Chapter 12

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Third pov

It was 0900 hrs according to the clock and headquarter of Carmichael Industries in New York was bustling with activity more than the usual. Even the worker was excited as they could sense that today was the day, which can decide the future of the company they worked for either it will become multination and be globally recognized or stay as a gaming company in the USA. Even when it was almost two hours before the opening of the promotion there were already thousands of people outside the Carmichael Industries gates or should it be hackers. Yes, Hacker they had come from all over the USA and if you were to go to some motel or Hotel in and around New York you would not find any room all of them were occupied and had been booked one or two days after the announcement of the promotion. Even some of five-star hotels had no vacant room available. This promotion was attracting people like honey attracts bear or it could be the two million dollars you can never be sure but the fact of the matter was that the street outside Carmichael industries had begun to fill from the previous night and it was showing no sign of stopping. Some to try their hand on Cerberus and try their hand on the one million prizes or just to watch the action as USA top hacker competed against each other to win. The NYPD is on high alert and was for the past week. Their IT guys were on work 24/7 for the last week updating the firewalls keeping track of all the hackers. It is never a good omen for any law enforcement agency when all of the hackers in the USA decides that they have to gather at a place. Luckily for them, hacker by profession try to discreet as much as possible but when they were out in open in such number little dispute were invertible when they tried to prove their superiority over the other. It didn't take an Einstein brain to figure out their obvious target would be the government building and administration. The warning had gone out to the Local bank branches, hospitals, and other important establishments to watch out for a potential hack.

Arrangement had been made in Carmichael Industries to accumulate such a large participate and audience thousand of chairs were placed, arrangement were made so that all the guest, as well as participant, could easily connect to the companies Wi-Fi network without going through companies firewall, a large stage was built in the front from where the company acting head and anchors would interact with the audience, Speaker were placed at key point such that every person present can listen clearly, about hundred of camera were placed in and around Carmichael Industries which feed pictures directly to control room through a secure connection so that all people in and around can be monitored, A large electronic clock was placed at the top of Carmichael Industries Headquarter which could be clearly seen from one mile radius around the headquarter. It was counting down the time till the promotion would start and at present, it was showing two and half hour and counting. Clearly, the Carmichael Industries had gone all out in this promotion. They were planning on this being a huge success which would allow their company to be recognized globally.

Chuck pov

After some more restless hours in bed, Chuck had removed the idea of getting some sleep from his mind and went to the bathroom after doing his daily routine. He had gone for a run in hopes that it calms him down somewhat. Even after completing two rounds around the property of his house and still not been able to achieve any success in that department chuck was forced to conceive loss and entered his home covered in sweat while before he would have been completely exhausted after such a run now after so much work out he was able to make his way to the bathroom till collapsing in the hot water present in the tub. After an hour of soaking his muscle in hot water a much calmer chuck made his way out of the bathroom and made his way to the dining room for breakfast. After some hurried breakfast, he was back in his Base. Not much had changed except where there used to be one monitor instead it was covered by twelve monitors who were fed directly from the secure line that carried the signal from the camera to control room. They were positioned in such a way that they made a semi-circle although Chuck cannot be present at the actual promotion. This monitor would provide the next best thing. He would get the feeling that he was watching everything from his own eyes. He quickly turned the monitors on. He had installed a facial recognition program which would then run the find through Lisa. As he had already downloaded all the names in the NSA, CIA and NVSS server in Lisa when he was with CIA. He was sure that with the help of Lisa he would be able to identify every individual in this crowd. Thus telling him of the people he should be careful.

As soon as he turned on the facial recognition program he was bombarded by the identity of the individual in the crown all though he could not get all of them which would be rectified as soon as they passed the security check at the gate. He could still tell many people in the crowd. Woo! He had not expected that this promotion would attract so much attention when they were saying that people had turned up from all over the USA. They were not kidding; he was sure that if he started to put a pin on the map of the USA for every location he read there would be no space left. He quickly turned on the filter which would allow only those name to pop up which were a threat or worked in the government.

As soon as the gates opened he started getting hits on CIA, NSA, Ring and ex Fulcrum agents it looked like all of the organization had decided that they needed to test Cerberus.

Ellie pov

Ellie had taken a day off in disguise that she was sick so that she could stay at home and watch the promotion without arousing suspicion. She knew that this was wrong and she had never done it before but there was no way that she was going to miss such an important day in Chuck's life. Devon had also stayed at home pretending that he was taking care of her. Ellie had watched every news related to Chuck software and had read what every critic had to say about the software. She was never prouder of her brother. He had made software that had the potential to change the world or that was what she had gathered from the interviews and news. She and Chuck had talked daily through the base from the day Chuck had come clean about everything. It was like the rock that stood between the two of them for two years was never there. Ellie still believed that Sarah loved her brother. The expression on her face whenever she came to her house or was in her shop or how she use to keep every little thing that Chuck had ever given her close as humanly possible was a dead giveaway but she knew that Sarah was a touchy subject for Chuck so she didn't bring in his daily conversation she had with him. She believed that for the first time Sarah was regretting not telling someone what her heart wanted. As a spy, Sarah had always been trained to follow her brain instead of the heart to always put the country first but for the first time, Sarah was willing to break through all those ideas that had been put in her head by month of training to become the spy to be with Chuck. Well, she would have to wait and watch how this complicated relationship progressed and with this thought, she turned her attention toward the TV.

Stephen pov

As Stephen waited outside the gate of Carmichael Industries he thought about the past month he was able to reconnect with his daughter and had not for a moment regretted on taking the offer of Diane. He knew that he was no way near forgotten and it would take a long road to building the relation he once had with his daughter before running away but he was willing to try and he would do everything in his power to bring his family back. He knew that to earn Chuck forgiveness was going to be the most challenging job he had ever undertaken and Stephen took many tough jobs but Stephen was never someone to back out of a challenge but for this to happen first he had to find Chuck and find a way to bring Mary home.

Hannah pov

After all of the people had made their way to their seat. Hannah made her way to the podium, an enlarged image of Hannah's face appeared on the screen which was hung at the end of the stage taking a deep breath she said on the mike.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen I am Hannah McKay, COO of Carmichael Industries, are you ready to take the one million prize home

"Yes" Was the reply from the crowd

"But to take that prize home you have to do a small work you have to hack into unhackable Cerberus are you up for the challenge," She asked

"Yes" was the enthusiastic reply

"So let make this a little more interesting if we are able to identify you. We will show your hacker name on the screen. Of course, your identity will be kept a secret but everyone will know that you are present here, So try to stop us from discovering your Hacker name if you can" She said

"YES" was the reply

"With no further delay let the countdown begin

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Let the journey to one million begin" Hannah screamed

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The story line is taking shape

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