Hacking the System

I took my maps and laid them out on the table in the fishbowl. I started looking up the locations on my phone to see what the locations were. The satellite view was an epic invention. Sure they could be years old but at least you had a good idea of what was there. And usually they were kept mostly up to date.

I quickly created blue ink and my makeshift quill. Real pens were a little more difficult to make since it had parts and pieces. It wasn’t one think like this. Ink on a stick, except I kept the tip ‘flooded’ with ink as I wrote magically. Pencil lead was easier, but I didn’t want it to smear when someone rolled it up.

Simon Harvard and Walker Moore strolled into the conference room and looked down at the map. “Our boss says we are under your watchful eye.” Simon sneered at me.

Walker just sat down and turned one of the maps. “What we looking at.”

I smirked at him, “A map of the city.”

He looked up with a grin. “Well duh. But what for?”

“It looks like our bomber marked places on the map. Figuring out what they are then we need to find the bombs, or him. He wasn’t at the place I found all this.”

Walker nodded and looked at the maps on the table. It looked like random places to me. I wasn’t an analyst for this sort of thing. But the patterns were there. I was just missing a bit of information. I didn’t know what it was though.

Simon started looking at the maps too. He didn’t say anything more. I could almost see something.

The three of us stared at the maps and tried to find the pattern to figure out the situation. Simon pushed the map away from him. “Why don’t we just search the areas that are marked? See what’s there.”

I shrugged. “I guess you could. But we don’t know where to look, or even what we are looking for. At least wait for Anabel’s guys to figure out what we have on our hands and then we can go. It’s not going to do us any good if we don’t know what we are looking for.”

Walker laughed. “It could be anything. A suitcase, a garbage bin. It could be on a person. Nox is right. We can’t go off half cocked. We might get blown to bits. And I personally like my bits still attached.”

I smirked. “But..” I said. “Let me make a call.”

I stepped out of the room. I left HQ all together. I didn’t want to call Sage in front of anyone. I stepped into the stairwell and dialed my friends number. He picked up, “Hey Nox. Tell me you can’t figure out what that program is doing?”

I laughed. “No I need another favor. I need to access street cameras around the City.”

“The Venatori will front this bill, so you bill me your time and energy and you’ll get paid.”

“So not a favor, a job.” Sage said.

“Yeah, is that alright?”

Sage tapped the phone. “I guess. Do you need me there?”

I shook my head but he couldn’t see it. “Nah, I don’t want to give up my hacker. If you can send the cameras to my laptop that would be great.”

“Alright, Nox. I don’t come cheap.”

I laughed. “I know, I’ll pay your worth.”

“Set up your laptop and make sure you have internet access and I’ll do the work from there, and you’ll have always on access if you need it again.”

“You don’t have to do that.” I said.

“Of course I do. It’ll be a revolving door always changing. I already have the program you can use it anytime. But I know you have your laptop on your person right now and it’s not on. So go turn it on and let me work.”

“Alright, alright. Thanks man.”

“No problem Nox. Can I ask what this is for?”

I sighed, “One of my dragon’s has bombs and red ex’s marked on a map. I’m pretty sure they aren’t where treasure is buried.”

Sage and I signed off and I headed back into the fishbowl. Sage was right my laptop was still slung over my shoulder where it had been all day. Not having my room here in the building was paying a price. And I couldn’t see myself with a desk and a computer in the office. I liked being mobile and keeping my work with me.

I pulled the computer from my bag and set it up and with in moments I saw a little message flick up on the screen.

The Wicked Truth: Hey Babe, wanna cyber?

It made me laugh out loud as I typed a reply.

N: Let’s get busy.

I didn’t see anything happening on my screen but it didn’t matter.

Walker came and stood behind me, “Whatcha doing?”

“Getting the camera feeds from around the city.” I said flatly.

“Are you talking to the computer magically?” he asked.

I guffawed. “No, I have a hacker in my computer.”

Simon shot up out of his seat. “Why in the fuck would you let a hacker into your computer?” He started for the door like he was going to tattle-tell.

“Well considering he bought the laptop and gave it to me for free food and cooking. I’m thinking he can do whatever he wants.” I said with a smirk. “Besides, he’s not going to hack into the Venatori cause you guys don’t even have wireless inside. He’s coming in through my phone’s hotspot.”

Simon looked at me blankly but Walker was nodding. “I have one of those. A cell phone – a hotspot? I don’t think I have that. It’s nice having everything all in one place.”

Very shortly after a screen popped up with a map of the City and various pin points that I could call up feeds from. A single message was sent.

The Wicked Truth: Bill will be in the mail! Next time I’ll be rougher.

N: Not too hard, baby. I don’t want to break.

I was chuckling silently to myself. It looked bad. From every angle. But everything in there was talking about the money. Sage said he’d given me a break but next time he’d charge more. He enjoyed his voyeuristic terms and he was probably watching me laugh at him.

Nox

Hey Ducklings, my name is Nox. I am first and foremost a fictional character escaped from the mind of my creator AJ.

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