The Nephew Read online

  The Nephew

  A novel by

  Claude Bouchard

  THE NEPHEW

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2018 by Claude Bouchard

  Cover design by Luke Romyn

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.

  Published by Claude Bouchard

  Acknowledgements

  New stories often need new characters and the following people graciously allowed me to hijack their names to give my new characters their identities. It should be noted that these actual people are even more awesome than their fictional namesakes in The Nephew.

  Therefore, in order of appearance, I express my thanks and gratitude to:

  Kelly (Stone) Gamble

  Sean Hayden

  Jeffrey ‘Benny’ Benham

  Vince Perriello

  Ty Barton

  Gennita ‘Jenn’ Low

  Bill Koller

  Jim Bennett

  Karen Berglund

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 – Thursday, August 3, 2017

  Chapter 2 – Saturday, August 5, 2017

  Chapter 3 – Sunday, August 6, 2017

  Chapter 4 – Monday, August 7, 2017

  Chapter 5 – Tuesday, August 8, 2017

  Chapter 6 – Wednesday, August 9, 2017

  Books by Claude Bouchard

  Chapter 1 – Thursday, August 3, 2017

  Pacific Ocean, West of Vancouver Island, 1:17 p.m.

  Twenty-seven year old Trenton McCoy had proudly considered himself a rebel for as long as he could remember. As a child, he had been obstinate and unruly, gleefully disobeying his parents’ rules, undaunted by whatever punishments his actions brought forth. Though academically successful in high school, he had prided himself at causing disruptions and confronting teachers, enough to have earned the unofficial record of receiving the most disciplinary action of any student.

  He had briefly attended college after high school to study computer sciences but dropped out, annoyed by the rules and regulations of the educational system. A variety of jobs had followed over the next couple of years, all of short duration since none of his employers succeeded in properly adapting to him. Intent on succeeding his way, he had furthered his knowledge, on his own and via several online courses, and had become adept with the internet. This had led to fulltime employment in cyber-security with a major telecom carrier which had turned out to be a tremendous learning opportunity with potential for a successful career. Unfortunately, Trenton’s persistence at bucking the system had invariably resulted in his termination.

  Armed with his newly acquired knowledge and practical experience, he decided to go freelance and offer his services as a website designer and cyber security specialist. Business was slow and nothing to get rich on but there was something to be said about being his own boss. Fascinated with the darker side of the internet, he spent much of his free time on the deep web, learning more about viruses, malware, piracy and the like, and began to identify opportunities to generate more income all while creating the havoc he so enjoyed.

  With practice and research, he honed his skills and was soon offering his hacking services for fees far exceeding those charged for his website design and cyber security business segments. Proud of his progress and true to his narcissistic nature, he boasted of his accomplishments in several deep web chatrooms he regularly visited and the Pirate, as he called himself, soon found himself with a growing fan base while rubbing virtual elbows with several of the hacker world elite.

  Among the said elite, nobody was bigger or more revered than RubiconDust4U, an unidentified cyber-crime legend rumoured to be a multi-millionaire thanks to his illicit activities. Understandably, Trenton had been awed when Rubi had shown up in a chatroom one day and addressed him directly, congratulating him on his success to date. Expecting their exchange to be a rare event, Trenton had been pleasantly surprised when Rubi had continued to chat with him during subsequent visits. Even more pleasing had been when the man had suggested they exchange coordinates to pursue some discussions in private.

  In the months which had followed, Rubi had become Trenton’s mentor, coaching, teaching and even throwing some work his way. When Trenton had asked why Rubi was giving him such special treatment, the latter had replied, “Because you deserve it.”

  Along the way, Rubi had casually confirmed he was wealthy via references to exotic destinations, private jet charters and his yacht, which served as his principal residence and favourite mode of travel. A week earlier, he had informed Trenton he was cruising along the Pacific coast and intended to stop in Vancouver. Might his protégé be interested in a day of yachting to discuss ideas for the future?

  Thrilled with the invitation, Trenton had readily accepted and Rubi, roughly twice his age, had been waiting for him at the Coal Harbour Marina security gate upon his arrival that morning. Rubi had led the way to a spectacular, multi-deck yacht, aptly named Rubicon Dust 4 U, where two other older men, Doug and Bob, waited. They had boarded and, in minutes, had been heading out of the harbour toward Burrard Inlet. Once into open water, Rubi had opened up the throttle and explained the planned itinerary, south around Vancouver Island then west through the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Pacific beyond.

  Feeling somewhat out of his league and intent on leaving a good impression, Trenton had remained relatively quiet, letting the three others carry the conversation and asking the occasional question when pertinent. However, after a little while, encouraged by some cajoling and a couple of beers, he had become more comfortable with his new friends and was soon enjoying the rather remarkable outing.

  They had enjoyed lunch, a variety of cold cuts, cheese, bread and wine, on the bridge terrace and before Trenton realized it, they had been gone for several hours and now found themselves surrounded by water as far as the eye could see.

  “So, we’re on the ocean now?” he asked.

  “Halfway to Japan,” Rubi joked in response. “Seriously, we’re about eight miles from Vancouver Island, more or less west of Ucluelet.”

  “Cool,” said Trenton. “I’m just impressed by how stable your boat is when I look at the waves.”

  “Tough to get seasick on this baby,” Rubi agreed then winked as he added, “Though that shouldn’t be a problem for a pirate.”

  Trenton smiled uneasily as he glanced at the two other men.

  “Don’t worry about those two,” said Rubi. “We’re all friends here. They know all about me and I’ve worked on a number of projects for them.”

  “Fair enough,” Trenton conceded. “Uh, can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure,” said Rubi. “What is it?”

  “It’s, uh, it’s about your handle in the chatrooms, RubiconDust4U,” said Trenton, somewhat sheepishly. “Can you tell me what it means? I tried to figure it out but I couldn’t find anything relating to computers or the internet.”

  Rubi laughed. “That’s because it has nothing to do with either. Have you ever heard of the Rubicon Trail in California?”

  “I saw something about it when I was Googling,” Trenton admitted. “It’s some kind of Jeep trail with boulders and stuff?”

  “That’s it,” Rubi confirmed. “Anyhow, I was into off-road driving a while back and a bunch of us had headed down to give the Rubicon a try. There’s a bar in the area called Uncle Tom’s Cabin we’d been told was a must-see, so we headed o
ver. The road to get there was mostly paved except for one small stretch which was still dirt. I was leading the way, moving at a good clip, with four other Jeeps behind me.

  “When I hit the dirt strip, I didn’t think much of it until I glanced in the mirror and saw my buddies had all disappeared in a massive cloud of dust. I slowed down but still had to wait a few minutes for them to arrive once I got to the bar. When they got there, they started giving me hell but I’m a smartass so I just grinned and said, ‘Rubicon dust for you!’ For some reason, the expression stuck.”

  “As usual, that was a great story,” said Doug with a wink.

  “I’m certainly happy I was here to hear it again,” Bob added before feigning a yawn.

  “Bite me,” Rubi replied before turning back to Trenton. “I told you we’d discuss some stuff about the future, right?”

  “Yeah, you did,” Trenton replied.

  “And that’s why these two bozos are with us today,” Rubi explained. “They’re interested in learning more about you.”

  “Uh, okay,” Trenton agreed. “What do you want to know?”

  “We’d like you to tell us about some of you accomplishments,” said Bob before looking at their host, “But, you know what? It’s kind of cool and windy up here. I’d suggest we go inside.”

  “No problem,” Rubi agreed. “Let’s go to ‘Control Central’.”

  “What’s ‘Control Central’?” asked Trenton as they headed down the stairs.

  Rubi grinned and said, “Wait until you see it. You’re going to freak.”

  They stepped through the open doors on the upper deck into the saloon and moved forward to the stairs leading to the lower deck. At the bottom, Rubi went to the closed door of the front cabin then turned and smiled at Trenton.

  “Welcome to ‘Control Central’,” he said before opening the door and leading the way in.

  “Wow,” Trenton exclaimed as he took in his surroundings. “This is incredible.”

  Following a successful battle with cancer, Rubi had decided to semi-retire and, for the most part, shut down his highly successful cyber-security consultancy to enjoy life with his wife. Both long-time boating aficionados, they had upgraded to their current eighty foot yacht on which they spent most of their time, travelling the world. However, since Rubi still took on the occasional lucrative contract, the front cabin of their craft had been designed as a state-of-the-art computer and communications lab.

  “So, you can work from anywhere in here?” asked Trenton.

  “I’m always connected,” Rubi confirmed as he pointed to a leather armchair. “Have a seat. We’ll chat for a bit so my buddies can get to know you better and then I can show you some stuff.”

  “Sounds good,” said Trenton, sitting down as the others pulled up swivel chairs. “Where should I start?”

  “At the beginning but don’t bore us,” Bob replied. “Tell us what you’re able to do by giving us some specific examples.”

  Trenton nodded. “Okay. I worked legit for a while for one of the big telecoms which is where I started learning a lot about cyber-security, hacking, the deep web and so on. We butted heads along the way so they let me go and I started my own consulting business while digging more into hacking. For fun and practice, I found a number of pirate sites and broke into their databanks. With all the digital content this gave me access to, I turned around and built my own site where members could download movies, music and literature for free. I got the word out through social media and built it up to over a hundred thousand members so far.”

  “Over how long?” asked Doug.

  “Not quite three years,” Trenton replied, “And it’s still growing.”

  “Do members pay to join?” asked Bob.

  “They can make donations and some do,” said Trenton, “But this project wasn’t about making money. Like I said, it was for my learning and practice but also, I firmly belief that nobody should have to pay for intellectual property if they don’t want to so, I’m offering the public a service.”

  “What about the creators of that property?” asked Doug. “I’m guessing you’re not paying them anything.”

  Trenton shrugged. “They make enough with their sales. Anyhow, it’s not like my site members would buy the books and stuff otherwise. They want it for free.”

  “Have you had any trouble or complaints from publishers or producers?” Bob questioned.

  “Yeah but it’s mostly a lot of whining,” Trenton confirmed. “The way the site is set up though, anyone can upload stuff so when people complain, my defense is that I have no control of where it’s coming from. Anyone who finds their work on the site and don’t want it there just have to complete a form identifying themselves as the rights owners. I pull the stuff down for a couple of weeks then load it up again. I get their personal data as a bonus from my efforts.”

  “Any lawsuits or threats to date?” asked Doug.

  “A couple of threats of lawsuits from some bigger publishers,” Trenton replied, “But no action yet. If push comes to shove, I’ll just transfer the content to a new site and close the first one. As for other threats, I’ve received some nasty emails, mostly from indie authors, and dealt with some of those by sharing with my members. They’re a supportive group so the whiners got a good dose of bad publicity with a bunch of folks. I also had no choice but to mess up the websites of a few more persistent complainers.”

  “You’ve got a vindictive streak, do you?” said Doug with a wink.

  “I don’t let anyone mess with me,” said Trenton. “It’s not like I’m violent because, I mean, look at me. I’m not a big guy and I’ve never been much for fighting but, that’s the beauty of the internet. You get into someone’s site from thousands of miles away and wipe it out or screw up their Facebook or Twitter account and they never know who the hell did it.”

  “What was your biggest ‘revenge’ hack?” asked Bob.

  Trenton glanced at Rubi who nodded and said, “You can tell these guys.”

  “Okay,” said Trenton before looking at Bob. “I mentioned I worked for a telecom provider for a while. Well, not too long ago, I got into their databanks and got hold of the personal information of over a million customers –”

  “You mean CanTelco?” Doug interrupted. “That was you?”

  “Yes sir, that was me,” Trenton confirmed. “All of it.”

  “Wow,” said Doug, clearly impressed. “So you’re the one who posted some of that information on the web and leaked it to the press?”

  Trenton nodded with a smile. “Like I said, that was all me. On top of that, I sold the info to half a dozen different scammers for a tidy profit. Call it my severance package.”

  “Any chance this could be traced back to you somehow?” asked Bob, looking concerned.

  Trenton grinned as he shook his head. “Not unless I came out and confessed.” He glanced at Rubi then added, “I made sure I covered my tracks with a little help from a friend.”

  “Way to go,” said Bob. “One thing we haven’t talked about is phishing. Are you into that?”

  “I’ve put together a few phishing scams,” Trenton replied, “Some which I played with myself and a couple I designed and sold with a list of targets.”

  “Where did those target lists come from?” asked Doug.

  “Every email address and name I get my hands on, excluding personal contacts, goes into a database,” Trenton explained, “That includes my CanTelco hack and others, my website members, whiners who contact me and so on. I’m up to almost two million and it keeps growing.”

  “That’s quite a number,” said Bob.

  “It is,” Trenton agreed, “But the problem with phishing is, the targets are generic so you end up with a lot of hit and miss.”

  “What do you mean by that?” asked Bob.

  “Say you send out a ton of emails telling people there’s a problem with their account at some bank,” Trenton explained. “The intent is to have them click a link so you can get something fro
m them. The thing is, most of them don’t even have an account there so you’re wasting time and energy, not to mention increasing their awareness of phishing to begin with. I’m working on getting client lists from specific banks or companies to get specific target lists for future scams.”

  “I like how you think,” said Bob before turning to Rubi. “I think we’ve covered enough ground for now. You wanted to show our friend something?”

  “Yes, I did,” Rubi confirmed, wheeling his chair over to his bank of keyboards and monitors. “Give me a couple of minutes to set up.”

  “So, are you guys into computers too?” Trenton asked Bob and Doug while they waited.

  “Let’s say I’m more into project management,” Bob replied. “Doug, however, is pretty handy with anything computer related.”

  “Not nearly as good as the big man there,” Doug replied, gesturing toward Rubi.

  “That’s because I’m fucking awesome,” said Rubi then added, “Come on over, Trenton. Prepare to be amazed.”

  “Sounds good,” said Trenton, crossing the short distance and dropping into the chair next to Rubi’s as the two other men followed and stood behind him. “Amaze me.”

  Rubi tapped a few keys and the first screen opened up to a page displaying a variety of text.

  “Voilà,” he said. “This is your life.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Trenton, stunned as he recognized the information displayed on the screen. “What is this?”

  “It’s everything anyone might want to know about Trenton McCoy,” said Rubi. “Okay, there may be some small detail missing here or there but, anything on record from anywhere about you is in here.”

  “B-but why?” asked Trenton. “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s all about hacking,” Rubi explained, tapping a key to light up the next screen. “You see here, these are the two million people on your list. They are your victims, and now it’s your turn. Watch this.”