What? You ve Got To Be Kidding Me

What?! You ve Got To Be Kidding Me!

It was the first of March when the first identifiable e-mail arrived in Saul s box. He had almost deleted the e-mail because he didn t recognize the e-mail account, but the subject line was familiar and he opened it anyway.

 Saul, I have a job for you. I'll pay you well for your time. I have a need for your knowledge. Meet me after the next meeting. 

His hacker group met every two weeks, instead of the usual once a month, due to the interest level in the local area. The next meeting was in one more week, and at this upcoming one, Saul was due to give a presentation. Was it a coincidence ? He had been preparing a comprehensive map of all the insecure wireless networks within a 10-mile radius of the college and was going to give the information to the other members at the meeting. The others in the group loved free Internet access and Saul was happy to oblige.

Saul was convinced the e-mail was a fake and never really expected anyone to show up. It was probably just one of his friends trying to be funny , so he promptly deleted and forgot the e-mail.

On the day of the meeting, Saul brought his materials with him to class. He hated having to run home, across town, before coming to the meeting so he had gotten himself into the habit of preparing the night before. So with everything already in his backpack , Saul grabbed his leather jacket as soon as the class finished and headed for the bus station. Public transportation around Johannesburg wasn t the greatest, but at least it was cheap.

The coffee shop was an old run-down place, but the manager was cool with the kids using the place as a hangout. Saul had even hooked up a wireless access point for the man so that he could be more like those coffee shops in America. When he arrived, Beaker and some of the others in the group were already there waiting.

Jumping into the presentation, Saul never even paid attention to the man on the other side of the coffee shop apparently reading a newspaper and sipping at his coffee. It was actually Bender, Saul s friend, who noticed the man staring intently over his newspaper. As soon as Saul had finished his presentation, Bender walked over to tell him and said,

Dude, you see that guy over there?

Yeah, so what? Wasn t my presentation awesome ? Did you see their faces when I brought up the map of the city? Totally free Internet for everyone in the group!

Seriously, Bender went on, that guy has been staring at you since you started speaking. He seems to know you. Have you ever seen him before?

Nope. I never saw him before. Besides what would a suit want with a poor college kid?

Maybe he s from the American FBI. I heard they re cracking down on hackers! Bender sounded nervous as he made this comment.

He s probably just some freak. Come on, let s get out of here, replied Saul.

Bender agreed and went to the toilet while Saul started packing up his gear and getting ready to leave. The man across the room folded the newspaper he had been reading and set it down on the table. His charcoal colored suit was Italian made with smooth, slick lines and straight cuts. He was a black man with a trim beard, wire-frame glasses , and the build of an athlete. The man walked directly toward Saul, passing by quickly. As he passed he dropped a letter envelope on the table in front of Saul. Never speaking a word to Saul, he continued walking out the front door. Saul grabbed the letter and saw his name on the front.

Hey man, what s that? said Bender, returning from his trip to the toilet.

Ah, nothing, Saul replied quickly as he shoved the envelope into his jacket pocket. Just some notes I forgot to open for the talk. No big deal. I didn t really need them anyway. Let s get out of here.