A novel about the Russian cyberspies who hacked the DNC, The White House, The Department of State, The Pentagon, and more, and the Dutch cyberspies who watched them. Original title: In het hol van de Cozy Bear by F.W.A. van Nispen tot Pannerden

Translated from the Dutch by T.H.E. Hill.

Translated by T.H.E. Hill, the author of
Voices Under Berlin: The Tale of a Monterey Mary

Later, June 9th to be precise, the plot, as they say, got a little lumpy, like cold oatmeal.

“Igor,” said Sasha on Bear Chat. “Did you catch the coverage of (named US person A)’s testimony to Congress in yesterday’s Washington Post: ‘White House lied about me, FBI’.”

“Yes, I did,” typed Igor. “I can’t believe that there were people in the hearing room who gasped in surprise when (named US person A) said ‘he had «no doubt» that the Russian government was behind the hack of the DNC. Don’t these people read The Post? (named US person B) told everyone exactly how they knew it was us in April.”

“And told us what to look for so we could kick them out,” replied Sasha. “I still think we should send (named US person B) an Order of Lenin for services to the Russian Federation.”

“Or a ‘l337 Cozy 834Я’ T-shirt,” said Igor. “We could call it a ‘retirement present’ to be discreet.”

“He doesn’t look the T-shirt type,” answered Sasha. “Definitely a suit.”

“We should print up our own ‘l337 Cozy 834Я’ T‑shirt,” said Saskia, who had ‘The Watch’ and was following the conversation.

“Yellow letters on red, I think,” said Menno.

“How about another line?” I asked. “l337 Cozy 834Я @127.0.0.1 on Ur C0m9u73r.”

“What a hoot!” said Menno. “Who wants one?”