Retribution - A Special Agent Dylan Kane Thriller Book #7 Read online

  Retribution

  A Special Agent Dylan Kane Thriller

  by

  J. Robert Kennedy

  From the Back Cover

  FROM USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR J. ROBERT KENNEDY

  A CRIPPLING CYBERATTACK.

  A HEART-WRENCHING LOSS.

  WILL ONE MAN’S THIRST FOR REVENGE LEAD TO WAR?

  Two years ago, cyber security specialist Clayton Hummel unknowingly betrayed his country for love, and today, billionaire Franklin Temple pays the price. Blinded by grief and rage, and dissatisfied with his government’s response, Temple uses his considerable wealth to take matters into his own hands, and bring justice to those responsible for the greatest cyberattack in history.

  And his thirst for revenge may just lead us to war.

  Join CIA Special Agent Dylan Kane and his team, as they race a grieving father to find those responsible for a ransomware attack that crippled millions of computers around the world, including those in one town, in one hospital, where one young, innocent patient died as a result.

  From USA Today bestselling author J. Robert Kennedy comes another torn from the headlines thriller, Retribution, where he once again takes current events and twists them to his own end, delivering a taut action-packed page-turner certain to leave you wondering who to cheer for. Packed with heartache and pain, hope and romance, and enough thrilling action and laughter to satisfy any fan of the genre, Retribution delivers like only Kennedy can.

  About J. Robert Kennedy

  With over 800,000 books sold and over 3000 five-star reviews, USA Today bestselling author J. Robert Kennedy has been ranked by Amazon as the #1 Bestselling Action Adventure novelist based upon combined sales. He is the author of over thirty international bestsellers including the smash hit James Acton Thrillers. He lives with his wife and daughter and writes full-time.

  "A master storyteller." — Betty Richard

  "A writer who tells what we are thinking but sometimes afraid to say." — Bruce Ford

  "Kennedy kicks ass in this genre." — David Mavity

  "One of the best writers today." — Johnny Olsen

  "If you want fast and furious, if you can cope with a high body count, most of all if you like to be hugely entertained, then you can't do much better than J Robert Kennedy." — Amazon Vine Voice Reviewer

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  Find out more at www.jrobertkennedy.com.

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  Books by J. Robert Kennedy

  The James Acton Thrillers

  The Protocol

  Brass Monkey

  Broken Dove

  The Templar's Relic

  Flags of Sin

  The Arab Fall

  The Circle of Eight

  The Venice Code

  Pompeii's Ghosts

  Amazon Burning

  The Riddle

  Blood Relics

  Sins of the Titanic

  Saint Peter's Soldiers

  The Thirteenth Legion

  Raging Sun

  Wages of Sin

  Wrath of the Gods

  The Templar's Revenge

  The Special Agent Dylan Kane Thrillers

  Rogue Operator

  Containment Failure

  Cold Warriors

  Death to America

  Black Widow

  The Agenda

  Retribution

  The Delta Force Unleashed Thrillers

  Payback

  Infidels

  The Lazarus Moment

  Kill Chain

  Forgotten

  The Detective Shakespeare Mysteries

  Depraved Difference

  Tick Tock

  The Redeemer

  Zander Varga, Vampire Detective Series

  The Turned

  Table of Contents

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  Table of Contents

  Beginning

  Preface

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  37

  38

  39

  40

  41

  42

  43

  44

  45

  46

  47

  48

  49

  50

  51

  52

  53

  54

  55

  56

  57

  58

  59

  60

  61

  62

  63

  64

  65

  66

  67

  68

  69

  Acknowledgements

  Don't Miss Out!

  Thank You!

  About the Author

  Also by the Author

  For Dave Camp, a good friend of the family, and a true fan.

  You are missed.

  “The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) leads the U.S. Government in cryptology that encompasses both Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Information Assurance (IA) products and services, and enables Computer Network Operations (CNO) in order to gain a decision advantage for the Nation and our allies under all circumstances.”

  Mission Statement of the National Security Agency

  “We face cyber threats from state-sponsored hackers, hackers for hire, global cyber syndicates, and terrorists. They seek our state secrets, our trade secrets, our technology, and our ideas - things of incredible value to all of us. They seek to strike our critical infrastructure and to harm our economy.”

  James Comey, Director of the FBI

  February 25, 2016

  Preface

  On May 12, 2017, the largest ransomware attack in history began. Dubbed “WannaCry,” it rapidly spread through computers around the world, exploiting a vulnerability in the Windows operating system only recently patched by Microsoft, a patch too many hadn’t installed. Hundreds of thousands of computers were infected worldwide, and if it weren’t for an analyst who discovered a kill-switch built into the code, things could have been much worse.

  Individuals, utilities, businesses, and governments around the globe were affected, with Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) particularly hard hit. This resulted in postponed surgeries and tests, and clogged emergency rooms. To date, it is not known if anyone died as a direct result of WannaCry, however it is only a matter of time before someone does from an attack of this nature.

  What was particularly shocking about this event was that it used a vulnerability discovered by the NSA, a vulnerability allegedly stolen, along with thousands of others, by one of their own.

  What follows is fiction, but too soon could become a reality when someone, somewhere, finally has enough.

  1

  Albany, New York

>   One week from now

  NSA Special Agent Janine Graf’s heart hammered as the events unfolded before her eyes. Events that were now beyond her control. Their two escort vehicles had been disabled, the fate of their occupants unknown, and now she sat, boxed in, with overwhelming firepower directed at her and her team.

  But they were alive.

  For now.

  An SUV rolled up on their position, braking hard, the lone occupant stepping out, weapon in hand as he aimed it at their attackers.

  Her heart leaped.

  It was Kane, a man she had met only today, who had identified himself as working for Homeland Security.

  Something she knew was BS.

  “Would it be presumptuous of me to ask all of you to lower your weapons?”

  She almost had to stifle a giggle. Was the man ever serious? He was strangely appealing to her. Yes, he was a gorgeous specimen of a man, but it was the confidence he exuded that made him attractive. Too bad she didn’t date liars.

  Four of the weapons trained on her SUV were redirected toward Kane.

  He frowned. “I guess so.” He leaned through the window, rather obviously aiming at the prisoner she had been transporting, now out of the SUV. “Shoot me, and I guarantee you he dies.”

  One of their attackers stepped forward, covered head to toe in black, including his face, a submachine gun aimed casually in Kane’s direction. “I think you should mind your own business. You might get yourself hurt.”

  She drew a quick breath as someone rounded Kane’s vehicle from behind. She opened her mouth to warn him, but it was too late.

  Kane was down, and their only hope of rescue gone with him.

  2

  Ashland, Oregon

  Present Day

  Franklin Temple careened around a corner, his navigation system giving him turn-by-turn instructions as he split his attention between the road and the back seat.

  “Hang on, Angel, we’re almost there!”

  The tremor in his voice couldn’t be hidden, and he reached up to wipe away a tear. His heart hammered as he realized this time he didn’t even hear a moan in reply.

  Only silence.

  His car beeped at him and slowed rapidly. He spun his head and gasped as his car prevented him from rear-ending the vehicle ahead of him. He cranked the wheel and veered around, a flurry of horns protesting as he forced his way through the quiet intersection and the red light that blared at him in the dimness of a small town at night.

  But traffic tickets meant nothing to him.

  He hammered on the gas and the 621 horsepower shoved him into the back of his seat as the navigation system warned him of an impending turn. He spotted it and turned hard, the lights of the hospital just ahead. He reached back blindly and felt his daughter’s tiny arm.

  It was cold.

  “Oh, God, please don’t take her too!”

  He closed his eyes for a brief moment, picturing his wife, lost to him a year ago to ALS, then opened his eyes and cranked the wheel as the system announced he had reached his destination. He slammed on his brakes, bringing the Mercedes-AMG S 65 to a shuddering halt. Jumping out the driver’s side, he yanked open the rear door and reached in, grabbing the still form of his daughter.

  “Somebody help me!” he cried as he pulled her from the rear seat and rushed toward the doors. “Help me! It’s my daughter!”

  But no one did. They just turned and watched him as he raced inside, one having the audacity to hold up a phone and record his horror.

  “Help me! My daughter, I think she’s dying!”

  The lobby turned toward him, and this time, finally, somebody reacted. Nurses and staff rushed toward him, his precious Angela gently pulled from his desperate grip and taken away, a flurry of questions bombarding him as he followed in stunned shock, his responses automatic, his conscious brain not even realizing he was answering.

  “Wait here.”

  He stood in the emergency room, the bustle of activity coming into focus.

  “Have you reached Dr. Karl yet?”

  “No. Nobody has his number. Jennifer took my car to go to his house.”

  “Call her and get an ETA.”

  Temple stared at the two nurses having the conversation, the words finally registering.

  Nobody has a doctor’s phone number?

  That didn’t make any sense. He examined the room around him. There were a larger number of patients than he would have expected for a small hospital, and the nurses appeared overwhelmed. He turned to ask a question when he noticed the computers. Every screen was red, with the image of a large white lock in the upper corner and a box of text to the right.

  And nobody was at any of the terminals, except one lone man, pulling at his hair, who didn’t appear to be medical staff.

  Temple quickly strode around the counter in the center of the room and leaned over. “What’s going on?”

  The man looked up. “Huh?”

  “What’s going on with the computers?”

  “We’ve been hacked.”

  Temple tensed, then glanced toward the doors where his daughter had been taken, and he had been refused entry. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. I’m in over my head on this one. We’ve been locked out of every computer on the network. Whoever did it is demanding Bitcoins as some sort of ransom to unlock the machines.”

  Temple frowned. “What have you tried?”

  “Everything I can think of. I’ve booted from a USB key, and it looks like the files are encrypted. We don’t have access to anything. Patient records, prescriptions. Hell, we don’t even have the emergency contact info for our on-call doctors!”

  “What happened to the doctors on staff?”

  “Doctor. He was attacked by a patient about half an hour ago. His hand has been sliced open. He can’t treat anybody.”

  Temple cursed, his hands balling into fists. “Pay the ransom.”

  The young man’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me?”

  Temple leaned further over the counter. “Pay it now. My daughter’s in there, and she needs a doctor. Now!”

  “I can’t pay it! I’m not authorized.”

  “Terry, is there a problem here?”

  Temple glanced over his shoulder at a man in a suit. “Apparently so. I need you to pay the ransom now to unlock these computers.”

  “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to have a seat and let our staff work the problem.”

  Work the problem. This guy I can deal with.

  “I’m Franklin Temple.” He extended a hand, struggling to remain as calm as he could, his daughter’s very life perhaps depending on it. “Do you know who I am?”

  The man’s eyes widened. “CEO of Temple Technologies?”

  “Exactly. I’ll pay the ransom. Just tell your man to proceed.”

  “I-I wish it were that simple, Mr. Temple, but the Board has already given me strict instructions not to pay any ransom. We have offsite backups, and a team is already on its way to wipe the computers and reinstall. We should be up and running by end of day tomorrow.”

  “And what of my daughter? She’s dying now!” Temple clamped his jaw shut, stifling the tirade he feared would erupt at any moment.

  “We’re transferring all critical patients—”

  “We don’t have time for that!” He leaned toward the man. “What’s your annual budget?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’ll double it. You know I can.”

  The man’s jaw slowly dropped. “I-I’ll have to convene the board.”

  Temple threw up his hands in frustration. “It’s time to grow some balls! Make a damned decision for once in your life, or I’ll sue this hospital for every penny it’s got!”

  The man took a long breath through his nose, then turned to the young man, Terry, working the computers. “Do it.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I’ll deal with the board.”

  Terry’s eyes widened. “Cool!”

/>   Temple leaped over the counter and grabbed one of the empty chairs, parking behind a terminal. “Do you know what to do?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Then let’s prioritize. What do we need first?”

  “It shouldn’t matter. We just need one terminal to access the network. I don’t think the network data has been encrypted, just the local. Once we unlock one machine, we should have access to everything.”

  A rage built inside Temple. “How much are they asking for?”

  “It’s in Bitcoins, but I think it works out to be about three hundred bucks per computer.”

  Temple slammed both fists onto the counter. “Are you kidding me! You guys have put all these patients’ lives at risk over three hundred bucks!”

  Terry recoiled, the blood draining from his face. “Hey, don’t blame me. I’m just following orders.”

  Temple bit his tongue. “Pay it, now.”

  Terry nodded, his fingers flying over the keyboard, and a few minutes later he smiled, the red screen disappearing. “I’m in!”

  Temple rolled his chair over and watched as Terry rebooted the machine, a standard login appearing. Moments later, they were staring at the hospital’s interface. “Get whoever needs that machine the most on it, then let’s start unlocking the rest.”

  A nurse rushed over. “Did you get in?”

  “Yes.”

  She shoved Terry out of the way and quickly began typing away. “I’ve got the numbers!”

  The flurry of activity stopped for a moment, sighs of relief briefly replacing the panic. Then it returned almost immediately. Temple and Terry quickly went to work, unlocking the rest of the computers, each requiring payment in Bitcoins, the hackers having provided specific instructions on how to purchase them through conventional means, then how to deposit those digital coins into their untraceable wallet.

  It disgusted him with every transaction, but as each was completed, another staff member returned to their computer.