Owari

All things have a begining and an end. The begining of these events would lead me to a classified senate inquiry and an end which nobody knows, as it is the first of its kind recorded in our history.

0600 hours, as the intel stated, the target made its way into the side entrance of the building.

"All teams, were we able to get any facial verification on the target?" the team leader asked over the comms.

Team 1 - "negative,"

Team 2 - "negative,"

Team 3 - "negative, however it appears to be a male,"

Ten cities spanning across three continents over the last five months, all leads led to this moment. This was the closest we had ever been. We needed something at this point, anything. Anxiety was high. It was almost impossible to breathe. It was the middle of winter, but drops of sweat trickled down my face.

Within the darkest reaches of the internet, spanning across countless online forums and blogs, rumour had it that following the 07-08 housing crash, hackers had developed a program of the sort with the intent on destabilizing world governments and resetting the world order. Some even went as far as speculating that the program may have had something to do with the housing crash. In a way, this had some merit following the detrimental fallout from the crisis. But the practicality of such a program was questionable at best. A hacker targetting a single institution is one thing. To take on the world is on a different spectrum. At the end of the day, these were all theories, a fantasy born from the construct of some 'internet troll' with a transcended sense of imagination and an influx of free time.

As agency protocol mandated, an initial report was filed and I received a call.

February 17th. The words "Owari, Satoshi, Nakamoto" was decrypted from a set of data codes which had the most senior members of the agency in a state of panic not seen since 9/11. I was the unlucky guy who thought he had finally made it big within the department. That big lead, that big break all anaylsts desire to put their name on. I never knew that break would lead me to be in a van, surrounded by CIA Black Op agents armed to the teeth waiting to make their move. Sure, I was part of the CIA, but I was a dam data scientist! Never in my dreams did I think they'd put me in the field.

The decrypted set of data were apparent codes on the likes of something that I had never seen. The codes were commanding exponential amounts of data across servers around the world. From the naked eye, it could be easily mistaken as the daily transactions across major banking networks, streaming of movies, anything and everything you could do using the internet. What made this so unique was that it was creating something new out of essentially nothing. An endless array of building blocks which would only really be limited by imagination and the skill of its user. The potential for this would be revolutionary. At the end of these data sets, they were seemingly 'signed off' with the words "Owari, Satoshi, Nakamoto" to make it clear who the source was.

All analysts within the agency agreed. In the hands of the right user, it could become the base of a new online network unregulated by the current world order. Depending on the user the end result could really become anything. It was the uncertainty of it all that had all the big boys throughout all levels of the establishment all the way to Washington and no doubt the White House in a state of ongoing panic. Sure enough, the reports hit the president's daily intelligence briefings. The freedom of change. Unregulated change to be precise was a concept not known let alone ready to be accepted by any world power. Yet as human desire dictates, this new power was something wanted by them all, our government no different.

At exactly 0630 the order was given.

"Bring the target in alive, secure all data. No mistakes,".

Flanked by the Black Ops agents, we entered the building. Power had been cut prior to the breach, however, it would have been a sure sign to whoever was inside that they would have company. My heartbeat was racing. This wasn't my first rodeo over the last five months, but going from a desk to 007 certainly takes more time and we were so close.

We made our way up to the penthouse. Bravo Team was on the opposite end of the hallway.

3....2....1

In an instant, the doors were knocked down and the agents began clearing the rooms. There was some shouting but it was over within seconds. We looked at each other in a state of confusion and eerie silence. The target was not here. Agents began ramsacking each room looking for potential escape routes. Amidst the chaos, I walked over to the laptop in the bedroom. It was custom-built, designed to handle large amounts of data and energy. Any other computer would surely overload and overheat, but this was built to last. The desk was littered with notes. I'm no linguist but they were characters I had seen a lot. "Owari," breathed an agent who was collecting the intel scattered throughout the desk.

"The end," I replied.

Surprisingly, the laptop was unlocked. No doubt deliberate. Whoever it was, they wanted us to see inside.

Upload complete...

Abruptly through our earpieces, we were informed that local agencies were also en-route. By this point, minus the target, everything was secured and we were already making our way back to the safe house.

We couldn't secure the target, but a good amount of the ruling elite in Washington would have slept a little easier that evening. The program wasn't a doomsday weapon, but perhaps in a way to some it was. With the right application, this could no doubt destabilize the world order as we know it. No world government would truly be able to regulate it. Where there was the internet, its application would be possible and limit endless. In spite of all the mystery, the target as I now refer to the individual gave it a rather lackluster name - Bitcoin.