Criminal Attraction-Chapter One

Chapter 1: The Codebreaker

Detective Eva Monroe paced the length of her small, cluttered office in the Cybercrime Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department. The glow from half a dozen monitors bathed the room in an eerie blue light, their screens filled with cascading lines of code and network traffic graphs. Each screen told a story—a crime in progress, a breadcrumb left by a hacker, a desperate plea for justice hidden within encrypted bytes.

Eva thrived in this chaos.

Her fingers itched to dive back into the keyboard, but she forced herself to focus. A case file sat open on her desk, the details printed in stark black ink on crisp white paper. The Cipher Collective. The name had been haunting her for months. Anonymous, an untouchable and terrifyingly efficient group, was responsible for some of the most devastating cyberattacks in modern history. The recent financial system breach that left the city crippled was their boldest move yet.

"Monroe!"

Captain Larson's sharp voice cut through the hum of servers and the rhythmic tapping of nearby keyboards. Eva glanced up to see her gruff, no-nonsense boss standing in the doorway, his broad frame nearly filling it. He held another case file in his hand, the corners of the folder already crumpled from his tight grip.

"What now?" Eva asked, raising an eyebrow. She leaned back against her desk, arms crossed.

"New lead on the Collective," Larson said, tossing the file onto her desk. "Security footage flagged a suspect leaving the scene of the last attack. Take a look."

Eva opened the folder, her sharp hazel eyes scanning the still images. The suspect was a man in his early thirties, dressed in a tailored black coat. A scarf partially obscured his angular face, but his piercing gray eyes stood out. Something about his posture, the casual confidence with which he walked past a swarm of panicked bystanders, set off alarm bells in her mind.

"Luka Ashford," Larson said, folding his arms. "Name ring a bell?"

Eva frowned. It did. Luka Ashford was infamous in the cybercrime world. He was a former prodigy turned criminal mastermind who had served time for hacking into a federal database but disappeared from the public eye after his release. Most assumed he'd gone clean.

"Yeah, I know him," Eva said, flipping through the file. "He was one of the best. If he's involved, this isn't just about money. He doesn't need the cash. This is... bigger."

Larson grunted. "Bigger or not, I want him brought in. You've got the best record in this unit, Monroe. Don't let me down."

Eva nodded, already lost in thought. As Larson left, she turned back to her monitors, pulling up Ashford's digital footprint. Bank records, travel history, known associates—she devoured the information, piecing together a web of data that painted a picture of the elusive man.

The deeper she dug, the more intrigued she became. Luka Ashford wasn't just skilled; he was meticulous. His digital presence was spotless, almost too clean. It felt like a performance, a carefully crafted narrative meant to mislead anyone watching.

"You're good," Eva muttered to herself, her fingers dancing over the keyboard as she bypassed security protocols to access encrypted files. "But I'm better."

Hours passed in a blur. By the time Eva leaned back and stretched, her desk was littered with empty coffee cups and discarded sticky notes. She had a partial trail—a string of offshore accounts and encrypted messages that hinted at Ashford's involvement with the Collective. But it wasn't enough.

Her phone buzzed, pulling her from her thoughts. It was a text from Larson:

Meet me in Interrogation Room 2. Ashford's here.

Eva's heart skipped a beat. She grabbed her blazer from the back of her chair and headed for the interrogation room, her mind racing.

If Luka Ashford were half as smart as she believed, this wouldn't be a simple interrogation. She'd have to outthink a man who had spent his life staying one step ahead of everyone.

For the first time in months, Eva felt a thrill of anticipation. The game was on.

Eva pushed open the door to Interrogation Room 2, her heels clicking sharply against the tiled floor. The air was thick with tension, and the harsh overhead light cast stark shadows on the figure sitting at the metal table.

Luka Ashford.

He was even more striking in person than the grainy surveillance footage suggested. His tailored black coat was gone, replaced by a simple gray button-up that still looked expensive. His gray eyes, sharp and unflinching, met hers as she entered, and his lips curled into a faint, almost imperceptible smirk.

"Detective Monroe, I presume," he said, his voice low and smooth. He leaned back in his chair, exuding an air of effortless confidence.

Eva didn't reply immediately. Instead, she closed the door behind her and took a seat across from him, setting a small notebook on the table. She didn't bother with the usual pleasantries—Luka was the kind of person who would see right through them.

"Let's cut to the chase," Eva said, her tone firm. "We have footage of you leaving the scene of the financial system breach. Care to explain what you were doing there?"

Luka tilted his head, studying her as if she were the one under investigation. "Is that what you think? That I'm some hacker-for-hire running around committing cyberterrorism? I'm flattered, Detective, truly, but I think you might have the wrong guy."

Eva arched an eyebrow, her expression unreadable. "The footage says otherwise. So do the encrypted messages I found on your servers."

Luka's smirk widened slightly, but there was a flicker of something—surprise?—in his eyes. "You've been digging into my servers?" He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Impressive. I thought my firewalls were unbreakable."

"You should've tried harder," Eva shot back, her tone razor-sharp.

Luka chuckled softly, the sound warm and unhurried. "You know, most people would be intimidated in this situation. But you... you're different. I like that."

Eva ignored the comment, her focus unshaken. "This isn't a game, Ashford. Lives were disrupted because of that breach. People lost everything. You're wasting your time if you think you can charm your way out of this."

"Who says I'm trying to charm my way out of anything?" Luka replied, his expression sobering. He met her gaze, and for a moment, Eva thought she saw a glimpse of sincerity. "I didn't do it, Detective. Believe me or not, but I wasn't behind that attack."

Eva leaned back in her chair, folding her arms. "Then who was? Because all the evidence I have points straight to you."

Luka hesitated, his confident facade cracking just slightly. "I've been keeping tabs on the Collective," he admitted. "But not because I'm working with them. I've been trying to stop them."

Eva blinked, caught off guard by his admission. "Stop them? Why?"

Luka's eyes darkened, and his voice dropped to a quieter tone. "Because they don't care about the collateral damage. People like you think hackers are just criminals with keyboards, but the Collective... they're something else. Ruthless. And they've been trying to recruit me for months. When I refused, they framed me."

Eva stared at him, her instincts warring with her logical mind. Luka was convincing—too convincing. But if he was telling the truth, it meant the real perpetrators were still out there.

"Why should I believe you?" she asked finally.

"You don't have to," Luka said, leaning back in his chair again. "But if you're half as good as I think you are, you'll figure it out. And when you do, you'll see that I'm not your enemy."

The door opened, and Captain Larson stepped in, his eyes flicking between the two of them. "Time's up, Monroe. We're moving him to holding."

Eva stood, her gaze lingering on Luka. She couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he wasn't lying—or at least not entirely.

As Larson escorted Luka out of the room, he turned his head slightly, giving her one last, enigmatic smile.

"See you soon, Detective," he said, his voice laced with intrigue.

Eva watched him go, her mind already racing. Luka Ashford wasn't just a suspect—he was a puzzle. And she had every intention of solving him.