Chapter 39: Control Alt Delete

Leonard Huffnagle was having a lot of trouble looking for dirt on Tim Murphy from San Antonio Roosevelt High School. The only tangible thing he was able to confirm was that Tim had gifted the Trojan iPad, given by Coach Andrew Thomas of IMG Academy, to his little sister, Carmen.

IMG was known for recruiting the best high school football players from across the country and giving them highly specialized coaching to better prepare them for college football. Kids graduating from IMG often became starters on their chosen college team much sooner than players coming from normal high school-level coaching. The coaches at IMG featured several former NFL players, most just recently retired from their playing, so the potential players knew of their playing history. In addition to those coaches, there were several high-profile former college coaches who taught these elite players how to become even better.

Leonard was a computer expert who, on paper, worked for IMG Academy to keep all their computers running, but his real function was as a unique tool for recruiters trying to find a way to get leverage with the best players. He used his computer talents to hack into the players’ computers to see what they did not want everyone to see. He’d even hack into other computers in the home to gain an understanding into what was keeping the player from agreeing to play for IMG. He had been brought to IMG by his friend, the current football coach and recruiter at IMG, Andrew Thomas.

Coach Thomas had a basic idea of what the strange and socially-awkward Huffnagle could do with computers, but he knew for sure the guy was great at getting the information everyone else was seeking. Coach Thomas had his coaching life plan set. He expected a couple of years with IMG Academy, eventually moving onto a college coaching staff somewhere, then a coordinator position, and finally a jump to head coaching, and he had already decided to bring Leonard Huffnagle along as a secret weapon at each stop. Leonard loved the idea of traveling up the football food chain by attaching himself to Coach Thomas.

For the first time since the two had met, though, Leonard was having trouble finding anything out about his quarry – Tim Murphy. As far as he could tell, he did not have any social media accounts ... anywhere! The only thing he found was to answer a threat from Rodney Valentine, a player on another high school football team.

The paperwork on Rodney described a one-act running back. He could run fast and hard but had absolutely pedestrian skills at a change of speed or even avoidance. He ran straight up and down and got most of his yards later in the game when the opposing teams were getting worn down by his relentless running style. Valentine had not let anyone know that he was starting to having trouble in his right knee. He got some pain medicines from a booster and was leaning on those when he plays – one Vicodin, featuring five milligrams of Hydrocodone and three hundred milligrams of acetaminophen, in the morning with his breakfast and another before practice. Another after practice and two pills before a game left him feeling no pain whatsoever, and he had absolutely no trouble running over people through an entire game. He subsequently had his greatest game, statistically, as the starting running back for the Converse Judson Rockets. It was everything he had ever wanted. The next morning, however, Rodney needed two more tablets and an entire day of resting. Then he would start again Monday morning.

Leonard knew all of this because the boy was stupid enough to write a journal on his computer and spill out all of his secrets on his screen. If Rodney stopped with the pain medications, there were plenty of other skeletons in his closet. Getting that information about Rodney was simple and done in less than an hour after Rodney became a possible recruit for IMG Academy. The lure of being the star running back for the Judson Rockets was too tempting. He had decided to stay home and stick with the coaches who coddled him rather than go with coaches who would fix his flaws and turn him into a player who could live up to others’ expectations.

He had been working on gathering intelligence on Tim Murphy for more than two weeks and still had not found anything. Leonard was becoming worried that Coach Thomas had not come to ask about his progress. In the past, whenever Coach Thomas gave Leonard a name of a recruit to look into, he would return within a week for a progress report. He also worried about what Coach Thomas would do if he were to say he could not find anything about Tim Murphy.

Leonard simply could not get into Tim’s computer. He felt, with the amount of security this high school kid had on his system, he must be hiding something really disgusting. He really needed to find out. He also now could not get access to the iPad he built that Tim had gifted to his little sister. It was just one day suddenly closed off, and he just could not get into it again.

“Who the hell would be trying to get into my system? And how did they know about Carmen’s iPad?” Tim thought to himself as he reviewed the attempted break-ins to his family’s computer network. “Was it the cops tracking him from when he went looking for info about the students arrested partying? Was it someone else who he had hacked trying for retribution? Or maybe it was someone looking for dirt on the new superstar in high school football.” The possibilities were coming at Tim’s mind like waves on a beach. No matter how hard he would work to not think about the intrusions, they obviously worried him.

Tim felt the last thought was probably the most correct. When he found the attempted hacks into the network via his sister’s new iPad, he was relieved it wasn’t someone coming from law enforcement. He began subtly backtracing the attempted hacks, one by one, ferreting out possible locations. The first trace was determined to come from Florida. He dug a little more -- narrowed it down to a server in Bradenton, Florida. It was not a hidden attack; this hacker was doing it from there and not using a previously-hacked system. “Maybe this guy doesn’t think anyone can figure out who he is so never bothered to hide his trail. That means he is stupid and barely understands what he is doing, or he is just cocky and doesn’t think anyone could stop him.” Tim figured using ghost IP addresses and bouncing from different systems from everywhere was how he would have done it.

Just before he could get the exact location, the line was cut. He must have found out Tim was following his hack. A few minutes passed, and Tim was able to get to within one mile of the hacker’s address. A quick search on Google Earth and Tim had a satellite view of the one-mile area. It was easy to see the main building labeled “IMG Academy” in the one-mile radius.

“That must have been why Carmen’s iPad was used to gain entrance into the system. I just don’t understand why they would do that.” Tim was having a hard time figuring it out, so he decided to investigate from a different angle. He started by breaking into Carmen’s iPad. It was easy since Tim showed her how to set it up, and he was the administrator on it and could use his own password to get into the iPad.

He went right past everything his sister was using on the iPad and found the last remnants of the folder Coach Thomas made sure to mention. It had the video about nightlife at IMG Academy. He analyzed the video and found the virus embedded within the video. If he had opened the file without the proper protections he had set in place now, the virus would have copied everything on all immediately-available hard drives and send them to the virus creator. The virus was simple but effective. Whoever had created it for IMG must have been the one trying to gain entry into his system. A little bit more investigation was needed.

The time Leonard had been dreading had come. Coach Thomas, while he casually ate an apple, was sitting in front of him, and had just asked for an update on Tim Murphy. Leonard had hashed it out it for hours with himself and had decided to come clean. Maybe by throwing himself onto his sword, Coach Thomas would not fire him.

“Sorry, Andrew, um I mean Coach Thomas. I have not been able to get anything on the Murphy kid yet.” Leonard actually closed his eyes as he looked down in disappointment.

“What do you mean? These kids nowadays are all twittering and friendbooking or myspacing each and everything they do and every thought in their vapid heads!”

“Yes, Coach, I know that, but Tim Murphy, as far as I can tell, does not have any social media accounts anywhere. The only time I found him saying anything online was to answer a bully player from another team who tried to antagonize him.”

“Which kid?”

“Rodney Valentine. He is a running back from Converse Judson. Its a suburb of San Antonio and just a few miles from Murphy.”

“Oh yeah, the pill-popping asshole with the Oedipal complex who can’t change directions when running.”

Leonard nodded yes with a slight smirk.

“Well, Leonard, I guess he won’t be an easy nut to crack so, I guess, keep working on it and let me know if you get a breakthrough.” Coach Thomas got up out of the chair, taking another bite into the apple as he left Leonard’s office.

Leonard almost broke down in tears. He wasn’t fired, but he had let down his friend. After a few minutes of chastising himself, Leonard Huffnagle decided to devote himself to finding out what dirt he could find on this kid, Tim Murphy. Now he knew he needed to ratchet up the pressure and find a way to break into the system.

“Time to use the expense accounts and get some new equipment.” Leonard was wringing his hands like a stereotypical baddie on television.

“Great game, men. Great game. Incredible effort and we showed valiant effort in all three phases of the game. We are all proud of you, Rough Riders!” Coach Van Cleave was addressing the junior varsity team in the locker room after the Thursday evening game against the Stevens Falcons. Stevens proved to be the weakest team the Rough Riders had faced yet. Roosevelt won the game 70 – 3.

Tim Murphy did not start in his first junior varsity game. On their first possession, the Falcons moved the ball down the field, eventually ending with a thirty-four-yard field goal, putting themselves on top 3 – 0. Coach Van Cleave then decided to manufacture some pressure on their quarterback and sent Tim in, right after the Roosevelt offense stalled after two first downs.

Tim Murphy made his presence known to everyone immediately. On the first play of the Falcons’ second possession, Tim and the left defensive tackle ran a stunt, trying to confuse the blockers on the other side of the ball. Instead of immediately moving up-field after the quarterback, Tim ran to his left to take over the position of the left-side defensive tackle and rush the quarterback from right in front of him rather than trying to get him from his blindside.

The defensive tackle ran his part of the stunt perfectly. His move forced the left-side offensive guard to his left to try to block the defensive tackle, but the defensive tackle had run by the guard and was now engaging with the left offensive tackle, trying to turn up the field to attack the ball handler. So now the defensive tackle had two people blocking him and no one in the spot where the guard should have stayed, and Tim could rush full-speed toward the quarterback.

The quarterback had his back turned to the play as he faked a hand-off to the running back to get himself ready for a pass. He realized there was something wrong when he saw the look on the face of his running back as he faked the ball to him. The quarterback turned around just in time for him to see the running back try to block Tim but just get run over. Tim now had free reign to sack the quarterback. The quarterback could not even raise his arm to get rid of the ball and avoid a sack. The collision was loud and caused a symphony of “oohs” from the crowd in the stands – and quite a few from his teammates on his sideline. From somewhere deep inside the Roosevelt side of the stands, Tim could hear “YEAAAAAAAH BOYEEEEEE!”

The Falcons seemed to lose their will to fight and just started getting run over by Roosevelt. At halftime, the score was 56 – 3. Initiating the second half of the game, the Falcons looked like they thought they might have a chance to get back into the game. Apparently, someone told them of a possibility that Tim might not play the second half. Of course, it was not true and, the moment he stepped on the field to join his new defensive teammates, the little breeze of hope quickly died, and they lost all desire to win and were just trying to not get hurt.

One surprising moment happened in the fourth quarter when Coach Van Cleave called Tim up to him. Tim had been seated on the bench drinking some water and discussing their play with his teammates. Roosevelt was on offense with third down right at midfield. They needed to make ten yards to continue the drive or just go ahead and kick a field goal, but Coach Van Cleave had an idea he wanted to test.

“Murphy, how are you feeling?” The coach’s strong Texas drawl seemed to intensify during a football game.

“Good, Coach.”

“Good! Whadda ya think about you catchin’ a touchdown?”

Tim was shocked at first since he’d never thought he could get one unless he created it himself via interception or fumble recovery. He’d done both already in each game he had played. “Sure thing, Coach, but I dunno the plays. What do I have to do?”

“Okay, this is what you gonna do...” Coach Van Cleave then called a timeout and had the quarterback come to the sidelines for a meeting.

Tim, along with the JV quarterback, jogged into the offensive huddle. The starting tight end sped back to the sidelines to announce, “Okay, fellas. Coach had himself an idea.”

Coach Van Cleave knew Tim did not know the plays yet, so he told him precisely what to do, and the others on the field would do what they needed to do.

Tim lined up on the left-hand side, right next to Hamburger’s brother Big G on the line of scrimmage. “Remember, just one hand down on offense,” Big G advised with a slap on Tim’s shoulder.

Tim could actually hear the defensive end in front of him moan like he didn’t want to even play anymore. The running back lined up right behind Tim and, on the signal from the quarterback, he was in motion. Tim could feel his heart beating through his chest. It was the same feeling he had when he lined up for the first time against Alamo Heights.

“Hike!”

Everyone took off on their assigned routes. Tim could almost feel the happiness from the defensive end when all he did was a quick swim move to get past him. Tim turned on the jets and ran straight up the field.

He saw the safety initially looking in the backfield at the quarterback watching what he was going to do. He was stunned when Tim made it up to him so quickly. Tim kept running and carved up yards quickly. He may have run a bit too fast, but the quarterback was good. The safety, before seeing Tim, had taken a few steps down to the line of scrimmage. He thought the offense was going to run the ball. The Falcons had not been able to stop them from getting as many yards running the ball as they wanted, but the safety turned around and began sprinting to try to get an angle to tackle Tim since he knew he had no chance of stopping the ball. He could only hope to prevent the gain of any more yards.

Tim looked back toward the quarterback and saw the ball arching down from the sky. He stuck his hands out in front of himself, and the ball landed perfectly into his hands. A couple more steps and the referee blew his whistle and shot his hands straight up in the air to signal a touchdown. The crowd exploded into cheers.

The fans in the stands had been lackluster since the third quarter ended since neither side wanted to continue a blowout, but watching Tim Murphy catch his first offensive touchdown was something amazing to see. Most of the people attending were not that blown away by the catch since it was pretty easy, but what amazed them was the speed with which Mayhem made his way down the field.

The quarterback had smartly stopped the fake hand-off since he could see Tim get open almost instantly. He planted his feet and threw the ball to a spot he thought the ball and Tim would arrive at the same time.

The first person who got to him was the safety. “How the fuck did you run that fast?” he asked but was already walking back toward his sideline and was probably not expecting an answer. When Tim saw that, he just let the boy go back to his teammates dejected about not being able to stop yet another touchdown.

Back in the locker room, Tim fielded congratulations from his teammates, including a few of the freshman team who came back to the locker room. “Dude, you looked like you were shot out of a cannon! I have never seen anyone get that open so fast. I mean, the d-end looked like he quit and the linebacker behind him just went after the screwed-up fake and missed you going by him. I wonder if he felt the air go by when you did.” Johnnie Boynes and Jeff Green also offered to treat the hero to a couple of tacos if Tim had the time.

“Did you guys see my mom or dad in the stands?”

“Yeah, they were both there. I think your little sister may have screamed herself hoarse cheering for you,” Jeff replied. “Funniest fucking thing I have seen in my life, though.”

“What?”

“Your sister called you going on offense to get a touchdown sometime in the third quarter. When you came in the game, we turned to her, and she was standing there with a huge smirk on her face like, ‘I told you.’ It was freaking hilarious!”

“He ain’t lying. It was damn funny, but you know what no one was laughing at?” Johnnie asked.

“What?”

“Your speed mutha fucker! You looked almost as fast as me, and them folks had trouble dealing with it.”

Everyone laughed, and even a bunch of the JV guys guffawed. Tim’s two friends began introducing themselves to the others, and eventually, everyone was dressed and ready for the end of the day. This game was played on Thursday night, and they all still had school the next day. There are not many parties after a junior varsity game. Most people enjoy the game, get something for dinner and relax.

“Tim Murphy!” A booming voice yelled from in front of the coaches door. “Tim Murphy, on me!” Tim had not yet put on his shoes, so he walked barefoot around the logo on the floor and then up to Coach. He was still drying his hair, so he let the towel go limp on his shoulder.

“Yes, Coach.”

Coach Van Cleave was in almost the same attire, except he was wearing a new set of coaching shorts, a clean t-shirt with “Rider Pride” in big capital letters emblazoned across his chest, and a towel laying limp on his bald head. The coach was bald but, rather than worry about it, he shaved the rest of his head, and it looked like he had just given it another shave before coming out to the lockers. “Tim, here. Read this and keep it safe. This is the offensive playbook. We want you to learn the plays from the tight end position as well as the other receiver position. We can see you possibly becoming a sort of man-of-all-trades for us that we can bring in on offense if we feel you can help the team. Whaddaya think of that?”

The gray folder was filled with sheets of papers and several plays drawn on each page. It looked like the plays were listed by formation and what plays could be run from what formations.

The smile on Tim’s face was easy to see. “Yes, sir. I’ll learn the plays as quick as I can. Do you need me to dress for tomorrow night’s game?”