George Street, Canada.
James POV
For a second, James could not believe the person asking to infiltrate someone's computer was no other than Sophia. After gathering more pieces of information from her, he realized she wasn't doing it maliciously.
According to her, there were research documents she gave to someone to look at, and the person took credit for it. Now she was seriously begging him to delete that document from his computer remotely.
Fortunately for James, this was as easy as a pie. But even if he knew Sophia would not do it vindictively, he still wanted to make sure he was doing it without the other party's disadvantage. That was why he asked her for a copy of the document that was pre-signed by her before she sent it to the person.
To his relief, she did just that in less than one minute. Now James fully believed her. She begged him again to complete the job quickly. This was a serious matter.
With a flash, James began running commands on his pc and did a full internet search intending to look for any files or documents that matched the one she sent to him.
Two hours later, the search finished, and there was eight matches, four computers, and four web servers. Jesus this thing is spreading fast. What was this document that Sophia wrote?
He promptly connected to the four computers simultaneously, he sent a series of commands to each of the computers. What now remained was to click 'execute', and the document would be wiped out of the computers, and to the entire internet.
But he held back. He opened the microphone on one of the computers and eavesdrop on what each of the other ends was saying. "... and you are telling me none of you scientists can come up with just one idea out of the twenty ideas on this research?"
The second computer: "It's even hilarious... yeah, but hold on, come look at this. This was recently sent to me by John. He said it was a 'life-changing innovation', and I honestly have no idea what he's talking about."
The third computer: "What are we gonna do with this? Adolf sent it to me to personally verify these claims written here. Who wrote this anyway?"
The fourth computer: "How far with it..... What do you mean by it is gonna take a long time to complete..... I don't have that time..... you should have said so..... alright just listen, listen! I will double the payment, just get it done, and make sure she doesn't know her computer is tampered with, you hear me?"
The fourth computer attracted him instantly. The person was on call desperately telling a person on the other end to do something that correlate with hacking something. With his tone and breathing speed that indicated he was stressed and desperate, he appeared to be in his mid-fifties, which matched the description Sophia gave to him.
This was the guy James was looking for.
In an instant, he clicked on execute, and the computers connected to his network began turning off, one by one, until the connections turned to zero.
This was supposed to be a mission complete, but James was still uneasy. From the last call, the person had dispatched a hacker to infiltrate Sophia's laptop, which meant that she is not safe.
With a flash, he attempted to connect to her computer, but it failed. After repeated trials, it still failed to connect to her laptop. Apparently, she was using a physical firewall to block foreign connections to her devices. This made James worried.
He immediately used a remote access tool to connect to her laptop, and while it successfully connected, it did not give him the ability to manipulate her computer easily.
With no other choice, he cursed in his breath and dialled Sophia's number. James made sure to hide his number and used a voice changer to alter his child-like voice. Then he called Sophia's number.
The call was rejected the first time. James sighed and understood. Anyone that saw a hidden number calls their line would probably freak out and reject the call.
But this was no time to understand.
He made a second call, which got connected, thank god. He did not wait for Sophia to begin the conversation as he warned her to turn off her laptop. Sophia was apparently hesitant and said she could not talk to strangers.
Listening to Sophia's voice invoked memories, and James's face turned solemn. Why did he feel this way?
As he was thinking, his computer alerted him that there was an IP that was attempting connection to Sophia's laptop. This caused James to become solemn.
"I will not say much, but I want you to know that in less than thirty seconds, all of your data on your computer would be stolen and wiped off. You have thirty seconds to make a decision", James could only say, seeing that Sophia did not trust him at all.
He cut the call and took a deep breath. Every second he spent on that call caused his heart to palpate faster. Please, Sophia, turn off your laptop, please.
James tried all means to connect to her computer, but it returned with failure. The method this hacker used to successfully connect to a MacBook made James very wary of him, or her.
Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen...
The MacBook's screen was still idle. Damn it, Sophia, what are you doing? It would not cost much to simply close the lid, so why are you so stubborn. By the time this hacker fully connects to her laptop, she was doomed. All her important data would be stolen from her, and her laptop would be put in a vegetative state, unable to function ever again.
Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four.....
Suddenly, James lost connection to Sophia's laptop. Did she do it? Did she finally listen to him and turn off her laptop, or have the hacker connected to her laptop and booted him out?
All these questions made James very uneasy.