In the front of the biggest screen, an ugly, twisted-face man was watching motionlessly, and smiling at those flickering numbers, completely satisfied.
"Dae, have we received that sum of money?" The man with dark glasses appeared from nowhere, asking with an evil laugh on his face," The deadline has already come, and he should have sent that money."
"Aha-! So impatient of you still as before, Rubel! You really haven't changed." Dae either laughed, his face getting more twisted," The cash went to our account early this moring, exactly to the cent!"
"A rules-observing customer, I like him." Rubel pulled down his wide brim, seeking for a place to seat in many tied up, tangled wires, "How about that 'special plan'? Have any ideas?"
"Almost done." Dae responded in a hoarse voice," But we still don't have the right one to carry it out." With these words, he laughed again, turning to the screen in a side.
"It's pity that Teresa has been dead. She should be the most suitable for this mission if she's still in here."
"I don't see why you're feeling pity. Anyone who dares to betray us will be dead. Hahaha..."
Rubel gave him a sneer, then idly fiddled with a strange machine beside him.
Abruptly, Dae found something abnormal happened in the central computer, in the moment, a screen on central open space started to fade, finally completely extinguished; followed by other screens in room. Until the last minute, the dim room sank into absolute darkness.
"What's wrong?!" In astonishment, Rubel jumped to his feet with anger," Is the central computer terminal possibly attacked by hacker?"
"I...I don't know." Dae anxiously turned on his emergency flashlight to light on his partial area, frantically banging on the keyboard, " The firewall should have limited any malicious access to the central computer system. Is that some new kind of virus?"
"Reset the computer, NOW, or these large datum will be totally destroyed! Don't you forget we still haven't backed up files yet!"
"STOP ORDERING ME AROUND RUBEL!" Dae yelled at him angrily, " I know more than you at computer, and I'M CERTAIN OF THAT!"
"Humph..." Rubel sat down angrily, fiercely in a dead silence.
In a few minutes, several of the screens went on, one after another.
"It's strange that the scanning engine haven't detected any virus or trojans in the central computer. Could it be other problems? Hardware or software malfunctions?" Dae bent down and stripped the mainframe machine. After a long-time examination and consideration, he still didn't gain any clues.
"Enough of that!" Rubel eventually failed to resist the anger and bursted out, " No matter what happens, this circumstance will never be allowed to occur again."
He turned away and dusted himself down, storming out of the dim room without a glance behind.
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In the midnight, everything on the beach is quiet down, quiet enough to hear the chorus of cicada and cricket. Silver-white moonlight filtered through the filmy curtain, casting on the ground, which brightened the interior of the room. A gentle breeze blowing through, filling it with placid drowsiness.
Most people have fallen in deep sleep in such a soft night, while Miria was fully awake-what happened during the day still rankled.
Helen was lying beside her, sound asleep, her leg against her body. She carefully moved it away, creeping from the bed, trying not to make much noise.
She cast a glace at the alarm. It's already 12 p.m.
Does she still remember their agreed appointment, and wait for her somewhere? It's quite late at night.
She quietly closed the door and tiptoed forward, at the same time, she activated her mobile phone to check her recent mails.
She walked softly to a downstairs room, stopping in the doorway. With hesitation, she worked up the nerve to knock at the door.
Nothing returned.
She turned the handle, and unexpectedly, the door was open. A strange feeling streamed up through her mind-Has she already realized she'll come here this very minute?
She slightly pushed the door open, surprisingly, finding no light in this dark room. Due to the heavy curtains, she could barely see anything, feeling blind in this dark-than-ever place.
She only took a few hesitant paces ahead, all of a sudden, somebody dived out from the darkness, seizing her tightly by the neck from behind. By instinct, she struggled to strike back, then a familiar voice coming past her ears.
"Miria, it's you."
"We've arranged to meet this time, don't you forget..."
Galatea started to loosen her hands, and switched the lights on.
"You're too vigilant." Miria adjusted her nightdress, complained in disapproval," We nearly got punched up!"
"Just an occupational habit, sorry." Galatea raising her arms in surrender, smiled apologetically and said," There's nothing wrong with a fragile woman like me to keep alert in the dead of night."
"You must be kidding me."
"You can sit wherever you like."
Miria stepped in and took a rough look around. The room was spotlessly neat and clean, the floor spanking, her quilt and clothes folded square, in very good order.
Not at all, she's used to all of these. Galatea was an impeccable perfectionist, in some ways, she made things even farther, persisting in keeping the permissible error less than a millimetre when performing her folding technique.
An obsessive at all.
She wouldn't mess up her overly-neat bed, so she just placed herself around the corner.
Galatea shrugged briskly, fetching out a laptop from her desk drawer. Shortly after she started up, a picture of her acquaintance appeared on the screen.
The man on this picture is familiar to her, frighteningly familiar.
"Ri... Rigald... But why..."
"The photo was taken nearby, not long ago. It's quite clear that, as you see, the man on the photo, the one you've been pining for almost three years, is Rigald."
He's alive... He's alive!
For a moment, a thousand thoughts poured out and travelled through, swallowing the last sanity in her mind, like a devastating flood, countless questions making their way through.
On seeing her face twisted a bit by the complex emotions, Galatea came over and sat beside her.
"I understand. You are in doubt. Why he did't look for you, or why he didn't return to the organization since he's still alive or something like that. I have a speculation about him..."
She was in a gloomy silence, so she decided to just keep talking:" I'm afraid... he has the same intention as Teresa's. They might have found some deep dark secrets in the organization, and by coincidence, both of them chose to rebel. And you, Miria, as a member of organization, are now a great threat, in other words, an enemy to him. "
"What do you base this conclusion on?" She struggled to fight off her emotions inside, yet her trembling voice sold her out, "It's been three years... Do you have any proof?!"
"I'm not sure about the detailed reasons, but the picture is claimed to be taken by a spy several days before, and he was right on his mission at that time." Galatea magnified it 10 times bigger than it used to be," That companion said he was carrying that weapon in hand, as you see, a Russian revolver, and deliberately obstructed the mission in every possible way, but unfortunately, he was defeated and fled away. "
She widened her eyes, staring at the picture. That's truly his favourite side arm.
"You mean... he is one of the rebels now."
The longer-haired woman slightly nodded her head.
"And that's the reason I asked you to come here. Both of two spies, apparently not any relativities between them, betrayed the organization. Obviously, they were not in collusion. Could it be... both of them found something hidden about organization? Was that a true reason that motivated them to rebel?"
Her partner carried on an endless stream of words, but she didn't listen into, even a word. Rigald...Her mind was filled with his figure. He's still alive, while she will never know where on earth he is, or whether he has already forgot her long ago, meeting someone else who usurps her place.
Or they'll never meet again.
They were used to be partners, workmates, and companions. They'd fought together, gone through dangers together, for so many years. He was once shot by enemies, taking place her; as it should be, she saved his life several times in dire peril; they'd also spent thousands of nights together, alone, in deserted places. They were once closely bond together, as lovers, yet now becoming strangers, even in completely opposite positions.
She'd rather believe he's been dead now.
Galatea noticed the tearless grief on her face, her heart near melting. She shut the power down and sat silently beside her.
Perhaps this brief silence would make her feel better.
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In the darkness, two shadows sneaked stealthily up on the door and hided behind a wall.
"Is there?" Deneve whispered, turning to the short-haired girl who was too nervous to speak up, her eyes peering in all directions.
"There it is!" Helen highered her pitches and gabbled excitedly," Just an hour ago, I found her sneaking out of the room, so I trailed after her!"
"But... why did she come here, in the midnight? Wait... isn't it her colleague's room? By the name of Ga... Gala?"
"That's IT! I saw her sneaking in here!" Helen danced excitedly, "I suppose, two women stayed in a same room, they are probably... in THAT kind of relationship! I CAN SEE THAT!"
"I don't think so. Miria is not a woman of that sort." Deneve retorted coolly.
"Never judge people by their appearance, Deneve!" She bent down and listened through a crack," Let me hear about it."
"Any movements?"
"Don't rush me! The sound is too low. I should move closer!"
"If you can't, let me do this."
"I'll set it up!"
"Stop making any noise, OK?! I'm trying to listen!"
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"Somebody there?" Galatea, who'd been alert all the time, was the first to sense the slight movement outside. She flung up a pistol from a locker, preparing for the fight.
On aware of the unusualness, Miria headed warily towards, covering her.
"I count three, and we'll break out." Galatea spoke in a low voice, gesturing to her partner to draw near.
"Three..."
"Two..."
"One..."
"BANG-!" Miria viciously kicked the door open, and her partner quickly held her pistol up. When the incident appeared before them, both of them were frozen.
Helen and Deneve had been scuffling and quarrelling fiercely outside, in some indefinable way.
"Why are you two busting there?!" Miria signed her partner to lay down arms, asking them accusingly," Were you trying to eavesdropp our conversation? Guys, you were committing an offence! And you're old enough to, and should have realized that!"
"Sorry, we're just..." Helen stammered hastily, "It's Deneve..."
"What? Me?" Deneve rose her eyebrows, and replied in a scornful voice," I think you're the one who doubts her sexual..." She hurriedly sealed her mouth, giggling and adding a few words, "Look, we're just worried about you! It's rather dangerous for you to come out alone in the midnight..."
Miria remained silent. Not even casting a glance at them, she went away without uttering a word.
"It's late. I'm tired, and you ought to get going then." Galatea spoke, giving them a bleak look before banging the door, leaving them both into knot.
"What happened to Miria? She looked so strange tonight." Helen murmured, seeing her back gradually disappearing in the darkness.
"Yeah, after having a secret 'conversation' with that guy named Gala-whatever." Deneve nodded her head approvingly.
"I'm really curious about that... I've never seen her so upset."
"Until tomorrow then, thanks to you waking me up in the midnight, I'm dozing."
"Oh, how boring!"
Only their twittering voice were left in this hollow, empty corridor.