Carla replied in Hindi. She stared intently at the screen. Her eyes were like lasers, scanning data.
“Tracing IP address… Bypassing firewall… Accessing backdoor server…” Carla whispered to herself.
Meanwhile, in a condo unit in Quezon City, a group of scammers were celebrating.
“Jackpot, bros! Five hundred thousand! Just one click from a stupid dad!” shouted their leader, Boss Kadyo. They were already opening beers and counting money.
Kadyo held the laptop, about to transfer the money to an offshore account so it couldn’t be recovered.
Suddenly—
ERROR. ACCESS DENIED.
“Huh? What happened?” Kadyo exclaimed. “Did the internet go out?”
The laptop screen suddenly went black. When it turned back on, the background was red. A large skull face appeared on the screen.
Their bank accounts—not just Ramon’s, but all the millions they had stolen—suddenly dropped to zero balance.
SYSTEM LOCKDOWN INITIATED.
“Boss! I can’t control the mouse!” one henchman shouted.
“Boss! The CCTV outside just shut down!”
“Boss! The electronic door lock won’t open! We’re trapped!”
Back at Ramon’s house.
Carla pressed ENTER hard.
“Gotcha,” she whispered.
She turned to Ramon, who was staring with his mouth wide open.
“I’ve already returned the ₱500,000 to our account, Ramon. All their assets are frozen now. And I’ve already sent their GPS location to Director Santos of the NBI Cybercrime Division.”
“D-Director Santos?” Ramon stammered. “You know the NBI?”
Carla sighed and closed the laptop.
“Ramon, before I became your wife and Jun-jun’s mother… I was Agent Cipher. I used to be the Head of Cybersecurity for the Intelligence Agency. I retired because I wanted a quiet life. But they messed with my family.”
Carla stood up and straightened her house dress.
“Don’t worry. Our child’s operation is safe.”
On the other end, at the scammers’ hideout, they still couldn’t get out. The lights were out. The system was dead.
Suddenly—
BOOOOGSH!
NBI agents smashed the door open.
“NBI! DON’T MOVE! GET DOWN!”
Boss Kadyo and his men were caught red-handed. They were stunned. How were they tracked so quickly? How was their secure server hacked?
As Kadyo was being handcuffed, the NBI Director approached and looked at the criminals’ laptop. He saw the digital signature left on the screen—a small winking “Happy Face” logo.
The Director smiled. “I knew it. The Queen is awake again.”
At home, Ramon hugged his wife tightly. He couldn’t believe it. The woman he thought was just a simple cook and homemaker was actually a legend—someone who could bring down a syndicate using only an old laptop and Wi-Fi.
From that day on, whenever Carla opened her laptop, Ramon no longer asked questions. He simply made her a cup of coffee, because he knew their family was safe as long as their commander’s hands were on the keyboard.