I Hate That I Loved You!

43- Hackathon (2)

By the time, they arrived at the location, it was already 09:00 am.

Zack parked their car. The place was crowded with lots of people donned in different types of clothes and different types of masks.

"Woah! That's a lot of people" Zack exclaimed.

The gates were opened and people were entering the event premise.

Rizi took a deep breath and got out of the car adjusting her Bluetooth device and the mask, followed by Zack and Abby.

Many people turned around to look at three people in same black outfit, two beautiful extremely fair women, and a handsome man, with an outstanding personality.

Black clothes gave a stark contrast between their fair skin and the outfit. The only visible portion of the face was their grey eyes as the rest of the face was covered by the mask. All three of them had the same set of eyes which garnered quite a lot of attention.

Rizi, Abby, and Zack walked towards the building. At the entrance, their bags and body were fully scanned. They were asked for a secret code. Once they confirmed their code, they were allowed inside the premises and were given a temporary access card. 

As soon as they entered the building, a medium height, a well-built Asian man in his mid-40s wearing a black three-piece suit with tie came walking towards them with a warm smile on his face.

"This side please." He guided all three of them to their waiting room. It was a decent furnished room with a couch and sofas and a coffee table in the center. It had a mini-fridge on the one corner of the room and a small cabinet. There were sone refreshments and snacks on the coffee table.

"You can put your guns and others not required things in the locker of this room. No one will be allowed to enter this room. I have my security guards outside. They did not stop you at the entrance for guns because I already had clearance for you guys from higher authorities. But, They don't want weapons in the competition area. Also, you have to put away your cellphones as well."  The man explained in a gentle and calm voice. Even though the man was in his mid-40s, he had maintained himself well. He was still looking handsome, masculine and tough.

"Thank you Elder Song. I will give my cellphone to you because I need timely updates on Leo. Hope you won't mind handling it for a while?" Rizi asked him in a polite voice.

"It's my pleasure Rizelle." Elder Song spoke with great adoration in his eyes and patted her head.

Hearing her actual full name from Elder Song's mouth, Rizi felt nostalgic. She knew Elder Song from her teenage years.  The elder song was a close friend of her mother's. Only her mother used to call her by her actual name 'Rizelle'.
Rest everyone addressed her as "Rizi" or "Zi". She herself was not used to her real full name "Rizelle Lauren D'Souza".

Her eyes became misty but she quickly blinked those tears away before anyone noticed it.

"Let's set up your workstation. It just outside the other side of the room. Easily accessible from here. The event will start in an hour."

Elder Song gave brief info the code of conduct information that he had received from the Organizers.

Noone will address each other with their names as might reveal their identities. So everyone will decide internally on their code names.

Among the participants, there will be many skilled and wanted hackers, hence everyone's identifies must be hidden.

For outsiders, it will look like some white-collar folks participating in some sort of security related competition but internally everyone knew the reality.

Noone will know more details about participants unless participants themselves want others to know at their own accord. Organizers follow a strict code of conduct.

Any misbehavior or protocol breach will straight away disqualify them and a ban will be applied for them in the the dark web community.

Meanwhile outside the building

The sound of helicopter diverted everyone's attention towards the sky.
The sound grew louder and soon helicopter hovered above the building.
Soon it landed steadily on the open ground next to the building.

Francesco Russo and Zain Bennetti got down from the helicopter. Their bodyguards surrounded them quickly.

Seeing two handsome men making such an extravagant entry,  people were in aww.

Girls and Women started whispering and drooling over the oozing sexiness of both the men.

"Welcome Mr.Bennetti and Mr.Russo. Please come" The event manager was given special  instructions to guide these two VVIP guests personally.

These two big shots were among the richest families in the country and he was instructed multiple times to ensure that they are taken care of properly.

As soon as he heard the helicopter sound, he rushed towards the entrance.

Event manager took them to the top floor's best VVIP room from where they can leisurely relax and watch the competition happening at the ground level.

Top floor was reserved for the VVIP guests such as Elite businessmen, Government Officials, Sponsors and Judges.

A big projector screen was setup behind the stage, A big countdown timer was next to the screen , around 30 work stations organized three in each row. Sound system was setup playing musical tune.
A snack and beverages counter was setup at one corner.
Some people were working on the event setup and some were helping  new guests to settle down.

All participants group were busy setting up their work stations.
Lots of cables, wires and technological devices like wifi routers, switch, etc. were spread on the floor.

Zain's sharp eyes scanned the people across the ground floor. He was looking for a clue or any hint related to dark web masters among the participants group. 

Seeing so many people with different types of masks, weird clothes and dresses, he sighed.

Indeed these people are smart in protecting themselves!

He was monitoring each and every group's movements cautiously. 

"We are not sure if they are among participants. They can be anyone from Organizer's committee to sponsors, guests, etc. It can be any of them." Francesco spoke while taking a puff of his cigarette.

He stood next to Zain and offered him cigarette while looking at the pool of participants.

"Yes. Let's see. If not them, then at least we will find someone skilled for our security upgrade project." Zain took a puff of the cigarette and released smoke in the air.

His green eyes squinted at couple of groups setting up their workstations at the last row.

One group was in full black, the middle one was in full red and the third last one was in full yellow outfit.

He was amused at how colorful they all looked together.

He was observing their movements, when he observed two girls, a pink haired and a blue haired discussing something with a guy in his mid-40s.

He scratched his head. He had seen that guy somewhere. He was trying to recall. He took a deep puff of cigarette and released the smoke again.

At this time, the pink haired girl turned to look upwards and coincidentally their eyes met.