to say something, but he could not get out more than a pathetic „I ... I ... I ...“ and his voice died in a new gush of blood that now was pouring out unhindered. But it was too late. His nasal bone had bored so deeply into his brain that he was no longer capable of making an articulate sound. Meanwhile only the shackles were holding him upright and the sheer pain had robbed him of his senses.

„Time to talk!” the man demanded and shook him. Again punches and kicks rained down on him, but he did not bring forth a word.

Lopez noticed he had emptied his bladder. The last thing he felt was that something warm was running down his neck and sounded as if packed in cotton wool.

„I think he’s had enough, he’ll never again speak, “said the man, and he drew out a pistol. He took a quick step backwards, aimed the pistol at Lopez’s head, and fired. Then he said succinctly to his men: „Get rid of him. Meanwhile I’ll send a report.” He took out his mobile, pressed a button, and announced himself: „Our friend won’t speak any more. Mission accomplished.”

 

 

 

1

 

 

That damned telephone, thought Jansen. Actually his thoughts had already been on his time after work. Somewhat irritated he went to the phone.

“Marc Jansen, Technology News Research.”

At the other end of the line was Victor Navarro, proprietor of the office with the same name and an important client of his firm.

„Hello, Marc. It’s good that I’ve been able to get you. It’s about the market analysis connected with the network chips. I wanted to get an up-to-date with how things are. As you know, we need your report as soon as possible. “

Unluckily Jansen had to admit: “The processing will probably last another day or two. I’m still waiting for information that’s missing.”

With a persistent voice Victor answered, “Marc, it’s really urgent. My client can’t wait any longer. There’s a lot of money involved, and important decisions. By the day after tomorrow at 12 o’clock I need the report. Can you do that?”

„I’ll make sure we keep to the deadline. You can rely on my word. “

“Very good. I knew I could rely on you. If unexpectedly problems crop up, ring me straight away, okay?”

“No problem. So, till the day after tomorrow. Bye.”

“Damn it,” Jansen cursed quietly to himself and decided to go home. Meanwhile it was after 6 p.m. and he had been in the office since a little before 8 a.m. All he could do now was wait and see. But as he went to put on his jacket it became boilingly clear to him that he had forgotten to ring Julia. He really wanted to meet her that evening. Maybe it isn’t too late, he thought, and he dialed her number.

Somewhat offended Julia answered at the other end of the line. “Did you forget again to ring me? I was already thinking you wouldn’t contact me again!”

Bugger, thought Jansen while trying to appease Julia. “I’ve had a stressful day. I really should keep on working. Let’s meet at about 7 in „El Sarmiento“, after all there’s fine weather today and it’s still warm. We can sit in the garden there and eat something, agreed?”

With a somewhat grumpy undertone Julia answered, “I’ll try to be on time,” and hung up.

At last I’m out of the place, thought Jansen. In the next moment he was sitting in his car and turning on the ignition. While he was concentrating on getting to his date on time in the heavy evening rush hour traffic he listened to the radio. In the current affairs section the topic was that the international economy was increasingly worried that in some countries international agreements on patents and copyright laws were being openly flouted. In China pirate copies of software programs, CDs and films protected by copyright were being mass produced and sold. To point the way the Chinese government had agreed to prohibit that in future. Production and distribution was to be severely punished. As a proof that China meant that seriously, over a million pirate copies were seized and destroyed. But far more dramatic were the consequences of international economic espionage. That is where there was the greatest need for action. As a serious example the consequences of a hacker attack on a major car producer were elucidated. After that came a short contribution on the further developments in a WTO conference. In the meantime Jansen dedicated himself to the annoying search for a parking spot. At about 7 p.m. he reached „El Sarmiento“, went straight away through the pub and stood at the gate of a beer garden with many customers. To his relief there was still a table free. The waiter cam immediately and took his order. As a precautionary measure he ordered a carafe of white house wine with two glasses, then turned his attention to the coming meet-up.

Julia is a real addiction of mine, he thought. Nevertheless he could not or did not want to stop meeting her. His last relationship finished more than a year before. The last two months with her had really been a lot of fun. Particularly her way of treating life impressed him. Although she had grown up, like him, in the cold north, she had southern temperament in her blood together with her intoxicating lifestyle habits. On the other hand he saw himself as a somewhat phlegmatic, typically taciturn north German living in the region. While he was busy with thoughts of Julia the waiter suddenly came to the table and brought the wine. He was relieved to be able to wash down the dreary office routine. Just as he was about to take the first sip he felt Julia’s arms around him. She had approached the table unnoticed. This woman drives me crazy, thought Jansen.

„I hope that despite my late call you had a good day, I’ve already ordered a carafe of wine.”

Julia gave a short answer, “Thanks, as usual,” and got stuck into the wine.

“Cheers,” he said, meanwhile looking into her dark brown, almond-shaped eyes.

But she just gave a weary wave of the hand and said, “You can’t imagine what was going on today at the job. I’m glad it’s knock off time at last. It’s such lovely weather. Shortly before the end of work my boss came to me. He actually asked me whether I couldn’t finish the presentation for the planned exhibition by tomorrow. When I answered that was impossible, he just said I had to have it ready by tomorrow evening, end of discussion. Great outlook for tomorrow, but now I’m here and we can have a nice evening together.”

While saying the last sentence she smiled.

“You’ll get it done,” he tried to cheer her up.

“As well, let’s now eat something, that’ll certainly help.”

While they were studying the menu Jansen lit up a cigarette and wondered whether he could at all afford the meal. He would like to invite Julia, but as usual he was broke. But of course he did not want to admit that to her. He spontaneously decided to save the money on some other item. At the next moment he no longer worried about his stretched financial situation. Because the first wine carafe was empty they ordered another half-liter with the food. When they left the restaurant they were slightly drunk. They had decided to go to Julia’s flat, drink another bottle of wine, and let the evening fade away there. While they were travelling to Julia’s flat Jansen was looking forward to the night together. He felt a wave of excitement surge through him at the thought. After a seemingly endless search for a parking spot he went full of expectation in the direction of Julia’s flat.

She was waiting for him and asked teasingly, “So again you found a parking spot only at the stopping forbidden zone?”

“And so what?” he muttered. While they were ascending the steps he was admiring Julia’s breathtaking backside wobbling to and fro in her tight dress. When at last they reaching the flat they opened up a bottle of wine and made themselves comfortable on her gigantic futon. Little time passed before they were rolling over in a tight embrace on the bed. His hands wandered over her body seeking contact with her skin. Her summer clothing made sure he had easy access everywhere. With fingers trembling with excitement Jansen began to undress Julia. The dress, when opened up, revealed dark blue, skimpy lingerie. She moaned for pleasure as he slipped off her underwear. After a short night he woke up at about 7 a.m. and felt her naked buttocks against his thighs.

He glanced at the alarm clock and said, “What a nuisance, I really wanted to be in the office about now.”

He leapt up quickly and went into the bathroom to get ready.

When he entered the office at about 8.15 the usual state of emergency reigned there again.

Energetically he threw his jacket over the visitor’s chair. As his first action of the morning he fetched a coffee from the kitchen.

At the same moment his colleague Sebastian came round the corner He greeted Jansen with an effusive “Good morning”.

„Hello, Sebastian, everything okay with you? You’re looking so hyper, is there something new?” he answered and poured coffee into his tumbler.

„No, but the weather’s good and we booked our holiday yesterday. We’re flying for three weeks to Mauritius.”

Somewhat enviously Marc poured milk into the coffee. “That sounds really great. Afterwards you’ll have to tell me more about it. Now I have to put together an urgent report for Victor. You know, the one about network chips.”

„I know. By the way, you should absolutely ring back a Yoo in Thailand. He obviously has decisive new stuff for your enquiry.”

„Thanks, I’ll do that promptly. I’ll see you later.”

Jansen looked at his watch. In Thailand it was now about 5 p.m., enough time to ring Yoo. But he had hardly got his calculator to function when the telephone rang. To judge by the number, it had to be Yoo. He picked up the phone and announced: “Marc Jansen.”

At the other end Yoo answered with a serious tone of voice: „Hi, Marc. With regard to your enquiry I’ve got myself nothing but problems. The market for network chips is relatively easy to survey. The market participants know each other. It was very hard to get anything out of them. The situation is one