Chapter 27

They made their way through the corridors, past the library and onto the lawn. After finding a nice, sunny spot, secluded from the noisy throngs of students that were flocking about, they took off their backpacks and sat down.
“So what happened?” Nomsa asked him. “You seem like you managed to get a confession out of him.”
“I practically did. I just got straight to the point and asked him. You should have seen the look on his face.”
“Oh, gosh,” Nomsa buried her face in her hand. “That’s not proof. I thought you had something solid.”
“Not yet, but I’m going to get it. I’m sure there must be traces of what they did in the genetics labs. There’s no way they could have deleted every single clue. It’s a question of finding it.”
“And how are you going to do that? You don’t have that kind of access. And even if you did find something, how would even know how to interpret it? It could all just be mumbo-jumbo that doesn’t really make any sense to anyone. It wouldn’t prove a thing.”
“But it would be a starting point. At the very least, it would get Jabu in trouble for using the lab equipment for non-university work. And maybe at that point he’ll spill the beans to save himself.”
“You think that’s how it’s going to pan out, really?”
“I don’t know for sure, okay? All I know is that sitting around waiting is silly, because the longer we wait, the harder it will be to stop Uru. Who knows what lies he could be feeding Amina and the others even as we speak? If he gets them fully on his side, it will only be a matter of time before he creates more people like them.”
“ And like me,” Nomsa muttered. “Just promise me you won’t do anything foolish, okay?”
“Okay,” Luyanda nodded.
“Hey guys!”
They looked up as Emeka dropped his bag to the ground and sat down beside them.
“Speak of the devil,” Luyanda said, as he scooted to the side to make some room for Emeka.
“No, we were not speaking about you,” Nomsa said.
“Why not?” Emeka asked, cracking a grin.
“Listen,” Luyanda said. “I have a question for you, since you’re such an IT genius.”
“Shoot.”
“If I wanted to get access to one of the restricted labs here on campus, what would I have to do?”
“Oh gosh. Have you become a criminal now?”
“No, not at all. It’s for research purposes.”
“I don’t want to be accused of aiding and abetting.”
“Oh come off it,” Luyanda said. “It’s just exchanging harmless information.”
“Well,” Emeka shifted his glance from Luyanda to Nomsa, “You’d first need to get a decryption key that would give you the relevant level of access. After that, it’s just a matter of knowing what you’re looking for.”
Luyanda’s eyes gleamed. “Really?” he asked. “Is it that simple?”
“Not exactly. The real trick is hacking your way past the bio checks. Once you copy the key, you also need to copy the owners thumb, voice and facial print and embed them on the key.”
“How do you do that?”
“I’d have to kill you if I told you.”
“So are you saying you’ve never done it?”
Emeka fell silent. Luyanda grinned and patted him on the back.
“It’s for the greater good. And no one will ever know. Trust me.”
“I’ll think about it. But I can’t do anything without a decryption key. And getting someone else’s decryption key without their permission is theft.”
“Who said anything about getting it without their permission?” Luyanda shot back. He gathered up his backpack. “I’ll catch up with you guys later. I’ve got a shift at the museum.”

+++

Luyanda didn’t even notice Amina’s irritated glance as he trekked past the reception. His mind was preoccupied with getting Jabu’s decryption key.
“I was wondering if you were going to come back,” she said, “after you’re meeting with Uru.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” he answered.
She ignored his question and continued.
“We need to take down the temporary exhibition. You can get going on that.”
“You want me to do that alone? Where’s Jabu?”
“He’s with Uru. But he’ll join you later.”
Luyanda shrugged and trudged off to the warehouse. After about an hour, Jabu showed up. They hardly exchanged a glance as they worked. It was a long, slow and painful afternoon as they dismantled, checked, relabelled and packaged the Indigenous Plants exhibition pieces.
They were able to get through the entire job without saying more than the occasional terse word to each other: “Scissors.” “Tape.” “Pen.” The rest of their communication consisted of grunts and nods. Yet somehow they managed to work much faster than they normally would have.
Luyanda’s mind drifted back to the decryption key. He wondered if Jabu carried it around with him, or if he kept in the lab. It was such a sensitive item, that there was no way Jabu would leave it unguarded. His eyes drifted to Jabu’s backpack, lying in the corner beside his desk. He wondered if he still kept his decryption key in there. It was the most likely place.
An opportunity to find out came sooner than expected. As Luyanda packed away the glass frames with the desiccated plants, Yisa stepped into their work area, and nodded at Jabu. Jabu nodded back, and followed him out. Luyanda wondered what this silent communication was all about. Jabu levelled him with a supercilious stare as he marched past. Luyanda just ignored him. He waited a few seconds, then he leapt across the room and ripped open Jabu’s bag. The key was exactly where Luyanda had last seen it: in a small, hidden pocket near the base of the backpack. But what was he going to do with it? He hand’t thought that far into his plan. Just then, he heard Jabu and Yisa’s voices approaching. Without a moment’s hesitation, he thrust the key into his pocket, and sauntered back to the crate. Jabu seeped into the room and without so much as a glance in Luyanda’s direction, carried on packing and labelling crates.
Luyanda’s heart thumped like a war drum. He had only a narrow window before Jabu realised that his decryption key was gone. He had to move quickly. He grabbed his backpack, mumbled something about an emergency at home, and hastened out of the warehouse.

He climbed onto the escalators and cast a surreptitious glance around him. There was no one in sight.
“Msiza? Call Emeka.”
He stepped out of the History Department and headed straight to the I.T. Buildings.
“Call answered,” Msiza chimed. Emeka’s face popped up in front of him.
“Dude,” Luyanda said, “Are you in your building? I need your help - it’s super urgent.”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Be there in five. Please meet me at the entrance.” He ended the call without waiting for an answer and broke into a light jog. A few minutes later, he burst through the doors of the I.T. Building. His heart leap for joy when he saw Emeka standing there, arms folded and a frown on his face.
“What’s this all about? I am busy with a project.”
Luyanda whipped the decryption key out of his pocket.
“I need a copy of this.”
“Is it yours?”
“No.”
“Dude,” Emeka raised an eyebrow, “that’s breaking so many laws, it’s not even funny.”
“Remember I told you? It’s for a worthy cause.”
“Like what?”
“I can’t tell you.”
Emeka took a step back and shook his head. “Then I’m not doing it.”
“Please, man,” Luyanda begged, “Just trust me.”
“No ways man. I don’t want to get into any trouble.”
“Meks, dude, you owe me one. Remember how I saved your backside with that group assignment? Was that legal?”
“What? Are you trying to even compare those two things?”
“Point is I stuck my neck out for you when I didn’t have to and I didn’t have anything to gain. That’s loyalty, bro. That’s what friends do.”
Emeka’s narrowed his eyes, and stared hard at Luyanda.
“Okay,” he nodded, “but after this we are even.”
He stretched out his open palm. Luyanda dropped the decryption key in it.
“Stay here,” he said. “There’s only one guy that does this on campus. I’m going to have to sweet talk him into doing me a favour. Hopefully he’ll do it for free because we’re buddies.”
“And don’t forget to hack the biometrics also.”
Emeka nodded.
“Thanks man,” Luyanda said, flashing a grin. “I owe you big time.”
Emeka rolled his eyes and strode off. Luyanda stood around waiting at the reception for half an hour. Just when he was about to give up and call Emeka, he saw him emerging from an elevator with a big smile on his face. He handed Luyanda the keychain, and a small plastic chip.
“That’s the chip with the biodata,” he said. “You can get whatever you’re trying to access without any physical checks. If anyone asks where you got that, you and I never had this conversation. Are we clear?”
Luyanda beamed.
“You’re a lifesaver, you know that? You’re my hero. I could kiss you right now.”
“Please don’t, okay? Just know that you owe me.”
He strode off. Luyanda stuffed both keys into his pocket, and set off back to the museum at a dead run.

He paused to catch his breath when he got back to the warehouse, and scanned his surroundings for Jabu. There was no sign of Jabu anywhere. His backpack was exactly where he had left it. He hurried over to it, pulled back the zippers and thrust the decryption key into it’s inner pocket.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Luyanda spun around. Jabu stood at the door, staring at him.
“Oh, sorry man. I didn’t see you there.”
“I said, what the hell are you doing with my bag?”
He strode over to him and grabbed the bag from Luyanda’s hands.
“What were you trying to steal?”
“I haven’t stolen anything. You can check your bag. Everything’s in there.”
“Then what were you doing with it? What were you looking for? Has the sneaky shadow thing gone to your head now? Are you a full time sneak now?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Then what were you doing with my bag?”
Luyanda’s mind came up with a dozen possible replies. None of them could extricate him from this situation. He decided that his best option was to go on the offensive.
“You and your precious Dr. Uru have been leaving me here to do all the work by myself, and it’s not fair. Okay? I’ve had it.”
“Oh, so you’re jealous now, are you?”
“Jealous of what? You?”
“Yes,” Jabu replied with a smug grin.
“You’re just a loser seeking attention and you know it. And now that you’ve been transformed into some kind of circus freak, you think you’re better than everybody else. Get out of my way.” He shoved past him.
“Don’t touch me,” Jabu snarled. He shoved Luyanda back hard. Luyanda lost his footing, toppled over a crate, and crashed to the floor. His chest tightened and heat flashed through his body. He shot to his feet and dived at Jabu. He tackled him straight into the ground. In a flash, the two of them were a struggling whirl of fists, kicks, grunts and blows as they rolled across the floor.
“Stop!”
An ear piercing shout tore through the warehouse.
They paused and looked up. Nomsa raced into the room and pulled them off each other.
“Stop this nonsense right now!” She planted herself firmly between the two of them. They glared at each other, breathing hard. Jabu had a bleeding lip and a rapidly blacking eye. Luyanda’s rib ached.
“You’re lucky she saved you,” Jabu breathed. “Next time, I’ll stab you where it hurts.” His eyes flicked over to Luyanda’s shadow on the floor. Luyanda’s breath caught in his chest. How did Jabu know about his shadow? He gulped down the lump in his throat and forced out a hoarse reply.
“I’d like to see you try.”
Jabu picked up his backpack and stormed out. Nomsa watched him go. Then she wheeled around and faced Luyanda.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she bellowed. “What’s got into that head of yours?”
“I’m just trying to do what everyone else is too scared to do. And I don’t know if you noticed, but that guy knows about my shadow.”
“Oh, now he’s that guy?”
Luyanda shook his head and closed his eyes. There were a million thoughts running through his mind. He trudged over to his desk, plonked down in his chair and stared at his feet. Nomsa set the overturned crates upright.
“This thing isn’t worth your friendship,” she said.
“Uru knows,” Luyanda said. Without another word, he grabbed his backpack, stood up and walked out.

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