Standard disclaimers apply.
Chapter 1 - The Show
"You're weird."
I wince at the crass remark. I would normally never let it pass, but this time is an exception.
"I believe the correct term is eccentric, little boy."
The boy suddenly swings around and runs back to the table near the wide glass windows of the café, tearing up and shouting "Mommy!"
Maybe I glared too much in that one.
"Oh be quiet. I am not being cruel at all. Who do you think I am? Even if it is a kid..."
The conversation cuts off. He is finally here. I gently place the slice of pizza on the plate and stand up, leaving enough cash for a generous tip on the table. I walk over to the café doors, and then change my mind. I return to my table, pick up the last slice of the remaining pie from the plate, take a bite, exit the café, and nonchalantly weave my way through the crowd of people on the street.
I guess this proves the brat's statement about me. I just hope that a woman walking through the human traffic of this business district while eating pizza does not stand out too much. God knows that is the last thing I want right now, not that he exists or anything.
"It is not just a slice of pizza. Stop talking to me. We have a show to look forward to."
Though I have been waiting for quite some time as a precaution, he arrived at exactly the time I estimated. The two feasible periods to inflitrate the Ashford Enterprise building would be 12 o'clock noon and midnight, for completely opposite reasons. I follow him as meekly as I can, keeping enough distance to prevent him from noticing my presence. This is quite difficult, since I am in office attire and heels, but I manage. He walks with no visible tension, as if it was merely a stroll through the park. If I had to nitpick at his disguise, it is that he is too professional. Even the most easygoing employee does not look that relaxed, much less a man who is about to attempt what he is going to.
He walks up the short flight of stairs that circumvallates the towering building, naturally making his way towards the lobby from the main entrance. My best bet is when he is about to enter the doors, so I rush from the side and overtake him without him seeing me. I take out a small button from my jacket pocket, and then make a sudden turn towards the man in the black suit, his apparel reminiscent of the agents from espionage films. I lightly brush against him, leaving the black button pinned to his outfit. I then enter the doors beside him, but slowly enough so that he moves in front and loses sight of me.
"Perfect. He did not seem to notice at all. He seems to have gained weight since I last saw him though."
I was a bit worried, hearing that this man was one of the best people in "11", but I am also quite confident in my own abilities. At least I am sure that it is more than enough to outwit even the most capable agent in the world, given the amount of research I have done on him and his tactics.
I immediately leave the building and re-enter the café across the street. It is a haven for the employees around this area, and now, it is the best seat in the house.
"It's time!" shouts the old lady behind the counter, followed by a siren of lunch bells signifying the start of lunch period, the busiest time for any food establishment in the district.
As if keeping beat with the end of the siren, the entire Ashford Enterprise building shuts down, almost eclipsing the midday sun with its height after losing its usual electronic luminescence. This seems like the best way to infiltrate any building since it disables surveillance, that is, except this one. Ashford Enterprise, being practically one of the most influential companies in the world, has the latest in technology when it comes to security. Even the most experienced hackers can only disable their electrical system for about two minutes. I can do it for three. Either way, it is not enough time to do anything, especially with the elevators not working with the power outage.
With the lights out, observation from outside becomes futile. I take out my slim platinum palm top, unfold it, and adjust the image being received from the button I previously bugged the man with. As expected, there is a flurry of people inside the lobby, a chaotic mix between people about to leave for lunch and those trying to secure the area. But what surprised me is that the man is not doing anything at all. He is simply standing facing the right side of the ridiculously oversized information desk in the middle of the lobby that does not lose to a five-star hotel in both size and grandeur. In a barrage of black, several men in all-black suits storm from the left side of the camera, in this case, the left side of the man himself. He suddenly moves along with the black wave.
"You two, take the storage room door which exits into the alley. That is probably the best way to break inside considering it is usually left unguarded." He orders two of around a dozen men that flooded the lobby.
"Understood." The two quickly reply with a short nod.
Using the electrical failure he himself orchestrated in advance as a diversion and blending in with the security team is a good plan. But the more difficult phase lies ahead.
He starts moving towards the elevator, seemingly securing the area evident from the jerking left and right movements of the button camera. S everal of the men follow. The electricity has been out for three minutes now. It seems his hacking skills exceed first class.
Two minutes later, the power comes back on, with the entire security team confused as to what happened during the blackout. It is normal to think that a hacker with the ability to shut down the system of the famed Ashford Enterprise for five minutes will have used that time to fulfill his objectives. With this in mind, everyone moves with the assumption that the intruder is already on the upper floors of the building, where anything worth stealing is kept secure.
He enters the elevator with two other black suits. This is probably the most dangerous part in this scenario. Being trapped in a confined space with the members of the Ashford security team, the panic of the diversion will lose its effectiveness, and the chances of his cover being blown become considerably higher.
"I wonder how he plans to get through this." I muse.
And sure enough, the security member standing on the left side starts noticing the new face present in the elevator. Raising his left eyebrow, he opens his mouth to inquire about the unfamiliar member riding with them to secure the research floor, where the most sensitive materials and information are kept.
"I don't see you around-" The question was cut short with the buzz from the radio.
"A garbage man is unconscious in the storage room. It seems that the intruder did use the entrance from the alley to enter the premises." The voice reports, followed by brief static.
"Then they must have used the back stairs in area L5 to go up the building." The agent from "11" quickly interjects.
"Probably. We better hurry to the research division." The man beside the elevator control panel replied.
"Impressive planning." I whisper to myself. I was never one to compliment people, and if I have to in the case of exceptions, there is no need to be flamboyant about it.
With the sharp chime that can be clearly heard even through the miniscule transmitter in the black button, the elevator doors part, and a brightly lit hallway is unveiled. Everything is painted white, with white tiles on the floors. It gives the feel of an empty hospital, eerie in its silence.
"You two take the R-1 laboratory. Make sure to secure all the researchers. Evacuate everyone to section R-3. Those minds are worth millions." Our agent states with authority, erasing all suspicions on his identity with the display of an intricate understanding of the building layout as expected of a member of the security team.
"And of someone who is trying to break through that security too. The Ashford Enterprise must have poor employee screening, hiring these clowns to guard their precious headquarters. They are making this too easy, at least too easy to be a sufficient test."
"Mommy, that green haired old lady is back. She's talking to herself again. She's weird."
I slice the air, almost burning a line through the glass panels of the café windows with my stare as I twist my head to face the familiar voice. I meet the boy's eyes, and with my left cheek twitching in fury-
"I am not an old lady." I say with a smile.
With the wailing of a child in the background, I refocus my attention on the small monitor on the table.
He splits up with the other two and lightly walks towards a dead end. The entire floor is littered with surveillance cameras, to the point that even this short passage perpendicular to the main hallway has a surveillance camera on the top right corner attached to the ceiling. Across the camera is a small door, probably a storage closet. He walks towards it, and with a quick medley of movement, a series of ruffling sounds and a short darkness, my monitor shows the agent's black suit strewn on the corner directly beneath the surveillance camera. He spins around, pulls back the white sleeves on his left arm revealing his watch.
"White sleeves… A lab coat tucked inside the suit… So he didn't gain weight…" I mumble, feeling a tinge of worry about my own weight, while trying to win my own battle against the tenacious four cheese pizza I ordered.
Picking up the pace, he turns the corner and briskly moves towards a woman in glasses, with dark circles under her eyes probably from overworking, her wavy black hair resting on her back at shoulder length.
"Because of this incident they might shut the laboratory down for a while." He speaks in a worried tone.
"Umm… Yes… That would probably be the case." The woman shyly mutters while glancing towards the white tile between their feet.
"You see, I have been trying to complete a new finance monitoring program for the Ashford Bank computer system for the past week, and I have to finish it soon. Do you mind helping me transfer the files from the mainframe? With two people, we can finish before the security guys drive us out."
"Ah… But, they said to evacuate to R-3-"
"I see. It's alright I guess. It's just that I have been having problems with that program lately and have been getting in trouble… And my project supervisor keeps giving me crap for minor errors in the programming which weren't even my fault to begin with, and… Oh sorry. I didn't mean to start ranting. I guess we better go and get out of the security team's way."
He turns around and steps towards the direction leading to the elevator, but is halted on the way.
"Umm… wait. I, I can help you out I guess."
"Really?" I can only imagine the bright smile he flashed her at this point. The childlike, energetic voice he replied with helps.
The girl looks into an optical scanner, enters a code, and whispers in her small voice "Nina Einstein". The beeping sound confirming the password follows and the thick glass doors slide open.
"Nina."
"Ah, yes?"
"Please transfer the files under the directory Ashford Bank finance monitoring system. There should be a folder there under section fifty, division double R, subdivision Y."
Come to think of it, all I know about this agent's mission is the fact that he was hired by some aristocrat to infiltrate the Ashford Enterprise building. Well, it's probably just the usual industrial espionage anyway. It is practically impossible to hack into the main database from the outside. Shutting down power is the best anyone could do against such an advanced system.
"What the-" I blurted out of shock.
On the computer monitor, using the secure messaging system within the internal network, he typed a short message saying "Happy Birthday, Father." and sent it to the company president's office.
"What a daughter." I say with a sigh.
The agent stealthily but quickly leaves the laboratory while the earnest Nina is still trying to find the file he was referring to. She will never find it though, and will probably only stop when she uses the search function to directly link to the file. She is not naïve enough to ignore the 50RRY search name and the missing troubled scientist, I hope.
The fake researcher makes his way back to the small hallway and changes back to the black suit characteristic of the security team, leaving the lab coat under the surveillance camera, practically the only trace of the intrusion along with the birthday greeting and a confused researcher. He goes down the back stairway and meets up with the two black suits he himself sent to the storage room entrance a few minutes back.
"Carry this guy to the infirmary. I'll take over here." He says, pointing at the still unconscious garbage man.
The two buffoons seem to trust this man completely and leave the scene. I doubt that Ashford would hire anyone incompetent to this extent. There must be something about him that I simply cannot understand through transmitted sound and images.
He exits the scene through the alleyway. It all ended in ten minutes from the power shutdown. The rumors were true. He completed this mission alone, with minimal effort and maximum efficiency, deserving of the title-
"Huh, what do you mean something is strange? Yes, I did put the button transmitter on his suit jacket-"
On his jacket? Didn't he take off his jacket and leave it underneath the camera in that short hallway earlier?
I was ripped away from my puzzled thoughts when I saw a man in a black suit, with ebony black hair flowing down the sides of his face, his piercing violet eyes gazing directly at me from outside the glass windows of the café. His previously robotic expression transforms into something between a smile and a smirk.
I think I finally understand what that unknown factor about him is.
He slowly raises his right hand towards his mouth. It seems to be holding something.
"Did you enjoy the show?"
A cracking sound. Static.
"A bit, Zero."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that is the end of the first chapter. Actually, it was more of a prologue because it does not really answer all of the questions it raises, but I assure you that those will be addressed in the following chapters. I would really appreciate any comments and criticisms. I hope you enjoy this fanfic.
