Entering the Lion’s Den

Michael walked into the tattoo parlor that was the source of the attack on his game. The inside of the parlor maintained the same rustic vintage look. The walls were made of bricks which gave the whole store a rustic feel. Furthermore, it was filled with drawings. Michael assumed that these were examples of tattoos. The place certainly looked like a tattoo parlor as far as he can tell.

" Welcome to Crazy Monkey's, can I help you, sir?" The artist asked.

" Well, I wanted to get a tattoo." Michael replied.

" Well, you came to the right place. My name is Nate. Cathy is the other artist but she only works on the weekends. Do you know what kind of tattoo you want to get?" The artist asked.

" I want to get a truck on my shoulder." Michael responded.

They kept talking back and forth. Nate explained the dangers of tattoos and the care that they require after getting them. Michael was confused because it felt like an ordinary tattoo parlor. Therefore, he decided to try one last thing to see if there was anything out of ordinary.

"How much would it cost?" Michael asked.

" Well, Since you are a first time customer I can give a discount. It would be $200 per hour. A small shoulder tattoo should not take more than two hours." Nate explained.

"Do you take cash?" Michael asked.

"Well, I would prefer credit or debit for large transactions. Is there a reason why you want to use cash only?" Nate asked.

"I used to use credit cards. However, last year my account got hacked and I lost a lot of money. The bank only gave back some of the stolen money. Since then, I try to use cash for everything." Michael replied. He was watching Nate's reaction. For a second, Nate flinched. So Michael decided to press on.

" Have you ever been hacked bro?" Michael asked.

" No, Im lucky I guess. Haven't been targeted by any hackers. Sorry about what happened. I guess I can take cash." Nate replied.

Michael felt his deception detection skill going off. Nate just told him a lie. Michael did not know which part of Nate's answer was a lie; however, he had enough clues to confirm suspicions.

" Alright man, thanks for the info. Let me think about it and I will be back once I am sure I want to get the tattoo." Michael replied.

" No problem man, If you have any questions. You can call us or ask us on Facebook." Nate wished Michael farewell.

Michael walked out of the store and found an abandoned alley. He made sure that he was not followed. Then he changed his face again and walked back to the Tattoo Parlor. This time the parlor was locked. Michael entered the cafe again and acted like he was reading a book while keeping an eye on the parlor.

********

Nate watched Michael leave and then immediately went up and locked the front door. He walked toward the back room. Inside the backroom, he rolled up the rug and opened the hidden hatch door to the basement.

The basement was a secret addition that was not even listed in the city files. It was the size of a large room so it was easy to hide. Inside the room, there was a young girl and a middle-aged man working on computers. The room was cramped with computer equipment and sleeping bags.

"Why did you come here now? Who is watching the store?" The girl asked.

"Something happened, A stranger came in today." Nate continued to explain what happened.

Both of them listened to the story and frowned.

"Let's check his photo from the footage." The other man suggested.

They pulled up the footage from the camera and got a photo of Michael. Then they ran it through several databases.

"There are no matches. This man is a ghost." The girl warned.

Nate did not like that answer. It is highly unlikely for a person to not come up in any databases. They searched every database from the Driver's License department to the FBI profiles. If someone did not show up anywhere then that usually meant that the person is either a hermit or a hacker. Some special agents also had their identities removed for the sake of secrecy. Nate did not feel like dealing with any of those people.

"Do you think this location is compromised? Should we move?" The girl asked.

Nate looked around. They had only been in this place for six months.; however, because they were part of a hacker group, they constantly had to keep moving. Nate was the team leader and was called Lord Nikon. The girl was called Infinity and the middle-aged man was Phantom. The three of them had founded Synonymous five years ago.

They founded Synonymous with the intention to make it the top hacker organization in the world. Two years ago Synonymous successfully hacked a bitcoin bank and cemented their place in the Top 10 list of hacker organizations in the world. Since then, they have been lying low while occasionally taking contracts for some low-level corporate espionage.

" We will wait and move tonight." Nate declared. He did not want to take any risks. They might be gods on the internet. But in the real world, they were just some vulnerable humans.

Nate went back up to continue attending the store for the rest of the day. When it was 7 pm he locked the store and started cleaning up.

Nate was still sweeping the floor when he heard someone knocking on the door. He went to the door and did not see anyone. He opened the door and checked the streets and still did not see anyone.

" Maybe I am just being paranoid." Nate thought and went back inside. He quickly finished cleaning up and entered the basement. The others had already packed important equipment into backpacks and were ready to move.

" We will wait for an hour and take the Bus to" Nate did not finish speaking before he felt a barrel being pressed against his head.

"Don't move" The intruder ordered.

Nate held his hands up. However, the others quickly pulled out their pistols and pointed it at the intruder.