Anonymous (Anonymous Trilogy Book 1)

by Sweth Water

  “Are you sure you got it from the Vice President?”

  “Yes.”

  “What is written in the email?”

  “‘We are anonymous, we are legion. We do not forgive, we do not forget. Expect us.’ All the screens in the office are showing the same lines.”

  “Stay wherever you are. I am coming there. Don’t do anything even if the President calls.”

  “What happened?”

  “The security system of the Office has been compromised. Anonymous is using our secure lines.”

  Chapter

  5

  It was a ride of six hours. Most of the time Coal drove. So many roadblocks they passed by showing their IDs. No army personnel were there. Everything was handled by the police. Coal couldn’t remember when he saw the full police force on the streets.

  Many people were stuck in the roads. A long line of people was ahead of them. Shouting, screaming and showing middle fingers.

  Baldwin stopped the car.

  “We can’t go ahead with this traffic.” Baldwin said.

  “What is happening in the city?”

  “Some kind of checking. Terrorist threat is there?”

  “We didn’t get any A.P.B on our devices.”

  “Watch out, asshole,” someone shouted at Baldwin. “You blind, motherfucker?”

  They were not in the uniform and were in Coal’s car. “Fuck yourself.” Baldwin shouted back.

  “What are you doing?” Coal asked.

  “I miss those days. Those awesome days of using these words. Police should be allowed to say these words in public. We have the rights too.”

  Coal laughed.

  “We should park the car somewhere and then walk. It will be time-consuming if we sit here. This heavy traffic is not going to change soon.”

  Baldwin was right.

  Coal gave the instructions to park the car near Coffee Home, to the east side of the buildings where cars were moving smoothly. He wished their destination were on that road. Baldwin coughed heavily.

  “You all right?” Coal asked.

  “Allergic to the pollution.”

  “But no pollution is here.”

  “Oh. Then it must be the heavy traffic we were in.”

  “You and your logics. You will never change. I will call Fog and ask about the checking. Coffee Home is a nice place to have something to eat. I used to come here.”

  “Yup. Some cappuccino will be fine to gulp. Don’t know how much time we are going to be in the office.”

  “Go and give the order. I will join shortly.”

  Coal slid his phone and dialled Fog’s number. Nobody picked. He called again.

  “Fog speaking.”

  “Coal. We are in the city now. Will be talking to Top One soon. Any updates that we should have?”

  “No. These buggers didn’t speak anything useful. Jo is trying hard to get the information from them. They are shitty people. Asking us to call a lawyer. If a lawyer comes here, we won’t have anything. For the time being that option is off the table.”

  “Good.” Coal thought about the hard disk again and then shrugged. “Fog, here some checking is going on. Heavy checking, I mean. People are stopped and long queues are in the roads. Anything that the Headquarters doesn’t know yet?”

  “Your exact position?”

  “7th street, near Coffee Home.”

  “Let me check.”

  Coal waited and saw the women and men moving out of the cars and pushing each other. The cops showed up soon and calmed them down. He pushed the door open and walked inside the shop. Baldwin was sitting behind the window, scanning outside. The place was full; Coal wondered how they got a seat.

  Fog spoke up as he sat on the couch. “I just received a message. Office’s secure ports have been compromised. The city is on a high alert. All the roads going to the Office have been blocked. Only Top One and RAAD people are allowed to go on those routes.”

  “What? Compromised? What do you mean?” Coal was shocked, his hand cupping the cappuccino.

  “Top One agents are looking into it. An email was sent to the office of Commissioner of Police using the system of the Office. The President is calling a meeting soon. Maybe cutting all the air traffic.”

  “That will be a disaster. Who is behind that?”

  “Anonymous. It is an assumption.”

  Coal sighed. “Those three idiots that we arrested are not the only ones behind that. Fog, please, let Jo do something that will give answers. They are the only ones who can tell us about it. Any names for a start.”

  “Names?” Fog sniggered. “They don’t run with their actual names. Some numbers they have. Prime numbers. We are asking about the top members of the group who were in contact with them. Need the time that we don’t have. Damn it.”

  Numbers? “Ok, Fog. I will call you if we get something from here.”

  He hung up and briefed Baldwin.

  “That is crazy. Where are they going with it? First the Department and now the Office! These scoundrels should be punished soon.” He took a long gulp of the cappuccino. “Did those retards talk about something useful?”

  “No. Jo is questioning them. Fog won’t let him do the work in his way. We don’t know what is coming, Baldwin.”

  “I agree. We will wrap up everything here as soon as possible and do what is necessary to get the answers. At night, Fog might not be there. He came in the very early morning. Those fools will be in the Holding Room. Get ready with your techniques.”

  Coal nodded.

  Baldwin was always in favour of doing what was necessary to get the information. But he didn’t go very far away with it. On the other hand, Coal was like a butcher to them. The last time he had his hands on a culprit, he’d cut two fingers and was ready for the third but the questions were answered.

  He sipped his cappuccino slowly, getting the aroma first and then tasting it. It was the favourite drink of his wife. Before their marriage, they used to come here in the evening. He was in Venhoa at that time, and his wife was a yoga teacher. They met at a New Year party, and soon they decided to live with each other.

  He had never been with a woman before. She was a little shy too. It was a perfect match. They talked on the phone for hours. She changed the job after few months. She worked in a garment factory for years before they moved to Earling.

  Baldwin was watching out, and Coal wiped the tears from his cheeks. Men don’t cry. He reminded himself. He was not drunk that’s why he was saying that. Usually, after getting drunk he would cry, cry his heart out. Sometimes March would ring the bell to check on him at night; his wailing would be very loud.

  “Watch out,” Baldwin lurched over Coal.

  The table rolled over and the couch tilted back. The glass broke, scattered over the table and some debris hit Coal. He felt the blood on his face. Baldwin stumbled and pulled his gun out. “Down. All of you.” He yelled at the people inside the shop.

  They started running to find a place to hide. Children were crying, and men and women were shouting. The commotion was so loud that it was very hard to listen to the next person. Chairs and tables toppled, food was on the floor and bottles were broken. Soon a sudden hush came there.

  “You all right?” Baldwin asked Coal.

  “Yes.” He used his handkerchief to clean his face, two or three pieces were in his face. He pulled them, a little blood ran out.

  “You are bleeding. Stay put.”

  Baldwin moved out of the shop.

  And then Coal heard the shots. What was happening there he didn’t know. He leaned against the wall and coughed. The cappuccino was all over his clothes, and the handkerchief soaked the blood. Window glass was scattered on the ground. A child was crying near the table opposite to him.

  The people inside the shop were holding their children. Under the tables they sat, and some of them used the tables as walls. No face was directly towards the door. He loaded his gun.

  Squatted, he walked on his knees. Behind the
pole, to the north side of the shop, he saw a man. Gun in his hand. MP5. Behind the hat, another man was there. His eyes dark brown. Face not recognizable. But his gut feeling said he knew the man. He heard a shot.

  It was Baldwin Berger. The pole had a hole. He didn’t know where Baldwin was. A few minutes ago he moved out, where? He aimed at the man, to his foot and fired three shots. None of them hit him. Screaming of the people inside the shop was not letting him have the concentration.

  Sirens started flaring. Two cars stopped in front of the shop and blocked his view. The cops were out, standing behind the cars. Two women and three men dressed in the uniform. Must have heard the firing from a distance. Coal ran behind the car.

  Baldwin was standing against the wall to his right side.

  “You all right?”

  “Yes. One person behind the wall. The guy is a trained shooter.”

  “There are two people,” Coal shouted over the firing.

  “Two?”

  “Yes. Go behind the building to the back side. Only one gun I noticed. Block their way, take two officers. Kill them if need be. But try to have them alive. Go.” He turned and saw two female officers. “Go behind the officer. I want them arrested alive. Dead bodies don’t talk, remember that.”

  They stayed low and walked with Baldwin. Other officers loaded their magazines and eyed Coal. “I am from the Headquarters.”

  “We know, sir. The officer told us.”

  “What is the Alert Level that you have in the city?”

  A man with a black moustache spoke up. “Nine, sir.”

  “Any chances of this shooting be part of it?”

  “No, sir. It is some technological thing, not terrorists. They chose the place carefully.”

  “What do you mean?” Coal lowered himself. A bullet just passed to his right ear, piercing the window of the car.

  “There are many people out there on the streets. But they thought of attacking this place. They are not terrorists for sure.”

  Bullets stopped coming out of the MP5. He saw from the top of the car, there was only one man. The other person was gone. Magazines were loaded again and firing started.

  Coal changed the magazines two times and was sure he didn’t hit the spot. He wished Baldwin would be there soon and arrest the man. The cop’s conclusion made him nervous. It didn’t make any sense. Though he took it seriously.

  The people inside Coffee Home started screaming again, and some men were trying to break the glass at the back of the shop to run away from here. Coal sent one officer inside the shop. Fire in the air made them lie on the floor. The guy having a chair in his hands threw it away and hands were in the air, on the knees.

  Why is it taking too much time?

  He stood on his feet suddenly and emptied his magazine once again, didn’t give a chance to the attacker. The man seemed to be glued to the wall, not want to confront the man who had a shovel to dig his grave. After the last fire, he heard the voice.

  “Don’t move.”

  It was Baldwin.

  Three shots he heard, and the man was on the ground. People on the right side of the crossing were screaming and running away from their cars. It was becoming a mess. But none of them were near Coffee Home.

  “I need an ambulance. Right now.” He shouted.

  Gun in his left hand, he ran to the man. His eyes were open, blood oozing out of the wounds. Coal checked his nerve; it was slow, and then there was nothing.

  “Sorry, Coal. He shot at us first. We had no choice.” Baldwin said from a distance.

  Two other officers were behind him, aiming at the dead body. The blonde woman was a little shocked. Might not have seen any dead body in a crossfire. One bullet was in the chest, he noticed, and the second one was in the head. No hope of knowing the reason behind the firing.

  “You found someone else?”

  “No, only this guy. It was a three-block radius that we covered. Whoever it was is gone.”

  “Damn it! Send the body to the forensics. Check his fingerprints against our database. Who he is working for, his clan, origin, his family, home address. Everything and anything that you can find. This man must have known something that we don’t.”

  “Do you know this man?” Baldwin asked and holstered his weapon.

  “What? No. Why?”

  “I think ...”

  Coal waited.

  “This man came for you, Coal. His aim was at you.”

  What? Another dot in the pattern. What shape is it going to make? Damn it!

  He was perplexed.

  Chapter

  6

  She came out of her car. One more car was there. Gin was sure that the car didn’t belong to police or army. A brown sedan, bizarre designs on the doors. She waited for her people; she sent them to check the perimeter for any intruders. The person who hacked into the Office must not have been inside the Office. If you have a death wish, you would do that. The army personnel in the Office would make you a dead man. The only reason that she had for this conclusion was that it was the first department which got the weird email.

  The Commissioner of Police’s office was always at the State Police building. The Lufghan State Police was under Summer. It was situated near a big lake in Venhoa. Summer seemed like a careless woman because someone hacked the system in this building right under her nose. She didn’t talk with anyone and kept the thought to herself. First she needed to check the email and its origin, and then the systems.

  Her phone rang.

  “Gin speaking.”

  “Baldwin here.”

  She could hear the heavy breath behind the voice. “You reached the office?”

  “No. We were attacked at Coffee Home. The shooter is down.”

  “What? Anyone is hurt?”

  “No. It seems like somebody doesn’t want Coal to meet you. We are going there now. Will brief you there.”

  “I am at the office of Commissioner of Police. Something else came up. Chase will be there. Talk with her. I will be there by night.”

  “Okay.” He hung up.

  Taking showed up ahead with other agents.

  He never missed any day from the gym; the exception was when he was working on a serious case. She always admired him, not as a lover but a friend. They were close for a long time. He’d left faith and believed there were not any good things left worth living in this world. Five years back, he was divorced by his wife. She never asked him what happened, and he never discussed it. But she was sure he was living a miserable life. Apart from the work and the agency they worked for, so many things were common in them.

  “Nobody is there. The area is clean. Three CCTVs we have at the back, and two at the front,” he pointed with his finger, “we can get something from them. I will go through them and you can talk with the woman in charge.”

  “Sounds good. Make sure you don’t trust anyone here. If not someone from outside, it must be an inside job. Take the necessary precautions. Don’t let your emotions take over you.”

  “Understood.”

  They showed the IDs to the guard standing at the gate. He had a big belly. His belly answered how good he was in running to stop any crimes happening in the city.

  “Top One? Never heard of it.”

  “So many things will happen that you never heard in your life.” Gin smiled. “Call the Commissioner of Police and tell her about us.”

  “Sure, ma’am. Right away.”

  They were led by other two guards standing at the back of the gate. The place was air-conditioned. The officers working here must have a soothing feeling in summer. On the other hand, the places where she worked were not very good in summer or winter.

  She sat in the chair in the Visitation Room. Taking stood with other two agents at the door, thinking of doing something.

  They waited until a woman entered the room.

  She was a brunette. Her eyes were dark black, and she would be more than five-foot-nine. She shook hands with Taking first, and then with G
in.

  “My name is Tina. Commissioner of Police, Summer, will meet you soon. She is in a meeting and it can take few hours.”

  “I don’t want to wait for her.”

  “So—”

  “How many people left the building after she called me?” she cut her in the middle. “Any suspicion you or she have? What steps have you taken so far?”

  “We checked all the CCTVs that we have in the streets but found no-one. Our teams are still working on that. We are assuming it’s an outsider who wanted to bug the system for a particular purpose.”

  Gin nodded. The woman had a brain. “Any leads?”

  “No. We believe it can’t be just sending the email to show they hacked into the system. They might do it to divert our focus. In the past, some people were arrested who did it for fun. They are still behind the bars and have no contact with someone who might have done that. We have asked the Lufghan State Prison about any meetings that they had with unknown people. They confirmed nobody met them in the past one year. Alert Level has been raised to ten now. Madam President can be advised to cut off all the communications in the city.”

  “Thank you for the advice, Tina. I will take that into consideration. I need to check your Main Server Room and some people who can give all the access codes that you have.” She pointed to Taking, “He is Taking, as you know, he will be checking everything here. Without my presence, he should be allowed here. I might have to leave by night, but he will stay. The access that you’ll provide me, you must provide him too. Understood?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Please lead us to the room.”

  She walked out of the room, and Gin followed.

  Gin eyed everyone who was looking straight at her. Tina had her own conclusions. Living on someone else’s perception is a dangerous thing, especially in common people. You must understand the person first. In her case, she didn’t have time to know her before Anonymous group struck again.

  They took the stairs to the first floor where tens of cabins were there. She found only five taken, and the rest were empty. Might have been a mass change of police officers after the breach. Behind the laptops officers were working, their eyes fixed at the screens, not caring about the surrounding.