Within The Bonds

53: Bugged

Wordless he takes a seat next to me, placing a small square box on the sofa between us. "Do you recognize this?" He asks gesturing to box between us in a calm tone while his eyes say he's anything but calm.

Studying the box that displays a tiny blackish square, I frown looking up at him, and shake my head negatively. Sighing at my response giving me the impression that he had questioned me just as a clarification to his doubt, while he knew what my response would be from the beginning.

"What is it?" I voice my insuppressibly curiosity.

"A bug," he replies with his attention focused somewhere else.

"You mean bug as in like a spy bug?" I ask in confirmation although I already have a good idea about what a bug is.

"Yes," he confirms briefly.

"Where did you find it? And why did you ask me if I knew what it was?" I ask completely lost.

"I asked you if you recognized it because we found it in your room, Astoria. And before you jump to conclusions, no we didn't doubt you or anything. We are just trying to figure out how it got there," he explains and I nod in understanding.

"But how did it land up in my room?" I mumble to myself.

"That red blinking light in your bracelet was because of a discrepancy caused by the bug," he informs giving me some time to register all the new information as he does so.

"The bug was on my bracelet?" I inquired in shock as everything he says slowly sinks in.

"It was," he confirms with a sharp nod.

"I tried backtracing it but had no luck in that. The only way for us to find out who planted that bug now is if you can remember anything that might help." The more he tells me, the harder it gets for my brain to process everything.

"I know it won't be easy, you wear the bracelet practically everywhere, but even the slightest clue can help," he says placing his hand on my shoulder pulling me back from the crossroads of my memories.

"How long could that bug have been there for?" I ask in worry.

'How much information has this person extract out of me with the bug?

'How could I have not noticed?!'

Now angry at myself, I try my best to filter all my memories to find even the slightest clue that might be relevant to this. But with no timeline, this could take forever.

"Anywhere between twenty-four to forty-eight hours, not more," Jason replies glancing at his computer screen that parades a bunch of green and red numbers on a black screen.

This little detail helps narrow down my search a lot, but that doesn't make the job much easier.

"The only place I've been to for that time period is practice." He nods at this as I try to think of anything else, that might help narrow it down further.

"Wait I also went to the office to meet Xavier before he left. You don't think that the bug had anything to do with Xavier's incident, right?" I ask as everything started to fall in place in my mind.

'If what happened to Xavier had anything to do with the bug, I won't be able to ever forgive myself!'

"Of course not! We don't know the exact time the bug was planted, so we cannot jump to any conclusions. And moreover for all we know, what happened there could just have been an accident like the authorities suspect it to be," he reassures, but I can see right through his uncertainty.