The cab pulled up at the gates of the suburban villa complex just as Blanche’s phone rang. It was Mr. Jordan—he sounded breathless, barely containing his excitement. The security firm had traced the suspect’s IP address.
Blanche was surprised; she hadn’t expected anyone to act faster than her. Her own tracking system was ready to run the following day, but it seemed someone had beaten her to the punch.
She hurried back to the office, only to discover that while they had traced the IP, it was disappointingly generic—just a regional address. There was no way to pinpoint an individual.
Mr. Jordan’s frustration was palpable.
Blanche stepped forward. “Mr. Jordan, I’ve designed a honeypot system based on the typical patterns of these cyber thieves. If they try anything, the system will track them in real time, right to their doorstep.”
Mr. Jordan’s eyes lit up with hope. “What do we do now?” He was clearly putting all his faith in her.
“We’ll integrate the system into the bank’s network and wait for them to take the bait.” Blanche’s hands flew across the keyboard as she spoke, lines of code reflecting in her eyes.
Mr. Jordan looked at her with genuine admiration. Why hadn’t his son ever crossed paths with someone like Blanche? All the good fortune had gone to Gaylord.
The tension in the computer lab was thick enough to cut with a knife. Everyone held their breath, watching the monitors.
Suddenly, a blue dot flickered onto the screen.
A staffer answered a call, then turned to report, “There’s been a breach at the bank—over a million dollars stolen from an account.”
Instantly, a red dot appeared on the screen, trailing the blue one.
“Are we close?” Mr. Jordan’s voice was tight—this case had dragged on for over two weeks, and the pressure was mounting.
“Not yet,” Blanche murmured, eyes glued to the screen. The red dot chased the blue, zigzagging through a labyrinth of servers. “They’ve routed through tens of thousands of servers, covering half the internet on this side of the world.”
Mr. Jordan glanced at Blanche, then back at the screen, his nerves fraying as the blue dot started circling back, drawing closer and closer to their location.
Suddenly, the red dot shot straight through the maze, colliding with the blue.
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