In the dining section of the sitting room, Alec was eating with Laura and Anthony in silence. Soon, Anthony broke the awkward silence hovering uncomfortably over them.
"So Alex, tell me more about yourself", Anthony requested with his mouth full. Alec didn't even know where to start from. He obviously could not say he came from a world to complete a mission in this world, that would sound strange.
"I came from a simple family. My mom passed away not recently, survived by my dad and me. Things were difficult for us until I met your father, who helped us immensely, that's all", Alec said and took a spoonful of rice.
"Where are you from?" Anthony probed further. "Canada", Alec said a random place. "Canada? You don't look like anyone coming from Canada", Anthony asked with a frown.
"I get that most times, but that's not gonna change the fact I came from there, right", Alec said, intentionally hardening his voice to depict anger. Anthony stared at Alec for a moment, before taking another spoonful of rice.
Alec finished his rice and took the plate and headed to the kitchen. "No Alex,don't worry, Anthonio would take the plate to the kitchen. Just leave it on the table", Laura spoke up hurriedly.
"But the kitchen is right there. It's not that far", Alec said confused. "Drop the plate on the table Alex", Laura repeated. Alec shrugged and kept the plate back to the table. He then took out the piece of paper and sat back on the dining chair.
"Alright, let's plan on how to rescue the chest carrier. First off, we have to locate where he was kept. Next, we'll plan on how to..." Alec was still talking when Laura interrupted him.
"Woah, Woah, Woah, what are you talking about? We're... we are not rescuing anybody", Laura said staring at Alec with cold eyes. Alec froze while speaking and looked at Laura with confusion.
"What are you saying? You're telling me you have no plans in finding the person holding the box that opens with the key you possess?" Alec asked baffled. "Listen to me Alex, or whatever you are called. There are reasons we came to this remote place in the first place, one of which is to keep us safe, nothing else.
"Going outside that gate is already dangerous enough, let's not talk about running about trying to save someone that might probably be dead by now. Unless necessary, we can't leave where we are safe for now, do you understand?" Laura said staring at Alec with cold eyes.
Alec felt a headache coming on. This was not how he wanted this to go. initially, he had assumed that the reason he saw Laura at the restaurant earlier was that she was trying to find the chest carrier, but it appeared it was not the case.
"How are you going to be safe if all you do is run? Instead of finding and taking out the person instigating your kidnapping, you run and find a place that is away from the city? Why the hell are you suffering yourself this much?" Alec asked.
"Please, shut up! We aren't suffering ourselves, and just so you know, my mom tried that genius idea of yours, and guess what, she was almost killed, twice. We are not doing that again, never", Anthonio said in rage and left the table.
Laura sighed softly and looked at Alec. "Look, Alex, it's not that we didn't want to find that carrier, I've tried, but it's just not possible. Even if somehow we find and rescue him, we are simply putting ourselves in more danger. As of now, it's impossible to find him".
Alec stood up from his seat and left the dining section. "I'll decide on what's impossible", he muttered and took Laura's laptop. "What are you doing? You can't use that!" Laura said alarmed. "I get it. It's not going to be connected to the Wi-Fi", Alec said. He understood Laura's emotions.
Thanks to the pursuit, Laura couldn't use any electronic gadgets that connect to the internet anymore, afraid that she would be tracked. Apart from the laptop, she threw all her gadgets away, burning them all to ensure her data would never be compromised.
Alec booted the laptop and used a double-layer VPN to hide his location. He would not call himself a computer expert, but he was well versed in the technical aspects of any computer. With his current knowledge, he could reinstall an operating system, dual boot, fix some errors with the terminal, and perform some basic repairs.
One thing he loved among all these was using VPN to change his location. He valued this technology since some western movies were restricted to his countries, so he used VPN to bypass these restrictions and watch any movies he liked without hassle.
Of course, he knew VPNs were not too secure. Even if one uses a secure VPN, it was very much likely that his or her location would be gotten with reverse engineering. This was why he opted for a double-layer VPN. This was more secure than just one.
After making sure they were working as expected, he opened the browser and downloaded an Arch Linux distro operating system, and installed it on the PC. This operating system was the most secure OS he could think of for now.
As soon as it was installed completely, he connected the VPN again and began researching Laura's ex-husband's company. Laura saw all of the things Alec was doing and was awed. No doubt Alec was a computer genius. She couldn't even recognize her computer desktop UI anymore. "What did you do to my computer?" She asked curiously.
"Let's just say I made it more secure", Alec replied without looking up. "Can you give me the name of your ex-husband's company?" He asked. "Which ones? He has more than seven companies he was running", Laura replied. "You know the one I'm talking about. The one that has those people chasing you", Alec said. "I believe it is the Innovex Global. They build AI that powered Tesla cars", Laura explained. Alec nodded and searched the name on the search bar.