The Prometheus Protocol

Chapter 10: Foundation

The neon sign outside the window buzzed like an angry fly. Bzzzt. Click. Bzzzt.

Elena hated that sound. She hated the smell of the room, which was like old wet towels and stale smoke. She hated the peeling yellow wallpaper. Most of all, she hated that this was her life now.

Three days ago, she was the queen of the city. She had a penthouse, a limousine, and millions of dollars. Now, she was in room 204 of the Sunset Motel.

"Elena, please sit down," Jax said. He sat on the edge of the lumpy bed. His expensive suit was wrinkled. He looked ten years older than he did last week. "We are out on bail. We are lucky to be here."

Elena did not sit. She paced back and forth on the stained carpet. Her hair was messy. Her eyes were wide and red. She looked like a trapped animal.

"Lucky?" she snapped. She pointed a shaking finger at the door. "They took my company, Jax! They froze my accounts. The news calls me a fraud. I have nothing."

"We have our freedom," Jax whispered. "Let’s just run. We can go to a country without extradition."

"No," Elena hissed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a cheap, plastic prepaid phone. "I am not running. I am fighting."

Jax stood up, his face pale. "What are you doing? Elena, the police are watching us."

"They are watching my old phone. Not this one." She dialed a number. Her fingers pressed the buttons hard. "I still have one favor left. The Black-Hat group. They owe me."

She put the phone to her ear. "It is me. Listen. I want you to do it now. Yes, him. Ronan. Hack his new accounts. He just short-sold Lumina. He has billions in cash sitting there. Steal it. Steal it all."

*****

Across the city, the air was clean and cold.

Ronan stood in the center of a massive, empty floor. The smell here was different. It smelled of fresh paint, new carpet, and money.

He was on the top floor of the Apex Tower. He had bought the building that morning. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass walls, he looked down at the street. Far below, the Lumina office building looked tiny. It looked like a toy house.

"This is better," Ronan said to the empty room.

A blue light shimmered in the air next to him. His Golden Finger, the System AI, manifested as a floating holographic screen.

"Office acquisition complete," the mechanical voice said. "Recruitment emails have been sent to the top fifty engineers in the country. Seventeen have already replied."

"Good," Ronan said. He walked to a long, white desk—the only piece of furniture in the room. He opened his laptop. "We need the best team to build the new platform. Lumina is dead. We are the future."

Suddenly, the blue light turned angry red. A loud siren wailed in Ronan’s mind.

WARNING. WARNING.

"Report," Ronan said calmly.

"intrusion detected," the System said. The voice was faster now. "Multiple access attempts on your offshore bank accounts. Source: Black-Hat Sector. They are using a brute-force algorithm. They are trying to bypass the firewall."

Ronan watched the screen. Numbers scrolled down like a waterfall. His money was the target.

"They are fast," Ronan noted. "Is it Elena?"

"Tracing..." The screen showed a map of the city. A red line snaked through the streets. "Confirmed. The command came from a mobile signal in the Sunset Motel. But the hacking is coming from a server farm in the East District."

Ronan’s eyes went cold. They were not just trying to beat him; they were trying to rob him.

"Do not just block them," Ronan ordered. "Teach them a lesson."

"Instruction unclear," the AI replied.

"Overload their system," Ronan said. "Send a power surge back through their connection. Fry their servers. Melt their hard drives."

"Affirmative."

On the holographic screen, a bar filled up. counter-attack initiating.

*****

In a dark basement across town, five hackers sat around a cluster of powerful computers. The fans hummed loudly.

"We are in!" one of them shouted. "I see the funds. Billions. We just need to transfer..."

Suddenly, the screens flickered. The hum of the fans turned into a high-pitched scream.

"What is happening?"

"Heat spike! The temperature is rising!"

POP!

A spark flew from the main server. Then another. Smoke poured out of the vents. The monitors turned bright white, then exploded outward in a shower of glass and sparks.

"Pull the plug! Pull it!"

It was too late. The smell of burning plastic filled the room. The expensive equipment was now just melted junk.

*****

Back in the Apex Tower, the red light faded back to a calm blue.

"Threat neutralized," the System said. "Enemy hardware destroyed. No funds were lost. I have also pinpointed Elena’s exact GPS location at the motel. Should I send the data to the police?"

"No," Ronan said. He closed his laptop. "Let her suffer in fear for a while. Poverty is a worse punishment for her than prison."

He walked away from the desk and returned to the giant window. The city lights twinkled below him like diamonds. He felt the power humming in his veins. He had money, technology, and the ultimate weapon.

"I am done hiding," Ronan said to the reflection in the glass. "I am done playing games in the dark."

He looked out at the skyline. He was the king of this jungle now.

"Let them come," he whispered.

Just then, a tiny red dot appeared on his chest.

It was small, no bigger than a coin. It sat perfectly still over his heart. A laser sight.

Ronan saw the red dot in the window’s reflection. He froze.

Somewhere out there, in one of the dark buildings across the city, a sniper was watching him. A finger was on a trigger. One squeeze, and it would be over.

Most men would have screamed. Most men would have dived to the floor.

Ronan did not flinch.

He slowly raised his hand. He placed his palm against the glass, right where the red dot was shining.

He stared out into the darkness, locking eyes with the invisible killer. A slow smirk curled on his lips.

Tap. Tap.

His ring clicked against the window pane. "Bulletproof," he said softly.

The red dot lingered for a second, shaking slightly, then vanished.

Ronan kept smiling. The game had truly begun.