“Then we try,” Cal said. “All I need is one name for an investor, and Mina will dive in and find the information. Once we have that, we’ll get back together. In the meantime, Iris, you know what to do.”
“I’m on it,” she said, returning to her computer. “And I’m close.”
“How close?” Cal asked on his way to the stairs.
“An hour. Two at the most,” she said. “I’ll keep you posted, but please don’t come running in here like Rambo. You shave ten years off my life every time you do that.”
Cal’s laughter was loud as it bounced around the cavernous space. “I make no promises, but I’ll try. While you’re working on that, I’m heading to the motel to fill in Mina and the team at Secure Watch. Charlie, out.”
Once the door to the stairwell closed, Iris turned and walked to Bec, who was standing in the same place. Without hesitating, she put her arms around her for a hug. When Bec slid her arms around Iris’s waist, holding tightly to her as she buried her forehead in her shoulder, Iris felt a settling in her soul she hadn’t felt with anyoneever before. For just a split second, she could be herself and offer comfort without being judged.
“We’ll figure this out,” Iris promised the woman in her arms. “You’re not alone.”
“I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you’re here, Iris. It’s awful to feel so useless.”
“I know it’s hard to feel like you can’t help, but you can.” Iris leaned out of the hug and sat at her desk. “While I’m working on this, you can make a list of the investors’ names to send to Mina. Even if you have one name, she can start tracking them down.” She paused and tipped her head. “Do you think he’d have that information in one of the file cabinets?”
Bec’s lips jumped into a small smile. “He might! I’ll check it out while you keep working on the code.”
“Mina said I need to record it whenever we mess with Walter’s office.”
Bec tipped her head back and forth a couple of times. “Really, what’s the point now? Walter is being held for ransom, which we can prove. Recording our movements in his office proves nothing. Unless we put a camera on it that runs all day, the police can say we messed with the office when we weren’t recording.”
“The interior of the building isn’t under surveillance?”
“Not like the outside,” she said. “There was no need to record the labs all day. We go long days without messing with anything besides computers and research. If I work in a lab or with a pathogen, I turn on the cameras, which are only set up in the labs. At this point, it’s worth the risk to tear apart his office and not worry about what the police will think. If we don’t get the name of someone on the board, we’re dead in the water. No pun intended.I can’t be certain I have the correct name, so if I give it to Mina, she could chase her tail trying to track it down.”
Iris thought it over and finally nodded. “You’re right. We’re out of time now that Ace contacted us. See what you can find while I code.”
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 wasdoing. 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!”
