They had gone home after two hours. Nikola had gotten a text that an VPN had begun to malfunction and so, he needed to find a way to fix it.

“It is probably an attack. It got launched just yesterday,” Nikola was fretting over it. “And I have done most of the testing. That is bad.”

“How does it malfunction?” Nikola had given him an explanation already, but it had consisted of a lot of technical jargon and so Sadik still didn’t understand.

“It stops working after an hour for the premium clients. That feature is meant to be only for the free account clients,” well, Nikola should have told him that from the start.

“So, someone is cancelling subscriptions?” Nikola nodded.

“Which isn’t much of a problem, really. We have saved them in a database, so we can return them and compensate. But, the concern is that it is possible,” Sadik pulled in front of Nikola’s house and got out of the car. However, this time, Nikola was already out of the car before Sadik could open it for him.

“You are ruining my chances of being a gentleman,” whined Sadik. Nikola blushed, probably still thinking on his work concern.

“So, how long do you think you’ll take?” Asked Sadik. Tonight, he was determined to get some action.

“Well, I can track who did it with my program, so, that means more washing duty tomorrow,” Nikola smiled sheepishly. “But, these things have to be traced. No point in not using a valuable resource.”

“How is it going to find the hacker, anyway? It is not like they haven’t hidden their IP?” Nikola smiled at that.

“The way an IP is hidden is usually with a proxy. If the hacker hadn’t gone and used a public computer, and that is unlikely as their programs would raise some eyebrows if they attempt to install them on such a device, then they used their computer. Therefore, the best way to hide for a small-time hacker is with a proxy. But, proxies can be traced. It is not easy, but it is doable. If you'd like, I can show you,” Nikola shifted from one foot to the other and Sadik grinned.

“I’d love to see you solving this,” Nikola grinned, and Sadik let himself be led within the man’s office. There, Nikola got him a chair from the kitchen, and they sat behind the desk.

“Let me just load the VPN. It will take an hour for it to malfunction. Then Spy Pro can find who did it,” Sadik’s eyebrows shot up. Just that? Nikola began loading the VPN and then his program. Then, instead of in an hour, it immediately turned itself off.

Spy Pro, Nikola’s program, began to spill out text like crazy. Soon, there was an address on the screen. Nikola pressed an icon that looked like a burning building, and the address disappeared.

“Tell me that you didn’t burn the man’s house?” Sadik couldn’t even begin to imagine how many washing duty sessions Nikola had to do if he had.

“No, I just send his computer…” a rabbit appeared on-screen. It was pink and had a sign clutched in its paws. The rabbit raised the sign. Bite me was written on it.

“What?” Nikola’s webcam turned on, and he stared at it. He pressed the off button of the laptop, but it didn’t end up turned off. The rabbit threw the sign away and held up a new one.

Hi, Niki. Nice seeing you.

Love,

Guess who.

Nikola groaned.

“Tsvetan, this is not funny! I worked hard on that VPN!” Sadik looked between the webcam and Nikola, who looked amused now. Nikola turned to Sadik.

“Sadik, this rabbit represents Tsvetan. We have known each other since kindergarten. He is an eyesore and a hacker,” the rabbit held up a new sign.

So cold, Niki. You are heartless.

When are you coming home?

“Never, Tsvetan! I like it here. Now, quit being a child and tell me what you did to the VPN. We are losing sales, darn it!” The sign was carelessly thrown away, and a new one took its place.

Don’t be lazy.

Find out yourself.

And the webcam was turned off. Nikola showed it the middle finger. Sadik blinked at him.

“Did you just?” Had Nikola just done a rude gesture? Or was Sadik hallucinating?

“He brings the worst in me. He has always made messes and made me clean them. The darn man child. I need to find out the virus itself and work a way around it. Sadik, this will take a while. You better go home,” Sadik didn’t want to. He wanted to see the inside of Nikola’s bedroom.

“Maybe if I stay, I can be a good moral support?” Nikola stared at the rabbit that was still on his screen.

“Tsvetan, I know you are still spying on us. Quit it and get a life. Or, I am telling my sister!” The rabbit vanished. Sadik’s eyebrows rose. Nikola was not above threatening people with his mafia boss sister? That was cold of him.

“You have a sister?” Sadik had made a show of being nonchalant while asking. “Are they dating?”

“She is his boss,” Nikola sounded bitter. “And she told Tsvetan to leave me alone. But he still pulls up his nonsense.”

Sadik nodded. Were all of Nikola’s acquaintances in the bloody mafia? Would he end up with everyone who knew him in jail if he went to the police? Was his family a mafia one?

“I can go make you coffee, so you can work in peace,” said Sadik, standing up.

“Thank you. I like mine black, no sugar,” said Nikola and Sadik was off. He heard loud cursing after closing the door and decided that this was something he wanted to avoid missing. The lamb was losing his cool, and he was truly adorable when he was angry.

He made two cups of coffee and set them on a tray. When he entered the office, Nikola was typing furiously, and he could hear laughter from the other end of the connection this mafia hacker was keeping still open. Sadik resisted the urge to laugh.