Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
The following day, Annika found she had a mixture of nervousness and excitement coursing through her.
Tomorrow evening was the big event. It was do-or-die time.
Okay, that’s a somber way to put it, she thought to herself. Perhaps she should think of it as tomorrow is where the rubber meets the road.
Either way, it was going down. Everything was on the line.
“How are you coming with the hacking?” Stryker called out.
A group of them were in the den. Stella was pounding away at the keyboard at the desk. Black screens with green data fluttered up quickly before her.
“I’m going to get it,” Stella replied.
Annika continued to pace about. She’d worked on the hacking some, too. Progress had been made. But it was a big job for one person. So, she and Stella had relieved each other.
They were close. So close!
“Dang it!” Stella cried.
Annika’s heart skipped a beat. She rushed over, fully expecting to be handed a piece of bad news.
Was the whole mission off?
“I can’t get past this last piece of encryption.” Stella sighed in frustration. “Once we’re past that, I think we’re in.” She shook her head. “My skills are just a bit rusty. I haven’t really kept them up.”
“Want me to take a stab at it?” Annika asked.
“Sure.”
She got up and Annika sat down. Her hands worked furiously over the keys as more data sped by in a dizzying blur.
“Whoa. What’s going on?” she heard Matteo ask.
There wasn’t time to even look over her shoulder at him. Or explain. Someone else could do that.
It was Stella who answered. “We’re hacking into Marlot’s HR system. We need to get the biometrics for his eye.”
“What?” Matteo asked.
Annika couldn’t help but chuckle. She knew Daddy didn’t live in a techy world—and she loved that about him.
Daddy was old-school.
Still typing, she managed to tell him, “We need to get the files associated with his eye so we can fake out the retinal scanners.”
“Oh,” Matteo said.
She sighed as his reassuring hands came on her shoulders and gently massaged them. “You can do it, honey. I know it.”
Annika reached up briefly to pat one of his hands, but she quickly got back to pounding the keyboard.
“But you all can’t just hack to get the info we need to take him down?” Matteo asked.
“Nope,” Stella said. “Because he keeps that server offline.”
“Yeah. I remember. Just wishful thinking that maybe you’d found something since then.”
Annika shook her head. “Marlot’s too smart for that.”
That was all she could say. She was getting so close to breaking the encryption! The security software was good. Probably the best in the world.
But she was one of the best hackers in the world. Stella was no slouch, either. Together, they just about had it defeated.
“And… got it!” She rolled back triumphantly, stood up so fast the chair started spinning, and did a little dance.
Everyone clapped. She and Stella hugged.
“Pull it up,” Stryker said. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
A moment later, an image of an eye appeared on the screen. Next to it was a drawing of that same eye in what looked to be a blueprint.
“Can you work with that?” Stryker asked Lana.
Lana grinned and nodded.
“Oh yeah. I can work with that.”
Five hours later, the Littles—minus Lana—were sitting around the den just talking.
Annika’s nerves were still a bit frayed, but it helped having her friends there.
Lana was over in the corner, working at a table that had been erected to hold a laptop, the 3-D printer, paints, and other materials.
The printer hummed with life every now and then.
“Is everyone feeling okay about tomorrow?” Annika asked the group. “There are no hard feelings if you want to back out. This is a lot to ask of you all.”
“You kidding?” Eli said. “I’m with you all the way. Besides, if we pull this off, it might just be the greatest prank I’ve ever taken part in.”
The group laughed.
“This is a bit more than a prank,” Stryker told him.
“True,” Eli conceded. “But I figure it’s close enough to count. The problem is we can’t ever take credit for it.”
Annika nodded. Though she knew politicians—and probably law enforcement—would have lots of questions when she handed that data over to the officials.
She wouldn’t give them the specifics though. And she’d have whistleblower protection, though she prayed she could remain anonymous.
That bridge would be crossed when they got to it. Right now, she just needed to take Edward Marlot down.
“We’re all in this with you,” Iris said. “We’re sisters now.”
It felt wonderful as she reached over and grabbed Annika’s hand.
A tear escaped Annika’s eye. “Thank you. And it feels wonderful to have family.” She looked from Iris to Cami and then the Mountainville Gang, saying, “And friends.”
“Hey, we’re family, too,” Katie said. “Think of us as your Texas cousins.”
“And your cousin from across the pond,” Leah added. “Though I suppose I’m just as much Texan now as I am English. I’ve even grown to love chili, barbecue, and say things like y’all. It’s a jolly good time, if I do say so myself.”
Everyone laughed but the moment was broken when Lana jumped up and ran toward them. “I got it! Check it out! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Edward Marlot’s eye.”
It was the most realistic fake eye Annika had ever seen! Not that she’d really seen many. But still! It was amazing!
“I knew our special effects wizard was the right person for the job!” Harrison said after examining it. “That’s movie magic at work. And you, Lana, are a magician.”
“This was the last piece until tomorrow,” Stryker said. “It’s all set. We’re doing this.”
Excitement surged through Annika. Part of her wished it could just happen tonight. The anticipation felt like it might eat her alive!
Words couldn’t express how grateful she was for everyone helping her like that. Never in her life had she felt so loved and valued.
She belonged with this group. Truly belonged somewhere. For the first time ever.
More tears were threatening to spill from her eyes when Matteo walked in and looked at the big 3D printer and then at the group.
“Just saw on the news that a government facility in Huntington Beach was robbed last night. An expensive 3D printer is missing.”
Stryker and Harrison exchanged glances before turning their focus back to Matteo.
“Whoa! Dude, that’s crazy,” Stryker said.
Harrison nodded. “Yeah. Wild.”
Matteo just kept staring at them. Annika could see how that stare probably drove suspects crazy with worry back when Daddy was on the police force.
Finally, Stryker shrugged. “What? Hey, the government is currently closed,” he said, referring to the shutdown that had transpired when a funding bill failed to pass Congress. “They’re not using it.”
“Anyway,” Harrison chimed in, “they’re the dumbasses that furloughed their security guards. Made it super easy to borrow some stuff. They’ll get it back.”
The other Littles laughed. Matteo just groaned.
“The less I know the better,” he muttered as he stalked from the room.
Annika giggled.
Remember that, Daddy, she thought.
The less you know about what naughty Littles do, the better.