Hacker

Chapter 16 - Codes

"If you don't mind?" I asked her a green light to hold the phone alone.

Her brows furrowed more deeply. "Are you serious? You're going to, what, decode this?"

I nodded. She blinked in disbelief at first, then just shrugged and handed it to me. I scrolled down a few times to finally see the message. In green letters, it listed a few things - an email and password, and capital letters ordering 'DOWNLOAD'.

I was about to go to an email page before her phone suddenly shut down.

"Oh... I didn't charge it this evening." She stated. "Well, not like I expected it'll be used to decode webs and stuff." She said in defense.

I sighed.

I disappointedly walked back to our room as Hayley returned the borrowed hijab. My phone that's on the desk was moved into my bag to prevent any camera watching us here.

"When did he meet you?" I asked while changing the clothes.

"Around after maghrib prayer. I was about to go to dinner." she said in a low tone, obviously didn't like the encounter.

Speaking of prayer, I just missed maghrib because I was out, thanks to Ed. Taking wudhu', I performed my Isya' prayer as well as the maghrib one (qada) and lied on my bed afterwards. Hayley's phone was charged and I couldn't help but stared at it.

What does Zack tryna tell me? Should I trust him? My secret wasn't out yet so that's a plus point.

"Hayley." She turned to me with a hum. "Zack didn't mention a gadget that's already in here is dangerous too, right?" I asked for confirmation.

She took a few seconds. "Nope. No, he didn't." She confirmed. "Only what you've brought back."

Sweet.

I quickly sat on the chair and turned on my laptop that's on the study table. The screen showed my name and a blank password. I typed it in. After clicking enter, what popped up was something I didn't expect.

A map.

The desktop background that should be a scenery of the rooftop goal was changed into a black and white map. It wasn't clear to me at first, but I've recognized this city's road well enough to make out the picture. I cleared all of the shortcuts on the screen so that I could see it better.

On the map, there were three red dots. Gears in my brain started to turn hard to remember what buildings near the roads. After a few moments, I got it.

They were Ed's. The first one was his office, second was his house, and the third one... I didn't know the third one.

Damn this guy left me with so many questions. I turned around. "Hey can I just borrow your phone real quick?"

She blinked at me from her bed. "Sure." Then she got up to reach her phone. Disconnecting it, she passed it to me. "If you don't mind me asking, what business do you have with him?" She asked as the phone in my hand.

I opened the web source to copy the email and password while answering. "A private one." I said.

"Obviously. That guy can't live without others' secrets. I bet he has yours too, huh?" She was already sitting on her bed. "I never knew you can decode. Must be super useful for him."

"I never use this one for him, actually." I just shrugged. "It's complicated." I closed my laptop and stepped to her plug to continue charging the phone.

"Yeah I can see that." She watched me with curious eyes.

I opened back the laptop, went to an email page and insert the copied words.

The email inbox was empty. Or so it seemed.

I clicked at the part where you can save stuff online which was the drop box. There's only one file and it required me to install it to my laptop.

I bit my lip. Have I trusted him enough? What if this is a trap so that I'm the one who spread my own secrets and his hands stay clean? Or worse, what if Zack started to hold a grudge against me too and let me taste the same virus?

"I'm gonna turn off the light, alright?" Hayley said from behind me.

My finger reached the switch to turn my study light on, signing 'okay' to Hayley afterwards.

The room became dark, except from my part. I heard Hayley making herself comfortable in bed. "Goodnight, Raelyn." She wished.

"Night." I murmured back, eyes still staring at the program.

You're already ruined the moment you failed today's task, my mind whispered.

I sighed and clicked 'accept'. The loading bar appeared. After 3 minutes, it completed and a new window popped up.

My brows were in deep furrowed, "What in the world..."