The Emotion Game

Chapter Twenty: A Hacking Hostage

The pen's tip hovered over the line, Drew's eyes lifted. "What do I get in return?"

Neil rolled his vision. "Your life." He smirked.

Drew scowled. Did he have any choice? He quickly inked his name across the line. He stared at it. Drew Cunnings. They only let him read the last page, but even that only contained about a sentence worth of words. What had he just agreed to?

Neil glanced over the signature, his beady eyes scanning the inked name. "Nice." The words barely left his mouth before he moved in the door's direction, planting his hand on the handle. "I'll be right back."

Drew rolled his eyes. "Care to take me with you?" He watched Neil slide the folded paper under his belt.

Neil didn't reply. He yanked the door open and stepped out into the hall.

At least, that's what Drew assumed was on the other side. He played it cool until the door pulled back into the wall, and then jerked up from the small cot he was sitting on. He needed to examine that computer more closely. He tapped the space bar as he approached the device, the screen lighting up again.

"You're getting faster. Good work. You'll be hearing from me again."

Drew's eyes scanned the message—a final reply from whomever Cryptos was. He rolled his eyes and exited out of the message tab. Why did he feel funny? He'd never felt this way about any faceless hacking before. Why was this different? He pictured the live image of Megan and Cory's apartment. How did they know they were his friends? Friends. The word bounced around in Drew's brain.

He'd never had real friends before. This was exactly why. Alone protects me. He needed to not care. He needed to remember than he was the only one that mattered. And staying alive was top priority. No one else mattered.

Drew's jaw tightened and he shook his head. He needed to get those thoughts out of his system. He blinked it to the back of his mind and swallowed, letting his eyes scan the computer's surface and design. There had to be something he could use.

The device's ID number was printed on the bottom. Drew focused on the last four digits. 9826. Just a standard laptop. Where's the microphone? All laptops had them, even if it wasn't one of its primary uses.

It was quickly located. A small dot hidden in the bottom left hand corner of the laptop's underside. Someone else had to have been at this. The particular hacking software isn't just there on a new device. It would've had to be installed.

The corners of Drew's mouth lifted as a string of ideas settled in the front of his mind. He couldn't imagine they would keep him in the room the whole time; for one thing, there was no bathroom. He'd have to leave at some point, and he'd want to know if they did anything to the device while he wasn't there. Drew smiled. He knew exactly what to do.

He quickly opened up the hacking software he'd used earlier, opening several linking pages. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for— the network tracker. Drew quickly installed the correct software and hid it within the internet browser, which was locked from his use. But there had to be a password. He then spent several minutes typing in the correct coding to engage a keylogging program. He could catch any key combination put into a password-like tab or personal information, again hiding it within the computer's existing settings afterward. Only another expert hacker would be able to notice their existence within the device.

Drew tapped the power off button and watched the screen turn black. He backed away from the table when the door handle rattled. He quickly threw his body back onto the cot and rolled over to his stomach, burying his face in the limp pillow. Someone entered the room.