I don’t answer, focused on my task. My dad walks in, also surprised to see me back so early. “Hey, peanut. Already back? How did it go with—”
“And now, more on our breaking story,” a very serious-looking anchorman says once I’ve found a channel, interrupting my dad. “It’s been just over thirty minutes since the website linked to the hacker known as Nammota went active again for the first time in five years.”
They switch to a text, the few lines currently showing on Nammota’s website:“Retirement was going beautifully. Then you woke the dead. I was content to disappear, but you couldn’t let me rest. So here we are. Happy now?”
“So far, those claims remain unverified,” the anchorman continues. “Federal authorities have not confirmed any breach, though the Department of Justice’s website is reportedly rerouted to a list of names of Nammota’s supposed targets. In the manifesto that comes with it, the hacker claims to have stolen a total of over one point four billion dollars from those twenty-five names in what would be their largest operation to date. For now, we’re waiting for official statementswhile cybersecurity experts scramble to assess whether this is a genuine attack or an elaborate hoax.”
The feed changes into a screenshot of what the DOJ website looks like now. It’s entirely black, with only the text in white in the middle of it. The anchorman gravely reads the statement there. I spent so many hours working on this short but poignant manifesto that I practically know it by heart.
To think you would lock away the man who exposes your lies and call it justice. How convenient. Too bad you arrested the wrong one.
The oldest lie in America is that power can be innocent. I am here to prove it wrong. The powerful among us have rigged the game, and their control expands all the way to our justice system. You think it protects us all? Think again. Over the few centuries our nation has known, the Department of Justice has turned into a farce, a lie built to serve the few and punish the many.
That’s why I have acted: to right some wrongs the Department of Justice has allowed. Twenty-five money-hoarders find themselves slightly poorer today, barely enough for them to notice, but enough to change lives. Below you will find documents that allege these individuals’ involvement in bribery, pay-to-play settlements, and other corrupt dealings—and along with those documents, the names of judges, magistrates, and officials who accepted them.
To rebalance the scales, those funds will be redistributed across 2,500 small charities that spend their days rebuilding what the powerful spend their nights tearing down. The donations are structured to protect recipients’ anonymity and will total $571,900 over the coming months. What was nothing to the wealthy will become rescue, medicine, roofs, and hope to hundreds of thousands.
I didn’t want to come back, but you forced my hand. This is your reward.
Your friendly neighborhood hacker,
Nammota
It’s impossible to hold back the smile that stretches my lips. I did it. I fucking did it. The rush is so intense that it feels like fire runs through my veins. I understand why Lex became Nammota. This is exhilarating. Even though I’ve only followed one of Lex’s original ideas, adjusting it to fit the climate we find ourselves in, this is my greatest accomplishment.
It’s not over yet, as the money still hasn’t been fully redistributed. Most of it is patiently waiting, scattered into heavily secured offshore accounts, waiting to be slowly drained. The recipients—the charities Lex vetoed plus a few—will receive randomized amounts, ranging from ten dollars to five hundred, at random intervals of time, sometimestwice a day, sometimes once a week. But in the end, they’ll get the money, without even realizing where it comes from.
When I look around, I see my parents have settled on the couch, gaping at the screen. If they knew I did all this, I’d surely get an earful. But that’s a secret I’ll take to my grave.
On my way to the armchair, I take my phone out of my pocket, finally allowing myself to check it. I already have a few messages from people telling me to go watch the news immediately.
Just as I sit down, Kevin calls.
“Are you seeing this?” he asks as soon as I pick up.
“Yes, I’m with my parents. We’re on CNN.”
“Everyone at Kelex stopped working, and we’re all in the breakroom, watching it. It’s everywhere now. All the news channels are talking about it.”
Since I’m still holding the remote, I check for myself, and, sure enough, every single news outlet picked up on this. Holy shit, the entire country will soon know about it.
“They have to let him out now,” Kev says, his tone light and hopeful. “There’s no way they’ll keep Lex after this.”
“Yes, I know. The prosecution’s case was already flimsy, but now it’s downright unwinnable.”
“Lex must have a guardian angel watching over him,” he amusedly says.
Kev and I stay on the phone a while longer, barely talking, absorbed by what unfolds on the screens before us.
The twenty-five targets are already being dragged through the mud all over the internet, and according to the anchorman, some are already seeing their stock value drop significantly. The money I took from them will be nothing compared to their loss on the stock market. That’ll hurt them more than I ever could. And all I did was expose their wrongdoings. Most of them have already been targeted by Nammota in the past, like Norman Becker, the StareCare CEO, or Brendon Reed, the owner of Avoss. They probably thought themselves safe from him, so this must sting.
“We’re keeping a close eye on Alexander Coleman tonight,” the anchorman says, leaning toward the camera. “Arrested on January 4th, Coleman has been the primary suspect in the ongoing Nammota investigation. Since his very public preliminary hearing, he’s been behind bars awaiting trial. Online chatter is exploding, and everyone wants to know—could this mean Alexander Coleman is innocent?”
“¡Sabíamos que era inocente!” MC shouts at the screen. “I’m calling Susan and telling her to eat shit.”
“Mamá!” my mom scolds with a reproachful glance.
“What?! She’s been slandering the man’s name ever since this started. You bet I’m going to call her out.”
