Chapter Two
Iris patted around on the bedside table for her glasses until her fingers wrapped around the frames.
Once she slid them onto her face, everything came into focus again.
Her double vision prevented her from doing anything without them, but it disappeared once she had the prism lenses on.
Just another little gift the traumatic brain injury had given her.
That happened when she was seven, so after twenty-six years, she was used to everything required to keep herself going in a world that didn’t understand her.
There was satisfaction in knowing the messed-up pathways in her brain that resulted from her injury had helped her as much as they’d hurt her.
Her mother used to say everything in life was a trade-off, and she wasn’t wrong.
It was a struggle to remember that when dealing with the result of her injuries, but getting wins like she did last night helped keep her going.
Iris grabbed her phone and swiped it open, surprised to see an all-call alert from her boss.
Something big must have happened in the past three hours because Mina, her boss at Secure Watch, didn’t use that alert unless it was an emergency.
Since moving to Secure Inc., Iris had finally found the place that played to her strengths and understood her weaknesses.
Speaking of weakness, she grabbed her foot drop braces and strapped them on before slipping into her shoes.
That was yet another gift from her TBI. Some people could walk short distances without braces, but she hadn’t won that lottery, either.
When she walked without her braces, her toes dragged along the floor, often tripping her up until she face-planted.
She didn’t have time to worry about that today since Mina had only given her ten minutes to meet everyone in the conference room. She didn’t have much time to prepare.
After quickly using the facilities and taking time to run a brush through her hair and across her teeth, she grabbed a clean shirt and a pair of pants.
The idea of everyone gathering in one room always made Iris nervous.
She didn’t do well in large groups due to her anxiety.
Not to mention, she struggled to follow conversations that involved a lot of voices all at once.
Her brain couldn’t sort it all out, making her even more anxious.
Maybe she should text Mina and tell her she was sick.
After grabbing her phone from the side of the bed, she opened the app, but her fingers were shaking too much to type.
There was a rap on her door, and she jumped, a short scream leaving her lips. “It’s me, Iris. You’re okay,” Mina called through the door.
Iris rushed to the door and threw it open to see her boss standing there with Hannah Grace, her three-year-old daughter. “Iris!” Hannah squealed and threw herself around her legs in a hug.
Iris dropped to one knee and gave the little girl a proper hug.
From the moment she’d met Hannah, they’d been best buds.
She found so much joy in watching the little girl learn and grow each day, and it reminded her that childhood can be innocent and joyful instead of traumatic and scary. “Hi, sweetheart. You’re up early.”
“Mommy and Daddy have to work, and Aunt Sadie is making breakfast, so I had to stay with Mommy. I’ll be really quiet in the meeting.”
“You’re always a good girl, Hannah,” Mina assured her daughter, ruffling her hair. “The meeting won’t take long, and then you can have your French toast. I need to talk to Iris for a minute, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy,” Hannah said, running to the corner where Iris kept a doll and a few other toys for her to play with.
“I was just texting you,” Iris said, not making eye contact with her boss. After the accident, she struggled with many things, including social skills that most people could do without thinking.
“I figured,” Mina agreed. “I know all calls make you nervous, but there’s nothing to worry about. It’s just you, me and some of the guys from Secure One. We have an imminent situation, and we need your help.”
“You would probably be better at whatever it is. You’re one of the best hackers the FBI ever had,” Iris said, staring at the floor.
Mina tipped her chin up, so Iris had to make eye contact. She didn’t like it, but she did it because Mina was her friend. “Iris, we need you. It’s not about hacking. It’s about securing assets. We need your expertise. You’re the only one we trust to get the job done. Are you in?”
“You can do it, Iris!” Hannah said, walking over from where she’d been playing. “You’re the best at catching the bad guys, just like Daddy!”
Iris couldn’t help but laugh as she glanced down at the blond-haired beauty. “Thank you, sweetheart, but your daddy is much braver than I am.”
“Everyone in this building would disagree with that, Iris,” Mina said. “Bravery comes in many different forms and definitions. You are one of the bravest people I know, so harness that because we need you. Okay?”
Iris forced herself to hold her boss’s gaze. She’d been practicing with Hannah since kids made that easier, and now she could do it with adults for longer, too. She nodded. “I’m ready.”
Iris took Hannah’s hand, and they walked to the conference room together, where Cal and two of his men, Zac Wells and Declan Moss, were waiting for them.
“Hi,” Iris said, staring at the floor. “Are we late? I didn’t mean to make anyone late.”
“Good morning, Iris. Remember, you’re fine being yourself here,” Cal said, which he said a lot when she was in the room.
She nodded and slid into a seat next to Mina, allowing Hannah to hop up on her lap to color on a pad at the table while the team talked.
The sweet little girl had been born in the med bay and raised in the building all her life, so to her, this was a regular Tuesday morning.
To Iris, it was anything but that. Her belly was full of butterflies, and her anxiety was rocketing as Cal worked the remote to get something up on the large screen in the room.
“We got a call this morning from the Research Center for Advanced Biogenics,” Mina said to begin.
“From what I understand, the research center is privately owned by a group of investors but run by a scientist who obtains quotes and jobs for different types of research from other labs, government agencies and universities. There’s also a lead scientist who works on those projects.
Their system has been compromised due to malware, and they need help restoring their programs. We have a recording of a call I had with Dr. Rebecca Roth, the lead scientist at the center, about the situation.
We’ll play that for you and then make our game plan. ”
Cal clicked the remote, and a woman wearing a white lab coat filled the screen.
Iris quickly took in the space around her and noted the laboratory rooms, high stainless-steel tables, and several rooms separated by sliding glass doors.
A man sat behind her in a flannel shirt and jeans.
He was older, easily in his sixties, and nervous, if the way he tapped his thigh with his fingers was any indication.
Whoever he was, he was letting Dr. Roth do the talking.
When Iris focused on Dr. Roth, her heart paused in her chest and then resumed in a rhythm that was as atypical as her brain.
For the first time in too long, it felt…
normal. Slow. Unhurried. Confident. Peaceful.
Iris hadn’t felt that way since she was seven years old.
“This morning, the lab computers were attacked,” Rebecca explained.
She was beautiful, with long wavy brown hair and the most bottomless brown eyes Iris had ever seen.
They were filled with a pain she knew all too well, and maybe that’s why she was instantly drawn to her.
It was the pain of knowing you didn’t belong anywhere or to anyone.
“The system is locked, and this message is on all the computers.” Rebecca turned the camera to show a screen that revealed an ace of spades and the message, Stay tuned… More to come! 4C3
Cal paused the video and turned to the assembled group. “Here comes the part about why it’s imperative we do this job quickly and efficiently.” He clicked Play on the remote again.
“Our facility currently harbors the deadliest virus on the planet. Ignis Cerebri, sometimes called the brain-burning virus, will make COVID-19 look like the common cold, and we all know how brutal that virus was. Unfortunately, with Ignis Cerebri, the victims wouldn’t know they came into contact with it until they died, and by then, they could have spread it to many more people.
There’s no way to slow the progression of the disease or treat it that we know of yet, so my job was to develop a vaccine, which I recently completed.
I was ready to move into the testing phase and start writing and publishing documentation of the process.
What that means is, I don’t know if the vaccine works on humans, nor is there enough for a widespread outbreak of this disease.
If the containment room security is compromised and the virus escapes through the center’s air exchange, there’s no way to predict what will happen.
Worse yet, if Ignis Cerebri were to fall into the wrong hands, it could be a biological weapon of Armageddon proportions. ”
Transfixed by the woman on the screen, Iris knew she had to help her.
She’d utilize every tool in the command center and work every second of the day to fix this without even meeting her.
Rebecca Roth was captivating from a distance, and she appreciated how in control she was during the report.
She had a scientific mind, which Iris could appreciate beyond anything else.
It wasn’t until Cal cleared his throat that she realized he’d paused the video.
Turning slowly with her cheeks heating, she waited for him to continue.