Demons Grasp

Chapter 6

I walk a set of metal stairs down into what must have been the model of every cliche hacker hangout you see in the movies: windowless, brickwalled, with several tables strewn around the room seemingly at random. Most of the tables are occupied by a range of characters hyper focused on the screens of their laptops or PCs. Apart from some music coming from an undefined direction, the only thing that can be heard is the clitter-clatter of the keyboards.

At the foot of the stairs I come to a halt, expecting someone to question my presence. But barely anyone even looks up. So I start to pick my way through the tables looking for Celeste. I have to choose my steps carefully to make sure I am not falling over the myriad of cables snaking across the floor.

Looking around, I spot a laptop with a large Dungeons & Dragons sticker on its back. I have a hunch that this is my destination. Seconds later, I know that I am correct, when a head with bright ginger hair pops up. "There you are!" Celeste's voice rips through the silence like a gunshot. She jumps up, hurries towards me and pulls me into a hug with such force we almost topple over. This raises a few eyebrows around us. "I am going by Tess here" she whispers into my ear. I nod in understanding.

Once she lets me go, I ask: "What is this place?" "You see, everyone here has a day job in IT, Cybersecurity or something related. In our free time we meet up for some..." she hesitates briefly "...side projects. All purely ethical hacking." She leads me around her table and pulls up a chair for me. "Since our talk, I have started digging based on the information you gave me so far. There was quite some talk after your little hashtag went through social media."

She leans back in her chair. "Word on the street was that all this was about someone using the screen name Nym-0s. Correct?" I nod. Tess - I have to get used to that name - leans forward again and starts typing on her laptop. Her expression has become very serious now.

"That one got himself into quite the kerfuffle with the government. This is in line with what you told me earlier. Is there anything else you can tell me? How did you even get involved with him?"

We spend the next half hour with me giving Tess a summary of the chaos that were the past six months of my life. Somewhere along the line we got us some coffee and moved to a more remote corner with a few beat down couches. When I finish, Tess leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "We have no idea where to look for him. If I had to guess, I would say that Jake uncovered something about some sort of group or project concerned with less than legal enterprises. But starting to look for them on our own will take too long. And then we still haven't found him."

"They have tried hacking into my phone a couple of times" I think out loud. Tess cocks her head. "I doubt that I will be able to trace anything back after all that time." She looks up and around the room. "Our best change might be to get more people involved and cover as many bases as possible." She gets up. "Let me talk to some people. In the meantime you should get some rest. You look like you haven't slept in weeks."

It certainly feels that way. I swivel around on the couch putting my feet up and my head on an arm rest. But as soon as I close my eyes, I see the attacker right in front of me. His hateful stare from vicious eyes. Then his eyes seem to melt and blood oozes from them. And then there is Jake, lifeless on the floor. And more blood. So much blood...