by A. American
Finally making it back to the apartment, he dropped the bundle on the floor in the kitchen. He stared down at the pile spread across the floor. With a sigh, he leaned over and started to put it all away. All the cabinet doors were open, as well as the pantry. Empty shopping bags were scattered all over the kitchen, covering nearly every horizontal surface visible. Taking a quick break, he turned on the TV, back to Fox News to see if there was any new information. What he heard couldn’t be good. The Governor was going to have a press conference at 4:00 today. He figured that if a politician was going to get on TV on a Saturday, it had to be bad news.
With nothing to do for a couple of hours, he went to check on Christy. The bed was empty and the shower was running. Back in the kitchen, he made lunch, a couple of turkey sandwiches and a bowl of chicken noodle soup. He was sitting on the couch playing Battlefield on the Xbox when she came out, drying her hair with a towel.
“Oh, that looks good. I’m so hungry,” Christy said as she sat on the couch.
“I thought you might want something to eat.”
“Mmm, this is good. Now I see what you’ve been doing all morning. Boys and their video games.”
“Shows what you know, I just started. I’ve been to the store already and bought groceries.”
Through bites of her sandwich, Christie asked, “What’s on the news?”
Daniel grabbed the remote and switched the TV back to cable. Fox was already on. “Riots, riots and more riots.”
Christy wiped her mouth with a napkin. “What happened last night?”
“Seventeen dead, or at least that’s what they are saying right now. The Governor is going to have a press conference later. Maybe we’ll get a little more info.”
“Let’s watch a movie or something. It’s the weekend and this is depressing.”
“You’re right,” Daniel said as he leaned back and put his arm around her.
Finding a movie on pay-per-view, they spent the rest of the afternoon spooning on the couch. With Christy in his arms, he could smell her hair. While it didn’t smell like the woods of north Georgia, it was an enchanting scent; and the woods will always be there. The movie was almost over when Daniel looked up at the clock. It was nearly four. He paused the movie and switched back to Fox News. Christy didn’t complain. She was obviously interested in what was going on as well.
The screen displayed a podium with the seal of the Governor. The talking heads were all guessing what he would say. As they waited, the screen split to show the riot that was still taking place near Tower Place. Christy shook her head. “That’s just awful. I never imagined we’d see that sort of thing here. It’s like watching some other country.”
Daniel squeezed her a little tighter. “I know. Remember when Venezuela fell apart? Looks like that.”
The Governor stepped up to the podium and the talking heads disappeared. He began to speak about the riots and the increasing level of lawlessness that seemed to be overtaking most of metro Atlanta. To combat the rise in violent crime sweeping the city, he’d activated the Georgia National Guard, and they would be assuming the lead role of law enforcement in the city. To make the job easier, he was instituting a dusk to dawn curfew, effective immediately. Anyone caught on the streets during the curfew would be arrested, no questions asked.
“This isn’t going to end well,” Christy said.
Daniel grunted. “Nope. Wish I were in the mountains.”
She slapped his leg. “What is with you and the mountains?”
Daniel pointed at the TV. “You don’t have this kind of crap up there. There’s fewer people. Less trouble. Plus, it’s probably ten or fifteen degrees cooler up there right now!”
Christy stretched. “I guess I should get going so I can get home before dark.”
Letting her go, he sat up. “It’s so weird we’re even talking about a curfew here. I mean, this is ridiculous.”
Christy kissed him. “It’ll be alright. You going to walk me down to the garage?”
Standing up, Daniel slapped her ass. “I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave.”
Christy rolled her eyes. “Pathetic.”
The two had been together so long now that Christy had clothes at his place and he at hers. So she walked to the garage in a pair of sweats, the little black dress and heels over her shoulder in a bag. At her Honda, she tossed the bag in the seat and spun around to face him.
“I had a great time,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Me too,” Daniel replied as he leaned in and kissed her.
“Better than the mountains?” She asked with a wink. Daniel looked off as though he were mulling the question over. She slapped his shoulder. “It better have been!”
He laughed and kissed her again. “It was a great time. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
She smiled as she got in the Honda. “That’s what I thought.”
Chapter 2
It was Monday and back to the grind. Daniel was sitting in his cubicle monitoring what was becoming a never-ending series of concentrated, though ineffective, attacks against the network. It was ridiculous that in this day anyone would actually try a brute force attack against a network like the bank’s. But for the last week, someone, or several as was probably the case, had been trying exactly that.
Daniel was shaking his head at the thought when Kilroy’s head popped over the top of cubicle. Looking up at the shiny head brought a smile to his face.
“Dude, you seeing all this?” Tom asked.
Daniel looked back to his monitors. “Yeah, what kind of moron tries this kind of thing now-a-days?”
“Don’ know. You track the IPs yet?”
“No. Why don’t you? I’m locking down all the ports they probe. Let’s see if we can find out where these fuckers are.”
“Cool. I’ll do it. Where’d you go this weekend?” Tom asked.
“Ended up staying home.”
Tom’s face screwed up. “Why? Thought you were headed north.”
“Let’s just say Christy can be persuasive.”
Tom’s head cocked to the side in confusion; then it hit him as his eyes drifted to that pic again. “Details?”
“In your dreams, brother. In your dreams,” Daniel said as he swiveled around to his computer.
Even though Daniel couldn’t see him, Tom nodded and his shiny head dipped below the cubicle wall. Daniel was busy trying to isolate ports in the network where the hackers were probing. It was not a very sophisticated attack, simply typing IPs into a browser window then using one of several black-market programs to try passwords until it finds one that works. The problem with that is that modern networks are protected by numerous layers of security. After only a few attempts, the firewalls and networks flag the port and lock it out. Then a human has to look at it and decide what was going on and take further action. Daniel was the human in this case.
Daniel was focused on his monitors. He loved this shit. Someone was trying to get in, and he was going to stop them. He was so busy, he didn’t notice Amber, who was leaning on the edge of the cubicle wall that separated him and Tom. Tom, however, did notice her. Amber had a crush on Daniel. With the pics of all the cool places he went to pinned to the walls of his cubicle, and the fact that he had a hot girlfriend, he was an irresistible conquest for her.
Tom had completely stopped what he was doing. From where he sat, all he could see was Amber from the waist down. He was running his gaze up and down her legs. She was wearing the old fashioned stockings with the seam on the back of her legs. Amber finally tried to get Daniel’s attention.
“Daniel, are you busy?” She cooed.
Daniel didn’t bother to look up. He knew from the voice who it was and wasn’t interested. As hot as she was, Amber had a reputation for sleeping h
er way to the top. “Kinda busy. What’s up?”
She was holding a thumb drive, and naturally her hand was buried between her huge tits. “Oh, sorry. I found this thumb drive in the ladies’ room earlier and I’m not sure who it belongs too.”
“Sorry, Amber. I’m really busy right now. See if you can find out who it belongs to.”
Amber’s lips formed into a fashionable pout. “Okay. I’ll come by later when you’re not so busy”. She straightened up and noticed Tom, who tried to appear like he was looking at something tacked to the wall of his cubicle. “What are you looking at, perv?” She barked and stomped off.
Tom was embarrassed, turning several different shades of red. To try and cover for it, he stood up, looking over the cubicle and asked, “Daniel, did you track those IPs?”
Daniel spun around in his chair. “What? You were supposed to track them down!”
Flustered once again, Tom replied. “Oh, right”, and quickly sat down to his computer.
Amber was not happy with Daniel not noticing her and that creepy asshole Tom ogling her. She was pissed. Finding her way back to her cubicle, she threw the thumb drive onto her desk and flopped into her chair, making sure to cross her legs as she was wearing a really short skirt. She sat there for a moment thinking about the rejection. One of these days I’ll get him. I’ll rock his world and he’ll never go back to that skank, she thought.
She sat there for a moment, then her eyes fell on the drive. She picked it up and plugged it into her computer. It was against policy, but if it wrecked her machine, then Daniel would have to come by and fix it. A thin smile spread across her perfectly painted lips as she muttered. I hope it’s got the mother of all viruses on it.
Daniel suddenly sat upright, running his hands through his hair. He sat there staring at the screens before him. All morning he fought off the probes of the network, but now they were suddenly gone. He stood up looking at the monitors, his left arm across his chest and chin in his right hand. He was interrupted by Tom.
“Dude, you stopped it. They’re gone.”
Daniel sat there for a moment before replying. He didn’t bother to turn around. “Either that or they’re in. Did you trace the IPs?”
“Working on it,” was all Tom replied before disappearing into his cubicle again.
Whoever was probing the network was using a sophisticated program that bounced the connection all over the world. It successfully masked the originating IP, but would eventually turn up, requiring some time to sort through it. Daniel and Tom would spend the rest of the week working on the project.
While sifting through the trail of the IPs, Daniel kept a couple of windows open on one of the monitors. One was a local news station and the other alternated between Fox News and CNN. The local station was dominated by the riots. After the riot over the weekend and the deaths that went along with it, the tension was building in Atlanta. Fox and CNN were showing similar video from around the country, riots, protests and lots and lots of police.
A video of white armored vehicles caught Daniel’s eye, and he turned the volume up to see what was going on. The video showed a number of vehicles that were assembling in a large parking lot. It took a few minutes to figure out where this was all taking place. Apparently, the mayor of Detroit had requested federal help to deal with the riots in that city. The number of shootings, which was already high, was climbing dramatically. Several police officers had been hit in shootouts erupting during riots in the city.
People were becoming agitated. Those on the right were mad about the usurpation of their second amendment-recognized right to own firearms. Those on the left were demanding more entitlements. Many had been energized by Bernie Sanders’ campaign of socialist ideas, and they were demanding a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation. These two groups naturally clashed with one another. The police clashed with both.
In the beginning, the protests over the ownership of firearms were peaceful, if not loud. But as the realization became clear that the intent was the complete disarmament of the American people, they became more violent. As for those demanding their fair share, they did as they always did. Their protests consisted of riots, looting and arson. Typical moves from the leftist playbook. The country was ripe for revolution.
Daniel sat there chewing on the end of a pen, watching as more and more vehicles added to the mass already there. The view changed to an aerial shot where the full magnitude of the force descending on the city came into view. A line of the white vehicles stretched for blocks.
A phone rang and Daniel looked over at his. Not him, thankfully.
Tom came around the cubicle. “Hey, man. Wow, where’s that?”
“Detroit.”
“I wish they would come here. Things are getting out of hand ‘round here.”
Daniel swiveled in his chair. “I don’t think that would be a good thing for anyone.”
“Yeah. Well, if you’re not out in the street, there’s probably nothing to worry about. Anyway, Malcolm wants us in his office.” Tom raised his eyebrows and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“What for?” Daniel didn’t like going to Malcolm’s office. While his boss was a decent guy, he never called you over just to chat.
Tom shrugged his shoulders. Daniel levered himself out of his chair and the two headed off to see what the boss wanted. Tom stopped outside of the office while Daniel wedged himself past him inside and fell into one of the two chairs in front of the desk.
Malcolm was just a couple years older than Daniel and had hired him for his position. Every time Daniel came into the office, he remembered that interview. With his pressed shirt and stylish yet ridiculous suspenders, Malcolm reminded him of Irkle. Now, every time he sees him, that’s all he can think of.
“Come in and have a seat, Tom,” Malcolm said with a wave of his hand.
Tom quickly came when beckoned, taking a seat beside Daniel and folding his hands in his lap.
Malcolm turned his attention to the big flat monitor on his desk for a second before looking back and smiling.
“What have you got for me?”
Tom looked at Daniel. “Huh, well I’m still working on the IPs.”
“There were several sources of the attack. It’s weird that anyone would try a brute force attack on a network like ours. I think there is more to it,” Daniel said, slumping back into the chair.
Malcolm looked at Daniel. He liked the guy for his work. He was good, but he couldn’t stand his obvious lack of corporate decorum.
“I don’t think there’s more to it, really; just some stupid hacker group, probably. But find those IPs and get back to me on it. Did they ever get in?”
“No. I saw every port they tried and locked them out each time. There were a bunch, but Tom and I stopped ‘em.” Daniel knew Tom was always worried about his job, though he didn’t need to be. He did a good job; and whenever the chance arose to give him credit, he would.
Malcolm looked at his watch. “It’s close to quitting time. Make sure everything is secure and I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Daniel and Tom nodded and left the office. On the way back to their desks they stopped by the break room where Daniel got a Mountain Dew and Snickers bar.
“Hey, thanks for backing me up in there,” Tom said as he stared into the vending machine.
As he opened the bottle of Dew, Daniel replied. “You don’t need any back-up. Don’t let him bother you, man. You do a good job and don’t have shit to worry about.”
“Yeah. Well, that’s easy for you to say. You don’t have a wife and kids.” Tom replied as he pulled a Butterfinger from the little tray in the machine.
“No worries, man. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Daniel quickly went to his desk and gathered his stuff, making his way to the elevator before
Malcolm could change his mind. A light rain fell as he pulled out of the garage, low hanging clouds adding to the dismal afternoon. Rain anywhere near quitting time meant the already bad traffic was going to be even worse. Daniel let out a long breath, reached up and hit the button on the stereo for the CD and soon The Devil Went Down to Georgia filled the van.
Traffic was crawling along when Daniel noticed one of those big flashing construction signs on the side of the road, —-BE PREPARED TO STOP—-, flashed over and over. Just freakin’ great, he thought as he slapped the wheel with both hands. Daniel leaned around to try and see the accident that must be ahead. There were certainly enough flashing lights up there.
As he inched forward, the lanes became separated by orange construction cones. Daniel craned his neck more, trying to see. Slapping himself on the forehead, he looked down at the Cobra CB hanging under the dash, then reached down and turned it on. Channel 19 was crowded with truckers talking about the jam. Then he heard one of them say it was a roadblock, that the police were stopping everyone and checking IDs. Another trucker said some people were being pulled off to the side of the road and dogs were going around the cars.
I don’t know what them sum bitches is lookin’ for, but they got traffic all fucked up.
Tell me about it. I got to be in Nashvill’ by seven am and these assholes is got the whole damn city jacked up.
The talk continued along the same course. Daniel could finally see all the cops up ahead. They were standing between the lanes, yellow rain slickers, orange cones on their flashlights and all. Daniel finally made it to the first of the officers, who did not look happy. With rain dripping from the brim of his Smokey the Bear hat, he rolled his finger in the air. Daniel got the hint and rolled the window down about three inches.