Time Will Tell

It is a rainy evening, lighting flashing, illuminating the entire sky. Mike, as usual is sitting at his computer hacking away. Mike Mensa is tall and slim with dark hair, a fair complexion and fairly defined muscles and is in excellent health. Mike looks like an ordinary kid, living in Hartford, Connecticut in an upscale neighbourhood. Mike is an extraordinary genius; he is only 15 year’s old and 2 months away from earning his PHD in Computer Sciences. As a child Mike had always been quiet an academic, acquiring knowledge at a pace much quicker than his peers.
Christmas 2001 was a memorable occasion; it was the day I received my first computer and I was addicted. It wasn’t long before I had hacked most sites worth hacking. I was successful changing most of my friends grades in school, providing every cable channel available for free, including the ones my mom says are disgusting. I even got my dad free hydro and property taxes until he insisted on calling them and reporting “the mistake”. One day while screwing around on the internet, I stumbled on the most highly protected website I had ever seen. I dedicated the better part of 3 months, not just my spare time, but virtually every waking minute trying to hack in. Last night I “struck gold”; I made it past 7 firewalls and 5 layers of 256bit encryption. Most hackers would tell you “impossible” but I did it. The site appeared to be some kind of military site, top secret stuff. It contained names of corporate leaders, references to weapons and explosives, bio-chemical warfare, definitely stuff my eyes weren’t meant to see. I could hardly see the screen anymore so I crashed into bed for some seriously needed sleep.

“Mike, breakfast” yelled my Mom. I slowly crawl out of bed and feeling like I am still sleeping I walked downstairs, sat down, and started eating my breakfast. I have been home schooled all my life, my parents hired some of the best known professionals from various fields of expertise, who provided me with some of the finest education available. My father, Dr. Sigmund Mensa and my mother Dr. Elizabeth Mensa are both world renowned doctors that have discovered cures to numerous diseases. Both are contributing doctors to the World Health Organization as well as the Center Of Disease and Control in Atlanta, Georgia. I have traveled to many parts of the world due to my parent’s profession and the demands on their time.
“Mike, there is an outbreak of an unknown source in Eastern Europe. Reuters has reported that over 30 patients have been quarantined in the National Hospital in Minsk, it looks like your mother and I are on our way to Belarus” said my father. I usually did not mind when my parents left me, not that I didn’t miss them but the freedom without them, well lets just say that was pretty good. I asked my dad when they were leaving for the airport; he said that due to the urgency the W.H.O.
(World Health Organization) is sending a driver right away and they would be traveling on a private Challenger Jet. Time was of the essence and the situation could not afford a conventional charter flight. I sent a text to my girlfriend Jenna “prnts gon r u fre tnit?” (Parents gone are you free tonight) she wrote back “kool c u L8tr” (cool see you later). Jenna was my best friend since we were kids and as we both grew older we also grew closer, and she got prettier, much prettier. Jenna is 5’8” blonde with blue eyes and looks great in jeans; she is also very smart and has a weird influence on people. She has an uncanny way of getting people to do things that are actually her idea, yet they somehow believe that the idea is theirs. My parents were rushing around trying to get their stuff together for their trip, and I was jumping into the shower. While I was rinsing I heard my mom yell “bye” and my dad entered my washroom and told me his usual good-bye, have fun, be responsible and make good choices. After I got out of the shower and got dressed, I glanced at the morning paper that my dad was reading, and on the business page that he left open was a notice of a new Technology company that just moved to Hartford called Nyo-Tel. My usual curiosity encouraged me to Google the name and discovered that its CEO is a man named Isaac Redburg; they have been in business for 19 years, annual revenue of $300 million USD. All looked normal except when I searched further, its what I didn’t find that I found intriguing. They have never applied for or received a patent, they did not receive any government grants, they did not trade on any public stock exchange, and they didn’t seem to have any technology exclusive to them. My question was simple, how does a company generate $300 million per year in sales yet doesn’t seem to do anything? I was still interested in digging further but more interested in going out to rent some DVD’s for Jenna and I to watch. Jenna usually did not like to watch anything with horror but when we did she liked to be held tight, this made her feel more secure which was ok in my books. My plan was to get out to the local Blockbuster and research the titles to find something scary that didn’t have a scary title. That way I stay out of “hot water” with Jenna, I get to keep my arm around her, and once the movie starts, her curiosity is stronger than her fear of scary movies. The way I see it, we all win.
Later that night when Jenna arrived, I had the movie loaded into the DVD player, her favorite drink “Elder Flower Press” and the hot air popper to make her favorite popcorn, low fat Orville Redenbacher with melted butter. I also took out 2 of my parents crystal glasses to drink from, it made Jenna feel special, kind of like a wine spritzer for kids. The evening was great. The movie started out lame, and then turned horrifying, Jenna was scared and I got to save her, all with perfect execution. It was almost midnight, which meant time to get Jenna home so we got her stuff and as we were about to leave to walk her home the phone rang. It seemed unusual for the phone to ring at almost midnight, if it was Jenna’s parents worried they would have phoned her cell. I walked into the kitchen to answer the call when I noticed the call display showed “ N Tel” I answered the phone in my deepest voice “hello”, the caller responded “ SM the measures are intact awaiting retrieval” and then hung up. I didn’t recognize the name in the caller ID nor did I have any idea what the message meant”. I walked back to the front door when Jenna asked “who was that at this hour?” I told her that it was a wrong number. I got back home after walking Jenna home and went straight to bed, still wondering about the strange call I took an hour before, either way I fell asleep quickly as I was pretty tired. At about 4 am my eyes popped open like someone just fired off a cannon in my room, could the name on the call display “N Tel” actually mean “Nyo-Tel”, the new technology company that just moved here? My mind was working at 100 miles an hour. I got out of bed ran downstairs to the kitchen phone and checked the call log for the phone number of that call, I went to my computer and tried to trace it. No matter where I looked the number either came up unknown or unable to find, except for one site that is really only known to hackers, that site said that it is a voice over internet phone number originating from an IP address in Belarus. Now that was another really strange coincidence, weird phone call, from weird company originating from weird country that my parents are visiting trying to figure out some weird sickness. I have never been one for coincidences, especially that many.
I called Jenna’s cell and I heard it ring downstairs, she must have forgotten it here last night. I looked for it downstairs but couldn’t find it, so I kept calling it with my phone so I could follow the ring. Eventually I found it in the sofa; it must have fallen out of her purse during the movie. I opened the flip to erase all the missed calls it was showing for all the times I called it trying to find it. It also showed a waiting text message, and my curiosity got the best of me, what I read shocked me. It had the exact message that I was given from the weird man last night, word for word. Not wanting to get caught from Jenna for spying in her phone I marked the message “unopened” but I did scroll her call log and was shocked again, my girlfriend had received a call from my dads cell phone yesterday just about the time they would have been on their flight to Belarus. What was my father doing talking to my girlfriend? It seems that there is a lot of stuff going on that I didn’t know about, stuff about my parents and my girlfriend, stuff that neither of them were telling me about. I called Jenna at home and told her she forgot her phone; she seemed very uncomfortable with that. She asked me to shut the phone off and she would be right over to get it. I asked her if anything was wrong, and she insisted that everything was going fine. I glued myself to my computer and started digging up everything I could on Jenna, my parents, and more importantly Nyo-Tel. There is a hacker’s site that allows the simultaneous transmitting of cell calls, both received and dialed. I uploaded Jenna’s phone number along with her electronic serial number. Then to test it I sent her a text message, and voila’ both my sent message as well as her response message were copied to my computer.
I called Jenna and asked her if she wanted to come over and hang out, she said she would be over soon. Next my parents, I searched the whole house looking for a cell phone bill, I found every other kind of bill, hydro, water, taxes and all sorts of magazine and newspaper bills, but no cell phone bills. I then searched my parent’s room, and although I didn’t find a cell phone bill I found something better, hidden behind their wedding picture was a safe! My parents had a safe and I had no idea, seems there are a lot of things I am unaware of. I tried many combinations on the dial with no luck, until I tried the year my parents were married 1989, first forward and then backwards. I entered L19, R89, L98, and then R91 and it opened. As long as I can remember logical puzzles have always been pretty easy for me to solve. What I found inside was baffling, an envelope titled “top secret” and all of their cell phone bills. Who keeps cell bills in a safe; I understand money, jewelry and valuable things but cell bills, now that is weird. I looked at the secret files and all were written in a foreign language and in code, neither of which made any sense to me. As for the cell bills, after viewing I found many calls and messages between my parents, my girlfriend Jenna and the phone number linked to Belarus and the strange call to my house the other night. I was not only in shock, but deeply hurt. Who are my parents, the ones who have raised me and cared for me, at least that’s what I always believed. And Jenna, we grew up together, this was the girl I wanted to marry when we got older, who is she really? It is confusing and painful to find out so many things around you that you love and trust isn’t what you thought they were. I used the information on the cell bill to call the cell phone company; I used my deep voice and told them I was my father, I asked them to give me the electronic serial number of my phone, which they gladly provided. Now with the help of my computer I would be able to get all copies of messages between my dad and Jenna, as well as listen to any calls either of them made or received. I returned the documents to the safe and relocked it. Just then I heard a knock on the door, it was Jenna, I went downstairs to let her in. We sat in the living room for a while I carefully quizzed her; she did a great job of not really answering any questions. Her phone rang, and she looked up at me with a strange look on her face. I said to her “aren’t you going to answer it?” which she did. She said “hello” a couple of times and claimed she couldn’t hear. I suggested she take the call outside where the reception would be better, that advice she gladly accepted. As she went outside I bolted upstairs to my computer to listen. What I heard sent shivers down my back. My own father was asking her if she had called the police on me yet. She replied by saying that she had informed Homeland Security that I was a terrorist, and that any minute I should be arrested. She told my father that she felt bad for turning me in. My father reassured her that it had to be done, that sacrificing me was a small price to pay for the greater good that “the plan” would bring the world. I knew I had to get away, I grabbed my laptop, the $65.00 I had stashed in my drawer and climbed out the window at the back of our house, that way Jenna would not see me. I jumped to a tree branch and shimmied down, climbed the back fence and hid under our neighbor’s boat. A few seconds later 4 black SUV’s came screeching to a stop in front of my house, and men wearing black suits and dark sunglasses carrying semi automatic weapons charged into the house. That was my chance, I crawled out from under the boat and ran as fast as I could, when I heard a loud thumping sound, it was an FBI helicopter that was tracking me. I was really scared, I didn’t do anything wrong and now I am running for my life!
It all seemed like a really bad dream, how does a 15 year old kid with a pretty good life, with pretty good parents and a pretty good girlfriend go to be a hunted person, and not from the mall security guard, the FBI and who knows maybe even the CIA! And all because my family had accused me of something I know nothing about. I hid at the park in a large culvert, I needed time to think. In the distance I heard the helicopter circling and the sound of dogs. I really didn’t know what to do, so I ran, I ran as fast as I could. I was sprinting across the grass, when out of no where a mean looking German Sheppard dog knocked me down, and 4 men wearing black fatigues pointed guns at me and ordered me not to move. At that moment hand and leg cuffs were being put on me, I started to cry and asked what I did wrong. The men told me to shut up, not to talk as I was being arrested under Homeland Security Laws as a terrorist. They loaded me into the back of a black van and drove me to an FBI office, there I was stripped searched, fingerprinted and made to put on orange overalls. I was then led to an interrogation room and questioned by men, one at a time, none of whom had any sense of emotion; they asked questions like they were a robot. The only answer I had was the truth; I did not know anything about being a terrorist or any terrorist plot. As each of the interrogators left, they were replaced with another, who asked the same questions all over again. I went through this kind of questioning for 18 straight hours, begging them to believe me. I asked them to give me access to a computer with an internet connection and I would prove my innocence. They refused, they just kept on telling me how I would be imprisoned for life, and on how crimes against America are of the worst imaginable. I begged them again for a computer, which they refused again. I was exhausted, and they finally let me sleep.
I was awakened the next morning by a man who identified himself as Agent Mitchell Mackenzie, Director of Encryption for the CIA. He was the first person in this ordeal who actually seemed to listen to what I had to say. He pulled out a file folder and asked me to explain its content. It was an exact copy of the file I found in my parents safe, the same file I didn’t recognize or understand. I told him what I knew and how I found my parents safe that contained the same file. He informed me that Interpol had intercepted this message and had requested the CIA’s help in deciphering. I begged him to take me back to my house so I could show him the same file. He reluctantly agreed. With armed agents we went back to my house, I was horrified to find the hidden safe unlocked and empty! I begged them to believe me. The only thing that made sense to me was that Jenna opened the safe while I was running away and took all of the evidence. Back at the FBI office Director Mackenzie gave me access to a computer, I showed him the information I found on Nyo-Tel, and the Military file that I had hacked into. After their intelligence experts viewed my findings they told me that it was not a military file, it was actually a secret terrorist site operated by the company Nyo-Tel. He told me that my parents, although very successful doctors were indeed part of that terrorist group. My parents were instrumental in helping to create a Mutant Germ. The plan was to spread the germ in Israel, killing all of the citizens and allow that country to be taken over by Eastern Europe. The germ was tested on citizens in Belarus and my parents were summoned to report on the effects. He also told me that my girlfriend Jenna was recruited by the terrorist firm and forced to comply with their needs. They threatened that if she did not listen her family would be murdered. It was only after my parents reported that I was such a good computer hacker that the terrorist firm was worried I would uncover their plot. It was then that they recruited Jenna, whose job it was to stay close to me and report my actions. My parents were arrested overseas; Jenna vanished and was never seen again. This evil plot had been averted. Director Mackenzie had faith in me, he believed me and stayed by my side and helped to prove my innocence. I found out that he had lost his only son in the war in Iraq; his name was Jason and was only a few years older than me. He told me his only regret was not believing in his son. He tried to believe in me, which saved my life.
My life as I knew it was over, that is a pain I will have to live with forever. Director Mackenzie believes the world, or more importantly the CIA needs someone with my talent. Only time will tell.