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The Story:
The double sacks kept her groceries from spilling out during their climb, which is something she learned by trial and error. Three flights of stairs weren’t ideal, but she didn’t mind the extra cardio workout.
The steps vibrated and clanged as she ascended to her modest apartment. On the fourth floor, she went to a red door marked 404 and pressed her thumb to a black pad. The door made an electric motor noise and opened.
“Welcome home, Riley. How was your…”
“Mute,” she said to the air inside her home.
She set the canned goods down on the kitchen counter.
“Would you like for me to tell your guest to come back another time?”
Her heart began racing as her body froze. She shouldn’t have a guest.
“Lights,” she managed to squeak out.
Looking to the living room at her right, she was startled to see a man sitting on her couch, staring back at her.
“Fingerprints just aren’t that difficult to get,” he said.
“Emergency: Intruder!”
She shouted for her apartment to initiate an emergency protocol. As soon as the lights turned red, the man made a couple of taps on his watch and everything went back to normal.
“Don’t try that.”
He made a few more taps and the door locked, sealing her in.
“What do you want?”
“Access. I need your help getting into the Master Site.”
She was no fan of her job, but it was a job. Helping this man get in could get her fired or more likely, imprisoned for life.
“It seems like you’re doing fine sneaking into places on your own.”
“Houses are child’s play,” he grinned.
She had a pretty good idea of why he wanted in, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up. She needed to hear the reason.
“Jobs are hard to find. Prison sucks.”
“I’m not like the others, Riley. I can do this but not without you.”
His approach was unique, she admitted to herself. She was the perfect person to partner with. Maybe he really could do it.
“And if you free the Internet?”
“I’ll give it back to the people, where it belongs.”
She smiled and grabbed a can from the grocery sacks she brought up.
“You hungry?”
“Starving.”