But he was behind schedule. The Client’s deadline was dawn. He copied the IP into Firefox’s proxy settings, felt the faint click of the connection rerouting, and refreshed his browser.
You are the product.
A green bar filled. 20%... 50%... 100%.
He had wanted a free connection. Instead, he got the most expensive lesson of his life: In Dubai, as anywhere else, if the proxy is free, you are not the client.
He exhaled. Done.
His location flickered to Dubai Media City. Perfect.
He navigated to the competitor’s login portal. His stolen credentials worked. He clicked through folders— Operations > Q3 > Logistics.pdf —and hit download.
Karim’s laptop screen glowed in the dim light of his studio apartment in Deira, Dubai. Outside, the city was a chandelier of glass and steel. Inside, he was hunting for a ghost.