Chapter 473 - Security conference (1) (2/2)
Sincerely,
~ Saurabh Patel”
Aiden saw that Sarah stopped and went to see what got her attention.
”Ah! I forgot that he will leave something!” Aiden exclaimed after he read the note in Sarah's hand. ”What did he give?”
Sarah placed the hexagonal pendant in his palm without a word.
Aiden looked at it for few seconds and then his eyes widened. He removed his mask and Sarah could see that he is shocked.
”What is it?” Sarah saw that Aiden is frozen, and he does not have such a reaction over regular jewelry. It's obvious that this thing has some other meaning.
”No way…”, Aiden mumbled as he rubbed the pendant with his fingers gently, as if he is afraid to damage it, yet can't stop himself from rubbing it.
Sarah gave him a minute to compose himself before asking again. ”What is it?”
”It's the Patel family token!”
”That does not tell me much…”, Sarah rolled her eyes.
”Hmm…” Aiden thought for some time how to explain. ”Are you familiar with the Phantom comics?”
”The man who cannot die? Yes, I know Phantom.” Sarah confirmed.
”And you know that he has two rings, right?”
Sarah nodded while responding, ”Skull Mark ring and Good Mark ring.” She was not sure where this Phantom trivia is going.
”This is something like Good Mark ring.” He gave her a meaningful look.
Sarah still didn't understand. Seeing that Aiden is expecting her to know what he means; she gave her best guess. ”So… Patel is Phantom?”
”No, no…” Aiden flicked her mask in the forehead area and lifted the pendant so that it's in her eye level. ”THIS will give you support of anyone who is associated with Patel family. They are mostly centered in India and central Asia, but it's a large network worldwide… something like: any friend of Patels is my friend, and this is the proof that you are his friend.”
Sarah was not sure if she should believe him. He looks serious, but where did he get that information? ”How do you know about this?”
”About a year ago I worked on a project… at work… task was to locate one of these.”
Sarah nodded in understanding and another question popped into her mind. ”Why would he give me this? If this is what you said it is, it's not something to give around just because of a small misunderstanding.”
Aiden nodded in agreement. ”I think so too… what if it's a payment?”
”For?” Sarah squinted while waiting for his response.
”For something he is about to ask.”
Sarah remembered that before saying how there will be something for them in the room, Mr. Patel knew that she is Sigma, participant number 30. If Aiden is correct, and Mr. Patel is going to ask for something, it will be related to hacking. But he is a big shot in software industry… surely, he has many other hackers at his disposal. Sarah exhaled in frustration. ”This week is getting worse and worse.”
Aiden laughed. ”I don't think it was bad… sure, there was some excitement, but so far everything ended great.”
Aiden's words made her remember all the winnings, and that at the end she managed to get her revenge on casinos which banned her and took her prizes last time. ”You know what? You are right…” Sarah kept the pendant back on the table. ”No use worrying about this until we find out what Patel has planned. Worst case, I will return it.” She adjusted mask over her face. ”Let's go, my dear husband… we don't want to be late to our first event.”
Aiden grinned and followed after Sarah.