Episode 6

Ben nodded and set up for her a chair, sitting in another across from her.

“Well, it started back in Austria.”

“Linz,” Connor added, closing his eyes as he leaned back, listening.

“Yes, in Linz. The seniors’ class was on a field trip to the software facilities there when Connor and I—”

“And Amy.”

Ben looked irritably at Connor, and Miah frowned. Who was Amy?

“Yes,” Ben continued. “We found a door that said ‘Do Not Enter’ that was cracked open, and Amy wanted to see what was inside.” He shook his head. “The three of us were at the back of the group, so no one noticed us slip away…. The room had lots of computers and microscopes and machinery, and we didn’t see anyone inside. We looked around, mostly at the machinery and things.” Ben scratched a stain on his jeans and continued, “We assumed they were for making computers, but now I think they might have had another motive…. I wiggled the mouse of one of the laptops, just curious, and the window that was opened caught my eye. I called the other two over to see it. It was detailed plans of a powerful computer virus, along with other plans to infect every computer linked through the internet.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “That’s what a virus is.”

Ben blinked and looked up, mouthing the words I don’t care, and went on. “We were horrified. On another window, I caught a glimpse of the mechanics of a robot, but before I could read more Connor said that someone was coming. We all freaked out, but I unplugged the laptop and grabbed it as we hurried out the door. I put it in Connor’s backpack, and we ran to catch up with the group.”

Miah looked at him, confused. “But that’s not all, is it? What happened then?”

Ben shook his head no, and Connor leaned forward, continuing with his story. “A week later, just after graduation, I received an email demanding that I give the laptop back. The conspirators had valuable information on that computer, and they had worked overtime to figure out what happened to it. I don’t know how they figured out who I was, but if they knew my email address, then they knew where I lived.” Miah shuddered.

“That’s when we started to get really scared.”

Ben nodded. “We weren’t really thinking….”

Connor looked down. “After I told Amy, she tried to take the laptop to the place they’d told us to leave it, at a remote gas station in Switzerland. When I found out what she’d done, Ben and I followed her and just barely managed to stop her from giving it to the man there. When he tried to get it back and I resisted, there was a fight, and Amy was shot.”

Miah blinked, hesitating in her deep breath. Looking toward the trapdoor again, remembering the way they had fled as if their pursuers knew their every move, she frowned.

Things are beginning to make sense.

She noticed that Ben was clenching his fist; she looked at Connor solemnly. “What happened then?”

Connor turned to look her in the eye. “Ben and I chased the man responsible for her death; we used the information in the laptop to find their hiding places. Using their own explosives, we blew up their main facility in Slovakia, severely crippling their effort to create the right computer virus.”

Ben grinned, probably at his dramatic wording, and Connor bit his lip to keep from smiling and continued. 

 
“With the laptop, we've been tracking them for some time, but they discovered more about us than we intended them to. They even found out about you.”

Ben nodded and looked up at Miah. “I had suspicions that they would try to harm you because of me, but I wasn't even sure how much they knew about you. I should have known better than to visit you at school openly…. They obviously followed me to your school, or knew where your school was. I visited you to make sure you were alright, but now I can't help but wonder if they found you because of that one mistake….”

Dismal, miserable sense.