"Damn the server!"
Kevin was exhausted. He looked around with his droopy eyes. He rolled up
the window shutter next to him. He hung his car keys from a hook that dangled
from the rafters. All the cubicles were empty and looked depressing. Everyone
had left for the day. This is the thing about being a part of a small firm; you
get to learn, people you interact with know you well, but for the world, you
are no one. It was a colourless week, for he was aware of only eating,
sleeping and "the script". It was Friday today, the last day of the never
ending work-week and luckily it ran without errors. He raised a brow; he was
proud. He knew his client would appraise him. All that was left was to deliver
it to the client. But the damn server was down. This was a pretty common
scenario here. Servers restart at 11p.m and things slow down at this hour.
However, it would be back by few minutes and he could peacefully go home and
enjoy the weekend.
He kicked the coffee maker in the pantry with some might as it failed to
work at this hour and made hot green tea for himself. The door creaked. “Who
could be here at 11 in the night?? May be it is the wind or a cat” he
wondered. He went back to his cubicle and stood by the window thinking about all
the promises he had made for this weekend. He had to take his mother to the
dentist. That was first on the humongous list. Then he had promised to take Lily
out. Such a stubborn but a lovely daughter she was. He had to help his wife
with her shopping. He grinned.
"Hands Up!!"
he heard.
"What on earth is going on here? Who are you...?"
A muscular man, dark in complexion appeared with a revolver in hand. His
face was draped in black cloth. He had a navy blue bandana. He was quite
shabbily dressed but seemed to handle the gun with expertise.
"Where's the cash young man?"
"I don't know" he answered. "I am just an
employee here."
"Just answer to what i ask. Else today will be your last day on
earth...”
"No please don't..!" "I...."
"Where is the cash?" he demanded.
"really don't know......"
Million thoughts were running in his mind. His heartbeat paced. He was
scared; he felt suffocated. His spine stiffened. He had to do something now to
save his life. His work, love, marriage, life, and future everything was at gun
point now. He hated this eeriness.
The phone rang.
Both of them jerked a little. Both their eyes were fixed on the
phone. It took him a few seconds to recover from all this chaos and he managed
to speak up.
"I need to answer the call. It is my manager...."
"Dare not touch the phone..." he yelled.
He moved his finger to click the trigger. This alone was deafening to
his ear.
"Trust me, else they will suspect something’s wrong..."
"Ok boy, you answer it. But one word from your mouth regarding
this, you will be dead forever."
He answered the call.
"Is the script running now? I think you said it was almost
over...." his manager spoke gruffly on phone.
He was quiet, but his brain was working up. Real intelligence is not in
books, not even in the degree you hold. It is when you practically put it to
use to come out of a situation. He needed to act quickly. He eyed on the
telephone box. He held the receiver tight in his hand. He spoke.
"I thought of calling you for
help. The script is ready, but i am not able to gunzip it.
Don’t yell at me. Server is down right now. Trust
me i will handle this emergency here. Be patient please"
He ended the call.
"Show me the way to the safe now. Get me the keys as well... "
Kevin faltered. He took a huge bunch of keys and started fiddling with
it, trying one after the other. All the water he drank in his entire life was
oozing out as sweat. He tried to keep his calm and kept mumbling prayers. The
sound of wind combined with the false efforts to open the safe made his nerves
tingle.
With a loud thud the main door banged again and this time it was the
cops who stormed in. One cop whacked the burglar on his neck with one arm which
made him feeble and he fell on the floor. Meanwhile another cop handcuffed him
from back. One tall officer slapped him hard and bombarded a few questions and made
a report of this attack. All of them admired Kevin’s courage and asked how he
managed this. “I used the mute button.” he said.
P.S: Read it now again
"I thought of calling you for help. The script is ready, but i am not able to gunzip it. Dont yell at me. Server is down right now. Trust me i will handle this emergency here. Be patient please"
My first story to my favorite genre of novels "Mystery." Let me know if you liked it!!
