Chapter Seven
Iris’s fingers flew across the keyboard the second they hit the keys.
She had fallen asleep before Bec had returned from the bathroom, but when she woke, to say she was disoriented was an understatement.
Her anxiety was not being kind, but she’d managed to get her braces on and get out of bed without waking Bec.
They had shared a bed, and while it had been entirely innocent, a large part of her wanted it to be so much more.
Bec hadn’t come out and said she was gay, but she didn’t have to for Iris to know.
For her, it came down to their connection when their skin touched.
The moment their eyes met, she knew. That was saying a lot for someone who struggled with connecting.
When Bec was in the shower, she also noticed a magnet on her fridge for Out to Innovate, an organization for LGBTQ+ scientists and technical professionals.
She recognized it because she’d been a member for years.
Since Bec didn’t know she was also a member, she’d keep it that way.
Mostly because she was struggling with how kind and understanding Bec was about her TBI.
Sure, everyone at Secure Inc. was kind and patient, but they worked together every day.
This was different. She and Bec had barely met before Bec immediately reassured her she belonged.
She accepted her and allowed her to take up space in a way that didn’t result in judgment or sarcastic comments despite her overreaction to several situations.
It usually took months or years for people to get comfortable with her and how her brain worked.
Sometimes, people were never comfortable with who she was despite knowing she couldn’t change it.
She’d experienced that with friends and girlfriends enough times over the years that she tended to keep to herself now.
That was why she enjoyed working at Secure Watch.
The core team stayed the same, making it easier for her to relax and be confident there without worrying about being judged.
No one ever questioned her skills on the job, and she knew she was better at her job than many in her field, but that was because of how her brain worked.
The most challenging part was proving herself to others when they couldn’t see past her diagnoses.
It wasn’t an untold story for neurodivergent people.
No matter how much people were educated about neurodiversity, there would always be a level of prejudice against them for something outside of their control.
But then, that was a problem for marginalized communities as a whole.
She couldn’t fix that by herself, unlike the code she was writing to get the lab back under her control.
She was close. She could feel it in her fingers with each new line of code she wrote.
A glance at the clock told her it had been several hours since she’d left Bec’s apartment.
That wasn’t a big surprise. If there was one thing she could get lost in, it was her work.
Truthfully, she worried Bec would be upset that she got up and left, but she also didn’t want to wake her after so few hours of sleep.
After the day Bec had yesterday, she needed rest, especially with the injury to her arm.
As soon as Iris finished the code, she planned to text Cal to ask him if he had brought Selina from Secure Inc.
with him. Selina was a nurse who usually traveled with them on assignment.
Iris wasn’t sure if this qualified since Cal wanted to keep as many people out of the fallout zone as possible, but she suspected Selina wouldn’t give him a choice.
He needed a medical professional on-site for every case, so she hoped she was right.
She wanted her to look at Bec’s arm and treat it if need be.
The blisters would pop sooner rather than later, and the last thing she needed was an infection that required her to leave the facility.
Without Bec here, they would have to turn this over to the police, which could get them all killed.
Not that Iris thought she was all that when it came to fixing this situation, but she knew this was not the kind of place that could be left unattended, or worse yet, have the police bring someone in to break into the labs.
The very idea made her shudder, and she forced her fingers to move faster as her eyes tried to track the lines on the screen, but the hours she’d already put in were catching up to her.
“Come on, come on,” she chanted, finishing the last line and gingerly pressing the return key as the elevator door dinged.
She momentarily lifted her gaze from the keyboard and waited for something to happen, though she had no idea what to expect.
Bec walked into the room carrying two cups of coffee just as a whirring started above their heads. Iris stood up. “What is that? It just came on!”
Bec set the mugs on the table and swiveled toward Iris. She ran to her with a whoop and threw her arms around her while jumping up and down. “You did it! That’s the ventilation system!”
“You mean it’s working?” Iris asked when Bec released her.
“Yes!” She motioned her toward a lab door. “Look.” Iris peered into the room where papers fluttered on a table. “You did it!”
“Okay, so the ventilation system is working, but the labs don’t have the lights on over the doors,” Iris said, pointing above them.
“Those lights indicate lab access and the containment system, not the ventilation system. The lights won’t come on until the containment system is working again—at least, I think that’s what will happen. They may be working, but I have no way to know when I can’t control the system from here.”
“Are the viruses just floating around in there now that I put the vents back on?”
“No,” Bec assured her, hands out to keep her calm. “That’s not how it works. The viruses are safely locked up right now.”
“If that’s the case, why the big deal then?”
“Because Ace could release them if he controls the containment system. Now that you have the ventilation system back, the filters in the vents will be working again. If anything is released, it should get trapped before it gets vented out of the facility. We don’t know how long Ignis Cerebri stays alive in the air.
All we know is, once inhaled by the primary case, it will spread like wildfire. ”
“Are there other viruses here, too?”
“Many,” Bec agreed, walking with Iris back to the desks.
“Those are viruses and bacteria that we know more about, though. Releasing them could be dangerous, but when you have an unknown like Ignis Cerebri, that’s your focus.
I have seen what it can do to animals. We don’t want it set loose on the population. ”
Iris lowered herself back to the chair. “I need to get the containment system under our control then. Right now.”
“If you can do that, the world will be safe from anything behind those doors while we wait for Ace to contact us.”
Forcing herself up again, Iris eyed the hallway. “I should let the team know the ventilation system is secured.”
“We will,” Bec said, taking her hand. “Take a deep breath first.” Iris inhaled with her, and then Bec patted her back.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m giving you a pat on the back for getting that system under our control again. I know it’s your job, but it wasn’t easy, and you deserve recognition for it.”
“It was a lot,” Iris agreed. “What I learned can be applied to the next system, too, which hopefully means it won’t take me as long to get the containment system back online.
Whoever this Ace guy is, he’s talented in a diabolical way, but he doesn’t seem to be watching his code closely, which has been working in my favor.
Regardless, we need to put him behind bars. ”
“We will,” Bec assured her, squeezing her hand. “Thanks in no small part to you.”
“There’s a lot left to do, Bec,” Iris said, wanting to pull away but transfixed by the trust in her big, beautiful brown eyes. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
“I know, but I also know you never stop to consider how imperative your skills are in many people’s lives.”
Iris shrugged as though she was unbothered by the compliment when it meant everything to hear. She didn’t know how to show that or what to say, though.
“I suspect it’s hard for you to accept compliments, and that’s okay, but I want you to know how much I appreciate you.”
“And I appreciate how kind you are to me, Bec. I’m not used to that. You look beautiful today. Not that you didn’t yesterday, I just meant—”
Bec’s finger came down on her lips, forcing her to resist the urge to kiss it. “You just meant that yesterday I was tired and had been through a lot.”
Iris nodded until Bec dropped her finger. “That’s what I meant. How is your arm?”
“Sore,” she admitted. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”
Iris snapped her fingers. “That reminds me of something I have to ask Cal. We need to find the team, update them and then return to the code.”
“Yes, Captain!” Bec said, standing straight with a wink. “Let’s take our coffee to go.”
They grabbed their coffee cups and headed for the elevator just as it dinged, and the doors slid open. Zac ran out but stopped when he saw them.
“You’re okay.”
“Of course,” Iris answered. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“We heard whirring from the loading dock but couldn’t raise you on the walkie-talkie.”
Her heart rate picked up speed when she realized her mistake.
“Oh no,” she whispered, staring at the ground.
“I left it in the apartment this morning. It was charging last night, and then I forgot about it. I don’t usually have them.
See, this is why I can’t be trusted! Cal’s going to be so mad.
He’s going to convince Mina to fire me!”