Genius (CENTURIES series: Book #2)

22

Mia took a moment to swallow that piece of information. "C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S? I don't think I've ever heard of them."

Eli scoffed. "They're not a company you hear about, Mia. They take discretion and secrecy as important as their pulse."

"So who are they?"

Eli was just about to open his mouth when her computer suddenly plinked. His head snapped to the screen whereafter he begun typing hurriedly. "I'm in."

"You got through Zoe's security protocol?" Mia gasped.

"Took a few hours, but with Caleb having hacked her computer, it was easier to get through."

"Because you know him?"

He didn't reply. He just opened a black screen that popped up with some text. The username said Ceynius, but the rest was complete nonsense. It didn't make any sense. The letters were custom designed and were absolutely gibberish.

"What is that?" Mia questioned and frowned when Eli paused and looked at the screen with a deep frown as well.

"He's testing me. Making sure it's me. It's code, I have to crack it."

"How do you—"

"There's a deciphering code somewhere, I just have to find it. Be quiet for a moment."

Mia's heart started beating fast. Was he... yes, yes he was. He was using that brain of his. She had never seen him do that before, not quite so literally, nor so intensely. She had seen what he could do with the Einstein Enigma, but never really seen him in action.

She watched him closely as the crease between his brows deepened when he studied the screen with a stone cold concentration. He didn't blink, just stared it down. And then...

"Got it." He begun typing away at the keys again, pasting the code Caleb sent him into some sort of program Mia was certain wasn't on her laptop before he hacked it. "It's an encrypted text. Once I've decrypted that, it'll give me something – a sentence or a word, maybe some numbers. From that, I'll have to make a connection to something and then I have to reply back with whatever that is."

All that had taken him thirty seconds to brain. Jesus. "And then he'll know it's you?"

"Mm."

A few minutes passed where Eli worked and where Mia thought.

She was happy he was finally getting in touch with Caleb, but she just couldn't let go of what he had told her just a few minutes ago.

C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S. What was that? It sounded dangerous and it definitely sounded serious. Governmental. Whatever it was, they were the reason that Eli was running and that Caleb was hiding.

"There," He said as the long gibberish line converted itself into five simple numbers; 11718.

"What does that mean?"

Eli frowned again and thought for a long while. "Give me a moment."

And that she did. She watched him again as he closed his eyes in concentration and pressed his lips tightly together. What was going inside that head of his? She would've given priceless treasures to know.