Chapter 3
[SONGINT MAIN OFFICE – 9:30 Pm]
Frances stood in front of the monitor wall, arms crossed.
"Reports show this is his usual window of activity." Sia announces.
"Set up this honeypots across the net. Make them loud and expensive," Frances ordered, eyes glued to the screen.
"Let's give him something to bite."
"Honeypots?" one of the newer techs asked.
"Decoy systems," Jia answered without looking up. "Fake targets. We make them look real and valuable, so hackers waste their time on them instead of the actual system."
"And if we're lucky," Frances added, "they go for the bait—and we trace them."
"Traps are live," Sia reported. "Plenty of small-time hackers trying to get in, but still no sign of the target."
The team hesitated.
Frances didn't wait. She dropped into her chair, fingers hammering the keys. The overhead screens lit up with flashing red alerts.
Her gaze flickered over them, calm and unblinking.
Terminal windows snapped open and closed. Proxy routes unraveled. IP traces launched. Code scrolled in dense, brutal blocks.
One by one, the red alerts winked out—green replacing them like a closing iron gate. Traced. Blocked. Burned.
A new tech swallowed hard, voice hushed. "She's… doing that live."
Jia let out a low whistle. "No mercy."
Frances didn't look up.
She exhaled once. Cold. Steady.
"Clear," she said.
She leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing at the quieted screen.
[A few hours later]…
"Wait... got something." Jia's voice sharpened. "Someone's burning through our bait like it's nothing. Fast. Clean. That has to be him. Do we hit back?"
"No. Let him keep going." Frances leaned in. "I built those fake systems. It's no joke. Let's see what he's really made of."
"Damn—he's already taken down half the layers. Not even a full minute."
Frances didn't respond right away. She wasn't expecting this.
"Should we move? At this rate he'll break the whole thing."
Silence.
[SYSTEM FAILURE]
"He's gone. Took the bait, wiped his trail, left behind a code—111. All in under three minutes." Jia sounded rattled.
Frances slowly smiled.
"That's the kind of hacker we need!"
She stood up, energy rising. "Reset. Set more traps—double them. I want this guy found."
Her fingers flew across the keyboard.
"Let's see what else he's got."
Meanwhile...
A mysterious figure leaned back in his chair, the glow of his monitor the only light in the room. A soda can rested in his hand.
It turns out his is the hacker called M.v.E.
"Rich people really do throw money at stupid stuff."
"All that cash wasted on fake systems. Like I'm supposed to fall for that."
He took a slow sip, unbothered.
"The hacker was good. Too good."
Lines of code blurred as alerts flared across the screen. Frances narrowed her eyes, tracking every move.
"Everyone out," she said suddenly, voice calm but firm. "I need full control of this room."
The tension was sharp, but no one questioned her. One by one, the team filed out, leaving her alone with the screen.
She sat down, hands steady over the keys. But even with full focus, Frances found herself losing ground.
Every time she tried to box him in, he slipped out like smoke.
Every block she placed, he broke through without hesitation.
….…
[Hours later] [1:00AM]
Sia paused at the doorway, taken aback by the sight of Frances — eyes sharp with frustration, one hand clenched, the other pressed against the table she'd just slammed.
"Miss Song… what happened?" she asked, trying to hide the worry in her voice.
"I can't believe someone managed to outmatch my hacking skills like that," Frances muttered before drifting off to sleep.