“Technically, you lied to Lucas, but I accept the title of bad influence if I get another shot at you in the shower.”
“Now you’re trying to get me fired!” Iris exclaimed.
Bec laughed loudly and hugged her, loving how her curves wrapped around her own. Everything that happened over the last few days had been unexpected, but Iris Knowles was the most unexpected. Her chest squeezed when she remembered they had so far to go yet, and when it was over, a life with Iris was not guaranteed.
She pulled back and traced Iris’s lips. “What’s the smile for?”
“I realized that since I got here, I’ve been able to let my guard down and make some jokes. That’s never happened before,” Iris admitted.
“Maybe you feel comfortable enough here to be yourself.”
“Because of you, I’m sure,” Iris agreed.
She didn’t care that they were racing against time to find her boss when she leaned in and took her lips. The kiss turned heated the moment their lips collided. Bec took the lead, twining and cuddling their tongues until they were panting and had to break for air. Iris leaned her forehead against hers, something she noticed she did to maintain intimacy without forcing eye contact. Bec didn’t care. It was a connection she craved, and she would take every last second of it until this was over and they could find a path to help them stay together.
“We should go upstairs and face Walter’s computer,” Iris whispered. “I don’t want to drop the ball for Cal.”
“I agree,” she said, kissing her nose before unhappily extricating herself from the embrace to put the food away.
Bec desperately wanted the computer to be empty and just as desperately wanted it to answer all their questions.One meant Walter was innocent and in danger, and the other meant he was guilty but safe. On second thought, neither was a great option. Oh, Walter. What did you get yourself into?
They’d made their way upstairs by the time she finished her internal debate. Iris turned the computer on, and the screen waited for a password. She tried 1234 and got nothing. Then she tried 0000. Still nothing. “Any idea what it might be? There are ways around it, but they suck a lot of power and time.”
Bec pondered the question. “Try Ace.” Iris typed it in, but again, it returned to the screen, this time also displaying a password reminder:Sagacity.
“Doesn’t that mean understanding?” Iris asked, and Bec nodded.
“Yes, but it also means wisdom or knowledge.”
“Could it be the college he attended or a professor’s name?” Iris asked, but Bec stared at the screen with her head tipped to the side for a few more seconds before she pointed at it.
“Try cerebri.”
Iris typed it in, and this time, the home screen loaded. “You’re amazing!” she said, her fingers clicking on the trackpad as she opened the utilities.
“It made sense. Ignis Cerebri is a virus that burns the brain. What are you doing?”
“I’m turning on the battery saver. By doing that, our battery power will be extended. As long as we don’t need the internet, we should have—” Iris glanced down at the corner of the computer “—about an hour before it goes dead. By then, Cal should be back.”
“Okay, but where do we start? Files?”
“That would make the most sense, but see this?” She hovered the cursor over a cloud icon. “That’s OneDrive.” She clicked it, and when the app opened, she ran the cursor down to something called Personal Vault. “I’m betting the information we need is here, so let’s begin. It requires a password. We only get ten tries before we’re locked out. I would guess he doesn’t know that the same password that opens his computer also opens this.” She typed it in and sure enough, the vault opened.
“How did you know that?” Bec asked, pulling a chair next to Iris so they could see the screen.
Iris glanced at her for a second. “It’s my job to know these things, but also, doesn’t everyone know that?”
Bec held her hands by her chest as a silly grin lifted her lips. “I’ll admit that I didn’t know that either.”
Iris shook her head in disappointment. “I’m going to let this one go because you’d be surprised how many people don’t know how to utilize their OneDrive folders properly. Though, I’m sure you have programs you use for the lab with their own cloud.”
“Yes, that,” Bec agreed, feeling less out of touch now. “We only save to the cloud. I’m surprised Walter saves to his OneDrive. Maybe this is just for his home computing?”
“I would say it could be, but why did he have it in a secret compartment if it were? That doesn’t make sense.” She clicked open the files, but they all seemed innocuous to Bec.
“Those are all files for running the facility itself,” Bec said, pointing at the spreadsheet Iris had just opened. “Maybe he kept the computer hidden so it didn’t fall intothe wrong hands should the facility be overrun. We don’t want our operations information to be used against us.”
Iris didn’t answer as she continued to click files open and read them as though Bec didn’t exist. Usually, she’d feel slighted by being ignored, but she knew Iris wasn’t doing it to dismiss her purposefully. She was lost in her own world of computer language.
