The phone call

"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!!