Fur174: Furia, #1

By Ivana Fenix

''This is first part of the cyber madness we live in.''

 

From her tragic childhood, Maria Popovic-Furia learned that life can be cruel. One night in 1999, her mother and sister were killed, and she ended up in a coma. Five days later, the soul of Maria Popovic returned to its body, but a new person was born at that moment... The person who will take revenge! The person who will never forget the dead and innocent. The person who will always protect the weak and destroy the powerful.

 

Armed with hacking skills, mastery of programming and her bravery, Furia looks all around Serbia, and then the Balkans and Europe in search of notorious criminals who are hiding in the deep internet - in the RED ROOM. Her paths intersect with Lolita, whose daughter has just disappeared,  in an unlikely place, Kragujevac. The brave duo tries to solve a dangerous mystery, and Furia is sure that they can help each other, if they put aside the initial animosity that separates them.

 

Daniel Cassada is a notorious criminal, the head of a drug cartel, who has been paving his way for years to be where he is now. In addition to selling drugs, weapons and white slaves, Daniel is also engaged in unprecedented bizarre activities on the deep web. Daniel is the founder of the RED ROOM, an online platform for live streaming of torture, killing and rape, and Fur174 is a danger that threatens him and has been on his trail for years.

 

You thought your children were safe behind the four walls?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ivana Fenix
• Release date: Aug 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201398989

Book preview

FUR174

The world is not in danger from evil people,

but from those who allow that evil happening.

To my daughters, Ana and Mina

Author's note

I HAVE OFTEN WATCHED crime series and read books in which policewomen, doctors, women involved in the world of crime or investigations, have no desire to bring their descendants into this world. Their, some might say cliched opinion, is that no child deserves to LIVE in SUCH a world. I used to be somewhat judgemental towards them. I used to think they were selfish, careerists, egoistic, self-oriented. Their jobs were thought to be more important than family. I have never stopped to think of that attitude from a different perspective. Then I started writing this novel and researching cybercrime and criminology itself.

Being an optimistic person, I have always believed in beauty and goodness in all of us. In my opinion, if you do good, it comes back to you. I believed nothing bad could happen to someone like me. I'm so positive, that I even look at death that way.

Suddenly, something happened and awakened my desire to explore, so the idea for this novel was born.

My girls have grown so much that they can use phones and computers on their own, they can search the Internet, download games... Fortunately, at the time when it all started, they did not know how to read and write, so they couldn't participate in correspondence in interactive online games.

I once caught them looking at a certain Momo, which gave me goosebumps from horror.

Next time, I caught them euphorically playing a game on Roblox, in which they run away from a morbid pig, like Peppa Pig, with crossed eyes and a bloody knife in its hands. All this is accompanied by creepy music in the background. Is that a normal game?

I was frightened, but also furious. What the hell is happening with this world?

That's when I came across an article saying that Roblox is a platform for sick minds. It is a place where pedophiles virtually attack children, which doesn’t mean they stay within the game's boundaries. Imagine how many psychopaths there are, who design games in which players are slaughtered, beaten and who knows what else, while we, the parents, think that our children are safe in front of the computer.

I started researching further. I installed the TOR to ransack the deep web, to browse the creepy sites, and at one point I became paranoid. Not only that I began to fear for my life, but also for the safety of my family. Suddenly, it dawned on me-the INTERNET IS NOT A SAFE PLACE! Of course, that's nothing new, and we should all have known that. So, I came up with the idea to write a story which would draw readers' attention to everything that the Internet is, or isn't.

It was terribly difficult for me to imagine and experience all that, in order to be able to write about it. At times, I was shaking with fear. I also tried to penetrate the minds of these psychopaths, so that I would be able to describe the situations as plausible as possible. Honestly, I was not feeling well, and those who hung out with me at the time can confirm my abnormal condition, a kind of trance I fell into. I was absent, because I tried to listen to my characters, who were creating chaos in my head.

I reached out to police officers, inspectors, judges and lawyers to give me as much information as possible about cybercrime, searched for all sorts of horrors to make sure such things really existed... I lived in madness these past few months while researching and creating Furia.

I hereby apologize to everyone who had to put up with me all this time, and most of all to my husband and children, who suffered the most.

And let me just tell you, this is only the first part of the cyber madness we live in.

PROLOGUE

September 16, 2016

Sicily

THE WEATHER WAS STORMY, an occurrencetypical of coastal cities, and the waves flooded the walls of a huge stone castle on the cliff above the Tyrrhenian Sea. The impenetrable fortress of the Sicilian narco boss towered over the sea, like a dangerous beast, protected by the endless blue space on the west, huge rocks on the sides, and numerous security on the east side, to the front.

The storm seemed to describe the situation taking place in the villa.

A few months ago, Daniel Cassada summoned all his subordinates, who survived numerous organized attacks, to start a search for a mole in their group. Someone managed to break into his system and slowly destroy his organization. That someone detected large transactions and tracked them down, as well as the schedule of transporting valuable goods that he exchanged with other dealers. Worst of all, that person had also discovered the most lucrative business, his urge and sick passion, for which only a few people from his environment knew. However, these were people he trusted, he could not doubt them. And yet, who could have discovered it, when only several of them knew? That business was really run in the greatest secrecy, and yet, someone betrayed him.

For two months, the best men on his team have been investigating. The moment of truth has finally come. In a few minutes, he will find out who had let him down.

They invited him to a meeting, and he was just getting ready for it. He buckled the last buttons on his shirt and put on a black tie. While looking at his reflection in the mirror, his jaw twitched and tightened with rage. He focused on it, to make it relaxed. Daniel has never allowed anyone to see him angry, because he knew that such emotions could be used as a weakness. He always tried to stay cool and to remain indifferent in every situation. That was his main weapon. No one could ever read him.

He took one last look at the huge rain-soaked windows, and in the reflection on the glass, his face was expressionless again. Let's see who the traitor is.

There were ten people in the meeting room. At the very bottom of the table, there was obviously a person, but with a canvassack draped over their head and body. It must be a mole, he thought, as he sat at the table opposite to the mysterious person. On his right, there was Alex, a boy who only recently has become an adult, and Daniel wondered what he had to do with the whole situation. Helet the man who was sitting on the left side of the mysterious person speak. That man is his right hand, so he will explain everything to him in a few words.

What do we have? Daniel asked, in a rough and sharp voice, showing his authority.

Boss, said his right hand, getting up from his chair, I'm really sorry. I myself did not believe that this was happening, but little Alex has great proof, he will explain everything to you.He reached for the bag, to take it off the mysterious person's head, but Daniel stopped him. I'm so sorry, boss.

Confused by his behavior and too frequent apologies, Daniel wondered what the problem was. Who is the mysterious person?

I want to hear what Alex has to say first.

The frightened kid was not used to direct contact with his boss and he swallowed the lump in his throat, so he tried to clear his voice and speak. He feared that the truth he had to tell his boss might cost him his life. What if he doesn't like what he sees? Maybe they'll kill him. Maybe he'll think he's setting him up or something. He was scared to death to speak. But Daniel noticed hesitation in his eyes, so his gaze gave him a sign to start talking.

I have identified a movement of unknown occurrence in our network. Although our system is impenetrable for anyone from the outside, someone still sneaked in. This meant that one of us had to have a device to hack our system. No one from outside could enter, someone from here hacked the entire system. I thought a lot about who might have known about such things, and I suspected one person. I waited for a good opportunity and I managed to find the device in her room. That is the USB through which they entered our computers, network, video surveillance and every digital device in the house, he nodded in the direction of a small, colorful USB device on the table.

Daniel looked in the direction the kid was pointing, but did nothing. It was extremely difficult for him to understand what that kid was talking about. He was as unfamiliar with that terminology as with nuclear physics. He only understood the phrases ''hacked system'' and in ''HER ROOM''. Did he really say,''in her room?'' Alarms in his head went off. Let it not be her, let it not be her, he prayed to himself, hesitating to rip the canvas bag from her head and reveal her face.

He decided to postpone the confrontation with the culprit for a while, watching the expressions on the faces of the other people in the room. Everyone knows who the mole is.

Before he ripped the bag from her head, he turned to his right hand, a person he trusted, a person who had been with him for almost thirty years, from the very beginning. A black-hairedman, with a greasy mustache resembling Hercule Poirot's, was the first man after him in his hierarchy. They called him Joe.

Are the leads 100% investigated?

I'm afraid they are, boss, Joe replied sadly. Daniel asked the same question of the hacker kid who almost fainted from fear. He nodded remorselessly without a word.

Daniel angrily slammed his hands on the table in front of him, got up, and ordered: Prepare the Red Room! Then he walked long and fast across the room and went out the door, which closed with a loud bang. He didn't want anyone to see him so broken and desperate. He went down to the basement to the auxiliary room, which was next to the Red Room. There he usually prepared and dressed, but now he started crying bitterly.

He didn't have to remove the bag from her face. He knew perfectly well who the mysterious person was. Now she will have to pay for everything she has done.

HALF AN HOUR LATER, in a semi-dark room, where the shadows painted in red light earily swayed, an unprecedented spectacle took place. It had never been seen on the deep internet before. A live broadcast of torture, in which you could choose the fate of the victim, was on air.

Even today, many people do not know that such a thing exists on the Internet. Many may suspect this, but things are much darker than a normal human brain can even imagine. Deep web, dark web... Sounds familiar? This place is like a ghost town. It seems deserted and empty, but we have the feeling that ghosts are breathing down our necks.

Not everyone can enter the dark web, not even the curious ones who know how to peek into the deep web. For the dark web, you need a pass, and you pay for it in blood.

If you want a red room pass, you have to do something yourself to prove that you are a sadist, pedophile or murderer. In a word, you have to be a psychopath.

The Red Room is an interactive live broadcast of the torture footage, in which the participants, that is, those who watch, have all the right and opportunity to issue commands to the main executioner and manage his activities. At the moment, it has over fifty thousand active users worldwide, who pay only 10euros for each live stream. Converted into an adequate cryptocurrency, those 10 euros mean that one live stream brings half a million dollars for only one live broadcast of torture which ends with a murder.

Aurora's life, therefore, has just come at a price. Her fate will be decided by psychopaths around the world. The final decision, and the murder itself, will be made by none other than her father. Daniel Cassada is the main executioner, the boss, founder and organizer of the Red Room.

Her torture has lasted for years!

As a seven-year-old girl, she became the main target of torture and her father's earnings. Many paid to watch their dirty games, but she just didn't know any better. She didn't even know if it bothered her or not. The girlcouldn't understand if it was all normal or not. Aurora knew she didn't like any of it, but that thought stuck with her only for a few months. After that, she got used to it.

When Dad would come to her room, a room worthy of a princess, knock on the door and tell her: Get ready, she knew. Loyal and obedient as she was, she would get up and go after Dad wordlessly. He would first take her to her late mother's huge wardrobe, where he