The clock was ticking really slowly, as if it was in slow motion, and Joanna’s patient was seeping off with every tick.
“What the hell is taking you so long?” She finally snapped at the hacker that Cal brought to them and who was working non- stop on the Julian’s computer for the past ten hours.
“I am almost there. This thing is almost impossible to crack, I am actually proud of what I did in such a short time.” The geeky looking man said without teering his eyes away from the screen.
Joanna snorted in annoyance and started pacing the room again. “We need to send the location and information to Hank ASAP!” she groaned.
“Told ya it wouldn’t work.” Isaac said from the far end of the room.
“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you are pretty happy about it.” Joanna snapped at him.
“Of coarse I am not happy. I thought you actually had a plan before you had me Call Hank.”
“Would you two shut up and stop underestimating my skills. I am sitting right here, ya’know.” The Hacker, Rami, said offensively.
Joanna eyed him for a moment, taking in his skinny appearance and huge glasses. In a weird way he resembled Hank. She just hoped his skills did as well.
“How much longer?” she asked tiredly.
“Five more minutes. Just need to crack this last code and….” The hacker said and Joanna’s approached him and watched the screen from behind him as they waited. She hoped this works because every minute passed without a clear plan to get Julian out was more time for him to be tortured or worse.
Joanna shivered at the thought of what he might be going through right then.
“…. long has it been?”
“Almost seven hours. He is unbelievably stubborn, Boss.”
Julian cracked one eye open when he was able to make out the words that had been said around him. He saw two figures, one of whom he loathed so much.
“Peter white.” Julian snickered, raising up his head and ignoring the painful throbbing of his neck muscles.
“You are up again.” Peter beamed. “Are you sure you don’t want a dose?”
Julian felt his mouth water, but held his expression firmly. He couldn’t believe that after what seemed like two or three days he was almost addicted to the shit they were giving him.
He wanted so much to say yes and relieve the burning that went through his body. The hunger for that bloody drug was increasing by the minute. He wasn’t sure he would be able to handle the need for much longer.
“I think I’ll pass, Boss.” Julian smirked up at Peter.
“You know you won’t hold on for much longer. You should be smart about it. I am concerned that the drug is killing your important brain cells.” Peter said with a challenging tone. “your precious brain cells.”
“Wouldn’t that be lovely.” Julian said breathlessly but harshly, “then you wouldn’t have any use for me.”
“You think this is happy news for you, Drake?” Peter snickered. “You either surrender or turn into the lunatic everyone think you already are.”
“I’ll take my chances.” Julian said calmly, making Peter’s face flush with anger.
Peter turned to the man next to him and said, “Give him another shot.” Before he turned around and left the large room.
“Yes, boss.” The man said and started preparing his tools for the new injection.
Julian’s traitorous body felt relaxed that it would get another relief but Julian knew if this keeps up, his craving would get stronger and stronger until he would surrender completely.
How Humiliating, he thought as he let the man inject him with the poison without so much as a struggle.
He let the darkness swallow him after he pictured his true addiction before his eyes,
The blonde stubborn girl.
“What the hell just happened?” Joanna yelled at Rami who was clicking madly on the keyboard.
“I.. I don’t..”
“You said it’d be five minutes and you’d be in! what.is. Happening?” she was shouting at his side by then.
“I don’t know what just happened?” Rami said nervously, sweat beads starting to form of his forehead.
Isaac was already by their side watching the screen exploding continuously with numbers and letters that were nothing but gibberish.
“This.. I know what’s this is!” Rami suddenly said, his tone horrified.
“What? What is it?” Joanna snapped, her worry increasing by the speed Rami was clicking on the keyboard as if his life depended on it.
“This is…” Rami said, raising one hand to brush back the black curly locks that fell on his forehead. “It’s like a last resort. It’s a password that no program can crack, you must know it to get in. And.. And even if I could crack it, it’ll take time, an hour at least, and we don’t have that much time!”
“What do you mean we don’t have time?” Joanna asked, looking from the screen to Rami. “We waited for ten hours, it’s a drag but I’m sure we can wait one more hour.” She was fuming the words at him.
“No!” Rami yelped, “We don’t have five minutes let alone an hour!”
There, Joanna’s patient snapped. She pushed Rami’s chair back and yanked him roughly from his collar, pulling him up until her furious face was two inches from his.
“You trying to provoke me, pal?” she hissed dangerously at him. “I am this close to breaking your face!”
“No.. No wait, I..” Rami stuttered, “we need the password or in about th… three minutes everything in this device will be destroyed. Vanish!” Rami gulped at the wide eyes Joanna was giving him.
She pushed him back on his chair and snapped, “Fix it! NOW!”
“You.. You don’t understand…”
“Ahhaaa..” Isaac suddenly sighed in realization as he watched the screen, totally ignoring their quarrel, “so this is the ‘Fox Resolve’?”
“The what?”
“So you know it too?” Rami looked at Isaac.
“Yes, I think I heard Julian and Hank discussing it once. I didn’t understand anything at the time. So this what it is.”
“Do you know how to fix it then?” Joanna said impatiently but hopefully.
“Are you kidding? Of coarse not.” Isaac snorted and Joanna glared daggers at him.
“It’s made by Julian. He made it to protect his files and programs. So as Mr. Geek here said, if you don’t know the password, you don’t have a chance to get in. and you don’t even get time to figure it out. Look!” he said and pointed at the screen.
“Only 56 seconds left.”
Joanna felt her blood boil. She searched her mind for something, anything to save this situation. Rami was already trying a few things but to no vain.
“Do.. Do you know anything he might’ve used, like a special date, special place.”
“I don’t… I.” Joanna said desperately as she watched the countdown reach 30 seconds.
“Try my name?” Joanna said.
“Already have.”
“What about the date of the breakout.”
“Did that too.”
“Try Rosalie.” Isaac said.
“Who’s that?” Joanna asked.
“His mother’s.” Isaac said greively.
“Didn’t work. Come on come on.. 15 seconds left.” Rami hurried them.
Just then Joanna remembered something Julian said. “Try.. Try double Js.” She snapped at Rami.
“W.. what? Just two letters? That won’t work.”
“Would you just do it!” Joanna yelled at him and Rami complied at once, typing two Js and clicking inter at the same time the countdown reached zero.
All the explosion of letters that was happening on the screen ceased to floating numbers and letter before it totally disappeared, and a black screen appeared before them.
Three pairs of eyes watched as the black screen turned into bright blue.
“I… I can’t believe it.” Rami breathed in exhaustion, a huge smile plastered on his face, “it actually worked.”
Joanna breathed out the long held breath and Isaac burst into laughter, “that’s Julian for you. Putting only two letters as a password. Damn him.”
Joanna felt her legs turn jelly as she sank to the floor next to Rami’s chair, “That. Was. Intense.” She breathed a laugh.
Before she could celebrate their victory over Julian’s crazy mind, she remembered the important point of all this. She moved her shaky hands to her pockets and pulled a piece of paper out.
“Here, It’s the coordination of the warehouse location. I need you to get into a secret chatting room created by Julian to the ADX Florence prison library. You must send it to someone called BlueBird. Can you do that?” Joanna said hurriedly, handing the paper to Rami.
He gave her a cheeky proud smile, “Can I? Of coarse I can.”
Getting cocky now, eh? Joanna thought and rolled her eyes as she scrambled to her feet and walked to the nearest armchair and blobbed down on it. Isaac walked and sat next to her.
“That was impressive.” He told her and Joanna gave a shaky laugh.
“Yeah, I guess.” She said.
“How did you come up with it?” he asked.
Joanna leaned forward until her chest touched her thighs and she hugged her legs, it was her way to cope with the memory, before she turned her face up to look at Isaac and smiled, “he said it was his new trade mark. It’s us!” She said proudly.
“And then you went and broke his heart.” Isaac said, not offensively but as if he was stating a fact.
Joanna looked down, shutting her eyes tightly before she nodded. “I’ll make it up to him. If..” she said and looked back at Isaac again, a sad expression on her tiered face “…If he’ll let me.”
“Yeah, let’s hope we reach him in time first.” Isaac said and patted down her bent back.
P.s. to readers:
I know it’s short! But if I want to upload regularly I have to find time, and because my free time is really rare and short, this is what I can offer. I seriously hope you liked it.
Please comment and tell me what you thought and what ideas you have, I want to read them.
And of coarse… vote if you like, I certainly would like ;D
Red..