Red Code Alert, Chapter 3

Finally, done with all of my homework.

Starting revision tomorrow.

Didn't make a blogskin this month.

Cos was busy rushing with work.

Chapter 3

“Val? Can you come over to my house? I’m in danger - great danger. Can you come now?” Layna had called Valoria, her best friend. Layna sighed as she told herself not to cry. Layna and Valoria had been the best of friends since high school and had been stuck with each other since then. Valoria was charming but was different from Layna. Layna was an alluring woman while Valoria was like an elegant lady. The two of them were inseparable in school, and till now, they would meet for lunch four times a week.

“ELLE? OPEN UP! WHAT’S WRONG? DON’T SCARE ME. OH GOD. OPEN UP! LAYNA!” Valoria was screaming and banging on Layna’s door. She had been at the door for five minutes. Valoria had this habit of knocking the door instead of pressing the bell because she thought pressing the bell annoyed people much more than knocking. At first, Layna couldn’t hear the screams and shouts because she was at the second floor. Then, she thought she could hear something from the first floor. She suddenly remembered Valoria’s habit and rushed to the door, stumbling over the pile of blankets at the living room.

“Oh, thank God. I was about to call the cops! Why didn’t you open the door earlier?” Valoria was perspiring profusely and doesn't look like the elegant lady she seems to be. “Val. I don’t know what to do now. Help me!” Layna started crying and ran into Valoria’s arms. Valoria was shocked because Layna hadn’t behaved like this since three years ago when her boyfriend died from cancer. Neighbours were staring at them, as if they were two mad women. Immediately, Valoria pushed Layna into the house while closing the door and sat on the sofa. “Layna, calm down and tell me what happened.” “Val. I.. Oh goodness!” Layna was sobbing so hard that it was difficult to make out the words that were coming out from her mouth. “Okay, Layna. This is getting us nowhere. I’ll go get a glass of red wine to calm you down.” Valoria retied her hair and walked to the kitchen. She poured two glasses of red wine, grabbed a packet of Lays and went back to the living room.

“Oh my. Layna, it’s been hard on you. We’ll get through this together, I promise.” Valoria hugged Layna tightly after Layna told her the whole situation. “Alright, so where’s that gadget?” Layna had calmed down, thanks to the red wine and chips. She brought Valoria to her parents’ room where the gadget was. “Okay. The end of the world. Have you tried 2012?” Layna nodded her head. Valoria was good at riddles. In fact, she finished ‘Riddles for the Smart’ and ‘Riddles for the Professional’ in five days. Valoria clucked as she brainstormed. She took a piece of paper and wrote ‘end’ and ‘world’ on it. Two minutes later, she exclaimed, “D! It’s the letter D! Try it!” Layna typed the letter ‘d’ and pressed enter. “Correct answer. File opened.” They screamed, jumped and hugged each other in joy.

“Red Code Alert?” The two echoed. Layna opened the file named ‘Red Code Alert’. Three files were in the ‘Red Code Alert’ file. The files were named as ‘Clients’, ‘Earnings’ and ‘Process’. Layna decided on ‘Clients’. There was a word document in the folder. She opened it to find that her father was working for on a project for the government and FBI. The representative personnel were Mr. Randell Paul, the Finance Minister and Mr. Franklin Mitch, Executive of FBI. “These two involved in this project? It must be very important. Elle, open up the ‘Process’ folder first. We need to know what this project is exactly about.” Layna did as she was told and opened the ‘Process’ folder. There were a total of 30 word documents, named as ‘Day 1’, ‘Day 2’, ‘Day 3’ and so on. “Day 1.” Layna read out loud. “Met clients. They handed me the virus and a million dollars. Clients want me to analyse virus. They expect results 3 days later. Analysing of virus. Preliminary results show that it is a dangerous one. Further results will be shown by virus analyzing machine two days later.” “Elle, this sounds bad. It seems like some corrupted officials trying to make a potent virus to kill people. If we delve deeper, it’d certainly bring us trouble.” Valoria shivered at the thought of the potent virus. “Val, but if we don’t, I’ll certainly be killed by that anonymous first.” Valoria nodded her head, signaling Layna to read on. However, they didn’t know that trouble was approaching.

To be continued...