Kill Or Be Killed

Chapter 2

~Lyle~

7:27 pm.

I sat calmly on the ground behind a few bushes, trying to look as if I was working on my laptop in the middle of the park on a Friday night. In reality, I was keeping an eye on the main entrance of my father's tech company headquarters.

The long, four story building stretched out across the green grass, the architect styling the box structure in strange ways to make it look unique but failing miserably, much like all the other buildings in Silicon Valley. If I had to choose where to set up the main headquarters of my company, it would be in Los Angeles and built to look like a flashy casino. But of course, although all millionaires and billionaires are non-conformists and rebels to some extent, it wasn't enough to pull my father away from being another Silicon Valley billion dollar company. It's not like Silicon Valley was a bad place. It was nice and pretty, and the houses were beyond interesting. It's just that nothing seems to change. Everything's always the same.

For god's sake, the most interesting building is a giant navel.

I sighed and resumed to focus on my job. I needed access to my father's company files to see what they're up to. The problem with my father's company is that all of the files can only be accessed on their own devices. All work is stored locally until employees get to the office the next the day and upload it onto the servers. This meant that there was no cloud service or website I could hack into remotely. I needed access to one of their devices. 

Of course, I could've tried to get on my father's computer at home, but with his paranoia, he probably configured it to shoot lasers if someone without his fingerprints touched the keyboard. So, I settled for the next best thing.

Stealing an employee's laptop.

Hence why I was hiding behind some bushes and spying on the front doors while trying to look natural in the middle of the park. I had already chosen an employee. It was just a matter of getting to him.

My target wasn't so high up in the company that his laptop going missing would cause immediate turmoil, but high up enough for me to know his name. As far as I could tell, my father trusts him completely, which means it could contain everything. Or at least, as much as my father would ever lend to someone other than himself.

7:30 pm.

I looked back up and, just as expected, Julian Cox pushed through the revolving glass doors. His blue suite hung crisp, even after a day's work, and a golden Rolex glittered on his wrist. The black laptop bag didn't even swing a centimeter in his hands. He looked pristine and commanding. But I could see through his facade.

The blue suite, no matter how straight it was, was worn at the edges, a clear effect of him only having two suites that he rotates through every day. With my love for watches, even from a distance, I could tell the Rolex was a rip-off. The arm carrying his bag was too stiff and looked like it was more used to swinging things casually.

As expected, he walked down the street and entered a cafe where he usually picked up a blueberry muffin. Having his schedule memorized, I took this as my cue to start my way around the park, closer to the south end.

7:40 pm.

Julian Cox entered the park, carrying one muffin, and heading towards his regular bench. I spotted the guy I had paid earlier watching him too from the corner of my eye. Julian sat down in his bench and stretched his feet, beginning to relax as he ate his muffin. The laptop bag was placed to the left of him, just where it would be visible in the corner of his eye.

7:43 pm.

After waiting for a few minutes, just long enough to finish eating his muffin, I approached him. The boy I had paid who was pretending to practice some soccer tricks started to roll the ball closer and closer to the bench.