Obscured Glimmer

6. Pendrive

Sea Lagoon Beach Resort 9: 00 AM

NANDINI:

I once again pressed the Enter button only to be welcomed by the notification Access Denied on my laptop screen.

Why couldn't I open it?

I needed to know what was the Pendrive about.

When I was getting ready for the Dinner; I found an anonymous Pendrive in my bag. I didn't know since when it was present there neither did I know whom it belonged to. I tried to open it but it seemed to be protected by some password and I was not able to crack the code.

Maybe it needed expertise. Dialing a number on my phone; I waited for my friend to pick up the call.

"Hello, Nandini! Long time! How are you?", Swami said as he picked up the call.

"Hi, Swami! I'm fine. Actually , I need a favor.", I came straight to the point.

"Yeah, tell me.", he waited for me to speak further.

"Do you know anyone who can crack a password? You know I have this Pendrive and I'm not able to open it. I really need a good hacker to crack the code.", I asked him for help.

"My friend Jack works as a hacker for Mangalore Police. Maybe he can help you.", he said as he processed my words.

"But I don't know him.", I muttered.

Swami replied, "I'll send you his contact number. And don't worry. I'll tell him that you'll be calling him. He can help you I guess. See you then."

"Yeah. Thanks. Bye."

I was waiting for Swami's message when I noticed that Mukti was slowly opening her eyes. Shutting down my laptop, keeping the Pendrive in my pocket I moved in her direction. Sitting on the other side of the bed, I asked her, "Good Morning, Feeling better now?"

Giving a slight nod she said, "Good Morning. But how come I reached here? As far as I remember I was running since those goons suddenly attacked me and then I found you -"

I interjected her chain of words, "And then you fainted, Mukti."

"How...How do you know my name?", she questioned in a shaky voice.

"Because of this I-card. It has your name and it also says that you work as a reporter for i News. By the way, I'm Nandini. Nandini Murthy.", I chuckled at her twitchiness.

"So, Nandini, What's this place?", she asked looking around after rubbing her eyes.

"This is a resort. Don't worry Me and Manik handled those goons. It was quite late. So, I took you here to my room.", I explained forwarding her a glass of water.

"Manik? Boyfriend?", she looked at me inquisitively.

Being stunned at her sudden assumption I retorted, "What? No. Not exactly. We are friends. Well, not even friends. We are just conversant with each other."

"Not even friends but you were laughing with him while walking on the street at midnight?", she teased me with a toothy grin.

"That's -", I was at a loss of words.

"I'm sorry. I act as a curious cat at times. Rather than being thankful to you, I was pulling your leg. I'm really sorry.", she said getting up from the bed.

I smiled, "It's okay. So Mukti, What happened last night? I mean why were those goons behind you?"

"Actually, I was walking by -", she started narrating last night's incidence, just then my phone buzzed with a message from Swami.