The Viral Chase

Chapter 14: Trust

Chapter 14

Trust.

The warm sunlight spreads on the green patch of grass where Harry stands in a fighting stance. He has been practising his fight moves since the last 30 minutes while I am settled under a large tree with a laptop working on the files he showed me last night. I still haven't seen him fight once and I surely don't get it why is he practicing it. I seriously feel that the dangerous people are always ready with arms and weapons. Well anyways, he wants me to find out the intention of this virus. It not only has my code bits but also some other parts too that binds it together. This virus is trying to break the security because that's what my part does but the thing that is bothering me is what kind of software will have that high level of security and what is it that they get after breaching it? Things are way too complex to be understood so easily. It has been designed to act like a logic bomb but I know there is a hidden intention or rather action that is yet to be found out.

"So... Did you find any important information?" Harry asks me on the dinner table. "This virus is a logic bomb and it-" "A what?" He watches me dumbfounded with his spoon held halfway before reaching his mouth. Seriously, he is a guy for God's sake and guys are all technology freaks and here he is, no idea about simple things. Maybe he never got the chance to know. But he is in a field where these things matter, don't they? Alina, not everyone knows about everything. Stop acting like you know everything. Wow! My inner voice sure is more strict than my mum. "A logic bomb. A virus that activates on a certain action you perform. This one will activate if someone opens a particular format of a file but I am not sure what kind of file is that. Never came across this one. But once it activates, it will breakdown all the firewalls and security set up on the system, except biometric security, of course. But what exactly it does after breaching the security is not yet understandable to me." I finish explaining him. He is rather taken aback. Did I say something wrong? "So you mean, the security is of no use to a system if this virus starts working?" "Yes. It can access every damn file in that system." He stares at me with an 'Are you kidding me? ' expression. I arch my eyebrows and look at him waiting for him to say something. "H-How did you... Well, you are good at this." He manages to finish the statement unable to find more words. It's the first time I have left him speechless. I cannot help but smirk a little on his compliment like remark. I sink down a little in the chair and dig in my dinner not looking up because he is still staring at me with his mouth full. I think I have surpassed his expectations.

Harry has found a way to contact Kevin. Secretive E-mails. He actually writes coded messages with a new email account. He is writing to Kevin telling him about my new discovery about the virus.

'We know that Mark is very deadly. But we never knew that Mark can jump walls and escape every watch dog. We have no idea why is he doing it.'

Harry and Kevin named the virus Mark. It was when they were working on plans to acquire it. The laptop dings as I am working on it. Harry dashes in the room and pulls it to himself. I look from over his shoulder and find a new email from Kevin in reply to Harry's.

'Everyone's chasing Mark. Our people are trying to find him too. He is off the grid, no one has yet got a clue.'

"Everyone from the bad guys to the agency is looking for us. Alina, the chase has already begun." Harry speaks with a dreadful expression. The chase? We are being chased by his own people as well?

I have never seen him this tensed. He is pacing in front of me, racking his brain for staying low. He believes that we don't have much cover and soon will have to get out of here even though we are off the grid. That is all he told me before starting his deep thinking. I sit down on the bed, tired of waiting for him to say something. Harry pulls his hair in frustration and groans. Surely, he has hit a dead end with his planning. He kneels down in front of me and stares up at me intently with those greenish grey orbs and speaks in a very low, husky voice, "Do you, by any chance, know a place that is seen and visited only by you?" I take in every word he says and watch him with a sincere expression. Even his eyes are in a way pleading me to think and give him an answer to his question. "I can take you anywhere but they will find you, but some place known only to you will be hard to consider for them." He explains me, hoping that this will help me decide. "Can't we fly to the other side of this world?" I ask him unsure if this is a better solution. "No. They will try to trace us through every means of transport, especially via airways. Only these roads will be helpful now." He mutters with a defeated sigh. "You keep your stuff ready to leave at a short notice." He adds and stands up. I nod and he glances one last time at the window and leaves me alone in the room to wonder on what is going on in his mind. I pack up my few clothes that were provided by the agency, lying in the small cupboard, back in the bag. It's time I put the laptop back in it's backpack and return the pen-drive safely to him.

This is again one of those sleepless nights where my mind is full of anxious thoughts of my killer. The dreadful feeling makes my stomach churn raising the hair on the back of my neck. A strong urge to cry has brought the thick lump in my throat back. The sense of security was long gone but now even the walls in this room seem to be closing up on me. I try to focus on my breathing so as to control the panic attack before it gets out of hand. This surely clears my mind off the horrible thoughts of seeing myself dead but the panic still resides somewhere deep within. I am startled by the sudden creaking noise just outside my room. I sit up straight and the door opens slowly to reveal a tired Harry with disheveled hair. I feel myself relax after his appearance even though I never knew that my body was tensed up, more like frozen. "More sleepless nights or more nightmares?" His groggy voice reaches my ears with his single eyebrow raised. "Both." I reply not interested in his little conversation. "I bought you some coffee. Thought that will help ease your headache." He mumbles not looking at me but carefully passing on the cup with the steaming liquid. I look at him frowning. "Don't look at me with that face. It's been long enough to know that you rarely sleep peacefully. And as much as I know people press their temples hard when their head hurts." He says shrugging his shoulders and sipping coffee from his own cup. I mumble a quick thank you and drown myself in my favourite beverage. The smooth liquid flows down my throat melting away the lump in its way. "Do you like Cappuccino too?" He gets it for me, everytime but this time. He must like it too then. "No, but you like it. I have never had it before. Now after having it, I think its good." Something in his voice told me that he is actually enjoying his drink. And that theory of mine is supported by his small smile that appears shortly after his words.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead." A husky voice fills my head, sounding far away. My eyes flutter open and his smiley face appears in my vision. "Come on wake up!" I rub my eyes looking around to be reminded of my whereabouts and breath a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Harry." I whisper so low that I am sure he didn't hear it. He suddenly turns around adorning a confused expression. "Thank you?" He questions and I realise he did hear it. "For uh... waking me up?" I answer making it sound more like a question myself. Why is it so difficult to lie sometimes? And he seems pretty much... unconvinced. "It was a bad dream, wasn't it?" My eyes widen as he has very rightly pointed it out. "It's not that hard to guess." Does he read minds too! "Your forehead has drops of sweat and your breathing went up way too quickly when I came here. Just like you always do when you wake up from a nightmare. I thought it would be better to wake you up before you start hyperventilating." I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand and surely, there are few drops of sweat. With a set jaw and tensed features of his face, he gazes straight into my eyes with an intensity that makes me feel uncomfortable. It feels like he is trying to read something. I lower my gaze finding interest in the smooth white sheets. "I made breakfast today. Come and have it." And he leaves the room.

Trust. One small word that can create strong bonds if kept with honesty and loyalty but can shatter hearts with just one small misunderstanding or one small mistake. Maybe that's what he is doing. Trying to gain my trust by letting me know his past. And I think he is losing his patience with me too. He does his best when it comes to open up. He can't lie about everything he has ever told me related to his training days at least. His eyes gleamed everytime with a nostalgic look in them. The level of sincerity in those eyes was deep which can never appear on being faked. Or is it so easy to fool me? I guess not. It will require excellent skills of acting to make him fake even sincere emotions. I have a feeling he can do that but he still is honest with me. But my intuitions can be wrong. I am drowned in my internal struggle of trust and honesty when I see a shadow pass by outside the window. And I am out of my seat, peeking out within seconds. Was it Harry? Can't be. He was upstairs, right? I back away from the window with silent and quick steps, a feeling of unease building up. I hear footsteps running down the staircase, breaking the silence. My lungs are knocked out of breath as I am pushed to the ground with a heavy body shielding me from a massacre of bullets being fired from the wall I just backed away. I am lying under Harry behind the couch as he covers me from every shattering piece of glass that is flying around. My heart is in my mouth and I can feel vibrations of bullets breaking through the wall, in my stomach. The sound of glass shattering, things falling and bullets firing fills the air that was once silent.

*****

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Regards,

A.R.