CIA : Its not what you think

Chapter Nineteen

-SECTION SONG-

"Notorious Thugs"- Notorious B.I.G feat Bone Thugs and Harmony

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Main POV

"Site uploaded, sir! That's three out there!"

"Oh, they've already gotten hold of the first one!"

"Yeah, that thing went toast in seconds!"

"Bring it on, guys, their numbers are going high!"

"There's too much traffic right now, uploading takes ages!"

"Then switch on the backup power for god's sake!"

It was total pandemonium inside the Data-Veil Lab.

Analysts were rushing around the computer stations while dishing out orders and updates of the procedures happening. The executives were also buzzling around overseeing the tasks and commandeering the lower rank. The large VTs switched the contents in their displays accordingly, showing visuals of the operations. It wasn't rare for the lab to be hustling hard but today there was terror mixed in the air as well so it seemed to be powering up so much more energy that one could feel it surging through their body.

When he returned to the lab, Colin felt as if his auditory canals had unknowingly expanded because of the noise he received. But within five minutes he got used to the hectic and loud environment. He sat near the controls of the main VT, going through the printout he had been given which contained the execution commands of the cursed ransomware, Medusa. He kept skimming through the lines of code as he tried to find a loophole in it.

But the analysts had found more horrific news about it.

"You got the execution commands on a print?" Earlier, Colin had burst out incredulously.

"Yes, Colin and-"

"So the decryption key will be there in the printout, dammit what are you-"

"Because it's crypted, Colin! The execution commands after the bypass are crypted!" Glenda had fired back at him.

Colin's lips zipped up automatically. He had words but they felt stupid if spoken out loud because of how complex Medusa was.

"Crypted?" was what he said instead.

"See for yourself first" and the printout was pushed into Colin's hands, which he had scanned top to bottom at a brisk pace. As each word went inside his mind, he felt himself deflate visibly but when his eyes fell on the text at the end of the page, his breathe seemed to clot up.

Encrypted for security reasons

Colin now ran a finger across his brow as he tried to think of the next steps to calm the terror. He would sometimes glance at the countdown to get more motivation, but it always ended making him feel even worse.

"God, these people are nuts!" The technicians were commenting on the hackers' presence.

"Yeah, I swear we had just half the current number a minute ago!"

"They could be having a war out there for all we know."

"We gave those kids an early Christmas, everyone, Santa Claus is in the town" Zac joined the conversation from his table. The VT that displayed the hackers graphically had millions of tiny dots entering the radar, mimicking excited children in a rush to get their gift.