Clandestine

forty seven

I look through the rest of the files on her computer. It takes half the night.

There aren't as many as I originally thought. I have to give Marcia Quintana credit. She's smarter than most. I'm guessing that most of her files are saved to her hard drive or a thumb nail. Impossible to hack unless you reach the actual computer. It used to be easier until there was a huge push to increase security of the computers.

There's nothing else about me or my father. I wonder why she saved my document online rather than offline like the rest of them. Maybe she liked being able to access it all the time so that she could constantly make changes and updates as she learned things.

I look through the document again and the information is chilling. There are things on there that I don't even know. There's an in depth psychological study that Marcia Quintana wrote about me after studying my behavior.

It's terrifying and I don't think I will ever be able to talk to that lady ever again.

It's too late in the night to consider sleeping any time soon. My body has passed its normal bedtime and has committed to staying awake. Late night adrenaline pumps through me. If I was at my own home, I'd be gulping down mug after mug of coffee, but I don't want to be a bother within their home.

Besides, drinking coffee at three in the morning will be considered strange. I don't want them to second guess their decision. I'm going to be the perfect house guest.

I hack into the Assembly reports page. I remember Julia's awe when I said that I had hacked that page. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to say. After all, her mother is in the Assembly. She could easily tell her.

I could be arrested for that.

What if she does? Does she know how incriminating that is?

She won't tell her. In order to tell her mother that I hacked that page, she would have to explain how she knows. I'm sure her mother would be more than furious to know that she is talking to me. Unless it is all part of that little game of theirs.

All my suspicions lead back in circles. I have no idea if I can trust Julia. I don't know if I can trust this document.

Maybe Marcia Quintana doesn't plan to kill me on Wednesday. Maybe Julia is just bored and thinks it would be fun to kill me.

Maybe on Tuesday night when I'm terrified she will shout, "It was a prank!" and fall into hysterical laughter.

I shake it from my mind. I'm just going in circles.

I focus on hacking the page. I do another all website search for Julia's full name.

It makes me sick just looking at that last name. Of what the owner, Marcia Quintana, plans to do. Unless it's a joke.

I want to scream. How do I escape this?

I look for the most recent dates.

The last two are transcripts for meetings. They are just basic mentions that Julia was attending the meeting. It's required by law to show all the attenders.

I scan past and don't see anything too interesting.

Then, out of curiosity, I search Julia Quintana and my father's name.

One hit comes up.

A meeting transcript.

I open it up. Julia's name appears in the beginning. It's just the mention that she is there.

Then I read on and chills fly over my skin.

It's the transcript from the last meeting my father went to. Where they threw him in jail as 'precautionary measures'. Where he was later murdered.

Julia was at meeting where my father got his hidden death sentence.