Reborn in 1994: Internet Empire

10 Julia Thompson, of Thompson Motors Inc.

The trio of students was found sitting in front of the tree with the tied-up men by teachers of the school, who were curious about what the commotion was. Within ten minutes, the police arrived on the scene. At this point, many curious students had found their way to the crime scene, which was being barred off by police personnel. After being interrogated by detectives, both Trae and Max would be allowed to leave soon and urged to go back to their room. Jules’ father arrived on the scene and hugged her incredibly tightly. He looked at her and inspected her face for any bruises, and started to tear up, only happy that his daughter was safe. This warmed the hearts of both Max and Trae, who were both seated nearby. 

After talking to his daughter, this tall middle-aged man with white hair walked over to the two young men. Seeing him up close, he looked like a strict man, with stress lines littering his forehead, and heavy set features. However, when they looked into his eyes they saw kindness. The man knelt in front of them, in order to meet their eyes.

“I heard that you boys were the ones that saved Julia. Is this true?”

“Yes sir, it is,” Max replied. “But we’re just glad that she is safe.”

“We just wanted to help, sir,” Trae added. 

“Well, then I just wanted to thank you for everything. If it weren’t for you, Julia, my daughter, might not be here,” he said, shaking his head. 

The three looked over at Julia, who at this point, was being swarmed by concerned girl friends. She looked over and smiled back at them. 

“Hmm, she really means the world to me, you know?” he said, facing back to the two.

Both Trae and Max nodded.

“I want to say this, not as head of any company, or any kind of powerful VIP. I want to say this to you, both of you, as a father. Thank you so much. Thank you so so much, for keeping my daughter safe,” he said, grasping both boys’ hands. 

A tearful smile came from this genuine man, as he looked at them. They returned his smile and nodded again. 

“We would do it all over again sir,” Max said. “Wouldn’t we Trae?”

“Aha, yeah. We ain’t the type to look past this kind of thing,” he replied, elbowing Max in the arm.

The man chuckled and smiled back at the two students. 

“Well now that that’s out of the way,  I will now address you as the head of a company, and a powerful VIP. My name is Carlisle Thompson. I own the company Thompson Motors. And on behalf of my company, of which my daughter will run one day, I would personally like to thank you. I will be sending you both gifts, of course completely complimentary, within the next few days. Do with them what you will.”

The two friends looked at each other in excitement. Carlisle smiled at this exchange but continued.

“Finally, to both of you. This is my personal card,” he said while handing them both a small business card. The finely made card was made out of sturdy waterproof material, with shiny embossed silver letters and numbers. They read “Thompson Motors Inc. CEO: Carlisle Thompson”. The numbers below were for both landlines and cellphones. 

“If you both need anything. Anything at all! Let me know first, understand?” Carlisle said, looking both boys in the eye. 

“Yes sir,” Max replied.

“Will do sir,” added Trae. 

With that, the man smiled and stood up straight again.

“Thank you, boys, again. Ah! Forgive me, I almost forgot to get your names!”

He fumbled in his suit pocket, before pulling out a small pad, and a very expensive-looking pen. He offered it to the boys, who received both items carefully. 

“My name is Max Burner sir,” he said, scribbling his name quickly into the paper. 

“And I’m Trae Owen,” said Trae, writing his name in as well.

The professional businessman took his pad and pen back and returned it to his suit pocket. 

“Thank you again, Max and Trae. You have my number! If you need anything, let me know,” he said, as he turned back to rejoin his daughter again. 

Soon after that, Jules, Max, and Trae said their goodbyes as she was taken home, under the protection of her father and his men. 

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The two boys then went back to their room, and instantly fell asleep. In the next few days, the two patched things up over the temporary closure of the school. Trae agreed to continue with the plan with Max. Within those days, Trae was back at his computer, doing research and brushing up on his coding. Max did the same. Finally, the two partners in crime we back at it again. 

Three days following the incident, the boys heard a knock on their door. Max went to check who it was when he jumped back in surprise. 

“Jules?!”

She jumped in and hugged Max on impulse.

“You’re ok! Thank god, I wasn’t able to get a good look at either of you that night!” she yelled, as she pressed her face right into Max’s chest. 

Max started to turn beet red, as Trae tried to hide his laughter. Once she let go, she looked both Trae and Max over, making sure that there were no real injuries that they sustained during the fight. When she was satisfied, she sat down on Trae’s bottom bunk bed and breathed a sigh of relief. 

“I’m just really glad you both are safe,” she said, looking at the two boys who sat just in front of their computers. 

“To be honest, we’re the ones who are happy you are safe, Jules,” said Max, as he leaned back on his chair. 

“Yeah, we glad you aight,” added Trae. 

She smiled at both of them and took in a very deep breath. What followed was a loud audible sigh.

“So I'm guessing Dad told you?” she said, resting her face in her hands.

Max looked at her with a seriousness in his eyes. 

“Yes, he did give us the details.”

 “Ok,” she said, as she sat up straight. 

“My name is Julia Thompson. I’m the next in line to run Thompson Motors. I’m pretty sure those people wanted me for ransom and were going to ask for a ridiculous amount.”

The two friends looked at each other, then back at a Jules. A silence fell in the room for a few moments. The two boys looked at Jules, almost inspecting her with their eyes. Finally, the silence was broken.

“Yeah, we figured that,” Trae said, scratching his head. 

Jules nodded her head, before speaking again. 

“I would say so. I’m just sorry that I had you two get involved,” she said regretfully. 

Max shook his head.

“No, we would have done this for you again if it had happened.”

“You would?” she asked, directed at both of them. 

“Yeah, I mean, you’re a friend right?” Max said, reaching out and patting her shoulder. “And Trae here’s a sense of justice is a strong one.”

With a chuckle, Trae nodded his head. 

“Besides, our friends now ain’t we?” Trae said as he offered his hand toward Jules.

“Yeah… I guess we are!” she said, returning his handshake. “I just wish I knew who would have done this. And of all times, why now?”

The two went silent and shook their heads. 

“Me and Max… We think we know who’s to blame here. But we still gotta do some digging to confirm our suspicions,” Trae said.

Jules’ eyes widened in mild surprise. 

“You do? How?”

“Well, me and Trae, we are what you call, hackers. We can tap into any kind of information along the web. This is the reason why we have computers,” Max said, gesturing to the machines behind them. 

Jules stepped back, a little in shock. She knew about computers but did not realize that the so-called “hackers” that are capable of bending information to their will could be kind-hearted civilians like Trae and Max. She always had the perception that hackers were only people in the government protecting private information. She was even more shaken to know that there were two hackers living just under her nose. After processing for a moment, she finally spoke again. 

“I see. How long until you can confirm your suspicions?” Jules’ asked. 

Max pondered for a moment, before looking back at her. 

“Well, Trae’s been hard at work digging up some dirt for you. We should be able to look at it right now!”

“Really?! Ok, let me see-”

Suddenly, her phone rang in her pocket. She quickly answered it, as the other two watched in curiosity. 

“Yes, dad? Yeah, they’re here,” she said with pauses between her replies. 

Suddenly, a smile beamed across her face as she looked at both of them.

“Yeah, I’ll take them over right now,” she said again, even more, giddy than usual. 

Instantly, she grabbed the two by their wrists, pulled them out of their chairs.

“Come on, we gotta head to the gate!”

The two rushed to get their keys and tried to match Jules’ breakneck pace. Curiosity filled Max’s mind, as he wondered what all the hullabaloo was about.

Suddenly, the two boys stopped at the foot of the gate of the school. Now they knew exactly why Jules was so excited. They stopped in awe of two big impressive black matted cruiser motorcycles, which sat along the sidewalk, garnering a little bit of attention. Behind it was a big truck, with a logo that was unmistakable: Thompson Motors Inc. Jules ran up to her father, Carlisle, and hugged him. After letting go of Jules, he looked over at the two awestruck students and waved them to come over. With that, the two boys rushed over, as they finally understood what the man Carlisle meant when he said “gifts”. They guessed, they could put off their findings and relay it to Jules later in the day. For now, it was time for a joy ride.