Chapter 143 New enemy?
miamatter of seconds, the lights went out, the monitors went dark, and the entire building of Metaconex was plunged into darkness. The hum of electricity ceased, braving only the sound of their breathing and the distant noise of convoices from other parts of the building. For a moment, there was silence. Then, Claire spoke, her voice echoing in the darkness. “Did we stop 7”
Matthew sighed, the sound filled with instration and resignation. “We stopped it for now. But we’ll need to bring the system back up and assess the damage.” “Let the power off for another minute so they wouldn’t beach our system again.” She turned to her employee. “Check the elevator if there are people who are stuck inside and if so, being the power back on Tcan’t risk my employer getting stuck in the elevator.”
Claise stood up from the chair looking deadly serious. “Sandia, Matthew, I want you to case with me.”
As they
were out of the room, ale turned to Sandra “I want you to send an email to all of the employee about the sudden power off and write an apology once the power is back on
Sandra nodded. “Right away, miss,
Claire headed to the emergency stairs with Matthew beside her since the elevator wasn’t functioning.
Clare turned to Matthew, her expression serious. “I’m sorry forestting the power, but I couldn’t take the risk.”
Matthew nodded, his frustration melting into understanding. “ilmow it’s time. You did what you have to do.”
Claire’s angersimmeted beneath the surface as she worked. “I can’t believe someone managed to breach our system,” she fumed. “Who the heck could do that? No one should be able to breach Metacortex.”
Matthew placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find whoever did this, Claire. I promise.”
I
As they climbed the emergency stalks, Claire’s mind raced. After a moment of silence, she voiced her concem. “If they managed to breach Metacortex and even launted us with that text, they might be capable of getting lato Cryptonic too.” Matthew shook his head in disagreement. “That’s impossible, Claite, You designed Cryptose yourself. So far, people have only been able to get past the firewall, nothing more.”
“Lean’t take any chances,” Claire replied, her voice firm. “It they find out about it, it could be dangerous for me. They’ll know what I do.
Matthew tried to calmber down. “Cale, it’s not like what you’re doing is legal”
“Maybe not,” she said, “but I still want to keep my side projects a secret.”
Finally reaching her office, Claire collapsed onto the couch, panting heavily. She pulled out her phone and quickly called Sandra “Sandra, turn the power source back on. Now. “yes, ma’am,” Sandra replied, her voice tinged with urgency as she hurried to comply
Matthew collapsed next to Claire, his suit open and the undone. “Ereally need to work out more,” he said between breaths.
Claire laughed, despite the situation. “I need to improve my cardio too. This was a workout coits own
Matthew chuckled. “Let’s not do this again next time!
“hundred percent agree.” Claise thought for a moment. “We need to analyze the breach. Find out how they got in and who they are. We can’t let this happen again.” “Agreed,” Matthew said. “I will get the beam on it right away.”
Claire sighed, feeling the weight of the situation pressing down omber. “I can’t believe this is happening. Metacotes is supposed to be impenetrable.” “We’ll figure it out,” Matthew and her. “We always.do.”
* know, I just hate feeling like we are a step behind.”
Just then, Sandra called back. “The power source is back on, ata. Peterson Everything is stable for now on.”
*Thank you, Sandra,” Claire replied. “Keep monitoring the system. Let me know if anything changes.”
“Will do,” Sandra continued before hanging up.
Matthew stood up, straightening his suit. “Let’s get to work”
They headed back to the control room, ready to dive into the data and uncover the identity of their mysterious intruders.
Clair and Matthew fried back down to the control area after spending a minute or two in Claire’s office. As they entered the room, they were
of their team already back working at their stations, lines of code and data streaming across multiple monitors.
Claire and Matthew quickly joined in
We need to find that hacker,” Claire said, her voice fem and determined. “No more slip-ups.”
Matthew nodded, his fingers already flying across the keyboard. “Got it. Let’s track this bastard down.”
y were greeted by the sight
Hours passed by, the room filled with the constant tapping of keyboards and the occasional mumer of discussion Clalie was deeply engrossed in her work inputting lines of code and using various programs to trace the hacker, Suddenly, her eyes lit up as a breakthrough appeared on her screen
#pot Clarexclaimed, her voice a mix of self and lumph
Matthew quickly turned to be monitor, pering over her shoulder. “Let me see.”
Claire clicked on the rare, revealing a series of locations. But instead of a single point, the screen displayed multiple red dots scattered about gland and even
Chapter 147 New cherry?.
“What the hell?” Claire mattered, confusion creasing her forehead. “There are too many locations. Its he trying to confuse us?”
Matthew frowned, his eyes scanning the chaotic map. “Looks like he’s using multiple proxies or something to throw us off.”
Claire nodded, biting her lip in frustration. “I will try another tactic.” She typed furiously, attempting to narrow down the search. But each attempt only resulted in more scattered locations. She grumbled under her breath, feeling a wave of irritation. “1 thought this would be easier,” she admitted, her voice tinged with anger. “I’m so close, but it seems whoever the person is manage to toy with me.”
Matthew placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You’ll get him, Claire. We just need to keep at it.”
Just then, a new message popped up on Claire’s monitor. B
Both she and Matthew stated at it, sharing a look before clicking it open.
The message read: “Can’t catch me” with a laughing emoji.
Claire’s blood boiled at the mocking tone. She couldn’t believe that someone had managed to beat her at her own game. “This is infuciating,” she said, her fists clenched in anger. “He thinks he can just toy with us.”
“He is smart Claire. We need to play smart to get him,” Matthew, sensing her growing determination, asked, “What are you going to do now?”
Ignoring his question, Claire focused intently on her work, her eyes namwing with resolve. The rest of the team noticed the change in her demeanor and watched with curiosity and concem.
Without looking up, Claire started typing a response. “I won’t let this slide,” she muttered. “If he thinks he can taunt me, he’s got another thing coming. After all he is not the only one that can taunt me.
Matthew, trying to keep up, asked again, “Claire, what are you doing?”
claire didn’t answer immediately, her fingers moving swiftly across the keyboard. She typed out a message that read: “I will come and get you” with kits emoji a hit send.