Blackout

Une réaction en chaîne dans le réseau électrique européen entraîne une panne de courant à l'échelle du continent. Le hacker Pierre Manzano se rend compte que c'est à cause du code qu'il a écrit.

Genoa, 2001 – the G8 Summit. A group of peaceful demonstrators, having spent the night in the Scuola Armando Diaz, are being ruthlessly encircled by the police. Armored bulldozers smash the doors down. Panic descends. Manzano and his friends, hardly more than teenagers, await the police, hands raised. Violence, screams, panic. 20 years later: Manzano is being interrogated by Francoise Bollard – the head of Europol’s counter terrorism department. He knows all about Manzano: activist, hacker, convict. Manzano's past has caught up with him, despite his best efforts. Why is there still no electricity 17 hours on? There is absolute chaos in the streets, at stations and airports. People’s homes have no power, no heating and many are without water. With one eye on the coming elections, Viet Rhees downplays the crisis, rather than declare a state of emergency and informing the public about the reality of the situation. Frauke and the crisis unit work under great pressure to get generators to hospitals and maintain essential supplies to the general population. As it emerges that Manzano was right that the smart meters were hacked, Ricardo Ruiz the Head of Europol orders Bollard to recruit Manzano.

The CID investigation continues. Inspector Stachwitz discovers a connection between their suspect – the software developer who has disappeared – and the man who hacked into the first smart meter in Sweden, Jorge Pucao – and between Pucao and Manzano. The crisis committee is working hard to keep everything under control, but problems are mounting. With the food supply chain collapsed, soon people will be facing starvation as well as the cold. Evacuations need to be organized. If the power doesn't come back on by tomorrow evening at the latest, the healthcare system will completely shut down. The police and fire brigade are also on the verge of collapse. Manzano develops a plan to knock out the entirety of Europe, explaining it to his friends in detail. Now, 20 years later, this plan is being played out in its entirety. A backdoor programmed into the power network’s software, resulting in a total blackout. A blackout that would destroy Europe’s critical infrastructure and create room for something new: a restart.

Manzano arrives at a hospital in Berlin as it is evacuated; the resulting chaos is a stroke of good fortune for him. He strides inside, intent on finding somebody who can treat him. A doctor operates on Manzano. But the CID, having followed him, have sent a team to storm the hospital. In the crisis unit, the atmosphere is increasingly desperate. Demonstrators gather outside the Ministry of the Interior, and horrific reports are coming in from around the country: fires, looting, mass evacuations. Other European countries are suffering a similar fate. At Werthe nuclear power station, fuel is running out as the emergency generators needed to maintain the temperature of the radioactive core. The situation is becoming critical, with the temperature steadily rising. Frauke is faced with a nightmare dilemma. Elsewhere, the CID have a lead, having tracked a group planning to blow up an electricity pylon. Hartlandt and his task force speed to the site in a helicopter, convinced there is a connection between Manzano, Pucao and the attackers.

Une réaction en chaîne dans le réseau électrique européen entraîne une panne de courant à l'échelle du continent. Le hacker Pierre Manzano se rend compte que c'est à cause du code qu'il a écrit.

Une réaction en chaîne dans le réseau électrique européen entraîne une panne de courant à l'échelle du continent. Le hacker Pierre Manzano se rend compte que c'est à cause du code qu'il a écrit.