Tuesday – according to old wives' tales that have been passed down from one gossiper to another – is associated with luck, money, and being fruitful in something. For Jeff, this Tuesday is a make-or-break day: if he makes it, then great, but if not, he will definitely lose his job. As he and Nine talk to each other, with the other giving him last minute advices and lectures on what he is about to do, Jeff can't help but shake from his cowlick to his pinkie toe.

"Everything clear?" asked Nine as he concludes their short conversation.

"Gotcha. Sounds like the same routine I did in my previous job."

"What should you do now as a start, then?" quizzed Nine just to check.

"Send a notice to everyone that the firewall will be upgraded, and that their internet connections will be affected because of it."

"Nice one. You learn rather quickly," interceded Gun, who sits next to Jeff – on his right. "Oh, and make sure that you've eaten before you go to the server room: food and drinks aren't allowed there – even water."

"Don't worry, Gun, I had a bite earlier."

"I think boss already sent you the location of the templates that we use, right? Or hasn't he?" asked Nine.

"Yeah, he already did yesterday," answered Jeff with confidence. He remembered mapping into his directory the path of their template folder, which Beer sent the other day.

"Okay. When you're ready to begin, you may send the notice now."

"Those templates are up-to-date, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Let's do this." Jeff faces his laptop and opens out a file named NOTICE_FIREWALLUPG.docx, copies all the contents in it, then pastes them in a blank e-mail message window. Afterwards, he fills out the necessary items with the appropriate values, then reads the entire message to check if what he just did are correct.

"I think this is ready." Jeff glances over at Nine, who – as the last line of defense – verifies if it is indeed ready to be sent over to everyone.

"Woohoo! Congratulations on your very first notice, Jeff!" cheered Yacht, who sits after Gun, clapping his hand while beaming a smile that can turn a rabid animal tranquil.

"Go get 'em, tiger: click that Send button," said Nine, giving Jeff a slight nudge on the shoulder.

What Nine said, however, made Jeff's mind stop working at the moment, as he recalls something from the past – the time when he will be having his defense for his CEH certification program.

"Ready?" asked Gameplay, fixing Jeff's collar so that the tie under it would look neat to the eyes.

"I'm shaking. Take a guess." Indeed, Jeff was.

"Deep breaths. Jeff. Your mind will black out if you don't calm down. That will be worse."

"I can't help it, GP. I'm not used to doing something like this, and I'll be going up against three panelists."

"Look at me, Jeff," commanded Gameplay, but Jeff did not heed. "I said look at me." The imperative tone this time left Jeff no choice but to do as he was told.

As their eyes met at the center of an invisible line, GP held Jeff's cheeks with one hand in each. At the warmth of the touch, Jeff started to calm down, his breathing suddenly became controlled.

"Forget the panel; forget how many there are; pretend you're talking to me; say it to me like we are talking casually." GP runs both his thumbs, first, to Jeff's forehead, drawing circles to better help circulate the blood in that part. "Okay?" he continued and ran the same fingers from the side of the eye down to the cheeks before he let go. "Go get 'em, tiger." He winked as he held Jeff on the shoulder.

"Jeff? You okay?" asked Nine, looking at Jeff's poker face and enduring a sort of silent treatment. "Hey! Jeff!" he repeated, nearly getting the attention of everyone in their team.

"Oh...Uhh. What? Sorry?" replied Jeff, shaking off the cobwebs that trapped him just seconds ago.

"I asked if you are okay. You froze there for a moment."

"Yeah. I'm good. I just remembered something."

"I see. Now get your butt to the server room and do the firewall upgrade," said Nine with a little sneer.

Jeff nods, then, carries his laptop. He frisks his pocket, and when he felt that a small something is in there, he proceeded to the elevator to go up two floors to his destination. At the door of the server room, he supplies a numeric code on the panel next to it, which is witnessed by a uniformed personnel with a black sidearm and about three magazines, each full to the brim with red-tipped ammos. After his codes gets accepted, he immediately goes to the mainframe computer at the middle of the room, setting down his laptop beside it. Next, he unlocks its screen and proceeds with the upgrade protocols in their proper order.

"Now that it's busy," said Jeff, opening his laptop. "Let's give life to SaturnRabbit," he continued, seeing his wallpaper and desktop load on the screen. He volunteered for this task so that he can run his Hydra program through a compiler – something that is used so that the source codes of a program will be translated into machine-language instructions, or something that the computer understands. He, then, opens the folder where the files for his worm are – sixty-five files all in all – and making sure that the one named SaturnRabbit.bat is in there.

"Okay, all is in here," said Jeff, turning to the mainframe, which is not finished in the upgrade yet. Afterwards, he opens an app in his laptop called TestMalware.exe, which is the compiler program they use in the IT Group. They use it to build certain malwares that will be used for simulating intrusions to see if their security features are holding up and doing their job. A message box appears afterwards, asking for a file.

Jeff clicks the ellipsesbutton in the prompt then selects SaturnRabbit.bat. After that, he homesthe mouse pointer to the button named Build. "Baby, don't be mean." Heclicks Build, triggering the start of the compiling process.

"March26 is to scramble the system clock; it is also GP's birthday. That will throw Scylla's and Charybdis' operations to a stop."

"That is the first series we watched together ina marathon. That worm will determine how many briefcases are with Charybdis,inside a bank, and roaming in the network."

"Desserts are GP's favorite course. Dessertswill identify the briefcases that are in the banks and will hold them there; itwill also prevent those that are in the network to go into a bank. So far sogood."

"That's okay," said Jeff, pressing P on his keyboard to go on in building the object LeCordonBleu, which is where Gameplay finished his culinary studies. "It's zero at the moment because it hasn't gathered money yet: LeCordonBleu is the magnet for that will pull the briefcases from the network – all of them – and put them in a storage."

"GP&ME will be created once thecompiler is done; this is not a problem," said Jeff, pressing P again."GP nearly slapped me when I laughed after learning his previous name – Tossapol.Once all the cases have been gathered, Tossapol will transfer them to GP&ME– my vault."

 "Richteris GP's pet cat, who always glares at me like he wants to scratch my face. Oncethe briefcases are in my vault, Richter will change their account numberto the one I set."

"FoodHacker will wire the briefcases to GP's account, which he did not open, hihihi. This is also the name of the show where he sometimes contributes his idea to." chuckled Jeff, as the compiler continues its actions.

"GP is an Aries, and he is five feet and eightinches tall – the cutest 5'8" walking the planet. These two are surprises Ihave in store for Sutthirak."

"The moment of truth," said Jeff, expecting thatthe warning he got earlier will be resolved. Then, eradicating all his doubtsand appearing on the screen along with the conclusion of the firewall upgradeactivity he did in the mainframe computer, a message of light appears on thescreen of his laptop:

"I..." gasped Jeff, shaking his head not because of disappointment. "...am a freaking genius." A big, unadulterated smile traces over his face after the window of the compiler program closes by itself. Bordering egotism, he praises himself in the success of building his digital weapon, which he will use against the fortress that is Top and his company. He, then, transfers his ILOVEGPSOMUCH folder into the USB stick from his pocket, which he attached earlier into his laptop. "All set to play this Friday – Top's big day." He locks the screen of the mainframe, then folds his laptop before leaving.

"Took you quite a while in there, Mister Satur," greeted after Jeff emerges from the server room. He is the guard at the entrance who watched Jeff earlier like a hawk as the other was supplying the numeric entry code.

"Yup. Did a lot," replied Jeff, calm and collected so as not to raise qualms. "Have a nice day." He gives Kao a nod – a sort of goodbye – before walking to the elevator.

Looking at his watch, helearns that he has only half an hour to get something to eat and finish it, butthen he remembers that he has brought lunch with him – something that Janninecooked the other night. "Now that SaturnRabbit is done, let's payTossapol a visit," he said, making up his mind that he will visit hiscurrent-ex-boyfriend-but-soon-to-be-boyfriend-again at Cocotte later this day. Somethingthat took more than a year in the making.

------

Author's Note

Twice it was that Jeff nearly hit a brick wall, but whew, it was great that he was able to build his Hydra worm. This however, is just step 1 - compiling it. It is step 2 - running it - that will be difficult and which may not go his way.

Although, the meeting of Jeff and GP will be something to look forward to. How will it go? How will GP react when he sees his ex? Ohhhhhhh Exciting!

Stay tuned for release of the next chapter - Thou Shalt Not Flout - soon.

Don't forget to leave a like or comment :)

Add this book to your reading list to get notifications in case of updates :)