Chapter 139 - Battle of Speed

'What the f*ck is going on?!?'

The surprise from the attack only lasted a couple seconds before it became curiosity and wariness. His fingers slammed aggressively against the keyboard as he fought to match the other's speed. This type of cyber attack was something he had not dealt with in years- especially on this computer. He had taken great lengths to protect the computer from lower to high level hackers. There were hours spent slaving over the computer programming code after code, sourcing hackers to the test the security just so that he could feel secure using it.

'All of that work for someone to easily sneak in....I've been slacking on so many areas.'

Despite the security and defences he put up, there was a fair confidence that no one would want to hack the computer as well. The system physically sat at the bar but it was rerouted through multiple IP addresses and countries so it would not appear to be from here. If someone was aiming for the intelligence guild they would not register this system as theirs. On top of that, there was a fake personality and history created just to safeguard this computer. He had purchase receipts and falsified household records to cover all bases. 

So even if a hacker got farther and researched the owner of the computer they would be mislead to another person. That other person was fake but anyone looking in would be able to find the records from birth to now. There were even fake CCTV records to prove that he goes to work everyday and to legitimize this 'identity's' existence. It was obvious how far he went to protect his computer and technology in general.

Yet, out of the blue someone had infiltrated his system without him even knowing. That type of skill meant that the person on other side was a high level hacker and not just any hacker either. He would personally rate himself at an expert level, it was hard to find anyone that he deemed his match. Not that he didn't know there were people better than him, he was realistic about his level and the reality of others. That being said, it was rare for a situation like this to appear. A hacker breaking down his defences and being at a level he considered an equal if not superior level. 

What stimulated his curiosity even more is the speed at which the hacker was working. Every time he finished typing in a response, the hacker would have sent another attack. It was a close call with each back to back and there was a burn in his hand from pushing himself. If his fingers stilled for a couple of seconds there was no doubt that the computer would be taken over completely.

Though part of him was also wary about their purpose, he started noticing a weird pattern with the mystery hacker. They would send an attack but also focused energy deleting the code he had just worked on.

It was confusing since there was no way to get an explanation on which one of his theories was correct. The first answer being that they just wanted to destroy the most recent code and it was the first thing they saw after getting past half the defences. Which made them go back to it occasionally when they had time, just to corrupt it piece by piece.

The second answer being that they had hacked his computer in hopes that they gained valuable information.  It would be a rookie mistake if he had his information saved here. They had their own online space where information could be dropped and stored. To place them as doc.u.ments and pdf's in folders titled 'people I am watching' would be the dumbest thing he heard all year. Their online space was also not connected to wifi for extra measures and ran through a different operating system. 

The third answer being that they had come for Valentina specifically. It did not escape his mind that this could easily be a targeted attack for the sole reason he was trying to find her. His parameters were vague but anyone who knew her would understand that it was her. Though the speed at which they caught onto him was suspicious, he had just ran the code when it was interrupted.

If the third answer was true then there was even more of a need for a tracker on her. This hidden identity of hers was too large for them to remain in the dark about, especially if she had this level of a hacker on her side. One teammate was a hacker, the main was a mysterious fighter woman, and who knew how many others were involved in this operation. 

It was important to note that if someone was stopping any searches on her, then it meant she had to remain hidden. A young girl in her twenties needing to remain hidden was very suspicious and the speed at which the other interrupted equated to the level of danger. To immediately catch on, this hacker must be always on the watch for her. Or they were actively making movements underground that they made this a necessary precaution. His bets were on that they had a code themselves to track when others tried searches on her. That is the only way to explain how he had been found out so quickly.

'Who are you mystery hacker....'

He wouldn't pin this on her until he was at least 90% sure but mentally made a note about this. It seemed that he would have to go through so much more trouble to get a crumb of information. His senses were on high alert as he cleared his mind from thinking other things and just focused on the screen in front of him. 

Judging by the attacks, the hacker already broke through several layers of the security. There was only a few more defences still up to protect the rest of the computer. Thankfully this was not his main operating system, so he would not lose much by having it completely taken over. The only loss would be having to build and protect a computer from scratch. 

He was about to type in his next attack when the movements on the other side paused. The black screen began to change and a typewriter print message began to appear on the screen.

"What are they writing? U....S....U...."