You Have My Word

Chapter 29: You Can't- No

Charlotte sat down in the small bay window in her office. "I swear, they gave me this place to torment me," she mumbled bitterly.

Josh stood up suddenly, knocking his chair backward. "Oh my god," he whispered. "Char. Charlotte, I did it!"

"Hm?"

"I traced the origin of the hacker!"

Charlotte gave a small sigh. "You probably just traced an old man who buys tuna in bulk."

"No, look! I followed it back to France, right?...I think I can get access to the webcam. We can see who's been behind all this. Uploading nuclear plans? What kind of-" Josh's face fell emotionless. "That's- that's Matt."

"Mel married a weird dude, that's for sure," Charlotte chuckled, getting up. "Move over and let me do this right."

"No, no, no, wait a minute," Josh stammered, looking intently at the screen.

Matt walked past, holding a cup of coffee and browsing on his phone.

Lizzy's face appeared on the camera and Josh couldn't help but smile. "See the kid? That's Liz."

Lizzy pushed the space bar and whole bunch of buttons multiple times, and a red iight flashed on Josh's console.

"No way," he laughed, running his fingers through his hair. "It's my old laptop I gave them. My old subroutines must still be on there. Liz. It was Lizzy, all along. We're all saved!"

Charlotte stared at the screen. "That's Lizzy?"

"Yeah," Josh nodded. "Cath's kid."

"Oh my god," Charlotte whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

"Man, she's grown," Josh stammered. "It's been about a year since I saw her last. Gosh, she's big."

"I guess Catherine's not the young girl I left," Charlotte chuckled sadly. "Wow, she's a mother. In my wildest dreams, I never- wow. Just wow. I have two nieces and a nephew. I'm an aunt. And she- she has a husband. I need to sit down."

Josh quickly got out of his chair and offered it to her. "I never thought I'd be married. Especially after Mel," he sighed. "And Amy-" He shuddered visibly. "Char, I think they'd let you go now...since the world isn't dying."

"What about you?"

Josh's face filled with anguish as he shut the laptop. "I go back to working alone."

"What about your wife?" Charlotte frowned.

"I don't think I can face her," Josh said shamefully. "I can barely look at a picture of her...after losing Amy, everything's...she must hate me."

"Josh, if you lost your daughter, then losing you is the last thing your wife needs right now. Go to her. They're never going to let me go. I'm doomed. Catherine will never know that I'm alive and I'm cursed to sit here and die slowly. But you...you have a choice. You can leave and go back home, see your wife, have twenty more kids. Just don't make the mistake I did. Get out while you have the chance."

"I-I don't think she could possibly love me anymore," Josh said with tears in his eyes. "Come back with me, Char. I'll pull a few strings. Just say you'll come."

Charlotte nodded eagerly. "I'll do it."

—————

"Good job, Hon," Catherine nodded. "Keep going."

"God, Cath, it hurts," Mari moaned through another contraction, holding her friend's hand tightly. "It really, really hurts."

"I know," Catherine said softly.