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 stareat 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.”
Chapter Eleven
“How is your arm?” Iris asked after they’d climbed into bed. Bec had cooked them a simple meal of frozen lasagna and garlic bread, but it had hit the spot. After checking in with Secure Watch and giving Mina the names she’d gathered from Walter’s office, she had promised Mina to make Iris sleep for at least three hours before she was allowed back at the computer. Now that the containment system was working, she’d like to gain access to the labs again, but if they couldn’t, at least the containment system would hold Ignis safely until she could.
“It’s feeling better already,” she promised the woman beside her in the dark. “I’m not just saying that, either. You were right about it getting infected, so I’m glad Selina showed up today.”
Iris turned on her side to take the arm and check it over. “Me, too. Are you sure it doesn’t hurt?”
“Positive,” Bec promised, putting her hand over hers to stop it from fussing with the gauze. “Selina’s cream and medications did the trick. It’s funny, though. When I lived in the Amish community, my parents raised us around fires our entire childhood, and I never once got burned.”
“You’re Amish?”
Bec almost laughed until she remembered that Iris wouldn’t understand that she was laughing at her tone of voice and not her question. “Not anymore,” she clarified. “I left when I was sixteen.”
“Left? Like you can stop being Amish?”
“You can,” Bec said as Iris twined her fingers into hers. She suspected Iris didn’t realize she had done it, so she made sure not to move. “It’s frowned upon, of course, but when you turn sixteen, you’re allowed to experience the outside world without conforming to the religion or principles.”
“Rumsprouta. That’s not right,” she said, shaking her head.
“Close, though,” Bec said. “Rumspringa. I had been preparing for it since I was twelve and realized that I was gay.”
“I noticed the magnet,” Iris said. “I’m a member, too.”
“I saw the sticker on your laptop.”
“Lesbihonest, I didn’t need the magnet on your fridge, and you probably didn’t need the sticker on my laptop,” Iris said, snickering.
“Nope,” she agreed.
“I assume you can’t be gay and Amish?”
“Well, you can be, but you can’t be out of the closet, which means you’re miserable your entire life and then you die.”
“Jeez, that’s depressing. I may apologize for being a lot of things, but gay isn’t one of them. I’m sorry they made you feel that way.”
Bec smiled, squeezing her hand in agreement. “Thank you. It wasn’t easy, but I knew I couldn’t live that way. On the first day of myRumspringa, I went to the public library and read about science and how it affects our world. We weren’t taught much science in school, but what little they did teach us intrigued me, and I wanted to know more. We were taught that being gay was a sin and something that only happened in other cultures, but science taught me that being gay is part of human nature and not just certain cultures. I could never go back after learning the truth and feeling so deceived by my parents. At that same library the next day, I saw a poster on their announcement board. It was an open-door support group for gays and lesbians, and as I’m naturally curious, I decided to go. Truthfully, I didn’t know what I was looking for when I walked through the doors, but by the time I left, I knew what I’d found. An entire community of people who lived full lives in loving relationships who promised they would help me survive outside my family.”
