Agent Appleton traced the app IP address to an address on 302 Sycamore Lane in Milford—Ellen’s house, as suspected. There were several Wi-Fi signals emanating from the home; however, one was unusually strong. No other house in the area had Wi-Fi signals nearly as strong.
He stepped onto the porch and rang the bell. This was going to be an interesting conversation.
Ellen Watson answered the door.
“Hello, Agent. Come inside. Do you have news on the hackers?” Ellen asked in a hopeful voice.
“No, I’m here to see your son, Nigel,” Agent Appleton said.
“Nigel? What could you possibly want with him?”
“All I can tell you is that he is a person of interest in an ongoing investigation.”
“Nige, come down here, please,” Ellen yelled.
A few minutes later, Nigel appeared.
“Agent Appleton has a few questions to ask you,” Ellen said.
“Do you work for Collective Systems?” Agent Appleton asked.
Ellen interrupted. “Yes, he got a paid internship there. It was a godsend since I was left with little money when I got hacked.”
Agent Appleton nodded. “What do you do for Collective Systems?”
Nigel described his position as a Level Five intern. He recounted the weekend at Tage Manor as well as some of the assignments, but omitted the mix-up with Mr. Henry’s assignment.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“How do you get these assignments?”
Nigel demonstrated the app.
Agent Appleton said nothing for almost a minute. He could see that Nigel was visibly nervous.
“Nigel Watson, you are under arrest for crimes related to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.”
“What the hell?!” Ellen said.
Ellen stood between Nigel and Agent Appleton.
“We have evidence that Nigel has knowingly committed crimes while working for an organization known as The Collective.”
“You mean Collective Systems?” Nigel asked. “I told you, I have an internship there.”
“You really think you’re working for a legitimate company?” Agent Appleton asked. He decided to hear Nigel out.
Nigel told him everything that he had been involved with through the past several weeks, including the hacking, exploitation, and reconnaissance efforts to get Jake’s account unlocked.
“I have your IP address associated with systems belonging to a criminal organization known as The Collective. Their front is a gaming company called Pretzelverse Games.”
“That doesn’t make sense. I have only played games produced by Pretzelverse Games, not developed for them. The company I intern for is Collective Systems; it’s not a criminal organization.”
“What specific work have you done?”
“Most of it was debugging existing programs that didn’t work, or writing code to integrate machine learning algorithms.”
Nigel also showed Agent Appleton his computer and VPN software that he used to connect to Collective Systems, Inc. The VPN software had the company’s logo on it.
“How do you communicate with your contacts at Collective Systems?”
Nigel showed Agent Appleton the app’s messaging feature and shared Natasha’s contact information.
“I need to see your completed assignments.”
“The links to complete the assignments expire after a period of time, so I can’t show you. My VPN software only works when I have an active assignment.”
Agent Appleton considered for a very long time, then made a phone call on the porch. Several minutes later, he reentered the house with officers from the Milford Police Department. Nigel was handcuffed and read his Miranda rights.
“Wait! You’re not taking my boy.” Ellen stood in front of the arresting officers.
“Please move, Ma’am.” Agent Appleton pulled Ellen away. The officers removed Nigel.