MAN_NAPPED - SANTIAGO (CHAPTER 6-I)

CHAPTER 6

Day 3(Monday) – 56 hours after emergency alert.

Janet woke up first the next morning. Adams had insisted she stayed overnight at Rachel’s house because they never knew what Lucas could do. Mr. Jude had also placed a guard around to watch over the place - just in case – to make sure they were safe.

Adams had gone over to his office in the night to bring over some equipments, he said he couldn’t feel comfortable without having his entire tech around.

Janet didn’t sleep much during the night too. She had been tossing around, having nightmares. She dreamt of Lucas chasing her around with a car while she was running on foot. She even dreamt of herself as a small fish about to be swallowed by a bigger one. She also dreamt of Daniel, her boss. He was tied to a chair and they were poking a hot knife into him. She couldn’t bear the thought of Daniel being hurt. She owed him a lot and she would feel forever indebted to him.

Adams’ entrance into the sitting room broke her out of her thoughts. “Good morning, Janet” He called out to her. He checked the time, it was thirty four minutes past five. “You’re up early” He said.

“Yes, couldn’t sleep” Janet replied.

“It’s okay” Adams said, coming over to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said. “We’ll find Daniel, and we’ll find him very soon. As you can see, we have the best people looking for him”

Somehow, she didn’t feel reassured. Her phone rang, she looked at the screen and almost had a panic attack - it was Lucas.

“It’s Lucas from work”, she told Adams.

Adams jumped and shouted “Wait a minute.” He ran over to where he had his computer setup. “You have to let it ring for a while, so he’ll think you’re just waking. Meanwhile, I’ll try to protect your signal so he doesn’t trace you. Put the phone on speaker and Janet, how are your lying skills?”

“Pretty rusty, Janet said.”

“You have to up your game” Adams said.

After a few rings, the call ended, but Lucas dialed again. Adams signaled that he was ready. Janet answered the call.

“Hey” She said. “Good morning, Mr. Lucas”

“Hey Janet” came the crisp voice over the phone. “Good morning, how was your night.”

“Very rusty”, she said and cleared her throat.

“I just wanted to check if you were okay. You seemed a little off yesterday when you were leaving.”

“Yes” She said, making her voice shake. “It was my sister, she had a car accident and they called me, it was why I panicked. I hope I didn’t hit any of the gatemen.”

“Oh, you almost did.” He replied. “I thought you saw something that spooked you. How is she feeling now?”

“Well, thank God. It wasn’t serious. She just twisted her ankle is all. She’s back home.” Janet said and squeezed her lips together, then she quickly added “She’s sleeping, she had some drugs” She was afraid that Lucas would ask to speak with her.

“Ok, that’s good. Say hello to her for me.”

“Sure, thanks for calling.”

“So, are you coming to work this morning?”

“No, I’m afraid not. My sister stays in Ibadan and I’m over here with her. I can’t make it today. Please tell Dr. Daniel I’m sorry, I already completed his tasks anyway.”

“There’s no problem. I’m sure he’ll understand. I hope he even comes to the office today.”

“I hope so too.” Janet replied.

“Alright then, take care.” Lucas said and hung up.

“How was that?” Janet asked Daniel. “Do you think he was convinced?”

Rachel’s voice came from behind. “Sounded pretty convincing to me. Where did you learn to lie like that?”

“Good morning” Janet replied.

“I thought you said you’re poor at lying. Please remind me not to cross you when you get real good at it.” Adams said.

Janet smiled. Rachel walked over and said “Good morning guys, what’s up today.”

“You’re the boss here, you tell me.” Adams replied. “I wouldn’t mind starting the day off with some food though.”

“What? Don’t tell me you expect me to cook for you.”…

And so they spent the day talking about what they had until 7.00 a.m. when Jude knocked on the door.

***********************************

 Day 3(Monday) – 48 hours after emergency alert.

Jude knocked on Rachel’s door at exactly 7.00 a.m. Janet help open the door for him and he came in.

“Good morning” he said cheerfully and smiled at the plates of food in front of them. “You guys are having a very nice morning here. Do I get a plate?”

“No, we don’t feed strangers” Adams replied.

“We shall be doing some very dangerous things together this morning, I don’t think we’re strangers anymore.”

Janet smiled and found him a plate. She had ended up cooking while the two adults had argued over some very minor issues. It was okay, she enjoyed cooking anyway; it helped her take her mind off things.

A few minutes later, they were discussing their plans to infiltrate Matrix global during the day.

Jude told them that somehow, during the night a top level office had been sabotaged during the night and they would have to fix the power supply in the room as soon as possible, as well as the air conditioning system.

“Remind me to never get into the bad books of the Nigerian intelligence” Adams said, Jude smiled

“It’s a very important administrative office so they will have to fix it soon. We know the maintenance company they use, so when they call, we will be waiting to intercept. We’ll have to be electricians for today.”

“What if they decide to use another company’s service?” Janet asked.

“Well, our tech division is monitoring all calls from their maintenance section this morning, so we’ll know when they do and we have a backup plan.”

“See? Backup plans aren’t that bad” Adams told Rachel.

Jude continued “In, the meantime, I’m here to brief you.”

Over the next thirty minutes they went over the entire plan. Rachel would drive over to the place with Janet; they would be there mainly as a failsafe. They would park in an alley nearby. Adams on the other hand would ride with Jude in a repair van labeled Elektrofix electricals, dressed as a repairman from the company. He would have three other “technicians” with him and together they would go to the room that needed fixing. One of those technicians would stand guard, two would fix the wiring and air conditioning system and Adams would do what he was there to do – hack.

However, before then, Jude would have had his man go into the place and with means known to him only, access the private elevator and get into the mainframe. Adams would have to remotely guide him from the van to install the worm he needed installed.

After he had installed the worm, the repair team would move in and from there, they had forty five minutes maximum to do the fixing, Jude gave Adams thirty minutes to complete his task.  Jude assured him that they had the means of extracting him if things went south. If Adams finished his work before the repair was finished, he would be escorted out and another technician would take his place. The technician would fix the A.C, at least, that would be their excuse. It was just to make sure if things went south Adams would be safe.

to be continued...