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CHAPTER TWENTY

"Rupert, honey, is that you?"

The question came from inside the house.

"Yes, it's me," he replied, and put the small box inside his pocket and went in.

"Welcome home, darling. How was your day?"

She hugged him.

When Sylvia said this, a thought disturbed Rupert's mind.

A terrorist, hacker guy welcomed me home before my wife, and I don't even know who they are.

He quickly discarded the thought and said, "It was great. The presentation went along perfectly, and I think I impressed them."

"That's awesome. I'm proud of you."

They both walked into the lounge and sat on the couch.

"Thanks. I guess all those late nights were worth it after all. Um, where is Jane?"

"She's upstairs, in her room," Sylvia said.

"Why? Is she sick?"

"No. She's just playing video games," she said.

"Oh, okay. We should watch the news now, don't you think so?"

"Yeah, sure," she said and took the remote from the table in front of them. She put on a news channel.

...a solution to BuyNow's security problems. Secusol's CEO Jake Waters held a press conference this morning, announcing a partnership agreement his company signed with BuyNow.

Rupert fixed his eyes on the TV.

He announced that BuyNow will be changing over to Secusol's security solutions and that technicians were already working on it. During the conference, he said that Secusol expected the system to go live at midday today, and that customers were to expect only a few minutes of service interruption. The system did shutdown for about five minutes at around midday, during which customers were unable to access their accounts, but is now back online.

"I guess they finally solved the problem. I heard Secusol has got this new technology that will change the industry," Sylvia said.

"I don't know, honey. I just feel like somewhere out there, the guys that hacked BuyNow are watching this and have probably come up with another way to beat the new system," Rupert said.

Sylvia nodded.

"But I could be wrong, you know."

"I think you're right, in a way. We shouldn't always believe what these security companies say. There is no such thing as complete, one hundred percent security with computers. Anyone can break their systems, you know."

"Like that teenager who hacked a government website last year," he said.

"Yeah. With the ability, tools and time, a person can do anything," she said.

"Yeah."

"I would love to just sit here, with you all night, but I must make dinner now dear," she said, massaging his shoulder.

She stood up.

"Let me go look for one of my recipes to use for tonight's dinner."

"Okay," Rupert said.

Sylvia walked over to their dining table and browsed her laptop for a recipe. Rupert sat on the couch, with his eyes fixed on the television, but his mind was elsewhere.

I feel so powerless. I can't let them do this to us. This must end. Who are they kidding? I know that as soon as I do all their dirty work they are either going to kill me or frame me for the crimes. Either way, I'm going down. But I won't let Sylvia and Jane go down with me. I can't tell neither of them about this; it will just cause unnecessary pain. The final outcome is bad, and it's inevitable. Now these mad people want me to deliberately let a virus through the security system. I can't believe this.

Rupert sat on the couch in deep thought for more than an hour, while Sylvia prepared dinner. When she finished making dinner, the three of them ate together at the table.

There wasn't much conversation while they ate, and Sylvia noticed Rupert's unease.

Something is wrong with Rupert. It's as if he is not telling me something. Could he be having an affair? He's obviously troubled about something.

Even when they went to bed, he still didn't talk much. He didn't share any thoughts with Sylvia, as he usually did on every other day. Rupert didn't sleep at all that night either. He just lay on the bed with his eyes wide open, thinking about the predicament.