The screen of the cheap burner phone flickered to life, the pixelated display struggling to resolve the encrypted video feed.
The background of the call was pitch black, except for a stark, sharp silhouette of a person sitting in front of a massive wall of glowing, high-end server monitors.
A heavily distorted, synthetic digital voice filter scraped through the phone's cheap speaker, sounding completely devoid of human emotion.
"You have a very sloppy digital signature, Kevo," the voice said, the tone cold and calculated.
"You successfully bypassed a Tier-1 core gateway, which is mildly impressive for a slum kid, but you left your local device’s IMEI registered on the nearest cell tower ping."
"Amateurs always forget the physical hardware layer."
Kevo's grip on the phone tightened until his knuckles turned white. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"
"I am the person who ensures that expensive mistakes disappear permanently," the shadow replied smoothly, shifting slightly in the chair.
"The politician you robbed tonight doesn't care about the KSh 2 million you moved. That is pocket change to...