{"id":1164,"date":"2020-10-01T12:29:14","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T11:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2021-08-31T10:29:49","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T09:29:49","slug":"nadia-chapter-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/?p=1164","title":{"rendered":"Nadia \u2014 Chapter IV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Follow the story of Nadia, a quantum security expert in 2050 London<\/em><\/h2>\n

Nadia, a story by Miquel Morales<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

—<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Jumping in now? Catch up with previous chapters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Chapter I<\/em>V<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n

\u201cYou know, it\u2019s not the
\nfirst time I deal with the likes of you. Nor it will be the last, for that
\nmatter.\u201d <\/p>\n

The woman had a
\ndistinctive voice. Coarse, yet sharp as a whistle. A slight lisp and the way she
\npronounced the \u2018r\u2019 betrayed her as a non-native English speaker. Eastern
\nEurope, maybe? Hard to tell. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cScoundrels. Corporate
\nleeches who would rather put their energy to nefarious use than do their actual
\njob. Tell me: what was it, how did they get to you? Money? It\u2019s usually money. Perhaps
\nthe promise of a shiny new job?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nadia tried to keep a steady
\nface despite the woman\u2019s determined scrutiny. A plain metallic table separated the
\ntwo of them in the middle of an otherwise empty room. Exactly how one would
\nimagine an interrogation room to look like.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcuse me, where exactly are we?\u201d It had been a relatively short ride to whatever that place was, but the back of the van they had put her in had no windows. In any case, they couldn\u2019t have gotten further than a few blocks. Somehow, the secrecy of it all made Nadia think it had less to do with the actual police and more with someone else\u2019s particular idea of justice. Ugh, so stupid<\/em>. If only she had made it for the elevator a couple of seconds earlier, the policeman\u2019s hand wouldn\u2019t have been able to stop the doors from closing. Guess no one is naturally prepared to run from the police at a moment\u2019s notice. <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, she speaks!\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI do!\u201d said Nadia with a
\nmocking smile. \u201cAnd I can tell you right away that I don\u2019t have the foggiest
\nidea of what you are talking about.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cFunny, because your
\nfriend said quite the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friend?\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman pulled up some
\ninformation on her bracelet\u2019s screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr\u2026 Tom Schultz. Ah, chatty
\nfella.\u201d Wait, how was Tom involved in any of this? <\/em>\u201cWe know you stole the
\nRayStar duplos, so let\u2019s go straight to the point, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d It was impossible
\nto hide her surprise this time around. \u201cI did not do such\u2026 Wait. Are you even police?\u201d
\nDefinitely not. This has RayStar written all over it<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is paying you?\u201d The
\nwoman was clearly starting to lose her temper. <\/p>\n

The door opened and a man
\nin a suit walked in. He leaned on to whisper something in the interrogator\u2019s
\near. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not done here,\u201d
\nsaid the woman as she reluctantly stood up and followed the man out of the
\nroom. The door locked with a beep. <\/p>\n

Nadia finally let her guard
\ndown and allowed her body to show how nervous she really was, her right foot going
\nup and down in an endless loop. She wished they hadn\u2019t taken her earpiece. She
\ncould\u2019ve used Ziza\u2019s help with going through the events of these recent days. The
\nduplos. But EVE had not gotten even remotely close to that data. She couldn\u2019t
\nhave the way the system was designed. Especially not with that useless hidden attachment
\nstrategy. Plus, EVE\u2019s target had always been the proprietary security
\nalgorithms of Nadia\u2019s company. Or at least Nadia had assumed so, given her
\ninterest in getting close to the quantum encryption core systems. No, they must
\nhave made a mistake. Nadia hadn\u2019t messed around with the duplo dataflows at
\nall. Someone else had to be behind all this. Or had she missed something? She
\nwould just tell them about EVE, the attachments, the kidnapping of her sister…
\nThe door opened again. It was…<\/p>\n

\u201cTom?! What on Earth\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNadia, listen. There is
\nno time.\u201d He was all sweaty and dishevelled, his eyes full of fear behind the
\ncolourful glasses. \u201cThey know everything, they figured it all out. I\u2019m so
\nsorry. They had Hao\u2019s file, and they said they would\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cTom!\u201d Nadia grabbed him by
\nthe shirt and tried to shake him into making some sense. \u201cWhat is going on?
\nWhat are you doing here, and what did you do?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI\u2026 There is no time! They will be back any
\nsecond.\u201d He took her by the arm and the two ushered into a dimly lit hallway
\nwith concrete walls. \u201cYou need to get out of the city. Didn\u2019t you have a friend
\nup in Coventry? \u201c <\/p>\n

\u201cI do. But my sister\u2026\u201d
\nThey were now running through a maze of corridors across what seemed like the
\nbasement of a large building.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour sister is fine,
\ndon\u2019t worry.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWait, how do you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s fine Nadia! You
\nneed to worry about yourself right now.\u201d Voices and steps could be heard some
\ndistance behind them. The guards were in pursuit. And getting close.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is my sister?\u201d
\nThey reached a fire escape door and Tom cracked it open, prompting the alarm to
\ngo off. The light of day filtered in, momentarily blinding Nadia.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember the party the
\nother day? Wait until nightfall and head there. You will understand everything
\nonce I\u2019ve also left you an untraceable paycard. You shouldn\u2019t use any of your
\naccounts until I contact you. Not until we clear our name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTom \u2013 where is my
\nsister!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere she has been all
\nthis time. At her place.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me Nadia, I\u2019ve got a plan.\u201d He reached inside his shirt\u2019s chest pocket and took out Nadia\u2019s earpiece. He handed it to her and pushed her towards the door. \u201cNow go! I\u2019ll keep them for as long as I can.\u201d <\/p>\n

Flooded with questions, Nadia rushed out into a quiet back alley and started running without looking back. A shot could be heard in the distance. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

To be continued…<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read the next chapter: Nadia \u2014 Chapter V<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"Join<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Need tips on how to find a job in IT? Check out our\u00a0IT job hunting guide.<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The story of Nadia, a quantum security expert in 2050 London. Follow the chapter I of the story of Nadia on Mission Control Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[47,187,189,75,274],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horizon-2050","tag-cybersecurity","tag-horizon-2050","tag-nadia","tag-sci-fi","tag-short-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1164"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3965,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions\/3965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-uk.mindquest.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}