Sleepwalker

Prologue: Taken

April 19, 2021
Tolmafin Residence
New York City, NY

Drake sighed as he scrolled through the strands of code streaming down his computer, icy blue eyes half-hidden under his eyelids. He knew he should be in bed, asleep, but with the pandemic keeping him and every other sixteen-year-old under house arrest, it wasn't like he'd be waking up early anyway. So instead, he spent the early morning hours doing what he did best. Hacking.

He started out by doing what a handful of his classmates paid him to do—going into his school's system and making a few improvements to his customers' grades. Most of his patrons were on the starting lineup for the football team, and the others were typically slackers that paid well and knew how to keep their mouth shut. Snitches get stitches after all.

But his task ended too soon, and he was left aimlessly scrolling through the vast internet in search of something that would test his skills and his mind. It had been a while since he'd truly been in the zone when it came to his favorite pastime.

"Could try hacking into the Pentagon again," he mumbled, brushing a few strands of ebony hair out of his eyes, "Then again, they still haven't forgiven me for last time, and they didn't even know it was me. Let's see what the NSF is up to."

When bored or in doubt, the National Science Foundation always provided plenty of entertainment. They were constantly working on some new project for the "benefit of humanity," and the higher the security clearance, the faster Drake's heart would pump with the hope to see it come to fruition. He was still bummed that they hadn't figured out the science for flying cars yet.

Tan fingers flew effortlessly across the worn keyboard as he typed in familiar strings of code that allowed him complete access to the NSF's mainframe. His eyes widened slightly as the adrenaline woke his tired mind, and he released a small grin.

"What do you have for me today, Mr. Ikeda?"

For the next several minutes Drake browsed through blueprint after blueprint of every possible project under the scientist's name. Some were more farfetched than others, but the man was brilliant in his own way.

Then he came upon a project that jerked his mind from mildly interested to alert in less than two seconds.

"No way," he breathed, "No freakin' way!"

"Drake?" a familiar voice called through his bedroom door, and his father let himself in without hesitation. "What are you still doing up at this hour? It's almost three in the morning."

Dr. Tom Tolmafin, renown bioengineer and single father to one of the most intelligent teens on the planet, was slumped over in exhaustion. It had been another late night at the lab, and he hadn't expected to find his son still awake. A part of him wanted to test the boy for insomnia, but the other side of his mind was too tired to worry about it right now.

"Dad, take a look at this. Tell me I'm not just sleep deprived, and this is legit."

Tom sighed deeply as he trudged over to his son's computer, his forty-year-old frame protesting strongly. He had regretted working late hours before. But now, he seriously regretted it because all he wanted to do was shower and sleep, not see what his prodigy son had hacked into this time.

"Son, it's late. Why are you even up?"

"Doesn't matter," he replied dismissively, his eyes never turning away from the screen. "Look. You said the World Health Organization has been trying to find a cure, right?"