6.
Asad
"Seriously, Mr. Khan, can you be any louder?"
I looked at her annoyed face puzzled. I was just...breathing. Not talking, working, eating, just simply existing as instructed by the doctor.
"Aap thik hain?" Maybe all the stress got to her head.
I saw her taking a long deep breath "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just, I'm having a hard time cracking this site. I don't know what command they have used here. What kind of secret CIA agendas are they running for this sort of protection?!"
"If you would like, I can get someone to help out, maybe it could help solve our problem" I offered.
Now, I was being genuine, little did I know, I'd hit the nerve.
"Oh really?! You think I can't do this. That I'm not good enough to complete this one simple, stupid task. Huh, is that what you think?"
She was standing now. Pacing the room, running fingers through her hair, fuming.
"I didn't say that." I replied genuinely confused by her response.
It's definitely got to her head. At this point, we'd need another trip to the hospital. I would go into the physio ward, and she would go into the psych ward.
Great!
"Par kehna toh chahte the na aap. Socha na aapne. Why else would you offer help?"
"Because we are a team?" My face was now frozen in bewilderment.
"Jhooth, agar aap mere teammate hote... well isi baat pae arz kiya hai"
"Allah" my lips escaped.
"Ban na sakenge aap kabhi shayar,
Ban na sakenge aap kabhi shayar,
Kyunki kya hai na,
Liar liar pants on fire."
Whoof! That was a new low, even for her.
I gazed on boggled as she continued the rant in a world of her own, I was baffled by how quick she distracted herself.
"Haan toh main keh rahi thi, you wouldn't have doubted my abilities and offered to replace me if you weren't lying. Fine! Main bhi ab code crack karke dikhaungi. It's a bet and if I win, you better do whatever I say."
Before a word could leave my lips, she left the room mumbling.
My hands found the familiar place on my forehead.
I knew she was having a hard time with the security 'firewall'. It was built better than ever apparently. And why not, it was one of the leading companies supplying guards and their services. Maybe her getting the heat out was for the best.
We had shortlisted all the firms I knew, that used the security company and then tracked down their employees. We'd been successful in eliminating most of them and were now down to just four candidates.
To gain more information on them, we needed access to their inside information; their names, addresses, biodata all of it.
It was middle of the night and my room was half pizza by now. I could see her being diligent about not creating a mess in my room though.
I thought it was cute; the careful crunch on the bag of chips, extra boxes of tissue, and the unhealthy soda placed carefully so as not to let it spill. It didn't rule out the fact that her eating habits were questionable.
