Claim Me (Fate’s Choice #6)

GABRIEL

We stop by the side door beneath a broken security camera. I made sure several times they still hadn’t fixed it, and now here we are. There’s nothing more around us except a concrete wall, a metal door, and a cheap access panel next to the handle with a PIN pad and RFID slot.

I’ve got my backpack stuffed with gear, laptop, interface board, probes, signal reader, so I shrug it off my shoulder and crouch by the panel.

"How long?" Edgar asks, already glancing around nervously. Behind the building there’s a row of bushes blocking us from the street, but Edgar still keeps looking around like we’re about to get caught any second.

I don’t answer right away, because Edgar pisses me off, especially with how hard he’s trying to get Marcel’s attention. I study the casing, recognizing a cheap model with two small screws on the bottom, which works perfectly for me.

"When?" he growls.

"Give me a second," I mutter. "A minute."

I pull out a small screwdriver and remove the front panel, aware of Marcel’s eyes on me as he stands close; his sweet scent is distracting in the air, giving me an extra push of motivation.

I drag my attention back to the panel as the plastic cover comes loose, revealing a few thin wires running into the wall, and I take a moment to analyze the layout, spotting the data line, power, and a standard setup.

Edgar sighs quietly behind my back, and I grit my teeth.

"Dude, seriously… how long?"

"I’m working!"

I clip two probes from the signal reader to the communication wires, then connect it to my interface board, and then to my laptop with a short USB cable.

The screen lights up, and Marcel steps a little closer, clearly interested now that there’s a result to look at. He reaches out and rests his small hand on my shoulder, sending a pleasant shiver through me.

"You’re doing great, Gabriel. What would we do without you…" His tone is soft, his voice warm.

Marcel gives me exactly what I need, a small hit of endorphins through his approval, his attention, his gaze, all of which mean everything to me.

I’m only here because of him. Half of this group annoys the hell out of me, and I don’t even agree with most of their ideology, but Marcel asks for something, and somehow I always show up.

I launch the diagnostic program, and lines of text start scrolling across the screen while the panel sends signals to the controller inside the wall, which is exactly what I need.

Edgar paces a few steps away. "Someone could show up any second while you’re just playing with your silly hacking stuff."

I don’t respond and just watch the data, already seeing that the system is old and this will be over soon, so I don’t feel like wasting time talking to him.

"Let him work, Edgar. You’re not helping," Marcel says.

"I’ve got other uses," Edgar mutters sarcastically, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

This whole eco-activist thing would be a lot more tolerable if he wasn’t part of it.

Edgar Johnson beats me at everything, studies political science, and is well known on campus because his dad has money.

On top of that, he looks like he walked off a runway, and half the campus stares at him.

He’s a thorn in my side because I know Marcel favors him, and Edgar is now practically his right hand, which is so incredibly irritating.

The signal scanner finally catches the communication between the reader and the door controller, and as a few data packets move between them, I notice a repeating pattern that I can work with.

"Got it," I murmur with satisfaction.

I hit a single command, and the interface board sends the captured signal back to the controller as if a valid card has just been scanned.

For a fraction of a second, nothing happens.

"So what exactly did you get, huh? Jack shit?" Edgar snaps in frustration, and the group snickers, because he always gets a free pass to bully. Marcel hisses at him, "Cut it out, Ed," but Edgar ignores it and keeps grinning.

Then finally there’s a metallic click from the door’s electromagnet, and Edgar freezes along with the rest of the group.

I slowly press the handle, and the door gives way, which hits like a small orgasm. I smile to myself when the sounds behind me shift from laughter to impressed murmurs.

I disconnect the probes, close the panel, and quickly pack the signal reader, interface board, and laptop back into my bag.

"Done," I say quietly. "Let’s go in."

"Great job, Gabriel," I hear Marcel’s voice right behind me, but I don’t have the courage to turn around, so I just mumble a quiet ‘thanks’.

Of course Edgar goes in first, even though he’s not trained in combat the way I am, but on every job he acts like he’s the alpha.

Unfortunately, he’s taller than me too, and while I’m not short at six foot six, he still has about three inches on me.

He turns, his tall frame filling the doorway, and Marcel steps in right after him.

The others start pushing through, some of them bump into me, and I end up last.

My brief moment of triumph, of being useful, fades quickly, which pretty much sums up my life, because people use me and then forget I exist.

Of course we know the building layout well, since I already hacked the design office earlier.

But Edgar was the one who tracked down the original design firm, so he got most of the credit, even though I was the one who broke into their server to get the plans.

"Gabriel, carry this," David, one of Marcel’s guys, growls, dropping a bundle of connected fuel canisters on me. "It’s heavy."

That was his job, which makes him an asshole.

The gasoline containers are indeed heavy as hell, and I already have my backpack with the gear, so now I have to carry their load too, like some damn pack mule. The rest of the group moves freely, no weight on them, and I just sigh.

Edgar and Marcel are in front as we climb the stairs, and when we reach the second floor where the main lab is, of course I’m needed again, so Marcel turns, looking for me among his people.

But Edgar speaks first.

"Hey guys, let our dear hacker through; he’s got more work to do," he says, and I can’t miss the bite in his tone, because it clearly pisses him off that I’m needed and can’t just be shoved aside like a useless piece of furniture.

For a brief moment, as I step up to the panel, I catch Marcel watching me, his gaze intense and focused as he slips into that mindset of his.

This is his mission, and he’s been planning it for some time now.

We’ve done a few smaller actions at Malden Pharmaceuticals before, more or less successful, but this is the first time we’re doing real damage.

Before, it was just oil on walls and paint on doors, until Marcel decided it was time to take it to the next level in his fight against his longtime enemy: Malden Pharmaceutical and…

Blue Lowen, the famous scientist and the CEO himself. Now it's time for their labs to burn.

"There are cameras in this corridor, so I’ll have to disable them first," I say, trying to stay calm, but my voice still cracks a little anyway.

"You sure you can handle that, Gabs?" Edgar cuts in, because of course he does.

I’m not a hundred percent sure how this will go, because cameras are different from a door panel, and they’re connected to the security desk two floors below, but I keep that to myself and stay optimistic.

For a moment, I look at the wall next to the door, recalling the installation plan I pulled earlier, where the IP camera lines run along the corridor and drop down through the same conduit as the access control wiring.

"I don’t need to shut them off," I say quietly. "I just need to fool them."

Edgar scoffs. "We’ll see… better be ready for security to come rushing in any second," he says, turning to the group. Everybody looks at me at once, and suddenly I’m way too aware of myself.

Still, Edgar is the only one with an especially twisted, contemptuous look.

I ignore him again, even though part of me knows that letting it slide only makes it worse, and for a second I wonder if I should just punch him, but that’s not who I am. I’m the quiet one who does his job and follows orders.

I crouch by the door panel again and unscrew the casing just like before, letting the plastic come loose with a soft click. Behind it, there’s a bundle of cables running into the wall and a small metal service box.

I remove its cover, and inside a thin ethernet cable runs through, exactly what I was hoping for.

Smirking, I pull a small network adapter and a short tap connector from my backpack, clip into the line, and attach the adapter to the interface board, then hook the board up to my laptop again.

The screen lights up in the dark corridor.

"How long?" Edgar hisses, glancing around.

"Leave him alone," Marcel says. "Gabriel can handle it, right, Gabs?"

I look up, and for a moment our eyes meet.

His are pale blue, like the sky over the ocean.

His face is so beautiful it is hard to describe.

Marcel is a very short, slender omega, with a fragile build, but there’s immense strength and charisma in him.

Everyone on campus knows him and respects him as the leader of the pro-environmental group.

And me…? I admire his passion and his dedication.

I have been part of this group for a year and a half, believing that one day, somehow, I would become more to him than just a loyal follower. Who knows? Maybe after this mission.

"I’ll do everything I can," I whisper, wanting to add "for you," but I keep that part in my head.

His hand lands on my shoulder again. This time it slides a little higher, and his fingers brush over the surface of my neck gland. I let out a quiet breath, and Marcel smiles faintly.

"You’re very important to us, Gabriel. We rely on you. I rely on you," he emphasizes.

The words knock the air out of my lungs. Damn… maybe something will finally change between us. Maybe we will get closer?