Chapter 30
Will
I stared at another set of digital bars on a small display. Ronnie grunted something unintelligible from the maintenance bay where he was checking voltage readings for the third time this morning.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and stared at the message from Brie: I’m working with Claire in the Atlantic today!
She was with Claire, not Ken.
If she was watching Brie’s every move, there’d be no opportunity for Brie to slip away.
On the upside, it would be excellent recon. She could learn the processes and find out what she needed to know for the next time she gained access. Plus, it was already seven o’clock, and we only had an hour left in our shifts. Likely too little time to make a dent in Meridian’s server.
“Hand me the multimeter,” Ronnie said, extending his arm aimlessly toward me.
I passed him the device, then my phone buzzed with another message: But it’s cold, so I’m going back to our room for a sweater. Do you have a break soon?
I read it twice, working through the coded message: Cold—she needed to leave wherever she was. Sweater—an excuse to sneak away. Did I have a break—she was asking if I could coordinate something with her.
She was signaling me. The mention of needing a break, the timing of her messages…
Brie needed me to disable the cameras. Which meant she’d somehow gotten away from Claire and was planning to access the Meridian server.
“Will?” Ronnie’s voice seemed to come from far away. “You fall asleep over there?”
“Sorry.” I pocketed the phone, forcing my emotions to the back of my mind. “Just checking something.”
If she got caught, they’d figure out she’d either stolen someone’s credentials or someone had tampered with her badge.
They’d investigate. Find Rav’s involvement. Discover our real purpose here.
We’d lose our best chance to find evidence to clear her father’s name and potentially remove the threat Fenix posed to everyone we cared about.
I needed an excuse to get to her. “Ronnie, I think I need to—”
His phone rang, and he answered with his usual charm. “Yeah?”
I didn’t have time for this phone call. How long could Brie be on her own before someone spotted her?
“Claire’s doing what?” Ronnie’s voice rose. “Ken was scheduled to do those updates. I told Almeida earlier to be prepared for hardware support.”
More listening. His expression darkened with each passing second, while my brain remained focused on Brie. If Claire were truly suspicious of us, she wouldn’t have let Brie leave her sight, would she?
Had I been reading too much into her questions?
“Can’t you get Almeida to handle it? I’m busy.”
A pause. Ronnie’s shoulders sagged in defeat.
“Fine. But we’re talking about this at our next staff meeting.” He hung up and glared at his phone. “Fucking prima donna Bridge staff.”
“What’s the problem?”
“Claire Lawson’s making local updates without a hardware escort. She’s supposed to have tech present in case anything goes wrong.” Ronnie began packing our tools with sharp, irritated movements. “Especially dangerous during a hurricane when we need everything running smoothly, not hand-holding.”
“Didn’t you say Almeida was supposed to hand-hold?”
“That’s different. He’s good at that shit. For you and me? It’s a waste of resources.”
We loaded our crash cart and began moving through the Atlantic section. Ronnie continued his complaints about proper procedures while I watched for the right moment.
“Where’s Claire working?”
“Cluster thirty-four.”
The server rooms were laid out in a ten-by-ten grid pattern, housing one hundred clusters, numbered by column and row. Each cluster consisted of twenty two-foot-wide vertical racks of servers, with cluster thirty-four in column three, row four.
That’s where we’d find Claire.
Brie? Likely somewhere between there and cluster fifty-seven—two columns south of Claire and three rows east. Far enough Claire wouldn’t know she was still in the server room, and hopefully far enough Ronnie and I wouldn’t trip over her on our way to Claire.
As we passed cluster sixty-five, my stomach twisted. Good. That would help with the lie.
“Bloody hell,” I doubled over slightly, one hand pressed to my abdomen. “I think that burrito is coming back to haunt me.”
“The spicy one?” Ronnie barely looked over.
“Yeah.”
“Delicious, but I can’t handle them either.” He waved me westward. “Bathrooms are that way.”
“Be right back.” I hurried toward the bathroom signs, pulling out my phone. Cameras tracked everything, but with my excuse and my direction, security would ignore me.
I texted Brie: Ronnie’s got me checking power, but we’re doing a quick touch base with Claire. Maybe I’ll see you when you get back.
Hopefully, the message was clear enough: Ronnie was heading toward Claire, but I was coming to help my partner.
I ducked into the restroom to finish part one of my deception, waited a beat, then slipped back out.
I stayed along the wall, every step deliberate and unhurried despite the urgency clawing at my insides.
Security wasn’t my only worry, since other techs also busied themselves throughout the section, and running would draw exactly the kind of attention we couldn’t afford.
The maintenance bay near cluster fifty-one was my target. It controlled the wiring for the clusters from fifty-one up to sixty. I opened it, my fingers surprisingly steady as I studied the familiar layout.
This was a betrayal. Ronnie had taught me these systems, shared his knowledge freely, and treated me as a colleague despite my newbie status. Now I was using him.
But Brie’s safety—and our mission—mattered more than my discomfort.
I punched in Ronnie’s six-digit maintenance override code on the small panel inside the door. The screen flickered to life: Maintenance mode activated. Remaining time: 20:00
Twenty minutes. Not long enough and far too long at the same time.
I studied the coaxial connections, tracing their paths before disconnecting the three cables that would eliminate camera coverage around cluster fifty-seven.
To the monitoring station, it would register as a routine signal loss during maintenance—just another scheduled procedure in a facility that ran on schedules and procedures.
I closed the panel and texted her: Did you pack my camera?
She’d understand it. She’d know this was her opportunity.
I headed south, farther away from Brie, but also farther away from Ronnie and Claire. When I reached the sixties, I headed eastward, trying not to run.
Near cluster fifty-two, I encountered two hardware techs deep in conversation.
“Hey, Will,” one called out. “Saw your wife about ten minutes ago. She looked a little lost.”
Ten minutes ago? Before or after she texted? Either way, plenty of time to reach the server.
Please be waiting for me.
“She’s working with Claire today.” I barely slowed, attempting a natural smile despite the chaos inside my brain. “Learning the server room layout.”
Both men grimaced. The second tech said, lowering his voice slightly. “That’s probably worse than working with Ronnie.”
“He’s not that bad.” Under different circumstances, I might have laughed. “But speaking of which, I’d better get back to him before he starts looking for me.”
They waved me off, returning to their discussion. I continued toward cluster fifty-seven, checking the time on my watch. In fifteen minutes I’d need to restore those camera feeds. By then, Brie had to be finished and clear of the area.
That was assuming she was smart enough to wait for my signal before attempting to access the server, and she didn’t already have security bearing down on her.
As I passed cluster sixty-seven and turned north, I spotted her.
She had the KVM drawer open.
Typing?
Bloody hell, Brie, tell me you waited for my all-clear!