A Quest Within

by Len Marshall

  “I’m your son, Dad. Neil is my best friend,” Jacob protested.

  “That’s my problem, Son, you’re not part of Waverley Davis, are you?” Ajay stated firmly. “You were given a choice to become part of it but you chose not to,” he added.

  Jacob knew Ajay was right so he could not say anything more. He sat on the chair and remained quiet. He gazed at the floor, thinking and thinking. After a few minutes he stood up and left Ajay’s office without saying another word. By the time he reached home, he had made a decision to get to the bottom of this matter which was causing stress to the two most important people in his life.

  Unknown to him, the formidable hand of providence had made its move. Jacob’s world was about to change forever.

  Chapter Six

  As above

  So below

  Diana Cooper

  Neil and Clarke were meeting once again at their favorite restaurant. Neil had been pleasantly surprised when he had received a call from Clarke earlier that day asking if they could take lunch together. It took Neil only a quick ten minutes to reach the restaurant from his office. He noticed that something had changed about her. Was it her make up? Or the fact that she had a very unusual hair style and her eyes also looked different. For the first time, she was wearing glasses which she had never worn before

  These several small changes, although subtle, changed her appearance quite a bit and it was difficult for Neil to recognize her from their previous meetings.

  This time, again, she had another hidden agenda.

  She had a smile on her face and Neil was smiling too.

  She kept thinking she was once again on an assignment. She had been asked to put another virus in the Waverley Davis network using Neil’s mobile as a Trojan horse, just like she had accomplished last time.

  “Give me your mobile,” she suddenly asked Neil. He gave her his mobile wondering what she would do with it. Clarke punched a few keys and raised her left hand up holding the mobile so she could take a selfie.

  “That’s our first picture together,” she commented. Then she took five or six more pictures of them both as she made different poses. Neil smiled as he watched her taking pictures while she struck some really silly poses. She returned his mobile to him and Neil put it back into in his pocket.

  “Now do you understand why I dressed like this?” she explained with a peculiar smile on her face.

  “Absolutely,” Neil laughed.

  They had lunch together and chatted about their friendship. Neil left for the office completely unaware that Clarke had put a malicious code on his mobile’s chip using his Bluetooth. Neil returned to work.

  Clarke called her contact and told him that the mission was accomplished. She had a serious look on her face.

  Her eyes scanned the people around her as if anticipating a threat nearby but there was none.

  She stood up and headed to the restroom. Entering a cubicle, she locked herself in and looked at her mobile. Her fingers worked really fast on her smart phone. She transferred the same file to an internet cloud via the internet on her Wi-Fi app. She deleted the file as soon as she had completed the transfer. She looked at her watch and let out a big sigh, knowing that she had done her job within the stipulated timeframe.

  “It’s all there, it’s yours to start analyzing,” she instructed the other person on the phone.

  “Let me know as soon as soon as you come up with a conclusion.” She was very strict in her instructions this time.

  ***

  Jacob had been thinking about the possible situation at Waverley Davis and exactly what had happened there. It would have to be bad and had something to do with computers. In addition, it must have involved the finance division and Neil as well. He really had to get to the bottom of this. Where I shall start, he thought to himself, somewhat at a loss as to where to begin.

  He realized that not one person inside Waverley Davis would utter a single word so all the facts had been made pretty well secret by now but forgetting about the matter was simply out of the question. He had called a few friends of his father and had tried to make them talk but, as expected, they were simply unaware of anything relevant to his enquiries. By now it was clear to him that he would never get to know what was going on inside Waverley Davis by simply talking to people.

  He decided instead to think outside the box.

  “I should get into the system in Neil’s office to investigate this thing.”

  However, he realized that would not be possible without hacking into the Waverley Davis network and that was something he would never try. He knew that Victor and all of his team were currently on high alert and would spot him in no time.

  “I need to be able to talk to Neil or anyone else who was polygraphed,” he thought, “so I need to join the company to find out about Waverley Davis by talking to a few people.”

  “Yes,” he thought, “this is a good idea but how am I going to implement it?”

  He also had no idea what he would do if Ajay rejected his application to join the firm now but he would address that problem when he met with his father he told himself.

  ***

  Jenifer was born to a mid-level executive father and a math’s teacher mother. She was part of a happy family until her father developed a gambling habit. He started to lose regularly. At first it was easy for him to pay but, over time, he gradually began to incur debts and his actions began to adversely affect his family. Although Jenifer’s mother didn’t leave her father when she learnt about his debt crisis, she did suffer paralysis brought about by constant mental stress and she eventually lost her job. She had tried to support her husband before she became unable to walk. Jenifer’s father then developed serious mental health issues knowing that he could never pay his debts and this led to him eventually committing suicide.

  Jenifer was still at school at the time. She was among the brightest students especially in mathematics and computers. She would always draw inspiration from successful people. She loved computers and any kind of communication devices. The computer lab was her favorite place in school. She had developed great acumen very early on by learning many things online. Her biggest dream was to become a successful entrepreneur but her aspirations were shattered by her father’s suicide and her mother’s paralysis.

  Despite all the hurdles, she completed her schooling with distinction and, after gaining a scholarship, she joined a technology college but soon left as she felt there was nothing new for her to learn there. She already knew everything that was being taught and therefore studying there was simply a waste of her time. She looked for a job so that she could support her mother. She started work at a restaurant as a waitress. Her focus in life became limited to taking care of her mother and pure survival. She abandoned her social life but her passion for computers remained the one unchanging constant in her life.

  It had been five years since her father committed suicide. Jenifer was still living with her paralyzed mother although now she had found a job as a supervisor in a large hotel. But now there was a secret side to her life. She had become a professional hacker, developing a reputation within the hackers market. She had not hesitated to put her skills to work in order to earn some extra money by hacking other peoples’ accounts. She was connected to different hacker groups through various dark net forums where she had created a digital avatar under a pseudo name. She had not shared any pictures of herself on the internet since she joined the hacker’s forum.

  Remaining anonymous was the only way to be for hackers and she had easily adapted to it. Due to the nature of her work, she did not trust people readily. Consequently, she didn’t have any friends except a girl called Natalie whose original name was Teresa and who belonged to a Mexican family residing in the US. Jenifer had met her in a police lockup when she was arrested for carrying an unauthorized gun. Jenifer was fined
by the court but, because of her lack of money, she was sent to prison for four months. Teresa had helped her there, adjusting to life among hardcore women criminals but that was not the biggest attraction to her for Jenifer.

  They became good friends only after Jennifer learnt that Teresa was also a computer programmer and had come to the US to seek a better future. Jenifer realized after only a few days that she could trust Teresa and that she was a good computer programmer in low level languages. In her, Jenifer saw a potential partner.

  Teresa had been sentenced to thirty months in prison on charges of drug dealing. Jenifer would get out of prison two months before Teresa. She had decided that she would help Teresa disappear so that her former employer would not be able to find her again once she came out of prison. So, when that happened two months later, Jenifer had a new identity for Teresa. Now she was Natalie Jefferson. Jenifer had given her the identity of a missing person who had disappeared a month earlier and who had not yet been found by the police.

  Jenifer’s circumstances after the death of her father had given her a complex personality. On the surface she was a rude and somewhat mean girl but, deep inside, she was just like her mother; dependable and caring for the people around her. She had taught some hacking skills to Natalie as well, on the condition that she would not contact anyone from her past. Jenifer did not want to stumble upon any surprises if Natalie’s former colleagues or employer should come to know who she actually was.

  Protecting herself from others had become second nature to Jenifer. She had learnt hand-to-hand self-defense and weapon firing. Over the years, her mother’s condition had deteriorated badly and now she needed to be cared for in a physical rehabilitation center for extensive care.

  Jenifer was trying to earn some quick money to ensure that she could take good care of her mother. She found this difficult to do on her current income from the hotel with having to pay utility bills and repayment installments for the massive debts her father had incurred. Hacking was the only option but, with the establishment of new cybercrime units in the FBI and police, even that was not an easy task. She had earned some money through writing ransom ware programs but, as the FBI had a special focus on finding cyber ransom seekers, she needed to be careful. When she felt utterly desperate, she would imagine good days ahead, she had told herself not to be a pessimist. But the more she tried the harder it became.

  It was during this desperate time that she received a surprise call from an unknown person promising a large amount of money for a relatively small task. She was tasked to implant a malicious code into the mobile of someone called Neil who was an employee at the headquarters of a multi-billion dollar technology firm. She adopted a different name for the task and met with Neil as Clarke. She pretended to be his friend and dated him several times to gain his trust but it was still a risky proposition and she could be caught in the act. She had later come up with a different plan and was able to give Neil an infected phone.

  Life had never the same for her after that day.

  She had not been told about the exact purpose of that malicious code yet she became intrigued to see what it was capable of and why an anonymous person had wanted it implanted inside the computer terminal of one of Waverley Davis’ employees was anybody’s guess.

  She had received the money for services rendered very quickly via a subterfuge as was often the case in such matters. She made a few more discreet enquiries about the purpose of the Malware but, despite asking several times, she was always promised an answer later. As she was mistrustful by nature and for her own piece of mind, she made a copy of the code and put it in her personal diary. She would ask Natalie, she said to herself, she would probably know.

  Initially, she had sought assistance from other friends but, with Natalie’s help, discovered that the Malware code was no virus at all but an intelligent code capable of fooling internet security mechanisms and scanning the network on both sides of any secure firewall protection. Neither had ever seen a code like this before but both knew that the sponsors had put a lot of effort and resources into its creation.

  In short, it was a perfect cyber weapon which, when active, could help any proficient hacker team with a mind to, to control its target network.

  She had become even more intrigued after learning the functionality of the malicious code. Taking control was the obvious answer but she wanted to be clear about the end game. Her natural hacking instinct forced her to investigate further into this matter.

  By accident, she had become part of the cyber war between her unknown benefactor and the Waverley Davis Security Division. Soon she discovered that whoever had given her that code did not want to take control of the Waverley Davis Security Division’s network but was looking for some specific node on that network. This whole situation was becoming more enthralling to her with every passing day but she still did not know the hacker’s end game.

  What she witnessed in the coming days was something unprecedented to her. It was an intense cyber war between very capable hackers and equally capable defenders. Soon she learnt that the Waverley Davis Security Division network was a cyber-fortress. Not an easy target by any means. She monitored the methods adopted by the hackers for a few days and then she realized that the Waverley Davis Security Division cyber-fortress was not impregnable after all. She saw their firewalls being breached by hackers. Had she not intervened, they would have penetrated into the utility network of the Waverley Davis Security Division. She had acted because she had still not found the answers to any her of her questions about what the hackers actually wanted from the Waverley Davis Security Division. For her, the only way to stay relevant in this war was to maintain the status quo and not let anybody win decisively and this is exactly what she did in the days to come.

  Natalie had also become involved in the tussle when Jenifer was asked to meet Fu Wang to be assigned another task for which payment would be greater than had been received for the previous job. Jenifer had seen enough evidence to realize that someone wanted her to be a pawn in their game. Her survival instinct forewarned her about the approaching storm. She devised a strategy for survival by asking Natalie to impersonate her and meet with Fu Wang. Natalie was reluctant at first but agreed to the meeting as she knew that her own survival was dependent on Jenifer’s.

  After meeting with Fu Wang, Natalie told Jenifer about the latest demand of her mysterious benefactor. She was being asked to implant another malicious code on Neil’s mobile using his Bluetooth. Instructions were specific this time. She was given a very short time in which to complete the task. The intrigue and urge to know the unknown had drawn her into a dangerous web. She made a copy of this code too, again in her diary. She needed to analyze it and get onto the Waverley Davis network to maintain the balance in this war so that she can stay relevant and learn more.

  ***

  Jacob was once again in Ajay’s office with a proposal that was not easy for Ajay to accept but for him to reject it was also not an option.

  Although Ajay had an idea why Jacob had come up with something like this, he had not a clue what to do. Jacob had asked his father to make him a part of Waverley Davis as he had always wished. Ajay knew that Jacob’s request was motivated by his desire to find out the reasons for those polygraph tests.

  Should he welcome Jacob and let him help or not? His decision would give Jacob’s life a final and irreversible turn and making a decision knowing this made it a difficult task. Ajay had always visualized Jacob sitting in his chair and now, when Jacob was finally ready to fulfill his father’s dream, Ajay was not sure if Jacob’s commitment was for the long term or whether he was being driven by a fleeting rush of emotions. Finding the answer to this question was vitally imperative before Ajay made any decision.

  “I want to know if he’s in for real, for the long-term. What do you say about his sudden change of heart?” Ajay asked Neil who was in his office at Ajay’s request
. Ajay had sent Jacob back home after listening to his proposal.

  “Ajay, as far as I can recall, I don’t remember Jacob ever making any commitment without giving it serious thought. If he’s willing to join Waverley Davis, this is a welcome development I guess and you must welcome him.” Neil was surprised as well but was also happy for Jacob and pleased that now they would become coworkers as well.

  “I know but what’s the guarantee that he will not leave the company as soon as this crisis is over?” Ajay asked.

  “Ajay, you’ve taught me and others here that every second in our life is a chance to change ourselves and rediscover our destiny. As an old friend of Jacob’s, I’m positive that he’s found that second of change in his life. Or in Martin Luther King Junior’s dictum, we are not able to see the whole staircase right now but we must take the first step with faith and so we must help Jacob to do the same.” Neil’s contribution caused Ajay to pause in deep thought.

  “OK,” Ajay finally broke the silence, “I’ll accept his request, Neil. I’m ready to take the first step. Not because I have found the answer to my question but because of the fact that the other option is to just lose him forever.”

  “Ajay, you’ve made this possible through your own subconscious. Your attraction for Jacob was more powerful than his vision to be a successful entrepreneur,” Neil said.

  “If that’s so, it’s not given me the kind of happiness and fulfillment that I was hoping for.” Ajay said. “More than anything, I wanted him to succeed in life. I didn’t demand my victory at the cost of his defeat he added.

  “But wouldn’t you like to be happy and proud at the same time?” Neil asked. “Now you’ve made your mind up to accept his request, I’d suggest that you use your powerful imagination to visualize his success here,” Neil said with a smile on his face.

  At that moment, Ajay once again thought about how invaluable a friend Neil was to Jacob. Always there for him. As a matter of fact, he had spent more time with his son than he himself was able to spend.