Chapter 45
The refrigerator required keypad access.
It wasn't that big of a deal. Keypads were notoriously easy to hack. I loosened the screws on the faceplate just enough to slip the blade of a pocketknife underneath. I bridged the connection, making sure not to trip the anti-tamper device.
The locking mechanism released, and I pulled open the glass freezer door.
Dr. Malcolm scanned the contents, then grabbed a few vials and peeled off the stickers that contained passive RFID chips.
Without those, there would be no way to track them.
He stuffed the vials into a small cooler we had packed with ice.
It would be enough to regulate the temperature until we got back to the Avventura.
Isabella had been monitoring comms and network traffic, or lack thereof. Her voice filtered through my earpiece. “Slight hiccup. Since you guys crashed the network, QTS’s remote monitoring system hasn’t gotten regular status reports from Zonatrex.”
I cringed. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”
“It triggered an alert. Someone at QTS just called the front desk. I kept the call from ringing. But if they don’t get an answer soon, they will likely alert the authorities. When they call again, I’m going to transfer it to your burner. Handle the guy.”
“Will do. Thanks for the heads up.”
Sure enough, my phone rang a minute later. "Zonatrex Pharmaceuticals, can I help you?"
"Yeah, this is Brad at QTS. We’re getting an error message when we try to connect to your server. Is the network down?”
"I need your security passcode.”
"You want the pin?”
"Yes."
He gave me the number.
"Okay. Yes, everything seems to be working fine on our end.”
I signaled to the others that we needed to go. We hustled out of the lab and hurried down the hallway.
"That's weird,” Brad said. “We’re not getting updates from the network. I tried to remote in, but I can't get access. From my end, it looks like the network is completely offline.”
"That's really strange," I said. “Everything looks fine here. Can you hang on just a second?"
"Sure.”
I muted the call.
Piper had pressed the call button to the elevator. A moment later, the bell chimed, and the door slid open. We stepped aboard, and I hoped the call didn’t get disconnected.
We plunged down to the lobby.
The door slid open, and we scurried out of the elevator.
“Are you still there?” I asked after unmuting the call.
“Yeah.”
“Hang on just another moment,” I said, then muted the call again.
“Sure thing,” Brad replied.
We moved to the front desk.
Haskins looked at us with hopeful eyes. “Did you figure anything out?”
“Yep,” Piper said. “I just need to do one more thing.”
She rounded the front desk, took a seat at the computer, and tapped a few keys.
The ransom screen cleared, and a diagnostic app appeared to run.
It was all for show. “You’re good to go.
I got rid of the malicious code and beefed up the firewall.
The hackers won’t be getting back in. It’s going to take a minute for the system to restart.
The cameras should be back online in a few minutes. ” Piper smiled.
Haskins breathed a relieved breath. “Thank you!”
“Just don’t browse questionable sites,” I said.
He nodded. In a concerned voice, he asked, “Are you guys going to log this or anything?”
“I see no point. Everything’s functional. It’s like it never happened.”
“You guys are the best.”
I smiled.
“Well, we’ve got another emergency,” I said. “Good luck. Call us if you have any more concerns.”
“Will do.” Haskins took a seat behind the desk as we hurried out of the lobby and plunged down the steps.
We crammed into the van, and Jack put it into gear. He pulled out of the space and rolled across the lot. “How’d it go?”
I smiled.
“That’s what I like to hear.”
I waved at the guard in the booth as we pulled out of the lot and turned onto the road.
I collected burners from the crew and tossed them out of the window a block away. By that time, flashing red and blue lights approached. My heart leaped into my throat. Brad at QTS must have gotten suspicious and called the cops.