Numbers gone wrong

Zarah input the numbers into the computer like she did every day. She closed the paper files on her desk and put them in the filing cabinet connected to her desk, locking it shut. She put all her scrap paper in the shredder before gathering her things. She was done for the day.

One file she'd tucked into her bag. It was a copy of the one she'd been handed this morning and wouldn't be missed. There was data in this file that she needed to memorize. There was nothing on it that would alert security on her way out.

She entered the elevator and hit the button for the lobby. She made her way out the front door, file in the bag. She swiped her card and went through a scanning arch. No alarms. She made it out the door with no one the wiser for what was hidden in her bag.

Zarah was always relieved to be done for the day. She worked with files, data, and numbers all day, she rarely talked to anyone, and it was a relief to be out of that stuffy office each day. As she sat on the electro-train, Zarah allowed the images of the files o flash through her mind briefly. Some were images of children; others were of teens or adults. One by one, she filed them away with all the others from over the years. Only one of them did she not file away. Only one stayed on her mind as the train zipped through the city.

Zarah left the train at the same stop she'd used for twenty years now. She walked the same path along the concrete sidewalk, passed the same crowded buildings, and finally walked up the same metal staircase. Once at the top, she unlocked the door using both a code and an iris scan. Security was always in place for those who worked for Digit Cipher. There was no record of the apartment building she lived in anywhere except in Digit Cipher files, and those were sealed.

Zarah went up the elevator to her apartment. She again punched in a code and did another iris scan. She locked the door as she stepped inside. Sighing, she set down her bag, took off her slightly heeled shoes, and hung up her coat. Now that she was home, she felt like she could relax a little. Though Digit Cipher owned the apartment building, they only monitored the halls and entryway. Zarah did a sweep of her apartment every few weeks just to be sure she wasn't being watched. With the kind of work she did for them, she could be a potential security hazard.

She did another sweep, checking every place that could hold a bug and scanning the walls with a device she'd made herself. She relaxed again when she had reassured herself that there were no bugs or wires. She then hid the file she'd carried home with her.

Zarah undid the bun she'd put her long black hair in this morning. After a quick shower, she put a ready-made meal in the microwave. It binged after a minute, and she took it with her to the TV. She turned on a random channel and took an old cellphone out from its hiding place. The burner phone wasn't registered under a name, and over the years, she'd made it untraceable.

Zarah dialed a number from memory. The phone rang once before her call was answered.

"Yes?" a gruff male voice asked. It was the voice Zarah longed to hear from the most. It was also the voice of the one she'd avoided for a long time.

"It's exactly like you said," Zarah replied. Her voice cracked as she said it. All the pain she'd been carrying silently through the day leaked through her voice now. She'd hidden it all day and couldn't anymore. Not now that someone could share it with her.

"I'm sorry, Z.," The voice said after a moment. There was pain and regret that carried through the phone to her. It released something in her that she'd sealed up years ago.

"No 'I told you so' Vince?" Tears ran down Zarah's cheeks. She tried to joke to hide the fact that she was crying.

"No, not for this," Vince replied. His voice mirrored her own sadness and pain. "I'd been hoping too much that I was wrong." that was unexpected. Vince had always liked to be right.

"He's one of them now," Zarah said.

"Who's one of what, Z?" Vince asked. His voice was wary.

"I told you I'd look for him. He's in there now. He's one of their numbers." Zarah said through tears and clenched teeth.

"Damn," Vince replied. "So he was gifted then."

"Gifted with exactly what I thought he'd be," Zarah said, all the stubborn pride that she'd felt in the moment she'd realized that the boy was gifted.

"How'd you find out?" Vince asked.

"They gave me his file this morning," Zarah said, anger now joined the pain in her voice. Even she could hear that.

"They gave you your own son's file!" anger filled Vince's voice now.

"I'm the only one who knows enough about that type. He's a type S, rank A, and his number has five zeros." Zarah replied. Stating the filing numbers, ranks, and types soothed her a little.

"You would be the only one who'd understand anything in a file like that." Vince sighed. It was true. Zarah was given only the files on the most powerfully gifted as she was the only one who understood them. Of course, she understood them. She herself was gifted; she'd just hidden it as genius all these years. She wished she'd been more careful with her son's gift. But his was not so easily hidden.

"I want to join you," Zarah said softly. She hadn't seen Vince in ten years. Not since their son had disappeared and Vince had blamed the company. Zarah had believed the company's promises that they were using every possible resource to look for her son.

"Zarah..." Vince said. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, Vince. I'm leaving them, and I'm taking him with me." Zarah's voice was firm. Her faith in the institution she'd spent the last twenty years working for was gone. They'd betrayed her and had expected her to either not notice or not care.

Zarah knew gifts like no one else. Her mind worked faster than it should and could handle volumes of information at speeds and accuracy to rival a computer. Zarah used that mind now; she pulled all the information she'd ever gotten regarding the gifted. She relayed this information to Vince, and the two began to plan.

Zarah would get her son out of there, and she'd take as many of the most powerful gifted that she could. Things would change. Zarah could guarantee it. With her personal gift, she could cause change. With the help of those she'd take with her, there was nothing that could stop them.