CHAPTER FOUR

JASON

My family was eating dinner when I received the call from Steve. It wasn't even eight p.m. yet.

"You have to come here quick. All our systems are down."

My Dad was chewing heartily on the fish my Mom cooked for him when he stared at my troubled face and asked, "What happened?"

"All our systems are down. I have to take a look." I didn't tell him about the call from Leila this afternoon.

"What did Steve say," Mother asked, a worried look on her face. But she continued eating. "Finish your food first."

"I'm not hungry anymore" I told her. I was really worried.

"You won't be able to fix the problem even if you're hungry. Finish your food," Mom told me sternly.

I felt I was back in kindergarden. I gulped my food down. Then I noticed both of my parents were staring at me. I forced myself to slow down. I glanced at my Dad. He turned back on his food, munching on the fish so slowly.

I sighed. "Dad, you want to check out the computers with me?"

His face lit up. He looked so happy that I almost felt guilty. "Sure, Son! Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure there's just a glitch somewhere that they failed to notice."

So we tried to talk about other things while finishing dinner. I wanted to jump inside my car and speed off to the office. But maybe they were right. I really couldn't do anything even if I'm there. The IT team had to resolve this problem by themselves.

Finally, we were able to go to the office and see what happened. All systems were really not functioning. We had eighty-two people in the team. They were all there figuring out how to solve the crisis. Steve approached us when he saw we had arrived.

"What happened?" My Dad asked Steve. "There was a virus that was downloaded into the system. We are trying to retrieve as much program as possible that were not affected by the virus. But when we tried to reprogram some of the systems, there were new viruses that came out. I've never seen anything like this before."

Steve looked at me, "Did you tell him about Leila? I think we need her to remove the virus so we can save as much programs as possible. Or else it would take months for us to start from scratch. And that would be costly for the company. We would lose a lot of clients."

I looked uncomfortable.

Dad looked at me. "Who's Leila?"

It took a minute for me to answer him. "She's the hacker and the one who downloaded the virus."

"Why didn't you report her to the police? Who is she? How did you know she did it?"

"She called me up and told me she would do it."

"But why? Is she angry with you? What did you do to make her do this? Let's go to the office and discuss this. Steve, call the police."

We went up to his office and sat down.

"She wanted to blackmail our whole family."

"How much was she asking."

"She didn't ask for money. She just wanted a scholarship, she wanted you and Mom to adopt her, and that I'll marry her when she turns eighteen."

"Why? How old is she?"

"Thirteen."

My Dad looked at me like I was so stupid.

"The damage she did today will cost us hundreds of millions. She just wanted a scholarship and to be adopted." He sounded like he was losing his patience with me. "Talk to her then. Tell her we are willing to give the scholarship, adopt her, even give her an allowance."

"I don't like the way she tried to manipulate us." I told my Dad.

Dad looked at me squarely in the face. "She was only asking for so little. If we don't get her, she will go to our rivals. You should be glad she approached us first before going to the other side. If she's this smart as to be able to destroy programs that took years to make, then we want her on our team, don't we?"

I stared at my Dad. He stared back at me."Well?"

"Well what?" What else can I say?

Did you get her number?" He told me.

"No."

"Get it then." He looked at the mini bar that used to have some wine. "I wish I can still drink. Imagine that. We were outsmarted by a thirteen year old."

"Do I really have to marry her?" I asked, sounding and feeling dumb.

"Why not?" My Dad stood up and headed towards the door. "I will wait for you at the operations room."

I didn't follow right away. I felt as if she was able to have so much power over us, over the company, over our money, over my family. I had a dreadful feeling that this will not be the last havoc Leila would bring to my family. But as my Dad pointed out, can we afford to push her away and have her work with our competitors? Right now, we have eighty-two percent of the market share. If we don't act fast, this virus can quickly bring us down to the bottom of the ladder.

Maybe Dad is right. For now, we cannot afford to lose her.

Just by doing a few hacks, I was able to get her number on the school records. But when I tried calling her up, no one was answering the phone.

The next day, we received a lot of calls regarding our system being out of service. We just told them we were updating our service. No one was still answering the phone at Leila's home.

"So why don't you go to California and talk to her. Tell her that we'll give her the scholarship, give her an allowance and she can even work with us part-time if she wants a job."

Mom told me, "Be nice to her, Jason. She's just a kid."

So I bought myself a ticket and decided to fly to California that night. Our IT department was only able to restore ten percent of our service. We really need her to get the virus out and restore our programs.

"Aside from the scholarship, offer her a good salary if she agrees to work for us." My parents kept giving me advice. I felt going to California would be a relief.

As I sat inside the plane, I kept repeating to myself, be nice. Be nice. How can I be nice after all the trouble she put me through? Be nice. I repeated to myself.

I arrived at Los Angeles before midnight. So I went to one of the hotels and checked myself in. But I couldn't sleep. I hope I won't wringe her neck when I see her.

I had to rent a car the next day and looked for her house. It was in a middle class suburbs. As I went nearer to her house, I saw children playing. There were a couple in their late fifties who were walking their dog. All the houses had a second floor, with the normal colonial house design. There were porches in front. Teenagers were sitting on the steps just chatting and laughing out loud. Such a happy neighborhood.

Then I reached her house. It was a bit rundown. But the first thing that caught my attention was the yellow tape around it. Black letters were imprinted on the tape. CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS.

I walked at the edge of the tape. There was no one there. Not even the police.

So I went to the neighbor at the left side of the house and rang the doorbell.

A fat guy with a big belly opened the door and came out. "What do you want?" Looking me over from head to toe.

"Is that where Leila Evan lives?" I pointed to her house. "Do you know what happened? Do you know where she is?" I gave a friendly smile. I don't want to look like a detective or an insurance agent.

"You a relative or somethin'?" he asked. "You're too late. She's dead. Leila's dead. Her own mother killed her! She threw her over the balcony. Poor soul! She was such a nice kid. Very helpful to everyone. May she rest in peace!"

"Dead?" My heart sank. It was all my fault. I should have just said 'yes' to all her demands. She sounded like an angel on the phone. Her neighbor even liked her a lot. Maybe she was now in heaven.

I also thought of Emzitech closing. I was the CEO for just a few months and it would need to close down all because of me. I was filled with inexplicable guilt.

Grief and guilt for Leila. I felt I was the one who killed her. I felt so much guilt. She just had a big crush on me and wanted to be my classmate. Of course, being a genius like her, she should be in the best IT school in the country. That was all she wanted. And now she was dead.

I felt so emotional. I said goodbye to this nice guy in front of me and called up my Dad.

"Dad," I said, but couldn't continue.

"So did you talk to her? What did she say?"

"She can't help us. It's all over. Emzitech's doomed!" I started crying.

"I told you to be nice. Talk to her and plead with her to get that virus out and restore our system! Do whatever you need to do! Don't come back here until she agrees to help us!" He sounded so angry and frustrated.

"Dad, she's dead! Her very own mother threw her over the balcony!"

"What!" Dad was shocked! "Did you see her body?"

"Uhhh, …we'll, …no. Her neighbor told me she's dead." I stammered.

"Well, look for her body then." My Dad cut the call without saying goodbye.

But suddenly, I didn't feel so bad. I was filled with hope