The Undeclared War (2022) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Danny can see us in 45.
I'll meet you there.
- We don't want to be late
- I'll meet you there. Okay?
Sure.
Hey, stranger.
I thought you'd gone to Harrogate?
I just got back. I'm on
my way to work, but
I wanted to see you.
Great. (CHUCKLES)
(STUDENTS CHEERING)
- Go on, sir!
- BOY: Go on, sir.
DANNY: So what was he like?
Like?
Yeah. What did you make of him?
(CLEARS THROAT) Erm
Er, he was young. About my age.
Dressed in a hoody
He was He was frightened.
Like he was
And you'd never seen him before?
No. Never.
What should we do?
About his warning?
Something else hidden in the code.
SAARA: That's right.
What do you think?
I guess that I trust Saara's instincts.
She's been right before.
DANNY: Mm.
It feels like a provocation to me.
It's classic FSB mind games.
It's very vague.
There's nothing specific,
there's nothing we can use.
Resources are tight, you know.
I can't keep throwing people
at this thing, you know.
Not without something concrete to go on.
Look
if you want to keep looking,
that's fine, all right?
But in your own time, okay?
Okay. I better run.
That's it?
Apparently.
(SCOFFS)
- Hey.
- What?
Do you wanna get a drink after work?
(SCOFFS)
Look
what happened in Harrogate,
it was a mistake, okay?
I I don't usually
drink alcohol, and I
It was a mistake. That's all.
Sure.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
How much do you know
about what we do here?
MARINA: Just what I've read online.
That we're Putin's poodle?
A propaganda mouthpiece?
Of course, the people who say that
mostly work for media billionaires
and publish what
they're told to publish.
So glass houses, wouldn't you say?
Or maybe you don't know
that English expression?
No, I know it.
Steve Cleary, one of
our shooting producers.
MARINA: Hi.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
that's the only Russian I know.
MARINA: Nice to meet you, too.
- You ready to get out there?
- Now?
ANGIE: Sure. Why not?
Just do what he says.
He knows what he's doing. More or less.
Okay.
Are you Daz?
That's right.
Thanks for coming. I'm
Kathy. Can I join you?
Be my guest.
(SIGHS)
I'm told you were
mentioned at COBR recently.
Really?
Did they enjoy my Russian light show?
I think it got their attention.
And Putin's, probably.
It's hard to undermine the free world
when the lights in your office
are literally on the blink.
Apparently, some people
thought that it was us.
Is that right?
Well, you only have to ask.
Mm. (SMACKS LIPS)
You know what, that is exactly what
I've been sent to talk to you about.
I thought GCHQ didn't employ Black Hats.
Well, maybe not "employ" exactly.
More of an informal contribution.
On what basis?
On a patriotic basis.
That's how you describe
yourself, isn't it?
Jolly Roger, the "Patriotic Hacker"?
Even patriots get paid, Kathy.
I'm sure we can come to an arrangement.
(PEOPLE SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
- This is it?
- This is it.
Put them on.
You're joking, right?
No, I'm not joking.
I'm not in any danger.
Just do it, okay?
(MAN SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY)
Who are they?
(ALL YELLING)
STEVE: Now!
I never thought I'd
have to dress in full
riot gear here on
the streets of the UK.
But with this general
election just days away
(GLASS BREAKING)
Again!
(SHOUTING CONTINUES)
I never thought I'd have
to dress in full riot gear
here on the streets of the UK.
But with this critical general
election just days away,
confrontations like this are
becoming more and more common.
- (GLASS BREAKING)
- There. That's great,
with the glass breaking. Use that.
STEVE: Yeah.
WOMAN: We want an end to immigration
But they don't care about
democracy or free speech
ANGIE: What's she saying?
Only electing a white populist
regime can put an end to this chaos,
blah, blah, blah.
Okay, great. We'll take that.
Have you got a good end shot?
The girl.
ANGIE: Perfect.
Great! Upload that and email
me the metrics when they're in.
Great job, Marina.
MARINA: Excuse me!
Angie!
- Steve. How did he know?
- Know what?
He gave me the riot gear
before there was any violence.
He knew it was going to happen.
Did we organise that
counter-demonstration?
We organised both of them.
What?
Come on.
Right. Facebook page
for Luton For Labour,
set up seven months ago by us.
We tweet about it with our fake accounts
and then the bots retweet
it thousands of times.
And then like-minded people sign up.
So it doesn't exist. Luton
For Labour? You made it up?
Well, it exists, on this page.
It's got 96 members.
And here's the message in
the diary about today's event.
MARINA: Put there by you?
That's right. Okay?
And here's the Facebook page
for "Take Back Control of Luton,"
a fascist group that thinks it's
time we went back to the 1930s,
also set up by us.
And here's a message
about a protest today
at the same time, on the same street.
So they all turn up,
completely unaware there's
gonna be a rival group,
and then as soon as they
see each other, they clash.
There's no need for us
to provoke on the ground.
If we've attracted the
right kind of people,
it'll kick off of its own accord.
So it's all made up. The whole thing.
Well, I prefer managed.
But what's the point of reporting
something that's so obviously fake news?
(SIGHS) Look, you need to forget
all your previous experience
as a journalist, okay?
Whether it's faked isn't the point.
I mean, everything that's reported
is fake, one way or another.
We know that people won't believe it.
It probably contradicts what we
said yesterday. It doesn't matter.
The point is to get people used to
the idea that everything's a lie,
that there is no truth.
And once they accept that,
well, the biggest liar wins.
(DOOR CREAKING)
(KEYBOARD CLACKING)
Shit.
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
Oh, Christ.
SAARA: Where did you get all this stuff?
Back of a skip. When they
were clearing out Oakley.
Is that for Morse Code?
Mm-hmm.
I'm I'm sorry. I'm
interrupting your meal.
No, no, no. Here. Here, have a seat.
Here. Try it.
(STATIC BUZZING OVER HEADPHONES)
Good?
I I can't
Oh, sorry.
Mm.
(BEEPING)
Hold on.
(BEEPING CONTINUES)
Now, go. Go on.
Me?
(BEEPING)
- How was that?
- (CHUCKLES)
Borderline crap. (CHUCKLES)
This must all seem very,
very old fashioned to you
but this was
this one, this was
state-of-the-art.
State-of-the-art
in its day.
You nicked it, didn't you?
No. (CHUCKLES) No, no, I told you.
I found it. Back of a skip.
Where you found me.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
(JOHN CLEARS THROAT)
I haven't got very much.
But if you come barging in uninvited,
you have to take your chances.
Well, like I say, I'm really not hungry.
Ha.
You'll eat what you're
given. And you'll enjoy it.
- It's really good.
- (CHUCKLES)
You needn't sound so surprised.
Anyhow, my, er, brilliant
analytical mastermind
deduces that you didn't come here
for the pleasure of my company.
Come on, spit it out.
If you see what I mean.
You're going to tell me I
shouldn't discuss this with you.
Compartmentation and all that.
Probably.
Okay.
I think there's something
else hidden in the BT malware.
A third stage.
And your suspicions
aren't widely shared?
Everyone thought I was so
clever, finding the hidden level.
But
I'm wondering if we
weren't meant to find it,
so that we didn't look any further.
I think maybe there's
something else hidden in there.
It's the Nigerian prince.
What?
You get an email from a Nigerian prince.
He has £50 million and he wants
to deposit it in your account.
Hurrah. What do you do?
Delete it. It's spam.
Everyone knows that.
Exactly.
As soon as you see an email
from a Nigerian prince,
without even opening
it, you think it's spam.
Trouble is, the other side knows
that's what you're going to think.
The Russians are always
looking at probabilities,
they adore working out how
one behaviour leads to another,
predictable behaviour.
They've been studying us, how we behave,
since well, since before the war.
Sounds like you admire
them. The Russians.
Hmm.
No, I don't admire them.
I respect them. As worthy adversaries.
So what are you saying?
What am I saying? I'm saying, yes,
what if the other side
has already predicted
every step you'll take when
you analyse the malware?
Okay, fine, but how does that help?
It's a mountain of code. I still
have no idea where to start.
(CHUCKLES) Oh, dear.
"A mountain of code."
Do you mind if I
Perhaps it will make you,
er, check your assumptions.
Remember the Nigerian prince.
If you find yourself scouring through
thousands and thousands of lines of code,
that's probably exactly what
they're expecting you to do.
Don't.
Do something else, unexpected.
Okay.
Like what?
Check the comms.
Find out how it's communicating
and you're halfway there.
But it doesn't. That's the point.
This malware doesn't beacon at all.
Well, I suspect it's how
you define communicating.
Everything communicates,
one way or another.
You'll have to think outside the box.
Mm?
Or if you can't, then you
have to find someone who can.
(CHUCKLES)
Uh-huh.
Well, I don't know. I think
I think there's life in the old dog yet.
(LAUGHS)
KATHY: Hey.
You still here?
Working on the B
malware. In my own time.
So what are you doing?
Questioning our assumptions.
You've lost me.
Everything.
What we think its purpose is.
Whether it communicates
with the outside world.
I thought it didn't communicate.
Exactly.
That's one of our assumptions.
Another is that it
didn't run in the sandbox.
I'm going to try again.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
(KEYBOARD CLACKING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
KATHY: Anything?
Hey. It was worth a try.
(SAARA SIGHS)
Why didn't he say anything else?
In Harrogate?
Why couldn't he be more specific?
Maybe he didn't know.
Or maybe Danny is right.
And it's just another provocation.
Another way to fuck with us.
Tie us in knots looking for
something that doesn't exist.
I don't know. I don't know
what I'm doing any more.
Yes, you do.
That is about the only
thing that's for sure here.
You were born for this.
Don't stay too late.
(VADIM SIGHS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
You're not convinced, are you?
Why did you bring me over here?
Don't you know?
No, actually. I don't.
ANGIE: I read this.
Tell me why you wrote it.
To cause trouble.
No, I don't think so.
I think you were trying to
make Russia a better place.
- (SCOFFS) Really?
- Yeah, I think so.
And you risked your liberty and the
safety of your daughter to do it.
I think you're a patriot, but you
probably don't like to admit it.
That's what I'm trying to do here.
Make Britain a better place.
But you're supporting Putin.
And we were criticising him.
Well, we're taking his money. It's
not necessarily the same thing.
Look, it's very simple. (SIGHS)
You pointed out everything that
was wrong with your society.
And you were very good at it.
And I want you to do
the same thing here.
But Putin wants to trample all
over Britain, not reform it.
No, he doesn't.
He wants to overturn the
world order and he's right.
Russia has to get out from
under the domination of the West
if it's going to grow.
And we have to tear apart what
we've got here from the inside,
so we can build again, better.
Why can't I come in the front entrance?
Our staff would be uncomfortable
having you in the building.
(SCOFFS)
Why?
Do I have "black hat"
tattooed on my forehead?
Wait for me here.
What? Why? How long will you be?
I don't know.
KATHY: Hey.
Can I borrow her for a minute?
Sure.
You know that we've been
hunting the BT coders?
You found them?
The guy you met in Harrogate?
Is he one of these?
No. No.
Please. This is really important.
I promised.
I promised I wouldn't identify him.
He said his life would be in
danger. I told you, he was terrified.
Well, we're about to publish
their names and photographs.
You're what? Why?
As part of our response to the attack.
To show that Russia was behind it.
Not him. Please. We have to
protect him. I promised him.
Who?
Who, Saara?
KATHY: Vadim Trusov.
Yeah.
How do you know?
I went to uni with him.
That's how I know he's genuine.
Please, don't do anything to hurt him.
I don't care about the others,
but don't expose him. Please.
That would be even worse for him.
If we expose everyone else but not him,
it's just gonna throw suspicion on him,
it's gonna make it look
like he's a British spy.
SAARA: What, so this is
everyone? The whole team?
- Is that what you're saying?
- No
So why can't he be one
of the ones you miss out?
Because he's a key player.
All right, if he's not there,
it's gonna look really suspicious.
It's actually safer for him if
he's exposed as part of the group.
Saara.
He'll think I've betrayed him.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
Are you okay?
(MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
- Can I say something?
- Yeah, of course.
Doesn't this make it more likely that
what he told her in Harrogate was true?
Vadim.
Well, he's one of the coders.
They wouldn't risk someone like that
on a provocation operation, would they?
They'd just send someone expendable.
Someone like me.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
Unless
they knew their coder was at college
with a someone from
our Malware Department,
so that sending him would make
their provocation more believable.
Yeah. But how could they know that?
That she worked here?
And also, they had no idea who
was going to turn up, did they?
(EXHALES SHARPLY)
But even if what he says is
true, where does that get us?
I've had every hacker in this
building tear that code apart,
and there's nothing. It's a dead end.
(DANNY SIGHS)
So, should I give them all to
the Jolly Roger, him included?
(SIGHS)
Yeah. Do it.
- All good?
- Fine.
Okay.
Sorry to keep you waiting.
positions of power and influence.
One of the men named by the Jolly
Roger website is Vadim Trusov,
the son of Felix and Ludmilla
Trusov, owners of the Russian
You're going to have
to explain this to me.
How Vadim's any
different from you or me?
He does what he's told
because it's his job,
just like you and me.
Oh, yes. There is a difference.
He took a massive risk to try to help us
whereas you and I just
threw him to the wolves.
Saara.
- (INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
- Jeremy,
this Jolly Roger, who is he?
See what you can find out.
Is he a front for the
spooks? Does he even exist?
Quick as you can, yeah?
And prep a background piece
on everything else he's done.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
- Angie.
- What?
Can I speak to you?
I'd like to try for an interview.
With one of the coders.
Well, the bids are already
in. Might happen. Might not.
Depends which way they wanna play it.
Anyway, it's a job for one
of the presenters. No offence.
I may have another way in.
I think Vadim Trusov would talk to me.
Why?
We're friends.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
(GROANS)
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
MAN: Hiya.
Hey.
Tell me you're not
going in to work now.
Yeah, afraid so.
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
MAN 1: What are you looking at?
MAN 2: What are you looking at?
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
(OBJECTS CLATTERING)
(SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
You guys not going to do anything?
No can do, mate. It's a
police-free zone, innit?
(OFFICERS LAUGHS)
Can you hold that?
(DOOR BELL RINGS)
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
(VADIM SPEAKING)
Mm.
(SIGHS)
(SIGHS)
(SIGHS)
Okay.
(SOFTLY) Questions are
here. Scroll like that, okay?
You okay?
I know you can do this.
Thank you.
(INAUDIBLE)
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
(INAUDIBLE)
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
of being behind the cyber attack
that caused billions of dollars
of damage to another nation.
What's your response
to these allegations?
nothing to do with this.
What about the evidence offered
by the "Jolly Roger" website?
It's incontrovertible, isn't it?
What can I say?
I'm a computer engineer
working in cyber security.
I know absolutely nothing about this.
Your parents, Felix
and Ludmilla Trusov
I don't have anything
to do with my parents.
I make my own way in the world.
Maybe that's why I was targeted.
Because of my parents. I don't know.
What about these people?
Who are accused alongside you?
I've never seen them before in my life.
So to your knowledge, you
had never before met anyone,
dealt with anyone, from the FSB?
Is that what you're saying?
No.
Not until yesterday.
You met the FSB yesterday?
Why?
They had something for me.
What did they have for you?
Information.
Information?
About the people who did this to me.
About the people who
tried to ruin my life.
What people?
One of them is an analyst at the
UK's intelligence organisation. GCHQ.
Er, she's on secondment from the
National Security Agency in the US.
The other is an illegal hacker
who works as a freelance for GCHQ.
Known as "Jolly Roger."
The analyst's name is Kathy Freeman.
Er, the hacker is Darran Wiskowski.
Their addresses are written there.
So, can you explain how you
(MAN SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
(WOMAN SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
(MARINA SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
(SIGHS)
hacker who works as a freelance for GCHQ.
Known as "Jolly Roger."
The analyst's name is Kathy Freeman.
(INAUDIBLE)
You still think that he
was just doing his job?
I've had to search the
whole building to find you.
So
Are you leaving?
I haven't decided.
But are you Are you safe here?
What about your flat?
Won't you have to move out?
Danny's getting me packed up.
They'll find me somewhere else.
You could stay with us.
I mean, it's really tiny.
You'd have to sleep on the sofa.
But it's safe.
(WOMAN SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Bedroom.
It's cute.
Yeah.
And then there's a dining table,
and then this is the kitchen.
You're welcome to use the fridge,
stove, oven, you know, anything.
Thanks.
Like I say, it's small.
Well, it'll only be
for a couple of days.
Stay as long as you need.
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
SAARA: Oh Oh, my God. What happened?
That's you.
Er, we work together.
Erm She needs somewhere safe to stay.
I said she could stay here.
JAMES: Okay.
What happened?
We were, erm
We were attacked. On the protest.
(EXHALES)
I was arrested.
- God.
- Yeah.
James, are you okay?
I I should go
JAMES: No, no. No, no.
She asked you to stay.
Stay.
(SIGHS)
So, what happens now? Will
they want to retaliate?
Possibly.
I think we're more worried about what
Russia's got planned for the election.
God knows what else they've got
squirrelled away in our systems.
Yeah, but another retaliation
can't be the answer, can it?
(SIGHS)
Outing our analyst was just them
retaliating for us naming their coders.
If we attack them again, it's
just an ever-escalating spiral.
Surely it has to stop here?
I hope you're right.
But we're four points
behind in the polls.
A bit of sabre-rattling
goes down well with our base.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)