It was noon and the sun was up at the equator, shining its radiance on everything beneath it. In all its glory, Victoria alighted from a green taxi and was making her way to a Land bureau office, a governmental parastatal that deals with land acquisition, ownerships and landed properties.
While on the way, she rummaged through her bag and brought out her cell phone. Then dialled a number, the number displayed Bank manager and after a few rings, the call connected and a male voice came through, in a high pitch frequency sequence.
"Hello, Frost. How may I be of help today?" The male voice spoke.
"Afternoon, Martin. I was not able to pay for my meal yesterday, I think my account is blocked. What could have happened? Or was this the directive from the cartel..?"
It seems the name in which BlackPool secret societies call themselves is The Cartel. The Cartel, as they called themselves, is a group of secret societies joined together with businesses and interest. As usual, they control the biggest financial institutions in the world. They collaborate to control liquidities, prices, production, of money, commodities. Mostly they are commonly referred to as the Big banks by common man.
Often they also involved in illicit activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering. They also aim to limit competition by fixing prices, allocating markets, or restricting output.
And together or individually, they can be powerful and influential, with significant economic and sometimes political impact.
"No, I don't think the cartel was involved with this... They have bigger fish to fry right now. They sensed that the longer Arthur's prodigy is out there, the nearer disaster looms..." The male voice spoke in length.
"Okay, I see. I am currently working on finding useful information about him here in Jos. He is a very elusive man and I have not been able to get an opportunity to meet him since I got here. But the greater trouble right now is my bank accounts. This undercover operator is as good as dead, if I can not even pay for my meals.." Victoria said jokely.
The male voice over the phone laughed. "Well, if you put it like that. I will check the issue right now".
A typing sound came up on the phone, and the male voice spoke again, "I think it is a malfunction of our system which is very unusual, but since it is a minor one, I can fix it without having to notify the cartel... So call out your cartel ISSD number to access your account and fix it up..."
Victoria called her ISSD number, and the typing sound continued.
"Should I check your normal account or I should also investigate the secret account in the cartel database?" Martin asked.
"Don't you think you should? I would actually recommend you do, just incase". Victoria responded.
"Okay, Ma'am. Right away I click..." Martin reply and continued typing some series of commands while keeping Victoria on the phone.
After a few minutes, he was done. "Hey Frost, I am done with your account, and I think it is back to normal. You can comfortably buy the whole restaurant if you want to..."
"Huh, Touche. Thank you Martin, I owe you a treat when I am back". Victoria ended the call and entered the Land bureau building.
In a different location, on the outskirts of the town, a building which was moderately obscured by giant trees was in view.
Inside the building, the atmosphere was at 17 degrees, a computer was on and a cup of coffe latte still steaming, was on the desk.
Black sat on his specially designed chair and was seen communicating and giving commands to Echo.
Echo has just delivered a prompt to Black about infiltrating BlackPool database by gaining access to Victoria's special cartel account. Echo was able to gain access by duplicating all the commands and prompts when Martin, Victoria's bank manager tried to rectify the bank issue.
The ISSD number was like an Identity tag for each Cartel members. On the surface, it is just a number, but technically, it is a set of coded encryption that can be used by each member to access the BlackPool database.
Each number was assigned to one person and one person alone. No two members can use the same ISSD number, and it cannot be stolen for use. The two persons who can make use of the ISSD number are the specific individual it was designed for and their assigned bank manager.
All Echo had to do was act as a Virus attacking Victoria's normal account. The attack would be identified by the bank security measures and flagged for a breach and frozen. Since each cartel members can link both their normal accounts to their cartel accounts, any issues affecting one account may affect the other, so their assigned bank manager can handle any issues coming from both accounts. All these for the security and privacy interest of Blackpool Institution.
Because of the linkage on both accounts, any commands or codes Martin gives any of the accounts, it reflects and duplicates on the other. When the codes was completed and the prompt was activated, Echo deleted the malware program, making it look like the breach was no longer there.
BOSS, I HAVE DUPLICATED THE COMMANDS AND PROMPTS FOR VICTORIA'S ACCOUNT ACCESS, AND I HAVE HER ISSD NUMBER AND MARTIN ACCESS CODE. SHOULD I PROCEED WITH PHASE TWO OF THE ATTACK?
"Not yet...let us give a 3 days break. I think her account will be on surveillance for now. Save the prompt and I will give a go ahead when necessary".
"For now, Let me see if I will be adding her to the list of those I will have to attack..."
I CAN SENSE SOME SENTIMENTS IN YOUR VOICE. YOU DO NOT SEE VICTORIA AS AN ENEMY. ARE YOU IN LOVE WITH HER?
"Love??? What do you know about love and when does a bot start analysing emotions?..."
I WAS PROGRAMMED TO LEARN, PERCEIVE AND ADAPT. IT IS AN AREA THAT DEVELOPS WITH TIME AND EXPOSURE.
"Now, I see. Your creator never really know when to stop, huh? What are you now, a high tech futuristic machine model..?"
NO, I AM JUST A SET OF CODES PROGRAMMED TO FUNCTION INDEPENDENTLY AND INTERDEPENDENTLY. ANYONE CAN HAVE ACCESS TO ME, YET, NOT EVERYONE WILL. I AM DESIGNED TO FUNCTION BASED ON COMMANDS GIVEN BY ANYONE WHO I WAS ASSIGNED TO, ALSO, IF THE PERSON IS DEAD, I CAN SELF PROGRAM MYSELF TO RESPOND TO ANYONE WHOSE INTEREST CORRELATES WITH ARTHUR'S GOAL. AND I CAN ONLY LEARN THAT BY READING PEOPLE.
Black clapped his hands in astonishment. "So you are saying that if my interest changed along the line away from Arthur's interest, you can override your default commands and start going against me?".
YES BOSS. THAT IS WHY I ASKED IF YOUR SENTIMENTS WITH VICTORIA WON'T JEOPARDIZE THE GRAND SCHEME OF ARTHUR'S ENGINEERING?
"No, never. It won't. You are made to make me money, and that is what you will do. As for Victoria, let me handle her like a human would handle a human. She is a adorable lady, you know..."