Cynetic Wolf
HELLO AGAIN

Sprinting back to the farmhouse, I called Ania to go over a few things. I had Calter’s username, only he had enough power to make things happen. We called him.

‘Calter?’ I said as soon as he answered.

‘Who is this?’ He sounded wary.

I turned on video, keeping my surroundings out of the picture.

‘What do you want?’ he spat, glinting eyes betraying his curiosity. His background shifted from an oak-paneled masterpiece of an office, grand piano in the background to a bland white wall.

‘I want to meet,’ I answered. ‘Just the two of us. I know you planted the bomb, coordinated all of it. If it weren’t for a lucky break, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’

‘What do you want?’ he said again, face unreadable.

‘The fighting’s gone on long enough. You aren’t going to win and you know it. And neither will we, at least not for a while. This’ll go on for weeks, months maybe. We’ll destroy everything we worked so hard to rebuild since the Fall. You can’t want that...’

He narrowed his eyes further. ‘What are you saying?’

’Who’s controlling the government, the military, the police? I’m guessing it’s you. You have the power to end this, only you. But you’ll want some guarantees for the future, right?’

‘I’m listening.’ He tried to look bored but his lips twitched. It wasn’t working.

‘All I’m saying is,” I continued, “we can make things work for you. A position in our government? Done. Beautiful mansions by the ocean, the mountains, wherever? Not a problem. We can make you disappear and give you a new identity. Anything you want. We need to end this. It’ll be better for everyone. If it takes some spoils, that’s worth it. Think about it.’

He paused and my heart stopped. Would he fall for it?

‘Why should I trust you?’ he said at last.

I shrugged, fighting to stay calm. ‘Do you have a choice? Whether it’s ten days or ten years, eventually, we’ll be an inevitable majority. So, do you go down a war criminal and pull a Hitler as we’re arresting you, or do you start a new life with a clean slate? It’s that simple. You don’t have to decide now,’ I added before he could say no. ‘Call me tomorrow.’

He smirked. ‘You have no idea, do you?’

‘What?’ Something in his voice terrified me. He knew something I didn’t. But what?

The line went dead.

“Did we get a trace?” I turned to Ania.

She grinned. “We got him. I got his location and history too. I’m guessing he’s at work, so that won’t help us. The history could be interesting though.”

Was this was the break we needed?

“Give me a few hours!” Ania eyes locked on her screens, voice accelerating. “A normal GDR account would be near impossible to hack, but looks like he’s drunk on power, not taking basic precautions. I can’t promise anything,” she added. “But we might replace something.”

“Great work, Ania!” I clapped her on the back. “Want some coffee or anything?”

She was already gone, the rest of the world disappearing under an impenetrable veil of focus. “Nevermind,” I said to myself as Zedda and I left to give her space.

* * *

We were upstairs, analyzing Zone Three when there was a scream.

“Yesss!”

I rushed down to make sure everything was okay. Ania had a huge smile and was pumping her fist. “I got him. We got him!” She noticed us. “Guys, come here.”

We took the remaining steps two at a time and piled onto the sofa. A few others came to see what the commotion was about.

“We planted a virus disguised as a distorted-pixel in your video feed, Raek,” she began. “Calter’s AV programs didn’t catch it. By cross-referencing his search history with old GPS check-ins before a security patch and some picture and video files, I used a probabilistic distance matrix to—”

“In English please,” I cut in. The farmhouse was silent, collective breaths held. This could be it.

“Oh… We found him, where he lives. And it looks like he has a regular mistress; photos of two different women on his personal server, some homemade adult stuff.” She smirked. “He’s cheating on his second wife. Was this what you were looking for?” she asked with a timid smile.

“This is better!” Grabbing her shoulders, I pulled her into an unexpected hug. “Change of plans, guys. We found him, we found Calter. That’s where we should focus!”

“But there’s no proof he was behind the attacks,” Ganla replied, sounding skeptical.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “This is our chance to cut the head off the snake. If we capture him, we’ll have access to all their secrets and be able to manipulate the DNS at will. None of ’em would question a direct order from him. He’s the most powerful person on the planet right now. And if his security’s any indication, Ania could spoof messages to their troops.”

After talking it over, we agreed the mistress’ house would be the place to take him. His own home would be impenetrable, with security cams, drones, guards, and more. If he was cheating on his wife though, he wouldn’t want to make that public knowledge.

Her apartment would be easier to stake out and raid if it came to it.

According to Ania’s analysis, he visited his mistress twice a week. For a man fixated on security and control, he made himself an easy target. I guess power will do that to you. Everyone’s invincible, until they’re not.

Now was Fury’s time to fall.