Steps

Step 6: Puppy Dog Eyes

None. Of. This. Made. Any. Sense. Leah let out loud groan. How was this happening? Why was this happening? She slung the papers she had been analyzing onto her desk and shoved her chair away with her foot. She spun around to gaze out the window.

It had been nearly 2 weeks since she found the encrypted files on the server. Over that span of time, they had disappeared and reappeared almost 10 times. There was no pattern to it. They would just come and go. She had no idea how it kept happening. It shouldn't have even been possible.

She spun back around and pulled up the server log on her computer. They were there, again. Make that 11 times in the past two weeks. She scratched a tick mark on one of the loose papers. She turned her attention back to the window.

Should she try to break the encryption again? At this point, it was more of a challenge than anything. Obviously, there was something in those files that someone was desperately trying to hide. Why else would they have taken such heavy precautions? Why else would the have chosen her server?

Leah sighed. She hadn't been taking very good care of herself lately, at least not by Jamie's standards. How could she when this stupid server situation was on her mind all the time? She was pretty sure that in the last 3 days, she had managed around 7 hours of sleep. She spent most of her nights trying to break into the files whenever they were available. And thus far, she didn't have much to show for it..

She was exhausted. And hungry, she was really hungry all of a sudden. She reached to her desk and grabbed her box of Fruit Loops. Perfect office snack. She rolled her eyes. She truly was a child sometimes. She shoved a handful into her mouth. She couldn't even remember the last time she had a decent meal. Wait, had she even fed Nova last night? Crap.

There was a sudden knock on her door. She jumped. Her box of Fruit Loops nearly landed on the floor. Seriously? Who would even be here at this time of night?

"Hey Lee." Cisco stuck his head through the door. Oh.

"Hey." She spun around and pushed herself back towards the desk. Why was he here?

"I smell...Fruit Loops? Are you eating Fruit Loops?" He had an inquisitive smile on his face as he pushed through the door.

"Yes...?" Did he seriously smell the Fruit Loops? That was.... really weird. She started to straighten the papers on her desk.

"Can I have some?"

"Ummm, sure..." She pulled the box from her side and held it in his general direction.

"Thanks!" He took the box and situated himself on the edge of her desk. "What are you doing here so late?" He popped a handful in his mouth, a childish look of delight spreading across his face.

"Just working on some... stuff....yea, stuff." Great lie, Leah, great lie.

"Mmmm. So, do you have the package?"

She paused. "What package?"

"Oh! There it is!" He hopped off the desk and walked over to her pile of unused towers. She looked over to where he was. Sure enough, there was a box on top with the same message as last time, "Do not open." He stuffed another handful of Fruit Loops into his mouth as he grabbed it. "Did yuu nah no it wus herr?"

She pressed her lips together. Talking with his mouth full, seriously? "No. They must have put it there when I went....I don't know, sometime today." She'd forgot she hadn't taken lunch. She had been zoned out pretty much all day, so she wouldn't have noticed if anyone had slipped the box in. She glanced at the box one last time before she turned back to her papers. She needed sleep. Cracking the encryption could wait until later.