{"sf1_id":322499,"sf2_id":"r17aYzEm","title":"Decrypting a Fox: Part 2","author":"Revresbo","words":1246,"posted_at":"2012-01-02T22:13:00.000Z","tags":["Badger","Fox","Rabbit","Sci-Fi","Stealing","Wolf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/322499-decrypting-a-fox-part-2","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/r17aYzEm","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/85/f7/85f75c05-729c-4bd1-a2b3-bf856559425b","description":"#2 of Richard\n\nContinuing the story of the foxy hacker","content":"The doors parted silently, and Richard swallowed past the lump in his throat.\u0026nbsp; He stepped out without a sound.\u0026nbsp; There was no need to be silent, but it made him feel better.\u0026nbsp; He walked past a couple of doors leading to various electrical and mechanical rooms and stopped at the door to the security centre.\u0026nbsp; This would be his first real test.\n\nThe keypad had no maintenance slot.\u0026nbsp; Richard hadn't expected it to.\u0026nbsp; The keypad's readout had room for eight digits.\u0026nbsp; With repetition, that allowed for 100 million possibilities.\u0026nbsp; Richard's experience was mostly with software, but he had spent some time with hardware.\u0026nbsp; He just hoped it would be enough.\n\nGently, he pushed a thin strip of metal in behind the top of the keypad.\u0026nbsp; He bit his lower lip as he gently wedged it forward.\u0026nbsp; If he went too far, an alarm would trigger, and he would be in no position to shut it down.\u0026nbsp; When he felt the resistance increase, he stopped and looked at the thin crack he had made.\u0026nbsp; It would have to be enough.\u0026nbsp; Holding the strip in his teeth to keep the tension on the pad, he once again reached into his wallet.\u0026nbsp; He pulled out a small wire.\u0026nbsp; It was very low-tech compared to the connections on the pad, but he just needed to carry the current, and a wire did just as well as the fanciest connectors.\u0026nbsp; He pushed the wire into the two spots where the alarm circuit should be.\u0026nbsp; _What I wouldn't give for two more hands,_ he thought.\u0026nbsp; He pulled a tiny flashlight out of one of many pockets in his pants and shone it down into the thin crack.\u0026nbsp; He nudged the wire first one way, then the other.\u0026nbsp; Then, he held his breath, closed his eyes, and pulled hard on the metal strip, jerking the keypad out of its housing.\n\nThe keypad beeped.\u0026nbsp; _Shit._\n\nHis eyes shot open, and he quickly saw the problem.\u0026nbsp; The wire had connected the circuit at the top, but the bottom of the keypad had a break as well.\u0026nbsp; Swearing more fluently than one would expect of a fox his age, he quickly grabbed another wire and slammed it home.\u0026nbsp; He didn't know if the beep had been a warning that an alarm would sound or that an alarm had already sounded, so he would have to work fast.\u0026nbsp; He brought out the stylus again, tapping it against the keypad.\u0026nbsp; It took him two tries before the door opened.\u0026nbsp; Like a shot, he sprinted to the main console.\u0026nbsp; This one had no UAP, so he would have to do it from scratch.\n\nHe forced his way past the log on screen and opened the console.\u0026nbsp; He had no idea how much time he had, and he wasn't about to stop to find out.\u0026nbsp; He began his game of chess against the computer, trying to outmaneuver it and find the password.\u0026nbsp; Usually, he would have a small smile on his face, enjoying the contest, but this time, it was deadly serious.\u0026nbsp; He would have panicked had he not been fervently attempting to gain access to the security network.\n\nThere!\u0026nbsp; He'd found the username for the head of security.\u0026nbsp; He just needed the password.\u0026nbsp; His fingers moved swiftly over the keyboard.\u0026nbsp; He was close.\u0026nbsp; He could feel it.\u0026nbsp; _Come on, come on_, he willed silently.\n\n\"Access granted.\"\n\nRichard pumped his fist, letting out a silent \"Yes!\"\u0026nbsp; Still, he had to find out if the signal went through.\u0026nbsp; He scrolled through the recent alerts.\u0026nbsp; \"Shit.\"\n\nIt wasn't enough to warrent a rapid response team since he made the connection swiftly enough.\u0026nbsp; However, a signal had been passed on.\u0026nbsp; They had about twelve minutes and twenty-eight seconds to get out.\n\nWith no time to lose, he overrode the lock on the Valdheins' door.\u0026nbsp; He fired up the security cameras in the hallway and saw the three thieves sneak in.\u0026nbsp; They knew the Vladheins were out that evening.\u0026nbsp; They just needed to get in, grab the loot, and get out.\u0026nbsp; Richard rubbed a hand accross his muzzle and activated the intercom to number 612.\u0026nbsp; \"We have to move fast, guys.\u0026nbsp; We have a bit of a problem.\"\n\nHe could see the wolf gesture to the others to move on.\u0026nbsp; \"What happened?\"\n\n\"An alarm was triggered when I broke into the security centre.\u0026nbsp; It's not the rapid response team, but they'll be at the front door in,\" Richard glanced at the timer, \"twelve minutes, three seconds.\"\n\nThe wolf lowered his head as he thought.\u0026nbsp; \"Is there another way out of the apartment complex?\"\n\nRichard had already pulled up the schematics on another screen.\u0026nbsp; \"Easiest way out is the back door.\u0026nbsp; Skybridge from the twelth floor.\"\n\n\"What does it connect to?\"\n\n\"A casino and restaurant.\u0026nbsp; There should be stairs leading to the alley just on the other side of the bridge.\"\n\n\"Okay.\u0026nbsp; Stay there and make sure we're clear.\u0026nbsp; When we're out, take the elevator down to us, and we'll get out on the twelfth floor.\"\n\n\"Copy.\"\u0026nbsp; Richard could see the wolf going after his compatriots.\u0026nbsp; He didn't know what they were stealing, but they promised him five hundred credits as soon as the job was done.\u0026nbsp; That was all that really mattered to the fox.\n\nHe brought up the external cameras to make sure the security team didn't arrive ahead of schedule.\u0026nbsp; He was also pleased to note there was a camera in the skybridge.\u0026nbsp; Everything looked clear, so he started erasing his footprints in the system.\u0026nbsp; He glanced back to see the team carrying two sacks that obviously had some stolen items in them.\u0026nbsp; Richard waited for them to make the hallway before resecuring the apartment and blotting out any trace that he had been in the system.\u0026nbsp; With luck, the security team would assume a false alarm.\n\nOnce he was confident everything was locked down, he left the centre, retrieved the wires, and closed the keypad.\u0026nbsp; The door to the centre was once again locked, though Richard now knew the combination.\u0026nbsp; He had it on a scrap of paper in one of his pockets.\u0026nbsp; Better safe than sorry, he figured.\u0026nbsp; You could never know when you might need something like that.\n\nWhen he got to the elevator and pushed the sixty-first floor, he cursed silently to himself.\u0026nbsp; He had left his card in the slot.\u0026nbsp; If the elevator had been called by some late night denizen of the building, he might have never seen it again.\u0026nbsp; He pulled it out of the slot and fitted it back in his wallet.\n\nThe elevator arrived, and the thieves came on board.\u0026nbsp; Richard had already selected floor twelve, so the wolf just hit the close door button as he came into the lift.\u0026nbsp; They all stood silent as the lift descended.\u0026nbsp; Richard checked his watch.\u0026nbsp; They should still have five minutes before the team arrived.\u0026nbsp; Plenty of time.\n\nThey got off at the twelfth floor, quickly heading to the skybridge.\u0026nbsp; The apartment had monodirectional security, so getting out was easy.\u0026nbsp; They didn't even need to enter the casino to gain access to the stairs.\u0026nbsp; Within another minute, they were in the alley.\u0026nbsp; Within two, they were at the vehicle.\u0026nbsp; The pulled away from the curb before the team arrived to check a malfunction at the apartment complex.\n\nRichard felt almost giddy with relief.\u0026nbsp; He was not going to jail, and he was about to be five hundred credits richer.\u0026nbsp; For once, life seemed pretty good.\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Richard","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/322225-decrpypting-a-fox.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/322964-decrypting-a-fox-part-3.json"}}