The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2292 by Angharad Copyright© 2014 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

Sammi’s fingers were dancing over the keyboard of her computer. “Here, call Daddy,” she shoved her mobile almost in my face. I dialled his mobile. “Tell him we’ve got a big attack on I think we’re headed for a SYN-ACK flood.”

“Will he know what that means?”

“Oh yeah.” I only wondered because I had no idea.

Simon answered his phone, “Hi, Sam...”

“It’s not Sammi, it’s me,” as he was about to query why I was on her phone, I said, “Look, Sammi is very worried, there’s a big cyber attack on the bank, a SYN-ACK flood.”

“You sure?”

“Sammi is.”

“Okay, I’ll get Dad to authorise closing down the network.”

“Oh, can you do that?”

“Oh yes, otherwise we end up like Estonia when the Russian Business Network decided to screw their whole system. Tell Sammi to get her arse up to the bank, I’m on my way as is Dad.”

“What about the girls?”

“I think this is too big for them to help with.”

“No, you dummy, how will I get them home?”

“Come and get them?”

“I can’t, Julie took my car to the football.”

“Can’t you use the Mondeo?”

“I suppose so.”

“Oh your shoulder still hurts, does it?”

“Yes.”

“Send Julie then.”

“I might.” Before I could ask what Monica was doing he rang off.

“You’re to go straight to the bank.”

“I half expected to have to do that.”

“Where’s the head of security?”

“He’s off sick with stress.”

“I’ll make you a sandwich to take.”

Just then Julie drove my Jaguar into the drive. “Get ready, I’ll get David to do you a sandwich and I’ll drive you up, I’ll collect the girls on the way back.” I dashed off to ask David to do some sandwiches and rushed up to change, pulling on some linen trousers and a white cowl necked top with a hacking jacket and some brown knee high boots. Some lippy, perfume and I grabbed my watch and handbag.

“Where are you going?” asked Julie.

“Keys.”

“Ooh, I lost them.”

“I haven’t got time to play games.”

She looked at me for a moment.

“I thought you had a bad shoulder?”

“I have, but we’re at war.”

“Who is?”

“The bank.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Cyber attack,” offered Sammi as we dashed into the kitchen grabbing the bag of food David proffered.

Danni came out to look for me and called after me, but I was too busy to talk. I suspect she now hates me, but time was of the essence.

I threw caution to the wind and hammered up to the motorway, hoping the speed cameras would be switched off, I suspect they flashed as I flew past them. I spent most of the journey in the outside lane until Henry called Sammi and told us to divert to a small flying club near Liphook, he’d sent a chopper for her.

I managed to find the place and she dashed carrying her computer and the food bag to the awaiting helicopter. In moments she was airborne and I was left wondering what would happen next. I called home to say I was going to collect the girls from Monica, Danni took the call.

“How did the trial go?”

“As if you cared.”

“Of course I care.”

“Too bad.” She cut me off, the little monkey.

I called Monica who apparently was on her way to our house with the girls. So I turned round and drove home more sedately than I left. On arrival, David asked how the sandwiches were and I had to report I didn’t get to taste one. He laughed and told me he was doing steak rolls for lunch. Things were looking up, and I told him to do enough for Monica and the two girls as well as those already here.

“Where’s Danni,” I asked Phoebe.

“No idea, haven’t seen her.”

After asking Jacquie and getting the same response I went up to her room but she wasn’t in there. I searched the whole house and she was missing. I started on the outbuildings and she was in my bike workshop.

“What’re you doing in here?”

“I came to smash it up.”

“Right, you feel that angry towards me, do you?”

“Yes.”

“In which case you’d better do your worst then.”

I passed her a hammer and she stared at it in her hand. Tears started to drip down her nose and cheeks. “I can’t,” she said and dropped the hammer. I opened my arms and she flew into them and sobbed.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t take you to football this morning and couldn’t stop to talk about it when you came back, but I had to get Sammi to London as there was an emergency at the bank.”

“I don’t believe you, no one could get to London and back that quickly.”

“Gramps sent a helicopter for her, the car was taking too long.”

“Oh.”

“The bank is being attacked by computer, probably Chinese or Russian as they tend to be the biggest offenders and have tussled with us before.”

“Why don’t they just switch off all their computers?”

“Because they’re in use twenty four hours a day, people doing transactions, monitoring exchange rates and loads of other things.”

“But if they switched off for a few moments, it would clear it all.”

“I don’t think so and it takes hours to get it up and running again and costs them lots of money.”

“So would a virus.”

“I think Sammi’s acting head of security although I suspect the government have become involved by now, as it becomes a matter of national security.”

“Like war?”

“It’s a form of terrorism.”

“Well my computer’s protected how come theirs aren’t?”

“I don’t understand it exactly, but what I gleaned from Sammi is that if enough computers call up a server, the fire wall which protects it from attack gets strained and it becomes less efficient and that’s when they send in the virus or whatever nasty they have.”

“That sounds horrible, why do they do it?”

“Because they can.”

“Well, they should be stopped.”

“If that was possible, I think the bank would do it.”

“Isn’t that Sammi’s job to make that sort of thing happen?”

“She’s a computer scientist not Harry Potter.”

Danni picked up a chain spanner and waving it round like a wand she said, “Computerbus pissoffibus and leave us in peace-ibus.” She waved it round her head three times and announced, “There, I’ve stopped it.”

She then started to laugh and I did the same. I took the spanner form her and we hugged again.

“How did the football go?”

“We had a knock around.”

“And?”

“I scored twice.”

“Well done.”

“Not really, I gave myself away.”

“How?”

“I did an overhead scissors and scored.”

“What does that mean?”

“Very few people can do it, Wayne Rooney’s one.”

That didn’t impress me, “And they knew you as a boy could do it?”

“Yeah, something like that, except when I had to see the doctor and he looked in my knickers, he told them I was a girl.”

“So Mr Sinclair believes what you told him last night now, does he?”

“Dunno, he didn’t tell me but he did say they wanted me to train with them a couple of times a week.”

“Well that’s going to be good isn’t it?” Until they do a mouth swab and find she’s XY.

“I s’pose so, sounds like hard work to me.”

“Most things worth having are, sweetheart. C’mon, I think Monica has just arrived and David is doing steak rolls for lunch.”

I grabbed her arm and after locking up the workshop we joined Monica and the two girls going into the house.

(Grateful thanks to Persephone for her help with the cyber jargon).