When shit went South

P E A C H M C C O Y — T H E H A C K E R

My phone was blaring.

Why?

I opened my crusty eyes to my dark studio apartment, shifting in my bed to look in the direction of my window. No light. The sun hadn't come up so why was my phone in a frenzy. I turned to see it lighting up my room from where it sat on my nightstand, buzzing like it had been possessed. I sighed and shifted myself closer, reaching my arm out and grabbing it. I turned it over and squinted at the bright screen. Not understanding exactly what I was looking at, I turned on my lamp and focused on the screen. It wasn't an alarm but an alert. A red dot had moved into the 30km radius of my building. It took a second but adrenaline washed through my body and I jumped out of bed.

"Shit!" I cursed and I almost never curse. I only did it when things were going South, which they were.

I scrambled out of my pajamas, and into black sweats and a hoodie. With it being late autumn, winter was fast approaching and outside was cold enough to guarantee cozier clothing. I dropped to my knees and pulled a backpack from under my bed. It was full of extra clothes, snacks, water and toiletries. Throwing the slightly heavy bag over my shoulders, I grabbed the laptop on my desk. It was sleek, black and had a picture of a peach on the top. I held it close to my chest and turned to my drawer for shoes, picking out some worn combat boots, hoping they would get me through the weather. Finally, I grabbed my phone and a locket I hid under my mattress, putting the latter around my neck so the golden rectangular lock rested between my breasts under the black hoodie.

It was time to go.

I run like a bat out of hell, exiting my building. The time? 2:14 a.m. No wise person was awake so I was the only figure racing through the streets to the subway. The cold early morning air stung my deep bronze skin and caused me to shiver. This was not good. I managed to make it to my destination and squeeze into the first train that came down the track. I was the only one on the carriage I had entered and that was ok with me. I sat down, placing my laptop in my lap. It was the cause of all this.

How?

Two weeks ago, I'd received an anonymous message from a user called _m.a.r.k.v.i.k_ . He or she wanted me to hack a certain network and paid a good price for it. I did as I was told. I got into the network. I was just supposed to find out some information that _m.a.r.k.v.i.k_ said would be very important to him or her but I fell into something else.

I fell into the world of the mafia.

I know what people say about it. It doesn't exist, it is only fiction to make hungry teenagers happy and blah blah blah. Some mafias were real but they were controlled by the FBI or CIA. I hadn't known until two weeks ago that there were some secret underground operations that were, surprise surprise, actual mafia.

The Martinelli Familia, the Russian Bratva, the Vipers, the Rooks, the Aces, the Kings, the Castellano Cartel.... That was just the iceberg of it all. Shit was going down under everyone's nose. It was scary how big and influential these groups were and once I started digging I just couldn't stop. For three days I stayed hunched at my computer scratching every nook and cranny of these groups, trying to find out how they stayed hidden. Forget _m.a.r.k.v.i.k_, I was on something big here. He or she didn't even know what they would've gotten themselves into. What I got myself into.

While I'd been doing all the hacking I could, I set up all kinds of protection for myself and my alert had been the start of it. For every illegal network I tapped into, there was a warning if anyone connected to that network got anywhere near my building which was the most affordable residential area for 30km, my radius. Gold was for the Martinelli Familia, red for the Russian Bratva, green for the Vipers and so on. Right now, a bright red dot was getting closer and closer to my apartment according to my phone.

This was bad.

My first thought... where would I go. No where was safe for anyone next to me if I was being tagged. I knew this day would come but now that it was here, I was having a strong sense of panic. I needed to lay low right? That's what people did in these kinds of situations. I wanted to believe I could make it but I knew too much about too many people. Dangerous people. They obviously wanted me dead.

My leg bounced and I bit my thumb nail. Helping _m.a.r.k.v.i.k_, whoever he or she is was a mistake. I knew I couldn't withdraw money from my account because that would put a larger target on my back. These mafia groups had good hackers. I was better of course but that didn't mean the others didn't have potential. In fact, I wasn't surprised it was the Bratva that caught on first. Whoever is manning their tech was so amazing. H e had this firewall that took me almost an hour to get through, greatest challenge I'd had yet.

The Martinelli Familia would catch on soon as well. Their tech wasn't bad either. They kept their things discreet, using dozens of firewalls to access even the simplest of files like the Don and Dona's marriage contract. I didn't even know that was legal. How do you decide to own someone for about 10 years? I had no idea and did not want to find out. If my brother were here he'd probably give me a hard time for not minding my own business.

"Somethings aren't for you to know Peach," he would tell me when I was younger. "You just have to accept that."

"But Peirce," I would complain. "I don't want to be left out. What if not knowing is unsafe?"

He always smiled sadly when I talked about my safety. He bent down and kissed my forehead this particular day. "With me and dad around, you'll always be safe."

"What happens when both of you disappear?" I had asked because he always assured me I was safe with him and dad. I wasn't too little to think the world couldn't take them from me.

"One of us will always be with you and know Peach that a soul never truly dies. If I ever go, know that I'll stay close to you, doing the best I can to keep you safe," Peirce explained.

"I don't like being kept in the dark," I said changing the topic from death. It had always unsettled me.

"You won't always be in the dark. When you're old enough, your eyes will be open to everything little sister. Don't fret."

I didn't think 20 was old enough to know what I did but I was taking it anyway. Peirce had always seemed so put together, so sure of what he was doing, when and how. I despised him a little for leaving me alone, for not teaching me how to deal with all this. I'm sure he knew a little of it. I wanted him back with me but I know a lot had driven him from home. Mom's death, dad... Sometimes I couldn't believe my old man was the closest family I had but I hadn't seen him in years. I always thought of paying him a visit but there was never a good time.

Now was a good example. I knew he'd give me advice but by the time whoever the Russian Bratva had sent for me scoped my place, they would find out more of who I was and who my father was. Tracking me down was the tricky bit but I knew I couldn't run forever. I pulled my hood up over my black mss of coily hair and opened up my laptop. I checked which train I was on and where it was going. I was happy to see that it would drop me two towns over in Mazadora, Santa Pores. It was a rich neighbourhood and I smiled, knowing there was someone there who might help me.

Among the list of things I needed, a gun was one of them. I knew how to use it and I planned to if things didn't work out the way I wanted. The next thing I did was enter the network of the Russian Bratva. There were a few things I wanted to know like who was chasing me and how many people did I have to deal with. The network had been reinforced but it still wasn't difficult to get into. Their techy was slacking. In the network, I found a string of messages from an unknown number to the Bratva's techy asking about me. How cute. The program I used to hack was P34CH which was my name Peach but fancied up. Now that I thought about it, that probably wasn't the best idea and that was shown in the fact that the red dot was being sent to the residence of a Peach McCoy. Just great.

I looked over the unkown number, trying to find out who it belonged to and who it associated with. The first name that popped up was Kira Makarovich and then Markov Makarovich. Those were the most common names and they worried me because the first was basically the mafia princess and the other was the underboss.

It took me a while but... I figured it out. The dot after me wasn't just any random associate of the Bratva. No, that would be too easy. I had a one man hunt party and that man was none other than the Don of the freaking Russian Bratva.

Viktor Makarovich was after me.

I was dead meat.

My hands shook as I pulled my phone from my jumper pocket and typed in a number that I told myself I'd stop calling. It was Peirce's.

If you're listening to this it means I'm too busy or you're too unimportant for me to pick up the phone. Do what you must. I won't promise to listen to your voice mail though.

Beep.

"Hey Peirce," I said into the phone trying to steel my voice. "It's Peach. I know you probably won't pick this up but I wish you'd call me back. I really need to talk to you. I've gotten myself tangled in something awful. I... I don't know what I'm doing...."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Ok um... I'm begging for you to... I don't know... give me a sign that you're there and you're doing well where ever you are. I know you don't like it when I call and I promised not to but I'm so stressed right now. Leave me a message or something."

I pressed end and looked down at my phone. When my brother left, he said he didn't want to have any ties to his old life. To me. Too bad I needed him right now. I needed to hear his voice and advice.

My eyes were still fixed on my phone screen when the train stopped so, I had to tuck it away. I closed my laptop and put it in my backpack. Getting off the train, I made my way to a house I knew well. I just hoped they could help me.