A Dance of Danger [Gwendolyn Thatcher Chronicles]

Chapter 5 - Clues. But why?

It was around midday and the clouds overhead were graying with sunlight present on its outlines. Gwen had found herself in one of Madison's internet cafes. A place where she tried to avoid at all costs. But today she had no choice. If Charlotte was in trouble, there was absolutely no way she could help her by herself.

The cafe was quiet as it usually was on Friday. She observed, while her laptop booted up, as a couple of passers by shot glances at her. She didn't really care what people said behind her back or what they thought of her. What mattered was how she saw herself. That was really how she ran her life.

Once her computer had booted into its usual OS, she looked around herself again. There was a teenage red-head girl sitting in the corner a distance away chatting up with a boy who had a red letterman jacket on. She started to laugh and nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Gwen stopped looking at them when the boy put a hand on the girl's face and started to kiss her. Upon observing her surroundings more, she could see multiple female waitresses at the counter. There were a few young people seated and a middle-aged man who had just taken a seat. Just before he could look at her, she looked away and focused on the blue light emitting from her screen. She was safe here. No-body knew where she was.

She kept her fingers on the board and pressed a few keys together. A large dialog box appeared with the title "Enter pass-code". And that's what she did. She logged in with her 18 character password. The screen went black for a while and then it loaded itself up into a whole new level. Any passerby would think that the OS loaded in was Windows 8 or even Windows 10 before. But this was a special OS that Gwen had coded herself. Her own personal dedication. Something she had spent months coding, and years before that planning everything out. Only three other people had hard coded copies. People she somehow knew she trusted.

After clicking into the chat room on her conspicuous desktop, she was greeted rather warmly.

Bravo Delta: Griffin's on!

Alpha Tango: 'ello Griffin!

Echo Lima: Griff, what are you doing this time of day for?

If she was being honest, these people were more of her family than anyone else she had ever known. And to confide in online people was crazy but to her very true. Everyone had called her Griffin or Griff, because she chose to go by that name. Griffins to her were majestic beasts with an intelligent nature. They attack when provoked and they intensely dislike it when people try to take their valuables. She had actually almost – let's say worshiped in a way – this creature, and she had gotten a small tattoo of a griffin in flight on her right shoulder blade.

Gwen waited a bit before she answered. She knew Bravo, Alpha and Echo only vaguely in the real world. Bravo was presumably a male college graduate studying quantum physics and chemistry. Alpha seemed to be a rather lonely male doctor who seeked comfort in the online world, living in the depths of his grand coast-side mansion. Echo, who kept to herself sounded like more a woman than a stated man from the way she talked. Though Gwen had never asked them such personal things. It was not her place to ask. She was not interested and even if she was, they would ask her questions in return. And that was stepping it over the line just a bit. She put her hands over the keyboard and typed in a response.

Griffin: They've got Charlotte.

Everyone here knew exactly who Charlotte was, not that she had been very open. People started to guess, so why pretend?

Alpha Tango: How do you know?

Bravo Delta: What? Why?

Echo Lima: Who's got Charlotte?