Celaena - The Lost Princess

5. Element of surprise

*Liarah's picture above^ ;p*

Ryan's pov

I've been distracted since morning, that breakfast took me by surprise. I mean I didn't think she would do such thing as soon as she entered our house and then classes were boring as usual. I've been worrying about selection process as well. I don't need people good at hacking, I need the best one. And I doubt I'm gonna find someone meeting such requirement.

Lunch break didn't go as expected, first that cheerleader practically attaching herself on to my brother and then Andrew acting weird. Andrew looked like a lovesick puppy while explaining about that girl. She must be special if she got him so flustered, trust me he doesn't get flustered so easily. He once ran naked on football field for a dare, he didn't even hesitate for a second when he was dared, he just stripped naked and RAN.

This whole mystery girl thing has got me intrigued. I need to find out what's so special about her. I'm interrupted by my friend and teammate 'Thomas Harrington'. He's been on 'The Elite' programming team from 2 years by my side. He's damn good at hacking but lacks creative side. He's more like robot, does only how much is asked and according to textbooks. If he faces difficulty in cracking codes let's just say he'll give up easily rather than trying to search for some unconventional ways. He's like the biggest bookworm to be ever lived. He's still on the team because he has read almost every book on hacking and knows all conventional methods that's recorded on textbook.

I greet him " What's up man... How has your summer been??"
He smiles warmly and says " ohhh you know the usual. Tell me about yours, I'm pretty sure you've got lot more interesting stories to share than mine." He from a rich family, one that runs in elite social circles only. Though he is from such a elite family, he isn't stereotypical spoiled brat, he's a fairly good guy.
"It's time" he informs looking at the clock and settle down at the computer at the side.
It's 2.20 and the room begins to fill I don't give attention to all those came here. My only intention is to find the best and recruit.

As soon as clock hits 2.30, I look around to see lots of girls and few boys. I don't pay more attention to who has come, I simply start explaining the task.
"Hello everyone and welcome" I pause.
"Some of you have come here cause being a part of this team gives you more credit points than other clubs and teams, some of you are here because of the reputation you get for being a part of our team, some of you are here just to look cool, and some of you are here because of Prof. Kingsley" I hear some giggling "but you should know that we have spot for only 2 of you" pause " 5 of you who can complete the given task faster than others move to the next round and also those who can manage to add some element of surprise to the given task to impress us might get selected to the team 'The Elite' directly" I pause take in the crowd most of them are girls eager to see Mr. Devil and continue "I'm sorry to inform you all that Prof. Kingsley won't be joining us today, he'll be joining us for the next round".

I can see some of the disappointed looks but honestly I don't care . I continue to explain the task for them "So as you can see here is our team computer set up on the table, it has some what good firewall or security system as you call it, to secure it from hackers. So your task is to hack this system and get information about last year's team details which are encrypted and stored somewhere in this system. There's no time limit but I would like to see at least few of you completing it in 5 minutes. And remember you can improvise to impress us".

Thomas gets up and starts explaining further "basic info about the system is present in your respective computers. I hope you've bought necessary tools and instruments you may require, if not you can borrow some of ours but you would need to register in this book" holds up a register book "and sign it after returning" "any damages will be covered by the borrower, so be careful with team's equipment"

He turns to me I check the time, it shows 2.45pm, I turn back to him and nod. He turns to the crowd "your time starts now"

People shuffle and starts picking equipments from our table. I scan the crowd slowly since I've done my part and I don't have to do anything for now. As I scan my eyes lands on a figure sitting at the end corner, reading a book??? Is he insane? I continue to observe this person, he lifts his head.. wait a minute that's not a boy it's a girl. She has short black hair covering most of her face, she's wearing large hoodie.

She looks around to see people already settled and working furiously to hack into the system. She closes her book slides it inside her bag and slowly gets up from her seat walking towards the equipment table. I track her every movement with my eyes, she looks at the items left behind, there isn't much but there are few which can be useful. There's a router and few modems, she's still scanning the table. My bet is on router, she'll pick router I'm sure of it. To my surprise she picks data cable?? What is she going to do with data cable?

She just writes in the register book and walk back. 3 minutes are already up. My eyes isn't leaving her sight. She connects her phone into the computer with the data cable and starts working. My attention is wholly on her tracking every movement she makes.

5 minutes are up yet no one's finished their task. Time is going by and It's almost 10 minutes now and yet nobody is able to crack a simple security system set up to protect our computer. This is hopeless, I'm annoyed. I can't believe these are good for nothing.

I run my hand through my hair clearly frustrated and ask "what? you all can't even crack simple security system??? We did even provide basic information about the system, still you all are struggling!!!" At the corner of my eyes I catch some movement. My eyes go back to the corner landing on short black hair girl, she remove the data cable and folds it neatly, switching off her computer. Then she takes out a book and continue reading it. What?? She already gave up? She looked like she would be good, but looks can be deceiving right? I'm disappointed. I turn towards other and ask them "what's the problem people? Not even single one of you could crack it"

One student from front row looks towards me and says "I cracked initial security system and I was about to get the encryption part but some other security wall came up and it's impossible to crack" I'm confused, we didn't set up extra security wall, what is he talking about??

I turn my attention towards Thomas and motion him to check. He nods and starts typing codes checking for anomaly. He furrows his eye brows, he continues clicking furiously on keyboard and his whole posture is tensed. I walk towards him and ask "what's the matter Thomas? Is everything okay?" He says without taking his eyes from his computer "system is denying access to me, I can't even log into the system through your ID. Something is blocking every other accesses. And there's a pretty strong security wall set up, which needs at least an hour to get through".

I walk back to team's computer and connect my phone; as soon as I connect my phone to the computer, my phone beeps loudly and starts countdown??? A robotic voice through the speakers around the lab starts countdown simultaneously.
"Initiating countdown"
"Ten"
I try to stop it but it doesn't stop.
"Nine"
I'm confused I didn't have any such issue with my phone before and I've also secured my phone with security wall I've built on my own.
"Seven"
I try to control volume with no success.
"Six"
No, no I can't be, my phone's not hacked.
"Five"
I try to switch off my phone, but it's of no use.
"Four"
I'm so angry and embarrassed. I'm shaking with rage.
"Three"
I want to throw my phone but I can't lose my cool infront of these many people.
"Two"
I have no idea what's gonna happen once the countdown ends. My hands are clammy, I gulp as I wait for it to end.
"One"
Pause
"Bingo"
Lab door flies open and we all gasp as the robotic voice says
"Right on time professor".