FAIK

Chapter 3The Mindset and Tools of a Digital Manipulator

Whispers from the Static

She called herself “The Maestro.”

“Almost there,” Lina muttered, fingers flying across the keyboard. Lines of code reflected in her glasses as she hunched over her laptop in the dimly lit room.

A voice from the shadows. “You said that an hour ago,” Jace, her partner in crime, leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “What’s the holdup?”

Lina didn’t look up. “Patience, young padawan. You can’t rush art.”

Jace snorted. “Tell that to our client. They’re expecting results, not excuses.”

Lina paused, fingers hovering over the keyboard. She turned to Jace, eyes narrowing. “You think I don’t know that? I’m not some script kiddie on a joyride. We’re about to unleash chaos. I need to make sure everything is perfect.”

Jace pushed off the wall, walked over to Lina’s workstation, and peered over her shoulder at the code. “Looks like gibberish to me. What’s this supposed to do?”

A smile tugged at the corner of Lina’s mouth. “It’s my masterpiece. A symphony of social engineering. We’re not just hacking a system. We’re hijacking people’s minds.”

“Check this out.” She pointed, ran her index finger down the screen, and then stopped. “This function pulls user data from all over the Internet, analyzes it, and constructs detailed psychological profiles. It catalogs their deepest fears, their secret desires, their cognitive biases. All the little quirks and glitches in their human operating system.”

Jace nodded. ...