71 Another Chance (1/2)
Inside a platinum suite, Kiba and Meghan were sleeping on a bed. It was afternoon but they were dead tired.
~ring~ring~
A sudden phone call broke their sleep.
”A business call so excuse me,” Kiba gave Meghan a kiss and told her to rest. He walked to the adjacent room before picking the phone.
”Claudia, what happened?” Kiba asked.
[[Data from SBC News Headquarters' has been downloaded.]]
”I see,” Kiba took a seat on the couch. Even for Claudia hacking through a news channel's internal servers is not an easy task since the data inside is the lifeline of the channel.To overcome this difficulty, he helped her in planting required tools in SBC Headquarters.
Kiba swiped a panel on mobile screen towards the tv. A moment later, the tv was filled with the data Claudia has hacked.
”Anything we can use?” Kiba asked.
[[There is a recording of a video call between Sylvian and Daniel. It took place a few hours after what you did in the wasteland.]]
A media corporate would always have few cards under their sleeves. Daniel was the same. He recorded his conversation with Sylvan for worst-case situations. '
”Sylvian? The chief supervisor of the city?”
[[Yes. He wanted Daniel's and other media houses' help in fooling the commoners about the incident. To do so, he bribed Daniel with $50 million and a clearance for a pharmaceutical company.]]
The screen showed the conversation between Daniel and Sylvan.
”Wow. So Daniel used me to cover an incident I created,” Kiba couldn't help but laugh at the irony. To distract people from the wasteland, SBC ran the breaking news regarding Agatha's pregnancy.
[[The next data I acquired is related to that. The internal logs of the channel say it was Sarah who proposed the idea of using you and Lady Agatha to attract viewers. To be precise, Daniel readily agreed to the proposal so both of them are responsible.]]
”Is that so?” Kiba's voice was cold.
-----------------
Daniel was sitting inside the living room of his house. He has personally checked all the security arrangements and was now confident that Kiba could never barge in.
~~beep~
[[A video message from Jody has been received in your private server.]] The AI responsible for the management of the house said.
”Jordi? Quickly play the video,” Daniel said. Jordi was the man responsible for surveillance on Sarah.
A holographic projector was activated and showed the contents of the video. There were two recordings in it: First the indirect meeting between Kiba and Sarah at the art exhibition where they didn't really meet. The second recording showed Kiba's and Sarah's encounter on the beach.
Daniel felt his blood boiling when he saw Sarah smiling during the second video. There was no audio recording of their conversation so he couldn't know what they were talking about.
At the end of the video, there was a message from Jordi saying Sarah has paid for Kiba's drink.
”Buying him a drink?!” Daniel couldn't understand why she will do such a thing.
Alas, Jordi and Daniel didn't know about the encounter between Kiba and Sarah at dining spot. Their first meeting was brief; something which happened moments after Sarah entered the hotel.So there was no way for Jordi to record or know about it.
”They only had a brief encounter so I shouldn't think too much,” Daniel tried to calm himself but then he thought what if they had an encounter inside the hotel premises. Jordi's team were able to record the events at exhibition and beach by acting as if they were guests who were recording their stay.
But inside the hotel rooms? Daniel knew how strict Close Horizon was about the privacy of its rich patrons. There was no way he could access the security footages either.
”No! I am thinking too much! There is no way Sarah will fall for that bastard!” Daniel took a deep breath and proceeded to make a drink for himself.
Half an hour later~
~beep beep~
Daniel was sitting on a couch drinking when he received a message on his cell phone. His expression turned ugly when he saw the sender's name: KIBA!
Grudgingly, he opened the message which read: ”Every smile has a reason, every laughter has a way, every destination has a way, every lock has a key.”
The last two phrases were italicized as if to denote their importance.
”Son of a bitch!” Daniel's eyes were bloodshot as he read the message full of innuendo.
-----
It was evening when Sarah returned to her home.She was surprised to see her husband sitting drunk in the hall.
”Honey, you are early,” Sarah put her bag on the table and took a chair opposite to Daniel.
”Can't I come early? Or are you perhaps expecting someone?” Daniel asked in an annoyed voice.
Sarah was startled by her husband's words.
”What is going on with you?” She couldn't understand her husband's behavior from the last few days.
”With me?” Daniel's eyes were filled with anger at Sarah's words. He clicked a panel on the table nearby and a holographic projector was activated.
Sarah was shocked to see her personal outings recorded.
”You were spying on me?” Sarah was incensed. What has she done to deserve this?
”It should be you who needs to give an explanation and not me,” Daniel pointed towards the projection in which Sarah was smiling at Kiba, ”What do you have to say?”
”You are an asshole,” Sarah has enough of her husband's rudeness as she continued, ”Kiba made a funny remark so I smiled. Or do I need permission to even smile?”
”You were with Kiba! KIBA!” Daniel couldn't help but remember the message Kiba sent an hour ago.
”You are dirty minded so you can only think of dirty stuff,” Sarah stopped the projection and said, ”Do I become suspicious when you speak with women? I thought you were better than this.”
”Stop lying! Only a whore would hang out with Kiba!” Daniel instantly regretted his words.