Dark Days Ahead
By: The Dark Loremaster
Rating:
T [PG-13]
Feedback:
Reviews are greatly welcome!
Spoilers:
This story may contain information from the television series.
Disclaimer:
I do not own any part of the Almost Human franchise. I am simply writing a story based on their characters and the settings provided through the series itself. Any characters not part of the franchise are of my own creation and are present within the story to continue it along. Some may have bigger roles than others. I do ask that you do not use my original characters or my original storylines without my permission.
Summary:
When a hacker manages to get inside of the network at police headquarters, Kennex finds himself coming face to face with those of his past.
Series:
Chapter One-
"What's taking so long?"
She could feel his anxiety as he paced back and forth behind her. In the screen of the computer, she could see his reflection, a man with short black hair and dark brown eyes. He was tall, perhaps around six foot, but she was simply judging that based on how tall her own brother was in relation to her. She noted a distinct and prominent scar that passed over his left eye, brightening the color of the iris just slightly. It gave her the impression that, while he may not have been completely blind in that eye, he could be at a disadvantage if he had to use it. Dressed in wrinkled jeans, a t-shirt, and a black leather jacket, he looked like the epitome of a wannabe thug, even had his gun cocked and ready to fire. And it was that gun that made her a little nervous. With his erratic behavior, she was certain that he would pull it on her if she gave him any inkling that something was not going right.
Setting her lips into a small frown, her fingers continued to work on the keyboard with a consistent clack clack clack. She was almost through the firewall, but she had allowed her attention from her task to slip slightly as he drew closer to her, his breath hot on the back of her neck and the barrel of his gun touching her shoulder. She swallowed before pressing another key and sitting straighter, glancing at his reflection once again. He was too close for comfort, but she knew that she would have to put that at the back of her mind for now. She had a job to do after all, and she was getting paid a good amount to get it done. Feeling the gun's barrel press even further into her shoulder, she realized that he was expecting an answer from her, and she removed her hands from the keyboard as she looked over her shoulder.
"I just hit the last firewall. Give me a few more minutes." Her words were a little snippy, and rightfully so. Making this man 'happy' was not part of the deal she had struck up with the Syndicate.
"No need to be a snide little bitch. Just get into the fucking mainframe."
He hissed the words in her ear, his free hand gripping the back of her neck in warning. She bit her tongue, knowing that lashing out at him would be utterly unwise. Instead, she pressed her lips together, her green eyes focusing on the screen in front of her as she continued pressing down on keys. Striking the enter key she leaned back, watching as the script on the screen began to change, the logarithms shifting as she passed through the final firewall. She felt herself give a small sigh as she glanced at the man, catching his attention.
"I'm in. What is it they wanted me to find?"
Her handler. She already hated his guts. Of course the Syndicate would hire her and stick her with one of their most uncharismatic members. Seeing him give her a grin, she felt a shiver creep along her spine before he stepped closer to her, the barrel resting against her shoulder once again. She pushed her thoughts away from her mind as she struggled to come to terms with what was happening. Hacking into a government agency was one thing; she had been there and done that for them in the past. Passing through some topnotch security measures to get into police records seemed almost low, almost below her. But she had accepted the job. Why? Money, of course. She needed the cash. She had to keep up her appearances, and all that jazz. Still, something about this little mission was rubbing her the wrong way as she felt him move closer to her once more.
"Good job, doll face." Cheesy lingo. Man she would have expected better lines. Didn't men have ages to develop better ways of showing their appreciation to women? Or was he already sexist, thinking he was so macho, threatening her the way that he was. "They want everything you can find on the current personnel, especially some guy named Kennex? Got it?"
She glanced sideways at him, but his eyes were focused on the screen. With him being so close, she got a better look at him, at the scar on his face. She could even smell his cologne, some concoction that would likely scare any woman away rather than attract one. She had to admit that at least, despite the clothing, he was clean and groomed. Not every member she had worked with had enough sense to stay clean, reminding her so much of the homeless that still lined the streets begging for food. But, as she reminded herself, she had been there too. That was how the Syndicate had found her. Begging for food and money so she could get high. She could almost laugh now. Now, she, Abigail No-name, was living the 'good' life, if she could call it that. At least, that depended on how long they would keep her on board.
"Hey, sweet cheeks, get back to work. We ain't got time for you to sit around and stare into space." Oh, she could slug him right about now, but she chose to ignore his comments as she starting searching quickly through files, slipping in a portable drive to download the data she collected. A few more keystrokes, and the information began the transfer process.
"Two minutes, and you'll have it. At least get the gun away from my shoulder." It took the man a moment to do as she requested, but he did, giving her some space as she monitored the download. One minute twenty-nine seconds left.
"Good. Make sure you get it all."
He went back to his pacing, each click of his heels marking down another three seconds off the clock. Her eyes remained on the screen as she watched the download time decrease, the green status bar filling up. She could feel her pulse starting to quicken, her concerns starting to blossom. She had nearly been caught before when she had hacked into a government agency's security system, barely making it out of the network and disabling any connections they might have had to her. That past experience made her cautious, and she knew that she was as careful as she could be with the man acting the way that he was, but she was beginning to wonder if it had been enough. Running her fingers through her brown hair, she leaned in closer, watching the lines of code as they started changing before she realized that the status bar had slowed before coming to a complete stop.
"Shit." She gritted her teeth, her fingers pressing down on keys. She only had twenty-six seconds left of download time. She had to keep it going, even if it meant that her location might be compromised. She heard him step closer to her before she felt his hand rest on her shoulder, his fingers digging into her flesh. It was now that she wished she had worn something other than a black tank top and faded blue jeans. But she shifted those thoughts from her mind. She had to focus on what was happening with her connection with the police headquarters' network. One bad move, and she could lose everything. And she seriously meant everything.
"Something wrong, girl?" She could feel his sneer, could see it in his reflection, and she knew that she had just made a potentially grave mistake.
"Just hit a snag. Screw off, will ya?" His grip tightened painfully, and she felt herself wince as he leaned in closer, his breath once again on her neck.
"I suggest you watch your tongue, girl. You know the rules. I'm not here for my health, and anything I say will impact what they do to you. Got it?" She swallowed, giving the briefest of nods before working hard to type in lines of code that would help slow down the notice to her intrusion. Someone on the police's end knew that she was hacking into the system, but she felt confident that she could outsmart them enough to get out and get the information that she had already retrieved. It was not like she had much of a choice. Yeah, the money was a good motivation, but so was the ability to continue living. This man knew what he was talking about, and she was not about to question him.
"I got it. Give me space." Her words were sharp, but he at least stepped back enough that she felt she could breathe. "Give me that cable. I've got to hardwire this thing and take what I can. There's no way I'm going to get the full download." She looked at him, finally braving the chance to eye him up fully. He looked like a killer, like the kind of man she did not wish to be around. She could see his fingers toying with the trigger on the gun as he grabbed the cord she had pointed out. She tried to ease the beating of her heart as she took the cord from him and plugged it into the back of the laptop before plugging it in to a port, overheating the machine. She was just glad it was not her personal one. "They're just going to have to accept what I've got. At least I got your Kennex files."
She stared hard at him as she pressed a single key, removing the portable drive at the same time. Something in the computer seemed to snap before a blue screen took over, a single word passing across the screen – VOID. She pushed her chair back and stood up, slipping the drive into her pocket. She faced him fully, her eyes locking with his as he stepped closer, holding his hand out.
"Give it to me." She shook her head, seeing the anger wash over his face.
"No. I give it to them myself. That was the deal."
Captain Sandra Maldonado sat at her desk, her dark eyes closed in thought. Weeks had passed on in silence, but she was not holding her breath that a potential change had taken place. Crime did not just go from over 400% to 0 in weeks. No, she could almost feel that something was going to go down, something that she would have to prepare her people for. But what it was, she was not entirely sure. It just seemed odd that it was so quiet, that only petty crimes have been committed throughout the city. It was enough for her to remain concerned, and on her toes. Each day, she checked for updates. Each day, so far, nothing had happened. But there was something about today that made her anxious, even as she heard a knock on the glass door to her office.
"Captain Maldonado, we have a serious problem."
The officer was a young man, perhaps in his mid-twenties. She had seen him before, had spoken to him a few times, even knew his name, but she rarely interacted with him more than on occasion. But she knew that he was part of an IT department that worked on preventing cyber attacks, especially those aimed at such entities like the police. Perhaps that was why she rose to her feet, feeling her anxiety increase as she stepped around her desk.
"What is going on?" The officer gave her an almost uncertain look before he managed to take a breath and collect his wits.
"There's been a cyber attack. Someone's gotten through security, and has downloaded files. Adams told me to come get you right away."
Maldonado forced herself to take a steady breath. She knew that crime could not be an all time low; she had known it all along. But there was something about this event that told her that everything she thought about, had considered over the last few weeks, had led up to this moment. This attack was not going to be taken lightly, and something had to be done as soon as possible. Motioning for the young man to lead the way, they exited her office and started down the corridor, stepping past Kennex and Stahl on her way toward the IT department. Both of them stopped in their conversation to watch her, but she paid them little attention as she continued on her way, pushing past another set of doors before Adams approached her.
"How did this happen?"
The authority in her voice was clear, crisp, and very present as she stepped toward the computer monitors that lined the wall. Three people were frantically typing away on keyboards, and she watched as the lines of code faded into nothingness. She knew little about what the coding meant, but she knew that something had to be done to fix this breach in their security system and to prevent this very type of incident from happening in the future. Her dark eyes glanced back at Adams as he came to a stop beside her, appearing almost out of breath with his own eyes large and filled with a mild sense of panic.
"There's been a cyber attack on our network." She arched an eyebrow, her lips pressing together.
"I was already told of that, Mr. Adams. Please, tell me how this could have happened." He gave her a nod before he started speaking again.
"A number of files have been downloaded before we realized that something was wrong. What files, I don't know. I won't know until I look at what has happened to our system. We're trying to boot the hacker out and fix the breach, but he's already done some damage to our mainframe. I don't know how this happened. We're so careful about these things." His words came out fast, almost too fast for her to keep up, but she had heard every word he had spoken. This attack was a serious offense, and she did not like the feeling of weakness that seemed to spread throughout her.
"Is there any way you can pinpoint where the attack is coming from?"
"We're working on that. Whoever is doing this is damn good. I have experienced an attack like this since I worked with the state investigative services." She put her hands up, signaling for him to take a deep breath.
"Breathe, Mr. Adams. Did you find out who performed the hack when you worked for the state?" The man shook his head.
"No. Whoever he is, he's good. Left no trace. But it seems that he might have gotten sloppy and let us in on what was going on."
"Sir, he's bailing." Both of them turned to one of the young women sitting at a computer, her fingers pausing on the keyboard. He walked over to her, looking at the screen over her shoulder.
"This isn't right." Adams was speaking softly, but Maldonado heard the words as she stepped closer to them, swallowing the nervous lump that had developed in her throat.
"What is it, Mr. Adams?"
"He left a file behind. I don't dare open it. It could be a virus or something that could further damage our systems."
"How do you suggest we handle this?" She could feel her pulse quickening as she weighed their options. So much could go wrong with this situation if none of them were careful.
"Sir, I got a location on computer access." Adams' attention turned to another young woman who had motioned for him to come to her seat. He shifted a few feet down and looked at the map that she had pulled onto the screen. A blinking green icon gave the location of an old warehouse located downtown, one Maldonado knew was rather familiar. Closing her eyes for just a moment, she tightened her jaw and frowned. It was another potential location for members of the Syndicate, the organization they had been struggling against for the past several years. Something in her gut told her that nothing would be there, that no member of the group would step foot in that place, but she also knew that it was worth checking out.
"I'll take the address. I'm going to have the location investigated. Keep working on this hacker to see if there is any way we can find out if there is an identity or signature. The more information we can find out, the closer we will get to solving this."