Beyond the Computer

03. The Argument

"There is no way that someone other than a human, killed her," argued the directer, of the CIA. "A monster, really? That is just not possible. Haven't your mother ever told you that there were no such thing as monsters." Agent Berslin walked by his side and into his office.

"That's what Doctor Roe said," clarified Berslin. "I can't argue with the facts. This is our case. You step out of it."

"I order you to quit this case! This is the CIA's case! Invictus will have no authority or involve with this case any further!" yelled the directer.

"You listen here!"  bellowed Berslin. "If it is something other than a living human being, it is not the CIA's case!"

"Well, it's not Invictus' case either! There is no signs of 'technology' or 'hacking' involved with this!"

"Well, then," blurted Berslin, again. "Maybe this should just be the FBI's case! If neither of us are going to take it, we may as well through it out the window and forget about it!"

"Now you stop there!" boomed the directer. "You had nothing to do with any of these cases, EVER! The CIA, ME, Let's Invictus share the same tools, SO we are in charge of you. We didn't have to let you guys steal all of out cases! I guess 'unconquered' with be conquered and defeated!"

"Oh, now you stop here RIGHT NOW! Don't say that! It is because of us, who saved the stock market from being hacked! It was us, that saved a virus from the president's computer! It was us who can do anything!"

"Anything that involves computers! Who was it who saved endless amount of lives in the past thirty-years!? Who was it would risks their lives every single day!? Who does real jobs that doesn't mean looking at a computer for every stinking DAY!!!??? US, US, US, US!"

"This is OUR case! The FBI will have nothing to do with this case! It is either US or nothing at ALL!" Berslin stood up and looked the directer in the eye. "You got it!?"

"FINE! The CIA will not work with your STUPID team any longer! THIS is now OUR case. You will not have this case any longer! TO the CIA, 'Invictus' is no longer a part of the CIA, nor will it be every be in the future! Get out of my OFFICE! YOU ARE BANNED from this BUILDING! I will have to notify security to NEVER let you back in here!!"

"Fine!" Agent Berslin stormed out like a stampede of rhinos. Trickily, on the way out, Berslin grabbed the case file, and put it under his jacket.

Once Agent Berslin entered 'Invictus' headquarters, he called everyone in the building for a meeting. "Attention! We now do not have someone to support us, the CIA has left us! We are on our own! We do not have an autopsy room nor a body. We also only have two floors for headquarters, so we have to make do of what we have! The most important things are out skills. All of you guys have different and same set of skills! We have put what we know and get on with this case! Agents Leeana, Etta, Huxx, and I will be doing most of the work! We are agents! The CIA gave us badges and they didn't ask for them, probably because it says 'Invictus' on it, or they made a huge mistake! So we have to pretend that we are part of the CIA!"

"We will do anything to keep Invictus running, boss!" shouted Huxx proudly. "Even though everything is fake! We our the best computer geeks in the world, and we are okay at detective work."

"That is all!" The small group of people went back to their side of their room, while the four agents stayed where they were.

"What exactly happened?" queried Etta. "How did the CIA abandoned us?"

"Long story," lied Berslin, even though it was pretty short. "All I should say is that we had a little fight."

"More like a King Kong fight," corrected Huxx.

"Be quiet!" Agent Leeana elbowed Huxx in the rib.

"Ouch! What earth was that for?" 

"You know what!" Agent Leeana turned to Berslin. "What are we going to do now? We don't have the CIA's help."

"You are going to hack the CIA's file on this Jane Doe," said Berslin. "Agent Huxx will help you. He knows how to bypass software, and Agent Etta, knows how to hack and find files. Any other important information the CIA is hiding, we will know from those files."

Agent Leeana went back to her desk. "So, Agent Huxx how do I do this? Do I press this button?"

"No," said Huxx. "You don't really know much about hacking computers, do you?"

"Sort of?" said Leeana, making it a half question, half statement.

"Okay, time for a refresher. First, you have to find a reliable code. Now what works for me, is HTML, JavaScript, Java, CSS, and C++.  Second, you have to know your target. The CIA has a difficult password to get through. Use a nix terminal for commands. It will help emulate a nix for Windows users, which the CIA uses because that's the best software to use for holding large amounts of data. Just type in some code to bypass their security, there. That's how you do it. Now, this is where agent Etta comes in with her binary expertise."

Agent Etta went over the Leeana's desk, and pushed Agent Huxx to the side. "So, Agent Leeana, all you need to know is how to read binary. Always 1s and 0s in groups of eight. Spacing counts as another eight. All spaces are 00100000. All you have to do is find the word' password' in this amount of 1s and 0s. Here is a list of the alphabet code." Agent Etta put the sheet of paper with the code on Leanna's desk.

"Stop teaching her how to do that," said Huxx. "All you need to know is how you code. Binary is just another extra thing to learn."

"You think so?" pleaded Etta.

"I know so," boasted Huxx.

"I have hacked the CIA's files for several years and It's hard. But they haven't even noticed."

"Wait," interrupted Agent Leeana. "If the CIA supported you guys for who knows how long, why was there a need for hacking them? Hacking is illegal."

"Not necessarily," corrected Etta. "The CIA knew that we were working for them, so we are basically helping them, by hacking."

"What? How is hacking helping them?" interrupted Agent Leeana, looking up from her computer.

"By solving their cases. But now the CIA refuses to help us."

"So, we are taking it for our advantage," conceded Huxx. "Nothi-"

"I did it!" shouted Agent Leeana.