*CHAPTER 74: WORST DAY OF OUR LIVES*
1922 Words
"Why the long face, Leiya?"
"Does my face look that bad?"
"Yep. We made it to the end of this long and arduous week, or should I say month. All that's left to do is celebrate. You did well in the last couple of months. I'm sure you'll get an award tonight."
"I don't know about that. My team seems to be expecting good results as they are preparing to celebrate already."
"If your team gets promoted today, you'll be in the Marketing division. That's awesome. Meanwhile, I'll probably still be stuck on the Bronze team for the rest of the year."
"Your team looks a bit let down. I suppose they don't feel as confident."
"Definitely not as confident as the Silver team."
"Oh, I think they're calling for you, Leon."
In our department, the management decided it was more fun to withhold the stats of all the teams from each other in the fall season so that they wouldn't have any idea of the standings before the Fall meeting. It certainly helped to increase competitiveness among the teams and along with that came a wondrous amount of excessive slave driving work.
Although that saga was over, the most significant of my worries and problems were only just beginning. Worst of all, there was one nagging thought that I couldn't get out of my mind - Roshni was more than likely one of the enemy spies that Andrei mentioned had infiltrated the company.
I couldn't believe I trusted him to the extent that I thought of him as my best friend. How was I supposed to face him tonight? How do I prevent him from destroying Andrei's company and bringing danger to the Klehr family?
I mingled with my team members who were already placing out celebratory snacks and cakes. We certainly did well in the last month, but it felt a bit premature to celebrate since we didn't know the standing of the other teams. Anyway, I wasn't going to ruin their fun since I had other issues.
After half an hour of departmental interaction, the time had come. I got a message from Jeremy to say that he had the device and wanted me to collect it from him, so I went over to his office.
"Hello there, Leiya. It's a wonderful evening, isn't it?"
You're the only one who thinks it is.
"Yes, I'm certainly looking forward to the party tonight."
"As am I. But before that, don't we have important business to attend to?"
"Indeed. Bryan will have no idea what's coming tonight."
"Here is the device. Just insert it into a USB slot on the computer in his office and run the program. This has a targeting function so it will automatically find and destroy the program for you. You won't have to do anything."
"That's rather convenient. Where did you get this?"
"That is a trade secret, my dear. Karren said she would meet you on the fifth floor near Bryan's office."
I left Jeremy's dimly lit office after getting the device. He seemed rather dejected for someone who was about to reign supreme over Bryan today.
Starting with that unforeseen interaction with Roshni, today was playing out to be far stranger than I thought it would be.
With the time bomb in hand, I walked to the elevator while I mentally prepared myself for the mission. Sadly, no amount of preparation could slow the aberrant palpitations that bounded against my chest. My palms started to feel sweaty just from pressing the elevator button to the fifth floor and then it went up.
Now, it was really time. I had ten minutes to get to Andrei's office. I parted through the crowd that was moving against me as everyone was walking in the opposite direction to go downstairs to the party. As I struggled to get through the swarm of people leaving the IT department, it was as though I lost my bearing as I felt myself being carried to one side of the crowd. I walked along the left side of the wall while being pressed against it by the departing crowd. I couldn't believe that so many people worked in the IT department, that I couldn't see the end of this crowd in sight. While I wiggled through the suffocating crowd, I faintly heard someone calling my name in the distance. I recognized Karren's voice in the distance and I tried to gather the energy to respond, but instead I almost collapsed from claustrophobia.
Just then, I suddenly jerked backwards as someone grabbed my left arm…which was supposed to be pressed against the wall.
Wait.
What happened to the wall? I was suddenly pulled into a defect in the wall and within a second I was thrown back out into the suffocating crowd of people.
"Leiya!"
Karren had squeezed her way over to me and we pushed forward against the crowd until we finally got out.
"Are you okay?" Karren asked, looking at my pale face.
"Yea, I'm fine now."
Although I was very glad to have finally escaped the stacks of overcrowded bodies in the corridor, I had mostly recovered my strength due to something else that had just happened.
When I was pulled into the defect, a voice quickly said, "code blue2", and then disappeared.
"I gave you the items to use for drill 3-2 but I don't expect you'll be using those tomorrow."
"Then, why bother telling me about it? You should keep your instructions simple when you're dealing with a novice."
"Instead, I created a new emergency drill just for you. I called it code blue2, combining the code blue that you're used to hearing at a hospital with drill 3-2."
"So, it's code blue2. You could have chosen a less ominous term."
"Yes. That code was just created today, and only for you. This means anyone who tells you that code has heard it directly from me and you should immediately enact the protocols."
Exactly as Andrei said, anyone who knows that code was exclusively a trusted comrade. So, you couldn't possibly imagine my relief when I heard those words come out of Roshni's mouth when he pulled me into the random secret room a while ago.
I'm not even surprised that there were multiple secret rooms in this building. What I am surprised by is Roshni's inconsistent actions today. However, if he was acting according to Andrei's script, then there had to be a reason for these inconsistent actions, but I just couldn't seem to figure out the reason.
Everyone was so distracted by the party they were headed to, that no one questioned what I was doing on the fifth floor, especially after I was accused of breaking and entering just last week. That worked out fine for us, although we still proceeded to Bryan's office as carefully as possible so as not to appear suspicious. By the time we cleared this corridor, the rest of the floor was empty. We didn't run into anyone else on our way and made it inside the office peacefully.
It was now 7pm and almost time for Bryan's presentation. According to the plan, Karren quickly logged in to Bryan's computer and opened the folder that showed the program. She then stepped aside while I inserted Jeremy's device into a USB slot. I felt her nervous energy as she twiddled with her fingers while I tried to upload this program. Once all of this was over, I could help Karren to be free of Jeremy's schemes once and for all, as she didn't deserve to be caught up in all of this.
All I had to do was run this program from Jeremy's device that would 'destroy' Bryan's program, then after Karren informed Jeremy of the results, she would leave for the awards party. When she left, I would then install another program that Andrei gave me on one of the USB drives to destroy Jeremy's program and save Andrei's program. I would have thwarted Jeremy's plans and Andrei would be able to give his presentation in peace.
"Is that how you thought your plans would go?"
If only my plans had gone exactly as I hoped.
That was Karren's voice, wasn't it?
Before I could turn my head around, several unsightly pop-ups appeared and started running amok on the computer screen. I stepped back in confusion as I watched program codes flying on and off the screen. Immediately, I reached for the aberrant device to plug it out despite the risk of damaging Andrei's computer. It was obvious that allowing this program to continue running was far more detrimental.
If I removed the device, then at least I could spare some damage from occurring…if it could be removed.
I pulled on the device with all my strength but it didn't budge. I rocked, jerked and almost flung the computer set up across the room, but the USB drive remained firmly affixed in place. What was going on with this thing?! I'd never seen or heard of a USB device that couldn't be removed.
Why was this happening now, of all times?! Is this device really targeting only that one program? What was going to happen to Andrei's computer if it wasn't?
I had an extremely dreadful feeling about all of this. I had an even worse feeling about Karren after hearing her earlier comment. If only I had that warning sense of foreboding before I plugged in this abysmal device. Sadly, there was no time to fret about 'if onlys'.
So, Karren was actually another enemy spy this entire time. Was she working with Jeremy, but pretended to be bullied by him just to get close to me? Was her entire 'personality' a façade from the beginning? I couldn't believe what was happening. My head began to spin while I tried to process the situation and think of a way to prevent things from becoming worse.
All the while I struggled, I was entertained by a girlish chuckle to my left from the out-of-character Karren, who simply stood by watching.
Well, it was now obvious that this was her real character.
My attempts to mitigate the damage caused by this device were futile, so it was time to refocus my attention on Karren.
"What the heck is going on here?!" I screamed at her, in a hurry to find a solution to this mess.
After a sudden outburst of laughter at my confused and panicked state, Karren stepped forward closer to me.
"You won't be able to remove that device, hun. I've locked it into the USB port until my special program is finished running."
"Your special program? I thought Jeremy got that program from a senior executive."
"Yes, he did. But that senior executive got the program from me first."
Oh no. This can't be happening. So, the real boss of this operation was actually Karren, pretending to be the shy, good girl that was taken for granted.
"What is that program? It's clearly doing more than destroying Bryan's program."
I couldn't believe the same sweet girl I interacted with only ten minutes ago was now cackling with such evil laughter.
"I regret to inform you, but this device will do more than just destroy Bryan's new program."
"What?!"
"This virus will completely obliterate Bolster's network…"
You've got to be kidding me!
"...and expose which family's Undercode is used as the backbone of this company's programs."
This day just officially became the worst day of my life...and Andrei's.
- Writer
