"Hacking evolved as technology evolved. It used to be all simple numbers and letters, but the code evolved too. Now it is all visual. Databases are protected by visual encryptions that require precise manipulation and geometric configuration to bypass firewalls that keep secrets from hazardous people successfully. It takes a certain type of person to perform hacking in the modern day. We can count the number of men able to destabilize a country using a visual hacking on one hand, and the giant big ole middle finger in that group of shadowed veils is an individual calling himself Syntek."

Chapter 11

Dane and Hale climbed a set of stairs in a dingy street hallway that led up to a darkened recess of the busy city. Up ahead, the entrance to a building was marked with a neon sign of a coiled fire breathing green and red dragon.

Hale punched his brother in the shoulder to get his attention as they walked. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Dane shrugged as if to say I don't know. Then they were standing in front of the door. He knocked on the steel door.

A sliding slat in the door opened with a snap, and the smell of nicotine smoke wafted through the air. A set of eyes flashed in front and stared at the two of them.

Dane leaned his hand up against the door. "We are here to see Syntek."

The slat flashed closed, and Dane heard the click of a kiptek assault rifle. He shrugged again, but this time as a silent apology. "Get behind me."

Hale ducked behind his brother, and Dane leaned in forward.

A flash of blue fire erupted from behind the door and ripped through the hard metal of the door. Dane took the full brunt of the impact on his chest and stumbled backward. Hale and he started to fall back. He would have tumbled down the stairs, but Hale grabbed the hand railing and caught his brother to keep him up.

The weapon fire ended, and a clicking sounded from behind the door signaled that it was opening.

Quickly, Dane pulled his brother to the right up against the wall as he felt the kinetic energy rebounding throughout his body. He concentrated on where the power was going and allowed a portion of it to be absorbed into the energy storage units in his spine while keeping the other half on the surface of the suit. He pinged it toward his fist.

The door opened, and a fat Asian man with a long fu-man-chu beard poked his head out. He burst out with the weapon waving about ready for an opponent to be at the bottom of the stairs. His eyes opened wide when he saw Dane standing not a few feet from him, unharmed.

The blue tracers of the kinetic energy rebounding around Dane's body suddenly flowed toward his fist, and he punched outward, sending a blast into the assault rifle wielder.

The fat man was thrown backward and sprawled out across the ground beyond.

The inside was a bright royal red with golden Chinese etching on the walls. Jade dragon statues placed on pedestals along the wall. A receptionist desk was located just inside, and there was a woman dressed in a Chinese dress which was cowering behind it.

Dane rushed into the room and pounced on the fat guard. He slammed his fist into the man's chin, and his head rebounded off the ground.

Dane walked up to the desk and leaned over. "Where is Syntek?" he asked purposefully, and his eyes left little doubt to the seriousness of the request.

She pointed down the right hall with a shaky finger and tried to say something, but all that came out was a slight squeak.

Dane cast his brother a confused look. "I don't speak mouse, do you?"

Hale just shrugged. Then the two of them turned right down the hall.

The hallway was long and had four doors, two on either side. The golden filigree decorated doors. 

The doors burst open, and five men crowded into the hallway and faced down Dane.

A small holoprojector above cast an image between the two groups. A sharp face, with sharp features who looked incredibly perturbed, snapped Syntek gaze at both groups equally with righteous anger. "Are you kidding me? Imbeciles. These are my guests! Dane! Hale! Get in here before I change my goddamn mind."

The henchmen looked incredibly shaken by the initial outburst. Dane and Hale were quick to shoulder past them to the chagrin of the massive fighters. They gave both them both dirty looks but did nothing.

Dane opened the door for his brother, and Hale nodded to his brother with a courteous bow.

Inside, the room was a massive mess of dark black wires, glowing blue and green LEDs, and seven holo monitors lit up the dark shadows of the room. A man sat in a reclined seat and was wearing a black holo circlet that cast a small holo screen across his face.

He was dressed in black leather and tight-fitting cloth. His hair was set up in slicked black dreadlocks, laced with holo wires. And finally, regular bands of metal held the cables clamped together. He tapped his fingers across the green holo display a couple of times. "Come in. Don't speak. Listen."

Dane coughed into his fist. "Do what?" he asked with honest disbelief. "You can't—"

Hale punched his brother in the arm. "Seriously?" he whispered. "We just broke into his place of business and knocked out one of his guys. Show some respect."

Syntek waved his hand behind him. "I said: be quiet. I am working."

The two of them stood there quiet for a moment. Then Dane leaned into his brother. "I feel like I am in the principal’s office."

Hale immediately drew his finger to his lips. "Shhhh!"

They stood quietly for a moment longer. Syntek tapped two more times with hardened purpose, then he swung his seat about, and the holo-screens in front of his hands blipped out. "You are here—" he pointed at the both "—to know how I knew where you—" he pointed at Dane "—were."

The two of them shrugged in response, almost in unison, then cast each other looks. Having realized the mirrored movement, they then looked back at Syntek quickly.

The hacker swung his chair back around, and the two holo displays popped up. "That part is irrelevant at this junction. But in the interest in saving time, to belay your incessant incoming questioning: I received a coded holo message from someone with access to your—" he pointed at Dane behind him without looking "—information."

Dane shook his head in exasperation and spat on the ground in anger. "Great. You wasted my time."

Once again Syntek pointed at Dane. "Depends on what you call a 'waste of time.’" He tapped his screen again. "Who sent it is irrelevant. The trail you want to follow is relevant. However, my talents come with certain perks, and tracing the sender was a small task for one such as I." He tapped his screen a couple of times, then swiped his finger toward the top screen. "Her name means nothing to me. But here she is."

It was Doctor Isaacson's picture on the screen. A list of her stats—height, weight, education, etcetera—were displayed

The image caused a shock to Dane's heart. "Doctor," he said in a hushed whisper.

Hale looked to his brother. "You know who she is?"

Dane nodded after absorbing the information. "Yeah, I do. She put this—" he motioned to his body "—on me."

Syntek continued to tap away at the holo-screen in front of him. "Quiet."

The brothers silenced instantly.

"As I said, that information is all but irrelevant because I have already done the leg work for your next plan of action."

Dane stepped forward, and the condescending tone of the hacker utterly perturbed him. "How do you know that!"

Syntek seemed unimpressed. "I am smarter than you. That is why. Moving on: as I encrypted the message sent by your brother, I also know the contents. You don't want to know who gave the location, but where and why they have your daughter." Syntek tapped the display two more times and threw the next image up onto the screen. "Meadow mountain research base. It is the main research base used by…" Syntek threw up a new image onto the screen that contained the image of Dr. Christopher Albert Dobson. “Your daughter is there, and so is Dr. Dobson."

Dane gritted his teeth together in anger. "Of course. I am going to kill that son of a bitch," he promised aloud. "Why do they want my child?"

Syntek continued to tap on the screen, pulling information on the research base as he did—including basic statistics, layouts, current projects, number of security corp. Members and researchers. He tapped two more times again and pulled up a blank white file with one name. "Project Reanimation," Syntek said out loud. Most of the form was blacked out by numerous solid black lines.

Dane turned to Hale, and they gave each other meaningful looks. "We need to get there. But getting an ACE that kind of distance is going to be hard, at least without being spotted."

Syntek kept tapping away at his screen. "I was not done." He tapped his screen a couple more times and then threw up another image. It was a hovering carrier craft that was painted in black and had purple lines along the seems that pulsed slightly. "Blacklight assault carrier hovercraft. It is designed specifically to carry an ACE under cover of night, without detection."

Dane shrugged. "How is that useful to us?"

Syntek tapped the screen a couple more times. "Because when you get back to your ACE, one will be waiting for you. I broke the security matrix on one that was being transported by autonomous AI to another base and rerouted it to you. It has been programmed to carry your ACE to a local near the research base." He passed back a small storage chip, no bigger than his thumb, to Hale. "Here. Give your ACE the information that I have passed onto you, including base schematics. Load it into your nav computer."

Dane looked at his brother. "How do you know he is on the level?" he tried to whisper so that Syntek couldn't hear him.

Syntek waved at Dane without looking back, apparently having heard everything. "Because I do not need money, power, or information. I have all of that at my disposal and can attain it without any real effort. The only thing that I do not have is the physical presence to bring my physical presence."

"Why?"

Syntek turned his chair back around, and it hovered toward Dane. "Because I am paralyzed! If only conventional technology had advanced far enough to repair severed nerve endings," he said as he took his goggles off. "These sons of bitches piss me the fuck off, and I want you to break the goddamn back of the Cerberus corporation. Your means justify my ends. It is as simple as that."

Dane was shocked by what had just transpired. "I-I'm sorry. I did not know."

Syntek turned back around and began tapping on his holo-screen again. The images of the information disappeared from the multiple monitors as they went black. "Now get out. I have more work to do. Next time you need my help, knock and tell them who you are. Asking for me puts my men on edge, and I pay them a ridiculous amount of money to make sure that I do not exist in the public eye."

Dane nodded toward the turned man. "Thank you." Then he and his brother walked toward the door.

Syntek did not turn around as they were leaving, but he did say something that stopped him in his tracks. "Dane, there was only one name on the list of current test subjects for project reanimation. Layla. Close the door when you leave."

Dane closed the door silently behind him and Hale. Then he walked down the hall, lost in thought. He did not even see him and Hale leaving. Everything was a blur. "Layla," he said under his breath.

- End of Episode -

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