The tugging was the final straw for Caspian. He finally understood why there was always news about celebrities knocking down the camera crew’s gadgets, or agents assaulting journalists and such popping up all over the Internet. In the beginning, he would have pitied the media reps who were just doing their jobs, but at that moment… Well, they probably deserved it.
He sharply yanked his arm away and almost tore his sleeve. Then, he glared at his surroundings. If this were a movie, there would be raging flames burning behind him. With a growl, the horrible din around him came to a standstill. “It’s my pleasure to stand up for him. So what!”
Instantly, the mob fell silent. As soon as the words came out, Caspian wanted to bite his tongue. There were so many other ways to say it and he had to use those exact words! If that caused a misunderstanding of any sort, who knows what kind of news articles would show up online the next day?
He did not want to think about it. He wanted to get away from the mob as quickly as he could, but alas the place was tightly packed. Caspian could not stand it anymore. Lowering his head, he pushed through the stream of journalists, mumbling, “Let me through, let me through.”
It took a while for him to break out of the crowd. He quickly ran towards the security guard at the entrance and muttered incoherently, “Shut the doors! Don’t let those lunatics in!”
The security guard stared at him for a second, puzzled, but he knew the man was pretty close to the president. So, he obeyed, and closed the door quickly behind Caspian.
“Why did you come here? Didn’t I tell you very clearly not to do that?” As soon as Caspian stepped into the office, he darted towards the water dispenser. Arguing with the horde of journalists had gotten him extremely thirsty.
Larry ignored him. He sat in front of the computer, fingers busy tapping away on the keyboard. He brows furrowed tightly, and for a moment everything around him became nothing more than an illusion.
“Boss, I’m talking to you. Are you angry?” Caspian gulped down a mouthful of water but he talked too fast and almost choked.
Larry still did not turn his attention to him. Impatiently, Caspian leaned forward to peek at the computer screen.
Caspian rested one hand on Larry’s desk and the other on the back of his chair. Larry’s computer screen displayed a mixture of languages. Even Caspian, who claimed to be a computer expert, felt dizzy just looking at them.
“Isn’t this… the exact IP address that belongs to S?” Caspian stared at the familiar string of codes before he realized what they were. This was the IP address that caused him so much confusion and grief back then! Difference being, Caspian found many IP addresses that time, while Larry only managed to find the one and only.
Larry merely glanced at him, and swiftly turned his attention back to the IP address on the computer screen.
“My gosh! How did you manage to find that?” Caspian exclaimed as he patted Larry on the shoulder. “Even I couldn’t find it. And I’ve spent hours searching for it. Boss, where did you pick up this skill? “
Larry rubbed his chin and totally avoided the question. “Are the journalists gone?”
“Ah? No, I guess not. I asked the security guard to bar the door and not to let them in. Boss, you haven’t really answered my question yet.”
Larry simply grabbed a fountain pen and scribbled the address on a piece of paper. “This IP address belongs to Alpire Group, not S.” Paying no attention to Caspian’s stunned expression, Larry continued, “Thanks to your reminder, I’ve just realized that this address is the same as one of the many IP addresses we have come across which could be traced to S.
“I’m just taking a guess. S gave us a warning some time ago. That might indicate that he’s somehow related to Alpire Group, whose target is to acquire us. He may have sent us different photos from different locations, and I’m guessing that one of those might just be Alpire Group.”
