The Loyal Nine (36 page)

“I have something to give everyone,” interjected Brad. “We wear uniforms in the military to honor traditions and mark our branch of service. The nine of us may not wear a uniform as we fight this battle—in whatever form it takes—but we should have a symbol of our loyalty to each other and the noble purpose to which we’ve devoted our lives.”

Brad handed out embroidered patches of a flag featuring five red and four white alternating stripes.

“This is the rebellious stripes flag,” said Brad. “This became a symbol of freedom to the patriots who founded our nation. When Bostonians gathered at the Liberty Tree near Boston Common in 1765 to protest burdensome taxation, a clear message was sent to the British government. In 1767, a flagpole was erected next to the Liberty Tree, and the Rebellious Flag was raised. The Rebellious Flag and the Liberty Tree witnessed historic meetings, fiery speeches and celebrations for the early patriots who became known as the Sons of Liberty. This is our past. This is also our future.”

“We are a modern-day Knights Templar,” said Sarge. “Our mission should be to protect America and its republic from those who would inflict tyranny upon her. This group of nine Americans is loyal to our country and each other. I suggest a tribute to the original nine members of the Sons of Liberty, who had the vision and strength to persevere against all odds to give us the freedoms we enjoy. I propose a toast to us—the Loyal Nine.”

The Loyal Nine!

“Like our forefathers before us, the Loyal Nine grew from a few voices into a legion of patriots throughout America. There will be many who join us in the challenge to preserve freedom. To all of those who will join us in the fight against tyranny and for the preservation of our freedoms, I propose a toast they be included with us as—the Mechanics.”

The Mechanics!

“Finally,” said Sarge, “when faced with the tough choices necessary to preserve our nation’s ideals, I say we choose freedom!”

The group toasted together.
Choose Freedom!

The saga will continue in CYBER ATTACK …

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CYBER ATTACK

History of the Original Loyal Nine

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
.

~ George Santayana, philosopher and novelist

America has a penchant for rebellion. While the dates associated with the War for Independence are well known, the battle for freedom began many years before with the early colonists and continued into the nineteenth century.

Author Bobby Akart explores the trials and tribulations of a fledgling nation with a particular examination of the attitudes of the early colonists and their taste for freedom as they built America.

Seeds of Liberty
takes the reader on a historical journey beginning with the settlement of Roanoke Island in 1585 through the British attempts to clamp down on the colonists via the Stamp Act in 1764 — the impetus for the creation of
The Loyal Nine
.

For a period of ten years following the formation of the Loyal Nine, tensions between the British government and the colonists grew. As pressures built in America, chapters of the Sons of Liberty were formed all over the Thirteen Colonies, especially throughout New England, Virginia, and the Carolinas.

As the Sons of Liberty grew, so did their desire to adopt their own heraldry. Heraldry was used throughout history as a means to express a group’s pride and loyalty. In 1767, the Sons of Liberty adopted a five red and four white vertical-striped flag as the group’s formal standard. It became known as the Rebellious Flag and the nine stripes paid tribute to the Loyal Nine.

The leaders of the revolt, the Sons of Liberty, were faced with a chance to fundamentally change the course of America. They faced a choice—continue to live under tyranny or choose freedom. They chose freedom. By 1775, their opportunity became reality and the war for independence began. But the seeds of freedom were planted by nine brave Bostonians who had a vision and the courage to stand by their convictions—
the Loyal Nine.

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Teaser Chapters for
CYBER ATTACK
(Book 2)

Chapter 1

May 8, 2016

3:07 p.m.

American Airlines Flight 129

33,000 Feet

Near St. Louis, Missouri

“Good afternoon from the flight deck. This is Captain Randy Gray, and it is my honor to pilot our American Airlines Boeing 757 into Washington Dulles this afternoon. We have reached our cruising altitude of thirty-three thousand feet, after averting the initial turbulence caused by the area of weather north of the Dallas–Fort Worth metro area. With a little help from a tailwind, we should arrive on time at Washington Dulles International by two o’clock local time,” said Gray. “I will be turning off the Fasten Seat Belt signs to allow you free access to our newly enhanced cabin. Our flight attendants will begin cabin service shortly. As always, we thank you for flying American Airlines.”

Gray began his career as a pilot in 1989 with Command Airways, a small regional carrier based in upstate New York. Initially checked out on the ATR 42, a Czech-made plane, Gray continued his training and became a highly respected pilot within the American Airlines ranks. The flight to Washington Dulles was routine. He shared the cockpit with First Officer William Applegate and his longtime friend Stacy Bird, a Frontier Air captain deadheading to D.C. after a hunting trip in West Texas.

“Bill, Stacy and I would like to say hello to a friend in first class. Would you mind taking over for a bit?” asked Gray.

Applegate had flown right seat with Gray in the past and had earned Gray’s confidence.

“Absolutely, fellows, go ahead. She’s flyin’ herself anyway,” said Applegate.

Gray and Bird unbuckled their harnesses and took a quick glance at the controls to confirm everything was in order. He and Bird slipped into the galley through the secured cockpit door, which automatically locked behind them.

“Hi, guys,” said Karen Mosely, the chief flight attendant. “May I get you boys anything?”

“I don’t think so, Karen, but thanks,” said Gray. “We’re gonna holler at 3B for a minute before we descend into Dulles.”

Captains Gray and Bird strolled down the aisle behind her to greet a former Air Force buddy—when the aircraft took a sudden lurch upward. He grabbed the headrests of the seats on both sides of the aisle and ducked to look out the windows—clear blue skies. The plane quickly corrected, steadying for a moment before nosing downward into a steep descent. Gasps and screams erupted throughout the cabin.

“Is your FO okay?” asked Bird.

Gray knew what he meant by this question. Since the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370 and the deliberate crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, every pilot looked at the members of their crew with a different set of eyes. He locked eyes with Bird, both of them sharing the same thought. If they’d hit turbulence, why didn’t Applegate activate the Fasten Seat Belt signs?

“Back to the cockpit,” he said, edging by Captain Bird.

Gray reached the intercom console next to the cockpit access door and pressed the pound key, praying for Applegate to respond.

Chapter 2

May 8, 2016

3:07 p.m.

The Hack House

Binney Street

East Cambridge, Massachusetts

Andrew Lau stared intently at the iMac monitor array as Leonid Malvalaha deftly navigated the mouse. Malvalaha and Lau’s other longtime graduate assistant, Anna Fakhri, had continued in their new endeavor, despite the risk of criminal prosecution.

Through the process of pen testing, Lau identified zero-day vulnerabilities in a computer network and took advantage of the security holes before the network’s IT department could find a solution. Once the vulnerability window was identified, the zero-day attack inserted malware into the system. The
Game
, as Lau called it, required the attacked entity to pay a ransom in exchange for a patch to their security. Prior to today, their hacks didn’t directly risk lives, though their activities on behalf of the Las Vegas union had no doubt resulted in deaths. They had been more selective after Las Vegas, until now.

“Malvalaha, run us through the hack,” said Lau.

Lau’s core group consisted of Malvalaha, Fakhri and newcomer Herm Walthaus, who had proven himself by creating a cascading blackout of the Las Vegas power grid—no small feat.

“We’re monitoring American Airlines Flight 129, which departed Dallas around forty-five minutes ago,” stated Malvalaha.

His desk resembled the cockpit of a sophisticated aircraft, with six flat-panel monitors at his disposal. He pointed to the screen that displayed FlightAware, an online tool providing up-to-the-second statistics on any airline flight.

“Flight 129 is currently over St. Louis and has adjusted its flight path directly to Washington Dulles airport. The aircraft is a Boeing 757-200, flying at approximately four hundred eighty knots, or five hundred and fifty miles per hour. Altitude thirty-three thousand feet.”

“Tell us what your research has shown,” said Lau.

Fakhri addressed her former professor, now hacking partner. “Since 9/11, there have been conspiracy theories surrounding the commandeering of the four aircraft by the terrorists,” said Fakhri. “One such theory is the aircraft was part of a false-flag attack initiated by the government. As the theory goes, based upon 2001 technology, NORAD—the North American Aerospace Defense Command—took control of the planes and purposefully crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The most prevalent reason cited for the false-flag operation is that the government wanted to justify initiating a war in the Middle East.”

“For our purposes, we’re not interested in the false-flag theories,” said Malvalaha. “We focused on the concept of the remote takeover of a commercial aircraft. The technology exists, and it has, in fact, been used by the military in the past. Today, we will hack the aircraft via the flight management system,
and
make ourselves known.”

“My father is a pilot for the 757-200 airframe,” said Walthaus. “We always had sophisticated flight simulators in our home growing up, and naturally they provided more entertainment for me than a PlayStation. I’ve never physically flown an aircraft, but I am an expert on the flight sim.”

“I thought the FAA disproved the theories surrounding remote access of the onboard computers,” said Lau.

“True to an extent,” said Fakhri. “A security consultant from Germany claimed to have hacked an aircraft using an Android telephone application. Later, one of his peers accessed the aircraft’s network by connecting through the in-flight entertainment system. He then used a modified version of Vortex software to compromise the cockpit’s system.”

“When pressed for a response, the FAA was selective in its choice of words,” said Malvalaha. “They equivocated using the phrases
described technique
and
using the technology the consultant has claimed
.”

Lau laughed after this statement.

“The government has a lot of experience with misdirection,” said Lau. “Our most sophisticated operations were panned as impossible by the experts and their friends in the media—even after we successfully accomplished them!”

“When researching this online, we discovered that American Airlines and Boeing launched a
Bug Bounty
program, offering a million free air-miles to the good guys—the
white-hat hackers
,” said Walthaus. “These
ethical and conscientious
hackers shared their findings online. We took their findings as a starting point, and found the vulnerability window we were looking for.”

“Continue,” said Lau.

If Lau could publish his work, he would surely win the Carnegie Foundation award as Professor of the Year. Then again, he might be teaching second grade math to his fellow inmates.

“We’re going to use the government’s safeguard technology against them in two steps,” said Malvalaha.

Lau turned his Red Sox cap backward—an unconscious signal that it was time to go to work.

“First, we access the Boeing Uninterruptible Autopilot system,” said Fakhri. “The patent for the system was granted to Boeing in 2006, as a method of taking control of a commercial aircraft away from the pilot or flight crew in the event of a hijacking. The uninterruptible autopilot can be initiated by the pilots via onboard sensors or remotely through government satellite links.”

“As far as the public knows, no Boeing aircraft has been retrofitted to include this technology, although rumors abound to the contrary,” said Walthaus. “After the disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370, the Prime Minister of Malaysia claimed Boeing or
certain government agencies
utilized the uninterruptible autopilot to down the aircraft. I’m sure he alluded to the CIA.”

“An online search supported his theory,” said Fakhri. “We researched the rules issued by the FAA on the Federal Register website and found a Special Condition granted to Boeing for the Model 777 aircraft, allowing the installation of the uninterruptible autopilot software.”