Read Online Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) by Matthew R. Bell - Free Book Online Page B

heart.

The Hunt
     
    When I
woke the next morning, Anna was already up. Once I’d showered,
brushed my teeth and changed, I headed out into the main room.
Anna, Brian and Chris were bent over one of the screens of the many
computers. Paul was nowhere to be seen, and the thought of his
sudden outburst coupled with his new attitude for the most part,
sent chills up my spine. Something was wrong with him, that much we
could see, and the conversation I’d overhead was never far from my
mind.
    I walked
to the kitchen, poured some coffee, and joined the group. The
screen they were staring at had some sort of outline on it. Small
boxes and large boxes, names in the middle, and I finally realised
they were building schematics.
    ‘ What’s up?’ I said as a way of greeting.
    ‘ I asked Brian to find out everything he could about the
address he got,’ Anna answered, never taking her eyes from the
screen. ‘The layout, security, what the building’s for.’
    ‘ And?’ I asked.
    Brian
swivelled in his chair, his eyes hooded and dark.
    ‘ It’s an information centre kinda deal,’ he said. ‘People or
businesses can hire one of the floors, and store information
there.’
    ‘ It’s a file room for the rich?’ I said.
    Chris
nodded and sighed.
    ‘ They offer different packages depending on how much the client
needs memory wise. Since most things are done digitally now,’ Chris
replied, but he wrinkled his forehead, and the gears in his mind
looked to be whirring.
    ‘ Can’t businesses and such not store their own information?’ I
asked.
    ‘ It’s less about capacity of storage, and more about security,’
Brian said. ‘High quality protection, guaranteed
apparently.’
    I took a
sip of the hot liquid in my hands, and stared at the screen. The
building had around twenty-four floors, but the screen only showed
one. That floor, being the twenty-fourth, didn’t have many rooms.
From what I could see, the elevator stopped at a corridor, which
led along to a large oval-shaped room. The schematic didn’t show
what the room contained though.
    ‘ Why are you guys focused on this floor?’ I said, pointing my
finger to the screen.
    Chris’s
face tightened and he looked into my eyes.
    ‘ Brian managed to pull this from the city’s database of
buildings,’ Chris started, ‘although, we’re pretty sure your Dad
isn’t here, but it’s definitely where the files came from, so he’s
got a floor there. Brian tried hacking through each
one.’
    ‘ I was going to go through each floor’s file system,’ Brian
continued, ‘see if any of them had files that matched what we took
from the USB.’
    ‘ And?’ I pushed.
    Brian
exchanged a glance with Chris, and Anna just stared at the
screen.
    ‘ I couldn’t get in,’ Brian admitted and sighed. ‘I see why
people use this place. It’s almost hack-proof.’
    ‘ That still doesn’t explain why you’re on this floor,’ I
said.
    They
both went silent, and Anna turned to face me. The fury on her face
took me back. I had to fight the urge to take a few steps away, her
fists clenched and unclenched, turning from bright red to white,
until she crossed her arms.
    ‘ What Brian did manage to find out, is who rents each floor,’ Anna
whispered.
    ‘ Who owns floor twenty-four?’ I asked hesitantly.
    ‘ Apparently,’ Anna spat, ‘Anthony Gordon does.’
    She took
a deep breath, quivered as she exhaled.
    ‘ My brother,’ she finished, driving it home.
     
    *
     
    We sat
for the next hour in thought, each of us unable to speak. It stunk,
it all stunk, bad. Chris was sure we were being baited, that it
wasn’t a coincidence. Anna was pumped though, her anger was
palpable, her frustration and fear. They were taunting us with her
brother, and the effect was terrifying.
    ‘ We need whatever’s there,’ she spat into the
silence.
    ‘ Anna…’ Chris started, but a glare was fired his way, and he
closed his mouth.
    ‘ They want to taunt us? Fine!’ she blazed. ‘We’ll