The Hacker

by Jonathan Gardiner

"Where am I?" I shouted struggling in the chair.

"Relax Aiden, We aren't going to hurt you" A woman consoled as she removed the sack from my head. She knelt down, her slender figure looming over me. She had long blonde hair with a single pink streak. Despite her beautiful appearance her blue eyes pierced me like daggers. There was a sense of pain yet strength. I liked her already.

"We, my friend, are DedSec and we've been watching you," A young man said as he rose from his computer chair and strode towards me. He had a friendly face. His light brown hair and eyes seemed welcoming. Something I was all too familiar with. I didn't trust him.

"I'm Shaun," he said untying my wrists, "And you already met Lucy, over there." He signalled to the corner she was now stood in.

"Hey." she grinned nodding in my direction.

"Why am I here?" I asked with caution although I was intrigued.

"We know about you Aiden." Shaun said adopting a more serious tone.

"The killings, your niece... the bounty on your head." She said in a menacing voice. I stared at her, not knowing what to say. It was as if she read my mind,"You needn't say anything Aiden. We took your phone and gave it a little upgrade."

"You can hack almost anything with this: Traffic lights, cell phones, police databases. You get the idea." He continued as he handed me my phone, baton, bandanna, cap and my Taurus pt 100 pistol, "The man you need to find, is named is Nikolai Perchencov, nicknamed Jericho."

"Oh and Aiden. Take care." Lucy said seductively.

I left the compound and headed towards a bank machine. I noticed a homeless man being kicked repeatedly by a man wearing a suit.

"Screw you. I'm not giving away my money to scum like you!" I pulled up my bandanna, adjusted my cap and approached the man in the suit. I first took out my phone and scanned his face. The phone displayed a few basic details and after scrolling through, I found his bank details. He was a lawyer so he had a lot of money; but not for long. I put the phone into my pocket and extended the baton. This was going to get messy.

I lunged towards him, my baton impacting his chest. I heard his ribs crack as he spat blood onto the floor. He bent down clutching the wound.

"What the fuck man?!" he screamed as he spat out more blood. I stomped on his spine sending him to the floor. Bone and sinew breaking underneath my boot. I flipped him over as he spat even more crimson fluid. I walked toward the cash machine. Footprints of the man's blood following me. I withdrew the whole $9000 from the man's account. I put a few dollars in my pocket and tossed the rest to the homeless man.

"Oh my god!" He screamed. He clenched the money tightly in both hands as he sprinted away. My job here was done.

I walked to the suited man's car, an Audi R8, and used my phone to hack the internal computer and open the door. I hot wired the vehicle, one of the many skills I picked up in my time as a thug. The time the government came for me. The time they killed my niece, Ellie. And now's the time I'm coming for them.

I typed the name Nikolai Perchencov into the Chicago police department database I now had access to cross referencing Jericho. One result. He was a member of the FBI. He used Jericho as a street name. He was a Russian nightclub owner and used the nightclub as cover. He was undercover in one of the most infamous gangs in Chicago. Black shadow. I knew them. This man was high up in the FBI chain of command. If anybody knew who set the hit on me. It was him. And I was going to find him.

I drove towards the nightclub he owned. Club Verdant. This was it. What I was waiting for. I was finally going to find out the name of the murderer that killed Ellie. I approached the front of the club and exited the car. A bouncer looked me up and down.

"Stop! You aren't authorised to enter sir. Jericho says not to let in anyone I don't..." I drew my gun and put an end to his warning. Now was not the time for messing around. I proceeded through the door, the music overwhelming. The club was full. I needed to find Jericho. I walked to the middle of the dance floor and shot two bullets into the air. There was a series of screams and people sprinted to the exit. I dived to cover as somebody opened fire. Peeked round the corner I counted the hostiles. Seven Targets, seven bullets.

I fired a bullet into the cord holding up some lights. It fell, crushing one of the men. One down, six remaining. I fired two shots, one hit somebody in the leg. He screamed and collapsed, the other going straight through the head of another hostile. Four to go.

"Where is Jericho?" I demanded.

"Screw you!" A voice called out from across the room. I rolled to another piece of cover, almost being shot in the process. I had a better view now. I shot two rounds into the chest of a man on a balcony and he fell landing on a glass table. Three left, Two bullets. This was going to need precision. I held my gun around the corner and fired a shot into the chest of a the fifth target. One bullet, two targets. I ran to a pillar and crouched behind it. The targets were lined up perfectly. Now was my chance. I leaned out from cover, the enemy narrowly missing my head and fired the last shot through both their heads.

I approached the back room and threw my gun to the floor. I was all out of luck and bullets. I walked into the room and approached Jericho. He had two guards, they drew their guns but he told them to stand down. "Who ordered the hit on me Nikolai?" I demanded, staring into his eyes.

"I never tell you!" He said cockily. I moved slightly forward and a guard grabbed my left shoulder. I grabbed a hammer that was on the table and swung it at his jaw. The bone shattered and he screamed. I dropped the hammer and pulled the gun from the holster of the dead guard a he fell to the ground. I turned and put the gun to the head of the other guard. I paused for a second and saw the fear in his eyes as I pulled the trigger and his blood and brain coloured the wall red.

I grabbed a knife of one of the corpses and stabbed it through Nikolai's hand.

"Tell me!" I shouted as he screamed.

"I don't know, I tell you this already!" he cried.

I pulled the knife out of his hand, Blood poured onto his table and he screamed even more than last time.

"What is his name?" I asked in a calmer voice this time.

"Rot in hell, mudak!"

I kicked him to the ground and put the gun to his head. I chambered a bullet and got ready to shoot.

"Shaun! His name is Shaun. DedSec." I ended his filthy existence and walked away. I knew I couldn't trust anybody.