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CHAPTER FOUR

Don’t Call the Police!

It was very noisy in the bank. Clients were arriving and the staff had to tell them that there was a problem with the computers.

Some clients left immediately, some were angry and began to shout, others wanted to see the manager.

But Mr Williams had no time to speak to anyone. He had a problem too. A big problem.

Two members of his staff had moved the server to his office. It was much quieter in there and he could think without anyone disturbing him.

Belinda was sitting next to him. She was beginning to panic and when she felt like that she couldn’t stop talking.

“What a horrible man. I’m sure it’s a man. He’s so evil. What are you going to do, Mr Williams? What a terrible situation!

I want to help you but I just don’t know what to do. Shall we call the police? I’m sure.”

Mr Williams couldn’t concentrate. His secretary was talking faster and faster.

“Belinda, why don’t you go and make me a nice cup of tea?”

Belinda smiled brightly and went out of the office. A nice cup of tea was the solution to all problems in her opinion.

So, undisturbed, Mr Williams was able to read the final part of the mysterious e-mail.

This is the game: I will send you three puzzles, one at a time. You must solve these puzzles in just 24 hours.

That’s plenty of time for an intelligent man like you, Henry. You’ll probably need to be a computer expert to solve them, but you use computers every day, don’t you?

(Ha! ha!) If you fail to solve all three puzzles, I will empty every bank account in your bank from the smallest to the largest. all the money will disappear and your bank will be destroyed.

One final thing - DON’T call the police. That would be very stupid. If you call the police, I will know.

Remember that I can destroy your bank in a few seconds. Don’t risk it, Henry.

Do you think this is all a joke? I want to show you that I am very serious. Henry, do you know how much money you have in your bank account? Are you sure?

Why don’t you check? I think you’ll be surprised!

Now I am going to give your staff access to the computers so the bank can function as normal. You see, I’m not so evil, but remember that I can switch off the computers or change anything at any time.

Bye for now, but don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.

Mr Williams sat back in his chair. He had a bad headache. Things were not improving. He was thinking about what to do when he heard shouts of joy coming from the bank staff downstairs.

The door opened and Belinda came in with the tea. “The computers are working again, Mr Williams. Isn’t that wonderful? Everything is back to normal. Maybe the e-mail was just a joke.”

“Well, we’ll know in a moment, Belinda,” he replied.

There were two things that Mr Williams could do on a computer - use e-mail and access his own bank account. Why did the mystery hacker tell him to check his account?

He put in his password and then his account number and waited. After a few seconds the information he wanted appeared on the screen.