The Zetta Sonic
Thought

Alex gulped hard. He knows very well that Jayden already knows about his father's whereabouts. Jayden must've seen the names of his parents in the data. Even so, hearing this from Jayden made him restless. “Why is Nadira trying to hide it? What do you know about my father?”

“Let's start with you first, Alex. What do you know about your father?”

Alex chose his words carefully. “He's a busy man doing business in different parts of the world.”

“You don't know anything about him, ‘right? So, you're trying to hack into your own father's data. According to my guess, you're trying to find information about your father. Starting from where he is at the moment, what business he does, where he earns money, those kinds of things. Am I wrong?”

Alex won't answer. He let Jayden guess from the look on his face.

“I'm curious,” says Jayden. “What did you think when you last saw your own father's account. Surprised by the amount of money coming in? Sure. But, I thought you were thinking of something else.”

“Are you testing me or trying to tease me?”

“I'm testing myself. I have a guess about this and I think that's what you're thinking too. If it's true .. Let me tell you, Alex. What you think about your father is not true.”

Alex avoided Jayden's gaze for a moment. He knew what came to his mind when he saw the amount of money along with the date. Finally, Alex turned to face the young man again. “Good. I don't think I can hide this forever from you either. I saw the amount of money coming in magnify on certain dates. Precisely, on the dates before or after the great tragedy.”

“You think your father is involved.”

“He was clearly involved. Jayden, is he .. Is my father one of the criminals the ICPA seeks? Is he one of the people who wants the Zetta Sonic operation stopped? Before you sent me the virus, I saw an unidentified email sent to my father. It's like a puzzle. But, I'm pretty sure that it's about stopping Zetta Sonic.”

“Wow, wow, wow! Waita minute. Someone emailed Mark Hill to stop Zetta Sonic?”

“The puzzle leads to this dam. They know where you are.”

Jayden took a deep breath. “I've guessed. There are some data leaks. Damon got it because he saw the personnel here firsthand. Then, there are others who know and try to leak it to the Regis branch of ICPA. A traitor? Seems not. More like unfair competition between ICPA.” branches

“ICPA? The regis? What are you talking about.”

“Actually, Mark Hill is the head of ICPA Regis branch, Alex.”

Alex was sure his mouth was gaping. “What?”

“Your father, Marcus Anthony Hill is the head of the ICPA in the Regis continent. He is as powerful as Nadira. Only, his territory was in the true Regis, not in this Sinde continent.” Jayden smiled amusedly at how Alex was flabbergasted at his explanation. “All the big funds that went into your father's account were his income from the ICPA. Whether it's funds to cope with an impending disaster or rewards after successfully dealing with terror.”

“My father is an ICPA leader? You're not kidding, ‘kan?”

“No, at all. Your father is great,” replied Jayden, “and dangerous.” Jayden giggled, talking to himself. “Of course. All ICPA leaders are dangerous. Otherwise, they would not be able to handle the more dangerous criminals.”

Alex was unmoved, still stuck in his thoughts.

Jayden nudged his shoulder. “You know, when Nadira found out you were Mark Hill's son, she thought that they were trying to take this operation out of her hands. A little silly, even if it makes sense. Each ICPA is competing to deal with crime rates on their respective continents. It's more than money, it's a matter of honor and pride. You must know about it.”

Alex took it slow.

“What's on your mind, Alex?”

“Someone sends an email to dad. My father never received it because the email was equipped with an automatic destruction feature. Who's sender? His men at the ICPA? Suppose dad accepts it, indeed what can he do?”

“Your father and Nadira are both not supreme leaders. There is a central leader, a combination of representatives from every continent. Your father can file a review of the Zetta Sonic operation with them. If it feels dangerous, the center leader can stop this operation even though Nadira has pocketed permission from them.”

“You mean, what if it wasn't an ICPA member who sent the news to your father? Actually, it makes it more interesting. Do you think any outsiders would want this operation stopped?”

“Many, Jayden. The villains. Obviously they won't like your idea of making a super agent like this.” Alex gave an answer that made Jayden instantly pursed his lips. He knew he had gone back to his first theory where his father was a criminal.

“You know your father is not a criminal, but you think at least he has friends in the criminal world? Actually, he's clean. Unless he manages to hide his crime trail from experts like me.”

“Not, no. I have another theory. Just think about this. No one can stop this operation except an ICPA leader from another continent. It could be that the criminal contacted my father to stop Zetta Sonic.”

“To prevent the birth of Zetta Sonic who can catch criminals?”

“Also to split ICPA by yourself.”

Jayden rubbed his chin. “OK. That's something worth thinking about. Actually, this operation is known only to the head of the central ICPA, Nadira, Henrietta, and we are here. If there's a data leak or hackers trying to steal, I should be able to detect it.”

“You sent a virus to me for thinking I stole your data?”

“Neg. It's a different story.” Jayden sighing. He's lazy to explain and admit his mistakes again, but he thinks Alex deserves to know. “Actually, I do a periodic inspection on another branch ICPA. At that time, I saw Killer Bee hack the data of the ICPA Regis branch. I thought, I could give you a little help.”

Alex narrowed his eyes at Jayden. “Reply checking, yes? Spying, huh? Just tell me you're spying on another ICPA. You lured Killer Bee here, hoping to catch me.” Alex moved slowly to get out of bed. Their complicated conversation just made him excited. His body is better.

“No need to talk about it.”

“Agree.” Alex nodded.

“Until where we were?”

“You didn't find any traces of data theft.”

Jayden closed his eyes for a moment, hating to admit how his mind was beginning to guess what was happening. “Actually, I know someone leaked this operation to an outsider. I even had a fight with him last night.”

“Orang in. Caitlin?”

“Why am I not surprised that you already know. She said something?”

Alex shakes. “You came home with him last night.”

“True also.”

“She told her family?”

“Not. Caitlin told all of our activities to her fiance, Baron.”

“You've checked him?”

“Successful young entrepreneur from a broken home background. He found his true love for Caitlin. They're getting married. He repeatedly asked Caitlin to stop. I don't know why he's still giving Caitlin the chance to volunteer for Zetta Sonic. If I were a Baron, I'd ask him to come out before getting engaged.”

Alex was silent for a moment. He has a different answer. “If I, I just make sure there are other volunteers who succeed or all thwart their operations.”