Chapter 3: CHAPTER 3

The car ride back home was as if nothing had changed from the time she went to Gendwall but at the same time, everything had changed. We went back immediately to the normal day-to-day conversations or more like debates over strange topics, that we used to have as if she never left for the last five years. I suppose our shared love of technology always kept the conversations going since there were always technological advancements all the time. I would say this was a major thing that made us actually start talking to one another since we were near opposites of each other. Sometimes we would end up talking about the most mundane things like clouds, the taste of water by temperature and sometimes silence was our way of communication.

A major debate we would always have is who was the better programmer. We mostly left that open considering there were just some days we would be better than each other but working together we were geniuses .We bounced off so many ideas off each other .we used to take this and create a different form of art, a masterpiece that most people do not comprehend and just create something overall amazing.I even used some of her ideas to start Digicliff and build on some of the major projects in Digicliff. Digicliff obviously was a form of our dream plans in the future

The car ride that day it was different. Miranda could not stop talking about her experience in Gendwall .Not in a selfish manner that I never wanted to listen to what she got through but it felt odd like she was her past self sometimes and suddenly there is an entire personality shift . It was as if her entire mind, body, and soul were attached there and I could not help but feel weird about all that. She described the events taking place and the gruesome scenes and just the imaginable troubles of civil war and its effects.

She still had to have her face mask which was a beyond technological device which I had seen and still wondered how she was able to make it. She believed that it was not safe to show her face all over the place considering the lack of privacy there. The government finally went through to convincing people that sacrificing complete privacy for uncertain security would better themselves. I personally agreed with some percentage of that concept but the inconveniences and worriedness that come with it were always a downside.

After about fifteen minutes we arrived at the four square acres minimalist mansion in the outskirts of Paradise. I loved the house so much because it was a good size just to make it better it is a fifteen-minute ride from the office just enough time to think through your idea,projects and traumatic loss of Miranda.It was hard for me not to think of her but at least it made me ease up at the end. It also had the touch of 'I have enough money to live comfortably' but not too much that it is a there is unnesssecary empty space.

I showed Miranda one of the guest rooms but she insisted that she deserves the master bedroom, because she was superior now . She was prepared to argue but since I came from the launch, I was in no mood to go back and forth with her. I still felt like I was dreaming of her presence in front of me.

We took much-deserved showers and headed to our rooms. I set up the bed to 'almost dead but not really'.It was a special setting that added,it provides the satisfying I have passed out type of sleep but it is still fulfilling and get your nerves fully relaxed. . A lot had happened that day, I was shocked but glad that Miranda was safe and sound. To be honest, I thought she was going to die out there in Gendwall considering all odds seemed to be against her. It was also concerning to have her here with such a crazy plan but I was prepared to make sure she never has to go back to Gendwall ever again. Crazy plan or not I will make sure that she never go to that living hell.

****************************************************

The next morning I woke up and went for my usual morning jogs.It was something I did as if it was my ritual to clear my mind and be prepared for a whole day of work.Thinking about my company and worrying about Miranda used to be really stressful and I found a solution in exercise and driving as well.It always helped to get my mind running and prepare myself for the hectic day I would probably have. I had Patrick attend all my meetings of the day as my proxy so that I could discuss The Executive organization.I entered the kitchen to find Miranda in a mask still acting like Jen, holding one of my tablets inquisitively. Hiding her marvelling smooth skin. Honestly she was able to go through weeks in school never getting in the dry skin zone or oily zone. That right there should have been her greatest achievement in life is she was not already super talented.

"Why are you still in that get-up?"I said grabbing an apple from the kitchen counter

"Oh, the executive has been spying on you for a long time, all you managed to do was disable their sound systems but they are still receiving live footage even as we speak .I see someone managed to slack off a bit since I left.I am disappointed in you Cyrus Mayday."

I was both offended and shocked by what she said . I decided to just stand still and try not to look around .I kept my breath easy and relaxed my shoulders a bit.I was not the best actor out there so it was took a lot not to completely go crazy. Knowing the executive they probably have people who study mannerisms and any change in my behavior would alert them that something was up. At the same time they would just assume that 'Jen ' just told me something shocking all I had to do is not to stare at the security cameras which I found were a total of nine placed at strategic corners of the main place of the home . I found them the first night since I knew The Executives tactics to 'keep citizens safe, with the best means possible'

The executive treated me like a threat off the bat so every time I purchased a home they would find a time when I wasn't home to install security cameras ,that's why I purchased so many homes just to prove this hypothesis even if it felt a bit wasteful I had to make sure. They knew I knew they were there but I tried disabling them and turns out I made a mistake.

"Are you seriously?"I asked under my breath

"Yeah and in about five minutes, I'm gonna put them on a constant loop from your daily routines plus some with me to keep them distracted .We need to walk to the door on my left -hand side to the garage and have one of your remote control cars leave. They will assume you took me out for breakfast or whatever. "

"Fine, '' I said, then I looked at her,'' Wait, how did you know about the cars? It is a secret project that we have been ..."

"I went through all your files and projects yesterday night and made some fixes on some of the ones you had been working on .You can thank me later," she said jumping off the counter, and as usual leaving me speechless, she was still as good as ever.

I did exactly what she said, praying in the back of my mind that she was not pranking me. Miranda was able to identify a blind spot in the garage where she finished making the loops and let one of my cars drive off, while I was still amazed by Miranda's skills, we headed back to the kitchen.

"The Executive managed to bug all your houses huh ?"she asked

"Yeah you know, we are still a threat even if they pretended we were cool after the incident."

"Well, I got even more reasons to not trust them ."She said in a cold tone.

She stared at me with her usual serious eyes as before but I had a weird feeling that something was off, her eyes were not usually that cold as it were that day .I tried to brush off that feeling but they felt like deep darkness which was emotionless that felt like you would feel so empty in there.It was really sad.

"Okay Cy in Gendwall we discovered a hacker who we considered useful to us to hack into The Executive without going there physically, he goes by the alias XR who was more active a few years back. By his active hours he has a familiar student schedule . We assumed from his activities that he was a student. Together with that his years active have been really recent and not far to the past. The other members tried locating someone older for a few years now and failed, and I know you were the man for the job.we are the ones to find him"

Miranda said passing me a pie chart which showed his times of activity and information on him which was crazy particular.

"I need you to track him/her down and lure them into Digicliff so that we can find him. I have been following all the leads to him and he seems to be the only one who can get into the executive's databases ."

"Okay yeah XR? Dumb alias but whatever. Anyway, so your mission was to find XR which means luring him out of his group which I would assume is a high school or college student .Yeah sounds so easy. "I said sarcastically.

I gave that name a quick thought and it kinda rang a bell in my mind but i could not pinpoint that name in my mind as stupid as it sounded it felt so similar but I could not place my finger on it.I had to give up the thought completely.

"Okay, so Miranda you remember what happened the last time we tried to enter their servers ."

"That was five years ago.We have grown from then, plus I'm sure this time around we won't get caught.We will have XR on our side and hopefully, we are smarter,well one of us is . "she said sipping her glass of water menacingingly.

"Today was just insult Cyrus day wasn't it."

"It's cute when you get mad ,plus for five years you have been the head of a company. Just a little humbling here and there."

.Okay ignoring that statement, what will happen if we don't get XR?"

"C'mon Cy be positive."She said smiling," But just in case we don't get him we will decide another plan when we reach that point right now we should focus on making sure we find him/her."

"It's hard but I trust you but we have to make a little promise to each other," I said holding my pinky finger up like a child.We always did this when we were together. I don't know what it was but pinky swears hit different it's like your past will come to haunt you if you break it.she looked at it and sighed and locked her pinky finger with mine which was incredibly tiny .

"I see you still have tiny baby fingers five years later,"I said taunting her a little.

"Are we doing it or not?"

It made me feel a little nostalgic doing this like we did when we were kids and she told me a dumb secret about people having crushes on one another up to high school when she changed the exam dates so that she could attend a convention.

"One if anything goes wrong we abort the mission.Two if things do work out you come back permanently that means Paradise. You will stay at Paradise and we just go back to the way things were supposed to be."I said with hope in my heart it was as if I was also making this promise to myself to make sure Miranda is safe this time round.

She looked at me now, her eyes soft, I studied her as she made the promise and I could tell she hesitated for a second which did make me feel a bit worried at the same time the same feeling I had come back.She felt like a completely different person.

comment 0 comment

Vote

SEND GIFT

Load failed, please RETRY