'.MOM malware infected the server, and transferred the InCoin.' Unnati was repeating the thought, curating a narration - a missing pattern, as she was concluding her investigation. Mom-a a word, she always had irritated feeling whenever she heard it. Not that she cared, or had in it her to express those feeling, her exertions were internal and she was successful in building a wall around her not let those feelings out for anyone, anyone even her husband. Her tab screen had numerous windows overlapping on each other. She was 'Alt+Tab' -ing over and over again, not hooking on any tab for more than a second or so. That was puzzling for her that a hotshot who was a self-proclaimed mentor of cybersecurity, had a vulnerability in his system. Even more, to add to her puzzle, Eight months ago, Mr. hotshot's site was listed on bugbounty.com - incentive 100 Incoin, if any vulnerability found, none came forward with any vulnerability even more so given four out five bugs for astounding security. Mr. Hotshot lost in total 850000 InCoin worth USD 92 million, and if not recovered was on verge of bankruptcy. "Inspector Unnati, Time for drinking water." Her electrified water-bottle alarmed her for a de-hydrating body in Akash's voice. She hated that water-bottle, always disturbing her, especially when she was deep in her thoughts and that bottle start nagging around her thought. Unnati had to check her blood pressure, once in a while and stay hydrated, hence Akash insisted to buy her that bottle. Didn't matter how much she hated that thing, she had to keep it running as it notified Akash every time, she ignores it. Two sips of the water, that thing started nagging again, "Inspector Unnati, you haven't drunk enough water." Water-bottle again in Akash's voice. She might have hated it, but fact that she hears the voice Akash calling her 'Inspector Unnati' every other hour, she was fond of that sound. Inspector Unnati sipped more with her rosewood lips and tied her midnight black wavy hair in a high bun which was tumbling over her broad shoulders. Her tamarind colored eyes were complimenting her burnished complexion. She was wearing a uniform with an emblem of two-star on gorget patch. She was sitting on a desk chair, her toned figure-straightened back and confident eyes were flaunting pride and honor. She picked up her cell-phone, swiped up and a hologram emerged in front of her face, '10.02 PM' highlighted on the hologram. "Open ReelMe." Unnati in her acerbic tone. 'Opening ReelMe. You have three unseen reels from Aparna, Tirupati, and Akash.' Her cellphone talking back with her. "Open Akash." 'Opening Akash' "Hey!! I got home, early, so I decided to cook. I am a making 'Rajma-rice.' Don't worry, I won't burn down the kitchen. I bought this ready to cook packet, I am just putting all it in water. Love you, Come home, soon!!" Handsome looking man with the flabbiest tummy in his 40s appeared on hologram. 'Would you like to reply?' Her cellphone again, Unnati always called her Genie, though the official name of voice was 'Zed'. "Yes, in voice reel." Unnati requested. 'Voice reel recording.' "I would be late, don't wait up. Eat by yourself and remember to clean the dishes." Unnati recorded a voice reel and 'Sent.' Rituraj knocked on the door, "Ma'am, If there is nothing much we can do today, then I want to be relieved from my duty now." Unnati looked up at the man-muscular, beard, and postured in a disciplinary manner, "Yes, but before that update me." "Still nothing, Ma'am," Rituraj responded. Unnati nodded and Rituraj took his leave. She packed her things and switched off the system. She was all ready to finish her thirteen-hour long shift and was on her way to the elevator. As she was waiting for the elevator, her face flickered. She ran back to her office, on her right side. Little ahead of the corridor, an office which was not better than a cubicle, very basic table and Desk chair, nothing fancy. Files cabinet on the left side of the door, and the back of the chair a curtained-off window. She went behind the desk and forced open her drawer, picked up-what appears to be 'Burner Phone.' Once again she headed out and into the elevator.
Mr. Hotshot had e-mailed the FIR a month ago. He owned an investment advisory and portfolio management company, the main focus on crypto-currencies. His website's 'about us' reads as: '...with thousands of crypto-currency and various stock exchange offering various features and investment diversity, it is hard for one to decide the best investment opportunity for them. Our specialized team analysis the current demand, rising factor, and risk associated with each crypto-currency and provide you with the safest investment opportunity. Contact us for more information.' She called her Mr. Hotshot mostly, because of his appearance, a tux and lux-all of it and he never forgot to show it off around, even to the police. When she was in his office to get a brief about the case, he overreacted. His connection with the most elite in this city had made it very difficult for Unnati to take him in remand for questioning. Her suspicion, of him being the one to plot for stealing his company's money, overgrown because of that. "Your system had a 95% score on vulnerability test and 98% on your escrow system." Unnati was stating the mere fact; she briefly had the chance to gather information before coming to his office. "Are you contemplating that I did that on purpose?" Mr. hotshot was an overconfident businessman and his gesture had always maintained to assert that tag, but this time his body language was distressing. "I haven't said anything in that line." Unnati countered. "Look, I know you guys are trained to see everyone in suspicion, but it is my company. I build it from scratch, I made it happen for me and I didn't steal a single penny." His eyes widened and sweat-drop could be seen lingering off of his forehead. "You need to calm down and answer only the question, I ask you." Unnati was calm and confident as she always had been. "Hey look!! You can't talk to me like that; do you know who I am? I can approach whomever I want. I want the best in the team; I will be calling the Commissioner." His high pitched voice was irritating Unnati. "I am the best as you get. Now shut up, before I put you in the cuff for misbehaving with a Police Inspector." Unnati was experienced enough to handle such vultures. Though this vulture had a high connection, Unnati wasn't gonna buzz for that. Unnati was in her car and had put her car on self mode. She skimmed out the burner phone from her pocket. It was a very traditional smart-phone with a basic touch-screen feature. She opened an anonymous router. She typed, 'Topsecretchatkllm2xt3s.onion' Top secret chat had the feature of self-destruction, within seconds of exit from the chat window. She opened a chat with username 'TheBigF' 'MOM?' 'It's his MOM.' 'Trail?' 'Inbox.' 'Okay.' She had to wait for a while for the file to be uploaded to a secure box. She leaned back and begun wondering about. MOM, she sunk deep in her thought, ramping the events from the beginning. No intrusive alert- no threat track on anti-virus- no ransom text, it was suspicious throughout. She exited from chat and browsed for 'www.inbox8hjol2x.onion' She searched for username 'Mamba27.' 'Mamba27' uploaded a file 27 seconds ago. Unnati downloaded the file, and the file was deleted from the website within 2 minutes. She could have waited until tomorrow, but the unsolved puzzle could never let her sleep all night. She had been in the career of solving crime, for many years and yet she kept scratching her head every time, she found herself stuck in a maze. She opened the zip file, extracted its content on the tab. Opened the folder to found, an encrypted code. MOM. The code was written in C+ language, the most favorite language of hackers, not a surprise there. She was looking for a particular clue that could hint at her vulnerability attack on the firewall. She had to reassemble the puzzle and it would have taken a lot of time, more than what sitting in a car in a remote street could afford her. She put the car on manual mode and drove.
Akash was at the nook, they designated as an official dinner table for two and two of their paw babies were sitting on grounds next to the couch-both their golden retriever-Satchmo and Lucy. Akash and Unnati lived in a very moderate flat at 'Bandra, Mumbai.' The place was a little out of their budget but they agreed on this flat for both of them have to commute around Marine Drive on daily basis. It had saved both of them some time, if not money. Opposite of the nook was an open kitchen with kitchen-island separating the nook and kitchen in a specific section. It was a long four-walled room, such as a studio apartment and specifically sectioned by a sizable rug underneath for the living room, office area, and dog's play area. Furniture had been crippled with two different tastes of both Unnati and Akash, still weirdly complimenting the surroundings. Even though there were sections for official work, Akash and Unnati never sat on that desk. Both of them were comfortable on the nook-eating, working, and occasionally hooking up. On the table, a platter of 'Rajma-Chawal' was still untouched, Jug of water and a tab stand on which Akash was working. Wrinkle on his forehead was prevalent than usual, his eyes were speaking the language of stress and anxiety. Akash's profession had developed over-compensating presence of affection in relationships. In his entire professional life, Akash had seen enough of the rogue couple who went way too discreet about their privacy that led them to destroy their perfect relationship. Although Akash had mentioned that to Unnati several times, Unnati never seemed worried about paling admiration. For Akash's belief, Unnati didn't seem to care about such things, she believed that love was all that couple needs to be committed. She always said, ' Of course, love looks like its fading over time, but it just changes its color from vibrant maroon to peach. Care for each other equates to what teenage proclaim to be love." Akash moved his eyes from the screen and landed on a platter of 'Rajma-rice.' That reminded him of how his frivolous attempt to add spice into their marriage by home-cooked food, as prescribed by a famous marriage counselor in her recent blog post 'How to save marriage?' went in vain. In furiously, he pushed his tab stand and stood up. He looked around himself, to find no human affection but two specimens of fluffed love next to the couch. He just down on the ground next to them and didn't realize when he flattened them and fall asleep.
