Uncertain Speculations

John looked out through the front window for the umpteenth time. He felt uneasy as he sat, his trembling hand on his cheek revealing the expression. It had amounted up to over thirty minutes since he had been in that sitting position, continuously looking out for something.

Movements of human figures could be seen at each passing time through the window of the driver's seat in the vicinity he had his vehicle parked. He probably might have lost count of them due to the stress he was going through at the moment.

The car was a simple, not worth much of a second glance, type. Something below the level of an elite like him. This was done to prevent any sort of attraction toward him.

He tilted his face to look at the right, where the passenger's seat occupied, his gaze made keen on a particular entity. "This is over thirty minutes and there's still been no sign of him. I'm getting tired of waiting for him to show up," He said, complaining to his companion.

With the look of things, a normal passerby would actually think John was talking to himself, deeming him as crazy. But that wasn't the case. There was something, or someone, John was speaking to.

"You should wait a little more. At least, there is nothing hasting you up,"

A voice came out in reply, the body made invisible to the ordinary eyes. The voice was from John's guide, Rasmus. And right at the moment, like every other time, it was only visible to John.

John turned to stretch his hand toward the back seat, picking up a briefcase. "Actually, there is," he said, as he took out a laptop from the briefcase. "I have to meet up with my father. He requested for my presence in his office later today,"

"I know,"

John looked at the being suspiciously before neutralizing it. He had almost forgotten that the being was always with him, whether visible or not. He began typing fast into the laptop, showing his keyboard expertise.

"By my count, he should have passed by here around fifteen minutes ago. Since I'm unaware of the reason behind his supposed lateness, perhaps I should hack into the surveillance cameras in this vicinity to pinpoint his residence,"

"Are you planning to go over to the home of the said person?" Rasmus asked.

"No," John said, his eyes set on the laptop. "Once I gain access to the building via the surveillance cameras, I'll try to zoom in to see if I can pinpoint his actual residence. That way, I can be aware of his whereabouts,"

"What if you are unable to do that?"

John stopped typing into the laptop. "Then, I'll need you to do that for me,"

"You already said you were going to handle it yourself. Are you trying to ask for my help now?"

"Wouldn't you, if I asked you to?" John inquired, turning his face to look at the being.

"I would," Rasmus said. "After all, you are my host."

John tore his gaze away from the being's and resumed what he was doing beforehand. "D*mn!" He lamented after.

"What is it?" Rasmus questioned, even though it already knew why John seemingly lamented.

"This vicinity has got just two surveillance cameras. One at the path leading to the main road and the other stationed near the area police station. Which means there's no way I can access his residence, Dammit!"

John rubbed on his temple after complaining to his companion again. He was getting frustrated with the situation.

"What do you wish I do for you at the moment?"

He looked at the being, relief beginning to appear on his face. "Stephen Ryder, give me his whereabouts as of now,"

Rasmus suddenly swiped its hand in the air and a substance was revealed. It was rectangular in shape, and in it, a scenario could be seen, looking more like a 3D hologram.

Inside the rectangular-shaped substance, a live effect was displayed, revealing two figures standing behind a block of apartment building. There was no sound to the effect but it was obvious that both figures were discussing.

"The one with the black hair, that's him." John suddenly said, pointing to one of the figures who looked quite young. He had his laptop on his lap as he switched his gaze between the rectangular-shaped substance and the screen of the laptop which had a profile of the man on the 3D substance.

He looked closer at the display. There was something wrong, he sensed. The man he was looking for, Stephen Ryder, had a worried expression. His expression said it all and that, John knew. He was just in a light shirt and pants and his hair looked unkempt, which meant he wasn't fully prepared for work.

As for the other man, there was a familiar feeling to his face. Like someone John had met a long time ago. The man was dressed in a thick clothing and a beanie, just like almost everyone else in this cold season. But the skin tone of the man's face revealed he was a black man.

"Yes," John suddenly said, more like he was talking to himself. "I have a memory of the other man in my previous life,"

"Ryan Stones, is it?" Rasmus asked.

John nodded. "That's right. But what could he be doing there? They don't even work in the same organization. Or do you think he might be the mastermind behind the news leakages?"

"We possibly can not say. But based on the encounters you both had in your previous life, there was no bad blood to it. It was just him voicing out his opinion against your project, and that only happened twice. Since much changes has not been effected to the present timeline, there is a guarantee that there is no issue he has against you at the moment."

"You think?" John had to ask.

"Can someone like him have any idea on programming language, as you call it, asides his journalism skills? Or does he even have any questionable relationship with any of your people?"

"As of the moment, no."

"Then why would you think he is the mastermind? I have already given you a guarantee, and the only person you should be looking out for right now is the Stephen Ryder. You should find out how he was able to do the unthinkable, revealing news about you and securing his account's address,"

John sighed. "You sure know a lot already without even being informed," he said.

All along, as the being was speaking, it maintained its gaze on the rectangular-shaped substance. And that was what it continued doing at the moment.

'Rasmus is right,' John thought. 'There's no way Ryan Stones would be involved. But what could he possibly be doing there? Or is he actually there for the same thing as me?'

He quickly shook his head to discard the thought. There was no way that could happen. The only way he had information on the Stephen Ryder was because he managed to crack the code on the IP address of his account through the use of a special program he had created.

Something popped up in his inner sense. The special program was extracted from the memory of his previous life and it was one that had a side effect to it. Using it to crack the most secured code would result to the public access. If a professional hacker was having trouble getting past the server before, that would be altered when he himself had used the special program, enabling any of the most valuable hacker to see details from the address.

But, there was a solution to the special program's side effect he had come up with in his previous life which just came into his mind now.

'Why didn't I think of this earlier. If that Ryan Stones is here for the same thing, then there is a possibility that had actually happened. I can only find that out now if I'm able to listen in to their conversation,'

Right now, he wished Rasmus could simply look into his mind and pick out his last thought. But it was all for good that he blocked the being access from his mind. It was more or less an invasion of privacy, and he definitely wouldn't want the being to know he was doubting its words.

He needed to act fast if he wanted details. For now, he would go with listening in to their conversation, if that would be possible.

"It's possible to listen in, right?" He asked the being, tilting his face to look at it.

Rasmus' reply was a swipe of its hand again and immediately, a sound began emitting from the substance.

["I don't understand what you're talking about,"] That was the first thing that was heard from the display, clearly being said by the Stephen Ryder. There was an obvious fear in his voice and John couldn't help but wonder what was going on with him.

After that, there was an abrupt silence for some seconds but it seemed the other man on the screen had his mouth moving. John just couldn't hear anything from him and decided to complain about it.

"Why—" He was about to comment on the issue when a sound from the display cut him off.

["Please, it's best if you let me be. I don't wish to have any problems with you big shots. As you can see, I'm trying to secure a better life for my daughter."] The sound this time was from the Stephen Ryder again, but a little sternness was attached to his voice. After that, silence ensued again, but John could see movements from Ryan Stones' mouth.

"Rasmus, why is there a problem with the speech from the other man?"

But, Rasmus had its thought filled as at the moment.

'Why am I finding it difficult to hear him speak? This certainly feels like the vision blockage imposed after the rebellion. Or, could he be the chosen one?'