Arthur walked gently to his room and locked the door behind him. Soon after, he heard noises and decided to check.
"Don't talk to me like that young man, don't ....". Mattel was speaking with someone over the phone.
"He hung up on me". He turned to Ruth and was straightening his head wrinkles in a way that suggested he was nervous. "He hung up on me". He shouted.
"Calm down".
"This is why people like him shouldn't be allowed into the business".
"Once a criminal always a criminal". Mattel was pacing the room while Ruth made him coffee.
"Here, take this". He took a sip and continued pacing.
"You know when we had that meeting a few months ago, I warned him not to go ahead with it. It was too much of a risk.....".
*Ahem*.
Ruth cleared her throat and Mattel looked up.
"What are you doing up there?".
"I wanted to have a glass of water".
"Arthur are you eavesdropping again?".
"No mum".
Arthur turned towards his room.
"I thought you said you wanted water".
"Yeah, water". He went to the kitchen and drank water.
Arthur went to his room and the bickerings continued but this time it was in hushed tones.
***************
"Listen to me, I need to speak to your boss".
"We can't get Mr Roberto on the line". The secretary responded.
"Listen.....". The line went dead.
"He hung up on me Ruth". He shouted on top of his voice.
This time Arthur couldn't resist the urge to eavesdrop.
"This WARPA initiative is getting on my nerves". Ruth said.
"I feel like they are thwarting all of our efforts. We have worked so hard before they came into the picture".
"WARPA?" Arthur said to himself.
Mattel made a few more calls and minutes of endless arguing followed.
"You need to calm down". Ruth said after the last call.
"Let's go out for dinner tonight, that should help reduce the tension".
"Dinner? If Roberto manages to go through with this plan, our whole life is at risk".
"You might be wrong Mattel. What if things are not as bad as you think?".
*Beep*.
The cell phone rang.
"Hello?".
"Hello". A male voice answered.
"Roberto?".
"Speak Skywalker for I am listening".
"This is not a joke. You should take that app down immediately or else".
"Are you trying to threaten me? You're going to have to try harder than that".
"Listen to Roberto...".
"Mattel let us meet and talk about this. Things don't have to get ugly".
Arthur had gone back to his room now to continue studying. He could only hear his dad's part of the conversation.
A few minutes later, Mattel's Range Rover Velar drove out of the garage. Ruth had stayed back and made a few phone calls.
***************
Arthur was becoming uncomfortable with all the tension going on in the house. The last time something like this happened, they had to move away from California. He tried getting back to reading but couldn't concentrate. Ruth's voice filled the house and every single communication gadget in the house beeped.
He decided to take a study break since he became evident that he couldn't concentrate on studying. His curiosity was gradually taking over him.
He switched on his laptop and began searching for WARPA. The search results came.
"Weaponized application research project agency". He read aloud.
"Pretty successful company". He continued to read through the internet.
WARPA is an American agency launched on the 15th of March 2018. The main objective was to research and develop new technology. Over the years the WARPA initiative has had over one billion downloads of their different applications all over the world. The agency is worth about 800 million dollars in profit.
"Tough competition, I see why dad is tense".
He searched further and saw many competitive companies and agencies, CANDAI was one of them.
He searched WARPA on his phone's play store and viewed all of their applications.
All of their applications looked legit enough except one named GIL. It had no downloads at all and was suspicious-looking.
"This is weird".
Arthur decided to get to the bottom of it.
Meanwhile.....
***************
"Nice to see to see you again Roberto".
"I wouldn't be if I were you".
They went into the elevator together. The elevator took them far below the surface of the earth. It was the WARPA HQ development lair. The room was painted blue and had different kinds of gadgets that were out of this world.
"Other projects too?". Mattel asked.
"Something like that".
The two men sat down and began to discuss. Words went back and forth.
"Who did you say was onto me?".
"The Pentagon".
"Wow, you do know how to connect don't you?".
"What's it to you?".
"I have always been a rebel. You should know that by now".
"Same reason why you went to jail".
"Mattel, jail doesn't scare me".
"Try the FBI'S newest correction centre".
"How much is the country willing to pay?".
"450 million dollars?".
"Not quite enough, I would make more if I go through with it".
"Or go to jail if things don't go as planned".
"Add a little more".
"500 million dollars?".
"I will take it".
"Is it here?".
"Right with my scientists".
Roberto raised his hands and tapped gently. A middle-aged girl came forward.
"Get GIL".
***************
"And done....". Arthur said looking satisfied. The words were boldly displayed on his phone screen.
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