Chapter 478 - Security conference (6)

After all the excitement with hacking, him watching over her, her calling him hubby… sparks flew, they kissed and ended up in the bed.

…

Sarah and Aiden are in the bed, holding each other.

Now that she calmed down, Sarah's mind went back to the source of her worries. "Why do you think that entries from 71 to 75 are empty? I'm sure that man had number 71…"

Aiden also wanted to find the identity of a mystery man. It is possible to meet someone by accident once, but this looks to be more than that. It seems that the man is somehow connected to Sarah, and it made Aiden feel uncomfortable. "Maybe that information is in a different place?"

"The file looked like master key… but there could be multiple ones… Ugh! I hate when I hit a dead end like this…", Sarah's frustration was rising. She moved her head on his chest and took a deep breath. His scent relaxed her.

"Just because we don't see a way now, it does not mean it's a dead end."

Sarah's mood improved when she thought that he is supporting her. She is not alone, together they will figure it out. Somehow. "You are right. Let's order lunch… if we delay any longer, we will need to choose between lunch and the afternoon event…" At the mention of the afternoon event, Sarah remembered what comes after that. "Hey, there will be a social after event later! He might be there!"

"See? It was not a dead end.", he was happy to see that her vigor returned.

…

At the evening social event, after afternoon talk Sarah was observing people intently. Hoping to spot a man with number 71.

To her surprise, a man with number 72 on his dark blue cloak entered. Shortly after, a woman with number 75 made an appearance as well.

Seeing that 71 was not present, Sarah was disappointed. But 72 and 75 were also in the category of unassigned participant numbers, so they got Sarah's and Aiden's attention.

Sarah and Aiden watched them for some time and observed that 72 and 75 are moving independently. They moved slowly and occasionally chatted shortly with participants.

Sarah and Aiden agreed to go and follow them, trying to see what they are talking about with others.

Sarah was following woman with 75. She heard her start casual chat with two other participants. Mostly asking what they feel about the conference, their best and worst experience so far, accommodation, as well as food. Sarah thought that this lady sounds like she is conducting a survey for satisfaction and lost interest in following her further.

Aiden tried his best to unobtrusively follow man with number 72, but he didn't reach far when lady with number 11 approached him enthusiastically. She was obviously happy that finally he was not with that pesky 30 and did her best to keep a conversation. With her being noisy, Aiden had no choice but to give up on idea of following man with number 72.

Aiden frowned at lady with 11, frustrated by her persistence. She either didn't notice his displeasure due to the mask covering his face, or she ignored it on purpose.

Sarah saw that woman being persistent and headed straight there to teach her a lesson. At the same time, she was frustrated that Aiden didn't chase her away already. Just as she approached them, Sarah heard woman say with a sorrow in her voice, "So you are really married to 30?"

Sarah perked up, when she realized that Aiden told the woman that he is taken, and decided to step in. "Yes, we are married. What business you have with my husband?", Sarah said in a cold voice as she came next to Aiden and held his hand.

"Nothing, nothing…", woman with 11 mumbled.

"If there is nothing, then you should leave.", Sarah warned her.

Woman didn't respond, she just left.

Sarah stood next to Aiden with her head held high. She was happy that she didn't back down, like last time. She was smiling and looked at Aiden who was not able to hold back his grin.

Aiden was happy that she called him husband… and he noticed that for some time he didn't call her wifey or wife or missus, yet she still addressed him like they are married. He doesn't know if it matters much to her, but it means a lot to him.

…

When they got back into the room, Aiden apologized immediately. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to listen in to that man with 72."

Sarah shook her head. "It's not a big deal. It's safe to assume that those are not participants, but they have some special purpose."

They thought of different theories, but there was no way to prove anything.

With records being deleted when Sarah checked them last time, they were reluctant to go and try again. Aiden warned that they need to be careful. They are in this place surrounded with armed guards, it's not wise to play around. If they get discovered snooping around it could be dangerous.

"We can always dig for information after we get back home.", he coaxed her.

Only when Sarah agreed did he relax.

That evening there was another VIP event. This time Aiden won the challenge. Prize was similar as last time, contact information for a famous hacker who operates under moniker Phoenix with a promise that Phoenix will assist him in one of future jobs; second part of the prize was money; and third part of the prize was a job offer from anonymous company in Spain. Name of company would be disclosed if he shows interest to join.

Unusual thing was that Sarah also got an email with a job offer from anonymous company in Spain. It was the same email she ignored previous night. And she ignored this email as well.

They were ready to go to bed for the night, when their tablets lit up with notification of new email.

"Oh?" Sarah could not hide her surprise. "It seems that Mr. Patel is inviting us for dinner tomorrow. It's at his villa, where we had lunch."

The event ends next day. There will be a closing social event in the afternoon, after which participants need to leave. Sarah and Aiden were planning for dinner in Las Vegas, but now this invitation showed up.

Aiden confirmed that he got the same invitation. "Should we go?"

"Do you see a reason to refuse?" Sarah responded with a question. "It will give us a chance to find out why he gave us that token." Sarah pointed with her chin toward the Patel family token which was still on the desk in the sitting area.

Aiden agreed and added, "We don't know who else will attend this dinner. It might be all VIPs? Also, we could get a chance to find out something about man with number 71. As an organizer, Patel should know something."

"You are right!" She pinched his cheeks. "What would I do without you, my handsome hubby?"

Aiden was about to complain about cheek pinching, but he melted when she called him hubby, and he forgot why he wanted to bicker with her few seconds ago.