The Program [COMPLETED]

Chapter Forty-Three

Aiden looked around the room, paranoid that Xylem or any of his Officials would walk in and see all the clearly suspicious activity that he, Zariah and Theo were up to.

"Stop that," Zariah chastised him from where she leaned on Aiden's bed, her blue eyes stormy and alert while she looked at him quizzically. "You're making me nervous."

"Sorry," Aiden mumbled sheepishly. "I just can't help but feel something's going to go wrong."

"We've all got that fear, believe me," Theo assured him, sitting on a nearby desk with his portable laptop perched on his legs. "I've already tapped into the cameras in all of our bunks. Ran and Vigil are outside, walking around headquarters with their coms running. We'll know if shit's about to hit the fan."

"Hopefully," Zariah added. She turned the data disc over in her fingers, analyzing it intently. "You've had it the whole time," she murmured. "Where were you hiding it?"

"It's an old trick Alena showed me once," Aiden shrugged. "She told me that in her time, every Programmer had a compartment in their combat boots, usually to store away weapons like knives."

"We did?" Theo furrowed his brow, perplexed. "How come I never knew about that?"

"It's an old trick. Boots like those were discontinued a while ago, since they were more useful to spies than to soldiers. However, Alena had an old pair she inherited after a soldier her age died in battle, before the special combat boots were discontinued. She gave them to me as a gift for my birthday a few years ago," Aiden explained.

"I remember those," Theo answered, a thoughtful expression on his face as he tapped away at the keys, recalling the memory. "You were, what? Eighteen?"

"Yeah," Aiden nodded. "It was a coming of age present. My shoe size hasn't really increased since then, so I figured I'd store the data disc in the compartment while I wore the shoes around."

"Clever," Zariah commended him, a small smile creeping across her face. "So, it's been on you the entire time?"

"I wouldn't let it out of my sight," Aiden promised, returning her grin.

It felt good to be back home following the events of Oslua City. As soon as they'd arrived, Aiden and Virgil gave their friends the full details on what had happened with Roman in the city. All of them had mixed feelings regarding Roman's ultimatum, but they were all sure of one thing; Xylem had to be stopped before Eskium could expand, and fast. It was evident that the General was fully aware of the much darker rebel threat that skirted his surroundings, but carelessness and naivety were blinding him from taking action. Xylem was confident that his soldiers could take Eskium, but after the fall of Fifth Unit, it seemed that he was no longer so positive.

The only force that stood a chance against the Eskium troops was if the Program united with the people to rid Creatan of the threat, and the only way that would happen was if Xylem stepped down, or disappeared from the picture entirely. His reign of terror was quickly coming to a close, and Aiden was going to make sure he would never rise to power again.

"Hand me the disc," Theo requested. Zariah jumped up off the bed and handed Theo the glass card, peering over his shoulder while he inserted the disc into the laptop and waited for the files to appear.

"Chemical warfare experiment number three-zero-two-two," read Zariah. "Data entries from subject number five-eight-three-six."

"I don't see anything encrypted. Must be a secure file," Theo commented. "I'll keep looking."

"Alright," Aiden breathed. "Any word from Virgil and Rania?"

"Too many," Theo rolled his eyes. "Otherwise, the coast is clear." Suddenly, he sat up, seeming to be on the verge of a breakthrough.