Take My Breath Away

Carlos was trying to mollify his wife when Evelyn called. Debbie was still mad at him for what had happened at dinner. He said into the phone, "What's going on?"

"I don't know. A hacker got into the documents for the bid of the Thundercloud project. How he busted the encryption I have no idea..." Evelyn said in a worried voice.

"How could a hacker invade your computer so easily? Did you go to any dodgy sites? Anyone else use it?"

Evelyn hesitated for a while. No one had ever touched her laptop except Sheffield, but she couldn't tell Carlos that. So she lied, "No...I'm serious, Dad. I have no idea how a hacker could get in."

"Don't worry. I'll figure something out. Go to the company early tomorrow and arrange a meeting to work on salvaging this."

"Okay, Dad."

As soon as he got home, Sheffield took out his laptop. He had installed a backdoor in Evelyn's own laptop. As long as she was online, he could get in.

He had also installed a security system on Evelyn's laptop earlier that evening. It was flawless, no bugs, but no matter how perfect the system was, there was always a weak point. Soon, he did it, finding his way into her computer easily, without using his backdoor. He got in with some fake login credentials, and her computer lay bare and open. Encrypted documents displayed normally, like the AES wasn't even there.

Then he clicked on the folder of design drawings in her computer. All the artwork was by a man named "Mister T."

Then he started to look for the hacker. Throughout the night, he used his network monitors and packet sniffers to find the guy.

The next afternoon, while Evelyn and the ZL Group's senior execs were racking their brains trying to find a solution, a hacker suddenly turned himself in. He admitted that someone had hired him to hack into Evelyn's computer and steal their design drawings. He had even sold the information to ZL Group's competitors. The hacker confessed to everything.

Adding to Evelyn's surprise, the weapon designer with the code name "Mister T" actively contacted several media outlets. He told the reporters he had applied for the copyrights of all the weapon design drawings recently, and he sold the rights to ZL Group. But he didn't expect the weapon designs to be stolen. He also claimed that all the weapon design drawings of the game developed by ZL Group were designed by him alone, and that he could release proof whenever necessary. In the end, Mister T hoped that nothing more would come of this. He didn't need legal entanglements.

This worried Evelyn even more. Had someone forced these guys to do this? And who was her unknown benefactor?

In order to find out the truth, she went to meet the hacker in person, but it was useless. The man only said it was his conscience that led him to confess. He wasn't threatened by anyone.

Evelyn felt frustrated after her useless visit.

She wondered who the mysterious Mister T actually was. And why did the hacker turn himself in? These two questions became unsolved mysteries in her heart.

At the CEO's office in ZL Group

Evelyn sat opposite Carlos and asked, "Dad, don't you think it's too easy?"

Carlos nodded, "Yeah. I talked to the IT department. The hacker that confessed is quite famous online. Only one person had the skills to track him down—Star Anise."

The mere mention of the name made Carlos furious. The guy had lost him a billion dollars.

'Star Anise?' Evelyn pondered. "Dad, it seems that someone named Star Anise is helping us out. You know him?"

Carlos snorted, "I don't know him personally. But he screwed me out of a billion dollars. Maybe he feels guilty after having defrauded me out of that much."

Evelyn sighed. "Dad, so what about the so-called 'Mister T?' Who is he? Did Star Anise talk to him too?"

"Who knows? Maybe. Mister T and Star Anise are both virtual celebrities. This Mister T got his start designing weapons for real. He had a following on the black market, and his designs fetched some pretty high prices. His client list included countries as well as individuals."

"Is that where you found him? The black market?"

"No, he found us. The guy knows what he's doing, at least as far as design goes, so I asked the design department to secure the copyrights for some of his work." It was Carlos who had taken charge of the whole thing. After all, it was a deal worth hundreds of millions when you factored in residuals and royalties. The financial department needed his signature before making the payment.

Having a hazy notion of the matter, Evelyn nodded. "Dad, can you get in touch with Star Anise? Want to ask him about this?"

"Humph! I won't call him! He can call me."

"Well... Okay." 'Dad is becoming more and more childish, ' Evelyn sighed silently.

At a jewelry store of Ji Group

Although it was quitting time, none of the employees dared to leave because the boss was still working at the store.

Wearing a pair of gloves, Calvert took out a quality pendant from inside the counter, placed it in a brocade box, and wrapped it. After that, he took off the gloves and looked at his watch. It was already past 10 p.m. "Sorry guys. You can go home now," he told the staff.

Twenty minutes later, Calvert left the jewelry store with the brocade box.

He walked to the parking lot and opened the door of his car. A man sitting in the passenger seat startled him. When he recovered enough to take a good look, Calvert frowned and asked, "How did you get in my car?" He was sure he locked it.

Sheffield grinned mischievously and pointed to the sunroof. Calvert looked up at the car and smacked his forehead in frustration. He forgot to close the sunroof. "What do you want now?" he asked coldly.

"Can we talk?" Sheffield was quite busy these days. He had no chance to mess with Calvert until now. He emerged from the car. He didn't need to be sitting down, now.

"About Evelyn? Because if it is, you need to just shut your mouth and walk away."

As calm as he could be, Sheffield quickly took a syringe out of his pocket and jammed it into Calvert's neck before he knew what was happening.

Calvert reacted quickly and raised his hand, trying to push the doctor away. But Sheffield was faster; he stomped on his right foot while fending off his attack with one hand.

He pushed the plunger on the syringe and injected Calvert with the contents.

Calvert's face turned livid. "What did you just do?"

"Gave you a little anesthetic," Sheffield answered honestly. Then he slowly pulled out the needle.

As soon as he finished speaking, Calvert felt sour and weak all over, and 30 seconds later his vision melted away. He started to faint, and Sheffield caught him. He pushed him in the direction of the car, so he'd land in the seat when he fell. Calvert sat heavily in the driver's side seat, then slumped over.

Sheffield got out of the car and tried hard to drag Calvert's limp body to the back seat. "You're heavy. What—ugh—do they feed you?"

'I'm heavy?' Still conscious, Calvert was irritated by his rude remarks. He had never been insulted like this before. He mustered his strength to yell. "You're dead!" he slurred. "You hear me? D-E-A-D dead." It was getting harder to talk.

When Sheffield heard these words, he paused and murmured, "All these threats. Everyone wants to kill me. But I'm still alive, suckers!"

With great effort, Sheffield finally dragged the nearly two-meter tall man from the driver's seat into the back seat.

When Evelyn got the call from Rowena, Tayson had just driven her to the gate of the manor. "Evelyn, you're dating a crazy man! He kidnapped Calvert! He wants to carve out his kidney! Where the hell does he work? Tell me now!"

Unfazed by her crazy rant, Evelyn replied in a calm voice, "Such language! I'm hanging up on you. You're going to have to treat me with a little more respect."

Since Calvert was still in Sheffield's hands, Rowena had no choice but to give in. Swallowing down her pride, she apologized, "I'm sorry. Sheffield kidnapped Calvert. I'm really worried. Please help!" She had called Calvert a moment ago, but Sheffield answered his phone.