Ransom Clean Novels & Stories

It is the comfort blanket I need to cry under. My eyes close with a new inhale. I dredge myself out of terror. I am fighting this war inside my mind, and I have called a cease fire. My lungs bring in smoke. Hold it, one, two, three, four, exhale. Repeat. I feel the tension roll out of my shoulders, the purse of my lips rolls back into neutrality. I am the color gray once again. The explosions of color I was moments before have gone. And I am just gray.

Stefan stood up straighter, then looked at the faces of the people in the room one by one. "AlfaProtect has been pretty good at scanning, detecting, cleaning, and protecting. Malware like viruses, worms, rootkits, ransoms, and spyware are all taken care of. I just wanted to test how strong AlfaProtect is. Look at the results." Theo chewed harder and harder. His mouth wobbled. Slowly a few wrinkles appeared on his forehead. He still didn't want to talk because he was too lazy to talk to Alan.

The bus rocked gently beneath us, the low hum of the engine the only sound for a long moment. I sat near the window, forehead resting against the cool glass as my eyes followed the snowy ridgelines stretching beyond the road. We were winding back down the mountain, back to reality, back to whatever fallout waited on the other side of this ride. “I’m glad we got the deposit back,” Dennis said from somewhere behind me, voice quiet, like he was trying to focus on something other than the obvious.

“That’s what I’m here to figure out. But based on this behavior, it looks like whoever did this wanted to corrupt or steal your files.” Amaliah’s stomach churned. “But my report—” Nathan raised a hand. “Let me see what I can salvage.” Minutes stretched into an agonizing half-hour as Nathan worked in silence. Occasionally, he muttered to himself or scribbled notes in a small notebook. Finally, he leaned back and exhaled. “Bad news,” he said grimly. “Your computer’s been hit with ransomware. It encrypts your files and demands payment to unlock them.” “What?” Amaliah’s voice rose in disbelief. “You mean someone’s holding my report hostage?”

His cybernetic eye scanned the screen. He read the file. OPERATION CLEANSWEEP. Torque’s human eye twitched. His mechanical jaw clicked. "Is this real?" Torque growled. "My tech cracked the encryption ten minutes ago," Ren said. "Look at the timestamps. Look at the routing number. The Blackwatch isn't coming to arrest you, Torque. They're coming to incinerate you. They're tired of paying you for scrap. They're balancing the budget." Torque slammed his metal fist onto the desk, denting it deep.

Blair grabbed her phone. "What do I say to buy time?" "What's the ransom amount for Keira?" Rogers knew the Wystovian team wouldn't share that information. "10 million for Keira." Roman was the one to answer. Rogers whistled. "Tell them you're working on securing the funds but need proof they're still unharmed before proceeding," Rogers instructed. "Banking hours, liquidating stocks, transfer limits, they are all reasonable delays they'll expect from someone trying to gather ten million dollars."

She smiled triumphantly at Isabella before she continued. “If we move fast, by the time they return to this file, they’ll find nothing but smoke.” A few board members exchanged impressed looks. One even nodded, muttering, “That could work.” But before momentum could build, Isabella spoke up from across the table, her tone sugar-coated with an edge. “Or,” she said, flashing a tight smile, “we could go with a cleaner solution.” All heads turned. Rafael's jaw shifted. “I’ve been speaking to a cybersecurity expert,” she continued. “A quiet one, off-grid. He specializes in digital manipulation. He can erase the existence of the files entirely—no need for bribes, delays, or middlemen.”

Just when it seems like they're about to be overwhelmed, something unexpected happens. Just when all hope seems lost, the company is hit by a ransomware attack. This attack encrypts all of the company's data, rendering it inaccessible. The company is in chaos, and it's clear that they're not prepared for this kind of attack. This gives Samantha and Andrew the opening they need.

“Quietly, cleanly. Every reserve account, every fallback wallet, every offshore buffer they’ve buried under bad code and worse encryption.” My jaw tightened. “Not stolen,” Roman added. “Rearranged and frozen. Made inaccessible. They wake up powerful men with empty hands.” “I don’t hack anymore,” I said. “I run a legitimate tech company. I left the black market behind.” Roman studied me. “And yet here we are. Talking about submarines and international waters.” Touché. “You don’t need to touch their servers directly,” he continued. “ No trails. I don’t want noise, confusion is what I want. Funds moved, accounts frozen, internal accusations. You’re the only one who can do it in a way that it’ll

Isaac's voice carried a note of urgency. "Can you please come see him?" "Are you on speakerphone?" I asked coldly. "Sorry... Yes, Mr. Johnson is right here." Isaac replied, sounding awkward. I said icily, "It's over between us, Gabriel. What you're doing now won't make me change my mind. You've betrayed me. I can never forgive you." Heavy breathing came from the other end of the line. Isaac's voice grew frantic. "You can't do this, Ms. Chandler! Mr. Johnson is in critical condition. How can you say such things?