**
Hugo hated driving. He especially hated driving for long periods at a time. It was why he didn’t have a car. He could say it was because he was trying to help the environment, but it was just because he was lazy. He’d almost asked someone to come with them just so that they could drive the company car instead, but when Maggie had spoken to Mr. Hansen over the phone, she’d only agreed to meet Hugo and CJ, and he didn’t want to leave someone in the car during the entire conversation, or complicating the already delicate issue by asking her to invite someone else in on the spot.
CJ loudly cut into his thoughts, “Wait! Turn down there! Oh thank god we’re here, I was sooo bored!”
Hugo did as he was told, and they turned down a narrow dirt road that opened up into a modest-sized rustic-looking house with small, shuttered windows. Hugo parked and they both climbed out.
“Wow, she’s got a lot of infrared sensors all over the place!”
“She does?” Hugo blinked, “Wait, how can you tell?”
CJ shrugged, “I can see them.” She pointed at the grass a few feet away from him at what looked like nothing, “She’s got one there and there and there and…well a lot.”
Hugo could feel his body tense up. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. But it was too late now, so they went to the door and knocked. After several moments and the sound of several deadbolts, the door cracked open and Hugo was staring at the barrel of a shotgun aimed at his stomach. He should be terrified, but the face that owned the shotgun was round and pale, framed by a mass of thick auburn hair. Her eyes were a dark, nervous brown, but she wouldn’t shoot him. Hugo smiled.
“Hi Maggie. I’m Hugo, and this is CJ. Thanks for agreeing to meet us. Can we come in?”
The woman hesitated, but then backed away from the door, leaving Hugo to open it all the way. She glanced outside behind them as they filtered into her home, and then shut the door, lowering the gun. “Sorry, can never be too careful.”
“Of course,” Hugo nodded. He really had no idea what she was talking about.
She led them as far as her living room, then stopped, “So, what do you want?”
She was already hostile because they worked for the company. This wasn’t going well, but he didn’t have anything but the truth, “I want to look at reference files 10 through 14.”
Her lips were pursed, “They don’t leave my house.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
“I know what you can do, if I show them to you it’ll be just as bad as letting you leave with them.” Hugo pushed his teeth into his lower lip. How did she know what he could do? Did she have access to Gideon Enterprises’ database? “Why do you want to look at them?”
Hugo stared at the ground, “I-I’m updating the database for Mr. Hansen. He asked me to-”
“Get out,” her voice was flat and firm.
Hugo looked up at her nervously. He really needed to look at those files, he wanted them to tell him what was going on at Gideon Enterprises. There was something important in them, so important that she wouldn’t share them. But what was it? What were these projects? “Wait! Please, I need to see them.”
“Why?”
Hugo glanced nervously to the side; CJ was looking at him with the same curious expression that Maggie was giving him. They both really wanted to know what he wanted, why he was so interested in the files, why he’d bothered to come all the way out there. “Something’s wrong.” No, shut up Hugo, you can’t trust this lady! “At Gideon Enterprises. Mr. Gideon is doing something. I don’t know what, but I think it’s going to be bad. And I have a feeling those files will help me figure out what’s going on.”
There was a long pause. Crap crap crap! And then Maggie smiled. She carefully laid her shotgun down on the couch and then started back towards the kitchen, “Follow me.”
The dark-haired woman led them through her kitchen and out back to a fairly large shed. Inside the wood building, floor covered in straw, was a variety of tools neatly lining one wall. Maggie walked them to the back corner of the room and then squatted down, brushing away a thick layer of hay to reveal a trap door.
“Secret door! This is so cool!” CJ exclaimed as Maggie opened the hatch, bringing a brief smile to the woman’s face.
Maggie started to climb down the ladder, but looked up at them, her eyes dark, “If you tell anyone about this…” She trailed off, leaving the threat unspoken.
Hugo nodded slightly, “We won’t tell anyone, I promise.”
Without another word, the woman led them down the ladder into a gloomy darkness. A moment later she flicked a switch and the lights flickered on in a small room. The walls were lined with shelves covered in the tins of film reels; all dated. Towards the back was a pair of black, four-drawer file cabinets. Maggie slowly walked over to them, setting her hand on top of one of the dusty pillars of information. She pulled a key dangling from a necklace that was hidden beneath her shirt, and unlocked the drawers, and then stared down at it for several long seconds. She drew in a breath, “This is it.”
A chill ran down Hugo’s spine.