White Death: An Alex Hawke Novella Read Online Free Page A

said. “What exactly has come up?”
    “Well. It won’t come as any great surprise for you to learn that the case involves financial misdeeds as well as a grisly murder. The large private bank accounts of a select group in the House of Lords have recently been subjected to very sophisticate hacking attacks. There were substantial losses prior to discovery of the incursion. Not to mention some losses in a number of accounts belonging to Her Royal Highness, the Queen herself.”
    “The Queen?”
    “Yes, the Queen. One of Her Majesty’s many charitable accounts in Zurich has been systematically looted over the last six months into near nonexistence. That discovery triggered the investigation. And that, we think, led to the murder of a very prominent Swiss banker.
    “And that, gentlemen, is why I asked you here. I hesitate to add that one of the British accounts burgled was held by you, Alex. Your account with Credit Suisse was recently attacked. However, in the main, your cybersecurity bulwarks held fast, Lord Hawke.”
    “Attacks on my accounts? Really? Hard to believe. I’ve not heard a word about it from my bankers there.”
    “Nor will you, except from me. The ongoing criminal investigations are taking place under a blanket of total security so as not to alert the hackers. As of yet, our MI6 lads in Zurich have been unable to trace these attempts back to the primary source. But MI6 Cyber Warfare here in London has been able to verify the origin of one of these attacks as being China. And, more recently, our Russian friends.”
    “Christ,” Hawke said, “here we go again. I’ve gotten to the point with Putin and the Russians that I much prefer the Chinese.”
    “I believe we all have, Alex. Behold Putin unchained.”
    “Hmm. Vlad the Impaler. How did you learn of all this financial skullduggery, sir?” Congreve asked.
    “Sheer luck. One of our Zurich station’s MI6’s techies had his home laptop freeze up while looking at something strange going on. Very strange, indeed. He was simply running a cursory check on the Swiss government’s Cybertech Division’s UK accounts monitoring that morning when something very disturbing popped up. That was a week ago.
    “Our man had somehow tapped into a peek inside the books of all the major Swiss banks with British accounts. He suddenly saw things he’d never seen before. Wild swings in overnight balances. He happened on it while at home, rebuilding his MacBook Air, if you can imagine. He immediately got on to our MI6 station chief in Zurich to alert him to what was going on. And thus the call I received.”
    “Schultz, was it?”
    “Yes. Herr Fritz Schultz. Called ‘Blinky’ by many of his MI6 colleagues. Something or other to do with his eyes. He called me late last night. His message was that a prominent banker named Leo Hermann had been found dead by a Swiss Army alpinist near the base of a mountain just south of Zurich. Hermann handled Her Majesty’s private accounts at Credit Suisse. Top man. We need to run this thing to ground immediately lest it go any further. And shut down whoever was behind not only the hacking but this very odd murder as well.”
    Hawke, now fully engaged in the conversation, leaned forward and stared at C.

 
    C HAPTER S IX
    “I know Blinky quite well, mostly from alpine climbing together. Do you think this fellow Hermann was involved with the hacking attacks on Her Majesty? Or that he was killed because he was getting close to unmasking the foreign culprits?”
    “I have no idea. You both understand that Great Britain itself keeps most of its vast gold reserves throughout Switzerland. But, frankly, Blinky Schultz is far more worried about Her Royal Highness’s business than yours, my dear boy. Your name and Hawke Industries just happened to pop up in the mix of attempted hacking.”
    “Rather surprising, sir; in the world’s largest money pond, I’m a very small fish.”
    “And so I assume this is where Hawke and I enter