Electronic Gags Read online

  “The regime is inefficient in everything but security matters. I hope this time they were lax.”

  “We will use my laptop to hack.”

  “What’s wrong with the desktop?”

  “Nothing. I just prefer my laptop.” What Kyle didn’t tell Freddie was that his desktop contained all his personal files and he feared that if he used it to hack, his targets could hack back and access his personal files. A hacker himself, he knew the dangers of hacking and he didn’t connect his desktop to any network. No one could hack into a standalone computer. He also preferred the laptop because it was portable. He had loaded the laptop with his favorite intrusion software, network analyzers and password crackers.

  “So you are going to wait near your NAST and hope it transmits or receives data?” Freddie asked, wishing hacking was as easy as it was in movies.

  “No. We shall stimulate communication between the NAST and the CIB server.”

  “How?”

  “It’s simple. By constantly moving the NAST, speaking into it, checking its balance and even putting airtime into it. When the NAST changes position, it communicates with the CIB server to notify it of the change of position. When I speak near my NAST, there is communication between it and the CIB server. Whe―”

  “I get it. When you check balance or put airtime into your NAST, there is traffic between it and the cell towers.”

  “Yes. We will try to capture data packets travelling between the NAST and the cell towers.”

  “I pray to God we succeed,” Freddie said, shuddering as he thought about those he had left on death row.

  “It will be a long process,” Kyle warned. “We will need lots of the data packets to succeed. I downloaded some GSM and GPRS algorithms a few months ago. The algorithms used to be secret but they were cracked by reverse engineering by a guy from―”

  “If you are thinking aloud, that’s fine, but if you are talking to me, please don’t talk about algorithms,” Freddie said, waving his hands. “I don’t understand any of that stuff and I don’t want to understand it. Get your NAST and start hacking.”

  Kyle went to his room and returned with his electronic gag. “Your girl is at it,” he said. “The house is full of the smell of nice home cooking.”

  Freddie’s mouth watered. “It’s a long time since I ate a home-cooked meal.”

  Before he ran his favorite network analyzing software on his laptop, Kyle connected a USB radio with an external antenna to increase the laptop’s listening ability

  “What’s that wooden box?” Freddie asked, pointing at the USB radio.

  “I made it myself,” Kyle said proudly. “It’s a device to intercept packets.”

  “Mind what you say now that your tracker is near you,” Freddie warned.

  “Okay cousin, I will mind my language.” His computer bleeped. “We are getting some packets,” he said, pointing at a window that displayed the captured packets. “But these packets are not coming from our friends.”

  “How can you tell?”

  Kyle pointed at the laptop’s screen. “The top panel of the window shows info about the source. I know this source. I dealt with it before… it’s Wi-Fi. Cellular carrier waves have a lower frequency than Wi-Fi carrier waves, so I have to lower the frequency of my sniffer.” He adjusted the radio frequency for half a minute and punched the air in celebration. “I think we are now in the correct channel. 1900MHz. We only have one cellular network in the Ten Districts of America and this is certainly coming from TD Communications.” He pointed at the screen. “We are getting packets from TDCom.” His voice increased traffic between his electronic gag and the server, making the laptop bleep. “We are eavesdropping on the...” He didn’t finish the sentence when he remembered that the CIB could hear him.

  “Does this mean that we will break in?” Freddie asked happily.

  “It’s a long way before we can think of breaking in,” replied Kyle. “There are many hurdles to cross.” The laptop bleeped as he spoke. “There is still the big job of busting the encryption. I hope my GPRS algorithms will help us. Freddie, hold the asset and move around.”

  Freddie gently held the electronic gag and walked round the room. Kyle’s laptop bleeped with every four steps that Freddie took. When Freddie was tired of walking round the basement, Kyle told him to repeatedly check the electronic gag’s balance.

  * * * * *

  Although it was more than two hours before President Brandon Ward’s official opening of the Ward School for the Physically Challenged, a crowd of National Party supporters, comprising women and youths, was gathered at the school, singing the party’s songs under the watchful eyes of CIB agents. The National Party had given each one of the supporters airtime worth three hundred lucres so that they could sing the party’s songs without worrying about electric shocks. Devious members of this crowd sometimes mouthed the song to save airtime. Among the party’s supporters was Danielle Wright, singing along with the rest as she waited for the opportunity to kill the supreme leader of the Ten Districts of America.

  The singing rose when the president’s motorcade arrived. President Ward got out of one of the three limousines in the motorcade and walked to the VIP shade, surrounded by CIB agents and ministers. CIB agents tried to cordon off the president from the National Party supporters but, as always, some overzealous party women found their way through the cordon and spread pieces of cloths in the president’s path. As much as they wanted to, the CIB agents could not use force against the Women’s Brigade, the president’s favorite branch of the National Party. Smiling with delight, Brandon Ward stepped over the pieces of cloth as he walked towards the VIP shade. The supreme leader loved his party’s women more than the men. They sang for him, they danced for him and when necessary, they slept with him. The agents watched with disgust as more women crossed the cordon to dance near the president. Brandon Ward stopped, looking at the dancers. He was one of those men who like women with big buttocks and there were some big backsides among the dancers.

  The first lady couldn’t help feeling jealous as she watched her husband feasting his eyes on the dancers. She knew how much he enjoyed watching women shake their backsides. He always made her dance for him in their bedroom before they made love. Brandon Ward fell in love with her when he saw her dancing at a National Party rally and she feared another booty-shaker could steal his heart. She was relieved to note that none of today’s dancers were young. He won’t fall in love with any these grandmas, she thought, smoothing her skirt, comparing herself with the dancing women. The feel of her hips and backside stretching her tight skirt reassured her that she was much more voluptuous than any of these dancers. I have more ass-ets than these bitches.

  With everyone’s eyes on the dancers, Danielle Wright pulled out the keypad and display panel of her electronic gag, took out a pair of pliers from her pockets and before anyone could stop her, cut the coiled cable that connected the keypad and display panel to the main section of the electronic gag. There was a small explosion and Danielle Wright fell in front of the president, blood gushing out of her neck. The singing died and the dancers became screamers.

  CIB agents and Brandon Ward’s bodyguard quickly led the president back to his bulletproof limousine.

  “What is happening?” the president asked, thinking a sniper had missed him and shot one of the dancers.

  “She is a suicide bomber, Your Excellence,” Professor Reed said.

  “I don’t understand,” he said with calmness that belied his fear.

  “She tampered with her NAST to make it explode,” Professor Reed explained. “She thought the explosion would kill you. She didn’t know that NASTs don’t explode like bombs. The explosion releases a slug with only enough force to penetrate the culprit’s neck.”

  “That was very clever of you to design the NAST like that,” the president said with relief. “I’m lucky to have you in my government.”

  “Don’t mention it, Your Excellence,” Professor Reed said, hoping Brand
on Ward would reward him with the Golden Order of Merit.

  * * * * *

  “So how long will it take to get the passwords?” Freddie asked as they sat in the kitchen, eating Jennifer’s rice and chicken.

  “It might take the whole night or days. Let’s capture packets for a while before working on the encryption.”

  “What do you plan to do when you hack into CIB computers?” Jennifer said, looking at the first hacker she had ever seen, noting how different he looked from the typical bespectacled Hollywood hacker.

  “We are not sure,” Kyle said. “We plan to look for loopholes in the system.”

  “Wish you the best of luck,” said Jennifer, who thought they were wasting time with their hacking attempt.

  “Jennifer, thanks for cleaning the kitchen,” Kyle said.

  “Now I have to clean myself,” she said, rising from the table. “It’s a long time since I last had a shower.”

  “We had a shower,” Freddie reminded.

  “Rain doesn’t count.”

  “Follow that corridor,” Kyle said. “The first door you see on your left is the bathroom.”

  Jennifer walked to the bathroom, hoping Kyle took better care of it than he did the rest of the house.

  “You got yourself a gem of a girl,” Kyle remarked. “She is beautiful, she can cook and she can clean. I hope she is also good with the laundry.”

  “If you want a maid hire one.”

  “I will have plenty of servants when I start selling Super Death Race.”

  Ten minutes later, Jennifer came out of the bathroom feeling fresh. Now that she had showered, she couldn’t stand the smell of sweat on her dirty clothes. She was relieved when Freddie offered her fresh clothes from Grandma Nicole’s wardrobe.

  “Be warned,” Kyle told her. “Fashion wasn’t one of Grandma Nicole’s strongest attributes.”

  “Anything clean will be better than this,” Jennifer said.

  “Kyle, take Jennifer to grandma’s room while I take a shower.”

  Freddie went to the bathroom, took off his clothes and stood in front the mirror, enjoying the sight of his bare neck. He had managed to take off his electronic gag and that proved that the Ward regime was not as invincible as people thought. Singing an impromptu song about freedom, he took a shower. When he came out of the bathroom, Jennifer and Kyle had gone to the basement. He went to Kyle’s room and borrowed a T-shirt and a pair of slacks. The T-shirt was okay but the slacks were a size too small.

  “Grandma Nicole!” Freddie teased when he entered the basement. “Oh sorry, it’s you my dear. The dress fooled me.”

  She smiled. “How do I look?”

  “Not bad. The dress must be enjoying the feel of youthful curves.”

  She had chosen Grandma Nicole’s Sunday dress. She had the same built as Grandma Nicole and the dress fitted her. She looked like a girl from thirty years ago, like she was dressed for a theatrical performance.

  Kyle was busy tapping the keys of his laptop.

  “What can I do to help you, man?” Freddie asked.

  “Move my tracker to increase traffic between it and the server.”

  Freddie and Jennifer took turns moving the gag round the room for more than half an hour before Freddie said he was tired and wanted to sleep.

  “Go and sleep, guys,” Kyle said. “If sleeping in Grandma Nicole’s room makes you feel uncomfortable, you can use the spare room.”

  Freddie led Jennifer out of the basement.

  “This is the door to the spare room,” he said. “You can sleep in there. I will sleep in Grandma Nicole’s room.”

  “We are sleeping together,” she said firmly. “Why do you think I spurned the opportunity to escape to Canada and followed you here?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I guess you didn’t want me to be lonely.”

  “Yes, you won’t be lonely tonight.”

  They entered the spare room. Freddie quickly undressed her. It felt weird to hold her or caress her in his grandmother’s favorite dress. He tossed the dress as far away from the bed as he could and took off his clothes. She believed that overweight man had small cocks and his size surprised her. He was bigger than all the men she had slept with. Never judge a man before he takes off his pants, she told herself. When he made love to her, he took his time and was mindful of her needs. Most of her former lovers were only concerned about pleasing themselves. Freddie became only the third man to take her to the Promised Land. Most men were sprinters and he was a marathon guy. Never judge a man before he bones you, she thought.

  “Sorry I didn’t do my best,” he said.

  “You mean that wasn’t your best?”

  “Way below my best,” he said with disappointment. “I was tired and Brandon Ward malnourished me in his jail. When I recover my strength, I will give you my best.”

  “Then I shall make sure you rest and eat well,” she said, toying with his hair, trying to imagine him at his best. “I can’t wait for your best.”

  * * * * *

  “My team survived for two days,” Brandon Ward said. “I won the bet. I say they will survive for two more days. Wanna bet?”

  “Betting for your team isn’t fun anymore,” Christopher Ward grumbled. “Let’s release four more prisoners.”

  “We can’t release more prisoners before we catch my team.”

  “But it’s not fun anymore,” Christopher Ward said, hanging his head. “Both the fugitives and the cops are out of cell network. We can’t monitor their positions with NASP or watch live streams of the cops on Skype.”

  “As we speak, TD Communications is putting cell towers in the wildlife refuge.”

  “What’s taking them so long?”

  “I talked to the Minister of Information,” Brandon Ward said. “He said the TD Communications guys have to wait for the concrete foundation to dry before they can erect the cell towers. He assured me that the job will be complete in four days. Meanwhile, we can only bet on my team.”

  “But without communication, it’s boring, Brandon,” Christopher complained. “Who knows? Maybe your team was killed by bears. Maybe you didn’t win the game. Maybe your team died first.”

  “You could be right,” Brandon Ward said solemnly. “Maybe I didn’t win. We can only tell when TD Communications finishes installing cell towers in the wildlife refuge.”

  * * * * *

  Freddie and Jennifer woke up to the banging of the door. They froze, thinking it was the police or the CIB.

  “Hey wake up guys,” Kyle said. “Can I come in?”

  “Come in,” Freddie said with relief.

  “I have good news,” Kyle announced. His eyes were red from lack of sleep. “I got into the CIB’s computers! The Ward regime believes security is walking around with guns. The security of their computers isn’t the best I have seen. The TD Communications network still uses A5/3 encryption which is relatively weaker than the A5/4 encryption used in Europe. I cracked the encryption and got the ―”

  “Wow!” Freddie interjected, uninterested in the IT jargon. “Kyle, you are the best.”

  “I installed a rootkit onto their system to give us administrator privileges. With luck, the rootkit will overhear more passwords that are travelling over it. I also created a backdoor to give us more control.”

  “This is great, man.” Freddie hugged Jennifer as if she was the bearer of the good news. “I hope a look into the CIB computers will give us something to use in our fight against the regime.”

  “First we have to observe the CIB’s tracking program without making any moves that might lead to our detection. The government should have hired someone like me to improve the security of their computers.”

  “Kyle, go and sleep. You have been up all night. You deserve rest.”

  “You are right, man. I’m going to bed. How is the lady?”

  “I’m fine,” Jennifer said.

  “I don’t trust you, IT technicians,” Freddie said, looking round the room with mock anxi
ety. “I hope you didn’t put a camera in this room to spy on us in bed.”

  “I will do that and turn you two into porn stars,” Kyle said before he closed the door behind him.

  “I didn’t understand what he was saying,” Jennifer said, caressing his chest. “Can you explain it all to me?”

  Freddie noted how cute she looked when she sought his advice. Now she wasn’t the proud tough girl, she was a cute, vulnerable girl whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He put an arm round her neck. “Kyle managed to hack into the CIB computers and he is now looking for ways to manipulate the network.”

  “And if he succeeds?”

  “We don’t know exactly what we are looking for in the CIB computers. We will observe the system and look for ways to manipulate it.”

  Jennifer and Freddie went to the kitchen and ate leftovers of the previous meal before watching TV in the living room. They were relieved when the six o’clock news bulletin finished without any mention of them. The police thought they were still in the wildlife refuge.

  Without warning, Freddie kissed Jennifer and carried her back to their room. Having recovered from the rigors of their escape from the police and buoyed by the good news, he managed to give her his best, leaving her in tears.

  “I hope these are tears of joy,” he said.

  “Yes. They are tears of joy… and sorrow too. This is so perfect. I want this to go on forever, but I know that outside these walls are predators after our lives.”

  He put a hand on her cheek. Now he knew that he was not only fighting to save Michael, or to bring down the Ward regime. He was also fighting for this wonderful new relationship he had with Jennifer. The Ward regime was the only thing that stood between them and their happiness and he had to bring it down. “I have a feeling that things will be fine,” he assured her.

  Jennifer felt ashamed of herself when she thought that only two days ago she had considered killing this wonderful man. She felt ashamed when she remembered how rude she was to him when he first spoke to her. Now she knew he was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She wanted her children to have his genes. She had many faults and she wanted all his genes to be dominant in her children. All his genes, except the genes that control weight―assuming his obesity was genetic.