CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Steve's impressive run continued and the envy among some of his mates and trainers grew. Kate was always by his side and though she did not possess the kind of abilities Steve possessed, she didn't let that affect their friendship. The green eyes around Steve were getting too much but what could he do?, it wasn't his fault he was born super smart!.
"Good morning Tech Minds...", Jay-Dee announced from a prepared manuscript in the meeting hall one particular morning a couple of months after Mr Chris demise. Things had not actually taken that much of a plunge at the facility; apart from the absence of Mr Chris at the facility, the quality of living were still placed at normal, the trainings, perfect and the output, standard. As a part of the project, they were taught how to design and produce mini tech products and trademark inventions and it worked out brilliantly and the proceeds were outstanding, this made sure the Tech Minds still remained in business, "A letter was delivered to me through the organisation email and what was stated in there is what I'm here to say. A non-governmental organisation in partnership with a charity organiation both sponsored by a technology company known as Severe-Tech in the United Kingdom had decided to invite Tech Minds to participate in a worldwide tech competition on ethical hacking and computer knowledge staged in China...", he took his trademark pause which was appreciated by a quick applause and soft murmurings, "all these organisations were related to Mr Chris when he was alive and now they've decided to honour him by sending us to the global stage, that is what Mr Chris would have wanted. So before the competition, the best of Tech Minds would be sent on a tech tour to three leading technological advanced nations to spend three months in each nation during which they would be tutored and coached on the subject of the competition. Of course, this tour is sponsored by the trio of these organisations and I want to believe you won't let them down. So getting down to the business of the day, I want to congratulate some outstanding sets of students who have performed brilliantly here at Tech Minds. Not to waste too much time, the whole board myself inclusive have decided to send them to the overseas tour to continue their training in advanced hacking and computer knowledge so that they would possess all it takes to bring the future to us, beat the best in the world and bring the trophy home!. They are Mark, Shalom, John and last but certainly not the least...Steve". His announcement was followed up with a defeaning round of applause as the four made their way up to the podium to receive handshakes from Jay-Dee and the rest of the board, Steve was beside himself with smiles the moment he heard his name mentioned, he must have be believed it was a dream come true, a major breakthrough...but as he forgotten what people say, not all that glitters is gold!.
"Pack up Steve, the chauffeur would be here soon", Kate said as she tried containing her emotions. The training tour had begun immediately after Jay-Dee's speech and their first stop was Germany.
"That's what I'm doing miss", Steve repiled as he zipped up the last of his bags.
"Stay safe Steven, but to really think of it, I really don't think Jay-Dee could be so benevolent to use the sponsorship fund from those organisations to sponsor the best of us abroad to further our training and go for the competition even if the fund wasn't his. He would have preferred we stayed here at home, worked on ourselves and our products and expanded our coast on the long run"
"Well, we all knew him to be selfish and self-centered, but that was then, this is now, people surely do change. He must have picked a lesson or two from Mr Chris and had waited up till now to manifest it. I see no wrong intentions here Kate, all I see is a protegè of an icon trying to follow in his mentor's footsteps"
"All the same, watch out for him and those guys, John and Mark, you know they don't like you too much". John and Mark!. They were the most mischievous guys at Tech Minds, though they weren't ophrans and were handpicked by scouts to join the project, Steve had imagined how decadent their behaviour would be if they had turned out to be orphans. They ruled the whole place like they owned it and struck fear into the hearts of many. Fortunately, both of them turned out to be super intelligent and if not for the fact that one couldn't query God, one would have asked Him how two of them in spite of their terrorising behaviour managed to be so blessed with such kind of intelligence. A number of times they had bullied Steve, stolen his stuffs, messed up his projects et cetera and now they were going to be on the same plane to Germany!.
"Those boys, I would just have to deal with them!"
"Deal with John and Mark!, you must be out of your mind Steve!"
"Relax, when I said deal with them, I meant I would just have to tolerate them, simple. Besides, I can't take on the both of them, look at me...they would beat me to a pulp!"
"So you know. Just stay out of their way and try to be the best okay"
"Yeah, about that, I don't think I fancy being the 'best' anymore. You see all those things I passed through before now just because I was the 'best'. The silent treatment from Precious and Peter who later turned out to be my arch enemies all because I top the class each term, the jealousy expressed by the trainers and Jay-Dee and all that. John and Mark want the top spot so bad, why don't I relent a little and let them have it?, besides I could always do with bronze or more preferably, silver..."
"Don't mind those guys Steve, you were born to rule and so if you give your spot to those guys, that's when the whole thing would start, the bullying and all. Being smart is your thing so leave it that way and besides, gold worth way more than silver and bronze, so snap of out it and go be the best!"
"Thanks Kate, you are always there when I need you the most, I'm gonna miss you!"
"I will miss you the more Steve...", they hugged and lived happily ever after!...don't mind me, I was just kidding, the 'happily ever after' part wasn't part of the story, maybe it would come later in the future but now, the hugging was only what happened.
"Hey!", that was Shalom standing by the door. She had her bags packed up and ready, "the bus is here already, we have to go now", then she left hurriedly, we all knew Shalom so well and one thing she did not like is wasting time!
"Go Steve...", her face was already tear stained, "I would be waiting for you here!".
They hugged once more and Steve dragged all his belongings to the bus which was already full and everyone had been waiting patiently for him. He loaded his bags in the trunk and boarded the bus. As they drove away, Steve could see Kate waving slowly, tears in her eyes, he was definitely going to miss her during his three months stay in Germany.
Germany was successful and the four kids who were thoroughly trained by German tech gurus were now fully grounded in their field. A week to their trip back to Lagos, Jay-Dee took them all out for an expensive shopping and it looked like Jay-Dee had surely repented from his past, little did Steve know they were dining with the devil using a short spoon!. They came back to Nigeria and Steve did not hesistate to relay all that happened in Germany to Kate who had been expecting him, he also taught her some new techniques he had learnt over there which was quite alien to her, he also told her about Jay-Dee's generosity and tried convincing her Jay-Dee had become a changed man. The four remained in Nigeria helping out with little production and more of mentoring and after a month or so, Jay-Dee announced again, it was time to go to the United States for the second leg of the tour. Kate didn't expect Steve to go for another three months but she had to face reality...twice!.
U.S. was more fun than Germany and the fact that they did not have to go with an interpreter made it more fun. Steve made a number of friends at the Tech Convention that was organised over there due to who he was. He was admired for his looks and his skills and strangely, Jay-Dee became closer and friendlier to him. He bought Steve more gifts and took him out on several trips when they were not having classes. Though Steve remembered Kate's warning, he decided to enjoy the moment and forget about the past. John and Mark became more envious now that Steve became Jay-Dee's boy and they plotted and swore to deal with him once they were presented with the chance and fortunately for them, the chance did come but not in The States, it was in China!
After taking a break back home in Lagos, Steve spent more time sharpening his skills and gaining more knowledge not only about the competition but also about his competitors from all over the world including China who boasted of the best guys in technology. When he was not studying or trying out experiments, Steve spent time with Kate, discussing several topics with her. A month after their break, it was time to face off with the tech giant all over the world and Mark, John, Shalom and Steve were all prepared to give it all it took to win. They travelled to China this time with an interpreter but that didn't bother them, they had their eyes on the prize!.
The competition was set to take place a week after they arrived in China so they still had a little bit of time to practise and perfect their skills. The competition was divided into three stages and the four of them would at first work individually before coming together to work as a team. The first stage was a quiz competition and all the questions to be asked where based on what's taught in books, they called it knowledge questions. The second stage was also a quiz competition but this time they would be asked intellectual questions on how to solve problems they weren't taught by their books and the last stage was the practical segment in which they would be asked to test their knowledge on the field. The whole competition shouldn't be a problem for anyone but the tackling issue was that they all had limited time to provide solutions in every stage and working under that kind of pressure in which you are being observed by everyone around the world and judged by people who's skin colour are different from yours requires an higher level of skill and deftness. The Tech Minds group were lodged in a five-star intercontinental hotel in the heart of Shanghai and they counted themselves lucky because they had thought they would have to survive on Chinese diet but luckily for them, the hotel served all types of african dishes. The hotel had a sort of museum on the ground floor and guests were allowed to check out a spectrum of Chinese traditional artefacts and technological gadgets. John and Mark decided to punish Steve for he sin he did not commit so they cooked up a plan to implicate him.
Three days to the D-day, John and Mark hacked into the museum, stole a gadget and placed it in Steve's bag inside his room since they were placed in individual rooms. Steve was unaware of this move because he had been in the hotel's study doing nothing else but the normal things done at a study. Nobody discovered anything was missing until a day to the competition. The hotel was put on lockdown and stewards were ordered to search all the six hundred and seventy-five rooms of the hotel. Steve was keen on finding out the tech-thief and when he found out it was him, he almost collapsed. The authorities were sent for and contemplated on the degree of pumshment to be meted out to a foreigner. After hours of pleading and denying, the head of police being a kind man decided to release Steve for the period of the competition during which they would begin their investigation and after the competition, Steve would have to report back to their station. The news of course was devastating to Steve and the only thing not making John and Mark totally relaxed and fulfilled was the mention of investigation by the police, why is there the need to investigate when you caught someone red-handed?.
The day of the competition came and Steve struggled to put himself in the right frame of mind coming in sixth place in the first stage of the competition, well, he tried because as he was not in his right mind, he still managed to beat some strong competitors from Japan, Brazil and Australia. The group segment which so to it that Mark, John, Steve and Shalom worked together saw them finish fourteenth on the leader board, after the round, the judge that announced the result commented, "much work to be done from the Tech Minds..." and that was the truth. The next day was scheduled for the second lap of the competition and Steve had only a few hours to put himself together and focus but it was easier for Steve to hack into US Treasury than to focus. He needed nothing short of a miracle and a miracle did come!. He was informed by Jay-Dee that he had a call from Nigeria, the caller...Kate.
"Hey Steve, what's up?", Kate asked excitedly over the phone.
"I'm good, nothing much to talk about here"
"Steve!, what's wrong with your voice?, you sound depressed!"
"Depressed?, that's a strong word lady!"
"I'm serious, tell me what's wrong or I hang up now!"
"Okay Kate, the thing is that I'm losing focus 'cos I got framed by...."
"You got what?!"
"Yeah, I got implicated. Some desperate nerd planted the hotel's private property in my room and then the police got involved..."
"The police?...it's that serious! "
"Yeah, they got involved and wanted to take me into custody but their leader said I finish the competition first before I face the panel. Trust me Kate, I don't know anything about it, I was framed!"
"Now listen up Steve, the person that framed you definitely wants you out of the competition either because you are smarter than him or just because he's dealing jealousy problems. You know what, I'm suspecting those guys"
"Which guys?, you aren't even here, how can you possibly suspect anyone!"
"Trust me Steve, I know what John and Mark can do and right now, they are prime suspects and they want you out of the way"
"Alright Kate, John and Mark right?, by the way, nice sleuthing but what you are presenting here are just mere accusations, I could be further charged if I present it"
"You knw what Steve, you have to man up, forget about what happened and face reality, you have to focus on the competition, Mr Chris won't want you to go there and mess up because you were merely accused of stealing. I am depending on you, your sponsors are depending on you, Tech Minds are depending on you, make us proud!"
"Thanks Kate, you should be a counsellor or a life coach. I won't let y'all down, I promise!"
That was it!, Steve bounced back and did the most difficult thing he thought he couldn't do, he focused. The next stage of the competition was harder for most competitors but not for 'focused' Steve and he came in third behind U.S. and the host country while John, Mark and Shalom came in eleventh, fifteenth and eighteenth respectively and in the group category, Tech Minds stunned the whole audience and opponents to move from fourteenth place to fifth!. The final stage was not to take place until three days had passed so the whole competitors had enough prep time to bring in their A-game. Steve on his own part read like crazy, if he would go to jail, he was going there as a tech champion!. A day to the final stage, the police came around again, this time with proof of what really happened that night the gadget went missing. Unknown to John and Mark, the hotel had cameras placed everywhere and had captured both of them as they stole the gadget and planted it in Steve's room, but wait...what did those guys expect?, did they really think the hotel won't have any sort of surveillance system?, I thought they were tech geniuses. Finally, Steve could breath again, John and Mark now had to report to the police station after the competition in place of Steve, victory over those boys really meant a lot for Steve that time, he spent a whole hour narrating the episode to Kate over 'changed' Jay-Dee's phone and now he could face the final with a clear head.
The final stage was set and every competitor had come to win but there could be only one winner!. The final result would comprise of the cumulative addition of the competitor's points in the first, second and final round. The final stage kicked off and lasted hours and each individual competitor were given a strong account with various stringent security measures to bypass and hack successfully, the fastest competitor to finish wouid be awarded the most points and consequently crowned champion. Steve had done this before, remember the time he had to recover the government official's bank account, that was almost the same situation he was confronted with. Everyone struggled for hours and at the end, two competitors signified they were done...at the same time!. The judge examined their work and decided they were both correct, it was now based on who finished first, the time-keeper was called to clarify on who tapped the 'finish' button first. There was grave silence everywhere as the time-keeper looked closely at his watch and his computer before whispering a word to the chief judge. The chief judge then stood up, cleared his throat loudly and announced over the microphone.
"And the winner of this year's Global Tech Competition is no other person than competitor 1726 who finished above competitor 297 with just a tenth of a second...". The judges identified the competitors by numbers known only by them so Steve was still not sure he was either competitor 1726 or competitor 297 or maybe he wasn't even among the first guys to press the 'finish' button
"I'm am very pleased to announce to you the winner of this year round of competition is...", the judge gave that Jay-Dee kind of dramatic pause and increased the heart rate of everyone, both audience and competitor seated in the hall, "...Bob Flintstone from England, the runner-up is no other person than Steve from Nigeria and the second runner-up is Hwa-Hee Chan from China. Congratulations to you all, you've excelled and proven yourself as tech geniuses worldwide. I love it when young kids like you try to dominate the rapidly growing world of technology, it gives us, the older generation an assurance that the future is in safe hands, the hands of our bright technologists. Please step outside to the podium, the press would love to see your faces..."
Steve was more than happy as he ascended the seventh heaven when he shook hands with top executives after both the silver for the individual performance and bronze medal for the team performance was placed around his neck then he remembered what he had told Kate when he was leaving for Germany the other day, "...besides, I could always do with bronze or more preferably, silver!". As a team, the Tech Minds came third and John, Mark and Shalom were not left out in the celebration. They were gifted a huge sum of cash prize...in dollars alongside a number of exotic technological gadgets and some personal rewards. Their hotel was thronged with the press and the media when they returned after the Awards Night as they wanted to take shots of the second-place champion and after a brief successful interview with the journalists and the paparazzis, Steve and the rest of the Tech Minds retired to bed as champions!
But that wasn't the end for Steve, in fact, it was just the beginning...of something unexpected, something sinister...