M-Corp 2020 Page 2

consisting of overweight people, cigar smoke and an atmosphere filled with anxiety.

  'What is going on? I mean, really going on?' A short, plump man said in a deep voice. His forehead creased, as he awaited a response; his saggy cheeks and double chin rippled as he turned his head from side to side and he glared with a penetrating look.

  'Someone hacked into our servers; is that true?' The man quizzed, annoyed at the prolonged silence.

  'Yes, it's true.' One of the men, sitting close by said, nervously.

  'How? I thought our firewalls were unbreakable and our intelligent intrusion detection systems were unbeatable and our network security staff competent enough to smoke out any possibility of threat!'

  'Sir... the intruder had the day codes and accessed the main database.'

  'You mean he just walked straight in through the main door! And the guards slept through it!' The man yelled.

  'He was back out before anyone discovered the breach.'

  'How on earth did he have access to the day codes? Could it be possible that he used a keygen?'

  'Very unlikely, the algorithms of the code are too complex for any generic key finder. We have a leak.'

  The man bashed the table with his fists, 'what did he take? Or are there any signs of a virus?'

  'No sir... he simply looked around and left!'

  'Why? Why would someone go through all that effort, take so much risk, just to stroll in and back out? He must have wanted something.'

  Another man among the small crowd removed the Cuban from his mouth and coughed lightly to clear his throat, 'it may be possible that he is looking for fame among his cyber friends. I mean, he would be considered a hero and if caught, he would face the minimum charge, trespass.'

  'I want this guy apprehended and brought in as soon as possible!'

  The thick brown door of the room barged open as the man on the hunt for Justin stormed in, still wearing his sunglasses.

  'Ah... Agent Taylor, we've been waiting for you... please tell me you have some good news for us!'

  Agent Taylor removed his sunglasses, 'sir, we found the hacker, but Justin got away, again.'

  'Forget that little cockroach for the minute, where is the hacker now?'

  'He... he went down with the building, sir.'

  'So the hacker is definitely dead?'

  'Yes!'

  'Well, at least that's something. But what is Justin planning now?' The man stood up and paced up and down the room, 'I want to know why that hacker broke in and what Justin got from him!'

  'Yes sir.' Agent Taylor put his sunglasses on again and made for the door.

  'And listen...' the man stopped Taylor in his tracks, 'don't fail me again!'

  Taylor nodded lightly and left the room. But he never really got bitter about defeat, especially when it came down to his worthy adversary, Justin. Instead, he had a certain amount of admiration for his valour and tenacity. And he loved challenges.

  'Get the car... we've got a long day ahead of us!' Agent Taylor ordered over the radio.

  All the while, Justin had got nearer to the M-Corp server tower. As he awaited his comrades, Hans and Leanne, both of whom were as passionate about this venture as himself, he fell into deep thought. He knew what he was about to do was going to change everything - everything! He stared at the people walking by, all of them oblivious to what was about to occur. And although, Justin knew how complacent most of the population had become, he was satisfied that he was doing the right thing - ending a tyranny, collapsing a regime that is unjustly controlling society and giving people a choice to roam freely. He was pretty convinced they would appreciate it afterwards.

  He could hear the thunderous sound of the engines from half-a-mile way, both Hans and Leanne tore down the streets with their super bikes. Their outfits were as dark as their bikes and they brought with them the strong smell of leather and burnt rubber.

  'What the hell took you so long?' Justin grinned.

  'Sorry, traffic was hectic!' Leanne remarked, cheekily. Her short blonde hair waved with the wind as she removed her helmet. Justin peered back at the empty road, 'yeah right! And what's with the all black clothing? You guys going to a funeral?' He chuckled.

  'Yeah... our funeral!' Hans answered in his strong Norwegian accent.

  'Well we better get a move on then – we don't want to be late!' Leanne smirked.

  They revved their engines aggressively as they rode towards the server tower.

  Although they had their individual reservations and fears, when they were united, those fears faded faster than dirt being washed away by rain. Not only were they friends, they were one another's strength.

  As they got closer to the checkpoint, just before M-Corp's server tower, they nodded at one another and split into different directions - Justin headed for the checkpoint at full speed, breaking through the barrier. The armed guards leapt onto their bikes and gave chase. The three bikes were gaining on him until they saw Hans and Leanne behind them, Hans shot one of the men with a stun-gun, his bike spun out of control and he flew off and skidded on the ground. The other two slowed down and began shooting their weapons at Hans and Leanne. Leanne flew forward at full throttle, lifting her front wheel, looking like a stallion in its full glory. The sprays of bullets were impacting the bottom of the bike, which she had modified with bullet proof panels. The moment that she noticed the bullets stop for a reload, her wheel dropped and she threw a whole load of small metal objects, with silver spikes at the bikes. Both tires, on both bikes, burst and they fell and slid across the ground, causing huge sparks.

  'Show off!' Hans remarked as he caught up to her and they sped off to catch up to Justin.

  Justin approached the steel doors of the server room and removed his phone, catching and hacking the signal from the door's security system. As he had anticipated, it didn't take him more than five minutes to get it open. The entire building looked like it was made out of glass with the amount of windows it had, all of which were glazed so thickly that it would be easier to break down the steel door. He rushed in and found the main door, the door behind which lay the very core of all this evil. He had dreamt of this day for many years and it was finally here. As he began to break in, he heard a loud clap; he turned back and stared in shock.

  'Bravo, well done Justin. It was a courageous move.' It was Agent Taylor and a few overweight, suited men.

  'So you're the little trouble maker!' One of the men said, 'I am going to make sure that you suffer for what you've put me through!' He looked at one of the other men in the suit and nodded; the man removed a gun and pointed it at Justin.

  'Really? We're going to shoot him? Here? No trial or anything?' Agent Taylor remarked.

  'Shut up Taylor, I don't pay you to think!' The man looked at the other man with the gun and shouted, 'do it! Now!'

  'Wait!' An armed man came rushing towards them, 'There is a media helicopter that's been floating around the building and they can see in and are probably recording everything!'

  The man's forehead began to crease in anger. 'Shoot it down, make sure it looks like an accident, destroy all their equipment and make sure there are no survivors!'

  'Yes sir.' The man ran back out.

  'Search him, make sure he has nothing on him and get him inside now!'

  Justin was stripped of his bag and all his belongings. He sat looking baffled, while the men waited for confirmation that the helicopter was destroyed.

  'I bet you're wondering how your plan failed.' Agent Taylor grinned, 'we probably never would have guessed it but we had a little help. The agent opened the door and Hans walked in, pointing a gun at Leanne.

  Justin's face was pale, he stood up in rage but the men pointed their guns at him, 'sit down and behave yourself! You see, your friend tipped us off and we've been waiting here for you since.'

  'Hans! Why?' Justin asked.

  'Come on Justin, crashing the servers, really? Besides, these guys are going to pay me a lot of
money for this - a lot of money!'

  'I'm going to kick your ass!' Leanne shouted.

  'Settle down!' The man in the suit said. 'Thank you very much Hans for capturing him, but you never told us his plan and what he was planning on doing here.'

  'Oh yes, the plan. It really was a great plan. He was going to upload a virus that would crash all your servers. He needed to get into this room, because it would be impossible to do it from outside. In here, the signal is strong and the device is wireless and can break through your firewall and intrusion detection security from here.'

  'That's why the hacker broke in. He didn't want to take anything and didn't have enough time to install the virus. He was snooping around and studying our algorithms.' The man commented.

  'Precisely!'

  'But Justin didn't have anything on him when we searched him!'

  'Well that's because he knew that you wouldn't let him in here with it! He also knew that you probably wouldn't search someone who betrayed him!' Hans removed the device and through it on the table and stuck his middle finger up. 'Say good night!' Hans, Leanne and Justin all had smug looks pasted on their faces.

  The man looked at the computer screens and saw the data being corrupted. He tried to override it but it was too late, the virus had worked and all the data was lost.

  The man turned to Justin in fury, 'you haven't done anything. This is not going to change anything, we have backups, and we’ll get it all back!'

  'Not for a year or so!' Hans remarked and smiled cheekily.

  'I knew that this wouldn't change anything... I