The Cumberbottom Incident: Rhett and Link

Chapter Seventeen: Hacking Answers

Link's POV-

I sit Mike down in one of those office chairs with plastic wheels that never actually work like they are supposed to. He stares slightly with a dazed look on his face. He will occasionally mumble something unintelligible under his breath as I roll him to the desk with the expectant computer. 

"Okay. All you have to do is hack into the YouTube security system, okay?" Mike blinks a few times and furrows his brow in confusion. 

"Mike?" I speak as calmly as I can. I can see Rhett from the corner of my eye saying something to Doug. He uses exaggerated hand gestures to illustrate his point. From the irritated undertones in his voice, I can see that he is beyond frustrated. I turn to Mike who is staring intently at me. I can see the thoughts race behind his eyes. I am about to redirect him when  a faint word emits from his lips. It almost makes me jump-

"...link..." 

"YES! YES! IT'S ME!" I respond louder than I expected, but it does nothing to stop Rhett on the other side of the room, who is still trying to convince Doug to help us out. Mike's once clouded eyes regain their spark slowly and he begins to smile. "Yes Mike, It's me. Link. We really need your help."

"But- Where am I?"

"I'll explain later. Just do whatever it is you do. And fast. We need to get this over with." Mike looks at me, and looks at the screen. 

Multiple green and black boxes shoot up from the bottom of the screen and the screen glitches as Mike types in code sequences. His eyes shift from me to the computer. Me to the computer. His hands shake nervously as I stand behind him, watching him type away at the keyboard. I pang of sadness twinges in my chest and I think about how hard it must be for Mike right now. Who knows what he's feeling. By the way the others looked, whatever was in that injection must have some serious effects. I decide to walk over to Rhett to see whats going on, I don't want to make Mike feel more nervous than he already is. 

I take a step. 

"Link!" Mike gasps. 

"What?"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to walk over there, don't worry." I motion my hand toward Rhett on the other side of the room. Mike blinks and nods his head.

"Call me if you need me buddy." I say calmly. He turns back toward hos computer and taps away.

Rhett's POV-

At this point, Doug is just making me angry. It takes a lot of effort to talk to him at all, and the fatigue that clouds my conscience is making this whole conversation hard for me to handle. 

"Dude, we just need you to tell us what is going on. Where are we?"

"Uhh... Boss said I can't let you escape."

"Yeah. I know buddy, we aren't trying to escape. We just need to know where the hell we are. Are we in California?" 

Doug stares at me. Then I have an idea:

"Hey Doug, what did the boss tell you?"

"He said I can't let you guys escape..."

I see Link walk up towards me from the corner of my eye and I motion for him to stop. He stops in his tracks, and I can tell he's confused. I can only hope this guy goes along with my plan.

"Where did the boss tell you we are right now?" Doug blinks and for a moment I see a shadow of doubt in his eyes, but then he responds beautifully. Just as I suspected.

"The boss said we had to bring our captives to Montana to the old hotel his dad gave 'em."

I try not to look surprised. Montana? What the hell?!  I can hear Link gasp quietly behind me. We must've been out cold for at least a day if not longer. I almost wondered why we would be in Montana of all places, but then I figured; if there is any place in the U.S. where crap like this can happen unnoticed, it's probably going to be Montana.

"Okay Doug. Thanks man." I nonchalantly bump his shoulder with a closed fist. He grunts unapprovingly and I turn around quickly and walk to the other side of the room with Link. I know this guy is not the brightest bulb, but he sure is stronger than me. One hundred pounds of brute force can knock any 6' 7" guy to the ground.

Link leans in toward me and whispers, "Montana?" He furrows his brow and looks at me nervously. His pale face even whiter from the white walls reflecting the bright florescent lights that hang from the ceiling. "Yeah buddy. We are all the way in the rural butt crack  of Montana." I try to smile to reassure him that we will be okay, and even spare a cheap butt joke, but I see the fear welling up in his eyes as I speak. I pat his back. "We'll be okay. We just have to get this YouTube thing over with. I would give up anything to make sure that we stay okay, maybe not amazing, but at least okay." Link smiles at me and he sighs. I can tell that he wants to say something, but he gets cut off by Mike's weak voice on the other side of the room.

"We are through. The system is breached."

Link's eyes light up. We are one step closer to freedom. One step closer to home.