Operation Iotopia 1l411

Operation IoTopia

Bruce Allsman

All of the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Operation IoTopia Copyright © 2021 by Bruce Allsman All Rights Reserved Published by Bruce Yeoh No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18

Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39

Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60

Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 About the Author Books by Bruce Allsman

Chapter 1

GARY ANG SWORE THAT it was time to say goodbye to his well-paid job forever. It was also time to re his group of hacker friends because soon they may need his help to foil his soon-to-be ex-boss's evil plan. He started the installation of the company's security app on his smartphone and glanced at the time. It was already 11:33 p.m. He must act soon. He swiveled his chair around and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the dark scene outside. From his corner office on the top floor of IoTopia Berhad's iconic white building, the lights lining the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge, the Penang Second Bridge looked like a dragon's curving tail. Perched on the hilltop, the office building was only six stories tall, but six more floors penetrated deep under the peak. Soon he will gain access to the deepest floor. As planned, he had been working late as always, a routine he had formed for years to prepare for this final moment. Now alone in his office, hunched over the keyboard and dual computer monitors, he had waited until everyone had gone home before carrying out his exit plan. After deleting all his e-mails and private folders from the servers, there was only one thing left to do. He watched as the app completed its installation on his smartphone. Then he slid it into his black cargo pants side pocket, took his laptop, his portable hard drive, and headed toward the elevator lobby. He pressed the button to summon the elevator and it came within seconds. He stepped inside and used the app he had just installed to access the lowest level, B6. The app worked without a hitch. When the elevator door slid open at B6, he headed straight to the servers room, a glass enclosed room. Its thick glass door was secured with an electronic lock. He used the same app to unlock the door and stepped inside. He went to the main computer terminal and used the app, through a Bluetooth connection, to to the database system. Then having gained access to the top security level database, he plugged in his portable hard drive and began copying folders of encrypted files from the database to his hard drive. He glanced at the time on his smartphone. Nearly twenty minutes had elapsed since he started the copying process. It was taking much longer than he

expected. Nevertheless, he was sure his unauthorized access to the database system wouldn't be tracked by the system's AI program or activity log since he had spoofed them. In the end the copying took nearly an hour. After that, hurriedly, he left the servers room for his car, parked in the basement at level B1. He placed his laptop and portable hard drive on the front enger seat, and drove calmly out of the building's compound, past the two security guards who said goodnight to him. They knew him and his habits. He was always working late, the last to leave. Tonight was no exception. He drove on, but not too fast and as soon as he had gone round a bend, he sped down the hill. Sensing the need to do an urgent task right away, he stopped at a scenic view parking area where he was sure that the location would have adequate 5G signal for his purpose. Using his smartphone and laptop, he connected to the Internet. He plugged in the portable hard drive to his laptop. Within seconds, he ed the most important encrypted file to his personal cloud storage and quickly got back on the road, speeding away from the hilltop office as fast as he could. They will come for him now, he knew.

Chapter 2

AS HIS SILVER AUDI TT coupé charged down the winding road, its tires squealing in the night, Gary gripped the steering wheel, focused, trying his best not to crash into the hillside wall of rocks or tumble into the deep ravine. For the first time, he had to rely on his driving skills to save his life. Fortunately, no cars or other vehicles were coming up the hill at this hour of the night, and he alone was going down the hill, using the only road, a private road that led up to the office of IoTopia Berhad, fort-like on a hilltop. Seconds later, when he took another turn along the winding road, he noticed behind him white beams of light, definitely the large headlights of another vehicle. Damn. Where did it come from? So, he wasn't alone after all. The vehicle must be huge. And powerful too. It wasn't the usual company security patrol car. Who could it be? Although inching closer behind him, the vehicle didn't attempt to overtake. He realized it was following him, possibly waiting for the right time and place to force him off the road. He knew what they wanted from him. He mustn't let them get his laptop and portable hard drive. What to do if he can't get away? He should have a backup plan, in case he lost the laptop and portable hard drive. Earlier, he had just enough time to the most important file to his own cloud storage. He must do one other thing now. He must get that file into the hands of someone he could trust, and he knew precisely who, the only person able to decrypt the file's contents, Din Kamal. Using his right hand to steady the steering wheel, he pulled out his smartphone with his left hand. With voice recognition and auto-task execution, he composed a text message with a link to the ed file in his cloud storage. He recalled Din's phone number from memory because, for security reasons, it wasn't in his s list. After sending the text message, he felt relieved, certain that Din will know what to do with the encrypted file. He slid the smartphone back into his cargo pants pocket and continued to race down the hill. When he reached the base of the hill, he decided quickly what to do and headed toward Lebuhraya Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu, the expressway that will lead him to the Penang Second Bridge. Within seconds, he was on the expressway, speeding past the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone Phase 4. Glancing at the rear view mirror, he saw that the vehicle, a black SUV, was still a short distance behind

him. He planned to drive over to the mainland. After getting across the bridge, he hoped to get away from them over there, as there will be many roads to disappear into, roads that led to places such as Butterworth, Bukit Mertajam, Nibong Tebal, and other towns in Seberang Perai, Kedah, or even Perak. He pushed down on the gas pedal, checked the rear view mirror, and saw that the black SUV had sped up too. And it was starting to get closer and closer when he entered the long bridge. He pumped the gas pedal, and his Audi roared, surging forward along the first span of the well-lit bridge. Seconds later, the black SUV came up close behind him, nudging his rear bumper several times. He raced ahead, but the black SUV kept on his tail. It swerved from left to right and back again several times, trying get alongside him. Damn. They wanted to force him off the bridge. He sped past the bridge's middle span, pushing his Audi near its maximum speed. But the black SUV kept coming, gradually making headway, first on his left and then on his right, its engine's roar deafening. In response, he pulled back and raced ahead again and again, in tandem with the SUV, and he swerved repeatedly to avoid being slammed against the bridge's low side wall. At such a high speed, one direct hit would be enough to send him tumbling into the sea. The black SUV edged over to his right side. He eased to the left, inching dangerously close to the sea below. Glancing at the side view mirror, he saw the SUV's window being rolled down. A hand stuck out with a gun, and fired off a couple of shots. The bullets slammed into his car, shattering the rear window, but he didn't slow down. The black SUV rammed his right side repeatedly, forcing him closer to the low wall that separated the road from the sea below. Then the left side of his car grazed the concrete wall. Sparks flew as the Audi screeched. He jerked the steering wheel in the opposite direction and raced on. Just when he had crossed the third and final span, almost reaching the other side of the bridge, he lost control of the steering. His Audi spun in circles, its tires smoking on the bridge's tarmac. Still spinning wildly, the Audi's rear end crashed into the side wall, hitting a lamppost. The lamppost tottered and fell onto the road, almost slicing the Audi in half. The Audi screeched to an abrupt halt, its front end jutting, teetering over

the edge of the low wall. The dark sea loomed before him. He glanced around, trying to find his laptop and portable hard drive, but he was unable to find them. Shit. He must get out of the car soon, before it dragged him down into the sea. He unfastened the seat belt, kicked the door open, and dived toward the dark waters below. Within seconds, he plunged into the cold water. Blinded by the cloud of mud, he kicked vigorously, and rose to the surface. They wouldn't be able to see him in this darkness. He looked around and found himself near the mangrove swamps of Batu Kawan. Looking up, he saw that his Audi was still stuck on the bridge. Then he turned, swam toward the muddy banks, and crawled out to hide among the dense grove of mangrove trees. Reaching down, he checked his cargo pants pockets. Fuck. He had lost his smartphone. He checked his wallet. Fortunately, it was still in his right pocket. He guessed he could still use his credit cards. Too bad he had lost his laptop and portable hard drive. Anyway he was glad to escape unhurt. He supposed they won't be able to find him in the dark grove of mangrove trees. Nevertheless, he will have to find a way out, hide in a safe place, and Din for help.

Chapter 3

ONLY A MINUTE EARLIER, when Zain gave the order, one of his men, Kevin, had fired a couple of shots at the silver Audi TT coupé. And Zain chuckled as he watched the Audi swerving like an injured animal in pain and fear. He steadied the steering wheel of his black Mazda CX-5 and continued to dog the Audi. After easing into position one more time, he jerked the steering wheel, and the Mazda CX-5 rammed into the side of the Audi again. The Audi veered to the edge of the bridge, scraping the low concrete wall, its screech piercing the still night. Sensing an impending disaster, he eased back on the gas pedal and watched the Audi expectantly. Seconds later it happened. From a safe distance behind, he watched as the Audi spun several times and slammed against a lamppost. When the lamppost came crashing down, he floored the brake pedal and halted at about ten yards away from the Audi. He grinned, amused to see that the Audi had jutted over the edge of the low concrete wall, its front end tilting down at an angle. He watched and waited for the crippled Audi to stabilize, so that he could go retrieve the required objects. The door at the driver's side swung open. A head emerged. He gestured his two men, Kevin and Kang, to lower their guns. His instructions were to retrieve the stolen data, not kill the thief. He will deal with the thief later. He watched as the thief climbed out of the car, apparently unhurt, clinging to the open door, hanging above the sea below. A moment later, the man was gone. Zain frowned. What a brave idiot. The thief had jumped. The moron will probably drown. Zain stepped out of the black Mazda CX-5 and his two men followed. With him leading the way, the three of them strode toward the Audi, teetering on the edge of the bridge. The broken lamppost had landed close to the Audi, its power cables sparking, blocking the single motorcycle lane. He was relieved that it didn't obstruct the other two vehicle lanes. He sniffed the night air. No scent of any spilled gas. Good. The last thing he wanted was a fire. When they reached the crippled Audi, they fanned out to examine the wreck. He scanned the driver's seat. No blood. Motherfucker. An uninjured man would be harder to track down than an injured man. Never mind. Deal with the bastard

later. He searched under the front seats and found what he was looking for, a laptop and a portable hard drive. Far away in the distance, a siren wailed and its volume grew louder by the second. He gestured his two men to move it. Kevin grabbed the laptop while Kang retrieved the portable hard drive. They got into their SUV, sped away, and drove past the expressway's emergency service car that came toward them from the opposite lane of the bridge. They didn't stop him, so he didn't slow down as he headed toward Batu Kawan. While Zain drove, Kevin, sitting beside him, examined the laptop and the portable hard drive. Kevin told him that both items were not, in any way, damaged. He nodded. Good, his employer would be pleased. It was time to make the call. With his Bluetooth earpiece, he initiated an encrypted voice call using a special app provided by his employer. As soon as the call was connected, his employer asked, "Zain, what's the status report?" "I have the laptop and portable hard drive." "Good, what about the thief?" "He got away." "How?" "He jumped off the bridge, probably hiding somewhere in Batu Kawan by now." "Find him, bring him in, I want him alive, unhurt." "Yes, boss." "But first, give me the laptop and portable hard drive. Where are you now?" "I'm on the Second Bridge, nearing Batu Kawan." "Meet me at Teluk Tempoyak in half an hour." "Yes, boss."

Zain did a U-turn at the end of the bridge and headed back toward Penang island.

Chapter 4

NED ONG SLOWED HIS black Lamborghini Urus to a stop at the base of the hill where his office building, IoTopia Tower, stood overlooking the Penang Second Bridge and its surrounding areas. Minutes earlier, after being alerted by electronic sensors in his office building, he had left Allison's home at The Light condominium and sped toward his office. He realized it was too late for him to intercept Gary, but it didn't matter because Zain will handle the problem. Zain would carry out the assigned task, that is, to retrieve whatever Gary had stolen and bring the thief in for questioning. He believed in Zain. He had hired a professional to solve most of his problems that required drastic action, usually involving some form of violence. Zain and his two assistants, Kevin and Kang, would never let him down. His million ringgit retainer fee had ensured their absolute loyalty. Although Zain usually worked on a freelance contract basis, he had managed to retain the mercenary's services for some years now. Less than three hours ago, before leaving for Allison's home, he had pondered over the security issues in his company. For a long time, he had suspected Gary of planning to abscond with his company's top secret plans. Sensing the impending theft, he had ed Zain to keep an eye on Gary who was working late at the office and to follow Gary as soon as he leaves the office. Minutes earlier, Zain had texted to inform him that Gary had left the building. Zain will do his job well. No one can elude Zain. Not even Gary. Gary had worked with his company, IoTopia Berhad, for six years. The young man had been reliable and trustworthy, and he had entrusted Gary with some of the most important secrets of his groundbreaking inventions. Fortunately, only a few of them, not all. But this theft was too serious to ignore. He figured Gary wouldn't act out of greed, but of something else. All these years, he had paid Gary very well, up to nearly three quarters of a million ringgit a year, excluding the annual bonus which was a million ringgit last year. Now, why would Gary steal from him? One of the possible reasons he could think of was revenge. No, he never had any problems with Gary, and he had done a careful background check on the man before employing him. And he had no past conflicts with Gary's loved ones or friends. Except one friend. But his motive wouldn't be revenge. Maybe espionage. Gary could be in cahoots with a local vigilante hacker group headed by Din Kamal, his longtime frenemy.

Din Kamal. Yes. He knew Din and his ragtag hacker group, the Grey Hat Hackers Alliance. Years ago, he was a founding member. In fact, in its early days he had helped Din build the group from scratch, within three years. Then he had left to start his own business, because he desired a better future. Well, there were also other personal issues with the group, but he pushed those uncomfortable thoughts out of his mind. His smartphone rang. Recognizing the designated ringtone, he answered the call immediately. "Zain, what's the status report?" he asked. When Zain told him what had happened, he smiled, pleased that Zain had recovered the stolen laptop and portable hard drive. But Gary had escaped. Never mind, for now. He told Zain to bring Gary in later, unharmed. After that, he told Zain to meet him at Teluk Tempoyak in half an hour and ended the call. He started his black Lamborghini Aventador and headed toward their meeting place. He drove without any hurry, his black car gliding along the deserted road in the early hours of the morning. Zain should be there well before him. Relieved and pleased, he looked forward to recovering the laptop and portable hard drive. After climbing the low hill effortlessly, he went down the steep slope into Teluk Tempoyak, a secluded area by the sea, formerly a Malay fishing village with a seafront hawker center, both abandoned now due to an impending land reclamation project. Seeing Zain's black Mazda CX-5 parked at the edge of the promenade, he drove toward it and stopped alongside, aligning his window close to the driver's side of the black Mazda. There was no need for him to get down from his car. He wouldn't want to do that. The window of the black Mazda began rolling down, and he rolled down his too. Without saying a word, Zain handed to him the laptop and portable hard drive. He put them on the seat beside him. "Thank you, Zain." "What about Gary Ang?" Zain asked. "Find him, don't hurt him. Take him to the safe house and keep him there." Zain nodded. "I believe he's hiding somewhere in Batu Kawan. If he still has his smartphone, I'll be able to track him down easily."

"Good, call me when you have him." Zain nodded again, rolled up the window, and drove away. Ned glanced at the time. He knew it wouldn't take Zain long to capture Gary and take him to the safe house. Three hours at most. Satisfied that he had recovered the laptop and portable hard drive, he couldn't shake off another bad feeling. What if Gary had ed some of the top secret files somewhere? He knew that Gary, an extremely careful person, would have ed at least some of the more important files to a cloud storage and also probably texted a link to someone else, maybe to Din Kamal.

Chapter 5

IN THE EARLY HOURS of the morning in an apartment at Desa Permai Indah in Gelugor, Penang, Din Kamal and his wife, Elena Gan, were preparing to go to bed. As freelance cybersecurity consultants, they had just returned from their client's office in Plaza MWE, George Town after carrying out exhaustive penetration testing for more than twelve long hours. When they slipped into bed, Din turned to give Elena a goodnight wish and a kiss. Then a message notification tone from his smartphone on the night stand caught his attention. Who could it be at this hour? Maybe it was a spam message, a notice from the telco, or from a bank? Usually he would ignore such trivial notifications, but this time he sensed that it was important. Without getting up from the bed, he reached for his smartphone and checked the message. It was from an unknown number, but he recognized the sender's name in the message, Gary Ang. Gary was an old friend he hadn't heard from for a long time, at least five years. Something had happened. He sat up in bed. "What's the matter?" Elena asked, turning to face him. "Don't know yet," he said. "I'll handle it." He stared at the text message on his smartphone and recalled that Gary, a brilliant coder, was a member of his vigilante hacker group six or seven years ago and had left to Ned's company. Ned was lucky to have him and must have paid him a lot of money then and probably more now. Two decades ago Ned was a member of the hacker group too but had left to start his own business. Over the years Ned's company had grown into a huge conglomerate, IoTopia Berhad. And Gary had sent him this mysterious text message. Why, after all these years? The line of text was obviously a URL to a file. Why would Gary send that? He hadn't heard from his old friend for years. Why the sudden ? The matter could be related to Ned. That file must be important. Did Gary just asked him for help? Is Gary in trouble with Ned? There was only one way to find out. But first, he'll need to the file. Careful not to wake Elena, he got up gently from the bed, padded out of the bedroom, and went into the next room, their home office. Of the six laptops in

there, he used the one designated for s and retrieved the file within seconds. Then he called the phone that was used by Gary to send him the link to the file. There was no ringing tone. All he got was a voice notification that the number he had dialed could not be reached. It seemed the phone was switched off or dead. He put his phone down on the table and decided to try again later. He turned his attention to the ed file, a compressed file in 7-zip format. At first, he was unable to decompress the file because 7-zip had asked for a . Without a second thought, he ran his cracker software and executed a command to crack the file. This shouldn't take long, at most a minute. He sat back and waited. After exactly fifty-six seconds, he opened the 7-zip file, but he was surprised to find that it contained a binary file. He checked the properties of the binary file. It wasn't a program for any operating system. So it had to be an encrypted data file. Unable to ascertain its file type, he knew that this time it wouldn't be that easy to uncover its contents. Even with a binary editor, the contents wouldn't make any sense to him unless he knew its structure. He would need Gary's help. He dialed the number again, but he got the same voice notification. What had happened to Gary? Worried about his old friend, he couldn't go back to sleep, so he sat and waited in his office, unable to decide what to do next. Furthermore, he couldn't trace the location of Gary's smartphone. Meanwhile, he continued to think of ways to decrypt the mysterious binary file. Twenty minutes later, his smartphone rang. It was from an unknown land line. Without a moment's hesitation, he answered the call. It was Gary, calling from a budget hotel in Batu Kawan. Gary needed his help to get away from there and seemed worried. He told Gary that he would be there soon. Gary ended the call, and he turned toward the doorway, finding Elena standing there watching him. "What's the matter dear?" she asked. "I have to go to Batu Kawan now," he told her. "A friend is in trouble." "Serious trouble?"

"I don't know yet." "Want me to go with you?" "No, you stay here, in case I need your help." "All right, just be careful," she said and went back to the bedroom. Quickly, he put on a black long-sleeved T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and packed a laptop, one designated for such emergencies, into a backpack. Then he grabbed the key to his silver Proton Saga.

Chapter 6

MEANWHILE, IN A TINY hotel room at Batu Kawan, Gary Ang lay in bed, resting and waiting for Din. A clock high on the wall opposite the bed showed 1:31 a.m., but he didn't feel sleepy at all, probably due to the after-effects of an adrenaline rush. After trudging out of the mangrove coast, it had taken him some time to find a hotel, but he finally found one that suited his requirements, a nondescript low occupancy budget hotel that occupied the corner lot of a three story shophouse. At the reception desk, a young Chinese man with a resting smile face had refused to accept his wet cash but had insisted that he pay in advance for the night's stay. Fortunately, he could still use one of his credit cards. He had just showered and was wearing only a bath towel around his waist. His clothes were still wet. After rinsing them in the bathroom sink, he had hung them out in the bathroom to dry. Even his shoes were soggy with the muddy sea water. He had left them in the cramped shower stall, after running water all over them to wash out the mud. The hotel provided him with a pair of cheap flip-flops. His smartphone, he recalled, was lost. So, he had called Din using the hotel's phone out in the corridor. He hoped Din will be here soon. Glad that Din still ed him, he wondered whether his old friend would trust him. It had been six or seven years since he left the group. And he was sure Din will also that he had left to Ned Ong. Looking back, he realized that leaving Din and his white hat hacker group was a mistake. During his early years working for Ned, he thought he would be helping Ned to build a better world. And Ned's company, IoTopia Berhad, did indeed help to improve the world with its innovative AI applications, at first. Ned was ambitious, had always been, and will always be who he is. For the past few years, however, when the company delved deeper into the Internet of Things, he sensed that Ned might be crossing the line, working toward something more diabolical than merely amassing his wealth. Like most already wealthy men, Ned craved for power and influence. Even though the share of profits wasn't as good, he should have stayed with Din, an honest man of high principles. Service with integrity. Din's code of conduct. Committed to building a more secure cyberspace, Din and his group of white hat

hackers were guided by their love for humanity, not wealth. Of course, they did earn much money too, but it was only a tiny fraction of what self-made billionaire, Ned Ong, made in a year. Wealth didn't matter to them as long as they were satisfied that their cybersecurity services had protected many businesses from being hacked by black hat hackers. There was a soft knock at the door. Gary glanced at the clock. Nearly an hour had elapsed since he made the call, a reasonable amount of time for Din to get here because he was aware that Din and his wife, Elena, stayed on the island at Gelugor. Surely, it must be Din. He was glad Din hadn't wasted any time. He got up from the bed, tightened the large white towel around his waist and padded to the door. When he reached the door, he hesitated. What if it wasn't Din? What if it was that pimp he had seen earlier in the hotel lobby? Those guys were always trying to get customers for their whores. He had heard ages ago that they would often wait until some guy had settled in a room before coming over to offer sexual services. He padded toward the door, stopped when he reached it, and peeked through the peephole. As if his eye was pierced by a nail, he jerked his head away, his heart pounding. Shit! Not the pimp. And definitely not Din. Before he could do anything, the flimsy wooden door burst open, shoving him backward. He fell on his back on the carpeted floor. Although dizzy from the fall, he was aware of the immediate danger. When he struggled to get up, the towel around his waist slipped off. Recognizing the big man towering above him, he said, "Zain." He knew that Zain and his two apes solved human relations problems for the company. Or to put it bluntly, they did all the dirty work at Ned's behest. Before he could get up, Zain reached down, pulled him up, and twisted his right arm behind his back. He groaned, wincing in pain. Naked and vulnerable, he pleaded, "Zain, please let me put on my clothes. They're in the bathroom." The first time he said that, Zain ignored him. So, he said it again. At that moment, he couldn't care less if his clothes were still soggy. Instead of shoving him into the bathroom, Zain turned him around to face the wide open doorway. Seeing him naked, Zain's two goons snickered. "Sure, you'll get your clothes," Zain told him.

The two goons entered the room, and Zain released him to one of them, who grabbed hold of him swiftly, and twisted his right arm behind his back. The pain caused him to stumble but the man pulled him upright. Zain told the other man to get his clothes in the bathroom, and then they took him down to the hotel lobby. The young Chinese man at the reception desk pretended not to see them. Gary figured it was no use calling out for help. Zain would have either threatened or bribed the man. Leaving the hotel through its front entrance, they took him to the black SUV parked at the curb. Although he still felt dizzy, he was fully aware of the situation as he slid into the back seat, flanked by the two men. He asked for his clothes, and they were dumped onto his lap. Hurriedly, he put on his black boxers, cargo pants, and Tshirt. Damn, they didn't get his shoes. Never mind, he thought as he felt the flipflops on his bare feet. After that he turned his head this way and that, looking out the windows, sizing up his predicament. He spotted the bright headlights of a lone car approaching in the distance. It could be Din. He noticed that Zain, behind the wheel, must have seen it too, because the big man sped off immediately. Gary watched as the lone car began to chase them. He shook his head. That car couldn't possibly catch up with Zain's high powered car, especially on this wide road leading straight to the North-South Expressway. "Where are you taking me?" he demanded but nobody answered him. After a short while, he asked again, louder this time. "Time to shut him up," Zain said to one of his goons. Gary felt a prick on his neck and turned to see a syringe, its contents of clear fluid being pumped into him. Within seconds, he could no longer see or hear much of anything, and everything faded to black.

Chapter 7

WHEN DIN SAW THE BLACK SUV speeding away from the budget hotel, he realized that he was too late. For a fleeting moment, he thought he saw Gary in the back seat sandwiched between two men. The SUV was the only car parked in front of the budget hotel, and it seemed to be in a hurry to get away. Now it was moving fast, heading toward the main road and possibly on to the expressway. At this time, still early in the morning, there wasn't any traffic at all to impede its rapid progress. Din pumped the gas pedal and gripped the steering wheel as his Proton Saga surged after the SUV with a roar. Accelerating continuously, Din's Proton crept closer to the black SUV. He surmised that it was heading south, maybe intending to take the expressway leading toward Ipoh, but he couldn't see clearly the occupants of the SUV. Cautiously, he increased the pressure on the gas pedal. The steering wheel shuddered as he inched nearer to the SUV. Seconds later, from a short distance behind, aided by the bright street lights, he could see clearly the men in the SUV. There were four of them, the driver up front and three in the back, Gary flanked by two men. Although he hadn't seen Gary for some years, he could still his hacker friend. Gary's head lolled against the backrest. Unconscious? Or had they killed him? No. If Gary was dead, his body would be in the trunk. They wanted Gary alive. Probably taking him somewhere. He must rescue Gary. If he rammed the SUV, forced it to stop, he might be able to get Gary out. It wouldn't be easy to deal with the three men, but he could try. He realized he wouldn't have much time. He must intercept the black SUV before it ed through the toll booth leading into the north-south expressway. The SUV might not need to stop at the toll booth at all. If equipped with a RFID tag, it would only need to slow down while ing through the designated RFID lane. He, however, will need to stop to use his Touch ‘n Go card. If he can't block the SUV before it reaches the toll booth, his under-powered 1.3 liter Proton Saga will not be able to pursue the more powerful SUV along the expressway. Din floored the gas pedal, but he knew it was useless. He was too far behind, too slow, and too late. As if taunting him, the black SUV slowed down just a little to let him get closer. Then it shot toward the RFID lane and eased through the

narrow ageway into an access road leading straight into the expressway. Coming up too fast behind the SUV, Din slammed on the brakes. He wouldn't be able to go through the RFID lane because the barrier will not rise, so he swerved into the adjacent toll booth for Touch ‘n Go card s. After scanning his Touch ‘n Go card, he went after the black SUV, but he knew he would lose it. Its red tail lights were slowly fading away into the night. He stepped on the gas pedal, straining his car beyond the speed limit, but the SUV soon disappeared from sight. He eased back on the gas pedal, since it was no use continuing with the chase. There was no way he could tail the SUV any longer. It would probably disappear through one of the many exit points along the northsouth expressway all the way to Ipoh, and he wouldn't know which one it had taken. He will find a way to rescue Gary. What could he do now? Nothing else except one thing. His car's dashcam had recorded the black SUV throughout the pursuit. He had activated it when he started. First, check out the video and get the black SUV's license plate. After that he could trace its owner. He parked at a rest stop near Juru, transferred the video from the dashcam to his laptop. He viewed the recorded footage and found the SUV's license plate. After connecting to his smartphone's 5G network, he did a remote into his home server. Once logged in, he ran a backdoor hack, got into JPJ's online database system, and searched for the details of the black SUV. It was ed to a company's name, ZeeTech Enterprise Sdn. Bhd. He checked further, this time into the insurance records of the vehicle and found the company's owner, a man named Mohd Zain bin Daud. That was all he could find. He knew that people like Zain usually worked for someone wealthy and powerful, but who could Zain's employer be? Ned Ong? Maybe but he had to be sure. He needed more information. He will need access to more government databases and only one person in the world would be willing to help him. He glanced at the time. Even though it was late, he must her now.

Chapter 8

STILL PARKED AT THE Juru rest stop along the north-south expressway, Din disconnected from his home server and kept his laptop. He scanned the dimly lit area for other parked trucks, cars, or motorcycles, and particularly people. This early in the morning, there were none, but he kept his car doors locked as a precaution against any possible trouble, especially a robbery. He will need to Shila, his sister, the only person in the world who could and would help him with this kind of problem. He checked the time. It was late, past two in the morning, but he was sure she would still be awake. With his smartphone, using a customized video chat app with military grade encryption, he made the call. She had created that app years ago, and he had updates from her regularly. She developed the app so that they could communicate with absolute privacy, free from any hackers or government intervention. He waited for her to respond to his video chat request. A short while later, she responded. She was at home in her IT lab, sitting in front of her computer. She looked tired but was glad to see him. He knew that as chief investigator in the government's cybercrime division in Putrajaya, she was authorized to access classified information from all government databases of Malaysia, and possibly also access to shared databases among the ASEAN nations and the country's other allies, including INTERPOL databases. Definitely a huge cluster of big data sets. She will be able to find the information for him. Without further delay, he told her what had happened, from the moment he first received the text message from Gary until the last moment when the black SUV eluded him. She listened without interrupting him. After he finished, she told him she was shocked to hear about what had happened to Gary. He guessed she knew Gary too. Years ago she had told him that her department kept records of known hackers from all over the world, especially the ones living here in Malaysia. "Where are you now?" she asked. "Parked at a rest stop near Juru," he said. "Could you help me get everything you have on this guy? What I have is only a vehicle license plate number." "No problem, I'll do what I can," she said.

He gave her Zain's SUV license plate number, but he didn't give her Zain's company name or the man's name because he couldn't trust the JPJ information. "But Din, I can't do it right away," she said. "I can only do that kind of comprehensive search from my office computer. It has a direct link to the master servers. With AI software, the various data relations between many databases will be revealed, showing me more information." "It's all right," he said. "I can wait." "I'll be in my office around seven," she said. "It's late now. I need to sleep." "I understand," he said. "You should go home, get some rest too. I'll you later." "All right. I guess I need some sleep too." But as soon as he ended the call, he ed the file he had ed from the cloud earlier. It was in one of his laptops at home. Gary had given him a link to that file. Why? It must be a very important file. Curious and eager to see its contents, he must decrypt the binary file as soon as possible. He started his car and pulled out into the expressway. He drove on until he found the nearest exit and turned back toward Penang island. While driving without any haste, careful to keep close to the speed limit, he thought about all that had happened, especially about the file he had ed. It was important enough to get Gary into trouble with someone powerful, who wanted him taken alive. Why did Zain and his men kidnap him? Who hired Zain? And why? Zain, probably a mercenary, was obviously working for someone powerful. There must be some information in that file that could explain Gary's kidnapping. He will find out soon. Then he will go rescue Gary. These ruthless people will not think twice about committing murder, so he must hurry. His only worry was whether they will continue to keep Gary alive. And for how long?

Chapter 9

WHILE DRIVING BACK toward Penang island, Din kept thinking about the file he had ed from Gary. Not feeling tired or sleepy at all, he intended to resume working on the file right away as soon as he returned home. By the time he reached his apartment in Taman Batu Bukit, it was nearly three in the morning. "Elena," he said when he saw her, after he had closed and locked the front door. She was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading. She put away her ebook reader, rose from the couch, and went to hug him. "What took you so long?" she said. "I was so worried, I can't sleep. How did it go? Did you manage to meet Gary?" He shook his head and said, "I was too late. They took Gary away before I could reach him." "What?" she said. "Who took him? What happened?" They sat on the couch and he told her what had happened, about the chase beginning from the budget hotel in Batu Kawan until the final moment when he was parked at a rest stop in Juru. When he finished, she shook her head. "Do you need my help?" she asked. "Yes, but not now, you better go back to sleep," he said. "You're my backup, . I need you to be alert and ready, in case I'm down." "All right," she said. "But it's so late already. Aren't you coming to bed too? What do you intend to do now?" "I can't sleep yet," he said. "I guess I'm still too pumped up over the incident. I've to decrypt the file as soon as I can. It might help explain why they took Gary. He sent me a link to it earlier, and I had ed it before I went out." "I see," she said. "But don't stay up too late, okay?" She kissed him, got up from the couch, padded to the bedroom, and closed the door.

Din stepped into their home office along the narrow hallway, a short distance from the bedroom. He went straight to the third desk at the far corner of the room where he had placed the laptop for ing all files from the Internet, a designated computer equipped to handle any cyberattacks such as viruses and malware. Using the laptop, he re-examined the file from Gary. It was a 7z archive. Earlier, he had unzipped the archive, but all he could see was another file, without any file extension. It was a binary file. He knew he would have to spend more time on it before he could view its contents, which are possibly encrypted. He began his usual procedure to crack the encryption. But as he kept trying, he realized he wasn't getting any closer to his goal. Even with his many sophisticated hackers' programs, he couldn't crack the file after various attempts using different hacking software and techniques. Baffled, he stepped away from the laptop and paced about the room, pondering over this thorny problem. Who on earth would be capable of encrypting the file at such a high level of security? Could it be the government? Possible. Maybe someone else? Gary's employer? Perhaps. He knew Gary's present employer, IoTopia Berhad, a huge tech company in Penang, owned by Ned Ong, an exhacker associate from a long time ago. But where did Gary get this file? And from whom? If he could determine the file's owner, he might be able to find a way to decrypt it. Surely it must contain highly important information, otherwise Gary wouldn't have sent him the link. No matter what, he must crack this file, but he'll need help. He could ask his hacker group, but he felt that he shouldn't involve them at all. It could be dangerous. Whoever took Gary might come for them too. Besides, he felt he should trust and rely on only one person, for now. Shila. She would know what to do and how to do it. Her supercomputers would be capable of decrypting any file, although he wasn't sure whether she could use the government's resources to help him. Well, as long as their father didn't find out, she probably would help him, as always. Having decided his next course of action, he glanced at the round analog clock on the far wall. It showed half past three in the morning. Relieved and feeling a real need to sleep, he went to lie down on a long couch near the window. He closed his eyes and thought about the best way to send the file to Shila. Wait for

her to get into the office, he thought as he drifted off into deep sleep. Four hours later, when he opened his eyes, feeling refreshed, he checked the time. It was just past seven in the morning, and he heard Elena in the kitchen. When they ate breakfast at eight, he told her that he will need to go to Putrajaya to see his sister, Shila.

Chapter 10

AT PRECISELY 7:00 A.m. in a top secret government complex in Putrajaya, Shila clocked into her workplace. It occupied the entire floor at basement level N7, seven floors below the ground floor of a three story steel-reinforced concrete building, a government-funded AI software development company, a front for the Malaysian government's cybercrime division. The underground complex was also home to the country's most extensive Big data center. She would usually arrive at around seven, sometimes even earlier at six, a couple of hours before her team of six investigators clocked in at eight. She liked to get things done early in the morning, especially on those occasions when she was helping her brother, Din, unofficially of course. Today, the first thing she wanted to do was to find all information related to the vehicle license plate that Din had given her earlier this morning. She sat at a computer terminal in her spacious office and keyed in the search string. The search program started looking up all relevant data from JPJ. Within seconds, details of the vehicle and its owner appeared on her computer screen and she saved a copy of it as a PDF file on a USB flash drive. Her second step was to extend the search to other government databases, such as the police, military, health, education, and many others. She chose the police and military databases first. They should reveal the most important information about the owner of the vehicle. The extensive search will probably take some time, she figured. She got up from her seat at the computer terminal and walked over to the pantry to prepare a cup of coffee. A while later when she went back, she nearly spilled the hot coffee all over the keyboard when she saw the computer screen. A red warning message was displayed instead of a list of links to a wealth of information about the mystery man. She couldn't believe what had happened. Access denied! Why? She couldn't search the police and military databases for any information related to Zain. Baffled, she selected all the other databases to search, sat back, and waited. It didn't take long for the search status messages to appear, all denying her access. She realized what it meant. Other than basic information from the JPJ database, it seemed that Zain's details had been sealed by someone in the government. Who had sealed the information and why?

A few seconds later, as if in reply to her questions, the yellow phone on her desk rang. It was an internal call, from someone within the office building. She glanced at the time. 7:30 a.m. Only one person in the office would call her at this early hour. She picked up the receiver and just listened, and she wasn't surprised to hear the voice of the organization's top honcho, her father, Datuk Dr. Naza Kamal. As usual he sounded harsh toward her. Bluntly, he told her that he wanted to see her right away. She sighed and put down the receiver. She rode the secret express elevator up to the topmost floor. It was the most direct way to the director's office, bying the prying eyes of other employees. Besides, she didn't have to wait to see her father. When the elevator's door opened, she entered a short hallway that led toward a private side door to the director's office. The door wasn't locked. Entering the director's office immediately, she called out, "Ayah," addressing an imposing middle-aged man with a grim face seated behind a large desk set against the far wall. Datuk Dr. Naza Kamal, Director of Cybercrime Division, didn't bother to get up from his seat. He showed her his hard, unsmiling face. "Ayah, why so stern?" she asked, feeling a rebellious urge rising within her, but she knew that deep down he cared about her. "Shila, what have you been doing?" he asked. "Oh, the usual, working on a few ransomware cases." "No, I mean, what have you been doing early this morning?" "Nothing much, just preparing for a talk that I have to deliver later this week," she said, which she really did for a couple of minutes at her desk replying to emails from the organizers at the Heriot-Watt University Malaysia campus in precinct 5. "Don't tell me half-truths, Shila," he said. "I know what you were doing minutes earlier. You must not pursue your search any further." "Well, I can't now," she said and folded her arms across her chest. "My access was blocked. I don't understand why. I thought I have top level security clearance, access to every database in the country."

"Top level doesn't mean access to every piece of information," he said. "Some information is beyond top secret." "I suppose you know exactly what I was searching for?" "Yes, I certainly do." "So what can you tell me about this man called Zain?" she asked. "Sorry, I can't tell you because I don't know anything about the man," he said. "Besides, even if I know, for classified reasons, I can't tell you who he is, what his role is, and why his records are sealed. Anyway, I deleted your search log. As far as I'm concerned, you did not search for that person. No one must know. What I want to know is, why are you doing this?" "I'm working on a new case," she said. "No, you are not," he said. "Tell me the truth, Shila. What are you really doing? Is it for Din?" She sighed and said, "Yes, he needs my help." "Why?" "Din's hacker friend was taken by Zain." "I see," he said, steepling his fingers. "For a long time, I knew you had been helping your brother since you started working here. So far I kept my eyes closed, but this time I can't allow you access, for your own safety." "Why?" "Someone above my pay grade restricted access to the information." "Does that someone know that I had been prying?" she asked. "I hope not," he said. "They mustn't know you tried to access information about that man." "They?" she asked. "Who are they?"

Datuk Dr. Naza Kamal raised a finger to his closed lips and shook his head. To her it meant the end of their conversation, but she knew what to do next.

Chapter 11

AFTER SHE LEFT THE director's office, instead of returning to basement level N7, Shila walked down two flights of stairs to the ground floor and strode out the front door. She must Din, but she wouldn't do it inside the building because she knew they would be listening. If Father knew about her unofficial database search, some other high ranking staff in the organization might be aware too, and they would certainly be watching her. So, henceforth she must be on her guard when carrying out any requests from Din. As soon as she stepped out into the open, she walked over to a small park, a hundred yards to the west of the building. After finding a bench under the shade of a tree, she sat and pulled out her smartphone from her white hoodie's inner pocket. She dialed Din's number, careful to use her secure app through a telco's 5G network. Within seconds, Din answered her call. "Din, I couldn't get much information about Zain," she said. "How come?" he said. "My access was denied." "Oh, how much did you find out?" "All I got was the JPJ details, probably what you already have." "I see, but why access denied?" "I've a feeling that whoever Zain works for could be someone high up in the government or well connected with the government." "What to do now?" "Dad knows that I had been helping you out in the past. But this time I'm sorry Din, I couldn't help you." "It's all right, Shila," he said. "But I must find a way. I think Gary's life may be in danger. I must find out where they are holding Gary and go rescue him." "Din, maybe I can help you find a way," she said. "I'll call you back in a while."

She ended the call, closed her eyes, and sucked in deep breaths. The cool morning breeze soothed her. Recalling what she had said to Din just now, she regretted saying she couldn't help him. Din, ten years older, had helped her a lot during her teenage years. Socially awkward, she had spent most of her free time after school and during school holidays learning from him all about computers, networks, programming, electronics, and hacking. She devoured his extensive library of books and video tutorials. And she loved every minute of it. She even wanted to be like him when she grew up. She did but in a different way. Although Din had chosen not to follow in their father's footsteps, she respected his decision and knew why. He preferred to be independent, in control of his own future, rather than work for the government. Besides, he didn't trust authority figures. After graduating from USM in Penang, he started his own business as a computer security consultant. His clients, many multi-national companies based in Bayan Lepas, kept him busy for years. Since then he had trained and developed his own team of white hat hackers who helped with the contract work. As far as she was aware, his team were from all over Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak. She knew some of them. Although not part of the team, her role was, as an unpaid consultant, to conduct background research, usually on a case-by-case basis only, upon Din's specific request. She, on the other hand, had chosen to work for the government after attaining her PhD in computer science from UM in KL. She believed that in the government service she could do more good for the country. She will have access to the most powerful and extensive computing resources in the nation. With her knowledge and skills, she will be able to serve the rakyat, rather than just serving clients in the corporate world. As head of the division, Father was very pleased with her decision and took her under his wings. However, living up to his high expectations wasn't easy for her. She worked hard to make her own way, and she did it after only five years. But after what happened earlier, she realized that those above her pay grade were the ones calling all the shots, hiding information from her even though her security clearance was supposedly at the highest level. What are they hiding from her? Why the lack of trust? She knew she wasn't indispensable to them. So be it. Anyway, her job wasn't as important as Gary's life. Din really needed the information. After thinking about the problem for a few minutes, she found a way to help him. Of course, she will be putting her career on the line.

If caught red-handed, the government will certainly dismiss her and maybe even prosecute. That might be a problem. Or maybe they would just ask her to resign to avoid the bad publicity. Losing her job would be no big deal. She could get a new job anytime in the tech sector. Many companies would love to hire her. She had turned down lucrative offers before. Father, however, would be devastated, but he would get over it, sooner or later. Furthermore, Din had told her that Gary had possibly stumbled onto something big. That could explain why Zain had kidnapped Gary. Gary's life might be in danger. She ed Gary Ang, an athletic young man who excelled in sports, a champion swimmer. Also a brilliant man. They attended UM, same course, same undergraduate year. Yes, she must help Din and Gary. She pulled out her smartphone and called Din. "Din, I thought of a way to let you search the databases." "I do the search? How?" "A backdoor." "That's great." "But Din, I think you should ask someone else to do it, don't want it traced back to you." "Yes, you're right, I might have someone in mind, someone very good at hiding his digital tracks." "Good, I'll text you the details in a couple of hours."

Chapter 12

AFTER SHILA ENDED THE call, Din leaned back on his high-back chair, looked away from the computer screen, and stared out the window at the trees below his third floor apartment. While resting his eyes, he wondered why Shila couldn't access the information on Zain. He always thought that her security access level was the highest possible. She could, of course, by the security but it would mean she had to hack her employer, definitely not a good idea. But just as bad was the idea to set up a backdoor for an outsider to hack into the system. They would know that it was an inside job. Why would she put her job at risk? No doubt, she must have weighed the pros and the cons and had decided to help him in spite of the dire consequences. Or she could have developed a new technique to install an invisible self-removing backdoor. He hoped she could send him the backdoor details soon. He glanced at the time. It was only a quarter past eight in the morning. Well, she did say in a couple of hours. There was no point in sitting and waiting for her. It will take her some time to set up the backdoor. Meanwhile, his daily work must continue. He turned his attention to his current contract, security assessment for one of his multi-national clients in Bayan Lepas. After starting the suite of penetration testing software, he began to monitor and analyze the information as they appeared on his computer screen. By 10:30 a.m. all the tests were completed, resulting in a lot of information to summarize and report. He identified the vulnerabilities, thought of possible solutions to plug them, and began to prepare a comprehensive report. When completed he started to review it, but a message received tone on his smartphone distracted him. He recognized the tone. Shila. The message was sent via their mutually agreed security app. He reached for his smartphone on the table and read the text message. Grateful for her help, he replied and thanked her. He knew that this window of opportunity must be used as soon as possible so that the backdoor could be removed quickly to avoid detection. So, he must act fast. He scrutinized the details of the backdoor, and recalled that he should get someone else to execute the hack. He thought about the best possible hacker for this highly risky job. Not many would want to do it unless assured of some gain, but there was more at stake

here, a friend's life. A side benefit would be information that they could uncover during the hack. He thought of those who knew Gary Ang, and there were several he had in mind. First, Azlan, a loyal member of the group based in Kuching. But Azlan may be too far away, in case, they need to meet face to face. No, this time not Azlan. Second, he thought of Ben in Singapore. Ben, another loyal member of the hacker group, might be able to help. A millionaire hacker, he would usually decline any money from jobs. To him it was all about the fun and challenge. Filled with tremendous ion, the young man invested heavily in computers and networking equipment. He would be the best equipped man for the job. But this job may be a problem if it involved a foreign government. Din wouldn't want him to get into trouble with the Singapore government as well as the Malaysian government. Finally, he thought of Kumar, a non-conformist rebel hacker from Ipoh. He had known Kumar for a long time, since the inception of their hacker group. Among all of them, he trusted Kumar the most. Kumar, also a highly accomplished coder, had helped him with several software development projects. And, he had worked with Kumar on a penetration testing job for an Ipoh client only a few months ago. Kumar, blessed with a high IQ, worked at an incredible speed, definitely the fastest hacker he had ever seen. Perfect for this job. He picked up his smartphone and called Kumar using the group's encrypted communications software, a secure app he tly conceived, designed, and developed with Kumar. When Kumar answered, he explained the situation briefly, about the mission to save Gary, a fellow hacker. He told Kumar what Zain had done to Gary and cautioned him that it would be a dangerous assignment. Without a moment's hesitation, Kumar agreed to help. Din texted Kumar the details of the backdoor, but he did not reveal its source. Seconds later, Kumar asked, "Got it, what am I suppose to look for?" "You need to find out exactly who this Zain is and who he works for," he said. "There should be a folder or some files that reveal the details. Get them for me." "No problem, I'll find that folder." "Great, if you do find other goodies in there, feel free to copy them too, but beware of the risks."

"Okay, I'm not worried. I'll share whatever info I find with you too. More info is always useful." "But there are a few things you have to know," he said. "The backdoor will be available for only a short period of time, at most half an hour. And you must start as soon as possible because the backdoor has to disappear soon. Once you get in, it will terminate and vanish automatically when the time is up." "No problem Din, I'll do it as soon as I can, and it will be done within the limited time frame." "Thanks, Kumar."

Chapter 13

IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIN ended the call, Kumar stared at the text message on his smartphone for about a minute to memorize the details of the backdoor. Then he relaxed, staring out the windshield of his van at the trees lining the far edge of the parking lot. As usual, to reinforce what he had memorized, he closed his eyes and visualized repeatedly the entire information in his mind. When he was satisfied that he could recall all the details with ease, he deleted the text message. He finished his coffee, got down from the van, walked over to a dumpster near the back of the parking lot, and tossed the remains of his breakfast into it. Returning to his van, he climbed back into the driver's seat, and looked out at the cloudless bright morning. This morning he parked his beloved white Toyota Hiace in the parking lot of a KFC drive-through outlet where he bought and ate his breakfast. Because he would never eat at home nor cook his own meals, he chose a different fast food outlet for each day of the week. Most days he would be out on the road from early morning until late at night. He adored his van, his mobile office. He loved to be always out on the road whenever he worked, even when he was doing routine software development work. Like Din, he also provided computer security assessment for clients, most of them companies in the Kinta and Jelapang Free Trade Zones. Now he must go help Din. First, he will need a strong Wi-Fi hotspot he could hack into and use it to carry out the backdoor access. He knew where to find one, somewhere in the new light industrial development area south of Ipoh, equipped with the fastest Internet service in the city due to its recently completed fiber optics infrastructure. Pulling out of the KFC parking lot, he went onto the road and headed south. He switched on the MP3 player and it began playing 'The Voice of Truth' by Casting Crowns, his favorite Christian rock band. Within half an hour, he entered the new development area. A smartphone above the dashboard revealed to him that among the rows upon rows of new office buildings were many Wi-Fi hotspots that he could use for a short period and leave undetected. He cruised along the roads, searching for the highest concentration of Wi-Fi hotspots and found a large cluster he could easily hack into, but there was a problem with parking space. Too many cars were parked

alongside the roads. The last thing he wanted was to be fined for illegal parking, leaving a physical trail of his hacking exploit. After circling the area for several minutes, he finally found a recently vacated parking space and parked his van. Leaving the van's engine running and after covering the windshield with a reflective sun shade, he climbed into the back of his van. On one side of the van, near the sliding door, was a deckchair that he used for naps. On the opposite wall was an office chair and a long table where his three laptops were placed and computer accessories such as laptop battery packs, thumb drives, and portable hard drives were kept. Underneath the long table was a suitcase of clean clothes and essential toiletries for out of town business trips at a moment's notice. He took a seat and decided to do this hack fast. It should be done within twelve minutes, he reckoned. Using the first laptop, he hacked into a Wi-Fi hotspot, one with the strongest signal strength. Within seconds after gaining access, he started the backdoor protocol through a telnet connection, recalling from memory each precise step as he executed it. Once inside, he did a search for Zain and the system returned a list of files. He found the files and began to all of them. After the s were completed, he terminated the backdoor program, and disconnected from the network. He checked the time taken and was pleased that he did it in just under ten minutes. Quickly, he shut down his laptop, climbed back into the driver's seat, and sped away from the area, heading toward the north side of Ipoh, intending to get as far away as he could from that place in the shortest possible time. He drove on for twenty minutes, taking various indirect routes, checking frequently to be sure that no one was following him. Never underestimate the government, he reminded himself. In possession of the most powerful computing resources in the country, they would be able to track down any security breaches as soon as it happened. His precautions, albeit rather extreme, were necessary. When he felt that it was safe to do so, he pulled his van off a secluded country road and parked under a shady tree. He scanned his surroundings. Certain that there were no suspicious cars or people around him, he climbed into the back of the van and powered up the laptop. Using his own security program, he checked the ed files. No malware or viruses were detected. Good. Much to his surprise, none of the files were encrypted. All were either DOCX or PDF files. And there were also some MP3 files.

One by one, he opened the MP3 files and listened to the first ten seconds. They were all recordings of phone conversations, but he couldn't identify the speakers. After that he opened the DOCX and PDF files and skimmed their contents. In one of them, the word 'Zain' caught his attention and he read further. He found that this guy called Zain worked for a man named Ned Ong. Well, he knew that name. Ned Ong, a Penang tech billionaire, is the founder of IoTopia Berhad. It seemed he had found what Din wanted to know and perhaps even more. Great. Now he will need to send these files to Din, but he wouldn't, however, transmit them over the Internet. Assuming a worst case scenario, the government server may have logged his connection and possibly also enabled tracking of the files he had ed. If he were to send them over the Internet again, they would know that these files had been transmitted online and will trace their source and destination. There was only one thing he could do, go old school. After copying all the files into a thumb drive, he decided to drive to Penang right away and hand it over to Din. He reached for his smartphone and dialed Din's number.

Chapter 14

AT 1:00 P.M. WHEN DIN reached City Park, he slowed his silver Proton Saga and halted at one of the many vacant lots in the large parking area nearest to the front entrance archway. Keeping the car's air-conditioner and engine running, he sat and waited. It won't be long. Minutes ago, Kumar had called him while crossing the Penang bridge. He figured his friend would be arriving soon. Two hours earlier, Kumar had called to say that he would be driving up from Ipoh to meet him. Regarding the job, all Kumar had said was that it was a success, keeping the phone conversation short. He sensed the tension in his friend's voice. It was a dangerous hack. Nevertheless, he was glad that it was done, and knew that, for security reasons, Kumar wouldn't send the information over the Internet. Presently, a white Toyota Hiace van went past him, stopped, turned around, and came up close to his window. Kumar gestured him to go over. He knew what it meant. Always careful, his friend wanted to find another place to talk. Complying with the request, he got out of his car, locked it, and climbed into the van, sliding onto the front enger seat. As soon as he closed the door and buckled up, the van sped off, leaving the park. "Let's go somewhere else to talk," Kumar said. "Sure," he said, and noted that, Kumar always on the road, knew the streets of Penang well. "I haven't been to Gurney Drive for some years," Kumar said. "The reclaimed land's development completed?" "Yes, it's chock-full of 5G Wi-Fi hotspots now." "Great, let's go." Five minutes later, they turned into Gurney Drive and parked along the road, near the Evergreen Laurel Hotel. At that time of day, there wasn't much traffic and finding a parking space wasn't a problem. They climbed into the back of the van and Kumar handed him a thumb drive.

"For you," Kumar told him. "I've copied all the files in there." "Thanks, Kumar," he said. "Do you want to read the files now?" Kumar asked. "Sure, if it's okay with you," he said. Kumar handed him a laptop and said, "Okay, I'll leave you to it. Take your time. Meanwhile, I'm going to explore the Wi-Fi hotspots around here." "Thanks," he said as he plugged in the thumb drive and began reading the files. When he finished twenty minutes later, he closed his eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and sighed. He knew it. Confirmed. Ned Ong had hired Zain. Ned and the government had been developing a system, a very top secret project. There were no details of the system anywhere in the government's servers. He wasn't surprised at all. Ned would keep all the implementation details to himself. And being the country's most prominent IT billionaire, the megalomaniac opportunist would definitely take the largest chunk of the pie in any government IT projects. But what type of project? Even Shila didn't have the security clearance for it. Maybe his father might know something. Even if the old man did, he certainly wouldn't tell and would deny any knowledge about it. His division monitored all IT projects by the government, unless the project was a super top secret project controlled by someone higher up the food chain. That could be the Finance Minister, the Defense Minister, or even the Prime Minister. Maybe Father might reveal some information to his own daughter, Shila. Or he might not. His old man, quite a character, despised him. Shila, his favorite child, could get through to their father. But he couldn't. They didn't see eye to eye on many issues, particularly his chosen career. He had refused to work for the government, and his father didn't approve of his freelance white hat hacker career. Even so, he couldn't understand why Father had allowed Shila to help him in the past. All of that may be at stake here. If he or Shila blundered, their careers would be over. "Din, are you all right?" Kumar asked. "Ya, fine," he said and smiled.

"Okay, there are other files too," Kumar said. "Want to go through some of them together. You'll find them very interesting." "Sure," he said. Kumar showed him the files on another laptop. After they had finished, he asked, "Do you see the common denominator among the information in these files?" "Yes, everything seems to point to this Ned Ong," Kumar said. "But there wasn't any specific details about their plan." "We need to know Ned's plan," he said. "Only then we'll find out why they took Gary." "Well, I can think of only one thing to do next," Kumar said. "Right, I think we should hack Ned Ong's servers," he said. "It would be tough, maybe even tougher than hacking the government." "I'm always looking for greater challenges," Kumar said. "I can help hack Ned's servers, see if we can find other files, in addition to the encrypted one you got from Gary." "Yes, more information would be useful," he said. "What is the true nature of this top secret government project? I've a feeling it won't benefit the rakyat." "Yes, I believe so," Kumar said. "I can begin right away." Kumar drove him back to his car at City Park and told him they'll meet in a couple of hours, somewhere else. His friend will do a good job, he thought as he got into his silver Proton Saga.

Chapter 15

IT WAS 2:30 P.M. WHEN Kumar set out for IoTopia Berhad's factory complex in the Bayan Lepas Special Hi-Tech Zone, south of George Town. He reasoned that going straight up the hill to hack its headquarters would be too risky, foolish and insane. A better approach would be to hack the factory and then use its network as a stepping stone to hack into the headquarters. After sending Din back to his car at the City Park, he drove across George Town from Jalan Burma to Gat Jalan Prangin, the entry point to the expressway. However, due to heavy traffic in the heart of George Town, he took more than half an hour to get to the entry point. After that, as traffic wasn't as dense in the four-lane expressway, he reached Bayan Lepas in sixteen minutes. As soon as he drove past the security gate and entered the Special Hi-Tech Zone, Kumar found IoTopia Berhad's factory complex, a cluster of large white double story buildings spread out in a vast compound. The seven buildings occupied nearly half of the southern part of the zone. He circled its high concrete perimeter fence, looking for the main entrance. When he found it in the southernmost section of the zone, he drove along the road, spotted one of the few available parking spaces beside a river opposite the main building, and he quickly pulled over and parked his van. It was some distance from the main building, but he had no choice. This was as close as he could get to the main building, but it would be enough. Thanks to his powerful antenna, it wouldn't be a problem for him to access all of the Wi-Fi hotspots within the building. And careful to avoid any run-ins with the law, he had parked in a public vacant lot off the road that ran parallel to the perimeter of the factory complex. Presently, a police patrol car cruised past his van, but it didn't stop to investigate. Relieved, he guessed it had been making its rounds in the zone since this morning, and he hoped that they would continue to carry on and not disrupt him. He reached under the steering wheel and flipped a switch to extend the concealed antenna at the top of his van. When fully extended it was camouflaged as an advertising sign. The electronic device was the most powerful Wi-Fi antenna he had ever designed and built. It could detect a huge number of Wi-Fi hotspots within a large radius, so he could use any of them with ease after hacking their SSIDs. He climbed into the back of the van and sat in front of a long table of three laptops that lined one wall of the van. He checked the first

laptop that was hooked up to the antenna, and was pleased to see many Wi-Fi hotspots within the factory's main building. He chuckled, eager to have a good time with them soon. He selected one with the strongest signal strength and used his software to begin cracking its SSID. But within seconds, it failed. Damn it. Why? What could be wrong? After checking for several minutes, he was sure it wasn't due to a bug in his software. He tried the next Wi-Fi hotspot, and the software failed to crack that too. Finally, he chose another more powerful software, ran its auto crack option, trying all the Wi-Fi hotspots in rapid succession. Not a single connection was successful. It couldn't even crack the Wi-Fi hotspot with the weakest signal strength. Shit. Shit. Shit. For the first time in his life, he had failed to crack a Wi-Fi hotspot. What the fuck? Unbelievable? What kind of hardware was he up against? Could it be the company's own routers with private hardware standards? Yes, they certainly can. Probably implemented their own encryption protocol too. If so, all his software would be utterly useless. He had read somewhere that IoTopia Berhad, at the frontier of new computer technology, had created cutting edge IT hardware with the most advanced firmware, specifically designed to defeat hackers. That must be it. Otherwise, how could he fail to hack their network? He couldn't think of any other plausible reasons. All of them were the most secure Wi-Fi hotpots he had ever seen. Fuck. He must get out of here fast, he realized. He expected the police patrol car to come for him any time soon. And by now, they could be monitoring all access roads out of the zone. If they stop him, they would know what he had done. He checked the time on his laptop and scrambled back into the driver's seat. He must get away now before they find out he was the culprit who had tried to hack their Wi-Fi hotspots. They would know for sure. They could do it easily. And they would track him down as soon as they can. He was sure of that. These big companies owned everything and everyone. Damn them to hell. He started the van and sped away, toward the zone's exit. When he reached the exit gate, he sucked in a deep breath. Thank God, all clear. No patrol cars blocked the exit. No security guards stopped him. He slowed, drove gently over the speed bump, and went past the open gate.

Chapter 16

AFTER HIS MEETING, Din returned home and was with Elena in their home office working on two penetration testing jobs while he waited patiently for Kumar's text message. But until now there was none. He glanced at the time on his laptop. It showed 4:30 p.m. Two hours had gone by. Too long. Kumar would usually report the status of a job on an hourly basis as soon as they agreed to go ahead with it. A mutually agreed operating procedure, it was how they usually collaborated because many things could go wrong. It was essential for someone to monitor the progress of the operation in case the hacker in the field got into trouble and needed help. He reached for his smartphone, sent a text message to Kumar, and waited. After ten minutes when there was no reply, he dialed Kumar's number. There was a ringing tone, but no one answered the call. Strange. Kumar had always replied to his text messages and had always picked up his call. If not immediately, his friend would call back several minutes later. This time something had really gone wrong, he sensed. He stared out the window at the trees below. Hot afternoon wind gusting through the branches of the trees shook loose dried leaves. What should he do? What could he do? Watching dead brown leaves swirling in the wind, he assessed the situation within seconds. If Kumar's smartphone was still switched on, he could do one thing, trace its location. Yes, that would be an easy task. And he hoped it would lead him to his friend too. On the laptop before him, he ran his smartphone tracking program and within seconds traced its approximate location. Kumar's smartphone was still in Penang, somewhere in Balik Pulau. He swiveled his chair around to face Elena, sitting behind him facing the opposite wall, and said to her, "Elena, I think something has happened to Kumar. He was supposed to check in about a job but he hasn't." "What job?" she asked as she turned around. "Hack into Ned's corporate network." "Ned Ong of IoTopia Berhad?" "Yes, the Ned Ong. I suspect Gary's abduction has something to do with Ned. Something is definitely wrong."

"Could it be that Kumar had suffered the same fate as Gary?" "I hope not." "Do you know where Kumar is now?" "I can't say for sure." "What do you mean?" "Well, I tracked down the location of his phone, but he could be anywhere." "I see. Where is his phone?" "Somewhere in Balik Pulau." "Do you think we should go check it out?" she asked. "We must," he said. They grabbed their backpacks, slid their laptops inside, and hurried out of the apartment. While he drove, Elena used her laptop to narrow down the location of Kumar's smartphone. The drive to Balik Pulau took half an hour, and they managed to locate Kumar's van but there was no sign of its owner anywhere. The van was parked along the only road that hugged the south western corner of Penang island, a desolate spot that afforded a spectacular view of the Indian Ocean. Din and Elena checked the van's doors. They were not locked. "The key is still in the ignition," Elena told him. Din climbed into the back of the van. "There were no signs of any struggle," he said. "But I believe he did leave in a hurry, it seems. I wonder who came to get him." Using his laptop, he scanned the entire van, looking for tiny wireless spy cams. He ed Kumar telling him there were several hidden in strategic places. Kumar would have triggered them during an emergency. Din found three, two covering the back of the van, and one covering the two front seats.

He ed the data from the memory cards of all three spy cams and viewed the recordings on his laptop. He sighed. Zain and two men had taken Kumar away. However, he was relieved that they didn't hurt Kumar. Elena handed him a smartphone and told him that she had found it under the driver's seat. While Elena drove his Proton Saga, following close behind him, Din drove Kumar's white Toyota Hiace van heading back not to their apartment but to a kampung house in Batu Uban where he intended to keep the van safely hidden, awaiting his friend's return. He figured that Ned had hired Zain to kidnap Gary and Kumar. But why? And how could he find and rescue his two hacker friends?

Chapter 17

AFTER PARKING KUMAR'S van in the enclosed garage of his kampung safe house in Batu Uban, Din gave the old caretaker, Ali, the key to the van and told him to keep the van out of sight and wait for further instructions. The old man nodded and retreated into the zinc-roofed wooden house set on stilts. Din got into the car with Elena and they headed back toward their apartment in Tanjong Tokong. "So, what now?" Elena asked as she drove out onto Jalan Batu Uban. "You think this incident is related to Gary's abduction?" "Yes, I believe so," he said. "I asked Kumar to help me with something. It seems he had failed. Or maybe he had succeeded, I don't know." "Help you with what?" "Hack into IoTopia Berhad's computer network." "Really? Why?" "To find info that could help explain Gary's abduction." "You think Ned is involved?" "Yes." While Elena drove on, he thought about the situation that had escalated. First Gary, now Kumar. What did Gary do? Why had he blown his deep cover? Ned, his old rival, must be up to something really big. "There's something about Gary you don't know about," he told Elena. "What is it?" "Gary is our spy in Ned's organization, planted there many years ago. Nobody knows except me." "Our spy?" "Yes, Gary is loyal to our cause," Din said. "He had offered to spy on Ned's

operations for us, for the benefit of the rakyat." "So, that's why he left us to Ned, years ago. I thought he was after more money." "Ned has big plans. He has always been too ambitious, even when he was with us years ago." "Ned is a greedy man," Elena said. "He loves money and power, will do anything to get more of them." "I believe he hired a mercenary called Zain to kidnap Gary, and now Kumar," Din said. "Two of our group taken. Will there be more abductions? I must warn the others now." He pulled out his smartphone and sent a prerecorded audio warning message simultaneously to all his group . Then he checked the message status to ensure that it had been delivered. Before he could put his phone away, it rang. He glanced at the screen. Shila. He answered. She greeted him, but she didn't sound happy. She wasn't her usual cheerful self and he wondered why. "Shila, what's wrong?" he asked. "It's about the encrypted file you sent me earlier this morning," she said. "I see," he said. Since he couldn't crack it, he had thought she might be able to help. He recalled sending her a copy, asking her to help decrypt it. "I tried many times," she said and sighed. "In every way possible, yet I couldn't do it, not even after using the vast government resources at my disposal." "I'm sorry to hear that," he said. He had always thought she could crack any file using the government's supercomputers. "What to do now?" "I'll have to think of new ways to tackle this problem," she said. "I need more time to test and the crypto protocol. I assure you I will get it done, no matter what."

"Good," he said, glad to hear that. "But Din, where did you get this file?" she asked. "Its encryption is so like beyond what I had seen in my entire life. Amazing!" "It's from a highly secure source," he said. "I'll tell you how and from whom when the time is right. For now, please keep on trying, the matter is urgent." "I understand," she said. "Will call you as soon as it's done." "Thanks, Shila," he said and believed that she will call him sooner or later.

Chapter 18

LATER THAT EVENING at about 7:30 p.m. alone in their home office while Elena had gone to see her ailing mother, Din thought about his strained longforgotten relationship with Ned Ong. A billionaire in the high tech world today, Ned had arrived whereas he, a man of principle, had chosen to remain a white hat hacker, a freelance computer security consultant. He recalled their early days in a hacker group when they were starting out after college. Friends then, and as white hat hackers, they had battled against black hat hackers, winning most of the time, thanks to Ned's deep knowledge and skill in hacking and electronics. But Ned had left them. Ned, a genius, was always too ambitious and bold. He wanted more from the group, but Din wasn't willing to compromise their group's integrity. So Ned went ahead to start his own company without them. Din figured that another reason Ned had departed was because Elena decided to choose him for a life partner instead of Ned. The man was heartbroken. He and Ned didn't part on good and had not spoken to each other for years. However, he decided he must go see Ned to settle this predicament. But how will he approach Ned? Taking the bull by the horns, he looked up Ned's private phone number on his laptop, reached for his smartphone, and dialed the private number. "Ned, we have to talk," he said, dispensing with any niceties because he knew the arrogant man would recognize his voice and couldn't care less. "Din, my friend," Ned said. "Well, well, well, long time no see. Let's have dinner. I'll come pick you up at half past eight tonight, sharp." "Do you know where I'm staying now?" he asked, not surprised by Ned's confidence. "Of course," Ned said. "And I have your phone number too." A few minutes before 8:30 p.m., Din left his apartment, walked down the stairs, and stood beside the motorcycle parking shed to wait for Ned. At precisely half past eight Ned arrived in a black Lamborghini Urus. Din recalled that Ned had always been extravagant and flamboyant. And always behind a steering wheel, he would never hire a driver to drive him around. He used to drive to various places alone, keeping his location and his personal activities a secret, Din ed. He never really knew Ned up close and personal, because the man

could never trust anyone. Din dropped into the low front enger seat and kept silent. He felt he should let Ned do all the talking. He supposed Ned knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't engage in any small talk. As expected, the billionaire began talking, boasting about his latest achievements in the high tech industry, not only in this country but worldwide as well. His IoTopia Berhad had expanded all over the world. And he had recently been awarded an honorary doctorate from some European university. Din listened and didn't say a word or even nod in acknowledgment. Ned drove to a newly developed area near Bayan Bay, a large piece of reclaimed land where he boasted that he had built his latest and greatest property, the Kingsbay Mall. At the mall, they stepped into a Malay restaurant. It seemed he owned the restaurant too because the manager was at the entrance to greet him personally. And Din noticed that there were no other customers in the restaurant. Apparently Ned had told the manager to clear the place so that they could dine and talk in private. The obsequious manager showed them to a private dining room. Ned ordered the food and while they waited to be served, he did all the talking, mostly brags about his achievements in computer hardware technology and about his lovely wife, May Ling, who was an ex-model from the UK. He told Din he had met her in London while giving a talk at a conference and vowed to wed her the first time he spoke to her. They got married within three months. It seemed Ned had gotten over Elena, his ex-love interest, Din thought and realized that his so-called old friend never asked about his life or his work. After they had finished eating, Ned asked, "So, Din, what do you want from me?" Knowing Ned's penchant for directness, he didn't want to beat around the bush. "Gary and Kumar were abducted," he said and watched Ned's face for any reaction but there was none. "Really, I have no knowledge of that," Ned said. "Why?" "I don't know, I was hoping you could tell me," he said.

"I tell you?" Ned said. "What can I tell you?" "Why you hired Zain to kidnap Gary and Kumar," he said. "I did not hire anyone to abduct them," Ned said. "Din, if you need my help to find out who did it, I would be more than willing to help." "I know who did it, it's Zain," he said. "Did you order him to kidnap Gary and Kumar?" "I did not hire Zain to do any such thing," Ned said. "And Zain doesn't take orders from me." "But you do know Zain," he said. "Yes, from time to time, my company hires him," Ned said. "For special assignments. You do know that Zain, a freelance security consultant, also works for many other clients." "Yes, I know that," he said. "But this time, I believe he works for you." "Din, my friend, you're assuming too much," Ned said and chuckled. " our first rule? Assume nothing."

Chapter 19

"THANKS FOR DINNER," Din said as he climbed out of the black car, eager to be free of its suffocating seat and the obnoxious driver. "Din, my friend, you can call me any time if you need my help," Ned said and smiled broadly. Din forced a smile. Definitely not, he thought. That was an insincere offer. No, there was no way he would ask Ned for help. Never. He closed the car's door gently and stood aside. And the black Lamborghini Urus roared, shattering the silent night as it sped away, its deafening roar like a Parthian shot. He was sure that Ned certainly would not help him. A cunning and ruthless man like Ned would always harbor ulterior motives in all matters. He surmised that Ned only wanted to know his plans in order to sabotage them. He breathed deeply and stared up at the night sky, asking for guidance from the Almighty. What should he do? Right now, he had no idea what to do next. He trudged up the stairs to his apartment. After he entered the apartment and locked the door behind him, he heard Elena's soft footfalls. "Din, glad you're back," she said as she hugged him. "How's your mother?" he asked. "She's stable," Elena said. "I see," he said, aware that his octogenarian mother-in-law, now bedridden after a fall earlier in the year, would be facing her final few years, if not months. Since then, he had encouraged her to visit her mother as often as possible. "How was your meeting with Ned?" Earlier, on the way to the restaurant he had texted her about his dinner appointment.

"Well, he's still an ambitious braggart," he said. "It's tiresome listening to him. When I ask him about the abductions, he pretended not to know anything. I believe he's up to something really big. Something's brewing, I can sense it." "I thought he's always up to something big," she said. "Always an over-achiever, he's too driven. If he could take over the world, I believe he would. Sometimes I think he's not human." "One day he will drive the world crazy," he said. "But we'll be there to stop him." "About Gary and Kumar," she said. "What are we going to do about them? How do we find them?" "Seriously, I don't know, yet," he said and shook his head. "What about your father?" she asked. "Surely, he could help." "I don't know," he said. "I've to think about it. I'll be in the office." "All right, but don't stay up too late," she said then headed back toward the bedroom. Leaving her to her usual after dinner activity, reading novels, he went into the office and closed the door behind him. He slumped onto a deck chair facing the window and closed his eyes. Dr. Naza Kamal, Ayah. He had not spoken to his father for many years. He recalled an incident when he was a teenager, right after his Form Five. Ayah had found out that he was a hacker and wasn't pleased with him at all. A later incident occurred after he had graduated from UM with an honors degree in Computer Science. Despite being given the opportunity, he refused to follow his father's footsteps. No, he would not want to his father in the government service. He hated the bureaucracy, office politics, and the red tape. He wanted to be free, independent. Always anti-establishment, he loved to go against the grain, to live life on his own . Anyway, he felt that his father loved Shila more than him because she was compliant. However, he was glad that Shila had decided to work for their father. Steering his mind back to Gary and Kumar, he decided he must ask Shila to talk

to their father, who held a position near the top of the food chain. Dr. Naza Kamal should be able to help, he hoped. Din knew that Ned had not told him the truth about Zain. He believed Ned had always lied to him. And he recalled Shila telling him that someone high up in the government did not want her to interfere. Interfere with what? He hoped their father could talk to that someone to get Gary and Kumar released unharmed. He picked up his smartphone and called Shila using their private encrypted VOIP app. "Hi Din, I'm working on the encrypted file," she said. "Still in my office." "Thanks, Shila," he said, appreciating her continuing effort. "But I'm not sure how much longer it will take to crack it," she said. "It's all right," he said. "Keep at it. Shila, there's another matter I need your help with." "Sure, what is it?" she asked. "Could you ask Ayah to talk to someone higher up who knows Ned Ong?" he asked. "I believe Ned and Zain are working together. They are probably holding Gary and Kumar captive somewhere." "But why hold them captive?" she asked. "I don't know," he said. "All I care about are Gary and Kumar, make sure they are safe. Maybe Ayah could help get them back." "All right, Din, I'll talk to Ayah," she said.

Chapter 20

HOME AT HER FATHER'S bungalow in Presint 10 Putrajaya, Shila glanced at the time on her tablet computer. It showed 11:30 p.m. After the phone call with Din in her office, she had returned at eleven, intending to speak with her father privately at home, not at the office. She lowered her tablet computer, got up from the chair, and stretched her legs for a while. Ayah should be home any minute now, she thought. She sat back down on the chair in the entrance hall and resumed reading her e-book. A few minutes later, the familiar sound of his Jaguar XJR entering past the automatic gate, coming into the car porch outside the front door snapped her out of the novel. Seconds later, the front door opened and Dr. Naza Kamal stepped inside. At the look of surprise on his face, she smiled. He frowned at her, and she felt like a child again staying up late to welcome him home from work. She put the tablet computer on a side table and rose from her chair to greet him. After closing and locking the front door, he turned to her and asked, "Shila, why are you waiting for me?" "Why not?" she replied. "Do you me doing this when I was a kid?" "Of course, how could I forget?" he said. "It also meant you wanted something from me. How can I help you, my dear?" She chuckled, pleased with him for wanting to get to the point soonest possible. She knew he wouldn't waste anyone's time with trivial small talk. "Ayah, I really need your help," she said and felt that she would need to mention Din's name sooner or later and wondered how he would react. "What about?" he asked. "A personal problem?" "Sort of, it's about what happened at the office," she said. "My search was blocked." "I see," he said. "Well, it's way above your pay grade, Shila. Sorry, I can't do anything about it." "But Ayah, you must help me," she said.

"Why?" he asked. ''You sound so desperate. What's wrong?" "They kidnapped Kumar today," she said. "Kidnapped? Who is Kumar?" "He is Din's hacker friend." "I see," he said and went silent. He frowned at her and looked away. "If you don't want to help Din, then please help Kumar," she said. "And help me, I know Kumar too. He is also my friend." "Let's discuss this matter further in the library," he said. She walked with him to the library, up one flight of stairs to the front room of the four-story bungalow. Upon entering she felt at ease in the vast dark wood ed room with its deep carpet. She recalled she used to spend hours here after school when she was a teenager, exploring all the books in the floor-toceiling book shelves that lined the four walls. She used to sit at the bay window to read. And sometimes Din was here with her too. Many of the books were about computers, electronics, and information technology. "What happened Shila?" he asked as they sat on the dark brown leather wing chairs facing each other. "Tell me everything Din had told you." He leaned forward, giving her his fullest attention. Deciding to omit the part about Din asking her to crack a file, she sucked in a deep breath and began. Based solely on what Din had said to her, she told him about Din's friends, Gary and Kumar, who are white hat hackers. She told him that Din had seen both of them, in two separate incidents, being taken away by Zain, a freelance security consultant, also a known mercenary. "Din believes that Zain is working for Ned Ong," she continued. "And Din suspects that Ned is working with the government, possibly providing some kind of product or service." "I see," Dr. Naza Kamal said. "What do you want me to do?" "All Din wants is for Gary and Kumar to be released unharmed," she said. "If

you could help with that, it would be enough." "I haven't heard about any incidents involving white hat hackers," he said. "It's definitely not a government operation. And I also don't know who this Zain is. About this guy Ned Ong, I'm aware of him, an IT billionaire from Penang. A brilliant man, I heard. But I have no direct with him." "Do you know anyone higher up who might have dealings with Ned?" she asked. He shook his head. "I'm not sure. There may be other covert operations that I'm not aware of." "Gary and Kumar may be in grave danger," she said. "Whoever wanted them taken must be doing it for a reason." "I see," he said and closed his eyes. After a while, he opened them and said, "All right, I'll see what I can do, ask around discreetly.

Chapter 21

THE FOLLOWING MORNING at 9:00 a.m. Ned was seated at a desk in his office, a south facing room on the sixth floor, the topmost floor of an iconic white building, Wisma IoTopia, ensconced on the highest peak of Penang Hill. After checking his schedule for the day on his laptop computer, he reached into his jacket's inner pocket and pulled out a diamond pendant on a gold necklace. He placed it on the table before him and picked up his smartphone to make a call. "Allison, please come see me immediately," he said in his usual dulcet voice toward her. "Yes, Mr. Ong," Allison said. He watched the door at the far end of his office, anticipating it to open soon. A few seconds later, his personal assistant, Ms. Allison Pang, came in strutting toward him in her black high heels, swaying her hips suggestively. Besides iring her lovely face framed by luscious blunt shoulder length hair, he enjoyed watching her tall lithe figure, her long legs in motion, her smooth bare skin without pantyhose. Dressed in a gray miniskirt, a black silk blouse, and a white jacket, she looked ravishing. Ten years younger and much more beautiful than his ex-model wife, Allison always comforted him while May Ling was away on her frequent overseas trips, this time in London for several weeks visiting her parents. Rising from the chair behind his desk, he took the necklace and pendant and presented it to her. He savored the smile on her face, delighted with his prowess to take her breath away. "Just a small gift to show my appreciation," he cooed as he fastened it around her neck. "Wear it always, my dear." "I will, thank you," she said. "There's one thing you should know," he said. "What is it?" "Customized especially for you, it comes with built-in security features," he said.

"So that I can keep you safe at all times." "Thanks for caring," she said. "I love you." He embraced and kissed her until he was satisfied, then he released her. "Now, please call Randy for me, I want to see him immediately," he told her. "Yes, Ned," she said, then turned around and strutted toward the door. He smiled, pleased that she had gladly accepted his gift. It came with a string attached, or more precisely an IP camera, a microphone, and a GPS tracking device. From today onward, he would be able to monitor her movements, hear and see whatever she does. He went back to sit at his desk, tapped some keys on the keyboard to connect to the pendant camera, and began recording the live video stream. But he muted the audio. Within minutes, the thirty-something-year-old Randy Sim, his chief IT engineer and project director, knocked on the door and stepped inside. Hurriedly, Randy waddled toward his desk. He wondered why the man looked worried and was surprised that the obese engineer could move so fast. "How is Operation IoTopia's implementation?" he asked and paused to hear the progress status. "The project is running smoothly," Randy said. "So far the second stage implementation at all locations are on schedule." "Good, can you can get everything ready by the final stage implementation date?" he asked. "Yes, I suppose so," Randy said. Suppose? Why suppose? Ned sensed something was wrong somewhere. "What's wrong? What's the problem?" he asked. "I... just found out that Gary had ed a classified file to the cloud," Randy said in his nervous falsetto voice. "I was going to tell you sooner, but I need to it first, sorry."

"What file are you talking about?" he asked. "The master plan file that contains related parties, implementation details and dates, such as location of servers and distribution of IoT devices throughout the world," Randy said. "But without the technical details of any hardware or software." "I see," he said. "Don't worry about it." He figured no one would be able to crack his encrypted file. "But I want you to find out whether anyone had ed the file and who. Report back to me as soon as possible," he said. Probably his old friend Din had ed it, he thought. Because Gary knew Din. If Din plans to interfere, he will foil the white hat hacker's plan. He decided to shift all the implementation dates a day earlier. "And I want you to shift all the implementation dates exactly twenty-four hours earlier," he said. Randy raised an eyebrow. "Why?" "Randy, don't ask why, it must be done," he said. "Get it done, no matter what." "Yes, Mr. Ong, I will step up production and re-assess the logistics," Randy said. "Thank you Randy, that's all for now," he said. Randy retreated and waddled out of the office much faster than he had come in earlier. Ned thought about the impact of the one-day shift. He would have to inform his counterparts in other countries about this unexpected shift in time frame. A worldwide implementation, it would be the largest of its kind in the world. And they will all agree and comply with his request. They always did and will continue to do so. He made sure they can't afford not to.

Chapter 22

LATER IN THE MORNING, after telling Randy to shift all implementation dates a day earlier, Ned left in his company's black Toyota Hilux, driving across the Penang Second bridge to the mainland, heading toward the town of Bukit Mertajam. A kilometer before the town he went off the main road, turning into a single lane dirt road that cuts across his company's 25-year-old rubber plantation, leading him to a secluded destination, several kilometers farther to the east at the base of the bukit. Driving slowly along the muddy dirt road, he approached an isolated bungalow in a glade shrouded by old and useless rubber trees on all sides. Originally built for his company's rubber plantation workers, the red brick three-story bungalow now served as a private prison. Equipped with a gasoline generator, a deep well with a pump, a septic tank, and a water filtration system, the place is selfsufficient, although some people would consider it rustic. As intended, the only security were old-fashioned heavy-duty locks on all the doors. It meant there were no computer controlled electronic locks, thus making the place totally hacker-proof. He had authorized Zain to use this prison to keep people like Gary and Kumar out of the way for a certain period of time. After the final implementation date, he will give the order to release them, and they will have no memory of their time here due to the effects of special drugs to be istered. He could trust Zain with this important assignment. The mercenary had helped him in the past, had always been reliable and loyal, provided the financial reward was ample. He drove right up to the front of the bungalow and parked at the foot of the concrete steps leading up to the main entrance. When he got down from the truck, the bungalow's front double doors swung open. Zain stepped out onto the veranda to welcome him. "Good morning, Mr. Ong," Zain said cheerfully. "Zain," he said, dispensing with the morning cheer. "How are our two guests today?" "They are fine, just enjoying a peaceful holiday here," Zain said. "Did they cause any problems for you?"

"Not at all, I'm surprised they are so well-behaved." "They're just scared nerds," he said and chuckled. "Well, their stay here will be over soon." "I hope so, I'm getting bored babysitting them." "Well, you and your men are the most highly paid babysitters in the world." He stepped past Zain, went inside, and climbed down the stairs into the basement. After walking along a long corridor to the far corner, he turned into another corridor. Zain's two minions stood silent beside a door, guarding a narrow ageway leading to four cell-like rooms. Zain had put Gary in the second room, while Kumar occupied the third room. The thick wooden doors were closed, so they wouldn't be aware of each other's presence. He intended to speak with Gary first. He opened the second door, stepped inside, and closed the door behind him. The small rectangular room of twelve feet by eight feet had no windows. In the far right corner of the room, Gary was lying on a mattress with a white fitted bed sheet on an iron-framed bed. His right leg was shackled and chained to the bed. The length of the chain was short. The farthest he could reach was to the toilet bowl in the far left corner of the room. Gary sat up and scowled at him. "What do you want?" Gary asked. "I want nothing from you," he said. "Then why are you here?" "To see if you're okay." "Bullshit! Why are you keeping me here?" "Did you know that your laptop and portable hard drive were destroyed?" he said, ignoring Gary's question. "I don't care about that now," Gary said. "And I know you had ed a file to the Cloud," he said.

Gary was silent and looked away from him. He wanted to confirm whether Gary had indeed ed the file, and whether Din had ed it. "I also know that Din had ed it," he said. Gary shook his head and remained quiet, but Ned sensed his instincts were correct. Gary's eyes had betrayed him. Ned was sure now that Din had ed the file. Then without saying another word, he turned around and left Gary. He walked over to the third door, opened it, and stepped into the windowless room, similar to Gary's cell. Although shackled and chained just like Gary, Kumar was sitting cross-legged on the bed as if he was meditating, but his eyes were open and his face was calm. He did not get up. Instead, he turned his head to face Ned and was silent, obviously waiting for Ned to speak first. "Do know why you're here?" Ned asked. Kumar closed his eyes, a clear sign to Ned of a deliberate refusal to answer any questions. He wondered why Kumar had tried to hack his factory servers. Was it for personal gain? Maybe he was working for someone. Who? Perhaps Din. He suspected Din, the man behind this as well. It was unlikely that Gary's theft incident and Kumar's hacking attempt weren't related. He didn't believe in coincidences. "Why did you try to hack my servers?" Kumar didn't answer. "Who hired you?" Kumar remained silent. "Do you know that you'll never be able to hack my servers?" There was still no reply. "And I know Din asked you to do it."

Kumar did not open his eyes, and Ned could not decipher the hacker's expressionless face.

Chapter 23

AROUND 2:00 P.M. LATER in the day, Ned Ong and his personal assistant, Allison Pang, climbed down from a black Eurocopter EC135 helicopter after he had landed it on a large field within the compound of the town council building. Waiting to greet them a short distance away were two men. One of them, the obese one, waved to him. Randy, he noted and nodded. When they got closer to the duo, he recognized the other man in a gray bush jacket, the town's mayor, Azman Hishamuddin, a dark and diminutive bald-headed man in his early fifties. "Mr. Ned Ong," Azman said. "Welcome to Pekantopia." "Good to see you again, Encik Azman," he said as they shook hands. "Randy, what's the status?" he asked. Just before noon, he had sent Randy ahead to check. "Everything is running smoothly, Mr. Ong," Randy said. "Very good," he said. "Mr. Ong, thank you very much for building this wonderful town," Azman said. "It's like paradise to us residents." "You're welcome, Encik Azman," he said. With Allison by his side, they followed Azman and Randy toward a white Grand Cherokee SRT parked in front of the town council building. Ned breathed in the fresh country air as they walked along the concrete footpath. What a wonderful town. His town. Minutes before he landed the helicopter, he had circled around inspecting the entire town from the air. Everything looked well organized. Pekantopia, his first state-of-the-art Internet of Things town, had been operational for three years now, although still a prototype. All of its residents: students, faculty , and workers from the local university which he funded and owned had helped built this IoT town. He looked forward to giving a speech at the university later. When they reached the car, Azman climbed into the driver's seat and Randy got into the front enger seat. Ned and Allison sat in the back. Azman drove the car out onto the town's main road and began a tour of the town. Randy, who was

in charge of the town's development, began to speak about the town's various key buildings and facilities as Azman drove slowly past them. Pleased with what he saw, Ned concluded that the town had everything a twenty-first century community would need, a totally smart town. After they had completed the tour, Azman drove them to the police center, a white two story circular tower-like building on the top of a 500-foot man-made hill at the center of the town. "The brain of Pekantopia," Randy announced as they got down from the car. Tajuddin, a tall well-built man in his mid-forties clad in a dark blue uniform, came out to greet them. "Welcome Mr. Ong," Tajuddin said in Malay. "Pleased to meet you, Encik Tajuddin," Ned replied in Malay. "Come in, come in," Tajuddin said. They followed him inside and up the stairs to the main control room. Ned nodded and smiled as he looked around the room at the array of large computer displays showing the status of every building and facility in the town. Three uniformed police women seated at three computer consoles in the center of the room stood and saluted. Tajuddin saluted at them and they sat back down. "I'm happy and proud to announce that our town has zero crime rate," Tajuddin told them, smiling broadly. "It's the safest town in Malaysia. No one needs to lock any doors." Ned scanned the large computer displays on the wall and noticed the extensive surveillance coverage of the entire town, including every road, every traffic light and every public building, including business establishments, which were also legally liable to comply with the town's IoT requirements. "Also we have no issues with the town's residents," Tajuddin said. "I mean for their homes, every resident had agreed to be connected to the system. To ensure their privacy, we have surveillance cameras only outside their house. And every home phone is also connected to us and they are assured of their privacy through encryption."

After the visit to the police center, Azman drove them back to the town council's office. The office looked like a normal town's istrative office except for the hidden underground command center. Azman led them down the stairs into a basement room filled with large computer monitors on its walls and two command consoles. Two men sat behind the command consoles. "If you have seen the brain of this town, this is its heart," Azman said. "Here we are able to monitor and control every public facility such as the power, water, sewage, and transportation facilities, that is, the self-driving cars and buses. We are also connected to the town's weather gathering and reporting facility, its fire department, and hospital. And we also control the Internet TV and radio station here in town. We have one local Internet TV station and one local radio station." "What's the operational status?" Ned asked Azman. "Any issues so far?" "No issues, everything is running smoothly," Azman said. "Good to hear that," Ned said and smiled. Satisfied with the success of every sub-system in this IoT implementation, he looked forward to many others, not just towns but also cities throughout Malaysia, and then all over the world. Soon, with his master system he will be able to monitor and control all IoT implementations from the comfort of his office or home, in fact from anywhere in the world. And the people in all towns and cities in this country and the entire world will be under his control.

Chapter 24

FOR THE FIRST TIME in five years, Shila took annual leave, but only for today. Whatever she wanted to do shouldn't be done in her employer's office, the government's cybercrime department. Today she could do it in a secure place, her own office at home, but her array of computer hardware were not as powerful as those at her workplace. It didn't matter because she will need more than just hardware to accomplish the urgent and important task of cracking the encrypted file she received from Din. She stood in front of her standing desk, facing two large computer screens, typing at the keyboard and pausing once in a while to use the mouse. Din had warned her not to use the computers at her workplace. She trusted him and followed his sound advice. There must be something very sensitive in the encrypted file, she believed. What could it be? This question fueled her desire to find out. Din got the file from Gary Ang. And she was aware that Gary worked for IoTopia Berhad, Ned Ong's company. So, Gary had copied the file from his office server. She recalled that when she graduated from the university years ago, IoTopia Berhad had offered her a well-paid job but she had declined. She felt she could serve the country better if she worked with her father in the government service. So far, she had been satisfied with her decision. Nevertheless, back in the day she had known that Ned was a very ambitious man and will definitely become one of the most powerful IT magnate in this country, if not the whole world. Why did Gary steal this file from him? What was Ned hiding? She recalled the saying that behind every great fortune was a crime. She believed it to be true for greedy businessmen like Ned Ong. They would have many dirty secrets, business or personal. What were the crimes he had committed over the years, she wondered. She glanced at a computer monitor and frowned, frustrated with the status of the long process. Trying to decrypt the file was proving to be more challenging than she had thought. It had been several long nights, but there were no results. She had tried every hacker trick she knew. She had to think of new methods in of algorithms, data structures, and programming languages. Also, she needed to increase the processing speed, but her multi-core computer was already a top of the line model.

A Pomodoro timer on her computer signaled a short break. She closed her eyes, sat on a recliner chair beside her standing desk, and thought about algorithms in the C programming language. Within a minute, she hit upon an idea and opened her eyes. She decided to try something new and coded another utility program in C. This time she incorporated the AI techniques from her latest research. In an hour, she had created a version 1.0 of the program. She executed the first version, but was dissatisfied with its performance. It didn't speed up the process much. After thinking about its algorithm again, she decided to revise the C code, translating large portions of it into lower level code, that is, assembly language code. Within three hours, she managed to complete version 2.0. After testing its execution speed, she was pleased to see a hundred-fold increase. She executed this second version on the encrypted file, and was sure that this time it will be a success. The timer signaled another break, a longer break. She decided to step outdoors for a while. She strode away from her standing desk, slid open the patio door, and walked out into her private garden on the east side of the bungalow. She breathed in the fresh late morning air, enjoying every breath as she stood under the shady trees, gazing at the leaves and flowers of trees along the east side wall. She wondered what Din would be doing today. As soon as she decrypted the file, she would him and persuade him to come visit her. She loved talking to him about IT matters. She could pick his brain while he picked hers. Presently, her smartphone issued a loud message received tone. Good news. She breathed deeply and smiled. Her program had done it. She hurried back into her office and strode toward the office door to close and lock it. No one would be allowed to disturb her, not even the maids. She stood before her standing desk, tapped a few keys on her keyboard and opened the decrypted file. It wasn't a large file but it contained enough information to widen her eyes. Within seconds, she scanned through its contents, and she couldn't believe what she had just read. It was Ned's grand unified plan, a master plan due to be implemented soon. This was something way too big, beyond her wildest imagination, but it certainly befitted a megalomaniac like Ned Ong. The file contained details of his plan for world domination through the Internet of Things.

Chapter 25

WHILE DIN AND HIS WIFE were having lunch at home, he received the call he had been eagerly waiting for. When he heard the euphonious ringtone, he knew that Shila had finally done it. "Hi, Shila," he said when he answered the call. "Great news? Thanks, hold on a second." Gesturing to Elena that he must take this urgent call, he rose from the dining table and strode into the home office. "Can you help me with another matter?" he said. "Sure, what is it?" Shila said. "Help me find where Gary and Kumar are being held. I believe Ned had ordered Zain to kidnap them, keeping them locked-up. But where I don't know." "Okay, I can help but who is this Zain?" Briefly, he told her whatever information he had gathered about the mercenary. "I believe Zain and his men are holding Gary and Kumar captive somewhere," he said. "I can trace their online activities, and perhaps find the location," she said. "Why don't you come down to Putrajaya? We could work on this together. You know I've state-of-the-art computer hardware, and two heads are surely better than one." "Well, I'm not sure," he said. Although he enjoyed working with his sister on such matters, he was reluctant to go because of Dr. Naza Kamal, their father. He hadn't spoken with his father for many years. They could never see eye to eye about his career choice. Years ago, while he was still studying at the university in KL, his father had advised him to work for the government, but he had flatly refused to accept the advice, showing his disdain for the red-tape-infested bureaucratic government. Of course, Ayah wasn't happy with his rebellious attitude toward authority figures. Going against the grain was a part of his nature that he couldn't deny nor suppress.

"For the sake of Gary and Kumar?" Shila asked. He realized she was right. This wasn't about him. It shouldn't be about him. He must put aside his personal problems. Stay focused on helping his friends, he reminded himself. Furthermore, he had asked her for help. And she had always obliged when asked. "All right, thanks Shila," he said. When he went back to the dining table to resume his lunch with Elena, he told her he must fly to KL that afternoon. After the AirAsia plane had landed, Din strode out to the arrivals hall with his white clam-shell suitcase and black backpack, rented a car, and drove straight to the family home, a bungalow in Presint 10 Putrajaya. When he arrived, the front auto gate slid open. Shila had been expecting him. He drove into the spacious compound and parked next to her red MX-5 Miata in the garage, an annex to the main building. He got out of the car and stood, staring at the front double doors, paralyzed for a while by poignant memories of the past. He ed growing up in this bungalow relishing life with his late mother, Marina, and sister, Shila but not with his father. He hadn't returned for a long time, since Ibu ed away. He couldn't recall when he last visited, but he was sure that he didn't leave on a happy note, due to one of the many disagreements with Ayah. Presently, the front double doors swung open, nudging him back to the present. Shila emerged in front of him. "Welcome home," she said, smiling broadly. "Good to see you again," he said and they hugged. "Let me help you with the suitcase," she said. "It's all right," he said, carrying the white clam-shell suitcase and the black backpack strapped on his shoulder as he followed her into the entrance hall. "Ayah is away," she told him and he nodded. He supposed she knew what he was thinking about and how he felt about coming back home. "Overseas business trip?" he asked.

"Yes, so you should relax," she said. "I am," he said, relieved that he didn't have to face his father. Eager to finish whatever he needed to do here and return to Penang as soon as possible, he said, "Shila, let's begin work right away." "Sure, as soon as I get the maid to take your luggage up to your room," Shila said. "You can stay as long as you want." "Thanks, but I think I'll stay for just one night," he said. Later that afternoon, after several hours at the computers searching and crossreferencing online data sources and maps, they pinpointed a possible location. "It's a property in Balik Pulau," Shila said. "Do you think Zain and his men are keeping Gary and Kumar prisoners there? But I don't see any buildings in that area." She zoomed in but Din noted that the map didn't reveal any buildings in the location. "It must be a new building," he said. "Or we got the wrong location." "I think I found the right place," she said, showing him information that Ned's company owned the property. But he wasn't so sure. It could be a decoy, he thought and shook his head. "Ned owns many properties in Penang, on the island as well as the mainland. Anyway, we should check it out further." "Do you think Zain might torture or even kill Gary or Kumar?" Shila asked. "I believe Ned won't allow that," he said. "I know Ned. He just wants to keep them out of the way until his master plan's implementation is completed. He's no murderer." They continued to gather all the information they could find about the location. After that, Din figured he will need to enlist the help of several other of his hacker group to go rescue Gary and Kumar.

Chapter 26

WHEN DIN THOUGHT HE heard a vehicle being driven into the compound of the bungalow, he listened intently. Soon more sounds suggested a vehicle's door opening and closing, followed by the bungalow's front door being opened and closed. Realizing what that meant, he looked away from the large computer monitor and turned to stare at Shila, who was using another computer beside him at the long standing table. "What's the matter?" she asked. "I think Ayah is back," he said. "I thought you said he's away overseas." "I thought so, wait, let me check," she said and opened a window showing a webcam live stream on their computer monitors. They watched as Dr. Naza Kamal stepped across the entrance hall and headed toward the stairs, followed by the maid with his luggage. "It looks like you're right," she said. "I wonder why he's back so soon." "I have to go," he said. "Before he finds me here." "No," she said. "You have to stay. We have more work to do, find the necessary resources. And work out a plan to rescue Gary and Kumar." "If Ayah knows that I'm here ...," he said and shook his head. "Din, I need your help, and I am helping you save Gary and Kumar," she said. He looked away and after a while, he said, "All right. I know that, and I really appreciate your help." Despite the years of estrangement, he still felt the stress of having to speak with his father again. It was like when he was in his teens. "Why don't I go talk to him first," she said. "Then you should go see him." "Okay," he said and sighed, trying hard to fight his feeling of reluctance. "I'll be back in a minute," she told him. She stepped out of the home office, closing the door gently behind her.

Din realized that he should face his father today and must try to reconcile with him for the sake of Gary and Kumar. He recalled his unpleasant history of arguments and disagreements with Ayah, Dr. Naza Kamal. They had their differences, and they still do. They could never see eye to eye on anything, especially his mission in life. Minutes later when Shila returned, she told him, "Ayah is ready to see you in his study now." When he reached the closed door of his father's study, Din paused and breathed deeply. Calm down, he told himself repeatedly in his mind. Then he knocked twice on the door, opened it, and entered the spacious room. His father was standing at the large french window, looking out into the garden, his hands held behind his back. Din stepped toward his father and when he almost reached the french window, his father turned around and looked at him with a serious face. That grim face, as always, Din thought, as he held back his annoyance. "Ayah," he said softly. It felt strange as he hadn't greeted his father for many years. He felt like he was a child again. Ayah had always been hard on him since Ibu died after giving birth to Shila. He waited for his father to speak to him first. "Want some coffee?" Naza asked in Malay. "No, thank you," he said. "So, has Shila been a great help to you?" Naza asked. "I'm very grateful for her help," he said. "I'm aware that she is helping you with an important task," Naza said. "Yes, I suppose she told you," he said. "We are going to rescue Gary and Kumar and prevent Ned from executing his evil plan." "Good, she had asked for my help," Naza said. "Despite our differences, I will work with you and Shila, for the sake of our country." There was a knock at the door, and Shila came in to them.

"Shila, let us discuss the problem further," Naza said. "Now, you must tell me everything, right from the beginning." Shila began by explaining what she and Din were trying to accomplish. Feeling a sense of calm in his father's presence for the first time in years, Din kept quiet and listened. He felt that it was wise to let Shila speak to Ayah. She told Naza about the contents of an encrypted file from IoTopia Berhad that she had decrypted and about the recent kidnappings of Gary and Kumar. "I had heard of this Penang tech billionaire, Ned Ong," he said. "I think I had met him a couple of times at some official government functions. But I don't really know him." "We believe he's either working for or providing some kind of system for our government," Shila said. "It's a top secret project to do with universal surveillance through IoT." "Yes, I am aware of it," he said and paused. After a while, he said, "All right, I'll try to help, but what I'm about to say must be kept a secret. Can you promise me that?" "All right, I promise," she said and Din nodded. "I heard that the government, through Dato' Dr. Abdul Rahman, had hired this Ned Ong to implement a top secret system that involves the Internet of Things," Naza said. "I believe that right now few know about this system. However, it will be revealed when the time is ripe for it to be implemented." "What is it about?" she asked. "Mass surveillance throughout Malaysia."

Chapter 27

THE OLD MAN'S USUAL stern face had softened by now, Din observed. In fact, he detected a fleeting smile. With Shila seated beside him, he didn't feel as if he was on trial, being cross-examined harshly by a public prosecutor. This time the situation was different, and clearly his father was different too. To him Ayah appeared to be sympathetic and genuinely wanted to help. For the first time in his life, he felt that Ayah cared about him and his hacker friends. "I will help, if I can," Dr. Naza told them. "Besides my superiors, I have allies in other government agencies and GLCs. Let me make a few phone calls now." He reached for the phone on his desk and made the first call, switching on a speaker phone so that Din and Shila could listen in. The first person, Amir, was friendly, obviously a close associate. Dr. Naza did not waste any time and asked if Amir knew about IoTopia Berhad's total surveillance system project with the government. There was a brief silence. Then Amir replied that he did not know anything about any such project with the government. Din thought that Amir seemed sincere. Dr. Naza made a second call to another person, asked the exact same question, and received the same reply. Din sensed that he wasn't happy at all. Finally, Dr. Naza tried a third , but the reply was just as discouraging. After ending the call, he shook his head and frowned. "This government project must be very top secret indeed," he said. "It looks like I only have one last option, to call the Defense Minister." Din knew that he reported directly to the Defense Minister, Datuk Dr. Lokman Hakim. Naza dialed the number and put the call on speaker phone. After a brief greeting, he asked Lokman about Ned Ong's project with the government. "I have not heard of it," Lokman said. "What is it about?" "It has something to do with the Internet of Things," he said. "I believe it's some kind of advanced AI surveillance system to be implemented nationwide soon." "Something this big cannot be covered up," Lokman said. "I'll try to find out, will call you back later."

"You have to be careful," he said. "I will," Lokman said. He thanked Lokman and ended the call. "Let's take a short break," he told Shila and Din. "Go get something to eat." They followed him out of the study and down the stairs to the kitchen, in a separate building behind the bungalow, connected by a covered walkway. When they sat at the kitchen table, the cook served them chicken curry puffs and KopiO, and they ate in silence. Din wondered what his father would do next. He saw that Shila and Naza were close and surmised that it was because she had been staying at home and working for their father for all the years before and after her graduation from the university. On the other hand, he could neither live with his father nor work with him. And he wouldn't work for this government or any government. His only concern was with his group of white hat hackers. The group served the rakyat who lack the resources compared to the all-powerful government. He couldn't trust the government because of its many warring factions and cliques. He realized his father had to deal with the office politics and had risen to such a high position because of his skills with people. He, however, couldn't handle them. To him, many seemed tricky, crafty, and calculative. For him dealing with such kind of people would be impossible. It was what he can't do or was unwilling to learn how to do. Presently, the ringing tone of a smartphone jolted him. It wasn't his or Shila's phone. Naza answered the call on his phone and listened, frowning. Within seconds the call was over. "I just received a warning not to ask any more questions about IoTopia Berhad or there will be consequences to my department and my career," he told them. "Who called you?" Shila asked. "The PM," he said.

Chapter 28

NED READ ALL ONE HUNDRED and twenty pages of the legal document in exactly ten minutes, and he was amused by the lawyer's astonished face at the display of his speed reading skill. Coolly, he handed the tablet computer back to his company lawyer, Dennis Chandran, a wiry middle-aged bald-headed Hindu, seated across the desk from him. Within a minute, in his mind's eye, he had scrutinized all the and conditions of the contract, pleased that his every concern was ed for. "Good job, Chandran," he said. "Not bad for a first draft." "Thank you Mr. Ong," Chandran said. "Is there anything else you would like me to add, delete, or amend?" "Yes, of course," he said. "There are several clauses that need further work." Quoting from memory, he enumerated each clause and told Chandran to consider his opinion on it and to make specific changes. The necessary changes were related to his company's business matters, and he would need them to be translated into legalese. That required Chandran's legal expertise. Be that as it may, with his encyclopedic memory, he knew a lot about the law, certainly more than Chandran, but he had hired the lawyer because he knew the Hindu possessed the essential practical experience plus an excellent network of fellow lawyers. Besides, if things went south, he would have a ready scapegoat. "I'll work on them right away," Chandran said. "Anything else Mr. Ong?" "Yes, because you have more practical legal experience than me," he said. "I want you to look at possible legal loopholes, from both parties or more. You know how lawyers think. What I want to know is how to use the loopholes, if and when I want to." "All right, I'll report back as soon as possible," Chandran said. "If possible, by five today please," he said. The intercom on his desk buzzed, and he pressed a button to answer. His personal assistant, Allison Pang, told him that Dr. Mark Yeager and Donald O'Connor were outside, waiting to see him. Although he had been expecting the

Americans, he noted that they arrived sooner than expected. Eager beavers. Good. He told her to send them in right away. He knew what they wanted from him. Their POTUS had wanted to implement the IoT surveillance system yesterday. He chuckled. Of all the participating countries, the United States, besides China, was the most keen and ready. He welcomed their enthusiasm. What land of the free and home of the brave? They may certainly be brave but they were not free, never was and never will be. To their POTUS it was all about control, control over people and over money. "Should I go now?" Chandran asked. "No, stay, just in case I need your legal opinion," he said. His office door swung open gently, and he gestured to Chandran that they should go receive the guests. They rose from their seats and walked toward the door. Two six-foot tall Caucasian men in dark blue business suits strode into the room, smiling broadly and they greeted him cordially. He introduced Chandran to the two Americans, and they went to sit in the wing chairs near the door. "We're pleased with the most recent prototype tests," Yeager said to him. "The system seems ready," O'Connor added. "I'm glad to hear that," he said. "We want to implement the system nationwide soonest possible," Yeager said. "How soon do you reckon?" "My technical staff are working around the clock," he said. "Doing intensive and extensive testing. Your country's hardware, already up to our expected specifications, are performing well but the software need to be tested further." "Yes, I concur," Yeager said. "Software is the most tricky part of any system, it has to deal with future unexpected conditions." "I assure you everything is going well according to the planned deadline," he said. "Furthermore we should be able to implement a day earlier." "Great," Yeager said.

"That's awesome," O'Connor said. "Well, gentlemen, I'll see you guys at the golf club later," he said. Satisfied, the two Americans left, obviously pleased with his assurance, Ned thought. Then he told Chandran to continue with the legal work and dismissed him. He went back to his desk and called Randy Sim, his chief hardware engineer. "Randy, what's the hardware status on all the systems in the participating countries, especially those in the US and China?" he asked. "All hardware systems are ready, and we are now doing the final testing of the system's software," Randy said. "Good, inform me when you're done," he told Randy and ended the call. He leaned back in his chair, steepled his fingers, and thought about his ultimate goal. When the system's software had been tested and in operation, he will add a stealth software component that will allow him to override secretly any government's control, especially the US and China.

Chapter 29

AT PRECISELY NINE IN the evening, Ned parked his black Lamborghini Urus in the VIP section of the courtyard at the Golden Dragon Restaurant in Jalan Burma, George Town. On his way here from his office it had started raining, heavy in the beginning but had subsided to a drizzle now. Nevertheless, he was pleased they had reserved for him a parking space close to the main entrance. He knew that a persuasive professional, the special envoy from China had arranged for it. As soon as he cut the engine but before he could open his car's door, a tall and slim Chinese waitress with a Suzie Wong hair style, dressed in a red cheongsam, hurried over to him with a large umbrella and shielded him from the rain as he got out. Walking close beside him, she held his arm as they crossed the wet concrete courtyard to the restaurant's front door. After putting the umbrella aside, she escorted him into the noisy restaurant, weaved past crowded tables, and showed him to a private dining room in the far right corner. Ned thanked her and she smiled, revealing a perfect set of teeth. Her breath was sweet, minty. He noted the name tag pinned on her qipao above her left breast, Connie Tan. He will her name, her beautiful face, her long legs, and her large firm breasts. Leaning close to pull the door handle, she brushed her ample chest against him and he felt her hardened nipples. She held the door wide open for him as he entered the private room, then closed it gently behind him. Only one person was in the room waiting for him, his best friend and agent from the PRC who represented China and, on his behalf, liaised with all the participating countries in Asia. Dressed in a black suit, the tall and dark Chinese man with a black brush cut hair style stood and stepped forward to greet him with a kung fu salute. "Good evening, Ned," the Chinese envoy said in Mandarin. Ned reciprocated with a kung fu salute and replied in Mandarin,"Good evening, Xi Ren." They sat at a large round table covered with a vermilion table cloth. Xi Ren poured out oolong tea from a teapot into six small celadon tea cups and offered three cups to him. He took a cup, sipped a little of the robust, strong and nutty flavored tea, savored it and put the cup down on the table.

"I had reviewed all the hardware and infrastructure in China and other countries, in fact the whole of Asia," Xi Ren began in Mandarin. "So, what do you think?" he asked. "I'm very impressed with your state-of-the-art computer and communications hardware," Xi Ren said. "I've only one concern. Do you have enough inventory?" "Of course," he said. "I've enough hardware for all the countries of the world. Besides abundant stock in warehouses, I can manufacture them as fast as required. My factories here in Penang can cope with the production." "That's good to hear," Xi Ren said. "What about software? Especially for the servers in the distributed data centers." "My people had already installed over ninety percent of all sites," he said. "We'll finish the job within the next twelve hours and do extensive testing after that. Everything will be ready soon. I want to make sure that all hardware are in place first. Are the governments satisfied with my hardware?" "All of them are more than satisfied," Xi Ren said. "When will the system be fully operational? They're eager to begin." "Sooner than you think," he said. "I've moved the deadline a day earlier." "That's very good," Xi Ren said. "Be that as it may, the software testing is very rigorous," he said. "I must ensure that all known issues are fixed and that foreseeable future issues can be handled. The AI component should be able to cope with that." "That's good, very good." Xi Ren said. Ned sipped more tea, pleased with Xi Ren's reply. Of course, he didn't say that he will have the power to override any command in all the systems throughout the world. They will never know because of his encryption and camouflage program. And he will be able to do that from any computing device, even on his smartphone.

"My people are working around the clock to make it happen," he assured Xi Ren. "Good, good," Xi Ren said, smiling broadly. "China and countries in all of Asia are very eager to implement the super IoT nationwide surveillance system. The sooner the better." "Yī cùn guāngyīn yī cùn jīn, cùn jīn nán mǎi cùn guāngyīn," he said and proposed a toast. An inch of time is an inch of gold, but an inch of time cannot be purchased for an inch of gold.

Chapter 30

LATER THAT EVENING after his meeting with Xi Ren, Ned pulled out onto Jalan Burma and drove toward New Gurney Drive, a recently developed area on reclaimed land adjacent to the old promenade. When he reached the place, he drove slowly and examined the new properties in the area, most of which he had developed through his group of t venture property development companies. One of those properties, the Ivanov Tower which he tly owned with Fyodor Ivanov, stood at thirty-eight stories, complete with shopping arcades, business offices, and residential condominium units. It towered over the rest of the buildings lining the sea front. Fyodor had been managing it for him, including the exclusive penthouse club for their business associates from Russia and Eastern Europe. When he reached the building, he drove directly into the basement parking, past the automatic security barrier that had opened for him after its sensors read the RFID tag from his car. He parked in his private lot and took the express lift up to the office on the thirty-seventh floor, one floor below the penthouse club. When he reached the floor, two tall Russian female bodyguards greeted him in the lift lobby. He ired their professional attire, form-fitting black leather jacket with studded shoulders, leather pants, and platform boots. Then turning right, he walked along a red carpeted corridor that led toward Fyodor's office. The heavy door swung open automatically as he approached, and he entered Fyodor's spacious office which took up half the floor. Offices of his management team occupied the other half. Welcoming him at the door, Fyodor, a big Russian man with brush cut gray hair, like a silver bear rather than a silver fox, extended his huge hairy arms and gave him a hearty welcoming hug. He recalled how their friendship began many years ago when he started expanding his business influence in Moscow. "Ned Ong, my best friend," Fyodor said in Russian, his voice loud, and he grinned amiably. "Good to see you again, Fyodor," Ned replied in flawless Russian. "Your Russian is getting rusty, you know," Fyodor jested. "You should come visit me more often, we have fun with hot Russian women, okay?"

"Thanks, but not tonight," he said. "No problem," Fyodor said. "I know why you're here." "What's the status?" he asked. "I just finished checking with our liaisons in all the participating countries," Fyodor said. "They are very satisfied with the hardware. Russia and all Eastern European countries are more than ready to implement the new software system." Half an hour later after several drinks with Fyodor, Ned left Ivanov Tower and drove straight home to his three-story eighteen-room mansion in Bukit Jambul, the biggest house at the peak. It sat on high ground facing the sea. Although built on Feng Shui principles that his wife May Ling strongly believed in, he couldn't care less. All that mattered to him was that it towered above every mansion on the hill, effectively declaring his status as king of the hill. When he entered the vestibule, a short, stocky woman with a pageboy haircut, his sixty-year-old housekeeper told him, "Sir, your guest is here. It's Dr. Xavier Francis." "Thank you, Mrs. Goh, where is he now? In the library I suppose?" "Yes, Mr. Ong," Mrs. Goh said, excused herself and strode toward the kitchen. Ned headed to the library located opposite the living room on the ground floor. He had been expecting Xavier, his close friend from the United Kingdom, also his liaison for the UK and all of Western Europe. He had always welcomed Xavier to stay at his home whenever his friend visited Penang, whether for business or pleasure. Ned entered the library and closed the door behind him. Xavier stopped reading, rose from a deep brown leather armchair, and put away the book on a side table. "Ned," Xavier said and smiled broadly as he stepped forward. "Xavier, good to see you again," he said as they shook hands and hugged. "How's May Ling?" Xavier said. "I didn't get a chance to meet her today."

"She had gone to London to visit her parents," he said. He walked over to a tall glass cabinet, poured out two glasses of whiskey, and handed a glass to Xavier. Xavier went back to sit on his armchair while Ned sat on another armchair opposite him. "Ned, the UK, EU and all of Western Europe are ready for the software implementation," Xavier said. "That's very good," he said. "Did you know that I had shifted the implementation date a day earlier?" "Excellent," Xavier said. "I look forward to it. The sooner the better. We do need the system very badly." The following morning back in his office, Ned sat alone in his high-security private media room and held video conference sessions with various representatives of the rest of the participating countries. One after another, he had a video call with liaisons from the Middle East, South America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. All of them accepted his status report request readily and confirmed their hardware readiness. Every piece of hardware had been working well since the installation. Pleased with the status, he had told them to get their computer servers ready online. His main server will install remotely the final enhanced version of his software in their servers on the day of the implementation. By then their entire country's surveillance system will be under their government's control, he assured them. And they were happy and satisfied. Very good, he thought and smiled at the certainty that he too will have total control over their countries, in fact, over the entire world.

Chapter 31

IT WAS STILL DARK IN the morning, a little after 6:30 a.m., when Din went on his usual daily run, jogging past the Desa Permai Indah's guardhouse onto the road outside, beginning at one end of Jalan Helang. He kept to one side of the road opposite the flow of traffic even though there wasn't much traffic at the time. Breathing rhythmically, he enjoyed the cold fresh air. As he approached the other end of Jalan Helang, a dark car came toward him, turning in from Lorong Sungai Dua. Its small white LED headlights curved like feelers on a large black beetle. When it came closer, the car turned out to be a black Mercedes, an S-Class Limousine. It halted at about ten meters away. Curious as to who it could be, he slowed to a walk. Must be some big shot, but who could it be this early in the morning? A rear door of the black Mercedes swung open and a tall thin man stepped out to face him. When Din reached within a few meters of the car, he stopped and waited for the man to speak. "Encik Din Kamal," the tall thin man addressed him in English, although with a heavy foreign accent. In the darkness of dawn, unable to recognize the man, he asked, "Who are you?" "I am Zhang Hui Chen," the tall thin man said. Din recalled the famous name and nodded. Dr. Zhang, one of the influential technocrats from China, controlled the most accomplished team of Chinese hackers. "Dr. Zhang," he said. "I'm surprised to see you here." "We need to talk, privately," Dr. Zhang said. "It's about someone we both know." Din got into the back seat of the Mercedes with Dr. Zhang, and the car moved on slowly. He wondered what the Chinese technocrat was doing here in Penang. And why? "Dr. Zhang, how can I help you?" he asked. He figured that maybe the Chinese billionaire wanted to hire him, but for whatever reasons he couldn't think of any

right now. "I'm aware of what had happened to your friends, Gary and Kumar," Dr. Zhang said. "I see," he said and wasn't surprised. "I believe your old friend, Ned Ong, is involved, somehow," Dr. Zhang said. "Ned is not my friend," he said. "However, I'm aware of your relationship with him." "Ned Ong is my biggest business rival," Dr. Zhang said. "I believe he is planning something big, possibly something so huge that it could make my company obsolete fast. Truth be told, I must confess I don't know what he is up to. That's why I need your help." "I see," he said. Not wanting to comment any further he kept his silence and waited for Zhang to elaborate. "I believe you do know about his secret plan," Dr. Zhang said. He nodded but didn't say anything. "I have vast computing resources that might be of use to you," Dr. Zhang offered. "In exchange for information about Ned's secret plan, I am willing to help you." "Thank you, Dr. Zhang," he said and wondered about the billionaire's intentions. "What kind of help are you offering me?" "You may use my super quantum computers at any time," Dr. Zhang said. "And my team of hackers are at your service too." "Thank you for the generous offer, I'll have to think about it." Dr. Zhang pulled out a business card, wrote something on it, and gave it to him. "You can me at any time." He noted the phone number written on the card.

"Thank you, Encik Din, I hope to hear from you soon," Dr. Zhang said. When Din got out of the black Mercedes, he found himself at the same spot as he was earlier when he entered the car. After the car sped away, he resumed jogging along Jalan Helang and continued to ponder over the seemingly generous offer. Why should he trust this Dr. Zhang? Why should he accept the billionaire's offer to help? What exactly does the technocrat want in return? A suspicious thought crossed his mind. Mesti ada udang di sebalik batu. There must be ulterior motives. He wouldn't trust the PRC.

Chapter 32

LATER THAT MORNING Din sat at the kitchen table with Elena to eat breakfast, four small packets of nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaf and two mugs of Kopi-O that Elena had brewed while he was out earlier. On his way home after his daily morning run, he had bought the nasi lemak from a roadside stall at Lorong Sungai Dua. Just when they had finished their breakfast, there were several sharp knocks at the front door. Elena raised an eyebrow and said to him, "Someone at the door. Who could it be this early in the morning?" "No idea," he said. "I wasn't expecting any visitors." "Me too," she said. It was unusual for them to receive visitors at home, he thought. In fact, they rarely invited anyone to their home. Every once in a while, the only guests were Elena's parents and her sister. And their social interactions with the neighbors were few and far between. "Let's see who it is," he said. He picked up his smartphone and viewed a webcam's live stream of the long common corridor outside. A stocky Malay man and his two assistants, both also Malay men, stood facing his apartment's closed front door. He recognized their kind immediately. "Special Branch," he told Elena. Although dressed in plain clothes, the three men still looked like government agents. He wondered whether they had come to take him in for questioning about his hacking exploits. He went to the front door and Elena followed closely behind him. After a mental reminder to remain cool and to control the conversation, he opened the door. "Good morning," the stocky Malay man said to him in Bahasa Melayu. "Good morning," he replied likewise. "I believe you are from the government.

How can I help you?" The stocky man showed him a badge and said, "I'm Azran, from the federal government." After inspecting the badge, he said, "Come in, Encik Azran." He and Elena showed the three men into the living room and invited them to sit but Azran declined. "I'm from a special projects group," Azran said. "Here to speak to you about an important matter." "What is it about?" he asked. "We know you have been asking questions about Ned Ong," Azran said. "And we also know why you are asking questions about him. We want to you stay away from him." "I can't do that," he said. "And I won't tell you why." "We're not interested in your reasons," Azran said. "Only your compliance." "Is that a threat?" he asked, suppressing a rising tide of anger. "The group I work for does not believe in threatening people," Azran said. "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint your group," he said. "I won't stop asking questions until I get my answers. Please convey my reply to your leader." "I will certainly do that, good day to you," Azran said and left with his two men. After closing the front door, Elena asked, "Are we getting into serious trouble with the government?" "Well, this isn't the first time or the first threat from them," he said. "I think we can handle it." "I'm not so sure," Elena said. "This time it could be different." "If so, we must be prepared to go off-grid," he said. "Have to get our bug out

gear ready soon."

Chapter 33

AFTER THE THREE GOVERNMENT stooges had left, Din thought about their explicit warning and decided to call Shila to find out if she knew anything about their so-called special projects group. Also, he wondered whether she had found information about Ned's unclassified IT projects with the government. Recalling the awkward meeting with his father when he was in Putrajaya recently, he felt it wasn't necessary to visit her again, unless there was an urgent need. Anyway, he must tell her what had happened here earlier. He checked the time. 8:32 a.m. She would be in her office by now. In his home office, Din used a laptop computer designated for secure communications to initiate the video conference call, and Shila responded within seconds. Briefly, he told her about his unusual early morning encounters, first with Dr. Zhang then with the three government agents who came to warn him. Surprised, she said she would be more careful henceforth. Then she told him that she had gathered information on Ned's projects with the government. She briefed him all the information she had gathered on the various government IT projects that involved Ned's company, whatever she could find from government databases. He thanked her and ended the call. Puzzled, he sat back and pondered over the facts. The government seemed to trust Ned. The billionaire must be providing a valuable service to the country with his projects. Either that or he had bribed his way into the projects. An opportunist and an ambitious man, Ned had always coveted power, the more the better. He would do anything for it. But what kind of power would he stand to gain? And what's his ulterior motive, his plan for using that power? Desire for unlimited power was the main reason Ned left their hacker group years ago to start his own company, and he had become successful. Powerful too. Din believed he will hold Gary and Kumar captive until after his latest project's implementation, ostensibly to prevent them from stopping him. When will the project be implemented? Even Shila couldn't find that vital piece of information. With a sigh, he decided he must go confront Ned now. When Din asked to see Ned, the buxom Malay receptionist seated behind the front reception desk responded by making a call at once, as if her boss had told her to expect him. Within seconds, two armed guards in black uniform stepped out from a room behind the reception desk, and she told him that the two guards

will escort him to Ned's office right away. He thanked her and went with the two Malay guards to the lift lobby toward the left of the reception desk. Too young to be retired from the police force or the military, they must be of Ned's private security force, he observed. Not saying a word, they rode with him in the elevator up to Ned's office and showed him to the door. He didn't bother to knock. Grabbing the handle, he pushed the door wide open and stepped inside. He sensed one of the guards closing the door behind him. Ned came around from behind his desk in the far corner of the vast room and strode forward to greet him. "Good to see you here my friend," Ned said. "Want some coffee?" "No, thank you," he said. Ned showed him to a lounge area near the door, and they sat on black leather armchairs facing each other. "I've been expecting you," Ned said. "So, you finally accepted the invitation to come visit my new office. Well, not really new, it has been several years." "I didn't," he said. "You know Din, if you had ed me years ago, you'd have your own office here too, in the next room, also with a great view." "This life is not for me," he said, getting impatient. "I didn't come here to ire your office or to hear you brag about it." Ned chuckled and said, "Din my friend, you don't need to be so hostile toward me. I know you don't like to beat around the bush. What exactly do you want from me?" "I know you are holding Gary and Kumar captive somewhere, and that Zain is helping you. I want you to release them immediately." "But they are my guests, having a nice holiday." "Not your guests, I believe they are your prisoners."

"You're wrong, I treat them well. They are not harmed in any way, but I won't release them yet." "When will you release them?" "I can't divulge that information." "Then I'll have to go rescue them." "You don't need to do that." "Let me talk to them." "No." "Why?" "If you try to interfere, do you know that you'll have to deal with the government?" "Yes, I do."

Chapter 34

AFTER LEAVING NED ONG'S plush office, Din drove to a mamak restaurant in Bayan Baru. He needed a cup of teh tarik and some time alone to think. Now that he had practically declared war on Ned, he must begin to devise a concrete plan of action. Without it, he would have no chance of defeating his enemy, who was always well prepared for any contingency or conflict. At the mamak restaurant, he sat at a table in a far corner, away from the rest of the customers, and ordered teh tarik kurang manis. When it was served, he sipped the hot frothy tea slowly and thought about his predicament. Well, it wasn't good. In spite of his limited resources, he vowed to do whatever it takes to shut down Ned's system. To justify his decision, he must find concrete proof that the project would not benefit the rakyat. He believed the IoT system only served the selfish interest of its creator. First off, he'll need to know the system inside out. He'll certainly need more details about it. He recalled his enemy's bold threat. With the government's , Ned seemed secure and arrogant. Din realized it would mean that he would have to take on the government too. It won't be the first time for him and his group. In the past, he and his team had dealt with corrupt government officials and exposed them. He believed Ned would probably pressure whichever government department and its officials involved with the project to use whatever means necessary to prevent him from interfering. The department involved, certainly a covert one, would have all the resources to foil his plan. From now on he'll have to be more careful. And Shila will need to be more cautious too, if she continues to help him. He looked around at the customers in the mamak restaurant and observed that many of them, even while eating and drinking, use computing devices, nowadays mainly smartphones. A society obsessed with instant communication would fuel a great demand for higher and wider levels of connectivity in the foreseeable future. Ned, always chasing after the future, would want to control everything for his own benefit. Always bold and ambitious, the IT tycoon took risks readily. Din was sure that the billionaire had planned this IoT project for many years.

And he surmised that the IoT project was really designed to keep an eye on the rakyat, all those people with home and vehicle devices, smartphones, laptops, and personal computers. Nowadays many such devices are always connected to the Internet, reaching almost a hundred percent. As expected, Ned will be making tons of money from this deal with the government. A further thought came to Din. Maybe the billionaire had planned the same project for governments of other countries too. Yes, the megalomaniac would certainly do that. How to uncover everything about the IoTopia project? He'll need more of Shila's help and possibly his father's help too, if the old man would help. Or if they can't help him because of their duty to the government, their employer, he would have to rely on Dr. Zhang, a last resort. But he hoped not. The problem now was that besides Elena, there was no one else he could rely on. Gary and Kumar were being held captive somewhere, and he must find a way to free them first. Who could he ask for help? Several names from his hacker group came to mind: Jack Soh Chee Keong, Syed Ali, Ghazali Ismail, and Thirugana Sambanthan. They were the toughest guys he knew. All of them were ex-military and also expert hackers. Although he had worked with these brilliant guys before, he didn't really know them very well, but he could ask them. Surely, as fellow hackers, they would want to help Gary and Kumar. Jack Soh first, if he could find the elusive hacker. Then he'll the rest. He hoped Syed, Ghaz, and Thiru would be able to help. He must find a way to shut down Ned's IoT system in Malaysia and possibly in other countries too. His team of hackers will help with that. But first, they will need a plan to locate and free Gary and Kumar.

Chapter 35

AN HOUR LATER BACK in his home office Din logged in to his cloud server, an always on-line secure computer accessible from anywhere in the world. He had kept the location of his dedicated server a secret from everyone except Elena. In the event that his computers at home were seized or destroyed, he would still have access to all the information he had created or collected and the source codes of software he had developed. A key database he maintained was the profiles of people he had worked with or known throughout the years. It contained details about each person, everything he had discovered about that person from personality type to belief system, including current information. He retrieved the data for Jack Soh Chee Keong and reviewed the details to refresh his memory. He had met Jack Soh face to face in Johor Bahru a few years ago when he accepted a contract by a company there to help with penetration testing of their servers. Jack was hired by the company too. In fact, they had worked as a team for several weeks, going through the servers and the security measures. He was impressed with Jack's computer security skills and knowledge. When he returned to Penang after the job was completed, he had kept in touch with Jack several times a month. Jack lived in Segamat, Johor. Always through a secure computer communication, they exchanged ideas about computer security and hacking and were on friendly because they shared the same values. Jack also believed in justice and the welfare of the rakyat. Now he was certain that Jack would be more than willing to help with this problem, but he must consider carefully this decision about whether to involve Jack. Although he had Shila and Naza on his side, he really needed more help. Elena will not be able to provide adequate . Besides, he wouldn't want to get his wife too deeply involved because the risks will be very high. The last thing he wanted was for both of them to go to prison. If he gets into trouble with the government, Elena could still carry on even if they put him in jail. For how long would they incarcerate him? He had no idea and hoped it wouldn't come to that. Unlike some people who fled to avoid prosecution, he wouldn't flee the country, leaving behind everything. He believed in the country's legal system. If he could find concrete evidence to

incriminate Ned, he would be exonerated. He must press on, fight. He'll ask Jack Soh. Then he will the others and ask for their help too. Surely, they will come him. There was a soft knock at the door and Elena entered the room. "Din, how was your meeting with Ned?" she asked. "It didn't go well," he said. "You know how he is, always stubborn as hell." Elena nodded in agreement. "I'll do whatever I can to help you," she said. "I know you need more hands in this operation. I'm also a hacker, a member of the group. ? I really want to help." "Thanks," he said. "But I don't want you involved. If things go wrong, I may go to prison." "I know you'll do what is right," she said. "As long as we do the right thing for the rakyat, we should be okay." "What do you think if I ask Jack Soh for help?" he asked. "I believe you should get all the help you need," she said. "Agreed," he said. After giving him a hug and a kiss, she said, "I've to go grocery shopping. See you later." Din ed Jack and explained to him the dire situation concerning Gary and Kumar. It seemed that Jack knew Gary and Kumar too. Din also explained about Ned's evil plan. Without any hesitation, Jack offered to help and agreed to come up to Penang right away to work with him.

Chapter 36

INSPIRED BY JACK SOH'S decision to come help him, Din ed fellow hackers, Syed Ali and Ghazali Ismail, living in Teluk Bahang and made an appointment to meet the two men as soon as possible. He wasn't sure whether they would help, but he felt it was necessary to ask them anyway because besides being accomplished hackers, they were also ex-UTK operatives. Their additional set of specific skills would be useful under the present circumstances. Later in the afternoon, over a cup of teh tarik at a warong in Batu Ferringhi, Din said to Syed and Ghaz that he needed their help to rescue Gary and Kumar. Briefly, he explained to them the potentially dangerous situation, that the stakes were high, and that if the government were to implement an IoT surveillance system, the privacy of the rakyat will be compromised forever. It seemed they knew Gary and Kumar too. Syed said that they had worked with Gary and Kumar before. Eagerly, they offered their help, in any way possible. As ex-army soldiers and also avid survivalists, their knowledge and skills would be invaluable. With such expertise, they will succeed, Syed assured him. Toward the end of their discussion, Din received a call from Jack Soh. His plane had landed and that he had met Thiru at the Bayan Lepas airport. He asked Din where to meet. Since Syed and Ghaz lived in a secluded house at Teluk Bahang, Din, Syed and Ghaz agreed that the team should meet there to brainstorm their plan. They would also have access to computing and online resources. By now Din wasn't surprised that Syed and Ghaz also knew Jack Soh and Thiru. Syed gave Din the house address to text over to Jack, and Din did so immediately before they left the warong for the house in Teluk Bahang. When Din reached the secluded kampung house, he parked his car in the enclosed shed behind the house. Syed and Ghaz were already home and they welcomed him inside. A half hour later, Jack and Thiru arrived in a taxicab. After a brief exchange of greetings, Syed and Ghaz invited Jack and Thiru to stay there, and both of them accepted the generous offer. Then Din called all of them into the living room to discuss the situation. "In two separate incidents, Gary and Kumar were taken by a man named Zain," Din said. "Zain is a mercenary, he's working for Ned Ong."

"The Ned Ong," Thiru said and raised an eyebrow. "Yes," he said. "Our first mission is to rescue Gary and Kumar from wherever Zain and his men are holding them." "Do we know where?" Jack asked. "And how many men do we have to deal with?" "That's a problem," he said. "I don't know, can only guess. My guess is a secluded house in Balik Pulau owned by Ned, and Zain has two men, maybe more." "We'll have to that," Syed said. "So, our first task, to find exactly where Zain is holding them," Ghaz said. "They could be anywhere on Penang island or mainland," Jack said. "We must use all our resources to pinpoint the exactly location of their hiding place," he said. "Is there a deadline?" Thiru asked. "Maybe, I'm not sure," he said. "Anyway, we have to work fast." "Yes, as soon as we find out, we go rescue them," Jack said. "We need to know more about this mercenary, Zain," Syed said and frowned.

Chapter 37

"I LOVE YOU," ALLISON Pang murmured into Ned's ear as they lay in bed naked, resting after an hour long love making session. Instead of replying likewise, he showered her ample breasts with kisses. He would never say those three words because he did not love her. Smiling, he touched her lips with a finger. He enjoyed every minute of their love-making. And he ired her stamina in bed. She performed much better than his trophy wife, a silly prude. Allison would allow him to do whatever he desired, and he certainly availed himself of her willingness. He turned away from her and looked out the bedroom window of the Baystar condominium unit in Bayan Lepas, opposite Queensbay Mall. The lights of the Penang bridge were strung out like sparkling diamonds in the cloudless night. He felt a warm hand on his back. "One more time?" she asked, but his smartphone rang and he turned to look at it. It stopped ringing abruptly. "Is it your wife?" "No," he said. "She's in London visiting her parents." "Then we have all the time," she said and smiled at him. He pulled her down onto the bed, and she moved into position to receive him but his smartphone rang again. This time he recognized the specific ringtone. "Sorry, dear, I must take this call," he told her. He eased out of bed, picked up his smartphone, and walked naked out onto the balcony. After closing the sliding door, he answered the call and listened patiently for about a minute. Then he thanked the person for calling and ended the call. He lingered at the balcony, thinking about his current situation. He wouldn't allow anything or anyone to get in his way. He recalled his early years, how he had not received much help from his father, the late George Ong. Be that as it may, he had struggled long and hard to build his company. And he didn't let his father's pessimism hold him back. During his first year in business when George showed him a special set of

blueprints that would revolutionize the electronics industry forever, he was in awe of his father's magnum opus. Although glad to receive the gift, he was displeased with his father for imposing on him an impossible obligation, to make the technology Open Source. Realizing its immense impact on the IT world, he wanted to use the blueprints solely for his company. Unwilling to comply with his father's wishes, he had to kill his father and he did so, without regrets. And Lucy, his mother, went off the deep end after that, now housebound in a nursing home, a total nervous wreck. Since he had come a long way, Ned swore he wouldn't allow anyone to foil his plans, especially Din. He wondered what Din planned to do after the visit to his office yesterday. For several minutes, he pondered over it. Eventually he surmised what Din would definitely do. He knew the hacker well. They had been fellow hackers back in the day. Din was too unambitious. Otherwise they could have built a business empire together. He was sure that Din would want to have his hacker friends, Gary and Kumar, back, but he can't afford to let the two hackers go free before the implementation of the system. He must prevent Din and his gang from foiling the implementation. After the world wide implementation, they won't be able to do anything to stop the system in so many countries around the world. Anyway, they haven't found evidence of any criminal intent. Furthermore, he believed this government will keep them quiet. He reasoned that Din, however, would probably try to rescue his two hacker friends before the implementation. That must not happen. He raised his smartphone and dialed Zain's number. "Zain, I want you to beef up the security on our two captives and expect trouble soon," he said.

Chapter 38

THE FOLLOWING MORNING in his office, Ned sat behind his desk, leaned back against the high back chair, closed his eyes, and recalled in every detail Din's unexpected visit to his office the other day. His old friend, a frenemy now he supposed, seemed determined to defy him. He knew that the hacker will not give up on Gary and Kumar and will do whatever it takes to find and rescue his two friends. He must not allow Din to do that. He decided to give Din more problems to deal with. Keep the hacker's hands full to dilute his meager resources. Ned knew all about Din and his group of rogue hackers, the so-called Robin Hood hackers. Although scattered throughout the country and in several neighboring countries, the loosely connected motley group could still be potent when galvanized by someone like Din. Since their early days after he had left them, Din and gang had been known to hack into bank s of white-collar criminals, siphoning off money to help feed the poor. Din and his gang, a secret vigilante hacker group, had been involved in many hacks in the country throughout the years. They were never investigated, arrested, or prosecuted. The government had been keeping silent about the group's illegal activities as long as the group prey on the crooked and the corrupt, he supposed. He also knew about Din's freelance business in penetration testing and computer security. Maybe he could exploit that as well, but it would be difficult because those were legitimate businesses, some of them his business associates. No, that won't do. There must be no repercussions on his business. He looked for another option. What if Din and his hackers were to rob organized crime groups? Those guys certainly won't be happy and would certainly retaliate vehemently. Make it look as if Din and his group had hacked their bank s, then tip them off. They would certainly keep Din and his group busy for the rest of their lives. No, that would be too drastic. The ruthless gangsters would hunt down and kill Din and his group. He needed Din and gang alive so that he could use them in future. Never cut off completely any ties with either friends or foes because both might be beneficial under certain circumstances, depending on his purpose for them.

Another option that seemed more promising came to him. Why not let Din and his group get the blame for hacking into government sites? Yes, let Din and gang deal with the government. The government couldn't afford to close any eye if Din and his gang were to hack their sites. They would definitely take legal action. Perfect. Right now one of his most loyal employee will be able to help him frame Din and gang—Randy Sim, his hardware design engineer. Calling up the data on his computer screen, Ned reviewed the file on Randy, scrutinizing the man's background information. Yes, he would use Randy because he could easily control the man. Randy possessed the necessary hacker skills. The man could do the hacks and pin them on Din and gang, but he will have to give Randy something of value in return. He knew exactly what Randy craved, money and fast cars, a common weakness among men. Both rewards will be bestowed in due time. Furthermore, he had on file a personal secret about Randy. A pedophile, his employee will not dare double-cross him. Always seeking the Achilles' heel of prospective employees, he would only hire those he could exploit, especially people like Randy. Placing the engineer in research and development of hardware design, he made sure that the man performed only harmless but important work hacking electronics and no involvement whatsoever with AI. He reached for the intercom on his desk and called Allison to ask Randy to come see him immediately. Minutes later, he told Randy to go hack several specific government sites and frame the Robin Hood hacker group.

Chapter 39

AFTER RANDY LEFT HIS office, Ned pondered further about what this employee would usually do when given such a task that is beyond the scope of his normal duties. He surmised that Randy would know exactly what to do. This wasn't the first time. He was sure that the man will not fail, and he looked forward to a report that the series of hacks had been completed successfully. And he will make it easy for the government to track down Din and gang. He had instructed Randy to leave the necessary clues but not an obvious trail. Anything too easy would raise suspicions. The government's cybercrime department should be able to trace the hacks without much effort. Now all he needed to do is to warn the government of the impending hacker attacks. The government will see him as an ally in the fight against cybercrime. He chuckled. He reached for his smartphone on the desk and called Dr. Abdul Rahman, his key liaison man with the government, one among the many officials he had influenced with in various government departments. He suggested that they do lunch today and the man agreed readily because it would be a mutually profitable meeting. "I'll send one of my private jets to pick you up," he said. "Allison, my PA, will you with the details. See you soon." He ended the call and told Allison to make the necessary arrangements. At precisely one o'clock in the afternoon, Ned arrived at a mamak restaurant in Bayan Baru, one of the discreet places where he had met with his liaison man previously, several times this year. Dr. Abdul Rahman, a small, bald-headed man, waved at him from a table in secluded corner of the restaurant. Small and yet powerful, Ned thought as he strode over to the table. For the first ten minutes, they ate, drank, and chatted about trivial matters. He sensed that the government man seemed eager to hear about top secret IT industry news from him. And he was also curious to learn about the government's latest insider buzz. However, he would usually only disclose information that he wanted the government to know. He had helped this man many times throughout the years. So Abdul Rahman owed him a lot. In return, with this liaison man's help he had been able to influence the government to adopt his IoTopia system.

After they finished their meal, they drank a toast to their friendship. Ned knew that Abdul Rahman, an old bachelor, fancied boys, and he had helped the old man with an addiction to beautiful boys of all races. With this useful closely guarded secret, he felt the old man wouldn't dare double-cross him. When he sensed that Abdul Rahman was ready to hear what he had to say, he began by talking about a group of rogue hackers that, according to a reliable source, was planning a massive attack on all government department servers. "Who is the main hacker behind the plot?" Abdul Rahman asked. "All I know is that the group is called the Robin Hood hackers," he said. "I see," Abdul Rahman said and nodded. "Is the attack imminent?" "I'm not sure, but I think so. I believe it's going to happen any day now." "Thank you for this valuable information, I'll it on to the right people."

Chapter 40

LATER THAT NIGHT WHEN Din and Elena were at home in the living room, resting and reading after dinner, his smartphone on the coffee table in front of him emitted a message notification tone. Instantly he recognized it as a security alert from one of his trusted s in the Deep Web. Realizing that something serious had happened on the Internet, he put aside his tablet, reached for his phone, and stared at the message displayed. After that he used the tablet and went online to confirm the veracity of the breaking news. "Bad news," he said to Elena and frowned. "What?" she said. "What's wrong?" "Many Malaysian government websites have been hacked by some unknown hackers." "Really? Who could it be?" "I've no idea. Anyway, all hell had broken loose in Putrajaya. Government agents are going all out to round up all known hackers." "Are we affected?" "I believe so." "So what should we do now?" He was about to remind her about their contingency plan when another notification tone from his smartphone interrupted him. He reached for his phone and read the message. "A hacker friend just confirmed that government agents are out to get us," he told her. "Is the information reliable?" "I believe solid as a rock. He advised us to run and hide while we can." "How much time do we have?"

"I reckon we have at most an hour before they come storming into our apartment. I believe the news is true. We must go now." "All right, time to execute our escape plan." He went to pack two laptops and two portable hard drives, while Elena hurried to the bedroom to get their clothes and essential documents that were already packed in two large clam shell suitcases. After locking the door, they left their apartment, lugging the two laptop bags and two suitcases down three flights of stairs, loaded them into a black van parked at the back of their apartment block, and sped off, leaving behind his old Proton Saga. "We'll go to the safe house," he said as he pulled out onto Jalan Sungai Dua. "Is it safe there?" "It should be. It has no connections with us or any member of our hacker group. I had parked Kumar's van there." "Yes, I recall." As they drove on in the night, Elena grew quiet. He supposed she was worried, and he wondered whether government agents had already stormed their apartment by now, tearing everything apart. Soon, after ensuring that they were not followed, they reached the safe house and Din drove straight into the garage, a wooden hut, and parked next to Kumar's van. "We should be safe here," he said. "When can we return to our apartment?" "I don't know."

Chapter 41

AS SOON AS THEY ENTERED their safe house at Batu Uban, Ali, the caretaker, greeted them and quickly closed and locked the front door. Looking over the place, Din was pleased to see that it was well kept. He thanked Ali and the caretaker retreated to the kitchen. "What now?" Elena asked as they stood in the living room. Detecting a tinge of fear in her voice, he gestured her to wait while he pulled out his smartphone to call Syed. "Elena and I are on the run from government agents," he told Syed. "I see," Syed said. Syed didn't sound shocked, he thought. "Where are you guys now?" Syed asked. "Some place safe." "Good, by the way I'm also aware of the crackdown on hackers." "Are you guys on the run too?" "No, we are safe here. Why don't you and Elena come us?" "You guys must be careful. I believe someone is out to get us." "Is it because of what happened to Gary and Kumar?" "I'm not sure, but it's possible." "Well, Ghaz and I will take the necessary precautions." "You must warn Jack and Thiru too." "Done that, my place is secure. It's real owner has no direct links to either me or Ghaz. The government wouldn't know of our hideout. Besides, I've an extensive network of webcams in the neighborhood. We'll be alerted if there are any

intruders in the area." "That's good. We really need to get together to plan." "Just so you know, we've already started looking for Gary and Kumar, but we need your input." "Okay, I'll go over right now," he told Syed and ended the call. "I?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow. "You should stay here," he said. "There's enough food in the pantry and freezer to last several weeks. You don't have to go out at all. Just ask Ali to get whatever else you need." "No, Din, I want to go with you." "But it's safer for you to stay here." "There's absolutely nothing for me to do here. You know I can help search for Gary and Kumar too." He fell silent for a moment, thinking. Well, maybe he was being overprotective. "All right," he said. They lugged their laptops and suitcases out the back door to a car he had kept parked behind the safe house. He drove cautiously, taking the Balik Pulau route toward Teluk Bahang. Upon reaching the place, as directed by Syed, he entered a narrow dirt road into Syed's protected neighborhood. After ensuring that they weren't being followed, Syed guided him to the secluded house. When they reached the single story wooden kampung house, they received a warm welcome from Syed, Ghaz, Thiru, and Jack. Since the four of them had already done some preliminary work on locating Gary and Kumar, Jack briefed Din and Elena on their progress. They had found some possible sites. It had taken them nearly all night to track down all known properties that could possibly be owned by either Zain or Ned.

Din and Elena sat down with the rest of the group to examine the list of possible locations. Based on his knowledge of Ned's predilections, he could tell which place would be the most probable. He eliminated most of the locations except one, an old bungalow in an old rubber plantation near the base of a hill in Bukit Mertajam, mainland Penang. "Yes, this is it. I believe Zain is keeping Gary and Kumar here because when I was chasing him along the highway, he was heading south. I think he had most probably exited near BM," he said.

Chapter 42

AFTER DIN DID A FINAL verification on all the data they had gathered and was reasonably certain that they had found Gary and Kumar, he looked up from his laptop and took a deep breath. "It looks like we're ready for stage two," he told Syed, Ghaz, Jack, Thiru, and Elena, all of them gathered around him at the work table in Syed's computer room. Stage two meant that they would have to execute their rescue plan, but when he looked at their tired faces, he realized that it would have to wait awhile. In spite of that, they had done great work. "We should all take a break after the hard work we had done," he said. They merely nodded in reply. He realized they had worked through the night with him, and now he felt a rising tide of weariness. No wonder everyone looked so sleepy and probably hungry too. "Let's eat, then rest a bit," he said. "Ghaz, how's our food supply?" "We have ample supply in the fridge, enough for two weeks or so," Ghaz said. Ghaz, Thiru, and Elena volunteered to go prepare a feast for them to celebrate their first achievement. "Thanks to all of you for your hard work," Din said. "After our feast we really need to rest, get some sleep to recharge before going out to rescue Gary and Kumar." Ghaz, Thiru, and Elena went off to the kitchen while Jack, Syed and Din remained with him to discuss their next step. "Our next stage would require weapons," Jack said. "Unfortunately, I don't have any firearms here," Syed said. "What should we do?" Jack said. "We need them." "Let's take a break," Din said. "Talk about this later." He didn't like the idea of

using firearms or any deadly weapons. Later while they were all eating at the long dining table, Din discussed with Jack and Syed about getting additional tools or supplies for use in their rescue mission. "I know a reliable place to get tools and hardware supplies," Syed said. "I suggest we don't use any form of lethal weapons, unless absolutely necessary," Din said. "I can get tasers," Syed said. "I suppose that's all right," he said. "And handcuffs too." "No, zip ties would be better," Jack said. "Good idea, Jack," Syed said. "How about bow and arrow, dart guns?" Jack said. "Silent weapons are best in a stealth operation." "Please try not to kill anyone," Din said and frowned. "We may not have any choice." Jack bristled. Following a power nap after their meal, Din, Jack, and Syed prepared themselves to go get the necessary hardware. After that Din told Elena, Ghaz, and Thiru to rest and to keep an eye out for any sign of trouble. When it was time to go, Elena told him to be careful. Then Din, Jack, and Syed went out to Syed's van and they left the house. Over the next three hours, Din, Jack, and Syed managed to get all that they needed and put everything in the back of the van. They were on their way back to the house when Din got a distress call from Elena, and he put it on speaker phone immediately. He gestured Syed to stop the van, and Syed pulled over to the road shoulder along a deserted road.

"What's the matter?" Din asked Elena. "They are coming for us." "Who?" "Government agents. Shit, they have the entire neighborhood surrounded. I can see them on the webcam feeds." "Can you guys run?" "Ghaz says there's no way out." "If you can't run, can you hide?" "There's a large hidey hole underground just below the kitchen floorboards," Syed said. "Go hide there now," Din said. Suddenly, the call was cut off. "Damn, what should we do now?" Jack asked. "We can't go back there now, maybe later," Syed said. They sat in the van and waited in silence. A half hour later, Syed drove back to the house, taking every precaution to check for any trouble following them. Upon entering the neighborhood, Syed stopped the van a short distance away from his house and they set out on foot to check out the situation. When they reached the place, they took cover behind some trees and scanned the house and its surroundings. The place seemed too quiet. Something was wrong, Din thought. The front door had been torn open. They stepped inside to find that all their laptops and computer hardware were gone. And when Syed led them to the hidey hole, they found it empty.

Chapter 43

SYED, DIN, AND JACK hurried out of the house and headed back toward their van. "We can't go back there, Syed," Jack said, when they got into the van. "I know," Syed said. "So what now? They took my beloved Ghaz and the others." "They'll be fine," Jack said. "The government won't harm them in any way." "But now we're short-handed," Din said. "We carry on?" Syed said. "We have to," Din said. "But we need a new base," Jack said. "I've a safe house we can use," Din said. "But first, we must go rescue Gary and Kumar." "Yes," Syed said. "We have all the necessary tools. Go now?" "Let's find a secluded place to plan our next move," Din said. "I know the perfect place," Syed said and started the engine. Checking the rearview mirror at every turn, he drove on, getting away from Teluk Bahang as fast as possible, heading toward Balik Pulau. Half an hour later, Syed pulled the van off a deserted dirt road somewhere in the Balik Pulau area, deep among the sparse clusters of kampung houses in a grove of coconut trees. "Maybe we should lie low for a while," Syed said. "For a few days?" "That's not a good idea," Jack said. "I don't think we have that much time," Din said. "We need to act fast. I believe Ned had somehow caused this to happen, trying to prevent us from rescuing

Gary and Kumar." "That means we mustn't delay our plan," Jack said. "Yes, if we wait too long, Ned will have executed his plan and all would be lost," Din said. "So we carry out the rescue mission, right away, despite what had happened?" Syed said. "Yes, we mustn't let any setback paralyze us," Din said. "Then we shouldn't wait any longer," Syed said. "If the government had captured Elena, Thiru, and Ghaz, they will carry on until they get all of us." "We just have to move faster than them," Din said. Jack and Syed nodded in agreement. Syed started the van and drove out onto the main road toward Relau, then crossed the Penang Second Bridge. Within an hour, after twisting and turning along several dirt roads, they reached the thickly wooded area of rubber trees surrounding the old bungalow. Under the cover of the trees, Syed parked his van, off a dirt road, some distance away so that when they decide to act later on, they would have to walk for a few minutes toward the bungalow to reach a safe viewing distance. It was their plan not to park too close to the place as they mustn't be seen since it was still daytime, late afternoon. "Looks like we have a few daylight hours to plan exactly what to do when we get inside the bungalow," Din said. "We'll wait until after dark to act." "I've already pulled out the layout plan for the bungalow," Syed said. "Let me share the PDF with you guys." "Let's go over it," Din said as soon as they received the PDF document on their smartphones. The three of them scrutinized the layout of the bungalow and decided on the fastest way of getting in, rescuing Gary and Kumar, and getting out of there quickly.

"I believe they are holding Gary and Kumar in the basement," Jack said. "Yes, I think so," Din said. "But first, we'll need to find out how many guards," Syed said. "Then plan how to take them out, one by one without raising an alarm." "We could use dart rifles," Jack said. "Are they lethal?" Din asked. "We don't want to kill anyone." "It depends on the dosage," Jack said. "I chose those with enough juice to knock out an average-sized man. It's tricky, I know. A man may or may not be knocked out within seconds." "That's not good enough," Din said. "They'll have time to raise the alarm. And I suppose they carry guns." "We'll just have to get close enough to knock them out," Syed said. "With barbed tasers," Jack said. "Yes, that's a better option," Din said. An hour after sunset, Din, Syed, and Jack crept closer to check out the bungalow. Syed launched a drone with night vision capability and they inspected the compound and the bungalow. There were two guards patrolling the bungalow's compound, keeping close to the building. "Good, only two guards outside," Jack said. "But how many more are inside?" Syed said. "We can't tell," Din said and prayed that all would go well. "Never mind, you guys ready?" "Yes," Syed said. "Let's go," Jack said.

Chapter 44

AFTER PUTTING ON THEIR tactical body armor and night-vision googles, Din, Jack, and Syed strapped X3 tasers to their belts, and packed zip ties and duct tapes in their ultra slim black backpacks. They tested their communications one last time before heading out to the bungalow. Treading their way through the sparse undergrowth, they took cover from shrub to tree and tree to shrub, and when they reached within ten yards of the bungalow, they paused to scan its facade. They crouched and watched the two guards on patrol around the bungalow every minute or so, walking close to its four walls, both men always going in the opposite direction toward each other. "If the two guards don't meet within a certain time limit, one of them will raise an alarm," Syed told Din and Jack. "So, we must take them out at the same time," Din said. "Yes, but wait, look at the front door, at the lock," Syed. "Good, it's a regular old-fashioned lock," Jack said. "And I see they have a key strapped to their belt," Din said as he zoomed in with his night-vision googles. "Jack and I will take them out and get the keys," Syed said. "All right, but not in front of the bungalow," Din said. "We should get them just when they turned the corner to the side of the bungalow," Jack said. "No doors or windows there." "And that's when they can't see each other," Din said. "Yes, now we wait for the right moment," Jack said. "I'll take the left side." When it was time to act, Syed said, "Let's go, Jack." Jack ran toward the left side of the bungalow, while Syed sprinted over to its right side. Meanwhile, Din watched the front door, ready to warn them in case of

any unexpected developments. He watched the video feeds from their helmet cameras as they shot the two guards with tasers, tied their hands and legs with zip ties, and sealed their mouths with duct tape. Seconds later, they were back at the front of the bungalow with the two keys taken off the guards, and Din ran over to them. He took a key from Jack while Syed kept the other. Using the key, Din unlocked and opened the front door, and they slipped into the vestibule. As planned, they split up into two teams. Din and Jack will go rescue Gary and Kumar held in the basement, and Syed will go take out any other guards elsewhere in the bungalow. After gesturing in sign language that he will them later, Syed crept away farther inside. Din and Jack tiptoed down the concrete stairs into the basement. At the bottom was another door. After using the key to open it, they entered a long narrow corridor running alongside the bungalow. Evenly spaced LED light bulbs hung from the ceiling illuminated the corridor until it reached the far corner. Feeling exposed as they walked along the well-lit corridor, Din kept his taser pointed ahead and so did Jack. When they were about two yards away from the far corner, they stopped at the sound of footfalls, two distinct sets. Din gestured to Jack and they crept to one side of the wall. When the two guards came around the corner, they froze for a split second with a look of surprise on their faces. But before they could draw their guns, Din and Jack fired their tasers and the two guards collapsed onto the floor.

Chapter 45

AFTER TYING UP THE guards' hands and legs with zip ties and sealing their mouths with duct tape, Din and Jack dragged them away from the corner and lay them on the concrete floor against the wall. Din stooped down to check their pulse. Their hearts were still pumping, albeit rather faint. They were, however, still breathing. Satisfied that they were merely unconscious, not dead, he gestured to Jack that they proceed. They peered around the corner. A short corridor led to another door at the end. He had no knowledge of the basement's floor plan because Syed couldn't get more detailed information. That door could lead to more guards, and possibly to Zain too. He wondered whether Syed had managed to take out the guards, if any, in the other parts of the bungalow. Presently, footfalls coming from the bottom of the basement stairs interrupted his fleeting thoughts and he gestured to Jack. They hid behind the corner, held up their tasers, and waited. Could it be Syed? He hoped so. They might need him to even up the odds against Zain and the rest of his men. He pulled out a telescopic mirror and peered around the corner into the corridor. Pleased to see Syed coming toward them, he signaled with a small flashlight, and Syed hurried over to them. "I took out two guards on the ground floor," Syed said. "So six guards taken out so far," Din said as they turned to face the door. "Probably more are behind that door. Let's go." They went through that door. It led them into another corridor, revealing four doors, entrances to four rooms, and at the end of the corridor was a wall, a dead end. "Gary and Kumar must be here," he said. They crept closer to check out the four doors. There were no windows facing the corridor and the doors were made of sturdy wood. Entering the first room, they found it empty. When they slipped into the second room, they found Gary.

"Glad to see you guys," Gary said when Syed removed his ankle shackle. "Are you all right?" Din asked. "I'm okay," Gary said. "Let's go get Kumar," Syed said. In the third room, they found him. "Thanks guys," Kumar said. "How many guards did you guys take out so far?" "Six," Syed said. "Only six?" Kumar said. "I think there are two more, not including Zain." "We have to find them," Din said. "And I want Zain. He might have information we need." "You guys might need these," Syed said as he handed Din and Jack the two guns he had taken off the guards he took out earlier. "The guards are well armed. Tasers won't be good enough to stop them." "All right Syed, Jack and I will handle the rest," Din said. "You get Gary and Kumar out of here now. We'll meet you guys later at the entrance hall." "Right," Syed said and began to lead Gary and Kumar along the corridor, heading back to the basement stairs. Din waited until they had gone up the basement stairs before he and Jack proceed to storm the fourth and last room. As they were about do so, its door flung open. They retreated into the third room immediately to take cover, but kept its door wide open. Shots were fired into the short corridor and bullets slammed against the wall, spraying pieces of concrete all over the floor. Taking cover behind the open doorway of the third room, Din and Jack returned fire, and the two guards retreated into the fourth room. Din and Jack went in after them. The fourth room was a mess room furnished

with a large screen TV, chairs, a dining table, and a bar. Jack upturned the round table to shield themselves from the barrage of bullets. Further rapid fire were exchanged. Taking cover behind the bar, the two guards returned fire. Din and Jack fired again and again, shattering the bottles, glass, and mirror behind the bar. Following another barrage of shots, one guard slumped to the floor. Seconds later, the other one went down too. Din and Jack hurried over to them. One was dead, the other was still alive, but he won't be for long, Din observed. "Where's Zain?" he asked the dying man. The man struggled to speak, his speech unintelligible, his voice faint, rasping and then he went still.

Chapter 46

AFTER LOOKING AROUND the mess room, Din shook his head and sighed. Two dead. Not good. What to do now? Report to the police? No, not possible, not now. Just leave the scene of a crime? Yes, unfortunately. He realized there was no other choice. Any involvement with the police now would jeopardize their plan to defeat Ned. But what should they do with the dead bodies? Nothing. There was absolutely nothing they could do. "What should we do now?" Jack asked. "I'll make an anonymous call to report this later," he said. "When we get back." "Then we should go," Jack said. They went back up to regroup with Syed, Gary, and Kumar at the vestibule of the bungalow. When Din saw them laughing and bantering, a feeling of relief washed over him. The rescue operation was a success. He was glad they had managed to free Gary and Kumar. Although still in their soiled clothes, both men looked unshaven and pale but they weren't hurt in any way. "I'm ready to go after Zain and Ned," Gary said, his voice determined. "Me too," Kumar said. "It's payback time." "You guys need to rest first," he told them. "But we still have a lot more work to do to stop Ned," Gary said. "Yes, them bastards need to be stopped," Kumar said. "Well, let's get out of here, you guys need to freshen up," he said. "Then we can plan our next move." "Din, what happened to the remaining guards in the last room?" Syed asked. "Dead," he said and sighed. "Two persons are dead because of Ned. "What about Zain?" Syed asked. "He's not here," he said.

"He's not here most of the time," Gary said. "He left us here with two guards." "At first it was two, then he added four more," Kumar said. "He has probably gone back to George Town," Gary said. "What will Ned do when he hears of this?" Syed asked. "I believe he will adjust his plans," he said. "So we have to act fast." "Are we ready to move out now?" Jack asked. "Yes, let's get back to the van," he told them. Leaving the front door wide open, they filed out of the bungalow into the warm and humid night. Other than the sounds of insects, it was quiet. He sensed that it was too quiet. The group walked on in silence along the gravel road and turned onto a dirt path cleared through the undergrowth heading in the direction of their van. When they reached the van, Din and Syed got into the front, Syed in the driver's seat and Din in the front enger seat. Jack, Gary, and Kumar climbed into the back of the van. Syed turned the key in the ignition but there was no sound. "Damn." "Something's wrong," Din said, realizing that the battery was disconnected. "Everybody, get out quick!" But they were too slow. Bright lights pierced through the windshield directly at them and gathered together in numbers quickly, closing in on the van, their streams of red laser beams reaching deep into the van presaging a swarm of men in tactical body armor with automatic firearms. He knew they were government agents, and this time there was no escape from them.

Chapter 47

UNABLE TO SEE ANYTHING due to the black hood over his head, Din sensed that the vehicle had finally stopped after what seemed like a long time. Someone opened the door and pulled him out. When his feet touched the ground he couldn't steady himself because his hands were cuffed behind his back and he stumbled, but he felt rough hands grabbing him, preventing him from falling. Deprived of his sense of sight since the beginning of the ride, he had no idea where he was taken. Straining his ears to listen, he found the place quiet. Other than their pounding footsteps, there were no other sounds he could identify. Aware that he was being herded by armed men walking behind and alongside him, he trudged on, their footfalls heavy, echoing in what sounded like a cavern. The cold from the rough concrete floor seeped through the soles of his sneakers, and the air was tainted with the odor of strong disinfectants. He could be in one of those secret underground complexes scattered throughout West and East Malaysia, but he had no idea which one. However, he must still be within the peninsular since he was in a road vehicle not a plane during the entire journey. The most baffling thing was that he was alone. As they continued, he wondered what had happened to Gary, Kumar, Syed, and Jack, and he asked but a man with a loud voice told him to shut up and walk. He felt like he had been walking for a long time, sometimes turning this way and that. But after some time, they stopped at the familiar beeps of a security door being unlocked. A door was being opened and they stepped inside. Someone removed the cuffs on his hands and pulled the black hood off his head. He turned around to face three armed masked men in tactical body armor. Without saying a word, they left him in there and locked the door. He scanned the room. It was small with gray concrete walls. In the center of the room, a single light bulb hung down from the low ceiling. There was only a bed and a toilet in each of the far corners. There were no windows, but there were small air vents lined high up near the ceiling and two security cameras mounted off the ceiling in two diagonally opposing corners of the room. He sighed. There was nothing he could do except wait. Besides, he needed a rest. He lay down on the clean bed and began to think, questioning their motives for keeping him here. Which government agency was involved in this operation?

Could it be the one working with Ned, or most probably controlled by Ned? He surmised they had to keep him away until it was too late for him to do anything about the implementation. After about an hour of rest, he got up from the bed and examined the entire room, every square inch of its four walls, including the door and its keypad above the door handle. Without the right combination it would be impossible for him to open the door. Even if by trial and error he did it eventually, what could he do next? Nothing, he supposed. It would be pointless to get out of this room deep in an underground complex. He realized he had no choice but to wait and see what they wanted from him. For now, they let him stew in there, possibly to wear him down, but he mustn't let that happen. He went back to the bed and lay down, intending to rest for a good while, even though thoughts of uncertainty plagued his mind. In spite of that, he willed himself to get the much needed sleep.

Chapter 48

WHEN SLEEP DID NOT come, Din lay in bed to let his weary body rest while events of his hacker group's checkered past unfolded in his overactive mind. Over the years there had been many successes and failures, but he felt that the number of failures outnumbered the successes. Due to unwise decisions, he surmised that some of the failures eventually led to their present predicament. Pensively, he started to recall the notable ones. It all started years ago when they were getting into hacking. It was Ned who had galvanized them, but he couldn't tolerate their attitudes, had spoken out with rancor, and left the group. The hacker team were all young and inexperienced then. They couldn't or rather wouldn't tolerate older hackers, ignoring wise guidance and deciding to do things their way. Of course, all didn't go well due to their naive arrogance, lack of knowledge, and meager experience. Fortunately, their hacks were considered trivial and harmless. Be that as it may, they did earn legitimate money. Most of their time were spent working on bespoke software for local businesses. They also did network setup, including its configuration and istration, all dull routine tasks, but there were also some interesting jobs done as requested by companies, that is, white hat penetration testing. It was their forte. He ed another project that happened during their early years. Sad to say the job didn't end well. They were supposed to design a secure network software system, but due to numerous long drawn out discussions with the client over scope creep, they couldn't complete the project and, consequently, had to refund all monies paid. He surmised that they were too inexperienced to handle large, complicated projects then. And they found it difficult to work with C-level executives who did not understand what they did and yet wanted to dictate the outcome. It was pure torture working with such arrogant and opinionated people. He itted that he and his team didn't know how to handle such executives. Furthermore, they didn't learn from that bad experience, so they couldn't grow. As a result, their group's activities were restricted to small and medium-sized jobs, essentially earning peanuts instead of millions. There was another job done in the past that didn't end well too. They were tasked

to locate black hat hackers who had ransomware a company. They did all they could to restore the files successfully, but their own laptops were hacked and held ransom as well. Fortunately, they were using their spare computers that were expendable. Nevertheless, they did track down the rogue hackers, reported the culprits to the authorities, and restored their laptops. Their reputation as white hat hackers was somewhat redeemed, to a certain extent. That was the most embarrassing job he had ever done with his team of hackers. Although handicapped due to lack of computing resources, they had managed to overcome their limitations without any external help. He wouldn't ask the government for help. Unofficially, he did receive generous help from Shila for later projects, and he hoped he didn't get her into trouble with her employer, the government. Without government backing, they were vulnerable, he surmised. His team didn't have access to state-of-the-art hardware, especially the array of quantum computers. He realized now that the government should be an ally, not the enemy, but he felt deep down inside that he still couldn't trust them.

Chapter 49

DIN BELIEVED HIS TEAM of white hat hackers would only want to work with a government department that they could trust, maybe one managed by Dr. Naza Kamal, his father, the most experienced and highly skilled hacker in the employ of the Malaysian government. He, however, wasn't sure whether he would unless he could somehow reconcile the differences of opinion between him and his father. The familiar beeps disrupted his ruminations about their differences. He got up from the bed and walked toward the door. "Finally, the moment of truth," he said and waited. He stood facing the door as it swung open. Two men stepped into the room. Speechless for a while as he gaped at Jack and Naza, he regained his composure when Naza looked at him with usual stern eyes. Ignoring his father, he said, "Jack, what's happening?" "My team intervened just in time before the other team could get to you guys," Naza told him. "What do you mean?" he asked and frowned. "What other team?" "Your father saved us," Jack said. "What about the guards in the bungalow?" Jack shook his head, and Din realized that the guards were expendable. "What about the raid at Syed's house?" he asked. "That wasn't a raid," Naza said. "I don't understand," he said, and looked to Jack for an explanation. "Actually, I signaled Dr. Naza for help," Jack told him. "His team came to rescue Elena and the others before the raid by the other government team." "Jack, who are you working for?" he demanded.

"He works for me," Naza said. "I knew it," Din said and shook his head. "But why?" "As an undercover agent, Jack helps me by monitoring certain hacker groups," Naza said. "You mean spy on us," he said. "No, looking for ways to help," Jack said. "Help, how are you helping now?" he said. "You should thank Jack for saving all your lives," Naza said. "The other government team had been ordered to terminate you all. When he found out, Jack ed me for help." "I see, sorry for being skeptical," he said and mumbled a reluctant thank you. "No problem, Din," Jack said. "So, what should we do now?" he asked. "Well, first, let's get you out of this room," Naza said. He followed them out of the room into a wide corridor of a well-lit tunnel. After walking for about a hundred yards, they reached a junction and turned left. Then they strode on for a further ten yards toward a secured door. At the door, Naza keyed in the security code and it slid open. Jack and Din followed him, stepping into a vast room. "What is this place?" Din asked. "This is our command and control center," Naza said. "Deep underground, this complex is a network of tunnels and rooms, built to withstand any attack." "Who manages it?" he asked. "Your father," Jack said.

"Jack helps me with the operations," Naza said. "Our group was formed to counter rogue groups within the government." "We also fight against black hat hackers, our team tracks and intercepts cyberattacks all over the world," Jack said. "We know who the black hat hackers are." Looking around the vast room, Din nodded, impressed with the computer facilities. "Where are we exactly?" he asked. "You will see later," Naza said. "Come, this way to the conference room." He followed Jack and Naza along a narrow but brightly lit corridor for a minute or so until they reached another door, unsecured this time. Naza opened it, ushered them inside, and closed the door behind them. His spirits lifted when he saw who were in the conference room. All of them were smiling, happy to see him. They were his hacker team: Gary, Kumar, Syed, Ghaz, and Thiru. Also pleased to see Elena, he smiled at her. And Shila too. They gathered around him. Elena, the first to approach, hugged him. "We'll be safe here," she told him. Then his hacker team came forward to shake his hand. After that Shila came over and they hugged. "Shila, why didn't you tell me about this place earlier?" he asked. "Ayah is in charge, he decides who gets to know about this place and when," she said. "We are a highly covert group reporting directly to The Yang di-Pertuan Agong and no one else," Naza said. "Our king believes some other covert government agencies may be up to no good, working with people like Ned Ong." "We are now ready to foil Ned's plans," Jack said. "We know he wants to take over the world of Internet of Things. He calls it Operation IoTopia, it allows him to dominate the entire world, not just Malaysia."

"He had sold his computer system to the governments of many countries all over the world," Naza said. "And all of them will be fully operational soon."

Chapter 50

IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM of the top secret underground complex, Din listened as Gary, with Dr. Naza Kamal and Shila, prepared to brief the rest of the team on the details of Ned Ong's Operation IoTopia mastermind plan and its impending worldwide deployment. Gary explained that he had planted himself as a sleeper agent into Ned's organization years ago and had been silently monitoring the plans of the billionaire technopreneur all these years. "It's an elaborate inter-connected plan for world domination through IoT," Gary told them. "Which means that for each country that implements Ned's IoTopia system, its corresponding security agency will be able to monitor a huge segment, if not all of its population, through every conceivable device connected to the Internet. What's troubling is that Ned had managed to convince almost all the countries of the world to implement his system. This means that nearly the whole world will be affected." "And knowing Ned," Din said. "I believe he will have some kind of backdoor AI program, a malware or a virus, to control all the countries." "Yes, I believe so," Gary said. "But how does he do it?" "We have to find out," Shila said. "How come the countries couldn't detect his ulterior motive, his backdoor AI program?" "He probably has some way to hide his malware that overrides the country's program," Din said. "If we can stop the country from deploying the IoT software system, we can stop him from controlling them," Naza said. "If we can't prevent the rollout, we have to stop Ned from overriding their program," Din said. "That's the least we must do." They began a discussion on how they could best stop the system's worldwide deployment. Gary, Dr. Naza, and Shila supplied the background information. After intensive investigations, they knew about the server locations in the countries that had adopted Ned's IoTopia system. They would need to shut all of them down before the implementation.

"I heard from a reliable source that Ned had moved the deployment date earlier by a day," Naza said. "That means we don't have much time left," Shila said. They decided to split into two teams, one for Malaysia, the other for the rest of the world. Din, Gary, Kumar, Elena, and Shila would handle Malaysia, to disable Ned's malware and to stop the country's implementation. Specifically, Din, Gary, and Kumar would work on cracking Ned's stealth AI program. "To do that we need to break into Ned's most secret control room deep underground at his headquarters," Gary told Din and Kumar. Meanwhile Elena and Shila were tasked with finding ways to stop the country's deployment on computer servers scattered throughout Malaysia. As for the overseas installations, Jack, Thiru, Syed, and Ghaz would hack them, stopping every country from starting the system. "I have a private jet ready to go anywhere in the world, if necessary," Naza told them. "And I can arrange another for any domestic trips."

Chapter 51

AFTER THEIR MEETING in the conference room had ended, Dr. Naza Kamal and Shila showed Din and the rest of the team out into the corridor, heading back toward the command and control center. Eager to execute their plan soonest possible, Din strode ahead leading his team, following his father and sister closely. And looking forward with pleasure to check out the computer hardware, he wondered what he could do with them since he was certain he won't be disappointed. When they entered the vast room, Naza said to them, "Welcome to the command and control center. Here we have everything you will need: computer and communications hardware, all kinds of weapons, food and beverages, gym equipment, books, nap pods, and more." Din gaped at the computer hardware arranged in a big circle at the center of the room, full of the latest high-end terminals and laptops he had ever seen in one place. And he gasped when he saw the quantum computers in serried ranks at the far corner in a sealed glass chamber. He observed that, besides Jack, Naza, and Shila, everyone else also looked impressed and in awe of the state-of-the-art equipment. "Well, this is really an impressive array of computer hardware, and I suppose with top quality software tools too?" he said. "Absolutely," Naza said. "Shila is in charge here. She demands the best, nothing else." "Our team needs to have the best tools for the job," Shila said. "Shila, I believe you can take it from here," Naza told her. "I'll have to say goodbye for now. Let me know if you need anything else." "Thanks, I'll keep you informed," Shila said. "Please do," Naza said. "And you must call me if you run into any trouble with any of our government departments. Dealing with them can be a real hassle. I'll help with any liaison issues." After Dr. Naza had left, Din said to Shila, "I hope there won't be any problems

with the other government departments." She nodded and kept quiet. He sensed her doubts. He didn't like government departments and felt terrible now that he had been roped into one, even though it was his father's covert group. As long as there were no bureaucratic red tapes to cut through, he could tolerate. And no matter what, he must put aside his feelings in order to focus and stop Ned, the bigger enemy. "All right, let's do this," he said. He let Gary lead the team because the man knew Ned's operations well. They began discussing Ned's office building and how to get inside without being detected. Gary filled in the details for Kumar and Din. After that Din, Gary, and Kumar discussed with Shila, Elena, Jack, Thiru, Syed, and Ghaz about their step-by-step plan to hack into the distributed servers scattered throughout the country and in other countries of the world. Then the six of them, seated at the computer terminals in the command and control center, began the preparation work to carry out the hacks. Meanwhile Din, Gary, and Kumar prepared to break into Ned's office building. They tested their communications equipment, smartphones with specialized apps. Gary said that they could also use their smartphones to do an in situ hack, if necessary. After that they chose from a selection of weapons, lightweight handguns. Din took one reluctantly. "Ned has a sophisticated security software system, but I had planted backdoors," Gary said. "We should be able to get in to locate whatever data or program we need." "I'll code a special virus, but I'll need the source codes that launch the system," Shila told Gary. "When we find the source codes, we'll it to you," Din said. "Only after that I'd be able to work on the virus, and when it's ready I'll transmit

it you guys," Shila said. "When we have it, we'll plant it in the system and get the hell of out of there," Gary said. "That's sounds like a good plan to start with," Din said. "But we'll need to refine it further." For another two hours they continued to brainstorm the details of their plan before settling on a concrete detailed plan. Considering the urgency of their operation, it was the best they could do, he thought, and hoped that all would proceed smoothly as planned.

Chapter 52

AT 2:00 A.M. THEY REACHED their first target destination, a T-junction at the base of Penang Hill. Its right side rose up to the front of the office tower while the left side, a narrow service road, led to the back to another service road winding up the hill, Din recalled from the map they studied earlier. He looked up toward the peak at Ned's office tower looming above, seemingly piercing the clouds in the moonless night sky. "We're almost there," Gary told Kumar. "Turn left into that narrow road." Humming a cheerful tune, Kumar steered his van into the service road. Din, seated in the back, figured Kumar, pleased to be in his van again, truly loved his mobile office, fully equipped with computers, communications, and other cool hacker gadgets. Gary continued to guide Kumar as the van sped along the narrow back road, heading toward their second and final destination, a secret entrance where they could enter Ned's office building. Din recalled that earlier in the command and control center, Gary had briefed the team of a secret way into the building, a hidden entrance a short distance away from the rear of the building somewhere near the base of the hill. They don't need to drive all the way up the hill, he had told them. He said that a hidden hatch will lead them down to a small tunnel straight into Ned's secret underground lab and master control room, bying the istrative and other offices in the building. A few minutes later, when they reached their final destination, Kumar parked his van and they got down with their backpacks, their smartphones and guns strapped to their belts. Helping Gary and Kumar to pull on a camouflage sheet over the van, Din stared up at the dark and cloudy night sky. No sign of any impending rain. Good, because they must go the rest of the way on foot. With Gary leading them, they threaded along a dirt trail winding through dense bushes for several minutes until they reached a small hut, a resting place for jungle trekkers. They entered the dark hut. Gary pulled a hidden lever and a secret trapdoor on the ground slid open, revealing a hatch. He opened it and they started to climb down a vertical ladder in a dark tunnel. As they were climbing down, Din counted the steps. In his mind the counting went on for a long time, and he

sensed that the vertical tunnel must be really deep. When they reached the bottom, he saw two tunnels, one extending to the right and the other to the left, both dimly lit by strips of LED lights. "We take the right tunnel," Gary said and led the way. Din stared into the tunnel on the right, at the series of LED lights all the way toward the far end. "There's another door at the end," Gary told him. He walked with Kumar, a few steps behind Gary as they went along the narrow tunnel. He didn't anticipate such a long tunnel. The air felt stuffy but breathable. "The left tunnel, where does it lead to?" he asked Gary. "To the sea, the Indian Ocean," Gary said. "Really? What for?" he asked. "There's an underground cavern where Ned keeps his private submarine, actually a small submersible," Gary said. "Cool, what does he use it for?" Kumar asked. "Research or pleasure, I'm not sure," Gary said. "Or it could be his escape vehicle," he said. "Possible," Gary said. "Yes, I believe so," Kumar said. "Should we go see it, disable it to prevent him from getting away?" he asked. "We should," Kumar said. "We can control access to the sub in the master control room," Gary said. "He can't get away undetected." "We can't allow him to escape," he said.

"Do we have time?" Kumar said. "I'm afraid, no, we must proceed with our plan," Gary said. "We can't afford to lose any time." "Yes, you're right," he said even though he felt that they should check out the submarine and sabotage it first, but there was no time to spare. They must foil the system implementation as soon as possible. When they finally reached the door at the other end of the long tunnel, he watched as Gary turned the wheel to open it.

Chapter 53

NED STOOD AT THE MAIN console in the master control room, his fingers busy tapping on the keyboard, modifying and compiling the source codes that would enable him to control the entire world's IoT network. Intermittently, while waiting for his code to compile and link before he could run and debug it, he looked through the floor-to-ceiling glass wall at Zain and his two men in the adjacent surveillance room, monitoring the security status of the underground complex. When they seemed excited or concerned, he surmised that something unusual had just happened, and he was sure Zain would come over to report to him any time soon. A minute later, as he was going through a series of final source code changes, Zain hurried over. He paused, frowning as Zain approached. "Boss, we have unwelcome guests," Zain said. "Intruders? Who?" he asked, feeling irritated at the mercenary for interrupting him while he was busy coding. "Gary and two others just came through the first door," Zain said. "Yes, I had expected Gary to lead Din and Kumar here," he said. Gary knew about Operation IoTopia. Damn. The last thing he wanted was for Din and his two hacker friends to foil his plan. "Should I go kill them right now?" Zain asked, his voice harsh. Sensing Zain's antagonistic feelings toward Din, Ned shook his head. He realized Zain must still be furious about the incident at the bungalow. "Go get them," he told Zain. "But I want them alive. Don't harm them in any way. I want to speak with them." When Zain didn't make a move immediately, he knew that the man wasn't happy with the order, and he waited for the mercenary to continue. "But they killed six of my men at the bungalow," Zain said. Ned knew it wasn't Din and his gang who killed the six guards. It was the covert

government group he worked with that was sent to intercept the rescue. Unfortunately, they arrived too late, found the useless guards, and asked for his order. "I don't want any unnecessary killing," he said. "I assure you that after my system is fully operational, you are free to deal with them any way you want, as long as you take them away from here." Zain seemed satisfied, almost happy, with that and said, "All right. I'll go capture and hold them for you." "Good, inform me as soon as it's done," he said. "And I'm sorry about the loss of your men. I believe they were all good and loyal soldiers." "Thank you, boss," Zain said. "One more thing, Zain," he said. "Yes, boss?" Zain said. "The loss was unfortunate because your men were overconfident," he said, recalling his order to terminate them. "Let me remind you that, although hackers, Din, Gary, and Kumar are also well-trained ex-soldiers. They are not weaklings at all, not your regular nerds or geeks." "I see, " Zain said. "I won't make the same mistake again." "I hope not," he said and in his mind, he retorted. If you do, it will be your last.

Chapter 54

AFTER OPENING THE DOOR, they left it open and went through. Din sniffed the air. It seemed fresher in there compared to the other section of the tunnel. They must be nearer to the master control room. He looked around the storage room where various diving gear for the submersible were stored on a floor-toceiling multi-tiered open rack in the near corner. The rest of the large room was filled with rows of widely-spaced six-foot-tall metal shelves of boxes containing parts and equipment. Large signs in yellow and black lined the four walls, warning against any form of open flame. He noticed the door on the opposite wall. They will need to go through that, he recalled what Gary had said. As they stepped toward it, its circular handle began rotating. Realizing that it was being turned from the other side, they froze. Then Gary and Kumar sprinted over to the shelves on the right, while he ran toward the left to hide behind the shelves of boxes. He peered at the door through a small gap between two large boxes. When the door swung open wide, two men clad in black shoes, black pants, and black Tshirt came in, with their handguns held at waist level. One of them pointed to the signs on the wall, and they holstered their guns. Realizing that there were either inflammable fluids stored in the room, or there were embedded pipes in the walls carrying such fluids, he pointed out to Gary and Kumar the inherent danger. They nodded in acknowledgment and holstered their guns. He signaled Gary and Kumar to distract the two men while he continued with their mission. Hopefully, he would be in time to stop Ned from activating the system. They gave him a thumbs up gesture, and he readied himself to proceed toward the master control room. He watched as Gary slipped out from behind the shelves and called out to the two men. They came forward fast toward Gary, but before they could reach him, Kumar sprang out and faced them. Within seconds, Gary and Kumar ran farther back into the room, and the two men went after them, being led away from the open door. Seizing the opportunity, Din headed toward the open door, but before he could reach it, two more men, also clad in black uniforms, stepped in. They saw him

immediately but kept their guns holstered. Din realized that now he had to fight these two men, while Gary and Kumar were busy with the other two. He steeled himself for the impending fight. The two men looked like they were ex-military. He, however, wasn't a commando at all. Nevertheless, years ago he had begun training with an ex-army commando when he realized that he needed to be trained in weapons handling and hand-to-hand combat techniques too. Since then, for an hour every day, he had been practicing hard, anticipating such an encounter. Today he will get a chance to use his skills for real. He must defeat these two men, no matter what.

Chapter 55

THE TWO STOCKY MALAY men in black uniforms, one with a bald head and the other with small eyes stepped closer, their faces grim. Din stood relaxed and focused, ready to fight as he sized them up. The bald-headed man seemed to be in charge. He waited for the man to act first. Seconds later, the man came fast, with fists swinging. Blocking the punches, he sidestepped and threw a hard side kick at the man's torso, sending the bald-headed man sprawling onto the concrete floor. Then the small-eyed man sprang toward him, trying to deliver a kick to his shins, but he spun sideways to avoid the kick, locked the man's arm with his left arm, rotated the man's torso, and punched hard at the lower back, targeting a kidney. Quickly, he yanked the man aside, followed by a side kick at the same spot. The small-eyed man grunted with pain and fell to a crouch. By now, the bald-headed man came at him again fast, swinging a leg in an arc, poised to hit his chest, but he jerked back, grabbed the man's leg, twisted and shoved. The bald-headed man staggered backward and took more than a few seconds to regain his balance. Meanwhile, the small-eyed man returned fast with furious punches. He blocked all the swift punches. Then the two men, acting in unison, threw rapid punches, gradually forcing him to retreat against a wall as he avoided the barrage of punches. Not good, he thought. If they were to force him against a wall, he will be defeated within the next few seconds, unless he could use a special move he was taught or he could improvise. But he had to wait until the last possible moment to execute the unexpected move. When he felt that he was close enough to the overhead pipe, he jumped up, grabbed the pipe and swung both his legs forward toward the two men, kicking hard with both legs at the two of them. Caught by surprise, they recoiled. He jumped down and delivered a low sweeping kick, causing the small-eyed man to fall on his back. A split second later, he punched the bald-headed man's stomach and the man buckled. In another second, he punched the left side of the man's head and the bald-headed man crumbled. By then the small-eyed man had risen and launched a kick, hitting him in the lower back. He staggered but did not fall. The pain was bearable and he recovered quickly. The small-eyed man came at him again, fists ready to punch his face. He dropped to a squat, double punched at the man's groin, and the

small-eyed man slumped onto the floor. Satisfied that the fight was over, he pulled out four zip ties from his slim backpack, tied both men around their hands and ankles, and turned them to face down flat on the concrete floor. Although he felt tired now, he knew he must continue with the plan. He scanned the room, looking for the others. Gary and Kumar were still fighting with the other two men. Their fight might take some time to resolve, he guessed. What if they couldn't defeat the two men? Perhaps he should go help them. Then, as if sensing his intention, Gary gestured to him, telling him to continue with their plan alone. When he hesitated, Gary shouted out that they will him later. Ignoring him, Gary and Kumar carried on with their fight. He realized he may not have much time to prevent the system activation and must continue as soon as possible. Reluctantly, he stepped through the door, but left it open for Gary and Kumar to follow him later.

Chapter 56

GOING THROUGH THE DOOR, Din found himself in another large room, brightly lit by an array of LED lights on its high ceiling. The low thrum of several massive generators powering the entire underground complex reverberated throughout the entire room. He scanned the huge machines, but he couldn't find the switches to shut them all off. It didn't matter anyway. Even if he could do it, it wouldn't be of much use, because he was sure there would be battery backup power. Besides, it would be dangerous to be trapped underground without any power, paralyzed by the complete darkness and no ventilation. Besides, that wasn't their plan. The most immediate concern was to find the network servers and its main control room. Pressing on, he ran across the room to look for any doors, and he found two on the opposite wall, sturdy metal doors set into concrete walls, one on the extreme left and the other on the extreme right. When he started toward the left door, he noticed the door handle being pressed down. Realizing that someone behind it will be coming through soon, he retreated to hide in a narrow space between two generators and waited as he peered at the door. It swung open, and Zain stepped into the room with a gun in his hand. "Din," Zain shouted and paused for a moment to look around the room. "I know you're in here. Come out. We need to talk. Your friend, Ned, wants to speak with you. I can take you to him now. There need not be any violence." Zain holstered his gun. "Look, I've put away my gun." Din knew the man was lying. "Zain," he said. "I will not give up." "I don't know what you're talking about," Zain said. "All I know is that you're tresing. Ned asked me to get you to leave, but he wants to speak with you first because he knows you." Resolving not to waste anymore time, Din stepped out from behind the two generators. "I know what you want from me," he said. "You want to fight me. So I'll grant you your wish today."

"Thank you," Zain said and laughed. "I look forward to kicking your ass. Ground rules, no guns or knives. I'm putting away my gun now." "No problem," he said. Zain stooped to put his gun on the floor near the door and stepped away from it, heading toward Din. Din unclasped his handgun and smartphone from his belt, slid off his slim backpack, and put them on the floor behind him. Then he walked toward the open space where Zain stood waiting for him. As he approached, Zain chuckled, and said, "You will lose." "We shall see," he said.

Chapter 57

DIN STOOD SEVERAL YARDS away from Zain, scrutinizing the mercenary, sizing up the hard man's resolve, seeing not a tinge of fear at all in the deadpan face. Instead, he sensed only evil vibes and a professional soldier's penchant for violence, a perverse pleasure. He knew what the man desired the most now, retribution. In measured steps, the professional soldier advanced closer to him. As Din stepped forward, he watched closely and mirrored the man's actions, projecting his own confidence to intimidate his opponent. When they were two yards apart, they paused at the same time and glared at each other. He waited for Zain to strike first, but the man didn't and seemed to be waiting for something. As precious seconds slipped by, he stood still and so did the mercenary. Perhaps the man was testing his patience or stalling him. More like stalling. Yes, that was it, and he couldn't afford to wait any longer. Stepping forward, he flexed a punch at the mercenary's face. The man recoiled but within seconds, sprang forward and came at him with a right jab. He bobbed his head, avoiding the punch. The man swung a left jab at his face. He backed a little, staying clear of the punch. Zain threw a right jab again. He blocked it with his left arm, and at the same time threw a right punch at the face, hitting the man's left cheek. Zain flinched, shook his head, and grinned as he rubbed his cheek. Suddenly he angled his torso and swung a side kick. Din sidestepped and turned quickly to face him. The man scowled at him. He watched and noticed that the mercenary was getting angry. Good, let the man lose his temper. Sooner or later, he will make a mistake. Yelling a loud curse, Zain sprang forward, throwing rapid punches. Din managed to block most of the punches but took a few to the stomach. He almost buckled over but managed to stay upright as he backed away against a wall behind him. It was a serious mistake, he realized a few seconds later. The mercenary acted fast, pinning him against the wall, grabbing his throat with muscular hands. He wheezed and struggled for breath with his mouth open as Zain tightened the grip around his neck. Realizing that he may not have much time left before ing out, he tried to free his arms so that he could punch but they were pinioned to his sides, pressed hard against the wall by the mercenary's wide torso. Soon he would began to weaken, and there was nothing he could do about

it. He was about to black out when the pressure around his neck abated somewhat. Something was happening or someone was doing something to Zain. He heard the sound of punches. The mercenary groaned. He saw another pair of hands gripping Zain's neck, pulling the mercenary away. Finally, when the man released the grip on his throat, Din saw who came to help him. It was Kumar, and now Zain turned his attention toward the new opponent. Still weak, unable to help his friend, Din watched helplessly as Zain swung his massive fists, hitting Kumar in the face. Kumar buckled onto his knees. Then Zain kicked at his shin and he went down. By then Din had regained some of his strength. Approaching from the rear, he kicked Zain's lower back. The man lurched forward but turned around swiftly to face him. Not waiting for the mercenary to retaliate, he launched a strong side kick, hitting the man's stomach hard, and Zain staggered back a little but was still steady on his feet. A split second later, he rushed at the man, throwing a series of rapid punches at the face and chest. Now weakening, the mercenary staggered backward. Din continued to pound his opponent with full force until the man went limp and finally sank to the floor, unconscious. After pulling out zip ties from his slim backpack, Din secured Zain's arms and legs and turned the man to face down on the concrete floor. Then he hurried over to check on Kumar, who was sitting splayed out on the floor leaning against a wall. His hacker friend seemed to be hurt.

Chapter 58

DIN SQUATTED ON THE floor beside Kumar and examined his hacker friend closely. Unable to assess the extent of the injuries, he decided it would be better to wait awhile rather than offer to help him up immediately. Other than some visible bruises, there might be fractured or broken bones, and he couldn't discount internal injuries. Although conscious, Kumar was visibly tired, panting. So Din waited for him to catch his breath. Seconds later when Kumar seemed ready and able to speak, Din asked, "How do you feel right now?" "I'll be all right," Kumar said. "Nothing serious, I think." "Can you get up?" he asked. "I'm not sure," Kumar said. Grimacing, he ran his fingers over his shins and winced when he touched his right shin. "I think there's a bone fracture here." "Then you must sit still," he told Kumar. "Don't try to move. Gary and I will come back for you later." Kumar nodded and said, "I lost my gun, I'll need one." "Take this," he said and handed Zain's gun over to him. "Where's Gary?" "He told me he can handle the two guys," Kumar said. "So he asked me to come help you. I believe he should be able to defeat them. He's a much better fighter than me." Din hoped that Gary would be able to subdue the two men in the other room because he might need Gary's help later. "I'm so sorry, I've to leave you here," he said. "I must get to the main control room now." "It's all right, you go ahead, I should be okay," Kumar said. Din nodded, rose and stared at the left door that Zain came through earlier. He recalled what Gary had said during the briefing about the layout of the

underground complex. That door opened into a short narrow tunnel that led to the door of the main control room. "You must go now," Kumar said. "I'll be fine. Gary will be here soon." Din hoped that Gary could come over soonest possible because he was the only one who knew the layout of this underground complex well and also of its security features. "You take care," he said. Then he ran toward the left door. He opened it and saw a brightly lit short narrow tunnel leading to a single door at the other end. Recalling Gary's warning about this most secured stretch of tunnel, he unclasped the smartphone from his belt and activated the security scanner app. Its display lit up, showing the locations of hidden pressure sensitive alarms on the floor. He stepped through the tunnel, careful not to trip any of the hidden alarms. When he reached the end safely, he stood beside the door and examined every inch of it. The door was thick, definitely designed to withstand any explosives. There was no way he could blast his way through that door. Surprisingly, he couldn't find any security lock. There was no security keypad, no face or retina recognition scanner, and no finger or palm print recognition device. What kind of technology had Ned developed? Right now, he'll definitely need Gary's help to get through this unusually secured door.

Chapter 59

FOR THE NEXT FEW MINUTES, Din scrutinized every inch of the door, but he couldn't figure out a way to open it. He finally concluded that the door must be designed to open and close automatically in response to some kind of wave signal. It could be Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, RFID, NFC, or some other new technology that Ned had invented. There was nothing he can do now except to wait for Gary. Looking at the other end of the short tunnel, he wondered whether he should go back to help Gary or wait here awhile longer. He decided to wait a minute before doing that. Meanwhile he thought about Ned's accomplishment over the years. The billionaire seemed to possess cutting edge technology, really way out of this world. During their early years when they had first met and worked together as freelance ethical hackers, he was sure his coworker wasn't that innovative. Brilliant, yes. What had happened to Ned? How did he manage to develop his mental powers? Din suspected the man had help from an unusual source, possibly extraterrestrial but he couldn't prove it. He recalled several incidents in the past when Ned's father, George Ong, was still alive. As their technical consultant, George had been instrumental and secretive about his son's tremendous progress in hacking as well as in electronics engineering. George, an expert electronics engineer, was hoarding or hiding technology, just like the US government did in Area 51 back in the day. What if George had given his son access to alien computing technology? That could explain the fruition of Operation IoTopia, the world's ultimate surveillance system. In less than a minute, Din noticed the door at the opposite end being opened and hoped it was Gary. Raising his gun for a few seconds, he lowered it when he saw his friend coming toward him, carefully avoiding the hidden sensors. "How's Kumar?" he asked when Gary reached him. "Resting, he'll be all right," Gary said. "Good, now, we have a problem," he said, pointing at the door. "What kind of secure door is that?"

"I believe only Ned knows how it works," Gary said. "Let me see." He took out a tablet from his backpack and checked his notes. "I've nothing on this, but I have an idea. Let me try Bluetooth." Gary attempted a Bluetooth connection to the secure door, but he couldn't connect with any devices. Meanwhile Din thought about how Zain had come through to the other room and said to Gary, "Earlier, Zain did come through this secure door." "So, Zain had accessed this door," Gary said. "Then the key lies with Zain," he said. "Yes, of course, Zain would have the key," Gary said. "I believe so," he said. "But what is it?" Gary said. "We have to go back and search," he said. "Maybe there's an electronic device on him, an embedded smart chip or something." They went back to search Zain, going through everything the mercenary had on him, removing his rings, smartwatch, smartphone, and wallet. Gary used his smartphone to scan all the items and found that it could be Zain's smartwatch or smartphone that seemed capable of accessing the secure door. They took Zain's smartwatch and smartphone and went back to the secure door leading to the main control room. Din watched as Gary used Zain's smartphone to unlock the secure door. It worked.

Chapter 60

THE SECURE DOOR SLID to one side revealing a wide open doorway, and Din followed Gary through it. As soon as they were inside, the door slid back to close behind them, and they found themselves in a vast, cold, and dimly lit computer room. They stood in a narrow corridor, its walls lined with thick shatter-proofed glass that separated all the computer hardware from them. Din stared beyond the glass walls at the rows upon rows of data storage devices on tall racks and computer servers with dimly lit monitors. "This is where Ned plans to store the data that his system would steal from governments all over the world," Gary told him. "It's vast, isn't it?" "Incredible," he said. "He's stealing data?" "Yes," Gary said. "When it's operational, he'll steal from everyone connected to the Internet, especially the rich and powerful, including, of course, politicians and business leaders." Din noticed that there was no one in the sealed area. "How do we get inside?" he asked. "We can't, not from here," Gary said. "There's only one entrance and exit to that area, from the master control room up ahead." Din stared at the door at the end of the corridor. Gary showed him Zain's smartphone and said, "With this, we should be able to get past that door. Behind it is another corridor that runs left to right. I'll take the left one and you should take the right one. It will lead you directly to the master control room. The one on the left will lead me to the communications room. I'll see if I can find a way to shut down the satellite communications system while you go confront Ned." "Agreed," Din said. "I suppose he'll be in the master control room." "Yes, I believe he's controlling everything from that room," Gary said. They went through the door, and Gary entered the left corridor while he went

into the right. He walked along the corridor a further ten yards and it opened out into a room of computer monitors, their dim screens crawling with streams of green light. Except for a light in one corner of the large room, everywhere else was dark. So he couldn't discern the details of the space, but he sensed that Ned must be in there somewhere. How could he see the man? And how could Ned see in such a dark room? "Welcome, Din." A deep voice resounded throughout the room. Din recognized the man behind the voice. "I've been expecting you," Ned said. "What took you so long? I've been waiting to see how far you could come and you did very well indeed. You and your men, Gary and Kumar, even defeated my men. And bravo, you even defeated Zain, my best ally. Too bad, your journey will end here, but we're not done yet. Now you'll have to face me. See if you can prevent me from starting up the IoTopia system." "Where are you?" Din asked. He looked away from the single light source, stared at the darkest part of the room, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Chapter 61

WHEN HIS EYES ADJUSTED to the dark surroundings, Din became aware of more details in the master control room. It wasn't as vast as he had thought. Nearest to him, mounted on three walls, were matrices of computer monitors, presumably one for each country monitored by the system. All of the flat screen monitors were still blank, lifeless. Good. He guessed it meant the system wasn't fully operational yet. There was still time to stop it, he hoped. "You're too late," Ned said. The harsh voice seemed to come from everywhere, and suddenly all at once the computer monitors lit up, displaying the billionaire's craggy face. "Why?" Din asked as he looked around, trying to locate the source of the voice. "Why do you say that?" "You'll know in a moment," Ned said. "I'll show you." A few seconds later, a strange light glowed at the far end of the fourth wall, and Din walked toward it. When he reached it, he gazed at the large bullet-shaped chamber of thick glass, positioned upright against the wall, its interior flooded with soft green light. He stared inside at the leather chair and its wires linked to sockets in the ceiling above. Ned sat in the chair facing him with eyelids closed. On Ned's head was a metal helmet with wires similarly linked to the ceiling. Surely, the man must still be conscious, he guessed. "What's all this?" he said, more to himself than to the billionaire. Ned's loud laughter boomed throughout the room. Din stared at the calm face, the man's eyelids still closed. Could it be that Ned had linked his consciousness to a computer system? "Din, I can see your perplexed face in my mind's eye," Ned said and chuckled. "Why don't you come and get me? If you can." Then he laughed again. Din walked up close to the glass chamber and scrutinized its thick glass wall. Too strong. He wouldn't be able to crack it. Anyway, he didn't bring any tool.

"What are you doing?" he asked Ned. "Interfacing," Ned said. "The days of us humans using a keyboard, a mouse, or any hardware input devices are over. I'm online with my computer system using the power of my mind, channeling inputs into it directly through my five senses. Also, I can input my thoughts into the system and receive its output directly in my mind." "No way," he said and shook his head. "Yes, in fact, way," Ned said. "I desired it, I did it. See, I'm doing it right now. Soon, many will follow, if they use my technology." "You can't BS me. I know what you intend to do. You are about to control the entire world." "No, no, you give me too much credit," Ned said and chuckled. "Not the entire world, only those countries that have installed my hardware and software system, which means at most only ninety percent of the world, only the tech literate world, however. And that's enough. There's no point in controlling the other measly ten percent, a bunch of hopeless countries that are too primitive to bother with. With my system the world can live in peace for the first time in human history. Can you imagine that?" "I can't imagine they under your total control," he said. "You are the ultimate dictator." "No, I'm a benevolent dictator," Ned said. "Just like the late Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore." "Don't flatter yourself," he said. "What good did you do for your country or the world?" "But it's for their own good," Ned said. "It improves their lives. There will be no more wars or any crimes. My system will help governments to prevent all that from happening, and I will watch over them, like a guardian." "Really?" Din said. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

Chapter 62

TURNING AWAY, DIN RETREATED from the glass pod and tried to think of a way to prevent the system implementation from proceeding. Although it looked as if it had already started, he believed the system hadn't gone online completely, otherwise Ned wouldn't be in there, still working on it. Also, he wondered whether Gary had managed to hack into the satellite communications network to stop this local system from interfacing with its numerous counterparts located around the world. Going back to the side of the chamber, he examined the door closely. It was made of thick glass, and there was no keypad. Figuring that it could be opened just like the other door with Zain's smartphone, he activated the app and tried to unlock the glass door. Ned laughed out loud. "That app in Zain's phone is useless. I only allowed him limited access. You won't be able to access this chamber with his phone." "I'll find a way to open this door," he said. "You won't be able to." "Why? What's so special about it?" "Because this glass pod was developed with a technology the world has never seen before." "What technology?" "It's way over your head, Din." "Try me." "Oh yes, my system will definitely be trying for you." "Do you mean it's alien technology?" "Of course, what else could it be?" It was no use talking any further. Din decided that if he can't open the door, he

will have to find a way to get Ned to open it. But how? He went to examine the glass wall of the chamber carefully inch by inch. He guessed it was too thick to crack, probably bulletproof. So was the equally thick glass door. Then he looked inside the chamber. Besides air vents in the ceiling, there were small tubes that carried wires for electrical connections to the chair that Ned was reclining on. So, there were two options. He could interfere with the air intake, contaminate it or cut off its flow. Or he could overload the electrical connections to the recliner. Other than these two obvious options, was there a better way? He stepped back from the glass chamber. Ned cackled with laughter. He disliked it when Ned laughed at him in a condescending way. The arrogant billionaire was always trying to prove his superiority over everyone. "Are you still thinking hard about how to break into this chamber?" Ned asked and without waiting for a reply he added, "Don't bother. You'll never find a way." "You know me," he said. "I never give up." "Sure, sure, go ahead," Ned said and chuckled. "You're wasting your time. Just take a look around you, see what you're up against." Aware that Ned was trying to stall him, he refused to listen or talk further. He needed to stay focused to solve this problem. If he can't open the door to get inside, does it really didn't matter? No. He reckoned he need not get inside the chamber at all. All he wanted was to find a way to force Ned to get out of there. He would only need to create an emergency or an unbearable situation within the chamber. He could set a fire, foul or impede its air supply or flood it with water. Yes, water! Water flows everywhere. That's it. Water and electricity don't mix. Perfect. He had read about Microsoft's Project Natick that uses ocean water to cool the servers. Chilled water system, a data center cooling standard, is commonly used in mid-to-large-sized data centers that use water to cool air brought in by air handlers, the water usually from a chiller plant located somewhere in the facility. Gary had briefed the team about a chiller plant, and he ed noticing water pipes in the underground complex. Now, if only he could find a way to flood the glass pod with water.

Chapter 63

DIN STEPPED BACK FROM the glass pod and went around the master control room, looking above him. Long and narrow pipes lined the perimeter of the ceiling, carrying water for the cooling system, he noticed. A pipe ran above the pod. He figured if he could get up there and crack that pipe, water would certainly seep into the chamber through the air vents. That would definitely short-circuit the electrical system, and Ned will have no choice but to get out of there, aborting the system's implementation. But what are the pipes made of? He stared closely at the pipe above the glass chamber. It didn't look like PVC pipes, more like copper or brass. He'll need to get up there. Looking for a way to climb up to the top, he walked to the side of the chamber and found a possible way. Since there were small fist-sized indentations from top to bottom between the chamber and the back wall, he figured he could use those as handholds or footholds, tricky to climb but possible. Slowly and quietly, he climbed up to the top of the chamber. He took out his Swiss Army knife and spent some time puncturing holes at the section of the pipe directly above the chamber. Soon water began to seep out of the pipe, dripping onto the top of the chamber. To avoid the risk of being electrocuted, he slid down swiftly, stepped to the front of the chamber, and waited to see how Ned would respond to the impending disaster. Within a minute, Ned disengaged himself from the chair and shouted at him, warning him that this wasn't the end. One after another, the display monitors in the master control room began to go blank, and the emergency lights started to come on, gradually illuminating the entire room. He stared at Ned and wondered how and when will the man get out of the chamber. Ned came closer to the front of the glass pod, scowled and said, "We will meet again." His voice was muffled due to the thick glass. Then he turned, opened a hidden door behind the chair, and disappeared through the open doorway. Din wondered where the door led to. He ed the private submarine. It may be too late to intercept Ned. The lights in the glass pod went off, leaving it in total darkness.

"Is it all over?" He heard Gary's voice behind him. He turned to Gary and said, "I think so. Did you manage to abort the communications link?" "Most of them, not all," Gary said. "But the system is shut down. What happened to Ned?" "He's gone." "Where?" "There's a door behind the chair in the glass chamber," Din said. "He escaped through that." "I know where he's heading," Gary said. "To his sub?" "Yes, but it's too late. We can't intercept him. By the time we get there, he'd be long gone, out in the Indian ocean."

Chapter 64

WHEN HE AND GARY WALKED into the private room at the Island Hospital in Penang, Din was glad to see Kumar already up and about. Standing at the window with a crutch under his right armpit, Kumar turned around to greet them. "Din, Gary," Kumar said. "Good to see you guys again." "Good to see you too, Kumar," he said. "Bro, when will they release you?" Gary asked. "I know you must be getting restless." "Yes, I am ready to go, I hope this afternoon," Kumar said. "Okay, let us know," he said. "We'll be here to help." "Bro," Gary said. "You can come stay with me until you're fully recovered." "Thanks, Gary, Din," Kumar said. "So, did we manage to stop Ned from implementing his global surveillance system?" "Well, he didn't managed to complete the implementation," Din said. "He fled from the master control room, escaped in his sub." "And I did shutdown the communications network, but not all of them," Gary said. "Some sites may have already gone live. That doesn't matter. He had gone into hiding. I suppose he can't do anything to the system anyway." "So, our job is done?" Kumar asked. "Yes, for now," Din said. "But Dr. Naza and Shila are taking over Ned's project. They are studying the system, and may need our help to track down Ned."

LATER THAT EVENING, Din decided it might be a good idea for the group to have dinner together so he, Elena, Gary, and Kumar met up with Jack, Syed, Ghaz, and Thiru in a seafood restaurant at Batu Ferringhi to celebrate their victory. "Where's Shila and Dr. Naza?" Elena asked him. "You didn't invite them?" "I feel we should have our own private celebration, no government officials," he said. "Anyway, I had received a call from Dr. Naza. Good news, we are now off the government's blacklist. They found out we were framed." "We should be safe as long as we don't hack into any government sites," Kumar said and everyone laughed. "We do what we have to do, help protect the rakyat against any evil government covert groups," he said and everyone drank a toast to that. At the end of the dinner, he briefed the group about the takeover of Ned's project by Dr. Naza and Shila. "They are studying Ned's technology," he told them. "It's totally beyond our present know-how." "Does this mean we had failed?" Thiru asked. "Yeah, one rogue billionaire hacker now being replaced by government hackers," Syed said. "No, we must find out how Ned implemented such a cutting edge system," Gary said. "We could learn a lot from it." "Well, I trust my sister and father will do the right thing," Din said. "They are setting up a hacker group and will call on us to assist in special projects. Although Ned may be severely disadvantaged, I believe he's still out there somewhere, hiding and probably planning to get back at us. We'll be ready for him when the time comes."

Chapter 65

DIN AND GARY SAT FACING Dr. Naza and Shila in the computer lab, their laptops before them. After working around the clock for the past few days, they had managed to reverse engineer some of Ned's programs and also identified specific servers around the world that had implemented the IoTopia surveillance system. "I think we should shut down the system completely," Din said. "And destroy them." "I'm afraid we can't do that," Dr. Naza said. "Ned had achieved such a remarkable breakthrough in computer and network technology." "I had never seen anything like it," Shila said. "It's amazing." "It's simply too valuable to destroy," Dr. Naza said. "We'll keep the live sites under close supervision and study them. And also let the other countries run their own system." "About that, I think we have to agree to disagree," he said. "I want no part of it." "I understand," Dr. Naza said. "Gary will head this project since he had worked with Ned before." "Din, I assure you, I'll keep you informed of any unusual developments," Gary said. He nodded but was still doubtful about the way Dr. Naza and Shila would manage the system. "I know Ned very well," he told them. "He's a very determined man, a genius. Although he had lost this battle, he's at war with us from now on. I believe he would have backup plans or a disaster recovery plan kept offsite, in a far away place, safe in the event of such a disaster. And he would hit back at us, no matter how long it takes for him to recover from this setback." "If we know the system well, we can be ready for him, use it against him," Gary said.

"I agree with Din," Shila said. "Men like Ned don't give up easily." "This project is too valuable to mankind to be destroyed," Dr. Naza said. "We must understand it, harness its power for good."

MEANWHILE SOMEWHERE in the Indian Ocean, Ned looked out the window from a control room in a bungalow on his private island. Assembling his new hardware, he looked forward to the next stage of his plan, to prepare for his return to war with Dr. Naza, Shila, and Din. He knew they had usurped his system in Penang. That was what he had intended all along. And they will try to locate him. Fat hopes. They will never find him here. In the coming months, he will restore his backup into his new system on this island. It will allow him access to his secret Penang mainland network servers, but he must be careful to avoid being traced. He knew they will not destroy his main installation on Penang island and will try to use it. When they do that it will be his turn to watch the watchers. He will monitor his enemies, to gauge their reaction to his advanced system. At the same time, in his undersea lab, he will conduct further research into his new inventions. This time, it will be a system fully powered by alien technology that he will unleash on the whole world. George, his late father, could never imagine that this would ever happen. It will, soon within the next few years.

The End

About the Author

BRUCE ALLSMAN IS A short story author and novelist based in Penang, Malaysia. He writes in many genres, including literary, romance, science fiction, horror, fantasy, crime, mystery, thriller and suspense genres. He has work appearing or forthcoming in over a dozen venues. When he's not writing, he enjoys learning foreign languages.

Books by Bruce Allsman

Operation IoTopia The Ghostwriter The Jerejak Resort Murder The Hikikomori Wira The Bank Teller A Broken Wok Mara The Beggar's Lucky Coin The Requital Deana Fallows His Brother's Keeper The Museum Curator Exit Plan Dive of Truth The Mountain Resort The English Author Lovefullness An Alien in the Arboretum The Auto Shop Case

The Return The Tenant Alley of Betrayal The Chauffeur In the Twinkling of a Bronze Eye When the Student is Ready Their Last Vacation The Beach House A Dangerous Shelter SOPHIE: Super Optimal Programmable Home Integration Environment