BLACK INK SOCIETY {Sci-Fi Thriller} #Wattys2016

Part 6,3: Sadistic Stroke of Nature

Lupin found the workroom sooner than expected. Mrs. Jardine had already done her late husband the favour of destroying most of the sensitive papers he had stored at home, the entire floor was covered with empty folders and envelopes.

Pity. Still, there was something to be gained from this break-in. Access too the murder victim's computer was certainly helpful, especially since every non-digital document of interest had already been destroyed. Of course he couldn't be sure that the widow hadn't done the same with those documents stored on the hard drives, but deleting something entirely, to make it disappear without a trace, took time, effort and expertise. And Irene had always been very successful when it came to tracing, may it be a person or a bunch of data.

He powered up the laptop on the desk and plugged in the ULM-stick.

"I put the thing where you said I should." He informed Irene via comlink, "But now it wants a password."

She chuckled.

"Don't let it trouble you, Lupin. I just need to launch that breaching tool of mine, and I'll be in in no time. Nice and smoothly. No window-breaking required, just a few lines of code."

Lupin sighed. "Are you saying my methods are ineffective?"

"Just a little old-school, that's all."

~

"The London Gazette never published the British Airline leaks."

Mrs. Jardine stared at him so intensely that Dante felt like her eyes were drilling little holes into his stomach. His cover was blown. Run and hide, run and hide...

"Now. Tell me who you are and what the hell you want from me."

"I..." He saw her reaching behind her back to pull out something. Pepper spray? A kitchen knife? He couldn't tell, but he was sure it would be something highly unpleasant.

"... I really was an informant!" Dante said hastily. "I can't tell you in what case. I just can't."

"Is that so? In that case, I wonder why he never mentioned you at all... Jared."

Dante desperately tried to think of an excuse. He couldn't find any. His only way of escape was the front door, but that would leave Lupin on his own in the office. As subtly as he could manage, he clicked his tongue to turn on the comlink and said "There were many things you didn't know about your husband."

That worked.

Mrs. Jardine furrowed her fiery red brows; he could practically see the big question mark forming on her forehead. But she regained her confidence pretty fast, and when the confusion was gone, it was replaced by anger.

"Get out."

~

Irene had cracked the second layer of security protocols within a minute. She knew Garrett too well, his customs, his behaviour. His pattern of thinking. Focused only on the log entries slowly filling her screen, everything else in the room faded into the background.

She absently pushed up her glasses. Every hacker worth their salt would do some research on the target before getting to work, but in this case - well. Four years of something that came close to friendship could be easily considered a sufficient period of research.

<executed>[SYS]#startLog()

!connection failed
!failed to load personalised interface
!attempting to reconnect...
!connection failed

*Press t11 to reboot*

*Press °° to reconnect*

<entered "t11">

It was handy, idiot-proof and easy enough for a total tech-dyslexic to handle, but there was an almost absurd amount of security holes in the Sigma operating system. Within a few quick steps Irene managed to produce a nearly perfect clone of the interface, containing references to every data package created by the original user. The clone allowed her to find the place where the files she needed were stored - and to reach them without even entering a single password.

<executed>[fileAdventurer.exe]

!running search algorithm...
!67 results found for query47B2"01/2026 - 10/2026"

<executed>[fileAdventurer.exe]#sortResults(document)

!categorising results...
!12 results found for query47B2 subCategory "document"

"Lupin," she ordered, "enter 'query47B2 subCategory 'document' in the search bar."

"Got it." That was something he could manage.

"Query-47-Bravo-2" Irene spelled out. Lupin typed, and two seconds later a folder appeared on the screen. "Copy it to the stick. All of it, then delete the original."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. It's better to remove every trace of transaction rather than having them discover the file has been copied. Make sure you have the imprint data destroyed as well. "

"Pardon me, Irene, but I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about."

"They're hidden files to restore lost data. But that's exactly what we don't want people to do, so better get rid of them. I'll change settings and make them visible..."

Lupin knew better than questioning her instructions, so he moved the folder onto the ULM-Stick and then deleted it along with the hidden imprint files. Suddenly the comlink went off on channel two.

"Alright. I'll get out," Dante said. He sounded tense, he clearly wasn't talking to himself. "Right now."

While Lupin still wondered whether his colleague was subtly telling him to do the same, the screen went black. Irene had obviously managed to shut down the complete system.

"Get out ouf there immediately." Irene advised him. That was when Lupin heard the front door thunking shut. He hastily pulled out the ULM and buried it deep in his pockets, but in the very moment he turned to the door he heard another noise. Footsteps. On the stairs.

"Lupin!" Dante called from channel two, "What the hell are you still doing in there?"

"The path is blocked!" He hissed, "I repeat, the path is blocked!"

He had to admit this probably wasn't the best of times to quote his favourite action movie - on the other hand, when would he ever get another opportunity to use this line? In the meantime, Lupin was desperately searching for another exit. The window? Way too high. The door? No. His involuntary hostess could burst into the room at any minute.

"Then hide! Don't just stand there!"

"Great idea. And where am I supposed to...?"

"I don't know, the closet? Anything!"

"Yes, I've come that far. Unfortunately, there is no closet in here."

The steps came closer, Lupin turned towards what seemed to be his only way of escape. He opened the window, trying to produce as little noise as possible, and stared right into the abyss looming below. Seriously? His door to freedom, placed approximately five metres above the ground, ended in a thick cushion of thorn bushes. Pincushion would be the more fitting term, actually.

He began to wonder if he was only a theist to have conversations in his head without feeling too ridiculous. Lupin gulped, he wasn't going fail a job because of a five metre fall into this sadistic stroke of nature commonly known as garden roses. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and fell to his doom.