OUIJA WEAPON (CONT'D)
The computer makes a soft hum in the living room. It’s dark, and so even the gentlest sounds are like the reverbs off an electric guitar, loud, and possibly dangerous in the wrong hands. My keystrokes are silent though, because I have developed a keyboard of my own that is virtually flat and touchscreen. The firewalls Suse put up are difficult, but it’s only a matter of time before I break through it. My system is flawless, running off its own triband and employing several programs that I calculated into my logarithms. Suse’s secrets in her involvement with the Ouija are about to be mine, I think to myself.
“And what exactly are you doing, Esther?” a voice behind me says.
Impossible, I think. I should’ve heard her come. “Uh, hey Suse. I was just logging on when I saw that your side is still open. I was just logging off.”
Suse circles around the desk to see what I’m looking at. The screen justs shows the desktop background. She scrunches up her face, doubtful but accepting that she doesn’t see anything.
“Esther, we generally don’t get on the internet at this time. Mexico is different than America.” she says.
“I’m sorry honey, go back to bed. I’ll see you in a bit,” I say.
She trails her fingers on my shoulder. “Hurry back Es,” She whispers in my ear. She sways away, and lingers in the doorway. Then she dips her head behind the doorway and goes to the bed.
I really like this job, I think to myself as I slip the drive out my boot. Wireless downloads can come in handy when being secretive. I will handle the criminal side of this, later. For now, I have other duties to attend to.
A few hours later, once Suse is out cold, I get out of bed and go toward my laptop. I have to walk out the room, again and step on the hardwood floors. California cedar, I think. Her hallways are an old Victorian mix with the modern comping on the walls. At the end of the hallway is the closet. I open it to clothes, shoes, jackets, the works. And in the corner is my little array of charges. My clothes and duffel bag and of course, my laptop. I pick it up and turn it on. During these times, where there is a binary presence around me, where there is no one in my focus but what is at hand, is when I am truly me. Even when I am with Suse in bed I am only partially me, the rest is my body reacting to what she’s doing. Anyways, my computer and I could be said to understand each other. Logging in, I am able to hook up the wireless drive seamlessly within the password. My computer automatically puts me through a warm up hack, the usual victims, the FBI, CIA, NSA easy low level classified documents.
Once that’s done, I am able to get into the drive’s files. Since they’re already decrypted, it should be a breeze read through. What I find though is amazing. Schematics for Ouija drones, Security protocols for infiltration, which I promptly memorize so that I can counter them, Ouija hierarchy security detail, and Suse’s home’s security protocols. That’s weird, I think. Suse has no security protocols, so what is this doing here? I dig through the files bones and find a secret source code. I plug it into the Frooty C++ program I crossed to see what I would find. There are more schematics. It’s to the Weapon. Page after page and I find myself drooling over the technology, cringing at the cruelty, and studying the schematics. I save it to my laptop, hook my triband to the nearest Cloud 9 and link the plans through the connection. I put my laptop away and put everything away. I go back to bed as though I was always there.
The next morning I wake up and there she is, right beside me, sleeping peacefully. Even though she is a wanted criminal, I can’t find it to hate her. I think I like her. I think I like her. Oh my God, this is bad. Now what do I do? I can’t just betray her outright. I need to figure out what I’m going to do. Oh what if she finds out? I need to figure out…
“Es? Are you ok?” Suse brings me back to reality. “Were you having an anxiety attack again?”
I put on a smile. Relax, I think. Nothing to worry about. “I’m fine Suse, I was just trying to remember a dream or something.”
“Are you sure? You can stay in bed if you need.” Suse seems worried. God I hate to see her worry.
“It’s fine Suse, really,” I respond. I put on a smile again. Then my stomach roars. Well that’s convenient. “I do seem a bit hungry though,” I chuckle, “Perhaps some breakfast?”
“Well since you said you were hungry I don’t need an excuse either it seems,” Suse said. I laughed. “Willie!! Make us some breakfast.”
“Since when did he get here?” I asked.
“He arrives every morning, and is gone before the sun sets.” She says. “Don’t worry, he didn’t hear us” She laughs that easy, loud and piercing laugh.
Oh thank God, if he saw me sneaking around there would be trouble. I don’t know if I want to kill anybody part of this mission just yet.
There is a firm knock at the door. Suse tells the man to come in, and close the door behind him. He seems to have no age to his oldness, like I can’t figure if he’s 60 or 600. It’s a wonder that he’s still alive.
“Mistress Suse, Daniel is at the door, he wishes to speak with you. Privately.” Willie says.
Suse’s expression turns dark for a moment, as though something died on the inside of her. I don’t think she likes this guy.
“Tell him to wait until after breakfast, Willie. I don’t feel like business right when I awaken,” Suse says.
“Why don’t you tell me that personally?” A familiar voice says. Daniel steps from behind Willie, dressed up really nice and looks like he could cut someone with that kind of suit. I gasp, because I recognize him. Not just because he may or may not be the Daniel that’s the head of Ouija. They have no pictures of the hierarchy on the files. No, this Daniel is ex-Cloud 9. But it’s impossible that he’s here.
“You.” I say.
Daniel looks puzzled. “Me?”
“Daniel, you should be dead”
The End (TBC)
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