Her usual corner table was open.
She made her way to her go-to spot by the window, nestled in the shadows near the brick wall. Plopping down, she pulled out her laptop and opened it as if it were part of her daily routine. The screen fired up quickly, and her fingers started typing away, matching the smooth sounds of low jazz playing in the background.
Her laptop was running encrypted protocols in the background, rerouting IP addresses to leave zero traces. She was completely in her zone, eyes glued to the screen while her fingers flew over the keyboard.
Five minutes ticked by. She was focused on her work, only half-listening while she typed, until a familiar voice broke through.
"Well, look who decided to grace us with her mysterious presence!" Maria, the waitress, said with a grin, one hand on her hip.
She laughed softly, her dimple showing on her right cheek. "I was out of the city."
"More like out of this world," Maria quipped, rolling her eyes. "Same coffee, or you feeling adventurous today?"
"You remember?" She raised an eyebrow, amused. "Same coffee, please."
"And?"
"Cookies would make it even better."
Maria jotted something down on her little notepad and gave her a wink.
She watched Maria wander off and then turned her attention back to the screen. Lines of code filled the display, and her quick, precise keystrokes blended with the jazz. A little surveillance alert popped up in red for a quick second before fading into the dark interface she'd crafted.
Ten minutes later, Maria came back, balancing a white mug and a small plate.
"Enjoy," she said with warmth, sliding the steaming mug of coffee and a neat line of cookies across the table.
She smiled, "Thanks!"
Taking a small sip of her coffee, she asked, "So, how's work treating you?" It was strong, just how she liked it.
"It's fine. Sometimes my boss is super annoying; sometimes he's okay, so I guess you could say I'm getting by," Maria replied with a laugh. Her cheerful personality was hard not to like.
"That's great! And how's your son doing?" she asked.
"He's good, finally. He's going to school every day now."
"Really? How old is he?" she pressed.
Maria chuckled, "You don't remember? He's 3 years old now, a big boy!" They chatted for a moment longer, and then Maria said, "Alright, I gotta get back to work. You should too."
"Yeah, bye! Catch you later, Maria," she replied.
She watched Maria head to another table to take orders from other customers, and she was enjoying her coffee and finishing off the cookies.
Outside, the city buzzed and moved in a frenzy, but inside that café, she felt safe, like she was in her own little world.
Halfway through her coffee, the screen on her laptop flickered for a moment.
It was a quick flash of code behind the terminal, and it felt purposeful, not random.
She minimized her current window and switched to an alternate desktop, a hidden layer that most systems wouldn't even recognize. Then, she quickly typed a specific key sequence:
Ctrl + Shift + Λ + X + 7.
The interface switched to a dark console with a matte black look and green text. The air around her felt a little colder. A blinking message appeared in the center of the screen:
[INCOMING ENCRYPTED SIGNAL - PRIORITY: RED]
[DECRYPTING WITH AES-RSA 4096-BIT PROTOCOL...]
[IDENTITY VERIFIED: GHOSTN3T]
GhostNet.
Just hearing the name made her pulse quicken a bit. She hadn't heard from them in months, they only reached out when something important came up.
Another message popped up:
GHOSTN3T: Moon phase rising?
LUNEL: Full and armed.
GHOSTN3T: Signal clear?
LUNEL: Private as sin.
She typed fast, a smirk creeping onto her face. The sound of her keyboard echoed as she leaned in, and the dim cafe lights cast a shadow under her black cap. Nearby, a couple laughed over their pancakes, totally unaware of the quiet challenge she was facing.
The next message took a while to load and was heavily encrypted.
GHOSTN3T: We've got a ghost.
LUNEL: Target class?
GHOSTN3T: Sovereign tier.
LUNEL: Details?
GHOSTN3T: Uploading visual feed...
The console glitched, and a small window popped up in the top-right corner. A pixelated image appeared and steadily became clearer. It showed a sharply dressed guy in his mid-thirties, with thick brows and a charming grin. He was in an Armani suit and wearing a Rolex, flanked by security personnel.
Looked like some event.
She stared at the image for a moment before moving it into a sandboxed layer, making sure no metadata could be traced.
GHOSTN3T: Your mark.
LUNEL: Name?
GHOSTN3T: Alpha Dark.
LUNEL: Serious operation?
GHOSTN3T: From breath to bed.
Her lips parted in surprise.
They wanted everything.
She typed cautiously:
LUNEL: Perimeter?
GHOSTN3T: Walls are high. 7-firm network. Mirrored IPs. Quantum AI firewall. Root server: Kraków branch.
LUNEL: And you want me to...
GHOSTN3T: Breach. Map. Trace. Extract.
GHOSTN3T: All black threads. All red sheets. All silver ties.
LUNEL: Including?
GHOSTN3T: *Yes.*
LUNEL: Spell it out.
She wanted to be sure. They didn't hold back.
GHOSTN3T: His lovers, legal and illegal. His nights, lonely or not. His vices, if he has any. All his data, biometric, behavioral, financial, and emotional. Each girl: name, DNA, secrets, pregnancies, abortions, marriages, deals, silence pacts. Every bite he takes. Every lie he breathes. From bedroom whispers to boardroom deals. From airport gates to hotel locks.
LUNEL: This isn't just recon. This is skinning.
GHOSTN3T: He's not just rich. He's dangerous.
LUNEL: How deep is this?
GHOSTN3T: Global syndicate, 3 proxies, 19 shell companies, 2 fake deaths, 1 crown behind the curtain.
LUNEL: Who's the client?
GHOSTN3T: The shadow doesn't ask names.
She leaned back a bit, squinting behind her black sunglasses that were resting on the edge of her laptop. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Maria glancing over from the counter, almost as if she could sense the chaos stirring inside her.
She had no clue.
Looking again at the guy in the image, he seemed kind of familiar, not from the news, but from something deeper. Perhaps she had seen him in leaked forums or on certain cryptocurrency sites. It's possible she'd stumbled across him in someone else's hacked files.
Or maybe her past was finally catching up to her.
The chat buzzed again.