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 topull 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.”
