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 hermistake. “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!”
Chapter Eight
Zac held his hands out for calm, but she didn’t feel that way. “Iris, no,” he said. “No one is mad. We were just worried.”
“But you don’t know that,” she whispered, walking backward until she bumped into Bec. She nearly tipped over until Bec grasped her waist and held her in place. She was trembling and embarrassed, knowing her misstep had caused confusion and concern for the team.
“Iris, take a deep breath,” Bec instructed. “Focus on my words. Breathe in quickly twice and back out slowly.”
Iris followed her instructions, trying to keep from spiraling into all the situations that could arise from her inability to remember things outside her regular routine. She could write code all day and never forget a character, but other tasks—things like what to get at the store or remembering she needed to carry the walkie-talkie around—were more difficult. When she started living independently, she needed notes to remind her of every task, but she no longer needed to depend on them as she used to. “I don’t usually have one and forgot to put a note on my phone the way I usually do when I have to remember something important.”
“Why didn’t you call her phone?” Bec asked, and Zac smacked himself in the forehead.
“Never even thought of it. That’s on me. I’m sorry for upsetting you, Iris. I should have texted you. We’re used to using the walkies, so I didn’t think about it.”
Bec patted Iris’s waist before she spoke. “Listen, everyone here is under a lot of stress and pressure, so let’s make sure we give ourselves and each other a little bit of grace, okay?”
“Secure One, Charlie, and I couldn’t agree more,” a voice said from behind them, and they all jumped to see Cal standing there with several others.
“Cal. When did you get here?” Iris asked, her voice steady now that Bec had her arm around her.
“We took the stairs,” he answered, motioning behind him.
“I got the ventilation system going again,” she said in response, wanting him to know she may have screwed up one thing, but she was still doing her job. “Bec said that’s important but not as important as the containment system, so I’ll do that next.”
Cal stepped forward and patted her shoulder. “I’m proud of you, Iris. Way to go! I knew you were the right woman for the job.”
“But I messed up and—” Bec squeezed her waist, and she stopped speaking, taking a deep breath rather than continuing.
“You forgot the walkie, which is no big deal,” Cal assured her. “If I know you, and I do, you didn’t sleep much and then got up early to get back to work on the system.”
“Yes, sir,” Iris answered, glancing up to read his face. He didn’t look upset, which was a relief. That was when she noticed Selina in the group. “Selina!” She ran andhugged her, which was not an uncommon reaction for her as they had become good friends since she started working at Secure Watch. She was worried about Bec’s arm and was glad she’d come with Cal this morning.
“Hi, Iris,” Selina said with a pat on her back. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes, but Bec got hurt more than she said yesterday. Could you look at her arm? It’s burned.”
“Burned?” Selina asked, glancing at Bec.
“There are some blisters. I don’t know what happened. I do remember it was the arm I threw up to cover my face.”
“Stun grenades can cause burns,” Cal said. “The heat of the blast can heat things in its way. Like this metal table.”
Bec’s lips drew into a thin line. “It’s possible that I touched one of these tables when disoriented.”
“I’ll look at it once we’re finished with the update,” Selina promised.
“Iris was just telling Zac that she got the ventilation system working again,” Bec said, motioning toward her. “Thank God for that.”
“But then Bec told me if I don’t get the containment system online, Ace could release all kinds of things, so it wasn’t that great of an accomplishment.”
