CHAPTER 24: THE PLAN
While she was sleeping, Ariel suddenly had a nightmare, it was the dream of what happened six years ago when she had gone with her master to Country Y to pick the cargo that had been delivered when they were suddenly ambushed by their competitors. There she saw her master being beheaded and dying on the spot. She tried putting up a fight but she ended up barely breathing since she was overwhelmed. The competitors took the firearms and left her helpless. She really wished she could help but she had no ounce of strength left.When she woke up again, she found herself in an old man’s house who explained that he was just passing by when he saw her injured and at the verge of death so he decided to rescue her. When Ariel woke up and saw the wounds and injuries on her body, she was so shocked and felt nauseous especially after seeing the gash that the enemy’s weapon had left on her thigh. It looked so hideous that she couldn’t help but retch her guts out. Suddenly she remembered her dead master and immediately broke down.
“Master..Master!” Ariel suddenly shouted while deep in sleep.
Cliff, who was working next door,heard her cry and went over to check. On the bed,he saw her sister’s forehead covered in beads of sweat and streaks of tears on her face. It seemed like she was having a nightmare. She kept mumbling something. When Cliff read her lips, she seemed to be calling put to her master. Cliff felt his heart ache so he went over and took her into his arms and kept comforting her.
“Shhh..I’m here,don’t worry,it’s okay.” He kept comforting her until she went back to sleep. Her forehead wasn’t creased with a frown any more and this made Cliff sigh in relief.
Two hours later, it was time to get off work so Cliff went back to the lounge to weak Ariel up.
“What time is it?” Ariel, who’d just woken up, asked groggily. Her expression showed confusion since she wasn’t fully woke. Her hair had become messy too. Coupled with her sleepy eyes, she looked so cute in Cliff’s eye. Cliff couldn’t sit still and rubbed her head with his huge palm.
“Time to go home. Let’s go” Cliff said and offered her his hand. Ariel put her hand into his outstretched arm and stood up from the bed. Speaking of which, it was so strange. Why did she sleep for so long? If she remembered correctly, the last time she slept for that long was when she was ten years old and staying with her grandma. Ever since she started working with her master,she barely slept since she always had to remain alert incase an enemy ambushed her out of the blue. Just today, when he head hit the pillow on Cliff’s bed and she took in his scent, she found it too comfortable and warm. Since she felt secure,she slept with no worries. It was the best sleep in over six years of her life.
They arrived home and had dinner with the two of her brothers.
“Where did mommy and daddy go?” Ariel suddenly asked
“Oh,they went on a vacation for a month.” Cliff explained. He had forgotten to tell her on the day they left since she wasn’t around that day.
“I see.” Ariel nodded in understanding
“Sis,how was your day at brother’s company?” Aaron asked, and Amando who was also curious, nodded as a way of expressing his concern too.
“It was fun,I plan on going over tomorrow too.” Ariel said while smiling. She liked her brother’s company so much, it was harmonious and enjoyable watching him work.
The following day at the company,the person who brought snacks for her wasn’t Cliff’s assistant Leon, instead, it was a secretary from the Human resource department. She was warm and friendly which made Ariel happy. She could tell that she had good intentions. At sixteen, Ariel could distinguish between people who have good intentions and those who have evil intentions at a glance. That’s part of what she learnt from her master. That day, after she’d played on the ipad and had gotten tired of it, she told her brother that she was going to look around the company. Bellamy called the secretary that had brought snacks for Ariel over and instructed her to keep an eye on Ariel so that she wouldn’t get hurt. The secretary bowed and went to keep an eye on Ariel. Ariel took a look around the company and she couldn’t help but marvel about how huge and vast it was. She was just about to go back to office when she saw Leon, Cliff’s assistant, rushing into a room with his phone ringing. The room looked like a store or an attic. Ariel wondered why he couldn’t pick the call while in the hallway. Moreover, he seemed to be scared stiff when he saw whom the caller was. Ariel’s curiosity reached its peak so she walked stealthily to the locked attics door and put an ear on it.
“Boss, I’ll bring it over tonight.” Leon said shakily on the phone.
“You do know that it’s supposed to be signed tomorrow,right?” the boss whom Leon was talking to asked from the other end of the phone.
“Yes, I’ll see to it tonight. Don’t worry.” Leon assured the person on the other end hurriedly.
Ariel knew they were plotting something, and it had something to do with Cliff’s company. No, she absolutely couldn’t let her brother who doted on her be harmed. So she tiptoed back to stealthily until her footsteps couldn’t be heard anymore and went back to her brother’s office.
“You’re back?” Cliff asked and paused what he was doing while turning his attention to her.
“Mm hmm,brother is there a special event tomorrow?” Ariel asked him in a serious voice.
“Yes, why do you ask?” Cliff was somewhat confused.
“Just now when I was coming back, I saw Leon acting suspiciously after he received a call. He went and locked himself in the store so secretely followed him. I
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CHAPTER 24: THE PLAN
overheard him promising the person on the other end of the phone that he’ll bring it over tomorrow. I didn’t quite understand what it was. He also reminded him that the event was tomorrow. Brother,do you happen to have a clue of what they were talking about?” Ariel looked at Cliff and asked curiously.
“I think I know what it is.” Cliff said in understanding after a moment of silence.
“What is it?” Ariel asked him.
“I think it’s the proposal that we are supposed to present tomorrow.” Cliff answered her.
“Then what are you going to do about it brother?” Ariel asked worriedly.
“I don’t know yet,what do you suggest I do?” Cliff asked her instead.
“How about this,we take the original proposal and encrypt it in the new firewall that I created yesterday then change a few crucial things in the proposal and save it in the weak firewall of the company?” Ariel asked mischievously.
“How so?” Cliff asked curiously.
“Let me do it.” Ariel said and took the laptop that was idling around. She clicked on the proposal,moved it to the new site she’d created and encrypted it there. She took a look at the unsaved one and removed a few crucial information which left very subtle loopholes that only someone as keen as Cliff and her could be able to discern.
“Done.” She said while clapping her hands excitedly.
“Just that?” Cliff raised an eyebrow and asked.
“One more thing, put a pinhole caméra under the table tomonitor his movements while we are at home.” Ariel advised and set one up.
