TREASURE HUNT

𝙇𝙞𝙖𝙢'𝙨 𝙋𝙊𝙑:

My heart almost skipped a beat as I looked at her. She was drop-dead gorgeous in her white wedding dress. It took a while for me to come back to the earth.

" You look so beautiful," I gasped.

" Liam, why did you come in? You are not supposed to see me in this dress until the wedding."

" I don't understand. Why? "

" It is bad luck to see the bride before the wedding," she cried.

I wanted to laugh at her stereotypical thinking, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings. " Listen, sweetheart, don't fixate your mind on such thoughts. Just relax and take things easy."

" No, I don't want to do that. I want everything to be perfect."

I gently patted her hair and kissed her forehead. " Sweetheart, the more you stress on making things perfect, the more you mess up things. Just stay in the present and enjoy the moment. Things will automatically turn out the way you need if you do everything with a calm mind."

 " You are right," she mumbled.

" And baby girl, I heard that you had a catfight with Cece, is that true?"

" What? How did you know that?" 

" Elaine told me about it. It's so bad that I missed it. I like catfights."

" I don't know why guys enjoy two guys fighting. "

" You won't get it. And sweetie, I'm running late. I have some work to do in Venezuela. So I'm leaving now." 

" What?" she screamed. " You are going to Venezuela now? You are leaving me alone?"

" Relax, sweetie. I'll be back by tomorrow night. "

" I'm coming with you. Please take me with you. Please!" 

" Baby girl, if you come with me then who will oversee the wedding plans? "

She snuggled me and started to cry. " Come on, sweetie. I'll be back soon." I smacked her lips with mine. Slowly she kissed me back. 

" You love me so much, don't you?" I whispered. She nodded.

" I love you too, sweetheart. I'll be back soon." 

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My private plane landed at the city of Caracas,  Venezuela exactly at 5:00 am. I walked out of the airport feeling sleepy. I haven't slept for two days straight. Ricky looked even worse than me. Poor guy hadn't slept well for a week. He has been busy assisting Hannah with the wedding plans. 

As we got outside, a young man waved his hand at us. He must be our guide, Alberto. " Mr. Eaton, it's nice to meet you in person. I'm a very big fan of the movies produced by you," he said. 

I fake smiled at him. " Please take us to the Internet Cafe at the Rio Anacuco."

" There are so many tourist spots in this city like the Museum of Fine Arts. But you just want to visit an internet cafe?"

" Yes. We are running late. Please take us there soon. I'll pay you extra if you drive us there fast," I replied.

"Okay, please get in my car," he said. 

Alberto kept up his word and he was driving at the speed of one-twenty. The cool breeze from the windows was making me drowsy. I forced myself to stay awake. But Ricky was already sleeping peacefully in the backseat. I didn't want to wake up the poor thing. Let him rest for a while.

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It took us one and a half hours to reach our destination. I had to wake up Ricky from his deep slumber. I should have bought Dario or Danny instead of him. 

I made Alberto wait outside the Internet Cafe and we both got inside. It was a moderately crowded place filled with university students. 

"Cómo puedo ayudarlo, señor?" asked a young lady.

" Necesitamos algunos detailes," I answered back. " And do you know English?" 

" You are Americans' right ?" she asked. 

I felt relieved when she spoke in English. My Spanish is not very good. " Yes, we are Americans. We need few details. Can you please tell me who was using your computer with IP address 192.158.1.38 on the third of August?

" Lo siento, it's against our policy. We won't disclose private information.

" Ricky, can you help me out here?" 

He nodded and glanced at the young lady. "Si nos da la información, estamos listos para darle 2000 dólares estadounidenses," he said to her. 

"Qué?" she gasped. " Okay, gentleman. I'll help you."

She took half an hour to search for the information. I was getting impatient with her procrastination. After forty minutes she handed us a sheet. There were at least fifty names in it. Fuck!"

" Ricky, are we going to stalk these fifty people?" 

" No, Mr. Eaton. It's not necessary. Let us check the time. We received a message from the secret source exactly at 10:24 am. So let us check out the person who used the computer at that time. It is Wilfredo Gonzalez. Come on, Eaton. Let us go and find this guy."

I wanted to put his head in the water and wake him up from his sleep. " Wake up, Ricky! You forgot to calculate the time difference between LA and Venezuela," I yelled at him.

" I'm very sorry Mr. Eaton. I'm very tired today. 10:24 am is 2:24 pm in Venezuela. And the only person who was using the computer at that time is Noah Hoffman. He must be our secret source."

" What? Who the fuck is Noah Hoffman. I have never heard of him in my life."

" Mr.Eaton, the name sounds German. Maybe he is not even from Venezuela."

" So, what do you reckon? Shall we take our private plane and go to Germany? Am I supposed to go on a treasure hunt around the globe looking for Noah fucking Hoffman?"

"Mr. Eaton, please calm down. There is CCTV footage in this place. We will get to see Noah Hoffman."

"Tell her to do it soon. I'm exhausted from waiting," I said. 

If I find this Noah Hoffman I'm going to punch that son of a bitch. But I can't do that. He has given me so much crucial information and helped me during the worse situations.

" Mr. Eaton, we got him," Ricky shouted. I walked to the computer and peeked at the screen excitedly. Finally, we got this guy! 

But as soon as I saw the screen, I was disappointed. The guy was wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. His face wasn't visible. I slammed my fist on the wall in anger.