They had exchanged phone numbers before Cal left in the morning. When Cal realised how close Rob's flat was to his own, he decided to walk home. He found he was smiling as he went, reliving the night in his head. He could hardly wait to see Rob again, but should he make the first call or wait to be contacted?
He was still debating the issue when he turned into his street - and froze. There was a police car outside his building. Although there were four other tenants, Cal leapt instantly to the conclusion that they were there after Gary.
What had Gary done while Cal was away?
He had a horrible feeling that he knew. Cal had developed a sure-fire hacking program - not intending to use it, not really - but just for the fun of it. Because he could. And Gary had been fascinated by it, urging Cal to put it to the test - just on something simple like the local adult education centre which had denied Gary his certificate. Yeah - right.
Cal had hidden the master copy securely in his room, but now that he thought about it, he remembered he had left the trial version tucked into the drawer of his desk. What an idiot! He couldn't help wondering if Gary had faked his migraine so he could search for the program and play with it in peace, while Cal was out.
Before he could have second thoughts, Cal was climbing up the rusty fire-escape as fast as he could. Luckily his room was on the top floor, above Gary's. Cautiously he jimmied the window open, knowing just where to apply pressure, and flung his leg over the sill. He paused for a second to check that he was alone, then went straight to his hiding spot. Cal heaved a sigh of relief as he found the USB master copy exactly where he had left it. Knowing he was too late, he checked his desk drawer and - sure enough - the trial copy was missing.
Gary! What have you done? Obviously something very stupid, not to say dangerous, if he had attracted police attention. In these days of hyper vigilance, caused by the fear of terrorist attacks, even a relatively harmless action could be interpreted as a threat.
He could hear the murmur of voices coming from the room below. Gary was certainly not a hardened criminal and Cal guessed it wouldn't be long before he broke down and told them about Cal. If he hadn't already.
There was no way he was going to hang around and be interrogated. How long could they hold people these days without charging them? A week? Two? He didn't know for certain but he didn't want to find out the hard way. Hastily he snatched up his jacket, made sure his wallet was safely in his pocket with all his cards inside, and grabbed his laptop.
Casting one final look around to see if he had missed anything, Cal climbed back out of the window and started down the fire-escape. Then his luck ran out. The sound of his feet on the rusty treads, quiet as he had tried to be, caused alarmed shouts from inside the building.
Cal leapt the last few steps and ran as fast as he could, heading for the nearby Underground station. Then he jumped on board the first train he found idling at a platform. Feeling like a murderer, he tossed his faithful laptop onto the tracks beneath the wheels as he crossed between carriages. He could only hope there would be nothing left to retrieve.
He didn't know whether there was an alert out for him or not, but it was safest to assume that there was, hence the sudden departure for destinations unknown. Now there was nothing more he could do until the train stopped. He tried to relax.
(to be continued ...)