The Tall Skotoborg Building
As Leonard entered the building, he unhesitatingly headed towards his office, simultaneously talking on the phone. "How much information did the CCSB obtain?"
"Boss, I received intel that an anonymous file was sent directly to several departments. It seemed the other party didn't want to let you go, suspecting we have our people there."
"Damn it!"
Listening to his subordinate's words, Leonard grew even more infuriated. An hour ago, his ally had called him about an urgent matter. He didn't expect it to be such a serious issue; as a result, he learned that the CCSB had obtained evidence of all his illegal activities.
In other words, someone had simply put a cross on what he had achieved in life.
"Quickly summon the people we've recruited; they must keep their words!"
His voice was no longer as calm and elegant as before, now filled with panic, as if failing to take swift action would mean the end for him.
When he thought the CCSB was his only problem, his phone rang again. Picking up the receiver, he simply heard the following words, driving him into even greater madness:
"Boss, I've received news that all major and influential media outlets have obtained the information. I'm still trying to negotiate, but the other party clearly wants more..."
"Damn it!...Damn it!"
Entering his office, Leonard angrily grabbed a cup from the table and hurled it against the wall. Calming down slightly, he spoke: "....what conditions do they want?"
In response, his subordinate began repeating the demands of the major media outlets – some wanted shares in his companies, others wanted money, and others sought collaboration on certain matters.
Listening to his subordinate's words, Leonard felt increasingly humiliated. Previously, it was he who coerced others using various tricks. Now it was his turn to be oppressed from all sides.
"Alright, tell them I agree...however, they must also ensure that lesser-known media outlets cannot act against me."
After speaking, he ended the conversation and sat down in his office chair. Holding his head in his hands, he began massaging his temples and contemplating his next move. If he started giving in and showing signs of weakness, others would undoubtedly finish him off completely.
"Wait until I resolve this issue...we'll see how I deal with you!"
He stood up and approached the massive office windows, lit a cigarette, and began smoking. He needed to calm down urgently and plan his next steps.
An hour later, a second subordinate called to inform him that the major media outlets were ready. Some time later, another subordinate called, reporting that his efforts within the CCSB had yielded positive results, as some people had begun acting to conceal the incident.
This situation made him feel more at ease as he continued smoking and observing the city from outside. He also pondered who had targeted him and who the mole was that had betrayed him. Without a traitor, it would have been impossible to obtain so much information about him.
"How long had this been planned? It seems I need to act preemptively so that, in case of a split in information on the internet, I'll be prepared."
As he contemplated his future plan, he began to calm down somewhat. As long as the situation remained manageable, he just needed to act quickly.
As he was about to make a call, his phone rang at that moment. Looking at the phone, he saw a hidden number. Pausing for a few seconds, he answered the call but remained silent.
Soon, as he expected, a rasping voice came through the phone, slightly distorted, as if intentionally disguised: "Well, you handled it quite well...though I assumed you had many people in the right places, it still seems enough to deal with this emergency situation."
"So what do you plan to do next?"
Finally, the other party asked him a question. At the same time, Leonard quickly thought about it. Based on the other party's words, today's incident had been planned by them. With what motive? Money?
"Why did you do this?"
"Oh...the thing is, you shouldn't always think you're above others..."
"From your words, I can understand that somehow I offended you?"
"No, rather I can say that I'm pursuing certain goals...the main goal is to deprive you of the power you currently possess."
"Deprive me of power? Why would that power concern you? Is my power threatening you?"
"Yes, the truth is, your power does indeed threaten me, but also, such power in the hands of such a person is wrong."
Listening to the words spoken by the other party, anger began to rise within Leonard once again.
"Who are you to decide what's right or wrong?"
"Well, that's from my point of view...but that's no longer important. What matters is that I'm now giving you a choice."
Leonard's eyes narrowed gradually. In his opinion, the other party was saying such things to justify their actions. And now the other party was ready to show their demands so that he could satisfy them.
"What choice..."
He was already prepared. This was a chance to find the other party and seek revenge for what they had done.
"Either you go and admit everything before everyone, and also show the information I've gathered..."
The first option was clearly unacceptable to Leonard. In his view, the other party was simply adding psychological factors to have their demand accepted.
"Or I'll show it to everyone myself...in that case, I'll show everything you've done, and instead of a dozen years in prison, you'll get a life sentence..."
Listening, Leonard was ready to respond, as the second option was clearly a demand from the other party in his opinion. However, what he heard clearly puzzled him; one could infer that the other party was not ready to let him go.
This infuriated him even more than before. With such wealth and riches, what couldn't he do? In the worst case, he could simply flee and hide with some assistance.
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His anger overwhelmed him, and he responded in a cold voice: "Do as you wish, but remember, I'll find you, and you'll pay for this!"
When he thought the other person would simply hang up, a voice was heard:
"Well...I just tried...one should still give a person a chance to redeem themselves...but even after that, you're not ready to let go...based on this, you're a thoughtful person...well, let me think, ah yes, if you listen closely to this music nearby..."
The other person's words were interrupted midway, followed by the sound of classical opera music. After a brief pause, the other party continued:
"Did you hear it?....well, when you hear it again, that will be the last time...at that moment, run for your life."
Moments later, the call was disconnected. The final words were clearly threatening. However, Leonard thought it was just another trick to make him afraid and submit.
"Damn it.."
He started calling his people again, although he doubted the other party could act, considering that he controlled the situation with the media and the CCSB. However, he had already decided to leave and hide for a while. If the other party's plan didn't succeed, he would return, but if they could do something, by that time, he would already be safe.
Without hesitation, he summoned his subordinates and began preparations.
======================
After finishing his conversation with Leonard, Aidan looked at the phone and rolled his eyes. His goal was clearly unattainable as long as these two, father and son, existed. Judging by their characters, they were arrogant and vengeful; if they weren't eliminated, this could come back to haunt them later.
After thinking for a while, he got up, changed into something less conspicuous, and left the room. His aunt and sister were already in their rooms at that time. As he was about to leave, he hesitated for a moment, then approached his aunt's door and knocked.
His aunt was clearly awake, as the door opened quickly. Dressed in less formal attire than before, she still seemed agitated.
"Aunt, I'll be out for a while. You lock the door and don't open it until I return..."
Saying this, he didn't wait for a response but turned and soon left the house. A pair of eyes watched him with some doubt, but his aunt sighed and didn't try to stop him.
Walking through the dark area, Aidan pulled his hood over his head and continued towards one place.
From a distance, many beams of light could be seen; approaching them, it was a night market.
Strolling through the stalls, his eyes finally fell on what he wanted – a purely white mask with only spaces for the eyes. Waiting for the owner to be distracted by other customers, he quickly grabbed the mask, left some change, and walked away.
He didn't want anyone to see him purchasing this mask.
Soon, he returned home, and his aunt opened the door after confirming it was him.
"Alright, go to sleep. We'll figure something out tomorrow."
Saying this, he simply entered his room and closed the door. Leaving the mask aside, he lay down on the bed.
The next morning, he left the house after talking with his aunt.
Grabbing a snack on the way, he searched for the best place to do what he wanted. Early in the morning, he had also checked the locations of Leonard and his son. They were already heading towards the airport.
An hour later, Aidan finally found a place where he could begin. Setting up his laptop on the ground, it was on the roof of one of the back buildings. Next to him was a tall building whose router he connected to.
Sitting in a position where he wouldn't be seen, he began using the internet to infiltrate various media servers and major companies for live broadcasts.
Soon everything was ready; on one side was a live broadcast that hadn't started yet. On the other side was a camera inside a private plane – Leonard's plane, which he intended to use to escape. This was confirmed a few seconds later when they boarded, after which the plane began moving.
Aidan, in turn, put on the mask, revealing only his eyes. He then started the broadcast.
Simultaneously with his click, a live broadcast began appearing on the main pages of various companies and leading media outlets, occupying the entire screen. Even if someone clicked on another stream, the server would automatically redirect the user to the special broadcast created by Aiden.
With his top-level programming skills, doing this was too easy.
The number of viewers began to increase rapidly, and Aiden spoke:
"First, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm someone...and I'd also like to say to those who want to turn off the broadcast: Let me explain the facts. Since I was able to silently hack into your servers without anyone noticing, I can say that I can also destroy all your information.
I've also set up automatic destruction upon disconnection and restarting, which is why you shouldn't attempt to stop the broadcast."
As he spoke, he looked at the number of users, which was rapidly increasing.
"So, what is it that I want to do...it's to punish one person and his accomplices. The name of this person is Leonard Shade, the well-known leader of the Skotoborg companies. Why do I want to do this? Well, mainly because of this."
"Now I'll show you the documents and all the evidence of what this person and his people have done. You can also download all these files below."
Saying this, he began screen sharing and showed the files he had gathered, all the machinations, and the things that had been collected, one by one, including some unpleasant videos and audio recordings. It took him 20 minutes to show these files.
While he was doing this, a group of people at the CCSB headquarters was trying to determine the location of the device broadcasting the live stream. However, during this time, they couldn't find out anything.
Because of this, the main people in the room had frightening expressions on their faces, restraining their outbursts of anger as they stared at the live broadcast on the large screen.
Although a small part of their anger stemmed from their subordinates' inability to determine the device's location, a larger part arose from what they saw on the screen.
"Damn it...we've been trying for so many years to expose him, but I never knew there was so much under him...damn it!"
One of the leaders spoke, dressed in formal attire, as he continued watching the screen. Turning his head, he said, "Have you downloaded the files? Is that everything he showed?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good, who will tell me how much longer you need to find Leonard?"
"Sir! We're still searching. According to the information we received, the other party left home some time ago."
Listening to his subordinate's words, the leader looked back at the large screen.
Aidan, having shown most of the information, drew attention to Leonard and his son in the private plane, seemingly in a good mood.
"Alright, it's all tiring to show; you can watch the rest yourselves. So what I want to say is that yesterday I sent these files to quite influential media outlets, as well as the CCSB. However, the results seem predictable, as no one showed anything to the people today.
In the end, I had to take matters into my own hands. By the way, this is the list of media outlets I sent the files to, and here are all the records of share transfers and money to these media outlets. The conclusion is that these media outlets are clearly not clean, just like the CCSB."
At CCSB headquarters, the leader's eyes narrowed even further, and the aura around him became menacing.
"....it seems...we need to do something..."
Not only him but also the other people in the headquarters began to emanate a sinister aura. The top brass had always wanted to bring order to society, but some of their people clearly didn't want that.
While everyone silently pondered how to proceed, Aiden suddenly continued speaking:
"Finally, we come to the main course...the person who is our protagonist today."
As he spoke, Aiden clicked a button, and another screen appeared next to his broadcast – a camera view inside the private plane.
"Here's where our hero is, already flying to escape from us...in my opinion, if they get away, it'll clearly be bad, so...let's end it here..."
Saying this, Aiden pressed a button.
At the same moment, on the private plane in the sky, Leonard, who had already been in a relaxed mood, was sipping wine while seated and looking outside. From the outside, the plane could be seen flying over a vast sea.
As he thought about how his life had changed in a single day, suddenly a melody began playing from the plane's speakers.
At first, he didn't pay attention, but a few seconds later, he noticed that the melody was familiar.
In the next second, his pupils constricted, and he stood up from his seat, but the melody lasted only half a minute. When he thought it was over, a loud voice from the pilot was heard:
"...losing control...controls are blocked...Huh? Why is the autopilot engaged?!"
The pilot's loud voice echoed in his head as the plane, which had been flying straight, suddenly pitched its nose down. Unable to maintain his footing due to this, Leonard was flung out.
Aidan watched the scene inside the plane without saying a word. He pressed a few buttons on his laptop, immediately after which another window appeared on the live broadcast.
This was a satellite view that had locked onto the private plane. Through the image, one could clearly see the plane pitching its nose directly into the sea and rapidly descending.
At this moment, everyone watching simply stood in shock, saying nothing, including the CCSB leaders.
A few minutes later, amidst the screams from inside the plane, a loud crash was heard, after which the video cut off. In the satellite image, the plane could be seen crashing into the water and exploding.
This scene was clearly shown in the live broadcast, and everyone saw it.
Aidan, in turn, looked at his laptop's camera and said, "That's all...now I bid you farewell..."
The broadcast ended, and Aidan simply cleaned up his tracks, picked up his belongings, and left.