Prologue
I was at the Merlaut Hotel, breaching the security system. The guards didn’t seem to notice me. Well, that wasn’t surprising no one knew I existed. I was wearing a cap and a long brown jacket. “Damien, did you breach the network?” “Yes Aiden, I’m starting the download.” The guards probably noticed the breach in security. They were more aware. They suddenly faced me, “How did they know that it was me?” I thought. Just before I knew what was going on, they were coming for me. That was the beginning and ending of my long story.
……………
I was lying on the roof of my house, looking up at the stars. They were beautiful. As I lay there on the roof I didn’t have a clue of what I would become someday. I was just an ordinary boy living in a village and most people in my village didn’t know me. I didn’t know where I was living either. All I knew and thought about myself was that I would live happily with my family. At least that was what I hoped for, but my peaceful time came shortly to an end.
“Aiden” My mom was calling me, “You have to eat your supper!” I climbed down from the roof and went inside my house. The house smelled good and I was hungry. I saw my dad reading a newspaper, my mom cooking a delicious meal, and my ten year old sister Nicholas Pearce. I wolfed down my meal and did more homework from school. The math homework was easy. My strong part in school was math, and that is why I dreamed of becoming a programmer someday. Coding would be my life.
I packed up for school and went to sleep. I woke up the next day, ate breakfast, and walked to school. Nobody used cars in this village. The village was too small that walking would be faster and more efficient than driving a car. I was near school when my best friend Ryan was trying to do a prank on me. I was used to this and stopped him from throwing a water balloon at my face. “Trying to do that prank on me again? Well, give up. You always fail anyway.” “You watch your head, Aiden. I will succeed next time.” Ryan did a mighty laugh.
Ryan got C, D, and even F’s in school. I was always a straight A student. My classmates asked me why I hung out with him. I didn’t know what was good about Ryan, but Ryan always had a way of making me happy and making me think I’m invincible. Ryan and I agreed to swim in the lake near the forest. We met there, swam for a few hours, and roasted barbecue. After that, we started discussing my birthday party tomorrow.
“Aiden, what you got planned for tomorrow?” I had to think deeply for a moment. Birthday parties were always planned well. I was turning thirteen tomorrow and was really excited to be a teenager. Tomorrow came by really fast, and only a few friends were invited. The truth was, I didn’t have many friends, and I assumed I was going to stay here my entire life. So if I had at least a few, then that would be enough for me.
I sat at the table with my friends. They were busy gobbling down their food. “Aiden, I think you’re eating too much candy.” “It’s ok mom.” My dad suddenly walked up to the table and took a handful of candy. “This is delicious,” he said. After eating a few more candy, my dad and I got sick. “Ah, I guess the birthday boy is not going to get his cake today,” mom said. Ryan was never sick, and at the end, he ended up eating all the candy. My sister was chuckling, “Mom, dad and Aiden are sick as dogs.” She chuckled even more.
We played basketball. We didn’t have a court, but we saw people playing it on our small TV. We set up two baskets that were too low, but in the end, we just played. It was better than nothing. That was when my life took a turn. We heard the sound of distant propellers. We thought they were heading to nearby cities, but we found ourselves wrong. The sound was growing louder and louder until it was deafening.
Everyone started coming out of their homes to see what was happening, even my whole family came out. When we caught a glimpse of the helicopters, they were not-so-friendly looking. They carried machine guns and missiles. I counted at least five advancing toward us. I hurried to my dad. My dad suddenly looked at me with a face that immediately told me ‘if you don’t do as I say, you are just imperiling your life.’ I was scared.
“Aiden, this is very urgent. You have to do as I say. Take your sister to the nearest forest. All our possessions that will come in useful for you are in the basement. Now hurry!” I dashed down the stairs to the basement. Like dad said, I found a box of jewels. “Dad, aren’t you coming with us?” “Aiden, you have to go now. We’ll follow you.” I wanted to hug and say good bye to my mom, but it was too late. The helicopters were coming.
Ryan and a few other kids were running to the forest, desperate to take cover from all the explosions behind us. When we thought we were a good distance away from the village, we looked back. What we saw before us was beyond horrible. There was a burning village with heat so dense that we only saw black smoke rising from the remains of our village. We waited for our parents for a few hours, hoping to see them running toward us, but not a single living soul approached us. “Where is mom, Aiden?” “Nicholas, there is no mom or dad.” She cried.
I saw more helicopters flying through the cloudy sky after I made sense of what was happening. We started escaping once again, but this time the helicopters had informed armed men that the kids from the village were loose. We were just about to hide in the dense part of the forest and lose the helicopters when we saw armed men coming toward us. They didn’t look like soldiers. Then who were they? Ryan whispered in an urgent and shaky tone, “Is there any way we can escape with this many people?”
I didn’t have the courage and strength to answer Ryan. I was too frightened. We started stepping back little by little until one of the men opened fire. I heard something drop to the ground. The moment I looked down, I regretted it. Blood was pouring out so much from his body. For a second, I felt a terrible loss, I forgot about the gunmen and I lost my best friend today. I had the idea of turning myself in, but Ryan wouldn’t have wanted me to give up. Though I would never see him again, I knew he would remain with me forever as if I stood there.
I caught up to my friends and told them of the small hole I found. We changed our direction and headed straight for the hole to make the men confused of our location. The men were nearing us and we went deeper into the hole. The hole was dark and crammed. “The men shouldn’t be able to find us here,” I thought. One hour had passed. We were all tired of crawling on our knees and I was going to suffocate. Even though we were homeless and were nearing our death, none of us thought about going back. There would be no going back. Our only path was forward. We made it out of the path about couple minutes later. The sun was about to set, and we were still in the forest. But at least we were far away from the men.
In our small village, we knew each other well, so it was easy to cooperate and make decisions. In the end of our discussion, our group: John, Alex, Johnny, and my sister decided to head toward Chicago, the nearest big city. We met a woman while walking. Going by a vehicle would arouse suspicion, and the men might be searching every vehicle anyway. “Excuse me. How far is Chicago from here?” I asked. She replied with a calm voice, “It’s five miles away from here, but I think you’re too young to travel by yourself.” “Oh, my dad just asked me to go on a quick errand.” I was not good at making an excuse.
The walk to Chicago was horrible. The forest started to die out, which created less cover from the men. It also started raining more as we neared Chicago. My sister started whining more and more, and the rain confused our direction. At one point we were thinking of giving up, but a sign that read CHICAGO: NORTH changed our minds. We were climbing a very steep hill. We held onto branches and everything we could use to climb the hill.
I finally stepped and pulled myself to the top of the hill. What I saw before me was something a village boy would never dream of seeing his entire life. Chicago was magnificent. It was busy and its bright lights looked like a dream. For a minute I was admiring the city, and now I knew what to do. “We’re going down,” I said. “Are you nuts? Even if we go down there, we won’t find a place to stay. We’re all beggars, and if the police manage to find us, then we will be taken to an orphanage!” yelled John. I had lost my jewelry box while escaping from the men, and John did have a point. “John, we have to head toward the city. We might get taken to an orphanage. But I don’t believe we will survive a day by staying here.” Everyone was quiet. There was nothing more to be said.
A car went by and we were confused by it for a few seconds. “Living in a village completely separated us from the real world,” I said. I couldn’t think straight. So much had happened. It was John who got me back to focus. “Aiden, where are we going to stay in the city?” “Not the city John. We are going to stay near the city, but not completely in it. We might get caught by the cops, and we’ll be the next set of kids being dragged off to who knows where.” John looked surprised by my statement. I guessed he definitely agreed with me. “Fine, but do we even find a place to stay? There is nothing to protect us. We can’t stay in the streets!” His thought kept changing on the horrible day, and so did my mind. “We head for the city. We find an abandoned place to stay, and if somehow we don’t, then we sleep on the streets.”
Chicago was much more different than now. I wish I was still with my friends in the village, but the old days were gone. We were headed toward Chicago that day, and that was the start of a new battle for our young villagers. When we entered Chicago, the city was certainly a lot different than my village. This time Alex spoke up. “I think we should stay in dark places, and hide from everyone. We would arouse less suspicion if we stay in the dark.” “I agree,” replied Johnny, the youngest with my sister. “Where do we get our food?” Johnny asked in a hungry voice. Everyone turned their heads toward me. I guess they were expecting me to say something. “We will get food, even if we dig trash cans or steal.” “No, stealing would make us an easy target from the cops,” said Alex. I shrugged, “I guess we’ll dig trash cans then.”
We finally managed to find an abandoned building. We decided to create roles. There would be scavengers, who were John and me. We would go into the city and find things useful. The guarders, Alex and Johnny who were younger than us would be guarding the abandoned building at all times. They would search for another hideout when we need a new one. My sister was going to stay in the building and guard with Alex and Johnny. The next day was all about planning our approach into the city. We decided to learn the location of things that would come in useful, while making a map of the city. The first day would be just about making the map. The second day was all about exploring that area, and the third was exploring and mapping a different area. With that, we crossed the lonely bridge to the heart of Chicago.
Every corner you turned in Chicago was different, but people still crowded most of the streets and there were occasional honks from the cars. Our main priority was food, and we decided against digging trashcans. The only option in the city to obtain food was to steal. We hid in a place that we wouldn’t be overheard. “I suggest we start with pickpocketing,” whispered John. We found someone all by herself. There were close to no people or cars around the area. We just had to do this carefully, and we would get money.
The lady was so busy with her phone that she was the perfect choice. “How about you steal and I distract her if she is about to notice you,” John exclaimed. Which was surprising, John always wanted to do the fun things. I snuck up behind her, but I failed before John went ahead of her to get her attention. I was reaching my hand into her bag when something came straight into my face and I felt a sharp pain in my head. “I will call the cops you little bastards!” she yelled. I started running away when a hand came and grabbed the collar of my shirt. “You’re not going anywhere until the cops find you,” she said. How could I have been so stupid! She should have seen my reflection on her phone. I heard the sirens. I knew I was doomed. I looked at John and was surprised. He was glaring at me as if he was going to do something idiotic. He back kicked her in the stomach and her grip lessened. We started running with the cops on our tail.
The police men drew out of their cars and chased us. We passed through tight spaces in buildings and headed for the crowded part of Chicago where it would be easier to hide from the police. The police were getting closer and closer every second, and if for some reason we didn’t make it, we were going to get dragged to an orphanage. We wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye to our friends and my sister. Thinking of my sister sparked something in my mind. Nicholas Pearce gave me hope and I should take care of her. I started running more desperately, and John was trying hard not to fall behind. I was running faster than the cops and into the crowd. We were short, and we would blend in well with the crowd. After minutes of searching, the police gave up.
We headed back for the building. We would have a big story to tell today. “John, maybe we should buy something that covers up our faces in the city. We might have a better chance of staying out of sight.” I never wanted to steal, but having a disguise might lessen the possibility of getting caught by the police. “The policemen who chased us would remember our faces.” “We should also have a distractor while someone steals,” added John. “Should we arm ourselves?” I replied strictly, “If the police catch us with a weapon, they’ll think we are murderers, not ordinary robbers.” If he did something wrong, it would cost us both. “John, we have to locate the closest shop that sells just what we need. We have to split up, and don’t steal our disguises without thinking for your safety.” “I will not do that. I promise.” We set off in different directions. I was heading toward the undiscovered part of Chicago while John was heading toward the part we adventured the other day. I was drawing every piece of essential detail to my map, and unless I found a map, this one would be crucial.
I was walking down a sidewalk with flowerbeds everywhere I went. I started climbing up the stairs and found myself in a wonderful place with the buildings lined up perfectly. A gigantic fountain was right in the middle, and across the sidewalk the lamps were lined up as well. I was amazed by the beauty of this city and the number of people in this one area. I knew I was never going to find a shop in this huge city. I was going to have to ask someone. I scanned the area for a person with a cap or anything that was disguisable. I knew I had to change my disguise often. Wearing the same disguise would make me an easier target. I found a man wearing a hat. “Sir, can you please tell me the nearest store selling caps,” I asked. “Sure kid. There is a store where you can buy those just down the street. There will be a big sign showing ‘Hats and Outfits.’ You cannot miss it.” “Thank you, sir.” “No problem kid.”
I headed off down the street, marking everything as I went. I arrived at Hats and Outfits. It was a big shop, and I saw plenty of things that could be used as a good disguise. The only problem was how to steal it. I was turning around to head back when the police I saw the other day was facing me. “Hey you! Stop right there!” I started running in the other direction. I was afraid I would get lost, but I went down the road to whatever lies beyond. The policeman was too fast for me. We never had running exercises in the village, and I wasn’t prepared for this. The policeman reached out for my collar, and he pulled me back.
“Sir please… I was just trying to get the picture I took with my parents from her bag,” I said while getting dragged. It was the best I could do. In a situation like this, my brain wouldn’t function. The officer replied in a strangely calm voice. “Then why didn’t you just ask the lady for it?” I finally gave up. The officer was dragging me to his cruiser anyway. No matter what I did, I was finished. “Sir, I’m sorry. I will never do anything like that again.” The officer asked in a demanding voice, “Where do you live?” “Sir, I…” “Just shut up and answer my question. Where do you live?” There was no point lying anymore. “I don’t live anywhere sir.” The officer looked glad, “Well I guess one more person is joining the orphanage tonight.”
I was about to cry and think myself a failure. John suddenly appeared at the corner of my eye carrying a wooden bat. John hit the officer so hard that I was surprised he was breathing. People were looking at us. Being notorious wouldn’t help us. We headed back to the building in a hurry. Someone might’ve called the police already, and we would be on the ‘Wanted’ poster. We got back to the building where our guarders met us. Nicholas was there whining that she was hungry. “Don’t worry Nick. We’ll get you some food after we get our disguises.”
We were planning our next move into the store, and stealing the cap. If we failed this time again, it would’ve been the end of our journey in Chicago. “So what’s your plan?” asked John. “I suggest we look nice and neat as possible, and then we’ll go into the shop.” “Then what do we do?” “We pretend like we’re looking for something and put the caps into our pockets.” That was when I forgot something. I forgot about security cameras. The cameras might see us or us stealing the cap. “We should try another way of stealing the cap, John. Whatever, we’ll just go in and see what happens.”
It took ten minutes to walk to the shop. We were lucky. There were no security cameras in and outside of the shop. Then our plan was simple. We searched for the shelf with the best disguises. We picked our caps and waited for everyone to move out of the shelf. We quickly put the caps into our pockets when no one was looking and went out of the shop. We stopped after running for a few minutes and chose our next victim. Pretending to be deep in thought I walked behind the man while John walked up to him “Is there a restaurant around here?” John asked. I took that time to take out his wallet from his pocket. When John saw that I was successful, he said thank you to the man. We started walking back to the building.
“Hey you! Stop right there!” We turned around. The officer was facing us. He caught us and shoved us into his car, and drove off to the police station. The police station was a very tall building. It was at least eight stories high with very few windows. Escaping from it wouldn’t be a good idea. We entered the building and headed straight for the elevator. We were going to the highest floor. That probably was the plan of the officer to make a harder escape. I thought the police station was mostly an empty building, but when we went inside, I found myself totally wrong. It was full of computers and people. The policemen had trouble walking around, and there was only a feet of space between everything. It looked like there were many criminals in this city. Every floor was probably like this except floor zero.
The policeman who captured us led us to his boss. “Sir, these boys were wondering around the city stealing people’s wallets.” “Very well, I will look into this matter myself. You are excused.” With that the officer walked away. “Where are your parents?” The captain asked. We said nothing for a few seconds, and I finally thought that there was no point keeping quiet. I spoke, “We lived in a village not very far from here.” “Where are your parents?” “They’re dead sir.” “What led you to Chicago?” “All of us are dead, except John and me.”
I didn’t want to get our young friends in trouble, and I couldn’t believe anybody even police officers. “We came to Chicago because of the attack of helicopters.” “What helicopters?” “Helicopters came to my village and killed everyone. I don’t know who planned the attack.” The officer replied with an astonished voice, “Our police forces were looking into a blown up village. We know all the adults in the village are dead. We found a boy in the forest. He was shot in the heart. We saw many foot prints around there. There must be more of you in Chicago right now.” With my most serious voice, I spoke. “There aren’t any more of us.” “Do you know the name of the helicopters or the guns the men were carrying?” “No sir,” I replied. “You will stay here for a minute.”
The captain went into his office and started phoning someone. We couldn’t hear him clearly, but the important part was clear. He was phoning an orphanage. John looked at me and whispered, “He is calling an orphanage!” I said in an urgent tone, “If we don’t escape, we are making it harder for our friends.” The captain was coming out of his office. We knew what to do. “I’ll distract, you run away as fast as possible,” said John. I didn’t get a chance to reply. He just ran straight into an officer and started punching him. Other officers had their attention on him. Without thinking I dashed to the stair case of the station. I heard the captain saying, “Grab him!”
I ran down the stairs. I heard feet coming down the stair way. I could tell some officers were getting close, but I kept running. I couldn’t run all the way down, so I dashed to the next door. The officers all seemed surprised by my sudden entrance, but they heard the words ‘grab him’ and started inching their way at me. I was in a state of shock. An officer came out of the elevator without noticing what was going on. I couldn’t lose this chance. I rushed to the elevator. The officer tried to grab me, but he was too late. I plucked the gun out of his hoister and held it at the officer. I felt guilty, but I had to get back to my sister and my friends. “If anyone follows me out, I will shoot him!” I walked into the elevator with the officer just before the doors were closed. I came to the entrance of the station and started running while pointing the gun at the officer. Once in a while, I looked back to see if I was being followed.
I was running as fast as I could toward the building. I was already late by the time I got there. Nicholas was crying. I headed for her. Cough. I heard someone cough to my right. I was surprised when I found Alex. He was covered in dust and I found a bullet wound. “I’m sorry Aiden. I didn’t do my job well.” “It’s ok.” “Aiden, Johnny.” I saw Johnny. Johnny was shot too and he was dead. “What happened here?” I asked. “The men were coming. I tried to put everyone in safety. When the men came, I ran out and tackled one of the men to give the others time. They shot me, and your sister was the only one who got to safety.” With that… Alex was dead. I would never forgive myself for this. I ran away leaving my friend John behind me, and I didn’t protect my young friends from dangers.
I lost all of my friends and I was stuck in a foreign city. I still wore my disguise, but I just sat on the streets and begged with my sister. I went back to the building clutching her hand. I was hoping to see my friends in the building, but I found the place deserted. We found an abandoned storage. Though it was tight and empty with cockroaches, I thought it was a better place to stay with my sister. I packed all the food and our stuffs in the bag we brought with us, and set off for the storage. This time, I should survive in the city. I would never return to the building again.
One day I saw my desire, my duty, and my fate. A company was in front of me with a sign showing ‘Intel Electronics.’ I first went to a shop that sells clothes. I bought new clothes and shoes with the money from the wallet I stole, and packed my old clothes in my backpack. I took a shower at a bathroom in the nearby park. The water felt warm and soft. It was my first shower in a week. It was pulling me in and felt like a wish come true. I headed to the company wearing a dark brown cap, a blue shirt, jeans, and a pair of Nike running shoes.
I took a deep breath holding my sister’s hand, and opened the front door of the company. I climbed the stair case rather than the elevator. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I finally went into a room that looked similar to the police station. There were only computers in this room, and no one was dressed in a uniform. Everyone stared at me in disbelief. I tried my best not to look stupid. “Hello. Can I see the boss of this company?” Luckily one person replied. “He is in Room 15 of Floor 30.” “Thank you,” I replied. I was very grateful. I took the elevator to Floor 30 and walked the hallway to Room 15. The boss’ room was the last room of the highest floor. I gripped my sister’s hand more tightly. If I could motivate the boss, then I would at least have an ordinary life. But if I failed, I would go back to the streets with no money. I knocked.
A simple “Come in.” replied. I went into the room. The room was well organized. It had pictures of kings I would never get to know and bookshelves behind the man himself. The boss’ desk was placed exactly in the center of the room. I could tell by this room that he was a serious man with an I-love-perfectness personality. I could tell that he was a man who put his best efforts into everything by the way he wrote his report. He finally looked up and looked shocked. There was a minute of silence between us. “What do you want?” He demanded in a not-so-friendly voice. “I’m looking for a job here, sir.” The man started laughing. The man wore a black suit. His face was serious and looked not a jolly man. He was bald with a mustache, had small staring glasses that made him look extremely intelligent. His skin was dark and his body was built up as well. He looked to be in his mid-twenties.
When he finally finished working on his paper, he said “I have no place for you. You might as well just go back to where you came from.” “Please,” I pleaded. “Let me get a job here sir. I know many things about computers and I read many books on programming.” “Go back home to your parents boy.” The man seemed to take this as a joke. “Please, I can do everything for you.” He seemed to consider for a moment. “Fine, but you will work here from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for a week with temporary payment. You will do as I say in this company. If you do not follow any of these rules, then you are not allowed to take a step into this building. Do you understand?” I didn’t have choice but replied with a yes. “Good. You’ll begin your work tomorrow.” “What is your name sir?” “Damien Brenks,” he replied.
I was dreaming. I was back in my village playing basketball with my friends. I heard the sound of helicopters and ran to my dad. My dad was yelling at me to run away, but while my friends ran away, I stayed there with my mom as the helicopters shot their missiles. The last thing I saw was fire. I woke up. Nicholas was still soundly asleep. I went out of the storage and felt the breeze of the morning airbrush against my face. It was a new day, and my first day at work. I wouldn’t fail the boss and I would make a good impression on him.
I went to the boss’ room. “What would you have me do sir?” “I would like you to pass these around for me.” I did what the boss told me for three days, but something happened on the fourth day. Someone was there when I entered the boss’ room to get my next duty. He was talking to the boss that something couldn’t be solved. Out of curiosity I looked at the man’s problem for a moment. He had been tackled from the operation process of a new CPU research. “I suggest we do something else then,” the boss said. The man was about to exit. “I know what to do,” I said. Both the men seemed surprised. “I know what to do,” I said it one more time.
I listed the procedure of fixing the problem. The man tried to think about it, and exclaimed with glee. “It works!” The boss looked amazed. “You should be proud of yourself boy,” he said. “You found the solution to the CPU problem that even our best engineer had difficulty to fix. Meet me here at 9 a.m. tomorrow.” I was in the boss’ room the next day. “You will be assigned to the CPU department on Floor 1 Room 6. If you have any trouble, I’ll send a person to help you.” “Thank you, sir.” “No problem.” I found my job easy using my coding and programming skill. I developed a new operation process for CPU products. My research outcome didn’t fall behind any engineer on this floor. As a result, I was paid higher and higher from the company.
After a few months I got a house rented from the company. My house had three rooms, two bathrooms, and a big living room. I also had multiple computers and everything I needed. As I became an expert about CPU programming and coding, I became more interested in hacking. I read through several books on hacking, and researched more about the efficient way of hacking. I failed multiple times at trying it on ordinary people, but got better at it.
I could hack into security cameras or any computer without the victim noticing. Once I hacked into it, I stored all the data from my victim’s computer into a large protected file in my computer that only I could access. My computer basically did all of that automatically for me. I also knew how to take money from people’s bank accounts by sitting in front of my computer, and always gave the money back. All of these skills were good practice for only one purpose, revenge. I had hoped to revenge the killer of my parents and friends. To clear the path to the killer, I would do everything I could even if that meant hacking innocent people.
I first wanted to know what the police had found about the ‘Village Annihilator.’ I hacked into the police’s security system and their computers. I started reading the documents. There were so many useless documents that it took me quite a long time to find the right one. The document’s title was ‘Village gets incinerated by an attack from helicopters.’ After I saw the smirk on the officer’s face when I told him I had no home made me hate the police. They were just doing it out of money. I skimmed the document while picking out the important details. This talent always came in handy. I picked out a few sentences that caught my eye.
‘Victor Quinn, nick named as Lucky Quinn, is getting richer with unbelievable speed. We have suspicion about the money source. He claims his companies are making more profit nowadays, but most researchers do not agree. For all we know, he earns money from other black sources.’ I read the other part of the document. ‘Victor Quinn who was in jail for a decade, claims that he converted to Christianity when he came out of jail. He founded several charities helping people in many ways, so most people believe him as one of the heroes. He still has not our complete trust because of his drug dealings years ago. He could be linked to the village anyway.’
I wondered about the connection between Quinn and the village, but the picture below the article made it clear. It showed my village before it was burnt to ashes and a drug farm. That was weird. I never saw a drug farm in my village. Did my parents hide something from me all these years? Or did the police add this stupid image. I quickly connected the image to its website. The image related to my village and the drug farm was on the map. I looked more closely and found the drug farm on the west of my village. It was separated by a thin but dense looking forest.
I went back to the official document, scrolled down, and found a picture. There was a man who seemed to be late forties or early fifties. He had bad but pale skin with a bald head except for the whitish brown hair on the sides of his head. He wore big round glasses and a dark white coat with holding a cane. My eyes glared at the image after reading the words below, ‘Victor Quinn (Lucky Quinn).’ I had to be sure that the killer was Quinn. I searched his house and companies, and even his past. I opened a biography on him. ‘Victor Quinn grew up in an orphanage. He was a hard worker with gifted talents that led to his success today. He invented many useful programs for modern computers. Although he spent part of his life in jail, he converted to Christianity and came out of jail as a new man.’
I started to search for any suspected manager who worked at the drug farm on my village. There were photos of the drug farm managers changing on my computer screen with the text ‘scanning.’ Then I got the words ‘password required.’ Someone must have used another passcode for double protection. I scanned for the past access history to get the code, but at the end my screen just said, ‘Locked’ ‘Locked’ ‘Locked’ ‘Locked.’ I had to find the manager using different ways. I tried to find the information related to my parents. Though our computer no longer existed, we had saved some files on web drives. I saw the words ‘Manager Hutchinson’ on a file. He had even sent an email to my dad. I traced the email to his computer to search for the useful details from it.
He scheduled plane tickets to Hawaii. He probably thought that he would be in trouble if he failed his assignment. Quinn probably got a false message saying everyone was dead, but I am still alive. The computer said he was staying in a hotel in Hawaii, named ‘Pacific Hotel.’ I broke the security system of the hotel and searched for Hutchinson on the receptionist’s computer. His room was reserved at the middle of the hotel. I hacked into his computer. He was writing a report using his laptop. He finally emailed the report to his boss, the director of the drug farm. I scanned the email and barely managed to hack into the director’s computer. I was in the director’s computer and a message was found.
“Destroy the village of Adams.” I never saw the sender’s name. “The police are growing suspicious of your drug research.” I saved this sentence and accessed the webcam on his computer. The director had a clear view of Chicago. His room was simple with a wooden table and a small drawer. He was pacing around his room. He was practicing his speech for whoever he disappointed. The director ignored Hutchinson’s message and continued to pace. I caught what he was saying and recorded it onto my computer. “Mr. Quinn I’m very sorry for my lack of control over those people in the village. I will never….” And then he was dead. The wide window showing the magnificent view of Chicago was cracked. I was terrified! I was recording the director’s speech and a bullet just went through his head. Another bullet went straight through his computer, and then my computer turned black. But I was one step ahead of Quinn. I quickly saved my recordings and went to sleep.
I went to my boss’ office the next day. I peered through the window, but a strange man was there with him. After staring at the computer with shock the boss told the man something. I didn’t hear what they were saying, but I did hear the words, “Lucky… kill…” I was curious, so I sneaked in to the boss’ room after the men came out. There was a message on the computer, “Kill Lucky Quinn,” DedSec. My boss was a member of DedSec, the most feared hacking organization in the U.S.! I went down the staircase and asked of my boss’ location. One guy replied, “He is in floor 2.”
My boss was facing away from me in an empty room. He was looking off into Chicago through a huge window as if he was waiting for another visitor. He was about to stand up when the glass shattered. Blood was pouring from his right knee. Then he got another shot at the body. I had to do something. I couldn’t let him die. Without thinking I raced toward the dying man and dragged him to cover. The sniper could’ve killed me, but no bullet came more. I dragged him into the elevator and punched the button with my blood stained hand to first floor.
Another day went by. I was determined to get my last piece of evidence that would prove Quinn as the criminal. I was working for the evidence at my house. I traced Quinn’s message back to his computer. ‘Password required’ was displayed, but that didn’t matter. I had upgraded my program that could hack through any security defense including passcodes. I went through the code and got my computer connected to Quinn’s. I hacked all the data and even videos taken from the webcam on his computer. There was nothing important in the files except for a message that ordered the wipe out.
I waited for Quinn to come into his room. When he came in, he got a call from someone. I started recording only his words because I couldn’t see Quinn from any angle. Once he started saying things about my village, I uploaded the audio live to the police station. “Did you order your pilots to strike on the village Adams?” asked Quinn. “And did you do it successfully?” “Yes sir,” replied a man. “Director Jones has failed me on many occasions. Did you take him out?” “Yes sir.” This was the evidence all I needed. I stored it in a secured file. The police should chase Quinn from now after.
I left my house to take a look at my boss in the hospital. I knocked. “Come in.” I went in. “Aiden, how nice of you to come by.” I gave a slight smile. “Have a seat,” he said. “When are you going to leave the hospital?” “I will leave in two weeks, but I doubt I’ll be allowed to go back to my office.” “Why?” “Aiden, everybody knows that I’m a member of DedSec. Quinn made sure of that.” “Why did you get the order to kill him?” “He has blamed the village incident on DedSec, and told everybody that we would always be the source of trouble. We had nothing to do with that incident.” “Then, why did he try to kill you? How did he know you were going to kill him?” “Aiden, I don’t think he ordered that attack.” I was shocked. “What do you mean sir?” “I’m a disgrace to DedSec, Aiden. DedSec might just as well kill me and blame it on Quinn. A perfect example of killing two birds with one stone.” “Then why did they ask you to kill him?” “They probably pretended to show their faith on me with a big mission. If I didn’t trust them, I might have just killed the man who came into my room and led me to floor 2.” My boss started coughing. “Take good care of yourself sir.” “Thank you for what you did,” he replied.
I still had the gun that I had taken from the police officer. The police should’ve already been after Quinn, but I couldn’t give my full trust on them. The footage I saw of Quinn took place on the highest floor in the Merlaut Hotel, and he was still there. If the police weren’t going to help me, then I would have to take care of the matter myself. I put on my mask and dark brown cap, slipped my brown coat and blue jeans on, and finally put the gun with its silencer into my hoister. I told Nicholas to stay in the house, and left for the Merlaut Hotel.
I came to the front entrance of the hotel. The hotel was beautiful if it wasn’t for my mood. It had plants on each side of the building, and a row of leather couches with glass tables. I dashed straight to an elevator and went up to the highest floor. I walked through the hallway and took a stair case to the roof. I entered the door at the end of the roof. I found myself in a hallway and went into one of its rooms. There was a man working, and a layer of glass separating me from him.
Quinn turned around. We were facing each other. He looked surprised. “Oh my! You’re just a boy. Why aren’t you at school?” he said with his queasy voice. I aimed the gun at his face. “You killed my parents, killed all my friends, and exploded my village! I’m just returning the favor.” I yelled. “Well boy, if you really want to shoot me, go ahead.” I hesitated for a moment. “Is this really a good way for revenge?” I thought, but I shot him. The bullet was impaled in the glass. Quinn knocked on the glass. “This is bullet proof glass,” he chuckled. I heard sirens in the distance. “Everything is finished Lucky! The cops will take you away!”
Police officers suddenly burst through the door. Their guns were pointed at me. “Drop the gun and put your hands on your head.” “Officer, Quinn…” I trailed off at the end of my sentence because of the officer’s yell. “Shut up and drop the gun boy.” I did as I was told because there was no way to escape from them. Was this how it was going to the end? All my efforts came down in vain. As I got dragged away, Quinn added more words. “I think it’s you they’re here for. This is the end of your story.”
I was lying in my cell playing with a piece of glass. A week had passed since I tried to kill Quinn. A cop said I would spend most my childhood years in prison, I recalled. It was then that I heard a knock. I saw Quinn looking at me with a cruel smile on his face. “You have no one to blame except yourself boy.” “Just leave if you have nothing to say,” I said. “Well I did kill your parents, and destroyed your village full of beggars including you.” This brought me to my feet and I was breathing on his face. Lucky for Quinn, we were alone.
“Do you know why the cops didn’t get your message boy? My computers are specially designed to sense hackers and to prevent them from accessing the data. And you fell straight into my trap. I was getting worried about people who use cameras to film my private life, but why would I expect more from a beggar like you?” “I will kill you.” “Feel free to end up like your parents,” Quinn said, and he started laughing. I stabbed a sharp piece of glass into his eye. Quinn yelled and the officers came to his aid. “I will kill you, or I’ll die trying.”
……………
Epilogue
Quinn’s men knew I was here. It was supposed to be my revenge and happy ending. It was a bad but a new start. “Damien, I’m disconnecting.” “I’m almost there Aiden! Give me a bit more time!” “Damien. We have to disconnect.” “Aiden I almost got it!” I disconnected.
One week later.
It was Lena Pearce’s birthday. “Where do you want to go Lena?” Lena was playing with her doll on the back seat. “I don’t know.” “Well, you better choose fast because you won’t like my choice.” A truck suddenly moved in front of my car and two motorcycles were approaching us. Something was wrong. One had a gun and shot the tire. My car was out of control and drew to the right.