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Arturo nodded, following my lead. We made our way inside, where there was a big security system plastered across the wall.
“Here, we have the most powerful system that connects all of the security cameras in the world,” I explained. “It really helps in tracking down a person. So if Donte and my boss have appeared on any security cameras, if we cross-search their faces, it should give us the locations that they went through.”
“That's fascinating,” Arturo murmured. “Give it a try.”
I nodded, inputting their pictures into the system.
“Inputting faces…” I murmured to myself. “Reverse-searching…”
Seconds passed by, but then a red light started to flash on the security panel.
“Action blocked?!” I spat angrily.
“What's going on?” Arturo denied. “Why's the action been blocked?”
“My boss must have known that I would do some digging,” I snarled bitterly, trembling with rage. “That I would try to find Donte, so he's restricted my access to the database. So we've basically come all this way for nothing.”
I broke off my sentence, seething. I was so angry in this moment, that I wanted to smash up this whole system. I was growing insane with the worry and sheer thought of something happening to Donte, and me not being able to do anything to stop it or help him.
I was so pissed off.
So damn fucking pissed off.
“Not necessarily,” Arturo interjected, narrowing his eyes.
“Why?” I mumbled.
“Pedro is a top-class hacker,” Arturo explained. “He's good at hacking databases. After all, he's another software developer at my brother's company. Studying Computer Science can come in real handy sometimes.”
I allowed my mind to process this for a few seconds, feeling heat roar to my ears as the nerves continued to overwhelm my body and mind.
“So you're saying that we should let Pedro in on this?” I murmured.
“I don't see any other option,” Arturo admitted matter-of-factly. “He'll be able to infiltrate the database, to grant you access.”
If Pedro was able to do this, then even I didn’t see any other option. I had to save Donte, no matter what it took, and no matter what means I had to take to achieve that. I was ready to sacrifice everything for his sake.
As long as he was safe, that was all that mattered to me.
“Okay,” I confirmed, letting out a heavy sigh. “Call him and let him know of the situation.”
“Alright,” Arturo breathed. “Don't worry, I'll warn him to be civil with you. We don't want any bad blood between us. Our main priority here is finding Donte.”
“Of course,” I mumbled.
The next thing I knew, Arturo had his phone pressed against his ear, and he was speaking to Pedro on the other end of the line, debriefing him on everything that was going on, and sending him the coordinates of my base so that he could come and make his way down.
Five hours later.
Pedro had arrived now. He made his way inside. Base was quiet today and nobody was around, so there was nobody to interject or ask any questions about who Pedro and Arturo were. We had the space and privacy that we needed.
“So let me get this straight,” Pedro began, as he joined us in the security control room. “You want me to hack this database, to grant Maya access, right?”
“Yes,” Arturo confirmed.
“Gotcha,” Pedro nodded, and then he got to work straight away.
Sometime later
“I've got a location on Donte,” Pedro breathed, as he continued to infiltrate the system. I jolted backwards, startled, amazed at how smart and clever this man was, and how quickly he was able to work and hack the database.
“That fast?” Arturo denied, furrowing his eyebrows.
“Yes,” Pedro reassured.
“What are we waiting for then?” I cut in nervously, shrugging. “Let's go.”
Pedro let out a deep breath, his chest rising upwards and downwards.
“It's not as simple as that,” he said awkwardly.
I found myself narrowing my eyes in confusion, not sure what he meant by this. I folded my arms uneasily, feeling the colour drain out of my face.
“If me and Arturo go, Donte might act aggressively, and say that he doesn't want to be rescued,” Pedro mumbled. “That's how much he loved you, Maya. He would die for you.”