Capítulo 2: Cop Revenge and Fluctuation

Police sirens echoed throughout New York City. A group of elite thieves, driving a yellow Mustang and a blue Ferrari F60, sped down the highway, maneuvering swiftly through narrow lanes. They scattered to several pre-determined locations.

Each of the two cars was pursued by five to six police vehicles, three to four police cruisers, and a helicopter. The police attempted to predict and intercept them, but in a luxury apartment on the outskirts of the city, a man was observing his computer screen. His face was calm, as if nothing was happening. The man was Ethan Carter. He was a police officer on leave, but he was using several devices connected to the central headquarters of the New York Police Department. There were small cameras and microphones linked to his computer. He chuckled loudly.

In the darkness of the night, the citizens of New York watched the chase between the police and the thieves. "Sirens howled loudly, breaking the silence of the night in downtown New York. The spotlight of police cars scanned every corner of the street, searching for the shadows of the thieves who had just shaken the banking world. The National Bank of America, one of the world's largest financial institutions, had been cleverly robbed," was the news broadcasted on various American TV channels while showing footage of the cars being chased by the police.

It all started with a chain message sent via WhatsApp to the bank's customers. The message claimed to be from a bank employee, displaying the customer's name and bank card number. WhatsApp, a messaging app that uses the internet to send messages and is immensely popular, features a logo in the shape of a speech bubble with a smartphone in the center, colored green.

The message claimed that the bank would close due to corruption, and that customer funds had been misused by monetary and fiscal authorities. Other reasons for the closure included poor risk management, increasing bad credit, and the deteriorating economic conditions affecting people's ability to repay loans.

Because the name and bank card number displayed were correct, and due to the difficulty in withdrawing money for security reasons, many customers believed the hoax. Some immediately contacted the bank for confirmation.

Customers who believed the message began to show up at the bank from early in the morning. However, because of the crowd, the bank employees, who had no idea about the hoax, began arriving unaware of the situation. As the employees arrived, they started informing each other and their superiors. Some employees asked the crowd about the situation and learned about the hoax, but they could not explain the truth. Eventually, the bank's executives ordered the temporary closure of the bank and took swift action to address the hoax. They requested assistance from the police, and officers stationed nearby began arriving.

Customers, seeing that the bank was closed and that the police were arriving, started to worry. With police escorts, the officers began informing the customers in front of the bank that the news was a hoax. The customers began to calm down, but soon, one of them saw the news.

Journalists, reporters, and TV broadcasters began airing footage of the crowd gathering in front of the National Bank of America, interviewing a bank employee who hinted at potential abuse of power by high-ranking officials at the bank, leading to speculation of corruption.

Customers who didn't know whether this was true or not began to panic, trying to push their way into the bank, prompting the bank to call for more police assistance. The employee being interviewed turned out to be a former employee who had been fired.

The bank's executives and employees were overwhelmed, and as a result, some people managed to break into the bank, while others caused disturbances outside. Among the intruders, one person approached a bank officer's computer, dressed as a bank employee, and plugged in a flash drive into one of the bank's computers.

Minutes later, the bank's management began confirming the hoax, but it was too late. Customers began receiving notifications on their phones about unauthorized transactions and noticed that their mobile banking apps reflected significant losses in their accounts.

The police, monitoring the situation via CCTV, spotted two suspicious individuals who had taken a flash drive from the bank's computer just after the notifications appeared on customers' phones. The bank employees did not recognize them, despite their wearing similar uniforms.

The police realized something was wrong and began following them. Amid the chaos, the two individuals quickly made their way to a designated car. Police, using CCTV, confirmed that this was a coordinated effort. They dispatched several units to intercept them.

The police sirens blared as the chase continued, and the crowd grew larger by the hour, as the notifications spread. The police requested backup from headquarters to assist in the pursuit.

As the night grew darker, the sirens could be heard across New York City. The pursuit of the yellow Mustang and blue Ferrari F60 became increasingly difficult, and the helicopter above lost track of them due to high buildings and tunnels.

The two cars eventually reached a garage on the outskirts of the city, successfully deceiving the authorities with the help of one of their own, a police officer who had given them directions. That officer was Ethan Carter, a man who had once been poised to lead the New York Police Department. His strict and honest nature had led his subordinates to conspire against him.

The thieves had successfully obtained 100 trillion USD in Bitcoin, which was automatically converted through a special program created by the hacker. They did not immediately use the money, as they were confident that cashing it out would lead to their capture.

Ethan Carter, a black man with brown eyes and black hair, was in charge of the escape plan should the authorities catch on. Alongside him was Andrean Smith, a hacker with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin, who created the special application under Mark Brown's guidance.

Mark Brown was an immigrant and a former bank employee who had been fired for exploiting the bank's data center as personal cloud storage, compromising the bank's security. He had brown-black hair, brown eyes, and dark skin. He provided all the information about the bank's system vulnerabilities and how to safely transfer money without detection.

Carl Miller, who had blue eyes and white hair, was of Russian and British descent. After the Soviet Union collapsed, his parents moved to the U.S. where they worked. He was bullied for his white hair and was often ridiculed until high school. Eventually, he dropped out and secluded himself. He took up street racing when a friend, Jack Walter, invited him. Jack Walter was a top street racer in New York, with brown eyes and blonde hair. Jack and Carl were rivals in racing, often switching victories and helping each other in tough situations.

Mark Johnson, a former MMA fighter and wrestler, was involved in an accidental death of his opponent after a miscalculated elbow strike. He was discharged from the sport due to the incident. Mark, with his strong build, dark skin, and blue eyes, assisted Rio Garcia from a distance whenever there was trouble.

Rio Garcia, a former member of the Mexican cartel, had escaped after being accused of theft and murder within his own gang. He had changed his identity after obtaining a dead man's ID and moved to the U.S., where he became an immigrant. His job was to insert the flash drive into the bank's computer.

At the time, many people still did not understand the concept of cryptocurrency, so the police investigation ended in the same year.

Many people were disappointed that the police were unable to catch the thieves, some even admired them, considering them cool and inspiring. Others became interested in advanced security systems.

Ethan Carter had committed the crime as an act of revenge against the New York Police Department, which had conspired to bring him down.

Five months earlier, Ethan was an honest, hardworking, and strict officer, which had led the higher-ups in the NYPD to choose him for a leadership position. James G. Renave, his best friend, had gone to Indonesia due to the threats he received after successfully imprisoning Bruno Genovese. James' family was killed, and his subordinates conspired against Ethan, accusing him of causing James' death. Ethan, who had worked closely with James as his deputy, was blamed for sending James to Indonesia.

Hearing of James' death deeply affected Ethan, but he found solace in the fact that Lily Renave had been rescued. Ethan's subordinates accused him of being responsible for sending James to Indonesia, believing that the region was a safe haven due to its lack of American intelligence presence.

Six years after James' death, Ethan, deeply saddened and disappointed, overheard a conversation from one of his subordinates who had wanted to replace him. This subordinate had informed Bruno Genovese about James' location. Ethan gathered the evidence, which he then took to court. However, his subordinate provided fake evidence, implicating Ethan in collusion with Bruno Genovese. As a result, Ethan was demoted and reduced to monitoring city CCTV cameras in New York.

After the massive theft, TV broadcasts reported that the public had lost trust in the security of banks, with experts predicting inflation, long-term recession, and global economic instability due to the collapse of the U.S. dollar, the world's reserve currency.

Some experts speculated that China would seize the opportunity to provide aid to developing nations, weakening America's global financial standing. The existing world order would change drastically, and the competition between major powers would intensify.

Ethan's subordinates, who had stolen his position, resigned as they were seen as unable to capture the thieves, leading America toward decline.

Ethan Carter laughed loudly, never imagining that his actions would lead to America's downfall. News outlets reported that the government had acted swiftly, providing massive loans and collaborating with banks to stabilize the economy.

The next morning, Ethan received a call from senior officials in Washington, who informed him that a new police chief had been appointed and that Ethan would be reassigned to San Andreas, California, as the new head of the police there.

Ethan felt a mix of happiness and sadness. He was glad to be given the opportunity to lead the police in San Andreas, but he also felt alienated from New York, his homeland.

Ultimately, he accepted the position and prepared to move to San Andreas. He contacted Lily and sent her money through an intelligence agent, then looked up at the ceiling in his office and said, "The Edge—they're a group considered criminals, but they target only criminals. I think it would be fun to create something like that in San Andreas." Ethan smiled and called Andrean Smith, informing him that they would become a criminal group hunting other criminals. They decided to name their operation "Helios Operations."

To Be Continued

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