Chapter Fifteen

Khloe Duff - Naguela, Solace Base

Once more, Joe Halili presented Khloe with a steaming cup of coffee before retreating to his own solitary position. This departure from his customary routine of sitting with her as she savored her brew sent tremors of uncertainty through her. She wasn’t entirely sure, but there was an unshakeable intuition that he was gravitating towards Zella with regularity. Their camaraderie appeared to have deepened ever since they secured farm property.

“So, here’s the raw footage sent to us by Elaine Rowe,” Lola Osei said, as Elias maximized a video clip on the projector. A long clip played, first showing Finnigan Watts greeting President Secada. Moments later, Secada suffered a life-ending heart attack. The coincidence was hard to ignore.

Khloe realized that it was her time to add some perspective to this, as she had been the one to connect the dots. She took a sip of her coffee and stood. “There is a significant difference in how this story is presented in the States, versus over here. There is no mention of Finnigan Watts attending this briefing. They keep the focus entirely on the president’s demise.”

“That’s gotta be COG,” Zella said. “They’re putting a gag-order on the media they can control.”

“You got it, Z,” Joe said. “They don’t want the immortals tied to this at all, I bet.”

Khloe breathed hard through the nose, wishing she didn’t feel such jealousy at hearing him validate Zella’s thoughts.

“Elaine told us that Naguela doesn’t have any restrictions on how media handles the story. They just need to be respectful to the president and his family, that’s all.” Khloe said. “That makes me think the Naguelean government is open to entertaining any narrative around Finnigan being involved. Perhaps they suspect COG involvement too.”

Joe locked eyes with her. “President Secada was a healthy man. It makes no sense that he’d go out like that. On live TV too. No way would it happen right at that moment if this wasn’t planned.”

“But,” Elias Pope spoke, “is it possible to just give someone a heart attack like that?”

Zella walked to the center of the conference room. She was now mere steps away from Joe Halili, and Khloe hated it. “When immortals are in the mix, anything is a possibility,” she said. “We can’t count it out, no matter how baffling it seems. You saw how awkward the interaction was when they shook hands.”

 “Yeah,” Joe said. “Play that part back, will ya?”

Elias backtracked in the footage so they could once again watch the awkward encounter between Finnigan Watts and President Secada. “It’s weird for him to tap him on the chest like they’re old buddies,” Khloe said.

“I bet he used his electric shock on him,” Joe said, glancing at her.

“Perhaps,” she said. “But I think if he did, then there would be an instant reaction. The president would probably fall right then and there.”

“Maybe he learned a new trick,” Zella said.

Joe pointed back at the footage. “Pause it right there, Elias. Do you see how Secada twitches a little?”

The footage blanked out as they continued to stare. For a moment, Khloe thought Elias had turned the projector off. Joe’s head swiveled in Elias’ direction. “Why’d you turn it off?”

“I didn’t,” Elias said, mashing buttons on his keyboard.

Lola looked equally puzzled as she swayed her mouse across the pad. “What’s going on? We can’t do anything.”

Elias’ eyes thinned as he stared at his computer screen. Khloe read pure fright in his eyes. “The cursor is moving on its own.” Elias said.

“Guys,” Zella called, holding up her phone screen. “My phone’s MAC ID just got banned from our network.”

Lola Osei asked the question on everyone’s mind. “Are we hacked?”

“Turn the computers off,” Joe said. “Don’t let them get our data.”

“If they’re in our network then it’s too late,” Lola said. “They’ve likely been there for a while. Watching and observing.”

“Like a phantom,” Khloe said.

Zella’s eyes shot to her. “A Phantom? Do you mean that hacker group? You think this was them?”

“Everything about this reminds me of what the cybersec division of the EIA had to deal with. Hackers penetrating systems and using back doors for weeks, sometimes months. And nobody knows a thing until their data surfaces on the dark web. I’ve never heard a case of them taking control of a system like this, though. It’s not their style.”

Joe did that thing where he balled up his fists and pressed them together, turning his frustration into a physical tug of war. Khloe had watched him do it subconsciously several times. “So what do we do? I’m meant to go help Manuel fulfill a large order of corn and bananas soon.”

Khloe took a set of keys from her jacket pocket. “Have we kept up to date with our backups?” Lola and Elias glanced awkwardly at one another. “It’s okay,” Khloe said. “I know you’re not a dedicated tech team. We overload you with responsibility as it is. But just tell me when the last backup was.”

“I took one around three days ago,” Elias said.

“Is it on the dummy laptop?” Khloe asked. Elias nodded back to her.

“What’s the dummy laptop?” Zella asked.

Khloe turned to her, hiding her annoyance at Zella standing so close to Joe. “I asked them to place all network backups on a laptop that’s disconnected from the internet. Its sole purpose is to read data. We have it locked away in a safe in the utility cupboard.”

Joe clapped his hands and pointed at her. “See that? That’s my Khoe. Always thinking ten steps ahead.” She tried to hide her smile. She was happy to receive an endorsement from him, finally.

*

Ten minutes later, they huddled around a small eleven-inch screen laptop. The laptop had a large green flash drive sticking out of its side. This drive contained a full backup of their network from two days ago.

Khloe pressed her palm against her forehead, trying to remind herself how to comb through data for a breach. She searched deep into her mind for threads of memories that included her colleague in cybersec instructing her on what to do in the event of a hack.

“Is there a command or something?” Joe asked. His impatience was causing him to blurt out unhelpful suggestions. Khloe wished he would stop so she could concentrate.

“How about we start by searching the user logs?” Zella said. “I remember doing that before, when something went wrong on father’s computer.”

“Good call, I’ll try that,” Khloe replied. Khloe typed what she thought was the command to bring up all users. The gaps in her memory coming back as she typed.

The black command prompt window returned a list of users. Their eyes strained before the small screen, scanning the list of usernames. Most of them they recognized as their own.

Khloe noticed a new name she didn’t remember seeing before. “Wait a minute, look at that one,” she said, pressing her finger on the screen. The username in question was xhixx.

“Shit!” Khloe yelled, standing up straight.

“What’s wrong?” Joe asked.

“It’s definitely a Phantom. Using x’s in their name is like their signature.”

“And look at that Mac ID they’ve been using,” Elias said. “I recognize that Mac ID as our Grid Warden defence drone.”

“She likely hacked the drone and used it as a backdoor into our network,” Khloe said.

“But wait,” Joe said. “These Phantoms, are they aligned with COG or the immortals?”

Zella shook her head. “From what I know, they’re anti-establishment and anti-capitalism. It wouldn’t make sense for them to do COG’s bidding.”

“Then why are they messing with us?” Joe said. His phone started ringing, and he looked at the name on the screen. “Damn, I really have to head out soon. I’ll call Manuel back in a minute.” He slipped the phone back in his pocket and, to Khloe’s dismay, his eyes found Zella’s vest.

“We have something,” Lola said, hunched over the laptop. “I dug further into the user’s history, and I see they’ve used several IP addresses. They’ve certainly been right outside our hideout, because our own IP address shows up. Meaning, they hacked our router. But they also have another IP address that they’ve been accessing our network remotely from.”

“What’s the location on that IP address?” Khloe asked.

Lola shook her head. “Well, we can’t find that out here. This computer isn’t connected to the internet as you know, and we shouldn’t do any kind of search from our phones or any other device on our network because they’ll see it. I suggest you get away from here and pull up the IP address on a tracking app.”

“I have an app that I can use,” Khloe said.

Zella turned to her. “I’m coming with you. Who knows what you’ll run into out there? And Joe here has an appointment already.”

“But we can’t just leave Lola and Eli alone,” Khloe replied. “Someone has been around here in secret. That means they’ve been watching us.”

Lola Osei pulled a remote from her back pocket. “Don’t worry, we have our own PDs that aren’t connected to the network. We’ll lock ourselves in the conference room with the spare firearms and our PDs until you get back.”

Elias nodded. “It’s important to investigate this, otherwise we’ll just be sitting ducks. You should get going while it’s still light outside.”

Khloe exhaled. She glanced at Joe and Zella, one after the other. “Alright, let’s head out then.”

*

Khloe didn’t much appreciate Zella’s driving. She relied heavily on her reactions and reflexes to steer the bumpy roads, as opposed to maintaining a steady pace and planning ahead. She put it down to Zella being a twenty-one-year-old thrill-seeker. Khloe would gladly take the wheel if she didn’t have the task of tracking the IP address.

She eyed her phone screen, thinking about their predicament. Because the hacker had once used their own IP address, it meant there was a likelihood they were still in Naguela. She had searched the IP that Lola gave her, and she confirmed it was also a Naguelean address. Why hadn’t the hacker used a VPN to mask their IP? “Based on the map, it looks like a public library uses this IP,” she told Zella. “And it’s just outside of Solaria Del Sur.”

Zella swerved a pothole and glanced over at her. “This doesn’t feel right to you, does it?”

“No. Not at all. It’s almost as if they want to lure us out. What other reason would a hacker have to take control of our system when they knew we were using it?” Khloe said.

Miraculously, Zella slowed the car down, as if to think about her response. “Maybe the Phantoms wouldn’t work with Quinn, or COG. But I wouldn’t doubt that COG would try to mislead us into thinking they’re the Phantoms, when really, we’re walking right into the hands of the immortals.”

“Please tell me you’re heavily armed,” Khloe said.

Zella smiled. “Oh, you know it.”

Khloe forgot her morning anxieties derived from Zella and Joe getting closer. Her mind had to stay clear so she could face what was about to come.

-Mere Immortal is written by Gary Swift. If you see this on another website under another name, then someone has plagiarised it. Visit mereimmortal.com for official chapters. Subscribe to the Substack paid tier to read further ahead in the story.

-This version of Mere Immortal is written in US English.