An Upgraded Soul

"I guess, I don't have to go into the amount of damage meted out by Malware Android Applications. There have been increasing instances of many banking application been targeted by the malware load thus causing the credential information of many people been stolen and misused by the culprits. Various types of software are already in the market claiming to be competent in handling this problem but either they fail or they are very expensive for normal people." Aditya started his boring speech with a small introduction before going into the main topic.

"So, the best course of action for us is that these apps are identified and deleted in the Android App store itself, even before they are downloaded. There has been an effort in this direction by Google with the introduction of the 'Bouncer' security scanner which tests each application for malware. But with the increasing amount of applications every day, do you guys know the time spent by the company for checking an application for malware? Five minutes, just five minutes are given and if the app does not download the malware package and attempt to control the visual mobile device, it is deemed as 'clean'."

"With this scanner, the company has been able to eliminate 40 per cent of the total malware but the remaining 60 per cent still managed to get away. The main reason for this failure is that most of these malware apps wait for hours, even days before they download the malware to damage the operating system by using 'logic bombs'. Some apps even have identification mechanisms to realise that it is under the security scanner so that it would not download the malware package at all and mimic a normal application. Only after the scanning is complete, it would resume its real purpose." Aditya let out a breath as he jumped right into the topic as he was getting bored.

"So, my company's software called as 'Camou 1.0' is designed in such a way that it will completely hide any security related application or even the security scanner itself from been detected by the malware apps. So these malware apps would try to download the malware, unknown of the fact that they are under the radar and thus could easily be marked for deletion from the mobile phone and the app store. Our software is compatible with any Android security app. Well, that brings me to the end of my presentation, thanks so much for listening. So, if your company is interested in taking this software to supplement your 'Bull Guard 360' mobile security app, we can go ahead with the previously discussed conditions."

Aditya smiled a little at those representatives who were observing him closely. He drank a little from the glass of water given by Jagvi as he sat in his chair while taking a glance at Gagan. Gagan was the one who wanted to do this deal as he and Fenny still had many friends in that company and he felt that this software might help his friends get some form of raise or promotion.

Aditya did not care to whom the software was sold as long as he got the name. Also, if he had to do everything by himself, he had to recruit more people to deal with the marketing, sales, resources, financial matters which was too bothersome. He was happy to let these 'big' companies work for him.

The main purpose of 'Ishaan' beside the money and fame was that Aditya had planned to use this avatar as bait to 'That' organization. He had known from his uncle that 'those' people were always on the lookout for talented people. So, if Aditya could not find those people, he wanted them to come to find him.

All these software which are eye-catching but not 'groundbreaking' was Aditya's way of throwing bread crumbs to lure them. He wanted 'them' to notice him enough to recruit him only but did not want to release some 'mind-blowing' software which might directly place him in the 'potential danger' or 'bring him in at any cost' zone. So he was trying to place himself in a grey area between them.

It would be an understatement if one said that the representatives were shocked when they saw this software. They couldn't believe that a company which was a month old could create such a masterpiece. They had brought their own team of technical personnel who started running diagnostics and confirming the validity of Aditya's claims. Aditya calmly drank some tea as he waited patiently, he had an appointment with Kumari in the evening.

The representatives were relieved when they saw the leader of the technical personnel nod seriously. The leader along with his team now looked at Aditya's team with awe and respect. They did not know that it was only Aditya's single-handed work and thought that this whole group was full of talented people. The representatives asked enthusiastically, " Mr Ishaan, we are glad to work with your company. Can we sign the contract today?"

"Well, I don't think so," a voice rang out as a young man in a slim green suit walked into the conference hall. He was handsome and well groomed as he walked with a confident gait followed by a beautiful secretary and other people. His eyes sparkled with arrogance as he looked at Aditya who was leaning on his chair comfortably as he said, "Mr Ishaan, how dare you copy our company's software and present it as if it's yours?"

The representatives sighed when they saw this man as they realised what was going on. This youth who looked like he was similar in age as Ishaan was Vineeth Shenoy who was the heir to a 750 million USD 'Cyant' IT outsourcing company in Bangalore who was famous for preying on new startups with potential. He and his father would utilise both political and mafia connections to subdue talented people for working for them either through deceit or coercion or plain threats. A company like Aditya's with huge potential was a delicacy for this person. Some people called Vineeth's father as an 'IT feudal lord'.

Aditya smiled as he looked at this person calmly and asked, "Why do you say so?" Both Jagvi and Charita along with others had angry looks on their face when they heard Vineeth's accusations.

Vineeth was shocked when he saw that Aditya was not panicking. He sneered as he said, "This software was developed as the result of hard work of hundreds of employees from my father's company, how could you with your measly 20 people design this kind of software. I would consider forgiving you if you merge your startup into my father's company and sign a contract for working for me for ten years. If you disagree, then the police are waiting downstairs, a call is all it takes to get you behind bars for this crime."

The representatives had seen enough as they stood and said, "Mr Ishaan, why don't we discuss this contract later. We will get back to you on this." Although they knew what was about to happen, they clearly did not have any intention of interfering in this farce and having to face Vineeth's ire. Gagan was disappointed when he saw the people for whom he had asked favour from his boss leave even without a word of comfort or help.

Aditya did not even give a look at those people as he continued to look at Vineeth with mild amus.e.m.e.nt. Now he understood that this was the reason that Kapil sir wanted him to be here. Looks like Kapil sir knew something about this.

"Okay, as you are saying that you are the ones who developed this software. I presume you have the source code?" Aditya asked as he rocked his chair a little.

Vineeth gave a triumphant smile as he said, "Of course, I have the source code." this was his ace, he had already sent spies into this Ishaan's startup company when he came to know that Ishaan wrote a '3D gesture recognition software'. He had planned on slowly infiltrating Aditya's company with more of his people for future purposes. But, when he heard about this software he panicked as he was sure that if this software took off, it would become very hard to touch Ishaan again. That was the reason he compromised his people by having them get the source code for this software.

Aditya held his hand towards Jagvi who passed a USB drive to him. He threw this drive to Vineeth as he said, "if your software is the same as mine, why don't you try detecting the malware in this drive."

Vineeth's heart skipped a beat when he saw Aditya's calm demeanour as well as Charita's mocking expression. He felt that things were not going as planned today. He caught the drive and gave it to his assistant who inserted it and followed the standard procedure. After some time, Aditya's smile widened as Vineeth's face became black while Charita started giggling, even Jagvi had a small smile on her face as she looked at Vineeth pitifully. How could they not know that their boss's real talent lied in Malware creation rather than it's prevention? How could Aditya not leave a backdoor for himself when he wrote this software?

The moment that the USB drive was inserted into the laptop, the game was over. If Aditya wanted, he could have given another more advanced malware which could infect the whole intranet of Vineeth's company but he restrained from having too much fun as he did not want to make enemies out of these millionaires who might start keeping a close eye on him. It was better to stop this matter at Vineeth instead of making it big. After all, Ishaan's identity was not even a month old.

"You will hear from me soon, Mr Ishaan," Vineeth gritted his teeth as he stormed out of the conference hall. He still did not know where he went wrong.

"Boss, what about the software?" Kapil asked after everyone calmed down. He was only one who was calm and reserved during this fiasco other than Aditya.

"Sell it to the company which we were originally planning in the first place before this idiot Gaggu came with this rotten idea," Aditya leapt from his seat as he glared at the embarrassed Gagan who had an awkward smile on his face. Kapil patted Gagan's back and followed Aditya along with Jagvi and Charita.

Aditya walked into his office, he looked at his employees working as he called, "Pranav and Archana, come here." A man and woman stood up as they walked towards uneasily towards Aditya while all the other employees stopped their work and turned towards their boss. They did not know what their boss was up to.

When these two people reached Aditya, the man called Pranav asked uncertainly, "What is it, boss?" Aditya looked at both of them for a full moment before raising his hand and smacked him with his left hand. Pranav was caught unaware as his mind became blank followed by a ringing sound in the ear on the side of his face which was hit. He staggered a little but did not fall down, as Aditya did not use much force. Aditya's aim was not to hurt him.

The women called Archana trembled when she saw this as her face became pale and tears started flowing. Aditya looked once at her as he said, "I want the both of you out of my office within five minutes if you don't want me to take legal actions against you for stealing the source code of Camou 1.0."

Kapil sighed as Gagan shook his head in disappointment while Charita was folding her sleeves as if she wanted to hit the woman in Aditya's turn. Jagvi, on the other hand, paid attention to Aditya's actions with a twinkle in her eyes. Every other employee was shocked when they saw the boss who joked with them jovially every day would do such a thing. They did not know the back story.

After both of them left, the seriousness in Aditya's face was replaced by a smile as he said, "Gaggu, my holidays are beginning, you know the drill right. Just because I said that you could contact me anytime through mobile, don't disturb me for every small thing. Kapil sir will be in charge when I am not here."

Aditya went away while avoiding Jagvi while Charita bit her lower lip in disappointment. Just at that time, a shout was heard from the corridor, "Charita, thanks for the watch. I like it."

A brilliant smile bloomed on Charita's face as she looked like she was going to fly away while Jagvi shook her head smilingly when she saw her air-headed friend's expression.