“No worries. I love cooking.”
We’re eating and talking about the app he’s working on when a familiar voice makes us turn around. It’s Brian at the arcade machine, arguing with Steven. “Is thatDonkey Kong?” I ask Oli.
“Yup, an original from the ’80s and all. It must have cost a fortune, but I bet it’s worth even more now.”
“What do you mean?”
He leans forward, coming closer to me as if he has a secret to share. “Do you know who Nammota is?”
Anyone who dabbles in coding knows Nammota. He’s our modern-day Robin Hood, the hacker we all aspire to become. For his first hit, he exposed embezzlements in several Fortune 500 companies. Not only that, but he also redistributed most of that money to charities and people in need. The affair was shushed pretty hard by the rich and influential people in charge, but the internet forever knows.
Nammota is a national treasure.
Or at least he was, until maybe four years ago when his activities abruptly came to an end. A lot of people speculated he was arrested or that he died. The one sure thing is that now, no one will ever know the identity of the legendary hacker.
“Everyone knows Nammota,” I tell Oli.
“Come see,” he says with a mysterious grin, getting up from his chair. I follow him, and he takes us to the oldDonkey Kongmachine. Brian’s playing again. “Brian, can you lose?”
“What? No way, man. I’m feeling it. This game will be a good one.”
“I want to show the Nammota thing to Andy,” Oliver insists.
Brian reluctantly complies, so Mario dies, the “Game Over” screen comes, and then I get it. I see what Oliver meant. Right there, the three highest-ranking scores are ‘NAM,’ ‘MOT’ and ‘AAA,’ forming an unmistakable NAMMOTAAA.
Without looking away from the game, I ask Oliver, “Is it legit?”
“We don’t know, but we like to think it is,” Oliver confirms, somewhat smug about it.
“So what? Nammota works here? Or did the machine arrive like this?”
“The scoreboard was blank when it was delivered after we moved into this building. But I’ve never seen someone play with a score so high, so this happened after hours. We all have our little theories.”
“Who do you think it is?”
“Well, there are people in and out all the time, so it might not even be someone who works here,” Steven explains. “But we had another developer around that time who fits the profile perfectly. Gregory stopped working here shortly after the leaderboard’s final input. And he had a kid around the same time Nammota stopped being active.”
“That’s why we think it’s Greg,” Oliver says, nodding.
I stare at the high scores, still shocked. I’m almost starstruck. Could Nammota really have worked here? That’s crazy. The NSA, FBI, IRS, Homeland… everyone’s looking for him. The man is a fucking legend.
“I think you broke her,” Brian whispers to Oli.
“Come on, the food will be cold,” Oliver insists.
That’s enough for me to rip my eyes off the scoreboard and follow Oli back to our chairs. We eat the rest of our meal in silence, and the whole time, I’m ruminating slowly, still not over the fact that I’m—possibly—working in the same place as the legendary Nammota.
It’s only when my phone buzzes with another rejection email that I remember I had a mission. I barely have five minutes left on my break, so I doubt I’ll get anything done.
Disappointed in myself, I let out a sigh and turn my phone face down.
“Everything good?” Oli asks.
I consider saying yes because I’m not the type to lay my problems on a stranger. But he’s from around here, so maybe he’ll be able to help somehow.
“I’m getting evicted in three days, and I can’t find anywhere else to live,” I impulsively blurt out.
His shock is almost amusing, but I refrain from smiling. “What happened?”
