Page 110 of Hacking His Code
The laptop is loaded with standard hacking programs that assist with password cracking and back door infiltration. I get straight to work, cycling through the programs.
The high-tech software allows me to slip in easily, though gaining access to certain programs proves a challenge. I have to avoid drawing attention to myself until the right moment when an opportunity presents itself.
I start by looking for ScryptX, which ultimately proves to be a fruitless venture, until I look at accounting records.
There’s a small note made on an account going back twenty-five years that reads: ScryptX.
It appears that twenty-five-million-dollars was transferred from their main account to another. What more, the note that read ScryptX was later changed to show: NonProfit technical arts, which means the person that made the initial deposit made a mistake and had to rename it.
What was Rand Davies up to?
Hunter
My father looksover the company’s older contracts while Gabriel, Remi, and I try to locate where the emails are coming from.
We have a small team of trusted professionals working on the case, though I doubt they’ll get much further than we will.
Fire pumps through my veins, pushing me to work at lightning-fast speed. I’m angry at what’s happened to Ari and that my father had a hand in it, though I admit it was not purposeful. He should have known that taking on such programs came with risks, and now, I have to pay the price—Ari has to pay the price.
But the moments I’m being honest with myself, I know full well that I had just as much of a hand in it as he did. If not more. I’m the one that hired Ari, and I’m the one that allowed her to leave without a security detail. I’m the reason Ari’s life is in danger.
I open up the last email sent to me. The one that contains a picture of her pregnancy test.
I’m terrified that whoever took her will keep her now, thinking they can get a handsome ransom from Arinessa’s baby.
From my baby.
Father had me send a reply, pretending to obey. I told them I was working on getting a copy of the program, but things have escalated so quickly, it’s impossible to say how much time we have left.
“Do you think they’ll accept a bribe?” I ask.
Father’s shoulders slump. “That won’t work. This isn’t just about acquiring money. If it was, they’d have it in spades with their capabilities. My guess is they’re gunning to bankrupt a few corporations, take down some competition, manipulate markets. The power they’ll have is incalculable.”
“Surely that will alert the authorities or some governing body,” Remi interjects.
“That’s why they want the base program,” Father replies. “Working from the source will help them hide their actions. They’ll have months to wreak havoc, but they’ll do it subtly, so no one understands the gravity of what’s going on.”
“Jesus, this feels like Dallanger all over again, except this time there’s no risk of nukes,” Gabriel says.
My father chuckles dryly. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. If government accounts get hacked, and they don’t know who to blame, they’ll look to each other. Russia, China, India, Ukraine, Korea—all suspects.”
Gabriel spins his chair around, brow furrowed. “Then, we need to contact the FBI.”
“Not with Ari being held hostage!” I snap.
“We’re walking a fine line,” my father says. “If we tell the authorities, the government will cease our efforts, and Ari is as good as dead. We’ll also never know who was after ScryptX. If we give them what they want, there is no guarantee they’ll release, Ari and the world will suffer. I have a way we can ‘flip the script’ so to speak.”
“I’d sure as hell would like to know what you’re going to do,” I say with an edge.
My father looks uncomfortable but doesn’t brush me off. “Fortunately, I have the original program architect on the case. They’re helping me change ScryptX as we speak, and each transaction done by the culprit will have a fingerprint attached, but that’s not all. It has a GPS tracker that will allow us to tell the location of all the terminals that access the program.”
My jaw drops. “So…we’re just going to give them the program?”
“A form of it. I’m blocking some of the functions, but it will take them time to figure that out. The danger is minimal.”
My heart sinks. “But that means the authorities are going to know—you could go to jail.”
“I will go to jail, of that I have no doubt,” my father says, his eyes never leaving his screen. “But it will be worth it to get Ari back to you and to capture whoever is behind this.”
