“Here we are” the young male clerk leading them to the security room, announced, putting a stop to William and Rachael’s conversation. “Everything you need is inside.. just call me if you have any problem”
“Sure” Rachael replied with a broad smile on her lips. “Thank you. err..”
“Bryan” the young man replied” My name is Bryan”
“Later, Bryan” William chipped in with a serious expression on his face. “We have a lot of work to do”
“Yeah…” Rachael nodded in agreement, her voice laced with a hint of nervousness, pondering on the reason why William was more serious about the situation than she was. She followed him into the room, her mouth wide agape in shock as she watched him skillfully operate the computers without much effort. His swift and precise actions made her question him.
“William, when exactly did you learn this stuff?… You were never like this in high school” she uttered, eyeing him in suspicion. “What happened why we were not together?”
William froze on his actions, realizing that he had exposed too much information through his actions. He cleared his throat nervously and replied, “Well, I just learned a little stuff about cyber security in college. it wasn’t deep, but it should be enough for this”
Rachael’s gaze was skeptical as she gazed at the indifferent expression on the face of the handsome man before her. She was still unconvinced, but she decided to let it go when the monitors lit up.
“There” she shouted when she recognized Isabelle’s image on the monitor. “That was the last time I saw her. So, we just have to check the footage of the restroom” Her voice was laced with excitement, oblivious to the weird expression on William’s face.
After building up courage, he decided to voice out his thoughts. “Rachael, are you referring to the female restroom?”
“Yes, of course,” Rachael replied but suddenly realized where the problem was and burst into laughter. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I didn’t think of that”
William breathed a sigh of frustration and uttered, “I’ll play the footage for you to go through it yourself, that should be fine, right?”
“Yeah, great idea” Rachael gave him a thumbs up as she amusingly watched him fidget with the keypads on the table.
“Here you go”
“Thanks” she replied, watching him walk over to a corner far away from the monitor. She sighed helplessly and fixed her gaze on the monitor, watching the whole event that transpired in the restroom, and for some reason, she couldn’t hear anything. When the part where the man came in played, she screamed.
“Pervert”
“What’s the problem?” William rushed to her side before he realized his actions.
“It’s fine, there’s nothing here to hide” Rachael assured him, her voice laced with seriousness. “You need to see this.”
William and Rachael replayed the video from the beginning over and over again, a tremendous amount of shock evident on their faces.
“Check the footage of the garage” William quietly suggested as he switched the footage of the restroom to that of the garage. There, another round of the shocking truth was revealed, hitting them right in the face.
“Who are those people?” Rachael asked in bewilderment. “I should have known they were up to something when I saw them earlier. How could I have missed that?”
“It’s not your fault” William patted her back, a grim expression on his face as he stared at the video, his thoughts occupied with the unknown. A mysterious glint flashed through his eyes as she spoke. “No one would have expected such to happen.. it must have been planned carefully”
“By who?” Rachael asked, her voice laced with curiousity and her her eyes glistened with tears. “How do we find them?”
“That’s where the real problem lies” William declared, his tone exuding a hint of severity as he thought of something for a while before speaking. “You need to inform her fiancee about it.. he’s the only one who can help us find her. He has the men and the resources”
Rachael was a bit reluctant but there was no time to waste, so she nodded in agreement to his suggestion. But there was another hurdle to face.
“How will he believe me when he finds out that I work for his business rival, who had caused him so much trouble?… I don’t think he would even give me the chance to see him” Rachael voiced out her thoughts, her tone laced with great concern. “Is there no other way to convince him?”
“There isn’t” William shattered all the hopes she had left. “You would have to figure out how to convince him to listen to you… I can’t meddle in it, I can only help you behind the scenes”
Rachael was confused by his words, but still found it reasonable. He was never involved in the entanglement in the first place. She didn’t need to put his life at risk. But she was wrong, if only she knew how deeply entangled he was, even way more deeper than she was.
“So, what do we do with this footage?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “It’s useful, right?”
“Of course, it is” William exclaimed, baffled by her ignorance. “We download it. I have a flash drive here with me.. it is an essential instrument that you can use to convince Liam Callahan, that is, after he agrees to see you”
“You don’t have to say it clearly to my face” Rachael sounded upset, standing up with pouted lips as she stared at him with an expectant gaze on him.
And thanks to William’s intelligence quotient, he could quickly decipher what she wanted, so he pulled her gently into his embrace, patting her lightly on her head while whispering soothing and persuasive words into her ears.
“She’ll be fine. I’m sure her captor won’t do her any harm since they would need her for something important”
“Something like what?” Rachael asked curiously.
“I don’t know. Maybe, a bargain” he replied, the surface of his words laced with ignorance but a hidden meaning beneath it. “We just have to watch and see”
“We should leave. I’m sure Bryan is waiting for us. we shouldn’t keep him waiting” Rachael suggested, gently pulling away from the hug and removing the flash drive they had inserted earlier into the system.
“Oh! I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow” Rachael exclaimed. “Can you believe I didn’t go to the office today… I’m sure getting an earful from the good-for-nothing boss of mine” Rachael ranted on and on to the man who readily gave her the listening ears.