Episode 32
Emily was completely exhausted and she pulled herself out from the weight of the dead man with great effort.
She squinted her eyes to see Agent Adams, Porteliuz and a couple of CTAN agents at the doorway.
Adams was bolstering the gun and walking briskly to the control unit. Porteliuz rushed to her.
âAre you okay?â He asked.
âYeah, just dizzy but you heard the psychopath. Weâve got a worse situation right nowâ, she said, dusting herself and walking to where the laptop was buried amidst the debris.
âWhat a havoc you must have caused here, Emily! I never doubted your capabilities, not for onceâ, Elroy said, checking the laptop.
âThank you so much, Emily. You really stood in for me. A second late, you would have been dead, for me. Iâm well aware that I can never pay back. Once again, thank youâ. He extended his hands for a handshake.
She ignored the proffered hand and hugged him, âThatâs for saving my lifeâ.
âOh, itâs nothingâ, Adams said, he was beginning to feel awkward with the CTAN agents there.
âPlease, could you guys just quit the âhappily ever afterâ stuff for the time being. Weâve got a worse situation hereâ, Elroy shouted from across the room and some agents giggled.
âI just want to thank for saving my lifeâ
âOh gosh. Elroy, can you just stop being a pain in the a-s? Weâre right in a crime scene!â
âOh, I was just about just to say thatâŠâ
âWhereâs Becky?â Emily asked
âYou mean the first lady?â Elroy asked.
âYou mean the first lady?â Elroy asked.
âOh my God. I Should have known. She really a strong-willed womanâ, Emily said.
âSheâs been headed to the hospital with other inmates. Weâve got dozen of them in that hell holeâ, an agent offered.
âBring the guy in!â Adams shouted.
The huge oak door opened and an agent dragged in one of the mafia men.
âWhatâs your name?â He asked.
âMarvinâ, he said, staring angrily at him and then at Elroy. Betrayal and disappointment written all over his face. Elroy seemed to care less.
âWell well, Marvin. You seem pretty much in-charge hereâ, he scoffed.
âAnyway, I need the deactivation password, now. As you can seeâ, he said turning the laptop to face him. âWeâve got barely three minutesâ.
âGo to hellâ, he said through bloodied lips.
âââââ
âYou know what, young man? In case you havenât noticed, Iâve got no time for that stupid brotherhood stuff. And as you can see, your so-called boss is already down. You stand to loose everything. Just speak up, we may consider minimizing the chargesâ, Adams said, folding his arms and fixing his gaze on the man.
âKill me if you will. But as second in command, as long as I breathe, I would never ever let him downâ.
âThat was really dramatic, Marvinâ, Elroy said. Marvin stared angrily at him; he could kill him at the slightest chance.
Adams motioned to an agent and he brought him a 30ml syringe.
âThis would helpâ, he said and emptied the contents in his arm.
Marvin screamed in excruciating pain.
âWhat is the password for deactivating the bomb? Itâs a 12 digit codeâ.
â7-9-1-5-2-2-1-1-4âŠâ He broke off and slumped.
An agent had already copied it down.
âSo much for overdose. How many?â Adams asked.
âNine sirâ, the agent said, waving the piece of paper.
âThis is getting more complicated. Elroy, come and test your hacking skills on this system, Iâll try to figure out the rest of it. Weâve got only two minutesâ, he said handing Elroy the laptop and taking the piece of paper from the agent. He la!d it out on a mahogany table.
Emily came over. âI donât see a sequence in the numbers and itâs obviously not a transposition code. I think the numbers represent something elseâ, Adams speculated, looking up from the paper and then at his watch.
âThen it has to be a substitution code. Letâs focus on thatâ.
She thought harder. Codes were not her specialty. Though she studied cryptography just as a part-time course in criminology.
Adamsâ phone rang.
âHello. Donât worry, Iâll instruct them to take you to one of the safe houses. Iâll be back very soonâ, he said calmly, his gaze still fixed on the piece of paper.
âDonât worry Holy Father, I have the situation under control. Donât bother yourself at allâ, he said and dropped the phone on the table.
âWho was that?â She asked.
âThe Pope, heâs just arrived at the CTANâ.
âThank Godâ, she heaved a sigh of relief.
âBut he is d–n hysterical about the Vatican going up in flames, and he said he had something important to say to me, but I told him it could wait, heâs really worriedâ.
It struck something in her mind.
âPorteliuz, remind me the name of that other guy that was with us in Romeâ.
âYou mean the Charmenlengo?â He asked from where they clustered around the laptop.
âNo, not him. Heâs the President of the monetary administration or something. I think it started with a âGâ. âGioâ somethingâ.
âOkay, you mean Giovanni Lorenzoâ, Porteliuz offered.
âYes. I think âGiovanniâ is the passwordâ, she said, searching his face for confirmation.
âWhat does he have to do with this?â He asked frowning.
Emily searched for her phone around the living room. It had been confiscated when she was brought in. She soon found it on the mantel piece.
âIâve got a voicemailâ she announced and played it.
The stiff voice of the Pope came on.
âMy daughter, Lorenzo is the mastermind of our plight. Be wary of himâ
Agent Adams looked down on the piece of paper, the whole thing falling into place.
30 SECONDS LEFT
The code was such that each of the letters in the name âGIOVANNIâ was substituted with their corresponding number in the twenty-six alphabets to create the password.
He quickly solved it with a pencil and rushed to the laptop.
15 SECONDS LEFT
Agent Elroyâs hands flew over the keyboard as Adams dictated the numbers.
7-9-1-5-2-2-1-1-4-4-1-4-9
âAre you guys really sure? Itâs a one-trial passcodeâ, Elroy warned, his finger hanging over the Enter key.
3 SECONDS LEFT
âLetâs give it a shotâ, Emily said, âweâve got no other option after allâ
Elroy struck the Enter button before it was too late.
It seemed like an eternity as the computer processed it. Everyone in that room was tensed up as the computer did its work. It was their last chance at saving thousands of life.
DEACTIVATION SEQUENCE INITIATED
CONFIRM DEACTIVATION y/m
Elroy pressed the âYâ button without wasting a second. A window appeared showing a loading process and it got to a hundred percent, another window popped up.
DEACTIVATION PROCESS SUCCESSFUL
Someone shouted, and the living room turned into a frenzied impromptu party house. They grabbed champagne bottles from the bars and a French door refrigerator that stood at one corner of the room. Lychee Martini cocktail and Fruity Sangrias cocktails bottles littered all over the room as they drank into stupor. Luckily, a home theatre sound-surround system was available and Elroy manned it with expertise.
Outside, the State Security Service (SSS) and some CTAN field agents with many other security agencies like the DSS, the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) and the state police force were rounding off all the personnel in the huge building and carting them away in armored personnel carrier trucks.
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