An innocent man, one assassin and a vile CEO who will hack his way to the top of a lucrative software industry. Rupert Blake, a computer programmer working at a software development company called Leadsway, receives an unexpected promotion, and is given the task of securing the company's computer system from hackers. His woes begin when the hackers attack Leadsway in an unexpected way.

---

CHAPTER ONE

---

Rupert entered the workstation room. "Hey guys!"

The room, located on the nineteenth floor of the Leadsway's headquarters building, was the largest single room in the building. All the company's programmers worked in this room so they called it the workstation room. The room, rectangular in shape, contained glass cubicles, covering four hundred square feet of floor space each, with passage spaces in between groups of six.

"Mr. Rupert Blake, Mr. Promotion himself," James, his best friend, said when he saw Rupert.

He was standing outside of his cubicle, with his hands on his hips.

"Hello James. What did you just call me?"

James walked toward Rupert, but stopped along the way and put his hands in the air.

"Guys! Mr. Blake is here."

With this remark, everyone got out of their cubicles and stood in the passageways. James started clapping his hands. One of the others joined him, and then another, until all of them were clapping hands. Applause sounded across the room, along with a few cheers and whistles. Rupert was dumbstruck and embarrassed. He just stood still without saying a word as his face blushed.

The applause soon died down and James walked over to him. He offered his hand to him, and Rupert accepted, hesitantly. They shook hands.

James then put a hand on Rupert's shoulder.

"You know that nothing goes on in this company without us knowing of it, right?"

Rupert nodded and James continued.

"Well, the guys at the top have chosen who will takeover from Mr. Anderson. Congra—"

He stopped talking and looked over Rupert's shoulder as a man entered the room.

"Rupert Blake," the man said, walking to the two.

Rupert turned around.

"Good morning Mr. Roberts," he said. William Roberts was the Director of Human Resources at Leadsway.

"Good morning sir," the others said.

"Morning Rupert, and everyone. I need to see you in my office, now."

"Yes sir," Rupert said.

"Good," he said and then walked away.

Rupert turned around to face James again, smiling as the situation dawned on him.

"You guys meant—" he started. "The promotion—It's me? Wow. I can't believe this."

"That's what we were trying to tell you, you dumb ass. You got the job," James said.

The others laughed at this statement.

"Wow. I didn't expect this. Thank you guys, this means a lot to me, but I must go see Mr. Roberts now."

He walked to the door and stopped to wave at everyone.

"I'll see you later."

He went out.

"Rupert deserves it guys," a woman in the group mentioned.

"That's right Brenda, and his family is going to be thrilled too," James added.

...

Rupert briskly walked through the corridor and turned left, entering the nineteenth floor's reception area. He walked past the reception desk, entered the west wing and was soon walking down the corridor counting doors as he went past them. William Roberts' office was the eighth door to his left.

Approaching the door he realized that it was half open. He knocked the door first and then put his head through to see if someone was inside. He saw Roberts sitting behind his desk, talking on the phone. Roberts noticed Rupert and gestured with his hand for him to come in.

Rupert entered the room, closed the door behind him and walked to the desk. Roberts, gesturing again, asked him to take a seat.

"That's okay. Just send the report to me by email," Roberts said, ending his call.

He then turned his attention to Rupert.

"Hello, Blake."

"How are you sir?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

Roberts cleared his throat and went straight to the point.

"Now, you probably know the reason for this meeting by now. As you know that since Monday we, that is the board and I, have been reviewing the applications that were sent to us by a number of applicants. We have finally identified and chosen the person most suited for being the Head of Internal Security, and that person is you."

Rupert maintained eye contact with Roberts as he spoke, trying his best to appear calm and attentive.

"We believe that your vast experience in many of this company's departments, including Internal Security, will give you a unique advantage at this job. Therefore, we require you to present a review to the board on Monday, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of our current security system, as you see them. Include any suggestions and recommendations you might have," he said.

Rupert nodded, expecting him to go on, but quickly realized that he was waiting for a verbal response. He managed to think of something to say quickly enough for there not to be an awkward period of silence.

"Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure and an honor to take up this position and I will try my best to ensure that our security systems remain effective."

"Good. I'm sure you will. Your office will be ready tomorrow and you can obtain the current system's complete documentation from my personal assistant. She will be expecting you."

Roberts stood up and shook hands with Rupert.

"Welcome to the team, Blake," Roberts said, smiling.

"It's a pleasure sir."

They walked to the door and Roberts held the door handle, before opening the door.

"You do understand the importance of this position, right? You will be responsible for the whole company's security system. It is best if you don't mess up, if you know what I mean. You really can't afford to."

"I understand, sir," Rupert said in a low voice.

"Good. I'm counting on you."

He opened the door and Rupert left his office.

...

After taking a few steps away from the door, Rupert stood still in the middle of the passageway.

Wow. I'm now the Head of Internal Security. Sylvia is going to be so happy when I tell her, but will I be good at this? Too many companies have experienced security breaches this year and they all had someone in charge of security. Is ours next?

A strange mix of emotions gripped him: excitement, joy, fear and anxiety. He was excited and happy about his feat and couldn't wait to share the news, but he also feared the responsibility that came with the job, which made him anxious about his future.

He put a hand on his forehead and slowly took deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down. After a few seconds of breathing he resumed walking through the passage, while mentally playing back his meeting with Roberts.

"Rupert!" A female voice called out to him as he absent-mindedly passed by the reception area.

"Huh, what?" He stopped walking. "Oh Cindy. I'm sorry. How are you?"

He walked back to the reception desk.

"You better be sorry," she began. "You walked past me the first time without saying a word. You didn't even notice me, but I forgave you for that. But now, the second time—really?"

"Cindy, you know it's not like that," Rupert said. "It's just that—"

"It is okay, Rupert," Cindy said. "I understand. You've got a lot on your mind. I can see that. What I don't see is a reason for you to be worrying now. Is this not what you wanted? You should be jumping for joy right now. And oh, by the way, I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"What? You know about it already?"

"Grapevine, Spider's Web, whatever you want to call it. I always know what's happening in this place," she said.

"Yes, I forgot about that. I think you are right though. I'm probably getting worked up over nothing."

"You can bet your ass that I'm right. Sylvia will be happy for you too. Have you told her yet?"

A group of people came out of the elevator and noticed Rupert.

"Hey Rupert," one of them said as they walked to the reception desk.

Rupert turned to face them. It was a group of network technicians who also worked at Leadsway.

"Hi guys. How is work?"

"It's great, but not as great as your new job. Congratulations man," one of them said.

"Thanks Peter. I appreciate it."

"Congratulations," the rest of the group added.

"Thank you."

They all shook hands with Rupert and left the reception area. Rupert turned around and faced Cindy.

"I'm starting to think that I was the last person to know about this," he said.

He laughed and Cindy just shook her head, smiling.

"Where were we?"

"You were about to tell me if you've told Sylvia yet."

"No. I haven't, yet. I want to surprise her when I get home and see the look on her face when I tell her. That is, if none of you guys have already told her."

"Come on. You know I wouldn't do something like that," she said with a grin on her face.

"You told her, didn't you? I don't believe this."

"No," she said, and laughed. "I'm just playing with you."

"Good, because I don't know what I would have done to you if you had told her."

"Seriously, though. You will be great at the job, Rupert, just stop fretting."

Before Rupert spoke, one of the telephones on the desk rang. Cindy looked at Rupert, who just smiled and said, "Thank you for bringing me back to my senses. I better get going now, so I'll see you later."

"Sure," she said and picked up the ringing telephone. "Leadsway, Software Development Department. How can I help you?"

Rupert felt much better after talking to Cindy. The tension had left him and he now walked with renewed energy as he made his way back to the workstation room.

She always knows how to make me feel better. I don't know how she does that.

He arrived at the door and placed his index finger on the fingerprint scanner fitted by the door. A beep sounded, a green light lit up and a small screen on the scanner displayed: "Welcome, RUPERT BLAKE."

Afterwards, the door slowly slid open and Rupert walked in.

James was expecting Rupert to come back and when he heard the beep from the door, he went out of his cubicle.

"Hey guys, Mr. Blake is here!" He said this as Rupert walked in.

As before, everyone went out into the passageways and applauded Rupert.

"Come on, guys. You really don't have to do this again," Rupert said and started laughing.

He put a hand to his forehead and shook his head in disbelief. His fellow programmers came to him and shook hands with him, some patting his shoulder and some hugging him.

"Congratulations, Rupert," some said.

"I'm happy for you," others said.

He slowly made his way to were James was standing, occasionally stopping to talk to some of his workmates. When he finally reached James, they hugged.

"I'm really proud of you, man," James said.

"Thank you. I really can't believe you put the guys up to this again. What are you paying them?"

James laughed.

"You know me. I just couldn't accept the response you gave us last time, so I thought we should do it again, normally, without you being all frozen and confused."

Rupert laughed too.

"I was kind of dumb, wasn't I?"

"Kind of?"

James laughed even harder.

Rupert then turned around and got the attention of the others.

"I would like to thank you all for the support you have shown me. It feels good to know that you guys are happy for me. I appreciate it. Thank you."

The group listened to him noiselessly as he spoke and then applauded him after his announcement, before gradually returning to their cubicles.

"I thank you too, James."

"I'm just showing my support. It's the least I can do," James said.

James and Rupert exchanged a few more words before parting ways. James went to his cubicle and Rupert went to his own cubicle, feeling good about himself and the new job.

I guess this won't be as bad as I thought it would be after all.

He sat behind his desk and switched on his computer.

This must be the first Thursday I've ever logged in this late. Well, at least no one will give me a hard time about it.

Rupert logged in and checked his email, as he usually did before anything else. His inbox reported forty-nine new emails and, as he had guessed, they were mostly farewell messages from the others. He then began the laborious task of reading and replying to each one. He figured he had a lot of free time that day since he no longer had to contribute to any of the current projects the other programmers were working on.

continues in Chapter 2...

---

© Innocent Mwatsikesimbe

Thank you for reading my work.