Chapter Ten #2
Bec clapped once and squeezed Iris’s shoulder before she took off for Walter’s office.
Iris turned her attention back to the computer and kept typing, her fingers working in tandem with her brain as she inserted bits and pieces of the code she used for the ventilation system.
She was tired, and that made it difficult to convince her eye to keep tracking the code.
Her diplopia was severe in her right eye, and even with the prism lens, when she got tired, the eye often refused to cooperate.
As much as she hated to admit it, Bec and Cal were right.
She’d need to sleep once she finished this—if she finished this.
Not finishing it wasn’t a choice, though.
She had to complete this code to protect everyone from certain death.
Walter may well be dead already—there was no denying that.
But if she could protect the rest of the world, then maybe he wouldn’t die in vain.
She could continue to hope and pray that everyone survived this, and that Ace held to his promise of releasing Walter once they had the money—if they got it.
Her huff was loud in the quiet room. She had to stop this and concentrate on the task before her.
If only it was that easy when, at the very least, she was trying to keep one man alive and, at the worst, the entire world. No pressure, right?
Iris could hear Bec in the office moving stuff around, crunching through glass, and opening and closing cabinets.
She forced herself to concentrate on the computer screen and not turn to see what the bright beauty was doing.
She’d rather spend a quiet Saturday evening with her, walking the grounds of Secure Inc.
, where they could sip wine as the sun set over the man-made pond at the back of the property.
“When this is over, do you want to watch the sunset with me at Secure Inc.?” she called out to Bec without turning.
“There’s nothing I’d love more,” Bec replied, her voice soft enough for Iris to know she was still in the office.
With a smile, she pictured them sitting on the bench on the dock, the water lapping gently against the shore as the stars came alive in the dark Minnesota sky.
The dark used to scare her, but when she moved to Secure Inc.
, she learned to appreciate those moments of solitude when the stars were so bright that you could count them one by one.
Maybe she felt safe because the property borders were so heavily guarded, or maybe she felt safe because the people within those borders were kind and understanding.
It could be some of both, but over the last few years, Iris had seen a downtick in her anxiety, which made it easier for her to work with others.
She still liked to work at night when fewer people crowded the space, but socializing had become more manageable, and working with the team instead of beside the team was now possible.
Something flashed in her peripheral vision, and she looked up. “Bec, what does a green light over the lab door mean?”
“That means the containment system is on,” she called from the office right before footsteps ran toward her. “Is there a green light?”
“That’s why I asked,” Iris said, trying to keep her heart rate even as she continued to type.
“You did it! My goodness, Iris, you did it!” Bec exclaimed as she tipped her head up to stare at the light.
“Not yet,” Iris answered, still typing. “The light might be on, but if I don’t protect my code, he could break through it again. I don’t know how closely he’s paying attention to what’s going on here.”
Bec picked up the walkie-talkie and pressed the button. “Secure Watch, Bec,” she said, releasing the button as Iris smiled. She was proud of her for remembering to follow the protocol.
“Secure One, Zulu.” The box squawked with Zac’s voice before Bec pushed the button down.
“Iris has the containment system active again!”
When Bec released the button, Iris heard Zac let out a whoop. “That’s great news!”
Bec pushed the button, but this time, Iris jumped in. “It’s good news,” she clarified. “It won’t be great news until I protect the code. I’m working on that now.”
“Keep us posted, but it’s still a great job, Iris. The elephant on my chest just lumbered off into the woods.”
Iris smiled, knowing he was joking but also understanding what he meant by that. Breathing was a bit easier now that Ace didn’t hold the fate of the world in his hands.
Bec set the walkie-talkie down and lowered herself to the chair. “If Ace isn’t working with anyone, chances are he’s busy trying to keep all the balls in the air,” she said. “I would guess he also thinks his code is unbreakable.”
“I was thinking about that,” Iris agreed, finishing her code and hitting Enter before she spun her chair to stare at the little green light above the lab door.
She did a fist pump when it stayed green and spun back to Bec.
“We will have to run only the necessary functions of this place through Secure Watch computers.”
“Why?” Bec asked, her head tipped.
“If I break the code entirely and it removes the malware from the computers in the facility, he will know we have control again. As long as those computers remain locked, he might well think he still controls everything and won’t bother messing with anything.
We only need to hold out until we have the ransom.
If we don’t have the money by the deadline, we’ll have to make a new plan. ”
“I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right. It’s unfortunate since having access to Walter’s computer would be helpful, but we’ll make do.”
“Did you find any of the names we can give Mina?”
Bec snapped her finger and jogged back to the office. When she returned, she held up a slip of paper. “I have several names of board members. They could also be investors. There’s no way to know.”
“There is one way to know,” Iris assured her, grabbing her tablet as she winked. “We give those names to Mina Jacobs.”