AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But?” I asked her. She put her hands on her hips and scrunched her face. She reached and began moving things around on my desk.
“Do we know if any of these are theirs or ours?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll ask Dad,” I answered, connecting my mind-link to Dad. ‘Dad, all the phones that got wiped when you tried to work on them, what were the make and model?’
‘Motorola Moto G.’
‘What are all these other phones in the bag?’
‘They grabbed all the phones they could find. The rest are from pack members. I thought we could figure out who they belong to so we can give them back to the members or-or the families if it belongs to someone that passed away.’
‘So I don’t have fifteen chances to get this right, I have more around ten,’ I replied, slightly annoyed.
‘Sorry, sweetie. I forgot to mention it. It’s been a tough few days,’ he said, and I instantly contrite. Dad was there, helping with the cleanup and the aftermath. He probably hadn’t slept much either.
‘No. I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to be snappy. I’ll figure this out. I love you.’
‘Love you, too. Come home for dinner? Your mom could use some cheering up.’
‘Can I bring my friends?’
‘Of course. I’ll let her know,’ he said before ending the mind-link.
“These belong to pack members. Dad wants us to find out who they belong to so we can return them. I’ll deal with them. How are you settling?” I asked her.
“These computers are top of the line. I’m having so much fun setting them up,” she said excitedly.
Zi had been freelancing since we graduated from MIT, in between waiting tables to make ends meet. Even with old tech, she’d done some amazing things and helped me bounce ideas whenever I’d gotten stuck. Above my friendship with her, it was her brilliant mind that convinced me to put my job on the line to get her here. Mind you, seeing their reactions to her resume, I knew she could have gotten in here on her own. I was just happy to be able to negotiate her a higher position and salary. She deserved to have some stability and comforts she’d denied herself for so long while taking care of Molly.
I set the phones aside for now. I wanted to do some research into what kind of programs existed out there to wipe the data drives clean. I went into the dark net and down the rabbit hole. A few hours later, I had some ideas for the type of software that was on the phones. I could grab one of the wiped phones Dad had and recreate the software. If I could recreate the software, I could find write the software to go around it.
‘Woman, it’s six pm. Molly has been asking about you. Are you done yet?’ Zi’s mind-link startled me. I forgot she could do that now.
‘Shit, we’re supposed to be at my parents’ for dinner in half an hour,’ I replied, beginning to save my work and shutting down my station.
‘We?’
‘Yeah, all three of us.’
‘Oh. I guess we can cook the spaghetti tomorrow.’
‘If you’ve already cooked it, we can have it for lunch.’
‘Oooh, fair point!’
‘I’ll be home in a few minutes.’ I ended the mind-link and threw away my apple cores and bar wrappers before heading home.
“Hello, Molly!” I greeted the tiny pup sitting in the living room.
“Evie!” she screamed and ran into my arms. She started babbling about all the friends she made and what her daycare teacher taught her. I held onto her as we walked over to my parents. When we walked in, I stopped in my tracks when I heard a familiar voice.
‘Mom, what’s Paolo doing here?’
‘He was waiting for you when I got home so I invited him to dinner. Is-was that wrong? I thought you guys were friends?’ she asked and I sighed.
‘No. It’s fine. He just-he asked me out again, and I said no.’
‘Oh. Well...maybe it won’t be too awkward?’ she chuckled. I shook my head with a smile and walked in with Zi and Molly and greeted everyone.
