Wrath of the Lion

Chapter 1

Racing down the road at 110 mph in a 2020 Mercedes SLK, William

whips around a gas powered Ford pick-up truck loaded down with empty soda cans

and bags of trash. “Learn to drive,” he screams as he rolls down the windows on his

black two door state of the art vehicle. Swerving in front of the truck William

continues home. It is not that he is late. It is not that something is urgent. He just

loves speed. He loves danger. Angry rock is blasting through his custom sound

system as the late 20’s man speeds down the empty highway.

It is 1:00 am, and William just got off work. It is not his normal shift; he had to

upgrade the security system at Unitek. Unitek, as anyone knows, is the global

television network based out of Los Angeles. The corporation not only broadcasts

everyone’s favorite television show, they also maintain the satellite systems for the

government. Security is William’s job, and at 1:00 in the morning racing down the

road, William does not appear to be the safest person, but he has been driving this

road for the past 10 years. He knows every single cop; in fact most of them have

their jobs thanks to him. His job allows for many perks, one of which is the new

Mercedes company car he currently has maxed out. The car was designed

specifically for him. Mercedes, which has its’ software system thanks to Unitek,

measured William, got his favorite colors and preferred car type, which was a hard

top convertible.


Pulling into the gated community in which he lives, he proceeds down the long

winding road of mansions. His is in the back, where no one else can afford. He has

a triple lot with a brick fence all the way around it. His house is designed based on

his favorite animal, a lion. At the entrance to the north driveway sit two Golden

lions. They look fierce. The Unitek security guard loves lions because of their

dominance in the wild. He finds the way they stalk their prey and feed upon them,

delightful and thrilling. Once he went on a hunt for a lion; his right arm bears a scar

from a near death experience, but that did not take away from his adoration of the

king of the jungle, but only added to his passion. Once he makes his way past the

entrance and works his way up the cobblestone driveway he arrives and parks his

car in the deluxe four car garage. His wife is home, naturally asleep, along with his

two children. Still fuming from the nerve of that Ford truck driving so slow on the

road, he slams the car door as he gets out. Making his way into the house he

immediately lays down to sleep next to his wife. He has pulled a 16 hour day and is

exhausted.

The smell of coffee filled the air as morning rolled around all too soon. Grunting and

scratching as he woke he found himself surrounded by his wife and children.

Though no where near perfect, they were a loving family. His wife, Michelle, has

been a part of his life for 10 years. Now that they have two children, a son, David,

and a daughter, Lydia, he finds himself a father, provider, and husband. How the

wild college days have changed. “Good morning dad,” a six year old David joyfully

exclaims. His smile lets his father know how much he is loved. “Mom and I made

you coffee and toast just like you like it,” Lydia, the older of the two always got

straight to the point. She is 7 and quite the daddy’s girl. Not saying a word,

Michelle sits down in the bed beside her husband with his coffee and toast. She

puts her arms around him and kisses him good morning. Almost in perfect harmony

and unison the two young children cry “Eeewww cooties,” and run off into the other

room laughing.

“How was work last night sweetie?”

“It was the usual upgrade. You know I can’t talk about all of it, but basically I

installed some patches that prevent those new viruses from penetrating our

database. I also reloaded my personal anti-hack system into my laptop.”

“Well you know I don’t want to know WHAT you did, just HOW you are,” she says

snuggling up close to him.

“Honey, I am tired. I enjoy my job, it pays well. We have everything that we could

ever dream of, but I swear if I am not aging a year for every 16 hour shift I have to

work.”

“You don’t HAVE to work those shifts honey. YOU are in charge. You just do it to

get away from me,” a pouting Michelle proclaims.

“Chelley-poo,” a now very concerned husband uses his pet name for his wife

attempting to ease her tensions, “you know better than that. I do all of this because

I love you and I want to be with you. You do not have to work or worry any more. It

is not like it was when we were younger. You have the designer clothes and the

best jewelry. It is everything you want isn’t it?”

“I want you,” his wife says with her eyes now full of tears.

“You have me then. Today, since I AM in charge, I give myself the day off with pay.

You, I, and the kids can take that trip to that new mall Unitek just opened.” Thinking

that this would make his wife feel better, he jumped out of bed and began getting

ready. “Dial work,” he said, issuing a voice command for his laptop which he had in

his wallet. Instantly a projection screen appeared in 8 x 10 format 12 inches from

his face. “IDENTIFICATION PLEASE,” a synthesized voice resonates.

“Roberts, William ID Number 312-420-060,” almost as if robotic, William responds

to the prompt for data. “This is James. How can I help ya’?” A young mans face

appears. He is sitting behind a desk not even looking at the screen.

“James,” as soon as William’s voice booms across the unitek-com system James

jumps, “this is William Roberts. I will not be in at work today. That is all,” with a

quick snip he ends the call. “End communication,” the command is issued and as

quickly as the holographic screen generated it dissipates.

“There you go honey,” Williams says as if he has just slain a dragon for a maiden in

distress.

“Hmph,” she says with discontent. “Did you not hear me earlier or were you so

caught up in what you thought I wanted that you couldn’t understand what I was

asking for?” Michelle, before becoming financially stable was a psychology teacher

at a local college. She always had a way of presenting her argument with flair and

vigor.

“I am sorry, did I miss something,” a now very distraught husband pleads with his

wife for an explanation.

“I said I want you. That did not mean I want to go do something. That meant that I

want us to have time. You and I need time together. I want you here on this bed.

Why don’t you sweep me off my feet anymore and take me to another world? The

love you have for me is beyond question, but your passion for me has declined ever

since you got that promotion and started working those horrendous hours. Sure

before you seldom got to sleep before 2 in the morning, but we sure got in bed

around 12 didn’t we.” In an almost scolding tone, his wife reminds him of the times

past and the fire that once burned between them.

“Michelle you are more beautiful than the day I met you,” proclaimed William, now trying to recover as he runs his

fingers through her long dark hair. “Since I have the day off why don’t we just spend it right here,” leaning in to

kiss his wife he is suddenly faces with that familiar 8 x 10 screen with only the word URGENT written in bold

print.

“No, No, NO!,” His wife begins to cry as she sees the signal backwards as if looking at a mirror image. She

knows that this means. She has seen this countless times. Something has happened at work. Now on the brink

of something special, he will be torn away again.

“Honey, I am so sorry. I promise as soon as I get home tonight we will finish what we started,” Leaning over and

kissing his wife he rushes out the door and gets in his car.

At Unitek at that moment something happened to the security system. Someone managed to hack the network

stealing data that was encrypted. They had managed to get around all the blocks that William had put up only

the night before. Who had done this and why? This was all that flowed through the mind of William as he was

being briefed via stereo on a secure communications line. William had left in such a hurry that he forgot to kiss

his wife goodbye. He didn’t even tell his kids that he loved them. Now that he though about it, he even forgot to

tell his wife. “No worries,” he thought to himself. “I will get this taken care of and get home early. Man I sure do

feel sorry for that jerk that hacked our network. My new security patch will ensure I know exactly what files were

compromised. Even if I don’t get him, I will find out what he was looking for and make sure it‘s secured.”

Binary codes ran through his mind as he made his way to work. His car was on auto pilot set to 140 mph. He

was not even looking at the road. The brakes on his car suddenly engaged and slammed his head forward into

the steering column. Looking up cursing he saw that same Ford truck in his way. “Disengage!” he screamed as

he spun tired to get around that clunker of a truck.

He looks over at the driver, as if to make a mental image of his face to know who to shoot next time he sees

them. What he sees shocks him and almost causes him to swerve off the road. It is an old high school friend of

his, Joshua. Now, very ashamed of his behavior he speeds on ahead, but not before getting Joshua’s tag number

on the front of his truck.

Arriving at work he spirals up to his parking spot. As soon as he gets out of his vehicle he jumps in the elevator

beside his car. This is not a public elevator, but it is for his personal use only. It takes him straight to his office

only 3 floors from the top of the 141 story building.

Easing back into his plush leather chair, William gets his corporate lap top out of his wallet and sits it on his

desk. Pressing the only button on the 2 x 2 x .25 piece of technology a plethora of screens surround him. They

all have a black background with red font repeating URGENT. Upon entering the voice override code he designed

for personal use, he begins tapping the non-existent screen before him. As if possessed, he moves code back

and forth across screens trying to find the breach. An hour passes and he still has not found the file which has

been compromised. Now diving into the high level clearance, he has to input password after password getting into

the more difficult to reach files. Thinking to his self, “Had I known anyone was this good I would have worked

harder at developing stronger firewalls instead of stronger anti-virus software. This person is almost as good as

me.”

As the clock moves on, he finally sees the file that has been violated. As he attempts to access it, he enters his

code, but receives an unauthorized response and his entire laptop is shut down. After rebooting and getting to the

same spot William, now more determined than ever to not only find the hacker, but find the information that he

does not have access to even though he has level 1 security access. “There it is, but why would anyone want a

bunch of MS Word documents. There are millions of bank accounts that they had easier access. I guess an even

better question would be why is it guarded so staunchly.”

After a few minutes, William is able to bypass the security system, much like the hacker did, instantly another

URGENT screen appears. He by passes it quickly so that no one will notice his access to the files. Upon

opening them he sees nothing but gibberish. The files are not only well protected, but they are written in some

strange illegible font. “Well that is a cheap trick,” he says aloud due to frustration. Upon viewing the summary in

the properties setting of MS Word, he sees the author of the file. It is listed as “The Four*”.

• Unitek was founded by four very powerful men. These men started this company in the early 21st

century basically from scratch. They had managed to overthrow several corporations and buy out many others.

After controlling most of the market in software and advanced technology, they were almost shut down by the

government for holding a monopoly on the market. However, as William knew quite well, Unitek had designed the

software for the United Nations as well as the US government and Japan. After being reminded of this fact, the

allegations were quietly dropped. Since then they have gained control of several other companies and now they,

through one way or another, have their software in every household in the world. They run almost every visual

network and audio broadcast. There is only a hand full of privately run communications systems that they do not

control. The four men that founded the company, though now the richest men in the world, have not been seen in

ten years. Their jets and limos are seen throughout the corporate world, but no one has laid eyes upon them.


“Could this have been created by one of them,” William thought to himself. Now he must know what it says. He

has always wondered where they lived. Maybe some fan wanted an interview. The encryption was very complex,

but William was not security chief for naught, it took him only 20 minutes to bring the gibberish into legible font.

As he began to read the long document his eyes widened. “What on earth…”