Finding Joy

CHAPTER 8: WHO IS IT

No matter how much Joy wanted to run to check every room in the building, she tried to slow herself down so she wouldn't look suspicious. By now, it would be impossible for no one else to notice, so she needed to hurry. As she went around asking all the employees for clues, Edan entered the CCTV room and walked in on three operators having a conversation about a movie. He looked down at their messy desk. With the exception of a few screens and communication devices, the desk is covered in empty food wrappers and a box of assorted donuts.

"Yeah, so the hero of the movie was kinda- Hey!" One of the operators spot Edan out of the corner of his eye. "What are you doing here?" He panicked, jerked his body around to face Edan, and knocked over the coffee cup on his desk with his elbow. The other two also panic and tried to hide their trash by moving themselves infront of the pile. 

Edan looked back up at the operator and crossed his arms, and scoffed. "Hello, sir, your boss asked me to supervise to make sure you all are working and focused. I hope you will cooperate. You wouldn't want to lose your jobs would you?" 

"Of course! Please take a seat. Would you like a donut? I hope you'll put a good word in for us with the boss." the operator said nervously.

"No."

"O-ok." The operators turned around and discretely pushed their wrappers towards the edge of their desk in hopes they would land in the trash bin underneath. Some actually make it, but, of course, many missed and fell on the ground.

"Simpletons" thought Edan. As the operators glued their eyes to the screen, he looked at the footage and tried to find the tech support. He got distracted, however, when he saw Joy scrambling around the hospital, disappearing from one screen, and popping up on another. "Tch, what a burden."

"I can't find them anywhere, they've probably left by now. Wait-" thought Joy. "The front desk! That's it! If they want money, they probably want patients' financial information!"

She rushed to the front desk and asked the staff if tech support came around. They told her that he just left, and when she ran outside, sure enough, she saw the tech support from earlier.

"Wait! Stop!" she yelled as she grabs the man's arm.

He turned around with an irritated expression. "Huh?"

Joy was shaking in fear, but she knew she has to protect her hospital and co-workers. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of the past, so she tried her best to deescalate the situation. "Hi, I saw you from across the room and I thought you were really attractive. You're just my type."

The man, with his brows still furrowed asks, "Did you really?"

"Yes, really!" Joy said as she smiled. She looksed down and saw a USB in his hand and thought, "That must be what he used to hack into our system."

"I'm busy." The man shook his arm out of Joy's grip and starts walking away.

She chased after him and yelled, "Wait! Can I have your number? Or maybe your business card?"

"Tch, you're so persistent. Ok fine, if you want me so bad then you're coming with me."

He firmly grabbed onto Joy's wrist and aggressively dragged her into the parking lot and threw into a van. Inside the van was another man dressed in black and wearing a face mask: he was the hacker.

"What is this? We don't have time for this right now."

"Don't get the wrong idea. We can use her."

Joy was scared and her hands were shaking. But, she reached into her pocket and turned on her phone camera to record. The tech support turned around and saw Joy fumbling around in her pocket. He went over and pulled her arm out and saw her phone on. He grabbed it and smashed it.