Chapter 17: .detonate
I came into his room with some tea, but he just ignored me. His tears stained the pillowcase. The sobs filled the otherwise quiet room.
I made my way out of his room and went into the living room. There I found my computer. I closed the creepy information about myself, and went to the web bowser. My home page was the search engine I normally used. I found the piece of paper and read the instructions again.
Download Ex-Fortify.
Click on the network link as you open the browser.
Go to the people tag.
Click on the third link on the page.
I found the download site. It was a sketchy looking site with lots of Russian text. I read the comments before downloading the programme. Some told tales of thrilling experiences, others were horrifying.
“CP, CP everywhere,” one person said. I wondered what CP was, but I didn’t bring myself to search for it. Others said, “I really enjoyed the weed I got. Great quality.” I looked at the download button of Ex-Fortify. The button looked innocent enough. I just didn’t want to infect my computer with some sort of virus. I had read about viruses that could get all of your information. But apparently someone already had my information, so did it really matter? The Staring-man knew the passwords to my credit cards. If he were after the money, he would have taken it by now.
I clicked download, and a timer started. It said ten minutes. So I would have to wait ten minutes for this shite to download.
This would be a good time to make Scott another cup of tea. I waited for the kettle to boil and found the box of Earl Grey.
Scott was sitting in bed when I came in. He didn’t even move as I sat down beside him. His look was one of absolute distain. He was angry, clearly, and heartbroken. This hadn’t been an easy week for him.
“I made you some more tea,” I said, putting it down next to the empty cup on his nightstand.
“Thanks, you really didn’t have to.” His voice was so distant.
“It’s just one case. You’ll have plenty of cases in the future,” I reassured him.
“I’m probably going to lose my job.”714Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkOtBbILZ1
“No you’re not. You’re a great officer and Chief Cameron Brown knows that.”714Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFS1M139Tua
“No he doesn’t. Did you read what the papers said about me? They think I’m a disgrace for the police force.” He was sobbing again.
“I’ll leave you to your thoughts,” I said, afraid to upset him even more. He nodded.
Ex-Fortify was done downloading. I opened it, ready to follow Thomas’ instructions. This was an Internet browser; only it didn’t redirect me to any known sites.
The first site was just one full of links.
Click on the network link as you open the browser.
I scrolled down, looking for the network link. There were so many hyperlinks here, I didn’t know if I could find the correct one. The site was simple with a white background with blue text. The links were underlined.
I finally found the network link. It said NETWORK in all-caps. I clicked it. This browser was awfully slow. When the next site finally opened I had almost fallen asleep.
This site was called The Extra Wiki. It was full of links to different services.
I scrolled down.
Browsing – Links to the must-visit sites of the web.
BitCoin – Earn, spend and learn about this currency.
Shopping – Shop anonymously at the many different shops Ex-Fortify provides.
Hosting and sharing – Website file, image, video and music hosting and sharing.
Messaging – Message boards, and chat rooms.
Forums - NO CP, though many other forums where you can post whatever you want, not fearing of the authorities.
Porn – No CP
*NEW* People – Description here.
I read the instructions again. Go to the people tag. I clicked the tag. A new white site popped up. This one had some more text. I scrolled down. They were all descriptions of people.
The third link, the one I was supposed to click, said: Female. Beautiful Caucasian brunette. Nineteen years old. Click to read more.
Scott entered the room. He was holding his steaming cup of tea.
“What are you doing?” he asked. His voice was gentle again, and the tears were gone.
“I’m following the instructions Thomas Oxford gave me,” I answered.
“Find anything interesting?” I showed him the site with all the descriptions. He frowned.
“Are these descriptions of real people?” I shrugged and prayed to God that they weren’t. I got a little terrified as I read the third link’s description again. I was a female Caucasian brunette, and I happened to be nineteen.
I clicked the link after Scott had investigated it. He was rubbing his forehead as he often did when he was thinking.
The site was password protected, and Thomas Oxford didn’t think to give me the password. To hell with that guy. The first thing I tried putting in was CP, since that seemed to pop up everywhere. Nothing happened. Then I tried Ex-Fortify, which it didn’t seem to like. I let out a frustrated sigh.
Scott looked at me.
“It’s password protected,” I explained.
“Let me try,” he said. He typed in a long password and hit enter. The site opened. It was the correct passphrase. I saw his face grow scared.
“What did you put?” I asked.
“Onila Kathryn Jenkins, in one word.” That made me wince. The site that opened was called Document9. It said so in large, cursive letters. I scrolled down the page. It was full of pictures. Pictures of me. There was text as well. Price listings, and other terrifying things. If this was the ninth document, did that mean there was eight other documents like this somewhere on the web? I clicked on one of the posts. A new tab opened with a small comment box. Some guy named Ubel had commented the picture of me on my scooter.
.Onila Jenkins on her scooter, it said. I clicked another picture. This one was of me walking down the street.
Ubel had commented this as well.
.Onila Jenkins walking to the parking lot, outside her university. I started clicking on everything on the site. On every picture the guy, Ubel, had commented a quick description of the picture.
“Who is this guy?” I asked Scott, who was looking over my shoulder.
“This is invasion of privacy!” He exclaimed. I wanted to slap him. Of course it was. These texts and pictures spoke for themselves. I wondered what the price listings were for. I clicked the price listings, but there was no more information there. Ubel had commented here as well. It was a link to another site. I clicked it.
It redirected me to Document8. A video feed filled the screen. It took some time to load, but as soon as it was done buffering, I recognised the location of the feed. It was the basement where Amanda Sprague was found. The place crawled with police officers. I could see Jason, the handsome nerd, sitting close to the camera. He had a slightly distressed look on his face.
A chat box appeared next to the feed, and a commenter named Oxycotton sent a message. I tried typing him a reply, asking what this was, but I said the moderator had to accept me.
Oxycotton 22:27 October 15th
Is it long until showtime?
I wondered what showtime meant. The name Oxycotton was displayed in the upper right corner. A green dot was next to it. I guessed that meant he was online.
A new name appeared with a green dot next to it. It said Bastyboy.
Bastyboy 22:28 October 15th
BASTYBOY sent a link
My curiosity got the better of me. Even though my brain screamed warnings of viruses, I clicked the link. A small window opened. It was a countdown. There were two minutes left.
“What is this?”
“A countdown I think,” Scott answered.
“I see that, but what is it for?” Scott shrugged.
“Go back to the video,” he commanded. Then he pulled out his phone of his pocket. He dialled a number and waited. Jason reacted to something on the screen. He grabbed his phone and put it to his ear.
Scott cancelled the call and looked at the screen in horror.714Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUFtmxSvblE
“It’s a live stream,” he said, as if he hadn’t understood that before right now. I looked at the video again. Jason was looking even more worried now. He put his phone down and continued working on the computer in front of him. He probably didn’t know that there were people looking at him as he was working.
Oxycotton 22:28 October 15th
He didn't pay. What should I do?
I wondered who "he" was.
Bastyboy 22:28 October 15th
We need to get rid of other problem before we start our dealings.
Oxycotton 22:28 October 15th
I need my money!!!
Were they talking about drugs? Oxycotton sounded so desperate. It had to be drugs.
Bastyboy 22:28 October 15th
We’re done with that project. Our new business is the Documents.
Oxycotton 22:29 October 15th
I will call the police. I will warn them if I don’t get my money!!!
I held my breath as a new name appeared in the chat.
Ubel 22:29 October 15th
Oxy
Oxycotton 22:29 October 15th
Ubel
I could almost feel the fear seeping through the screen. Oxy was afraid of Ubel.
Bastyboy 22:29 October 15th
The sound will be up in twenty seconds. Don’t make any more trouble before showtime. Be a good girl and sit and wait.
Exactly twenty seconds after Bastyboy sent the last message; sound started oozing through my speakers. I tried to turn it down, but no matter how low I turned it, it was still loud.
It was the sound of police officers talking to each other. The sound of the basement where they were working.
“Go back to the countdown,” Scott commanded. I did. Twenty seconds left.
Bastyboy 22:29 October 15th
20
We had the countdown next to the live stream.
Bastyboy 22:29 October 15th
15 till it goes boom
As soon as Scott saw the message he dialled Jason’s number again. On the screen Jason looked at his phone.
“Come on, pick it up you dumb twat,” Scott muttered. Jason just let it ring. He didn’t have any plan of answering any time soon.
Bastyboy 22:29 October 15th
10
“Fuck it,” Scott said and grabbed his car keys off the table.
“You can’t get there in ten seconds,” I said. He looked so hopeless it scared me. His eyes were dark and watery.
“If they die, I can never forgive my self.”
Bastyboy 22:29 October 15th
5
I grabbed Scott’s hand as we watched the countdown. Each second passed by slowly. It was like time was deliberately dragging itself out, waiting for us to finally lose it and run into the fire. There were four seconds left. Thousands of thoughts rushed through my head. If they were going to explode the place, where had they hidden the explosives? Didn’t the police check every corner of the place. I got a little relaxed. The explosives probably weren’t there. It was all some kind of hoax, right?
Three. And if it wasn’t a hoax, the police had probably found the explosives and removed them by now. The force had a bomb team for a reason. They went through years of training, looking for the little details that would reveal that there, in fact, were explosives in a place.
Two. And if they hadn’t found it, what would happen? This Bastyboy couldn’t kill a dozen police officers just like that. No one lacked empathy like that.
One.
Nil.
Nothing happened. Scott released his breath.
“Nothing,” he smiled and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Nothing,” I answered.
Oxycotton 22:30 October 15th
Nothing?
I could feel the taste of victory on my tongue. They hadn’t gone through with it, or this was just a hoax. A cruel joke.
I was about to close Ex-Fortify when Bastyboy sent the final message.
Bastyboy 22:30 October 15th
Detonate
A loud bang filled the room and the screen went black.
“No!,” Scott screamed. He rose and kicked a lamp off the table. He then frantically started calling Jason.
“Answer, you bastard!”
An image filled the space where the live stream had been.
Thanks for watching.
ns 172.71.194.28da2
