An up-to-the-minute pacey thriller about the hacking of Bitcoin blockchain technology and cryptocurrency on a global scale
Sveta Kovacs is a sociopathic Ukrainian expert in blockchain technology with a Ph.D in cryptography. Her murky hacking past and many online scams have financed her Bitcoin mining operation in Portugal.
Now she has found a way to exploit a weakness in blockchain technology and if she succeeds there are billions of dollars at her disposal.
The new Russian CryptoRuble is threatened and the GRU are on Kovacs’s tail. Ex-Royal Marine anti-hero Steve Baldwin is still recovering from the recent loss of his wife, an MI6 officer, and is guarding Kovacs as a favor to an old friend.
An old enemy appears in the mix after MI6 has duped the CIA. But what is the terrorist’s role? Is it coincidence?
Geo-politics and international finance are never simple and in the new world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies the pressure points are moving.
Fortunes are locked up in cryptowallets. Can they be cracked? Baldwin cannot move with the times, but he can fight back against those who control him and those who threaten him. Double-dealing multiplies as events move to a climax in Spain.
Baldwin has the chance to avenge his wife’s death, but he is being manipulated by MI6. Again.
Who can he trust? Can he stop another terrorist catastrophe?
An up-to-the-minute pacey thriller!
Excerpt
Prologue
It was 2014 and in the only renovated, air-conditioned bunker Svetlana Ponomarkenko turned to the mission commander of the black operation.
“I am ready to proceed, on your command Lieutenant General. The link is ready to be activated.”
Lieutenant General Danylo Kravets, head of the Ukrainian Rocket and Artillery Troop 3, looked at the radar displays and target designators. This would at least be some payback for more than 6,500 cyber attacks that the Russians had mounted against the Ukraine, including the losses of huge numbers of Ukrainian D-30 Howitzers as a result of an infected Android app the artillery used for aiming. Revenge would be sweet.
“Master Sergeant, confirm the targets as Foxtrot-One, Two and Three.”
“Yes Sir.”
Master Sergeant Alexei Hryhoruk moved the trackball and the designators turned red over the Russian Foxtrot CAP as he right-clicked on the targets. Foxtrot 3 was tail-end Charlie of the 3 plane Russian combat air patrol over Donestk in what had been Eastern Ukraine and was now being bitterly fought over. The Russian CAP had strayed – deliberately - into what was still, in international law, Ukrainian airspace. General Kravets turned to the missile controller. “Targets designated Sir.”
“How long will the guidance radar be hot for?”
“Until the target is locked on to by the missile’s own on-board radar – depending on range three to eight seconds after launch, Lieutenant General. Then the Russians usually move the radar unit immediately, to avoid any anti-radar missiles – not that they would expect any from one of their own fighters.”
“Good. Enable the link now, Lieutenant.”
“Link enabled Sir” Svetlana replied.
The software module that Ukrainian Lieutenant Svetlana Ponomarenko had spent five months developing went live. It opened an encrypted tunnel via a narrow-band microwave link to a fiber optic link. The short fiber optic cable was tapped into the Russian air-defense missile system command and control hub beyond the front line in Donetsk. The tap had been installed by Ukrainian Special Forces just five days previously. It would soon be found by the Russians, but no matter, its purpose would have been served. That comms tap then utilized the Russians’ own microwave link over their integrated air-defense system to the mobile missile unit.
Tension mounted in the secret Ukrainian black ops bunker.
“Software link is live for firing, General.”
“Thank you Lieutenant. Master Sergeant, go hot and fire when ready.”
Jack Brennan is hired by a group of ultra rich English aristocrats to kidnap four top IRA terrorists. The contract is time limited but do the financial rewards justify the risk?
