The Flash Drive Part 2: Comet And Steve’s Frantic Search

#5

In the span of two minutes, I was being praised for stumbling across a flash drive, then all of a sudden, I’m dragged into an alleyway by a frantic little man. His face was covered in a month old stubble, and his button down shirt looked like it had been soaked through by his own sweat.

“Um, can I help you?” I asked as Steve sniffed the man.

“I know it was you.” He accused.

“Well great. If you know it was me then would you mind telling me what I did?” I irritably asked.

“You stole my flash drive.”

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The Frantic Man Reveals All

“Wait, you’re that guy that bumped into me yesterday. Yeah, I didn’t steal your flash drive. It fell into my leftovers and I nearly ate it with the fried rice.” I explained.

The guy looked at the ground as if he was trying to decide whether or not to believe me.

“Anyways, I found a name on the back of it and brought it here.”

“You did what!?” The guy yelled as he grabbed the collar of my shirt.

“Take it easy!” I said. “You were the one who stole it in the first place! They were so grateful to have it back that they even gave me a job.”

He let me fall to the ground and put a hand on his forehead.

“I took that flash drive for evidence! It was the one thing I had against them!” He plopped down on the ground next to me in tears. “Now they’ll just go on their merry way, and who knows what’ll happen to me. Do you have any idea what you’ve done!? They’ll probably hunt me down. Or they’ll trick me into thinking I’m safe, then torture me for the rest-“

I cut him off there and said “Calm down. What exactly was on that flash drive?”

“Every piece of forged documentation they ever created along with the real reports. We’re talking years of documentation proving that they’re using harmful chemicals on their organic food and it’s slowly killing people!”

“Oh, so that’s what they do there.”

“You accepted a job without knowing what it was?” The man asked judgmentally.

“Hey beggars can’t be choosers. But look, if it really means that much to you, maybe I can get it back.”

The man looked at me, shocked, then asked “How?”

I replied, “I was kind of hoping you could help me figure that out.”

The Frantic Search For A Plan

Before he would say anymore, the frantic man insisted we go somewhere less exposed. So, I brought him to my apartment because, why not?

Once we were there, the man started pacing back and forth and began “First things first. My name is Orion.”

I laughed and said “My name’s Comet.”

With a sneer he replied “This isn’t a joke. Who are you?”

“No, seriously. My name is Comet. My parents are astrophysicists and kind of nerds about it. They named my older sister Andromeda.” I explained.

He rolled his eyes at me and continued “Anyways. You said you accepted a job there. That means you can get in unnoticed. Now, where did you say he put the flash drive?”

“His desk drawer.”

“He’ll never leave it there. He’s probably put it in the server room. Its three lefts, two rights, another right, another left and in the second door on the right.”

By this point even Steve was cocking his head at him in confusion.

“How have you lived this long being such an idiot?” Orion complained as he held the bridge of his nose.

“You dropped a ‘priceless’ flash drive into my leftover Chinese. You’re not that much above me.”

He glared at me and began rifling through his satchel as he continued “Look, take this radio, and I’ll stay outside guiding you through the building.”

He handed me the walkie talkie and added “Once you’re inside the server room, find the flash drive, then get out of there as fast as possible. I’ll be waiting for you in the coffee shop down the street.”

“I guess that’ll work. So, tomorrow then? That’s when I start.”

“Sounds good. Until then, I’ll stay here and make sure you don’t bail on me.” He finished as he plopped down on my couch.

“Wait, who said anything about you spending the night?” I argued.

“Do you really think I trust you to fulfill this task on your own? I’m staying here.” He retorted as he crossed his arms.

Retrieving The Flash Drive

Well, the morning finally came and my couch had a new, unkillable odor.

Orion rushed me to get ready, then practically jogged into the city. Once we got to the building, we went our separate ways, and Steve and I went inside the building. Oddly enough though, it was completely empty.

I called back on the walkie talkie “Um, Orion, you might want to come see this.”

“Don’t use my name you moron!” He yelled back.

“Just get in here, the place is deserted.”

The radio went quiet and he stumbled into the room.

“What’s going on?” He demanded.

“I don’t know but considering there’s no one here, why don’t you come with me to get the flash drive?”

By this point, I was so done with this guy, I just wanted to get the flash drive and get away from him. No matter how suspicious this building had become.

With that, the three of us made our way to the fourth level of the building, meandered through the hallways, then made it into the server room. Orion insisted I stayed back because of “sophisticated equipment”, so I wandered around the cubicles looking out at the skyline.

Then, I notice something that looked like clay all around the window sill. As I looked at the other windows, I found more. Then I glanced back at the elevator we had come up in, and the light showing what floor it was on wasn’t showing anymore.

“They’ve destroyed it!” Orion cried as he ran out of the server room. “They incinerated it and left the notice in the server room!”

“Why would they leave the notice there?” I asked.

Orion didn’t seem to have an answer. Then, Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed one of the office phones had an unheard voice mail. So, I hit play.

“So sorry Mr. Nolen. But we are going to have to decline your job application. In fact, we will have to deny you life from here on out. But don’t worry, you will be a valuable asset as we test our new pesticide. Thank you for your cooperation.”

The Frantic Escape

“That’s why the windows are sealed!” I exclaimed.

“We need to get out of here now!” Orion added.

“The elevator’s down.” I explained.

“Well that’s it! Without an elevator, we’ll never get out of here in time!”

Steve began barking near the stairwell.

“As long as we have a chance of getting out of here were going to take it!”

I grabbed Orion’s arm and rammed through the stairwell door.

He huffed and grumbled as we flew down the stairs, twisting around the corners and swinging by the railing.

“I can’t make it.” Orion complained. “Go, save yourself.”

He crumbled to the floor as he held his chest.

“Don’t get all heroic on me now!” I said as I wrapped his arm around my neck and dragged him down the steps.

We burst through the door at ground level and ran to the glass door, but someone must’ve locked it because it was now bolted shut.

“What are we going to do now?” Orion whimpered.

I frantically looked around searching for a weapon, when Steve began barking behind the receptionists desk.

“Steve you’re brilliant!” I cried as I grabbed the chair, and busted through the door as the gas began seeping through the vents.

I kept a tight grip on Orion, and we ran back to my apartment.

The Last Of The Frantic Man

“What Am I going to do now?” Orion whined as he sat on my couch.

“Maybe get a job on a submarine? That’s pretty hidden.” I suggested.

“Why did you have to bring that flash drive back to them!?” He asked as he sobbed into his hands.

I looked down at Steve as I honestly felt guilty.

“You know, music usually helps when the world feels like its ending. Wanna hear some?” I asked as I grabbed a flash drive from a dish on the counter.

“Oh you sure know how to cheer a guy up.” He answered sarcastically.

I ignored him and grabbed my laptop. But upon putting the flash drive in, I could only find files marked in gibberish, holding reports and documents.

Orion jumped up from the couch and yanked the flash drive from my laptop.

“You had it this whole time!?”

I stared at my laptop and replied “I must’ve grabbed the wrong flash drive. That must mean….”

“They destroyed the flash drive with your worthless music on it! Oh your idiocy is more useful than I could have imagined!” He exclaimed as he ran out of the apartment.

Steve sat in front of me with big eyes as I stammered “My music. They incinerated my music.”

Steve laid his head on the couch next to me.

“This bites.” I grumbled as I slapped down my laptop screen.

That’s It!

Thank you so much for reading this edition of The Adventures Of Comet And Steve! I post every other Tuesday so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing! If you want to read more of Comet and Steve’s adventures click here. I also write lifestyle posts every other Tuesday if you’d like to check them out here. Thanks again for reading this post. i can’t wait to share more adventures with you!

P.S. What was you favorite part of this adventure? What would you like to see happen in the next adventure? Let me know in the comments below!