A screeching sound blasted into my ears. My brain was yelling, my head pounding. Then it stopped. I mumbled, and my eyes flickered open. The clock on the wall showed 4:51. I briefly remembered Officer Whiteford saying that training started at five. Panic struck my chest, giving me a boost of energy. I sat up, and nearly toppled out of bed. I rushed to don my suit, put on my backpack, and darted out the door.
Everyone else was already there, sitting around for me. I catch sight of them. They are all freshly ready - compared to me in shambles, having woken only a minute ago. "How long have you been up?" I asked, slightly out of breath.
"Only about ten minutes," Les responded. "How are you just awake?"
"That hellish noise woke me up just now."
"Oh, for God's sake, Cade!" Naomi interjected. "It's gone off five times already."
I sighed. I hadn't had to wake up on a schedule in six years. Now was not a fun time for an introduction. Vivian scowled, and started out the door. The rest of us followed her silently. We reached the lobby, where Officer Whiteford was waiting.
"Greetings," she said when she caught sight of us. "You look... decent. But there is room for approval. We can't have you looking like all of the cadets."
"Cadets?" Seph asked.
"Well yes. You can;t expect us to hack the most protected software in the world with only a team of five. You have thirty-two penetration testers-" Seph snorted. "-at your disposal." Whiteford finished.
She led us to a seating area, and pulled out six identical outfits. A heavy-duty black hooded coat and a pair of thick gloves. At the bottom of the table, leather boots were organized in a neat line. Each coat had our name embroidered on the back. We each clipped the outfit on. It was crazy heavy. But also quite protective. I could get shot in this outfit, no problem. hell, I could take an entire train if I wanted to.
"Damn..." Seph trailed off. "It's a little overkill, but hella sexy."
I looked at him and couldn't help but agree.
We arrived in what they called "the sphere" - a computer central for all things technology. Servers ran all along the walls, a large screen was in the front, and network routers were located in the back. Lines of PC's, each with an operating system I had never heard of, were placed on desks along the room. Thirty cadets, of all looks and skin colors, sat at tables.
We, the agents, lined up at a stage. Whiteford nodded, and left. Officers Sanchez and Torres were placed at each end of the stage.
Les stepped forward, beginning the lesson. "Good morning, everyone!"
"Good morning," the student's echoed. At least it sounded like they weren't going to be a constant pain in the ass.
Les glanced at us, with a shrug. He didn't know what he was doing any more than we did. He mouthed, What next?
I don't know, Seph mouthed back.
Vivian stepped forward with an eye roll. "So, how much experience do you all have in hacking?"
One in the third out of four rows raised their hand. "We're penetration testers, so we know our way around a system."
Seph snorted, "White hats and their 'knowledge'."
Naomi stepped up. "You are all white hats?" Xe asked. A few nodded, some murmuring "yes."
Mel smiled and spoke for the first time today. They started out timid, but their voice grew stronger as they spoke. "So, today's lesson will be on the tools you weren't allowed to use back when working legally. Everyone go to the internet."
We quickly conferred and decided on teaching them RalKed—a tool that could penetrate even the strongest systems. It uses an old backdoor in most email systems, planted many years ago in disguise. No one really knew what it was, and it lay dormant until a big data breach happened. The backdoor was then activated and blamed on the breach. It was brilliant, really. No doubt that those behind it were taking cover underground or already behind bars.
We chose Les, the best teacher of us all, to lead the lesson. He started by guiding them to open incognito browsers and find a search engine accessing the dark web. There, they purchased RalKed. The package started at $15 but had extra features going up to a piece of $200. Once they reached the selection menu, Les walked over to us for a quick meeting.
"What version do we buy?" He asked.
I spoke first. "I can do everything on the $150 version."
Seph smirked. "Purchase the $25 version." Vivian opened her mouth to contradict him, but he cut her off. "I learned some ways to do everything you can with $200 for only $25."
Les shrugged. "Fine. But, you lead the lesson after we download it." Seph nodded, and we continued.
The government had funded us with plenty—but why waste it on buying expensive versions when we can do everything with a cheap version? Plus, RalKed is not even close to penetrating the things we'll have to do later. We started by opening the program. "Now, Seph will teach you how to jailbreak some of the features while I take a look at some of our provided resources." Les stepped back, leaving Seph to take the wheel. He began leading us through a lecture, but I was more focused on what Les had to say.
"We need to look at this, because if I send these cadets to North Korea with no experience, this country is fucked."
He opened up a PDF containing all of the resources provided by the government for this lesson. There were a thousand hackable virtual machines with varying levels of difficulty and adjustable defenses. "Thank God..." Naomi breathed.
"And everything else?" I asked.
"It's all open. This was made by uneducated officers. They work in information—not cybersecurity." Les said.
"Well, that's that then." I said. I paused briefly, then turned to Mel. "Nice job out there."
They smiled slightly and managed a slight "thanks."
Seph was wrapping up. He was teaching them the commands to activate the dormant code they had saved. "And now, you have a $200 version of RalKed for only $15."
He walked to regain us. "And now?" He asked.
Les glanced at the clock. "We have about an hour."
I took a breath. I could do this. "I'll teach the lesson," I volunteered.
Vivian had pulled out a phone and wasn't paying attention, but everyone else nodded. I stepped up onto the stage. I instructed Les to activate a virtual computer for every student. "Here is your target." I began. "Mr. Inwick is an overworked corporate man for a Russian intelligence agency. He scrolls through e-mails and clicks on links to download, not really paying much attention if they are from the country. And then we have Riley. She is a new marketing worker and sends a demo commercial to Inwick. This is where we strike. I will teach you how to use the backdoor to infect the computer and gain access."
Les jumped in. "What Cade just gave you was your information gathering. We can teach you how to do some information-gathering techniques that no one would dare to teach you in an ethical environment."
And so my lesson kicked off. I taught them basic commands, how to find a target's email, and how to implant the malware. I gave them a pre-made virus for today, but they would need to make their own in the future. Just like that, the virtual machine saw nothing, and all of their data was now on the Cadet's computers.
I was just wrapping up when everyone's phones went off at once. It was a text from Officer Whiteford. The message read:
ATTENTION ALL AGENTS! URGENT NEWS!
North Korea has joined with Russia and officially began the third world war. Intelligence states that they are planning to launch a nuclear attack. Information from sources may vary, but their targets are either Canada or the U.S. Coast. As soon as further information is released, the country will go into a lockdown situation.
Oh, and the Sphere isn't at all safe. GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE!
There was no need for further instruction. We dashed from the Sphere. We came out upon the grounds, the grass crunching beneath our feet. Every step gave a little pain, reminding me of my still-healing wound. The cadets ran one way—to the guest dorms—while we headed for the main structure. "SHIT!" I heard. I turned; Vivian had tripped and fallen.
I grabbed her wrist, to which she recoiled, but I ignored that. I yanked her up and pulled her along. She wriggled out of my grip. We ran on. Once we reached the atrium, we entered the tunnel. Plenty of others were in it. We ran on, into our dorm. Once we were there, all six of us collapsed onto the couch.
We panted, out of breath. "We... are not dead yet." Les managed.
"No, we're not."
We waited for five more minutes in silence. Nothing happened.
Seph looked around. "Was it a false alarm?"
"I think—" Naomi started, before xe was cut off by a blaring alarm.
A voice went over the loudspeakers. "Nuclear missiles were detected in the airspace. The US is officially in lockdown. Targets: unknown."
Metal slammed over the door, securing us inside. "Fuck." Seph and I muttered in unity.
The U.S. was getting bombed.