Chapter 5: Cracking the Code
260 Words
Chapter 5: Cracking the Code
Lola sat in a dimly lit cyber café in Yaba, tapping her fingers against the table as she watched the screen in front of her. The flash drive recovered from Funmi’s apartment had been wiped clean, but she knew someone who could dig deeper.
Tobi ‘Byte’ Falana.
A tech genius, hacker, and former fraud unit consultant who now made a living in the grey areas of cybersecurity. If there was a way to recover the lost files, Byte was the man for the job.
The young man hunched over his laptop, eyes flicking across lines of code. A half-empty bottle of soda sat next to his keyboard, and his fingers danced across the keys like a pianist performing a masterpiece.
After what felt like forever, he exhaled and leaned back.
"Whoever wiped this knew what they were doing," he said, rubbing his temple. "Government-level encryption. But…" he trailed off, a smirk forming.
Lola narrowed her eyes. "But what?"
Byte turned the laptop towards her. On the screen was a partially restored document. The text was scrambled, incomplete—but two words stood out, clear as day:
“BLACK SHIELD.”
Lola frowned. "What’s Black Shield?"
Byte shrugged. "No idea. But whatever it is, Funmi was looking into it before she died."
Lola leaned forward, her gut tightening. This was big.
Byte’s smirk faded. "Listen, I’ll keep digging, but be careful. You’re playing in deep waters now."
Lola exhaled. She already knew that.
Now, she just needed to find out who was pulling the strings.
- Writer
