The Captive

Chapter 5: The moment

“So what have you done today, Herman” Gaby said as she stood up from the table. She had a deep look, I felt vulnerable around her. We had finished dinner and Bernard had left already.

“Ah…” I tried to speak, but she made me so nervous, “I…”

She interrupted. “You have to stop being nervous, Herman” She touched my arm as she said this, like she was flirting with me. She always acted in a kind of sexy way.

“I’m not nervous,” I said in a shaky voice, “I’m just tired.”

“Oh, yeah,” She spoke in a soft seductive voice, “tired.” She laughed and continued, “So, tell me, what did you work on today?”

“Oh, just simple stuff,” I explained with a cocky tone, “I just translated the first part of the encryption algorithm into a loop of decryption in order to start developing an infinite loop that will create an automated decryption key”

“So you just changed the purpose of the algorithm with a ‘what-if’ statement that will create a condition for auto-decryption?” She asked in a more serious tone, not trying to be sexy anymore.

“Wow,” I realized she was not only beautiful, she was smart.

“You thought I knew nothing about software, right?” She asked mockingly.

“Well, I mean, you don’t look like a computer geek.” I explained.

She laughed nervously and started moving near my face as she slowly said, “Okay then, I will be asking you every night about your work, so you better do what you’re told.”

Her eyes felt like a scalpel dissecting my soul and looking at my whole life as she stood there looking at me. She briefly looked down at my lips. My breathing got heavier. I was obviously attracted to her, but when she looked at my lips I had the feeling she is kind of attracted to me too. We didn’t speak for a few seconds, until it got awkward and we both looked away.

It was a weird moment, we both showed vulnerability. She blushed and got a bit jumpy. I tried to stop her by grabbing her arm and I said, “Wait…”

She interrupted me, “Anyway, you have to go to your room now,” She rushed to the door and shouted, “Nathan.”

Nathan got into the room and asked, “Can I help you, miss?”

“Take Herman to his room please.” Her voice got very serious by now, almost as if she was upset.

Nathan walked me to my room as he usually did. But this time he didn’t talk and I didn’t either. We normally chatted a bit. I got in my room and lied down. That was a weird moment with Gaby. Is she attracted to me or is she playing with me so I work better for her? It is hard to know when a woman is really attracted to you because your mind subconsciously wants her to and believes is only natural that she is. Humans are arrogant in nature. We believe that when something good happens is because we are so talented and when someone acts as if attracted to us we cannot think that they are acting because we are so damn attractive.

I sat in the desk and turned the computer on. I had to make contact with the Army to let them know what was happening and how could I get out of here. The computer from the room was connected to the computer I worked at. I opened the algorithm, I had already adjusted most of what I needed to break their firewall. They didn’t have such a great security system. Firewalls are just a system that filters the traffic that a computer receives or sends; this traffic is sent in the form of packets. The only thing I have to do is plant a bug on the operating system that makes the firewall confuse the packets that I send with packets that are allowed to be sent. I opened the computer’s operating system code and placed the bug I had created. I wrote a couple of lines to hide the bug from the system and opened a secret email window to write an email to the army contact. I didn’t have much time so I was brief, here is what I wrote:

“Agent Wolf, code MME112664, I am captive. Track IP 201.158.81.0 to find me.”

I closed everything and erased any trace I may have left in the computer. I was happy I was able to crack their system so I could escape. But I couldn’t stop thinking of Gaby. She was so beautiful and that moment we had was eating my mind. Was she really into me? Was it part of her plan? Was she in a similar situation to mine? It was hard to know the answer to all this questions so I just decided to wait, but after a while I just came to the conclusion that even if she was into me, she worked for the people that kidnapped me and it would be wrong to like her. She is the enemy. I have to stop thinking of her and concentrate in what really matters, getting out of here. I have to memorize all the corridors and doors, so when I eventually try to escape I don’t make any mistakes. I had to also think about the possibility that the army may not find me or just stop caring about rescuing me. So it is stupid to even think of her as more than my kidnapper.

I saw the date on the computer, “Wow, it’s been two weeks already.”

It is hard being captive for so long. Your thoughts start betraying you and you start doubting the most fundamental things. That may be the reason why I am thinking Gaby could be into me. That is why I am doubting the army. I can’t give up. Tomorrow will be a new day. I decided to go to sleep. Just when I closed my eyes, I heard knocking on the door. I jumped startled. “Who is it?”

To be continued.

New Chapter every Wednesday.